On January 17, a transatlantic conference call between investigators for the FBI and the UK’s Scotland Yard was compromised and recorded by Anonymous hackers. The subject of the call: the international criminal investigation into Anonymous. For more information, see The Guardian’s article on the hack.

via TPM Idea Lab

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (trailer) is the conclusion of the Paradise Lost documentary trilogy about the West Memphis Three—three men who in 1993 were convicted of an Arkansas triple murder, and in 2010 were abruptly released from prison, after years of appeals and lobbying by a grassroots movement that believes the men were wrongly convicted. The documentary was directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The film premieres January 12 on HBO.

HBO Documentary Films’ PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY, the conclusion of the award-winning trilogy that spawned a world-wide movement to free three convicted men – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley – known as The West Memphis 3, tells the complete story of one of the most notorious child murder cases in U.S. history. Provocative and timely, the film chronicles stunning new developments, culminating in the startling and unexpected conclusion just a few months ago, when Echols, who was on death row, and Baldwin and Misskelley, who were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, were finally freed from prison after more than 18 years.

Fans of Showtime’s television crime drama about a serial-killing forensics expert, Dexter, will certainly appreciate the officially licensed Dexter Blood Splattered Coasters available at ThinkGeek. Made of see-through acrylic, this set of six beverage coasters housed in a wooden box will add a dose of dark humor to any home.

Let visitors to your house know that splatters of any kind are unacceptable. You will not turn the other cheek, you will slice it! What civilized person puts a cup glistening with condensation on a bare wooden table? That’s why we have this set of blood-spattered Dexter coasters. (To put cups on, not to slice people with.) Can you imagine slicing someone open with a dull-edged coaster? That would take a great deal of effort.

via The Awesomer

After retiring, Lynn Zwerling took her passion for knitting to men incarcerated at the Jessup Pre-Release Unit in Jessup, Maryland. The very successful program, called Knitting Behind Bars, has taught over 100 male inmates how to knit since 2009. The inmates make “comfort dolls” which are being given to first responders for comforting traumatized children.

The men were reluctant at first, complaining that knitting was too girly or too difficult. But Zwerling assured them men had invented the craft, then gave them a five-minute knitting lesson she swears can teach anyone. Suddenly, Zwerling says, the men “found the zen,” and got hooked. Now, every Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m., they come to class, leaving their crimes and the hierarchies of prison life behind.

via Good and The Baltimore Sun

photo by Karl Merton Ferron of The Baltimore Sun

images via Knitting Behind Bars

Since 2009, the New York Police Department has been capturing 360 degree panoramic images of crime scenes using Panoscan cameras. The New York Times has posted a gallery of actual crime scene panoramas.

via The New York Times

images via New York Police Department

Design studio Aint Rocket Science have developed Tiny Crime Scene Tape, a small roll of vinyl tape for marking the smallest of crime scenes.

Our new tapes are great at unleashing your creativity, and have the wicked sence of humour we value so much. So why not tape a bit of an old sandwich dropped by a tramp or tape around a slightly suspect stain on a bus seat to alert your fellow passengers, or if there is an old yogurt in the fridge that looks so funky it’s a crime… get your tape on and bring some fun.

via Super Punch

In this captured video, a woman calls 911 because she is viewing her home being burglarized in real-time (while she’s at work) via a web-enabled surveillance camera. She installed the camera because her home had been robbed in the past. And yes, there is a happy ending.

via Boing Boing

On October 11, Florida Highway Patrol Officer D. J. Watts pulled over and arrested at gunpoint a Miami police officer, Fausto Lopez, for driving 120 mph on the highway in Broward County (see the dashboard camera video of the chase and arrest). Officer Lopez was off-duty and driving a Miami Police Department squad car to his second job at a private school.

via Gawker

CSI: Legoland by Joe Nicolosi

The Frozen Planet series on BBC One recently released a clip from the Spring episode about male criminal penguins who shamelessly steal pebbles from other penguins’ love nests.

“Some penguins turn to a life a crime.”

via reddit

On an evening in April of 2010, St. Louis resident Justin Stouder made the mistake of pointing a green laser pointer at a police helicopter flying a mile from his house. This cockpit video posted by the FBI shows the dangerous blinding effect of the laser and the Stouder’s quick arrest by police. Besides being dangerous to pilots and their passengers, dazzling an aircraft with a laser pointer is a Federal felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The FAA reports that “laser incidents” have been doubling each year since they were first tracked in 2004. In 2010, pilots reported 2,836 incidents.

via Gizmodo

Internet Story is an intriguing murder mystery from 2010 written and directed by filmmaker Adam Butcher.

A fast-paced and experimental film told through fragments of internet videos, animations, blogs and news articles.

A series of shocking events unfolds when a young man creates a public treasure hunt for his own amusement and a video blogger decides to pursue the riddles across country

via reddit

The Last Meals Project by photographer Jonathon Kambouris is a photo series that presents the mugshots of executed death row inmates along with representations of their last meal.

Every prisoner waiting to be executed is granted a last meal. Prisoners waiting to die choose their last meal for different reasons. Some choose from past memories, while others feast on what they crave at the moment. Such fascinating details surrounding the final hours before being put to death are a matter of public record and are the inspiration for this series of photographs. Justice may not always be served because the innocent can be proved guilty and the guilty can be proved innocent. Choosing the last meal is a significant ritual because the accuracy and validity of this choice is the only answer one can ultimately accept. This series visually documents the face and last meal of a convicted killer and is without question, honest and true. This will be an on going project as executions continue to take place in the United States. The core of the issue lies not on the emotionally loaded (for or against) arguments, but to question, how is society really served by the death penalty?

via Utne Reader

images by Jonathon Kambouris

“Speakeasy Dollhouse” is an elaborate project by Cynthia von Buhler that tells the story of her grandfather’s unsolved Depression era murder in New York City, using dolls and dioramas to recreate the circumstances of his death. “Speakeasy Dollhouse” will be released in October as both a book and play. Von Buhler is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

SPEAKEASY DOLLHOUSE is a biographical tale of murder, mafia, and intrigue in New York City told with handmade dolls and sets, in conjunction with an immersive play.

via Gothamist

photos by Cynthia von Buhler

“5 Million Dollars 1 Terabyte” by Manuel Palou is a conceptual art piece featuring a one terabyte hard drive containing illegally downloaded files worth nearly five million dollars.

via Rhizome

FBI raids Visa headquarters, uncovering the largest credit card scam in history.

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr., collectively known as the West Memphis Three, have been released from prison today, ending 18 years of incarceration for an Arkansas triple murder the three men insist they did not commit. The men were convicted in 1994 of murdering three eight year old boys in a satanic ritual the year prior, based on controversial evidence and confessions–DNA tests would later fail to link the trio to the murders. Today, in a plea deal, the three have been released based on time already served (Baldwin and Misskelley had been sentenced to life in prison, and Echols was on death row).

For more information on the West Memphis Three, visit their support fund page, follow the WM3 Twitter for live updates, and see their article on wikipedia. Two HBO documentaries were also created about the case: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. A third documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory premiers in September 2011 at the Toronto Film Festival and will air on HBO in January 2012.

UPDATE 1: CNN explains the unique Alford plea that led the release of The West Memphis Three.

UPDATE 2: MSNBC has posted video of the press conference with Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. just after their release.

UPDATE 3: Here’s video of the public hearing for The West Memphis on August 19, 2011.

We’ve written about the West Memphis Three since the early days of the Laughing Squid blog:

- Skeleton Key West Memphis Three Benefit (2006)
- West Memphis Three World Awareness Day (2006)
- DNA Evidence Proves Innocence of West Memphis Three (2007)
- CNN Special on The West Memphis Three and Possible New Trial (2011)

image via HBO

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker is a memoir by Kevin Mitnick, a former computer hacker who, at the time of his arrest in 1995, was the most wanted computer criminal in US history. Mitnick now runs his own computer security consultancy.

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world’s biggest companies–and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn’t just about technological feats-it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.

Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI’s net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat and mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape, and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information.

Pure Evil Gallery imagines what the logo might look like for the London Olympic Looting Team.

via The World’s Best Ever

On July 7, two robbers (one carrying a rifle) entered a Los Angeles County smoke shop and demanded money from the shop’s owner. Within seconds the robbers were accosted by the owner’s dog, a ferociously yapping Chihuahua, who so unnerved them they ran away. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has released the surveillance video of the robbery–the Chihuahua begins his attack at the 6 second mark. The robbers flee ten seconds later.

via LA Times

Joshua Kaufman had his MacBook stolen from his Oakland apartment in March. He’s been using the app Hidden to capture photos of the thief and posting them on the Tumblr blog This Guy Has My Macbook.

Sean Power was able to track down his stolen laptop online using the tracking software Prey and discovered it was being used by Paolo Votano, co-owner of Oficina Latina NYC (at the time Sean was out of town on business). Sean updated his progress via Twitter, with his followers doing additional research and two of them even helped recover the laptop. Brandon Ballenger shows how the story unfolded on Twitter.

Stolen Camera Finder by Matt Burns is a simple website that can track down a lost or stolen camera by searching online for the camera’s serial number in the Exif data embedded in many digital photos. The site has a growing database of serial numbers mapped to photos posted online–more than one million cameras have been identified.

Every photo you take with your digital camera contains hidden information about both the image and the camera such as the make, model and date. This information, called exif data, can also include a unique serial number which identifies your camera. stolencamerafinder crawls the internet searching for photos, collecting the serial numbers of the cameras that took them. When you use the drag & drop feature, stolencamerafinder reads the unique serial number from the exif data of your photo and uses it to match against serial numbers it has stored.

via Chris Glass

“The Candy Shop” by Brandon McCormick is a short film that presents the shockingly prevalent sexual trafficking of children that is currently plaguing Atlanta as a potent fairytale allegory.

The Candy Shop is a Fairytale/Parable about the child sex trafficking epidemic that has overrun our city of Atlanta. We are using the film to not only raise awareness but provoke meaningful action towards this issue taking place in our own backyard.

The film is part of Stop the Candy Shop, a 12 month campaign by Street GRACE and Whitestone Motion Pictures to raise awareness about the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States. To find out how to help the campaign, visit their website.

Improv Everywhere is looking for help identifying the brutal thugs who attacked Jar Jar Binks on the NYC subway.

For our latest mission, we attempted to stage a sequel to our Star Wars Subway Car mission, using characters from Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Jar Jar Binks entered a random train car and informed subway riders that he was scared that Darth Maul was chasing him. If things had gone as planned, people would have laughed and been surprised when Darth Maul showed up at the next stop.

Unfortunately, three men on the train decided to ruin the fun for everyone by assaulting our actor playing Jar Jar. We were not going to even post this mission, but the actor who played Jar Jar wants to press charges, and we are searching for information on the three guys who attacked him. We hope that someone who sees this video will know them personally or recognize their faces.

UPDATE 1: As you might have guessed, this was an April Fool’s Day prank.

UPDATE 2: Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the prank.