Crime

Yo Gotti is a man of his word, following through with a lawsuit on behalf of nearly 30 Mississippi state prisoners enduring nightmarish, sometimes deadly conditions.

TMZ broke the story, Gotti enlisted Team Roc -- the philanthropic arm of Jay-Z's Roc Nation -- and its high-powered attorney, Alex Spiro, to rep the prisoners after a spike in deadly violence at several MS state prisons.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, says the max-security prison, Parchman, is a powder keg after 3 deaths in the first week of 2020. All 3 inmates were stabbed to death.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the MS prison system is "chronically understaffed" and also dramatically underfunded ... as in reduced by tens of millions each year. Those numbers -- combined with allegedly deplorable conditions -- have brought the prison to a boiling point.

To make matters worse, Parchman doesn't have enough mattresses for the inmates, cells are covered in black mold and raw sewage is spilling out on the floors ... according to the suit.

The prison allegedly has a serious water problem too, similar to Flint. In the suit, Team Roc claims the drinking water for inmates repeatedly fails to meet federal safety standards.

A former Penn State football player is suing the University -- claiming star players violently hazed younger players ... and made sexual threats invoking noted child rapist Jerry Sandusky.

The man behind the suit is Isaiah Humphries -- a defensive back who says he accepted a full scholarship to Penn State beginning in 2018.

But, Humphries says life as a Nittany Lion was hell -- with several upperclassmen players including Damion Barber, Micah Parsons, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jesse Luketa leading a campaign of hazing against the new players.

FYI, Micah Parsons is a star player -- the outside linebacker was Defensive MVP of the 2019 Cotton Bowl. Gross-Matos was an All-BIG 10 defensive end in '18 and '19.

According to Humphries' lawsuit, the upper classmen intended to make the new guys "their bitch" from the get-go ... telling them, "this is a prison."

He claims the upperclassmen also made threats against the new guys -- saying things like, "I am going to f*ck you" and "I am going to Sandusky you ... This is Jerry."

The alleged Sandusky quotes obviously refer to the disgraced Penn State football coach who was convicted of sexually assaulting many young boys at the school's athletic facility.

The allegations get much worse from here. Here's a list from the lawsuit ...

Welcome to the middle ground between light and shadow -- to an area where Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy's daughter finds herself in ... "The Twilight Zone."

Yes, Sophia Macy is set to appear in season 2 of the hit series recently revived by Jordan Peele. The 19-year-old, whose SAT was infamously rigged by Rick Singer and co., will make her 'Twilight' debut in an episode called "Among the Untrodden."

It'll be Sophia's third credited acting role, but they were relatively small gigs ... so, this'll definitely count as her big break -- and it couldn't come at a better time.

Gigi Hadid's in an awkward place, getting called as a potential juror on Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial -- and though she probably has solid reason to be excused, it seems she wants to serve.

Gigi showed up Monday morning in the NYC courthouse, and was later seen exiting. She was the model potential juror -- refusing to discuss the case, now in the fifth day of jury selection. More than 100 jurors have reportedly filled out questionnaires about their backgrounds and whether they'd remain impartial in the case.

Gigi was reportedly seated just 20 feet away from Weinstein and, according to the NY Daily News, she told the judge she'd previously met Weinstein but, "I think I'm still able to keep an open mind to the facts."

Dina Lohan has answers to just about everything cops allege she did this weekend during her DWI arrest -- denying she was in the wrong or in the danger zone for booze.

LiLo's mother's attorney, Mark Jay Heller, tells TMZ ... Dina was leaving an Outback Steakhouse Saturday near her East Coast home, and as she was pulling her Mercedes out of the lot when she hit the other car, a Honda.

Heller says Dina didn't see any damage, and claims no one was injured ... so she left, thinking nothing of it. Soon enough, she had the cavalry behind her.

We're told Dina was surprised to see several cops tailing her as she got home -- the implication being, she didn't think she'd done anything wrong. As for that pesky breathalyzer, Heller says she refused it 'cause she was NOT drunk ... and thought they'd lie.

As for the police officer's claim, Dina fell on her face as she got out of the vehicle, Heller says that's BS, and claims the officer actually pushed her to the ground.

Lori Harvey can't flee from prosecutors -- she's officially been charged in her hit and run case ... TMZ has learned.

According to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office ... Lori's been charged with one count of resisting/delaying/obstructing a peace officer, and one count of hit and run resulting in property damage. Both are misdemeanors.

Steve Harvey's daughter is expected to be arraigned later this month. TMZ broke the story ... she allegedly smashed into another car and tried to leave the scene. Cops ultimately nabbed her when they found her walking down the street a short distance from the accident.

At one point she FaceTimed her dad while dealing with officers. Witnesses told cops they saw Lori texting and driving before crashing into a Prius.

Cops on Miami's South Beach say they shot and killed a man ... after he stabbed one of their own -- and this video shows the entire deadly drama unfold.

TMZ obtained the video showing 5 officers slowly surrounding the man on Ocean Drive near the famous Clevelander South Beach Hotel. Cops say they were responding to a call for service, around 9 PM, related to the man. In the video, it appears one officer behind the man was first to open fire with a taser.

Once the suspect was down, the other 4 officers rushed in to apprehend him -- and it appears that's when he stabbed one of them.

Seconds after the 4 officers surrounded him ... they suddenly jumped back and 2 of them fired their handguns dozens of times. You can also see them dragging one officer back from the scene.

Police say the officer was stabbed multiple times and had to have surgery. The suspect was also transported to a hospital but died from his injuries early Sunday morning.

Ex-"Love and Hip Hop" star Mally Mall is facing a new lawsuit for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman, who claims she went to his home to talk business and ended up in an orgy-like nightmare.

26-year-old fitness and clothing model Quashay Davis says she flew from Dallas to L.A. in January 2019 to meet with Mally about her career in the fitness biz.

She says she went to his house, where he introduced her to an ex-porn star named Jayla Foxx. She claims while laying in bed ... Mally had Jayla go get a mixed drink -- with Hennessey -- which she brought to the bedroom.

Quashay says she drank it, and then got dizzy and blacked out. According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the next thing she remembered was waking up to a masseuse massaging her.

She claims Mally was there too, and slapped her face in an effort to keep her conscious ... and said, "You're my new bitch," and "You're my Jayla number two." Quashay alleges Mally also tried to get her to do cocaine, then forced her to perform oral sex on him -- before roughly penetrating her.

Quashay says she asked Mally to stop, but he put more of his weight on her ... and she "feared for her life and worried that he would crush or choke her to death."

Kitti Jones -- one of R. Kelly's exes who's accused him of physical abuse and sexual coercion -- is weighing in on Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage's fight and says they may end up saving each other.

We got Kitti out Friday morning in NYC, and it's crystal clear she has strong feelings after seeing the video of Azriel come to blows with Joycelyn in Kelly's condo. Kitti, a former Dallas radio DJ, says she was 33 when she met Kelly.

Still, she says she knows what it's like to be in Azriel's shoes, and offered some tips on recovering.

Kitti appeared in both 'Surviving R. Kelly' docs, and tells us even though Azriel and Joycelyn were brawling, they could ultimately end up being allies. As Kitti puts it ... that shared experience of dealing with Kelly is a powerful one.

TMZ broke the story ... cops responded to Kelly's Trump Tower condo after Azriel and Joycelyn came to blows. During the fight, Azriel threatened to send Joycelyn to jail ... for having sex with her when she was a minor.

Jenelle Evans' estranged husband, David Eason, is a wanted man in North Carolina ... and it all stems from an allegedly illegal truck-towing incident in 2018.

The embattled former reality TV star was ordered to appear in court Thursday for the case, but he no-showed, so the judge signed a warrant for his arrest ... according to the New Hanover Criminal Court Clerk.

The case centers around an incident that went down way back in the summer of 2018, in which Eason appeared to illegally tow a man's truck. David kinda shot himself in the foot on this one too -- he shared the video Jenelle took of him towing the truck that he claimed had blocked him in a space.

Cops are at R. Kelly's pad in Chicago because his 2 girlfriends got into a brawl ... and it was all on camera.

TMZ has learned Chicago PD responded to a reported battery at Kelly's Trump Tower condo shortly after Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage came to blows. Azriel was on Instagram Live Wednesday afternoon as she appeared to be gathering her things to move out of the condo -- and when Joycelyn came in the room both women went off on each other.

Azriel said she was looking out for herself, and then threatened to send Joycelyn to jail for the very thing Kelly's facing ... having sex with a minor. Azriel claimed she was a minor when she had sex with Joycelyn -- perhaps in a threesome with Kelly -- and said she'd report Joycelyn to cops.

Rae Sremmurd's mother says her son who's been accused of murdering his father and her ex-husband suffers from a mental illness requiring medication ... which she claims he's been off of as of late.

Bernadette Walker tells us her 19-year-old son, Michael Sullivan, deals with Schizoaffective disorder ... which lends to schizophrenia, as well as symptoms including hallucinations, delusions and mood disorders, such as mania and depression.

She says Michael was living with her in Atlanta until this past November, when she says he stopped taking his meds, leading to outbursts of anger that became more frequent. Bernadette tells us Michael eventually went to live with his dad, Floyd, in Mississippi.

Rae Sremmurd's stepfather -- who helped raised them since they were young -- is dead after a shooting in Mississippi, and police have their brother in custody.

Tupelo PD says officers were dispatched Monday night to a home where they found a man who'd died on the scene from at least a couple gunshot wounds. According to our law enforcement sources ... Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi's younger half-brother, Michael Sullivan, is being held for psychiatric evaluation.

At this point, they're calling the 19-year-old a person of interest in the shooting.

The Lee County Medical Examiner tells TMZ the victim is 62-year-old Floyd Sullivan. He's Swae and Slim's stepdad. He's raised them ever since the boys were in middle school, and moved to Mississippi with their mother, Bernadette. Floyd also has a son, Floyd Jr., from a previous relationship.

Police say no one else is being sought in connection with the killing.

It's unclear how much Slim or Swae know about what went down. We've reached out to a rep for the duo, but so far ... no word back.

The Screen Actors Guild buildings in L.A. and NY are on high alert after phone threats, one of which was related to President Trump and U.S. tensions with Iran.

Law enforcement sources in NY tells TMZ ... someone called SAG's office in Manhattan just after noon PT and threatened an attack, saying something to the effect of ... "I'm going to blow up the L.A. and NY SAG Offices."

We're told the phoned threat on the West Coast was less specific, though still plenty terrifying. In L.A., the caller said he was unhappy with POTUS and the situation with Iran ... according to a law enforcement source -- a clear reference to the drone attack that killed Iran's Gen. Soleimani.

We're told SAG-L.A. deemed the threat credible, immediately evacuated, and got cops involved. SAG HQ in NY did not evacuate, but NYPD responded and took a report for aggravated harassment.

In L.A., the bomb squad is on the scene, conducting a sweep of the building.

Lori Loughlin's defense in her looming college admissions trial hasn't been talked about much in the media, but make no mistake about it -- she has a defense, starting with the fact the so-called incriminating photos of her daughters on a rowing machine NEVER made their way to USC.

Prosecutors have made a huge deal of the fact Olivia Jade and Isabella were photographed on a rowing machine ... saying it's proof Lori and husband Mossimo Giannulli defrauded the University.

Sources connected to USC tell TMZ, the photos were never submitted as part of the girls' admission package. As we reported, the mastermind of the scandal -- Rick Singer -- told Lori and Mossimo to get the pics taken so it would appear they had experience on a crew team.

At its core ... Lori and Mossimo's defense is they relied on Singer -- who helped "10s of thousands" other clients -- to get their daughters into USC. They gave him $500,000 -- some parents paid less and some more -- and assumed the money would end up in the hands of the University. In other words, it wasn't a bribe -- so their defense will go.

YG claims nearly half a million dollars in bling was taken right from under his nose -- and cops are on the case.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the rapper filed a police report Monday in L.A. for grand theft, telling police over $400,000 in personal jewelry had recently been jacked from his hotel room at the London. And, by "recently," we mean almost an entire week earlier.

We're told YG claims sometime between 11 PM on NYE and 11 AM the next morning, a briefcase containing high-priced pieces that had been placed on top of a safe was a little lighter than usual. YG told cops he noticed the missing valuables on Jan. 1 ... but for some reason, didn't get around to making an official report until 5 days later.

No suspects have been identified in the case yet ... we're told YG noted he had people coming in and out of his room that night. Makes sense -- it was a big holiday, after all.

That said, our sources say detectives will be looking into possible surveillance footage in and around the area to see if they can spot anything ... in addition to their usual investigatory methods.