Crime

Famed P.I. Jack Palladino has died from the grave injuries he suffered during an attempted robbery in his San Francisco neighborhood.

Palladino never regained consciousness after being attacked by 2 would-be robbers Friday and falling and hitting his head on the pavement. His attorney, Mel Honowitz, says Jack died Monday around noon after being taken off life support the day before.

As we reported ... Jack's family says he went outside Friday evening to snap photos of people he believed were making trouble in his neighborhood, and they attacked him and tried to steal his camera.

Palladino's family says he refused to let go, but fell in the process. However, his photographs may have helped police track down the 2 suspects it arrested Sunday for his attack -- 23-year-old Tyjone Flournoy and 24-year-old Lawrence Thomas.

Flournoy and Thomas were booked for attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, but now that Palladino has died ... they may be facing a felony murder charge.

Jack started his career as a P.I. in the '70s, but became one of the premier names in the biz in the '80s ... and worked a bunch of high-profile cases in the '90s.

Those included investigating the extra-marital affair allegations against Bill Clinton in 1992, the cause of death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, and repping a 14-year-old boy in his civil, molestation lawsuit against Michael Jackson.

Jack was 76.

RIP

New York Attorney General Letitia James says her office is looking into the incident, which she called "deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable."

The A.G. adds ... "Such use of force and pepper spray should never be deployed against a child, period."

James is also calling for "drastic reform" at the Rochester Police Department "to ensure that mental health professionals and child advocates are actually responding to people in need and when minors are involved, and that this type of behavior never occurs again."

Rochester Police are under fire for detaining and pepper spraying a child who'd been reported as suicidal, and body cam video of the incident is disturbing.

Officers had handcuffed the 9-year-old girl during the Friday domestic violence call. Police say her mother was worried the girl would harm herself or others. While walking the child to a patrol car, she fell to the snowy ground, began flailing arms and screaming she wanted to see her dad.

A nearly 10-minute struggle ensued ... as the girl resisted, 2 officers put the cuffs on her and attempted to put her in their car. The girl continued screaming and said she wouldn't get in until she saw her dad.

A female officer stepped in, trying to convince her to get in the backseat. A male officer, who was trying to pull the girl in from the other side yelled, "Sit up! You're acting like a child, stop" -- to which she responded, "I am a child!! What the f***?"

The female officer eventually warned the child the cops were getting impatient, and she would be pepper sprayed if she didn't get in the car. Less than a minute later, a male officer said, "Just spray her at this point" ... and that's what happened.

The full arrest video includes a disturbing interaction with the child's mother, and you hear the girl accuse her mother of stabbing the father ... which the mother denied.

Rochester PD initially said it was "required" to deploy pepper spray -- but over the weekend Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said, "This video, as a mother, is not anything you want to see."

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has taken notice of how police treated the 9-year-old, saying, "You cannot justify this!"

Police announced an internal investigation, but haven't said if any of the involved officers have been suspended. The child was treated at a hospital and released to her family.

Famous P.I. Jack Palladino -- who worked on a slew of cases from Bill Clinton to Kurt Cobain -- is on life support and not expected to survive after getting gravely injured during a robbery.

The 70-year-old was outside his home in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco Thursday, testing a new camera he got when a car drove by, a man jumped out and attempted to steal it.

The robber yanked the camera away from Palladino, causing him to fall ... hitting his head on the pavement and rendering him unconscious with grave injuries.

Palladino underwent surgery to stop the massive bleeding and was placed on life support.  He is not expected to survive.

He has been one of the premier P.I.'s since the '80s and continued to work on cases until he suffered his injury.

Palladino was hired by the Clinton campaign in 1992 to investigate the extra-marital affair allegations against the then-Presidential candidate. He was also hired to determine the cause of the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain. And, he was involved in investigating the circumstances surrounding the Jonestown mass suicides.

The P.I. had many other cases ... he repped the 14-year-old boy in his civil, molestation lawsuit against Michael Jackson. The child eventually got a $20 million settlement. He was also hired by John DeLorean, who was charged and acquitted of cocaine trafficking.

A suspect has been arrested in the robbery.

The United Nations is calling out Indonesia following the public flogging of 2 men accused of having gay sex ... and demanding the release of everyone detained on the basis of their sexual orientation.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric tells TMZ ... "We are concerned by the detention, public humiliation and ill-treatment of men perceived to be gay in Indonesia."

Dujarric says there are troubling reports of violent attacks against LGBTQ+ people in the country, perpetuated by the media and some religious groups ... and the caning of the 2 men this week by Sharia police in the country's conservative Aceh province is just the latest example.

The UN says international law is clear -- "all people, without exception, are entitled to protection of their human rights – and that includes LGBT individuals."

Dujarric says the public punishment for the men "violates multiple human rights standards including those on liberty, fair trial, integrity, privacy, dignity, equality before the law, non-discrimination and the absolute prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."

Therefore, the UN is calling for Indonesian authorities to "release all individuals detained on the basis of their sexual orientation, provide those subjected to abuses with effective remedy and review legislation that contravenes Indonesia’s legal obligations, including local criminal legislation in Aceh."

As we reported ... the 2 men who were publicly caned -- 77 times each -- were arrested in November after reportedly being turned in by locals for having sex. They also served 3 months in prison.

Kevin Nealon's a victim in a home burglary that saw crooks get away clean with six figures worth of jewelry and other valuables.

The thieves broke into the "Weeds" and 'SNL' alum's place recently ... according to law enforcement sources, who tell us it looks like Kevin had been away for a few days.

We're told Kevin came home to discover the break-in, and that more than $100,000 worth of bling and handbags were gone.

Our sources say it doesn't appear the burglars specifically targeted Kevin ... and this was more likely a random hit. Cops still don't know exactly how the perpetrators managed to get inside the house.

Taylor Bracey, the FL high school student a deputy hurled onto concrete, is suffering serious medical consequences ... according to her mother and her family's attorney, Ben Crump.

Jamesha Bracey -- mom of 16-year-old Taylor -- and Crump joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" and told us Taylor's been suffering severe headaches and memory loss since the violent incident at Liberty High School in Osceola County.

Jamesha explained why she was so shocked to get a phone call Tuesday from the school saying Taylor was getting medical treatment. She says her daughter had told her some girls wanted to fight, but she had advised her to contact the Dean, and thought everything was handled.

As we've reported ... deputy Ethan Fournier is the school resource officer, seen in the video slamming Taylor on her head. The Sheriff's Office claims Fournier was breaking up a fight, but Jamesha says there was no physical fight at all -- and the students were only arguing.

Crump, who's been retained by Taylor's family, says the teen is now dealing with cognitive function issues as a result of the body slam ... and doesn't remember much after the deputy grabbed her from behind.

Two men accused of having gay sex in Indonesia were savagely beaten with canes after neighbors reported them to police, and the punishment -- under Islamic law -- is tough to see.

The men, both in their 20s, were flogged 77 times each by Sharia police in the country's conservative Aceh province, where a huge crowd gathered to watch the lashing ... carried out by officers wearing robes and masks.

Pleas for mercy and cries of pain could not save the men ... and the lashes continued even after one officer's cane shattered on impact with one man's back. Sharia police only paused the punishment to allow the men a drink of water ... then the caning resumed.

Both men were arrested back in November, when police say officers, tipped off by locals, broke into a rented room and found the pair having sex. They served 3 months in prison, so their original 80-lash sentence was reduced by 3.

The Aceh province is the only part of Indonesia where gay sex is illegal ... and public flogging is a common punishment in the province, which started using Sharia law back in 2001.

Rita Ora went to expensive extremes to hold her 30th birthday soiree during lockdown in London -- paying almost $7,000 to make it happen ... TMZ has confirmed.

The British singer was already in hot water for the November event she held at Casa Cruz because it violated London's lockdown, but this new detail's coming out because of an upcoming court hearing.

According to law enforcement ... one of Rita's reps offered a manager at Casa Cruz $6,829 for the joint to host the party. The manager told police he wanted to "facilitate" the occasion because he was "greedy" after his staff had been furloughed.

The manager also told police only 7 guests were supposed to show up ... according to The Sun, which first reported the story.

Of course, we already know almost 20 showed up for the bash ... which became a PR nightmare for Rita. As we reported, she eventually apologized for breaking the country's COVID restrictions, admitting it was a "serious and inexcusable error of judgement."

A local government official tells us there's a hearing scheduled to decide whether the restaurant's license will be revoked or if other measures will be taken against Casa Cruz following the incident. They are NOT investigating Rita's payoff.

Chad Wheeler's girlfriend told police ... the NFL player had stopped taking his medication for bipolar disorder in the days before he brutally attacked her -- and had "snapped into a bad place" on the night of the incident.

It's all spelled out in the police report, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which the alleged victim attempted to explain why she believes the Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman violently attacked her.

The Kent Police Dept. in Washington say they first received a call from a friend of the victim around 9:45 PM on Jan. 22 -- saying the woman was locked in a bathroom after a physical fight with her boyfriend.

Soon after, the victim called 911 herself and told the operator she was being "killed."

When cops arrived at the scene, officers say they "could hear a female screaming from inside the apartment" and forced their way inside. They also forced their way into a locked bathroom where they found the woman with blood all over her face and Chad standing behind her.

Cops detained Chad, who was not being cooperative, and he began to repeatedly yell, "sorry" while crying out, "I don't beat women," according to the police report.

The woman was transported to a nearby hospital where she told cops she had been dating Chad for 6 months without any notable issues.

She also explained, "Chad suffers from bipolar disorder and is medicated but has not been taking his medication recently."

According to the police report, the woman said, "Chad had a rough week and had a manic episode this evening. She said it was not provoked by an argument of any sort."

The woman says Chad "snapped into a dark place" out of nowhere and told her to bow to him -- which she refused. And that's when he beat her up, according to the police report.

The woman told cops Chad strangled her "with both his hands for some time" -- and continued his attack even after she fought back.

The woman says she lost consciousness -- and when she came to, Chad said, "Wow you're alive?"

That's when the woman says she ran to the bathroom, locked the door and called cops and family members.

Bam Margera's Bentley had one helluva ride ... a thief stole the car and crashed into someone's front porch during a wild police pursuit ... and it's on video.

The "Jackass" star says his expensive whip was stolen Tuesday night in Vista, CA, where he had stopped to charge his phone and get gas on his way to his shaman's house.

Bam says he looked out a store window to discover his car was missing, and then suddenly a bunch of cop cars swarmed and police helicopters appeared overhead and the chase was on.

BM says the high-speed chase ended when the thief crashed his whip into a house ... and video shows the Bentley stopped on someone's front lawn, right up against a house, with tons of police on the scene.

The only good news here ... sources close to Bam tell us the car was NOT totaled, but it's been towed to a dealer and needs some repairs.

Oh, and the icing on the cake -- Bam says his phone ended up in someone else's hands too!!!

We think he summed it up best while talking to his buddy, Danny Way ... "I can't write this s*** dude!!!"

Megan Thee Stallion recently sounded off about Tory Lanez allegedly shooting her, and now he wants to level the playing field, and speak his mind.

A judge had ordered Lanez to keep his lips sealed about info he gets from prosecutors in his case, and also barred him from contacting Meg on social media -- but in a new court filing he says that's totally unfair.

In the docs, Lanez says it's unfair Megan is able to say whatever she wants ... while he is basically prevented from defending himself.

Lanez says he is particularly miffed about what went down last week, when erroneous reports began circulating that the charges against Tory were dropped.

Megan responded on social media, saying ... "AT THIS POINT IM GETTING ANNOYED! STOP BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE MF INTERNET. Imagine how I feel waking every day seeing people LIE and turn my trauma into a joke? That whole team figures out ways to create doubt with my story every week and the media eats it up."

According to Lanez ... Megan falsely insinuated he and his legal team had something to do with the bogus reports, therefore maligning their integrity.

Megan also commented, "I can’t wait until the MF FACTS come out! Bitch you shot me AND MY STORY NOT CHANGING AND BITCH YOU GOING TO JAIL."

According to the docs, Lanez claims there's evidence refuting Megan's side of the story -- including "evidence of gunshot residue implicating others" -- but because of the protective order ... he's not able to disclose any of it.

Tory's also worried about optics -- in the docs he worries his silence might make it look like he's conceding what Megan says is true. So, he's asking the judge to modify the gag order against him.

Somehow a topless photo of 16-year-old Claudia Conway ended up on her mom, Kellyanne Conway's Twitter page ... and the teen vows her mom's going to jail over it.

Twitter users saw the pic posted to Kellyanne's Fleet story on Twitter Monday night. It was quickly deleted, but not before folks captured and shared it like wildfire. Claudia took to TikTok shortly after, and confirmed it's a legit photo.

The teenager says it was taken months ago, and her mom must've gotten it when she confiscated Claudia's phone during one of their frequent spats.

As for how it might've made its way to Kellyanne's Twitter account, Claudia speculates her ma either did it on purpose ... or she was hacked.

In any case, she clearly says Kellyanne's gonna pay for this -- legally speaking.

This is the latest dustup between the mother and daughter, who've been at each other's throats for a long time now, especially lately. As we reported, Claudia recorded herself saying Kellyanne was being abusive toward her, and even spurred someone to call in a welfare check, which resulted in a visit from cops.

We've been told the matter is still being investigated ... it's unclear how this new development might factor in, if at all.

One thing's for sure ... there doesn't seem to be any love lost in the Conway household these days.

Lori Loughlin's husband, Mossimo Giannulli, just got shut down by a judge ... who basically said his coronavirus worries weren't enough to get him out of prison early.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge lays out exactly why Mossimo was denied, and it basically comes down to this -- he didn't give compelling enough reasons to spend the rest of his sentence in home confinement.

The judge says Mossimo's gripes about having to be in solitary for quarantine in and of itself isn't a good reason to cut him loose. The court also writes ... Mossimo should've seen a quarantine period coming from a mile away -- 'cause he went into prison right in the thick of the pandemic.

The court says. Mossimo has been let back into general population since his filing ... and says that the prisons are getting better at handling COVID issues, so at this point, it can be handled by BOP. The judge goes on to say the vaccine is on the way, which will further alleviate the COVID problems.

In the court's view, Mossimo doesn't have any particularly heightened risk of contracting the virus as it stands -- so they don't see any extraordinary reason he oughta be released early. Unless something changes, he'll probably have to sit tight until April -- when his 5-month sentence is up.

Lil Wayne wasted no time getting back to stuntin' after he received a pardon from President Trump ... and it looks like he was enjoying the hell out of his free pass.

Tory Lanez says Tunechi was on set to help out with his music video for "Big Tipper" the very next day after Trump pardoned the rapper in his federal gun case.

In the clip Lanez shared, Lil Wayne's in a hot pink getup, flashing serious ice on both wrists, smoking and vibing to the music. Oh, and that's all with a nude model in front of him on a table.

As we reported ... Weezy was facing serious time behind bars after pleading guilty in federal court last month to illegally possessing a loaded weapon on a private jet.

Trump's pardon -- on the heels of Wayne endorsing Trump for President -- let him off the hook for all that, though ... which cleared his schedule for music vid shoots like the one with Lanez.

Tory gushed with all sorts of appreciation for Weezy coming through for him ... after Trump came though for Weezy.

Dr. Fauci has offered up the nitty-gritty about receiving death threats since the pandemic began, and it sounds awful ... especially one time when he got powdered.

The top infectious disease doc in the U.S. told the NYT, during the last year of the Trump Administration, his whole family was getting threats ... "The threats would come directly to my children's phones, directly to my children's homes. How the hell did whoever these assholes were get that information?"

He says there was lots of online chatter, with people saying stuff like, "Hey, we got to get rid of this guy. What are we going to do about him? He’s hurting the president’s chances," which he characterized as "right-wing craziness."

One of the scariest incidents ... Fauci says he once received a letter in the mail ... "I opened it up and a puff of powder came all over my face and my chest." He says he didn't know what to do, but his security said, "Don't move, stay in the room." A hazmat team came and sprayed him down.

Fauci was fatalistic, saying ... "It had to be one of 3 things: A hoax, or anthrax, which meant I'd have to go on Cipro for a month. Or if it was ricin, I was dead, so bye-bye."

Dr. Fauci also says this ... he has no idea if Trump was ever told about this, nor did he want to alert anyone or make a fuss. He explains, "What good would it be to tell anyone? Also, it was under F.B.I. investigation, and they don’t like you to talk about it."

Fauci and his family have been receiving Secret Service protection since late March ... and clearly, with good reason.

One of the Capitol insurrectionists had plans to kill Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... according to the Department of Justice.

The DOJ revealed new charges against Garret Miller of Texas, alleging he posted online death threats against the New York congresswoman the day of the siege, including one tweet that simply read, "Assassinate AOC."

That's terrifying, considering Rep. Ocasio-Cortez herself said she felt her life was on the line that day, and that she didn't know if she'd live to see tomorrow. Turns out, she was on to something ... at least according to authorities.

In addition to the alleged AOC threat, the DOJ says Miller also threatened the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt. He said the officer "deserved to die" and that he wouldn't live long, because it was "huntin season." The feds say he was posting a ton before and during the attempted coup, and was saying things like, "civil war could start" and "next time we bring the guns."

In addition to the new death threats charges, Miller faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted buildings or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstructing or impeding any official proceeding and certain acts during civil disorder. He's one of several rioters who've been rounded up.

Interestingly, Miller said on social media that he wanted to implicate himself in the siege, and was not shy about copping to the deed ... based on screenshots the feds attached as evidence. AOC herself latched onto his stupidity when she heard about this guy.

She took to Twitter -- where a lot of his activity was captured, including his own footage of himself from inside the Capitol that day -- and wrote, "'Just wanted to incriminate myself a little' Well, you did!"