Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Heroin Dealer Connected to 27 Overdoses Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

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Karon Peoples admitted he’d communicated with 27 people who later suffered overdoses

BALTIMORE — A 24-year-old heroin dealer linked to 27 overdoses — nine of them fatal — has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Karon Elijah Peoples pleaded guilty in July to taking part in a drug ring that distributed between nine and 10 kilos of heroin in Baltimore from 2015 until early this year, federal prosecutors said.

Investigators began investigating Peoples in late 2017 after learning that he was supplying significant quantities of heroin to customers throughout Maryland.

Undercover officers bought drugs from Peoples on several occasions and a subsequent raid of his stash house in December netted 900 grams of heroin; $405,000 in cash, a money counter and digital scales. Officers also recovered 68 grams of heroin from his car.

As part of the haul, investigators discovered 49 cell phones that Peoples and his crew had been using. A search of the phones’ records revealed that Peoples had been contacted by 27 people who later suffered overdoses. Nine of those people died.

The victims hailed from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, prosecutors said.

Investigators were unable to prove that Peoples had sold the people the drugs on which they overdosed, so he only pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin. Peoples was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison.

“Heroin dealers like Karon Peoples sell death and despair.  Heroin is one of the leading causes of death in Maryland—and many victims are teenagers,” said Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.  “We will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to attack this problem from all sides to reduce overdose deaths.

 

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Tennessee Dad Loses Leg in Family Feud After Attacking Son With Chainsaw

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Douglas Ferguson lost his leg after his son ran him over with a lawn mower during the chainsaw attack

BRISTOL, Tennessee — That’s one hell of a family feud.

A Tennessee man who tried to attack his son with a chainsaw lost his leg when his son ran over the old man with a lawnmower while trying to defend himself.

Police say the bloody encounter was the result of a long-standing family fight, and now 76-year-old Douglas Ferguson faces attempted murder charges for attacking his son.

The Sullivan County Sheriff’s office said the episode unfolded on June 28 in  the town of Bristol, when Ferguson tried to attack his son with a chainsaw as he was mowing his lawn, the Bristol Herald Courier reported.

But the son, whose name was not publicly released, fought back by running his father over with the riding lawn mower. When cops arrived, they say they found Ferguson bleeding from his leg and head.

His leg was later amputated.

Cops were unable to charged Ferguson for months due to the severity of his injuries. He was also charged with violating probation and is being held on $25,000 bond.

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Florida Man Accused of Chopping Off Rival’s Penis Held on $1M Bond

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Justin Foster is accused of flying halfway across the country to chop off the man’s penis

DES PLAINES, Illinois — A Florida man was held on $1 million bond for allegedly chopping off the penis of his ex-girlfriend’s new beau after brutally beating him with a tire iron.

Prosecutors say Justin Foster, 28, of Tallahassee, travelled halfway across the country to a Chicago suburb to confront his ex’s new paramour and beat him so badly he was left with permanent brain damage.

“We’re talking about a very heinous crime here,” Assistant State’s Attorney Luis Muniz said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Authorities say Foster flew from Atlanta to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in March and then rented a car and drove to Des Plaines, where he approached the 26-year-old  man on the street, hit him in the head with a tire iron, carved initials into his leg and then cut off his penis.

Investigators say Foster then threw the man’s member over a fence and then hid his bleeding body behind a parked car before returning to the airport and catching a flight back to Atlanta.

Somehow, the victim survived, but suffered permanent brain damaged. Authorities didn’t say whether doctor’s were able to reattach his penis.

Foster was arrested in Tallahassee on Aug. 27 and was brought to Illinois on Sept. 20 to face charges.

Foster’s lawyer argued that the case against his client is circumstantial, with no physical evidence tying him to the crime. He also said that the victim might not be able to identify Foster as the men who attacked him.

 

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800-Pound Hammer Sculpture Mysteriously Disappears from Community Center

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Someone very strong made off with this 800-pound hammer sculpture

HEALDSBURG, California — They must have had a really big nail.

Police in northern California are hunting for whomever was able to make off with an 800-pound sculpture of a hammer from outside a community center.

Officials say the massive work of art disappeared sometime late Friday night. Workers at the Healdsburg Community Center noticed it was missing Saturday morning when they noticed a large empty spot on the lawn.

Police are at a loss as it would have taken a crane or a large group of people and a truck to move the giant hammer and no one saw anything.

“We have no leads at this point. We’ve checked a lot of different locations,” Healdsburg Police Officer Darryl Erkel told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “We initially thought it might have been a high school prank.”

The hammer sports a redwood handle and measures 21 feet long. The metal head is 6 feet tall, Healdsburg artist Doug Unkrey said.

“They’d need at least a flatbed trailer with a winch, or about eight people,” said Unkrey, who created the piece. “Why would you take this thing? Where are you going to put it?”

The artwork is estimated to be worth around $15,000.

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Mexican Couple Found With Body Parts Eyed in Slayings of 20 Women

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The suspected husband-wife serial killers boasted of slaying up to 20 women

ECATAPEC, Mexico — A couple caught carting away dismembered body parts in a baby carriage are being eyed in connection with up to 20 women in a suburb of Mexico City, police said.

The suspects, identified only as Juan Carlos N. and his wife, Patricia N., were caught with their grisly haul as police investigated the disappearance of an Ecatapec woman and her two-month-old baby in September.

When questioned, Juan Carlos boasted of killing as many as 20 women, although he only provided details for 10 killing, Mexico State police said.

“What seemed macabre to me is that this person mentioned 10 cases in which he gives details, the names of the victims; he gave us the clothing they had on at the time,” prosecutor Alejandro Gomez told Radio Formula. “He seemed happy about what he had done.”

Gomez said Patricia N. appeared to have participated in the slayings, but it was unclear how active a role she had played.

Local media has already dubbed Juan Carlos as the “Monster of Ecatapec.”

Investigators found body parts in the couple’s apartment and at an abandoned lot nearby. At their home, the couple kept the remains in buckets filled with cement and in a fridge.

Neighbors said that whenever they saw the couple, they were pushing the carriage in which police found the body parts.

Police stopped and searched the couple after phone records connected them with a 28-year-old woman, Nancy Huitron, who disappeared the disappearance in September with her two-month old baby, Valentina.

Investigators say Juan Carlos confessed to killing Huitron and identified two other of his victims as 23-year-old Arlet Olguín and 29-year-old Evelyn Rojas.

Prosecutors say he also confessed to sexually abusing some of the victims before killing them and selling off their belongings and some of their body parts.

The three victims — all single mothers — had disappeared in recent months.

Police say they found the baby, Valentina who they say was sold by the couple. She has since been returned to her maternal grandmother.

Investigators say couple cruelly drew the the women in by offering to sell them cheap baby clothing and formula.

 

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Pervert Police Chief Busted for Masturbating in Front of Strangers on Elevator

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Police Chief Billy Maurice Driggers had a a bad habit of following women with his hands in his pants

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Florida — An Alabama police chief has been busted for allegedly fondling himself in an elevator in front of strangers and masturbating as he followed teen girls down a Florida beach.

Billy Maurice Driggers, 44, who is the chief of police in Level Plains, Alabama, was charged in Panama City Beach in Florida on four counts of disorderly conduct.

Police there say they first got a call last week about a suspicious person at a condo complex. There guests had told security that they saw a man masturbating as he watched women.

Police eventually identified Driggers as the suspect and determined that he was not a registered guest of the condo nor did he have any reason to be there, police said, AL.com reported.

A review of surveillance footage from the property showed Driggers using the elevators at the resort and on three occasions appeared to have his hand down his pants, masturbating in front of women and children, police said.

Driggers was also accused of masturbating while walking behind teenage girls on the beach and filming or taking photos of the girls rinsing off in the outside showers, police said.

Investigators said they were not able to determine an instance where Driggers’ exposed his genitals. “However, Driggers’ actions were found to be obscene and sexually deviant in nature,” the statement read.

Driggers has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

“The city of Level Plains will be cooperating and assisting with the ongoing investigation with Alabama and Florida law enforcement agencies. In the interim during Driggers absence, another police officer will be appointed to serve as the acting police chief pending the resolution of the investigation,” city officials said in a statement.

Driggers has been police chief for Level Plains since June of 2016.

 

 

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Mobster Gunned Down While Waiting in Line in McDonald’s Drive-Thru

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Reputed mob associated Sylvester Zottola sits with former Bonanno crime family boss ‘Vinny Gorgeous’ Basciano

NEW YORK — A reputed associate of the Bonanno crime family was fatally gunned down in a gangland hit in broad daylight as he waited in line for a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-thru.

Sylvester “Sally Daz” Zottola, 71, was shot once in the head and four times in the torso after his car got boxed in while he waited in line outside the Bronx fast food eatery. He was pronounce dead at the scene.

The hit was the latest in a series of threatening attacks on Zottola and his family in recent months. In July, his 41-year-old son, Salvatore, was shot outside his Bronx home in what authorities believed was a message meant for his father.

Last September, the elder Zottola was clubbed over the head as he walked near his home by an unknown attacker, police said. Two months later, a gunman tried to force Zottola into a car but failed.

In December, Zottola was stabbed in the neck when he walked on robbers ransacking his home. Then in June, Zottola drove off an approaching gunman by pulling out his pistol and firing several rounds before the man could get too close.

Zottola had been charged with illegal weapons possession following that episode.

Zottola was a noted associate of “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, who briefly led the Bonanno crime family in the early 2000s.  Basciano began serving a life sentence in 2007.

 

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Florida Dad’s Murder Leads to Arrest of His 17-Year-old Daughter, Boyfriend

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Eveline Gainza (r) is charged with helping boyfriend Demar Turruellas clean after he shot her father

MIAMI — A Florida teen and her boyfriend have been charged with gunning down her father in his home and stealing his car after he disapproved of their relationship, police said.

Cops found 63-year-old Evelio Gainza’s body last week under a pile of blankets and towels in an upstairs bedroom after a relative called and asked them to check on him.

They also saw that his white Mercedes was missing, which led them to 17-year-old Eveline Gainza and her boyfriend, Demar Turruellas, 18, when they pulled them over in the car three days later.

Inside, they found what they believed to be the murder weapon and under questioning, Gainza confessed, the Miami Herald reported. Turruellas was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting the elder Gainza in the back. She was charged with attempted tampering with physical evidence and accessory after the fact, for helping clean up the bloody crime scene.

Police said Turruellas and Eveline had recently moved back to Miami from near Fort Myers and were staying with her mother. Last Thursday, Eveline’s father picked up his daughter and brought her back to his house to collect some things.

While he was upstairs, police said, Eveline stole his car and drove to her mother’s house to pick up Turruellas. They then returned to her father’s home and police say Turruellas went upstairs and shot Gainza in the back several times with a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

They then dragged his body into a bedroom that was undergoing renovation and covered it up with blankets and towels while cleaning up blood stains with bleach and paper towels. They also gathered the shell casings.

Turruellas then gave the gun to a friend, but later retrieved it. When police found the weapon it was painted over and its serial number was obscured.

 

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Three Men Killed in Mysterious Pennsylvania Car Bombing

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Authorities say they believe the bomber was killed in the explosion along with two others

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — Three men were blown to smithereens in a mysterious Saturday night car bombing that scattered body parts across a central city street.

Authorities were tight-lipped about the possible motive, but did say they believed the person responsible was killed in the explosion in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The identities of the dead were not immediately released.

“We know there’s been a criminal incident,” District Attorney James Martin said. “We have a high degree of confidence that the perpetrator was probably killed in the incident.”

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leading the investigation along with the FBI, state police, and city and county authorities.

The explosion rocked a street near a sports arena just minutes before a hockey game ended.

Witnesses described a gruesome scene, with the car ripped in two by the blast and scorched body parts littering the street, the Allentown Morning Call reported.

“This is real life and I’m shaking and freaking out while I’m running,” Stephanie Connelly said. “Every place we looked, there was a body part or something there.”

Authorities said they would release more details about the blast as soon as they could.

“We understand the public interest in this matter,” U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain said. “We will share with you what we can when we can, but I think you can also appreciate that we’re at the beginning of trying to piece this all together.”

 

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Famed Italian Gigolo Who Slept With 6,000 Women, Dies Having Sex

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Zanfanti, known as the ‘Romeo of Rimini,’ claimed he bedded 200 women every summer in his prime

RIMINI, Italy  — A legendary Italian lothario known as the “Romeo of Rimini,” who laid claim to having bedded more than 6,000 women, died while in the throes of passion with a 23-year-old tourist in the backseat of a car. Maurizio Zanfanti was 63.

“Zanza died after doing what he did best — loving women,” Il Resto Del Carlino, a Bologna newspaper, reported.

Zanfanti began his run as the reigning playboy of the coastal resort of Rimini when he was just 17 and working as a nightclub promoter charged with luring mainly German and Scandinavian female tourists into a club called Blow Up.

With his flowing locks, olive skin and ample chest hair, he had great success convincing the women to come to bed with him as well. In his prime, he boasted that he would often sleep with 200 women every summer.

In the winter, he would would travel to Scandinavia to work for tourist agencies. His exploits became so famous that some of his lovers erected a wax statue of him in a Swedish town.

His success with women led to him becoming the subject of numerous media profile. In 1986, Italian newspaper L’Espresso named him: “Italy’s most successful lover.” He claimed to have once seduced a French journalist who was interviewing him.

In 2016, he was a guest of honor at a Rimini nightclub at a reunion of Swedish women who had visited in the 1980s.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild in 2014, he announced his retirement and said: “At 59, I’m getting too old for it.”

But on Tuesday, he was “entertaining” a tourist from Romania in the backseat of a car, when he had a fatal heart attack.

The woman called paramedics, but Zanfanti could not be revived.

Local media said it was the way the man once called “Italy’s most successful lover” would have wanted to go. The mayor of Rimini said Italy had lost “a legend of the night.”

 

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