Tag: crime

Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard arrested in Winnipeg under Extradition Act

The original lawsuit against Nygard included allegations from 10 women who accused him of enticing them to his estate in the Bahamas. In the following months, more women from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States joined the lawsuit.

The women, who are not named, have shared stories in court documents about being brought to Nygard’s offices and properties with promises of modelling or other career opportunities. Some allege they were given alcohol spiked with drugs before they were sexually assaulted.

Two women allege they were as young as 14.

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What a Mathematician Learned From Cracking the Zodiac Killer’s Code

A group of three hobbyist cryptographers last week cracked one of the most infamous ciphers created by the Zodiac Killer, more than half-a-century after the murderer claimed their first confirmed victim.

The unnamed Zodiac killed at least five people in Northern California between the late 1960s and early 1970s, and derived their pseudonym from a series of taunting letters sent to the San Francisco Bay Area press up until 1974. Those letters included four cryptic messages, known as “ciphers.” Up until a few days ago, only one of those ciphers had ever been convincingly decoded.

Cryptologist David Oranchak, who has been trying to crack the notorious “340 cipher” (it contains 340 characters) for more than a decade, made a crucial breakthrough earlier this year when applied mathematician Sam Blake came up with about 650,000 different possible ways in which the code could be read. From there, using code-breaking software designed by Jarl Van Eycke, the team’s third member, they came up with a small number of valuable clues that helped them piece together a message in the cipher:

“I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME 

THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW 

WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME 

I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER 

BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER 

BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME 

WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE 

SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH 

I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS

LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH”

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Upstate NY Mayor, Fmr Police Chief, Leads Cops on Chase, Throwing Crack From His Car

In a story that sounds like something out of an episode of an Adult Swim cartoon, the Mayor of Massena, NY, and the town’s former police chief was arrested this month after speeding away from police while throwing crack cocaine out of the window of his car.

Timmy J. Currier, the former police chief and current mayor of the village of Massena has announced a leave of absence this month after video showed him getting arrested at gunpoint after leading police on a high speed chase.

Before becoming mayor of Massena, Currier was the city’s top cop. He was the Massena police chief for over two decades — which is likely where he developed his affinity for crack.

According to police, during the chase, this former chief of police and current mayor began throwing crack out of the window to avoid getting caught with it.

The incident began as part of an undercover sting operation in which Currier was a suspect. Officials with the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said detectives and special agents from an undercover operation in association with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security attempted to pull Currier’s vehicle over on suspicion of drug sales and possession on Saturday Dec. 1, at 12:25 p.m.

However, Currier did not stop when police initiated the stop and instead led them on a chase. Detectives said they witnessed Currier throw the crack from his passenger’s side window as he was the only occupant of the vehicle.

When police finally caught up to Currier, the mayor was held at gunpoint and pulled from the car, before being handcuffed and brought to jail. According to Syracuse.com, Currier was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and released to appear at a later date.

Apparently, his two decades as the police chief and his current position as the mayor, has granted him a little privilege among the law enforcement class and he was simply allowed to walk right out of the jail, posting no bail, and facing no other charges despite running from cops.

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Genius! These codebreakers just cracked the Zodiac Killer’s infamous 340 cipher, 51 YEARS after it was first published.

On December 5th, 2020 Sam Blake, Jarl Van Eycke, David Oranchak finally cracked the Zodiac Killer’s unsolved 340-character cipher.

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who was active in Northern California in the 1960s and ’70s. His name came from the taunting letters he would send to the San Francisco Bay Area press which included a total of four ciphers. It was confirmed that he killed at least five people, though he claimed to have murdered 37.

Police still don’t know the identity of the Zodiac Killer, though they’ve long hoped that solving his ciphers would reveal more details about him.

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