maximum of 50 years in prison and $5 million in fines

Thanks for the head up, but I'm not gonna stop being ChatRoom Romeo.

Can you copy the whole article in here.. to lazy to create an account :-)

U.S. Indicts Porn Sellers, Vowing Extensive Attack
Charges against a Valley video company and two executives signal that fighting obscenity has become a high priority for Atty. Gen. Ashhahahahaha.
By P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer


The Justice Department on Thursday charged a North Hollywood wholesaler of adult films with violating federal obscenity laws, launching the first of what it promised would be a wave of criminal cases against purveyors of pornography.

The 10-count federal grand jury indictment against Extreme Associates and its executives, Robert Zicari and Janet Romano of Northridge, raising alarm among adult entertainment companies in the San Fernando Valley, which is considered the capital of the nation's multibillion-dollar pornography industry.

Atty. Gen. John Ashhahahahaha promised upon taking office that he would crack down on the distributors of adult entertainment material such as movies, magazines and Web sites, much as his Reagan administration predecessor Edwin Meese III did in the 1980s.

With the government's Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial completed and the war on terrorism well underway, pornography has worked its way to the top of Ashhahahahaha's agenda.

"Today's indictment marks an important step in the Department of Justice's strategy for attacking the proliferation of adult obscenity," Ashhahahahaha said. The department will "continue to focus our efforts on targeted obscenity prosecutions that will deter others from producing and distributing obscene material."

Executives at Extreme Associates did not return calls Thursday, but one industry official said adult entertainment businesses were preparing for a fight.

"This is just another form of harassment by the government," said William Lyon, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based trade group for the adult entertainment industry. The government will "try to get convictions on the edges of this industry, and we will fight them all the way."

Thursday's indictment came after investigators with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service set up a sting operation in Pennsylvania. From September 2002 through July 2003, the indictment says, the defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system.

Extreme Associates produces movies such as "Extreme Teen #24" and "Forced Entry ? Directors Cut," which depict the fictional rapes and murders of several women, according to court documents.

The sting came in conjunction with an obscenity investigation conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department as well as complaints sent to the Justice Department in western Pennsylvania, said U.S. Atty. Mary Beth Buchanan.

"If a company is wanting to take advantage of the Internet for marketing and distribution purposes, it's their responsibility to make sure they're not violating local laws," Buchanan said. "If their conduct is not legal, it's up to them to take a firm stance not to operate there."

Extreme Associates, a relatively small player in triple X-rated entertainment, has garnered both financial success and public attention in the last several years for its line of hyper-aggressive adult films.

The privately held company employs 15 people and has annual sales of $20 million to $49.9 million, according to the U.S. Business Directory.

Extreme's offices were searched in April under a federal search warrant. The unsealed warrant shows that federal and postal investigators seized copies of five different movies as well as sales records, distribution invoices and an array of other business documents.

On the company's Web site, which Thursday featured an American flag waving in the breeze, Zicari posted a statement that said no one had been arrested and that the company remained in business. He vowed to fight the government and wrote, "I definitely will not sit here and cry a bunch of tears."

He went on to name the five allegedly obscene films and, in an act of defiance, announced that the company was selling "The Federal Five" tapes at a discount on its Web site.

Zicari and Romano are scheduled to be arraigned in Pittsburgh on Aug. 27.

If convicted, Zicari, 29, also known as Rob Black, and Romano, 26, also known as Lizzie Borden, each could face as much as 50 years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million. The company could pay a fine of as much as $5 million.

The case is a flashback to the war on pornography that the government waged in the 1980s, which shut down dozens of production companies and sent executives to prison for distributing raunchy fare.

Meese's Commission on Pornography linked sexually violent materials with "antisocial acts of sexual violence" and attempted to draw ties between extreme sex entertainment and child molestation.

The commission's 2,000-page report set off an unprecedented flood of anti-porn sentiment and legislation that landed several high-profile porn executives in prison ? including Russell Hampshire, head of the video manufacturing company VCA Labs Inc. In 1988, he served nine months for shipping obscene videotapes across state lines to federal agents in Alabama.

Hampshire wasn't alone. Vivid Video Inc. in Van Nuys and founders Steven Hirsch and David "Dewi" James were indicted by a federal grand jury in Mississippi in 1991 on obscenity counts for shipping four hard-core tapes to the state. The company pleaded guilty and paid a $500,000 fine.

The industry has been bracing for a renewed crackdown since Ashhahahahaha became attorney general in 2001. Film producers took note when the department spent $8,000 on curtains to cover two partly nude classical statues in its Washington offices.

Though there has been a steady string of state and federal cases tackling obscenity issues in the last few years, many of the suits have focused on online child pornography.

"Every time we get a Republican administration, these kinds of cases seem to perk up," said lawyer Elliot Abelson, who defended the industry in obscenity cases from the late 1970s to the mid-'80s.

The adult entertainment industry has grown dramatically since then. Annual rentals and sales of adult videos and DVDs top $4 billion, and the industry churns out about 11,000 titles each year ? more than 20 times as many as Hollywood, according to Adult Video News, a trade magazine.

http://www.extremeassociates.com/mainpage.html

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...o_wtae/1731626

Adult film stars regularly lobby legislators in Sacramento on issues ranging from government regulation to taxation. Industry-funded research touts the estimated $31 million in sales tax revenue California receives each year from the rental of 130 million adult videos and from Internet sales.

Social mores also have changed, allowing the industry to be perceived as more mainstream. Academics plumb porn for its cultural and business significance. Cable television channel Showtime airs a reality show called "Family Business" about the day-to-day life of pornography producer Adam Glasser.

Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood producer behind "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and the "Bad Boys" movies, is working on a prime-time series this fall for Fox Television called "Skin," in which the son of a Los Angeles district attorney falls for the daughter of a porn giant.

This week legendary pornographer Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, and adult film actress Mary Carey began gathering signatures to run in California's gubernatorial race.

Because of the industry's increasing public presence, obscenity convictions are becoming more scarce, said Frederick S. Lane III, an attorney and author of "Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age."

Prosecutions, Lane said, are no longer "slam dunks."

extreme is getting "busted" for sending obscene material "through the mail" not over the net.

lets see if the big boys are gone after like hustler, playboy, penthouse, vivid, ect. if not, extreme was a scapegoat because they dont have the money the big companies have to defend themselves.

the actual indictment

http://www.stunningcurves.com/module...howgall&gid=20

Read the indictment. I can't believe how many people talk like they know the case inside out.

Going to be a lot of rude awakenings around here soon.

Am I the only one practicing my goosestepping and seig heils?

All Ash-hahahahaha is missing is the little moustache.....

Umm...does the internet cross state lines?

For one this case has to do with selling video content to banned areas, really has nothing to do with content on the net.

The content in hand is called "Reality" but it was also simulated rape. That's a bit different then 2 guys picking up a MILF

yea but the main gist of the indicctment is distribution of obscene material thru mailing. the internet thing has weight but not as much asthe the mailing.

Read the indictment.

http://www.stunningcurves.com/module...howgall&gid=20

What i was implying was there are some mixed messages as to the meaning of the internet in this situation.

Child Exploitation and Obscenity.

That is the name for one of the divisions investigating this case.

If you are promoting this content, your name and your company will be linked with that division.

You ready for that?

Good luck, theres going to be lots of $$$ made by lawyers.

Cant you read? it says :

"The defendants are also charged with transmitting six obscene video clips over the internet through their website www.extremeassociates.com "

Hard to believe people are defending these vids without
seeing them first. They go way beyond porn.

The people defending these videos and promoting the content haven't said that much.

Where are the public statements of position from SEG/Max Hardcore/Etc. of similar content?

I see a possible wave of class-action lawsuits if these affiliate programs are responsible for distributing illegal content.

Obviously, they can't or don't want to read.

This is a NOT a child exlpotation case. Its an obscenity case.

Both the child explotation and obsenity divisons are shared by one office which Damon King, one of the attorneies that represents that office filed the case.

Yes, ...What it is and what it appears to be are two different things.

But do you want your company being investigated by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity office?

yes i can, do you really think the goveremnt is gonna go after extreme or anyone else for 6 video clips?

I suggest you INVEST in some commom sense dude.


the main deal with the net being included is its a catylist - extreme used the internet to facilitate orders which use mailings-

go here and read
http://www.stunningcurves.com/module...orderby=titleA

I read it and I think if they didnt use the US mail there wouldnt of been a case. It seems the net was thrown in for good measure.

I guess you cant bring yourself to admit that you are about to lose a revenue stream.

You must promote this kind of stuff.

What are you doing for your affiliates/members to ensure they aren't breaking the law by promoting this?

i dont use extreme associates nor do I promote "this stuff" nor do i have affiliates/members so please dont assume.

as for a lose of revenue stream i never disagreed.



once again you didnt understand my reply.

the gov isnt going after people with 6 "obscene" vids on their websites.

Think for a minute before replying.

If it makes you feel good...

Some people are willing to fight for their rights, others aren't.

That's the way it's always been.

If Larry Flynt had taken the advice of some of the great minds on GFY we would all be selling bikini calendars right now.

Rights vs. Responsibility is something very different here.

The same people promoting this content need to advise their business partners that there is a legal risk in distributing this stuff.

There is a risk on all content ... If a sherif from a farthole county thinks it is bad " because it looks like his daughter", then you are in for shit. ..

care to elaborate?

Pretty clear no? Elaborate? I don't think that you can seize the " road map" of the US attorney general ...

Go watch the frontline story, even Larry says people are going too far now. lol

And in the 70's , Heffner was saying Larry Flint was going too far... Time changes, people obviously don't.

Showing rape and murder for fun will never go in style I am sorry. The early pioneers in the 70's just wanted to show human sexuality for the most part. Not marketing abuse as entertainment big difference.

In the eyes of some religious people, showing any girl naked is irresponsible. That does not take away your right to do it.

no your not clear, thats why i asked for you to elaborate on your if it feels good statement.

say exactly what ya mean and we can discuss. if you want to use euphemisims and other meaningless drivel to discuss shit i aint interested.

okay but do people have the right/freedom to produce, distribute, purchase and view materials like this?

thats the question we all face as americans.

As a comparaison of tolerance, how do you think a show as " Joe Millionnaire" would have been perceived or accepted in the early 70's...

scary

we need to start another war so bush has something to do

i had a good conversation with a lawyer at internext about the impending federal shit that is no doubt headed our direction - it's time to mind your p's and q's

I am shure you are right about the pioniers, but if you do a little historical resarch you find out the even real rape and murder is unfortunatly part of human sexuality. Despite of laws and rights, does anybody think banning those material can change that?