Crime

Three officers who the New York State Attorney General's Office claims were present when Robert Brooks was beaten are named in other lawsuits alleging brutal beatings at the hands of prison guards.

In documents reviewed by TMZ ... Nicholas Anzalone, Glenn Trombly and Anthony Farina -- all three suspended pending further investigation by New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner -- are named as defendants in lawsuits filed by incarcerated or formally incarcerated individuals.

In a lawsuit filed in September 2022, a man named Adam Bauer sued Anzalone along with several other correctional officers ... after he claimed he suffered an unprovoked beating by one for smoking a cigarette in a bathroom in 2020.

12/30 12:24 PM PT -- James Miller, rep for NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association tells TMZ ... "NYSCOPBA’s Executive Board has reviewed the video footage released by the Attorney General regarding the death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility.  What we have witnessed is reprehensible. It is clear to all of us that these actions are a disgrace to our profession and have put everyone inside our facilities at risk. As correction officers and sergeants, we have a duty to protect every person inside a correctional facility. At all times, we must be ready to stop those seeking to do harm, and that includes fellow staff. We, as an organization, stand in complete defiance of the callous disregard for the suffering that we have all witnessed on this video. NYSCOPBA will continue to fulfill its legal obligation to defend all members from all administrative charges, regardless of severity or public outcry. However, as more information becomes readily available, NYSCOPBA must continue to focus its efforts on advocating on behalf of those members who dutifully come to work every day and act with the professionalism and selflessness demanded of them."

Body cam footage of corrections officers brutally beating a restrained inmate -- who died hours later -- has been released by the New York State Attorney General ... showing officers hitting the bloodied man repeatedly.

The video shows Robert Brooks -- an inmate serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault -- repeatedly being punched and kicked ... and, one man appears to gag him with a towel.

Videos released by the attorney general's office show one officer repeatedly striking Brooks in his midsection with a shoe as other officers hold him down with his arms behind him. At one point, the officers lift Brooks up by his neck ... he's got blood all over his face and he can't even hold up his own weight.

New technology could transform the way our legal system works ... because a judge in Florida put on a virtual reality headset to get a better sense of a defendant's testimony.

Attorney Ken Padowitz is using VR to defend his client in a criminal case, and he joined us on "TMZ Live" to explain how the fancy tech is being introduced to the legal system.

Ken's client is Miguel Albisu ... the guy owns a wedding venue in Florida and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Albisu brandished a gun at a wedding reception, but says he was acting in self-defense after some of the attendees started getting rowdy.

John Bennett Ramsey has plans to meet with local police once again ... in hopes of convincing them to use new DNA-testing technology to solve his daughter's killing.

The father of JonBenét is expected to speak with the Boulder Police Department in Colorado again in January, along with representatives from a leading DNA lab, to push for a new approach to evidence authorities collected nearly three decades ago.

John explains there is new DNA tech that could separate mixed samples ... a major issue with DNA collected at the time, he says. Ramsey's hopeful the police will allow an independent lab to conduct testing on the old crime scene items. JonBenét was killed on Christmas night in 1996, and her body was found hours later, after she had been reported missing.

Peter Thomas' prison sentence isn’t the only thing he’s dealing with in his tax case -- a judge just laid out a bunch of conditions for his supervised release when he gets out of prison.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, the 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star has to join a substance abuse testing program during his two years of supervised release once he finishes serving his 18-month prison sentence.

He’ll have to stick to the conditions of his supervised release ... and it looks like his probation officer will be keeping an eye on him and can search him if they have a reason to suspect something’s up.

Suspected Idaho murderer Bryan Kohberger could have had more practice than anyone thought before he allegedly killed 4 University of Idaho students ... turns out he was under investigation for a home invasion that had many of the markings of the savage murders.

The home invasion went down in Pullman, Washington in late 2021, a little more than a year before the Univ. of Idaho murders in a town just a few miles away.

A woman in the house told cops, "I heard my door open and I looked over, and someone was wearing a ski mask and had a knife."

A brazen bandit looked more like he was trying out for a role in a Quentin Tarantino movie instead of robbing a Walgreens in Tennessee because he used double-fisted guns to commit the wild crime.

The Memphis PD released surveillance footage Tuesday, showing the thief storming inside the store with two machine pistols — one clutched in each hand.

Check out the shocking footage ... the masked suspect spreads his arms like a butterfly, pointing the firearms at workers on either side of him, while demanding money during Sunday's stick-up.

Luigi Mangione's got hundreds of people donating money to his defense fund ... and a spokesperson for one committee is explaining why they're trying to help him pay his legal fees.

Jamie Peck -- a member of The December 4th Legal Committee -- tells TMZ … part of the reason why they started the fund for Mangione is their belief everyone deserves a fair trial – even someone accused of terrorism.

While Peck makes it clear she isn't co-signing the violence, she hopes the case will have people talking about the broken healthcare system in America.

Jen Shah has made a new friend while behind bars .... former "Mob Wives" star Renee Graziano, who's providing the 'RHOSLC' star with advice through letters.

Chris Giovanni, who reps both Shah and Graziano, tells TMZ ... RG has sent JS several letters while in prison, with the most recent one being mailed-off last week.

TMZ has obtained a copy of the note, which reads, "Sending you all love and well wishes. There’s a tattoo on my foot that reads ‘the past was only practice’. We learn from our mistakes or someone elses [sic]."

Michael B. Jordan is the latest Celebrity to have an unwanted guest show up at his Los Angeles-area home.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Wednesday afternoon, while Jordan was home, a suspect was seen in his front yard.

Jordan’s security called the LAPD and then escorted the suspect off the property and waited for the cops.

Robert Vito will not face criminal charges after his arrest last month ... though he will speak to the city attorney about alternative conflict resolution in the future.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office tells TMZ ... Vito has an upcoming hearing with the city attorney where they’ll talk to him and go over ways to avoid situations like this in the future.

After that, the case will be put on ice ... and, as long as he doesn't get in trouble in the next year, he won't ever face charges because of it.

A TikTok account that potentially belonged to the Wisconsin school shooter is now deleted on the heels of complaints about racist comments on the page ... TMZ has learned.

The account possibly belonging to 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow was first highlighted by the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism -- and when we checked it out, we found it only had 2 posts, both related to the movie "Fight Club" ... but they were flooded with comments that were clearly left after the tragedy in Madison, WI.

We confirmed with the ADL the username its people observed was @targetedbloodsport -- and according to them, the account featured the phrase, "Totally nice day," similar to "Totally normal day" ... which the ADL claims is used by racists or white supremacists.

Martin Katz -- a famous jewelry designer who has made pieces for some of the biggest names in Hollywood -- was burglarized ... with thieves taking millions of dollars' worth of handbags.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Katz returned to his home just after 10:30 PM Tuesday to find his window smashed -- noting numerous items were taken.

We're told the thieves grabbed a ton of high-end bags ... including collector's items from Hermès -- some of which were worth a few hundred thousand dollars each.

Luigi Mangione's leaving his orange jumpsuit at the courthouse door ... ditching the prison garb for a more fashionable ensemble in federal court Thursday.

According to reports, Mangione entered the Manhattan courtroom wearing "a white button-down shirt, navy three-quarter zip pullover and khaki pants."

Mangione wasn't handcuffed during his court appearance ... though, according to CNN, when court ended for the day Mangione was led from the room between two marshals with his ankles shackled.

Luigi Mangione planned the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson months in advance ... and, he'd clearly been thinking about it longer -- so say federal prosecutors.

In the federal criminal complaint -- filed Thursday -- prosecutors included several diary entries they claim Mangione made over the past few months ... all of which seem to point to Mangione as Thompson's killer.

An entry dated August 15 describes how he's "glad -- in a way -- that I've procrastinated" because it allowed him to learn more about a "Company-1" ... which is how the feds refer to UnitedHealthcare throughout the docs.

Turns out the Wisconsin teen school shooter may have had a partner in crime -- a California man has been detained for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a government building in a coordinated attack with her.

According to a gun violence restraining order obtained by San Diego's CBS 8, 20-year-old Carlsbad resident Alexander Paffendorf is accused of exchanging messages with Natalie Rupnow about opening fire at a local government building ... while she attacked the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison on Monday.

The emergency restraining order from the Carlsbad Police Department states, "During an FBI interview, Paffendorf admitted to the FBI agents that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building."