51�Թ�

The professor said the groups committed crimes, but their offenses were relatively petty by today’s standards: brawling and shakedowns of non-gang members for their bikes or lunch money.

To explain how and why the five men died, prosecutors called to the witness stand a parade of admitted murderers, thieves, scammers and shakedown artists, who testified in exchange for leniency in their own cases.

Given the political hegemony enjoyed by vast corporate interests and institutional leviathans like the military, how is it that they can no longer fend off shakedowns by hack politicians?

“This is a pure shakedown,” Hinkle said Wednesday in a statement shared with The Times.

Martin D. Singer, the Tuohys’ attorney, said at the time the couple “will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit.”