Federal prosecutors allege the other civilian witness listed in the report, James Youngman, is also fabricated. The report quotes Youngman saying he saw “several black males shooting at police officers near Downman Road, and then fleeing over the bridge.” The report notes that Youngman contended police officers “returned fire” and chased these men.
Although Youngman’s name was included on the potential witness list read to jurors before the trial started, he wasn’t mentioned much during the trial by London. His private investigator testified he wasn’t able to track down a Youngman who matched the description in the report.
FBI Special Agent Kelly Bryson, who supervised the Danziger Bridge investigation, said that in a January 2009 interview, Kaufman described Youngman as possibly homeless.
Bryson said during this interview she was surprised by Kaufman’s description of Smith. Kaufman described her vividly, saying she was “very attractive” and “could have been a stripper,” Bryson noted. He also said the woman waded through water in the courtyard of the Friendly Inn, where she was staying, to talk to him.
See the full article from “NOLA.com”
New Orleans Strip Clubs: How to Drink Like a Gentleman
July 29, 2011
It’s okay to order drinks for the table, provided you’ve consulted the opinionated woman on your arm.
Dinner is always best preceded (or concluded) with cigars and champagne. (Chris Hannah, French 75 at Arnaud’s)
Late-morning breakfast and room service should always include a glass of champagne.
Offer a woman a sip of your drink, and switch with her if she likes yours better. (Sam Ross, Milk & Honey)
When going to a formal dinner, order an equally fancy car and bubbly to surprise departing guests. They will be delighted and insist on buying the next round. (Maxwell Britten, Maison Premiere)
If for some reason your evening should include a visit to a gentlemen’s club, drinks for the women in your party are on you. (Dave Kaplan and Alex Day, Death and Company)
Alt Weeklies: Dancing Around Diversity?
July 26, 2011 at 2:21 PM
If the sight of the Tyronne Foster & The Arc Singers gospel choir performing in a bar did not signal that this was not your ordinary journalism convention, then maybe the burlesque dancers, not to be called strippers, the magic act and the swinging New Orleans brass band would.
“Saints and Sinners” was the theme of the New Orleans convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which concluded on Saturday. The opening party, arranged by Margo DuBos, publisher of the host alt-weekly, the Gambit, was in keeping with the theme.
Most cities have alt-weeklies. They are often brash, muckraking and edge-pushing; they tell you where to find the best entertainment for the weekend — and they are usually very white. The association has no figures, but their staffs seem to be whiter than their mainstream counterparts, the dailies.
Never. I don’t ever apologize for what I do. In fact, I started my burlesque career by working in strip clubs. One of the reasons I learned about burlesque is because I was working in a strip club in 1990, and I wanted to know more about the history of what it meant to be a stripper. And that’s how I discovered burlesque. But I’ve never apologized for anything I’ve ever done. Perhaps I’ve had moments in my life where my personal life might have suffered, but I feel like I obviously did the right thing. I get to do what I love, and twenty years later I’m successful at what I do. I think if you have to go around apologizing and lying about what you do, you’re probably not doing the right thing (or not the right thing for you, anyway). That’s the way I see it. Some people have asked me how it is to get up there and take off your clothes, and it’s like, “I don’t know, I don’t have a problem with that.”
New Orleans Strip Clubs: Dita Von Teese rides a mechanical bull in Burlesque: Strip Strip Hurray
July 26, 2011
Besides stripping and riding mechanical bulls, Dita Von Teese has a flair for keeping her burlesque act inside the mainstream — at the racy end, but just inside the mainstream. The above video features Dita’s original mechanical bull act, which she created as a spokesmodel for Canadian cosmetics company MAC’s Viva Glam campaign to raise funds and awareness to fight HIV/AIDS. She liked the act and bought her own mechanical bull, and that act is one of the highlights of her 2011 Burlesque: Strip Strip Hurray show, which hits the House of Blues tonight at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. (More here.)
Dita has done racier work. She is a former fetish model, and she used to perform frequently in strip clubs. She debuted her martini glass act in New Orleans at the Gold Club in 2001. But Dita has steered her career into celebrity and Hollywood. She told Gambit last year that she doesn’t do fetish modeling anymore because it doesn’t pay well, and she’s move …
New Orleans Escorts: Harvey man booked with obstruction in homicide is accused of murder
July 23, 2011
Billiot remains in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna in lieu of a $1 million bond for the murder and $50,000 for the obstruction charge. Leblanc also remains in jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond for the obstruction justice charge, and $100 for an attachment from Gretna.
Both brother and sister have extensive arrest histories and charges that include aggravated battery and prostitution, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Court records show Billiot was arrested twice last year for misdemeanor disturbing the peace by being drunk, and filed requests in court seeking his release from jail without an attorney. Prosecutors refused those charges, records show. Billiot also has served jail time for convictions of simple criminal property damage and trespassing.
LeBlanc’s history includes convictions for possession of cocaine and prostitution for soliciting an undercover deputy. She was also was booked in 2007 for public drunkenness and obscenity after she allegedly pulled down her pants and underwear while standing at the West Bank Expressway and Barataria Boulevard in Marrero, records show. Prosecutors refused those charges, records show.
See the full article from “NOLA.com”
Deputies say paramedics were called to an apartment in the 4200-block of Lac Couture in Harvey, on a report of a man unconscious after falling and hitting his head. Investigators say paramedics knew something was up when they observed a stab wound in the victim’s chest.
Homicide detectives say after arriving, they immediately suspected Billiot and Leblanc were intoxicated. Sheriff’s officials say that the pair repeated their assertion that Barrios fell and hit his head, and claimed they had no idea how he got a stab wound in his chest.
Sheriff’s officials say investigators also found evidence that someone tried to clean up blood in the apartment.
According the sheriff’s office, Melvin Billion “has extensive prior criminal history with multiple arrests for Aggravated Battery, Simple Battery, Theft, Disturbing the Peace, Drunk in Public, Resisting Arrest.” Pamela Billiot Leblanc “has a prior criminal history with multiple arrests for Prostitution, Public Intoxication, Disturbing the Peace.”
Crime seems to go up with the temperature, nationally and in New Orleans.
Midway through the month, the murder count stood at 113. That’s two more than the same time last year. But the numbers don’t tell the full story; many crimes of violence have involved multiple victims.
This year, there also is a sense the police department is in disarray. Police and residents alike agree on that.
The police department has been hit with a wave of bad news – two officers convicted in the beating death of a man, three in connection with the murder of a man whose body was later burned in a car, police arrested in a prostitute sting and for DWI. An assistant superintendent was found guilty of neglect of duty. Officers are getting in hot water for making racist remarks and breaking department rules.
After all, that’s the location of the legendary brothel from which the title is taken, immortalized in the song popularized by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1964. It also is the setting for the novel on which the movie is based, penned by Baton Rouge writer and former cop Chuck Hustmyre.
Even the plot synopsis in the publicity materials for the film, distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, makes the same honest mistake:
“A former crooked cop, Ray, sets out to reform his ways and takes on a low-key job at a New Orleans strip club.”
…
It stars former pro wrestler Dave Bautista — a well-muscled, stone-faced hulk who looks a little bit like the result of a high-speed collision between Dwayne Johnson and Clive Owen — as the onetime dirty cop now working security at a business that is a triple-threat of vice: strip club, illegal casino and brothel.
See the full article from “NOLA.com”
Crime seems to go up with the temperature, nationally and in New Orleans.
Midway through the month, the murder count stood at 113. That’s two more than the same time last year. But the numbers don’t tell the full story; many crimes of violence have involved multiple victims.
This year, there also is a sense the police department is in disarray. Police and residents alike agree on that.
The police department has been hit with a wave of bad news — two officers convicted in the beating death of a man, three in connection with the murder of a man whose body was later burned in a car, police arrested in a prostitute sting and for DWI. An assistant superintendent was found guilty of neglect of duty. Officers are getting in hot water for making racist remarks and breaking department rules.