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El Chapo's wife will see time behind bars -- but it'll be way less than her hubby's life sentence.

Emma Coronel Aispuro was sentenced to 3 years in prison Tuesday for her role in Chapo's drug empire -- significantly less time than what many people expected she'd get, which was somewhere in the ballpark of around 10 years, if not more.

Of course, she had prosecutors pushing for a fairly lenient sentence on account of her cooperation and plea deal -- but it was unclear if the judge would still go easy on her. Seems the court felt her crimes she pled guilty to weren't worth more than a few years in prison.

She'll also have 4 years of supervised release and a forfeiture judgment of $1,499,970 representing proceeds of and property gained by Aispuro as a result of the crimes.

As we reported ... Coronel Aispuro copped a plea deal earlier this year after getting busted for drug trafficking at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia. She pled guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana.

Her attorneys argued (apparently with some success) that El Chapo's spouse was not a ring leader of any sort, nor was she intricately involved in her husband's operation at a key level. They also claimed she only participated because she had no other choice.

Trey Songz is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in Las Vegas.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is currently looking into claims of a sexual assault incident at The Cosmopolitan. It's unclear what day the alleged assault happened, but we're told the report was made to the police on Sunday.

Our sources say at this time, Trey is cooperating with the investigation ... no arrests have been made.

As for why he was in town, Trey celebrated his 37th birthday at Drai's Nightclub Saturday night. A source at the Cosmo tells us Trey and his entourage brought a group of females back to the hotel from the club, and that's where things allegedly took a turn.

We've reached out to a rep for Trey, so far ... no word back.

Bill Cosby is a free man, but prosecutors are asking the highest court in the land to review his case ... claiming he was never given immunity from a PA prosecutor in the Andrea Constand case.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... prosecutors in Pennsylvania are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the PA Supreme Court's ruling which overturned Cosby's conviction -- leading to his immediate release from prison.

Remember, Cosby walked free back in June after serving more than 2 years of a 10-year sentence in his sexual assault case. The PA Supreme Court ruled the conviction was bogus because Cosby had relied on an agreement with a previous prosecutor to not criminally charge him when he was deposed in the Constand case.

In new docs, prosecutors are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to right what they say is a "grievous wrong," arguing Cosby's overturned conviction is a slippery slope that could set a dangerous precedent.

They insist Cosby wasn't given lifetime immunity from prosecution just because the former prosecutor declined to criminally charge him at the time.

The appeal is a bit of a Hail Mary on behalf of prosecutors. The U.S. Supreme Court hears less than 1% of petitions, but there's still a chance ... however slim.

Jussie Smollett's back in Chicago, finally standing trial for allegedly staging the racist and homophobic attack he reported to cops ... and he's brought lots of backup.

The actor was greeted by a huge crowd of reporters and photographers on his way into the courthouse Monday morning. Jussie was flanked by 7 family members, including his sister Jurnee Smollett, as he strode in to face charges of felony disorderly conduct over the alleged January 2019 attack.

A grand jury indicted Smollett last year on six counts -- all related to lying to cops about the incident -- and he's pled not guilty to all the charges.

This is take 2 for Chicago in prosecuting Smollett for allegedly lying. He'd originally been hit with 16 charges, but the prosecutor's office unexpectedly dropped all of them back in March 2019.

A special prosecutor then presented the case to a grand jury ... resulting in the 6 new charges.

You'll recall, Jussie originally said 2 white men had attacked him at 2 AM on a brutally cold night ... hurling homophobic and racist slurs and, pouring what he believed to be bleach, all over him. He also claimed they'd yelled, "This is MAGA country" at him and left a rope around his neck.

However, Abel and Ola Osundairo eventually came forward and claimed the whole thing was staged.

The brothers, who are definitely NOT white, told cops Jussie paid them to pull off the fake attack ... which pissed off Chicago PD and led to Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx bringing the original charges.

The Osundairo brothers are expected to testify during Jussie's new trial.

Alice Sebold's movie adaptation about her 1981 Syracuse rape has utterly fallen apart in the wake of the exoneration of the man she accused -- and one of the film's stars is out too.

Netflix's Victoria Pedretti -- who has a leading role in "You" -- is no longer associated with the project, "Lucky," which was set to depict the plot of Sebold's 1999 memoir of the same name ... this according to Variety. It's unclear who Pedretti was supposed to portray, but some are guessing it might've been the author herself.

In addition to losing Pedretti's acting talents ... the project has lost all of its financing, which had apparently been crumbling in the months leading up to Monday's incredible news.

The revelation ... the man Sebold pinned the rape on, Anthony Broadwater, was fully exonerated last week after one of the former EPs attached to the "Lucky" movie dug into the facts of the story ... this after having suspicions about the script and its source material.

Tim Mucciante actually left the project over what he perceived as holes in the story -- but not just that, he actually went out of his way to hire a PI and lawyers to delve even deeper ... and ultimately consult with the local D.A.'s office -- which agreed that the evidence was shoddy, and asked the court to vacate Broadwater's 1982 conviction this week.

Lo and behold, they did exactly that ... and the dude broke down in tears for what he called a travesty of justice that had besmirched his name (and his life) for decades now.

Here's the crazy thing ... the truth appears to have been hiding in plain sight. What put Broadwater away for over 15 years was Sebold's on-the-stand testimony that he'd raped her in '81, plus microscopic hair analysis which has since been debunked as illegitimate science.

Not just that, but even the process of ID'ing Broadwater as the guy was completely botched -- first, she says she saw an unidentified Black dude approach her in the streets months after her rape, and she felt that this person was her attacker at Syracuse University.

She notified the cops and they canvased the area, picking up Broadwater for fitting the general description. Sebold is said to have failed to pick him out of a lineup shortly thereafter -- zeroing in on another Black man -- but somehow, Broadwater became the prime suspect.

Once he was face to face with her in court that following year, she definitively said it was him ... and the rest is history. He was released from prison in '99, and has had a rough go since.

A group of thieves rushed a Home Depot in SoCal for what may lead to more looting and robberies -- making off with hammers and crowbars in what's becoming an alarming trend.

Cops say about 10 individuals hit up a HD in Lakewood, CA -- just outside of Long Beach -- Friday night ... going directly to the aisles that had large wrenches, crowbars and sledgehammers, as that appeared to be the only items they were interested in.

Somebody got video of the alleged suspects escaping through the front doors, pushing past people. One employee claims as many as 20 people ransacked the place, and were allegedly threatening to hit people with said stolen goods if they attempted to stop them.

While most got away ... the police say they've nabbed 4 people they believe were involved.

On the opposite side of town -- in ritzy Beverly Grove on Melrose -- a luxury retailer called Bottega Veneta was also raided by an unidentified group of people ... who allegedly stormed in, grabbed purses and other goods and then fled before cops could arrive.

These are just the latest of a string of smash-and-grab/flash mob-style robberies that have not only hit the Los Angeles area ... but elsewhere in California, and well beyond our state lines.

There have been reports of similar types of crimes happening in Illinois, Minnesota and other states -- and cops have gone on high alert to try and curb the brazen attacks on stores and businesses.

It's hard to tell to what extent this spree is, and among who -- although in some cases (like in Walnut Creek) it's quite obvious there's some coordination going on ... as many as 25 cars reportedly blocked off a street and lined up side by side as passengers exited and cleaned out a Nordstrom.

Of course, there's not much citizens -- let alone employees -- can do to stop this. Reports say anyone who's attempted to get in the way has risked getting attacked with pepper spray or being swung on ... and workers are usually told not to try and play Batman for this scenario.

Brian Laundrie may have killed himself with a handgun he took from his parent's home, but information about the missing gun was kept secret ... until now.

The Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, tells TMZ, Chris and Roberta Laundrie voluntarily surrendered all of the guns in their home to police back on Sept. 17. At the time they were aware a handgun was missing.

Bertolino says law enforcement felt it was best not to reveal the gun was MIA. He also says Brian's parents "were shocked the gun was missing and they were upset."

As we reported, a Florida medical examiner concluded Brian Laundrie died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Authorities have not said if the missing handgun was found at the scene.

What's puzzling ... if there was well-placed suspicion Brian Laundrie had a gun, why wasn't a warning sent out that he might be armed and dangerous? After all, he was missing for weeks and he could have been on the run.

Alec Baldwin is preparing for legal war ... hiring a lawyer for the civil lawsuits resulting from the fatal "Rust" movie shooting.

The "Rust" star and producer is lawyering up with Aaron S. Dyer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman ... according to multiple reports.

Dyer, who spent almost seven years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, will reportedly rep Alec plus Rust Movie Productions and the other production companies involved in the western.

As you know ... Alec pulled the trigger in the fatal shooting on set last month that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

The revolver was loaded with at least one live round ... though assistant director Dave Halls announced it was a "cold" gun -- meaning no live ammo -- before handing it over to Alec inside a church where they were practicing for a scene.

TMZ broke the story ... the key gaffer on "Rust" is already taking legal action against Alec, Halls and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed ... Serge Svetnoy is suing over the shooting, claiming the defendants' alleged negligence caused him severe emotional distress.

Remember ... Svetnoy claims the deadly bullet nearly hit him too, and says he was one of the first people who tended to Halyna while she was bleeding from her gunshot wound, trying to comfort her and keep her conscious.

Alec is also named in another suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, who claims she suffered emotional and physical injuries when AB shot Halyna.

The family of 14-year-old John Hilgert -- who lost his life at Astroworld -- are devastated by the loss of their son, and want to hold those responsible accountable ... reportedly filing a lawsuit against Travis Scott, Live Nation and others.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Houston, claims Travis and concert organizers failed to provide a safe environment for those in attendance. Among the security failures listed, according to People, a lack of personnel, barriers and emergency medical staff.

A statement from John's dad, Chris, reads, "The pain of our loss from our son John not making it home alive from an event such as this is intolerable. He was a beautiful young man who simply wanted to enjoy his first concert event with friends, whom he treasured spending time with more than anything else."

He continues, "If this lawsuit prevents even one family from having to go through the extreme pain and anguish that we have endured, then it is the least we can do to honor John's memory."

The suit, filed by attorney Richard Mithoff, is reportedly seeking in excess of $1 million in damages.

Of course, the Hilgert lawsuit is just one of dozens filed against Travis, Live Nation and others. As we reported, one filing asks for $2 billion in damages, another asks for $750 million and represents hundreds of alleged victims -- whether those injuries be mental or physical.

Hilgert was one of 10 to lose his life at the show. The main questions to be answered by investigators, what happened and who is to blame?

Sources close to Travis have been adamant, he didn't know the extent of what was happening in the crowd. There was also a clear breakdown in communication among emergency workers, after we obtained video of cops enjoying the show more than 25 minutes after the Houston Fire Chief allegedly called the concert a "Mass Casualty Event."

Tyga just got a little bit of good news in his domestic violence case ... we've learned he will NOT be hit with a felony.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the police passed the rapper's DV case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office so they could decide if they wanted to file charges against Tyga.

But, according to the L.A. County D.A. ... the case has now been kicked over to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office ... and that means he won't be charged with a felony because only the D.A.'s Office can charge folks with a felony.

TMZ broke the story ... Tyga was arrested for felony domestic violence last month, turning himself in to authorities after his ex-girlfriend, Camaryn Swanson, claimed he got physical with her.

Camaryn filed a police report, claiming Tyga hit her ... and she later posted video showing her alleged injuries. Tyga's camp claims her allegations are "false and will be disproven."

The exes reportedly started dating early this year, and in March they went Instagram official. It's unclear when they split, but we're told it happened before the alleged incident.

We're told, Camaryn's injuries and the evidence did not rise to a felony charge and that's the reason it was kicked to the City Attorney.

Ahmaud Arbery's death was a cold-blooded murder -- this according to a jury ... who just decided on the issue definitively.

Travis and Gregory McMichael, as well as William 'Roddie' Bryan, were all just found guilty of murder and a slew of other charges.

All three defendants had been indicted on 9 counts each -- in addition to malice murder, the McMichaels and Bryan were also up against four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment ... and now, they face life in prison come sentencing.

Gregory McMichael and Bryan were found not guilty on the charge of malice murder. Bryan was also found not guilty on one of the felony murder charges and a felony assault charge.

In attendance was Ahmaud's mom, Wanda, who was seated next to Rev. Al Sharpton.

The trial has been ongoing for a couple weeks now -- and the main defense -- for Travis McMichael, anyway, who shot and killed Ahmaud -- was that he was only acting in self-preservation ... with his defense attorneys arguing he feared for his life.

Travis claimed he didn't want to shoot Ahmaud, but felt he had to after they got into a scuffle on the road ... with TM alleging Ahmaud went for his gun, and he thought he'd use it.

As for the rest of them ... they all contended in court they were simply trying to make a citizen's arrest -- in the context that the McMichaels had previously been informally deputized to help out the local cops. Officers in the trial denied any such bestowment of duty.

In any case, it was a hard sell for the defendants from the beginning ... as prosecutors outlined what they described as a modern-day lynching of a Black man the defendants believed had committed a crime -- and then hopped into their vehicles to chase him down.

Prosecutors say Ahmaud was simply jogging through their neighborhood -- however, there was footage showing him stopping by a construction site and walking through. Because of this, the McMichaels say they approached Ahmaud to ask what he was doing there -- as there had been thefts at that same property in the weeks leading up to his arrival that day.

Before long, Ahmaud was off and running ... and the McMichaels gave chase in their truck, rounding up Bryan in the process, who trailed them and filmed the deadly moment on camera.

Despite the McMichaels' and Bryan's assertion they were just trying to rein Ahmaud in for questioning -- the jury felt they went too far, and crossed a line that cost him his life.

The entire trial has been marred with controversy from the start ... with 11 jurors being selected, all of whom were white -- save for one Black juror. People felt that would create a bias in favor of the defendants ... but, clearly, that didn't turn out to be the case.

Of course, there was also the issue of pastors in court -- or at least what one defense attorney argued was an issue, after Reverend Al Sharpton made an appearance in the gallery alongside the Arbery family.

The attorney suggested the mere presence of Black pastors could intimidate the jury -- but the judge shot him down ... as it was a ridiculous theory.

Now that their fates are sealed, sentencing comes next ... and considering the guilty verdict, many expect these men to serve out the rest of their lives behind bars. They'll appear before a judge in the near future.

The man cops say is responsible for running his SUV through a Wisconsin Christmas parade, killing 5 people, and injuring dozens more has just been charged ... and is about to make a first appearance in court.

According to documents released Tuesday, Darrell Brooks Jr. has been hit with 5 counts of first-degree intentional homicide -- one count for each person killed. The docs recount how Brooks ignored attempts by both civilians and police officers to stop his vehicle.

Not only that, officers claim there were several moments when Brooks had the opportunity to exit the parade route and he stayed in ... increasing his speed and mowing people down.

In all, there were at least 62 injured by Brooks ... the 5 casualties were all adults, but we know children were among the injured.

As we reported, Brooks' arrest was captured on doorbell surveillance shortly after the massacre. He had asked the homeowners to use a phone, saying he was waiting on an Uber ... but cops were quick to catch up to him.

Brooks, who at one time had a very small-scale rap career featured the same vehicle he used in the attack in one of his videos.

In a day that saw more than 30 new lawsuits filed against Travis Scott and the organizers of Astroworld, now event staffers are filing legal papers of their own ... including two security guards who say the event has left them permanently scarred.

Samuel and Jackson Bush say they were hired by AJ Melino and Associates to work security at the event. The docs claim that while only 50,000 people bought tickets, there were many more in attendance ... and the massive crowd caused bigger problems.

Both men claim mental and physical injuries from working the event. Jackson says he witnessed CPR being performed on lifeless bodies and pulled a person from a crowd crush who ended up dying.

The lawsuit is asking for more than $1 million in damages ... and going after not only Travis, but Live Nation, AJ Melino, Cactus Jack Records and others in the process.

As we reported, the new filings are just a fraction of what's already come in. Just last week, a $2 billion lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 280 attendees ... prior to that, another lawsuit for $750 million was filed against Travis and others.

Cops continue to investigate exactly what went wrong, but from almost all fan accounts, overcrowding and crowd surges seem to be to blame.

Travis remained out of the public eye since the festival, and 10 people have died after suffering injuries at the concert ... he's offered to pay funeral expenses and set up an account where families can get in touch with his team to work things out.

Travis' attorney, Ed McPherson tells us, "It was reported that the Operations Plan designated that only the festival director and executive producers have authority to stop the show, neither of which is part of Travis's crew. This also runs afoul of HPD's own previous actions when it shut down the power and sound at this very festival when the performance ran over 5 minutes back in 2019."

He continues, "Investigations should start proceeding over finger-pointing so that together, we can identify exactly what transpired and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again."

Ghislaine Maxwell seems to be full of secrets -- including what she knows about Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful pals, and one journo is hoping to unlock the mystery once and for all.

The British socialite -- who was tight with Epstein for years before he was charged anew in 2019, and subsequently killed himself -- is about to have her day in court over alleged sex trafficking, among other charges she's facing ... which will be decided at trial later this month.

Of course, many see Maxwell as the key to unlocking the long suspected malfeasance Epstein was conducting with underage girls -- and that goes doubly so for reporter Vicky Ward.

We talked to Vicky on "TMZ Live" about the "Chasing Ghislaine" documentary she's just released on Discovery+, and she tells us a lot of new information is uncovered through her investigation ... one she's been digging into and working on for over a decade now.

Something that's clear to Vicky about Epstein's alleged criminal acts is he clearly had a support system of influential allies spanning the entire globe. Many of those ties to powerful people have already been exposed -- but Vicky wonders how they could NOT have known what Epstein was doing.

She does not suggest any one of these men participated in anything unseemly themselves ... but in her eyes (and, frankly, the eyes of many) there's no reason they should've been as cozy with the guy ... especially knowing his sordid history.

Kevin Spacey cost the creative forces behind Netflix's hit 'House of Cards' a crap ton of money due to his alleged sexual misconduct -- and now, the guy's been ordered to pony up millions over it.

The disgraced actor lost an arbitration case he's been involved in for the past few years now with a couple of companies called MRC II and Knight Takes King Productions -- a distribution company and production company, respectively.

The two companies claimed they were doing the heavy lifting on 'HOC,' especially for the 6th season they were producing for the streaming giant ... with Kevin, obviously, being a huge part of it.

An arbitrator ruled last year that Spacey's alleged behavior did, in fact, cause MRC and Knight substantial harm by essentially torpedoing the final season ... but KS had appealed that decision, only to lose again earlier this month.

Now, the companies are asking the court to confirm the arbitration award ... which would leave Spacey and his loan-out and producing companies on the hook for about $31 million. The lion's share of the award is for compensatory damages -- more than $29.5 mil -- and the remaining million and change cover attorneys' fees and costs.

MRC and KTKP argued that there was an internal investigation of Spacey's behavior -- which included claims he'd sexually harassed/assaulted production members working on 'House of Cards' -- and after doing a deep dive, they say they found many of those accusations to be true and terminated his contract. They say his conduct caused them to suffer substantial losses ... which led to the litigation.

Spacey has avoided criminal liability thus far ... but on the civil side of things, this is a big ding. He's remained mostly low-key since the allegations surfaced -- although, he is getting back to work slowly but surely.

The mystery over who murdered Young Dolph may be one step closer to being solved -- because it looks like the cops have tracked down the getaway car in which the killer fled.

The vehicle was located Saturday in the Orange Mound neighborhood of South Memphis -- on the 1100 block of Bradley Street ... this according to a reporter with FOX13, who confirmed the news with local law enforcement officials, who believe they may have it.

Several different photos and videos have surfaced showing a white 2-door Mercedes Benz being towed out of a driveway of a residential home ... with neighbors looking on, and police surrounding the area. Per reports, the car appeared to be abandoned here -- and still intact.

At first glance ... the vehicle depicted in these clips certainly does look like the one cops posted photos of when asking the public for help in identifying it.

While a clear license plate wasn't visible in the photos that the police threw up ... you can kinda make one out in these videos circulating online. Unclear if the person whose property this was found on is being taken in for questioning or not -- but ya gotta imagine they're a person of interest, assuming this turns out to be the car they're after.

As we reported ... two men rolled up to Makeda's Homemade Cookies -- where Dolph was inside at the time -- and jumped out, opening fire on him in broad daylight. After unleashing a barrage of bullets that ultimately killed him on the spot, the perps fled in said Benz.

Memphis PD has yet to speak on the discovery -- they wouldn't confirm to us either way if they thought they had something, but based on this preliminary evidence, it could be a match.

Here's the crazy part ... the car was left just a mere 3 miles from the site of the shooting.