Steve Neavling

Thirteen female guards are accused in a federal indictment of working with an inmate gang to smuggle drugs and other banned items into a Baltimore jail, the USA Today reports.

Four of those women were impregnated by the leader of the gang, the .

Inmates and the guards were charged with racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, bribery and money laundering, the USA Today reported.

The Black Guerrilla Family was formed in San Quentin Prison in 1966, the USA Today wrote.

Steve Neavling

The FBI’s investigation into News Corporation last year included an inquiry into claims that the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau bribed local officials for information, the New York Times reports.

It’s unclear what – if anything – the FBI found during the investigation, which originally began over a phone-hacking scandal in 2011.

The Wall Street Journal conducted its own probe over claims that employees in the China bureau were giving officials gifts in exchange for information, the Times wrote, citing the newspaper’s spokeswoman, Paula Keve.

“After a thorough review of our operations in China conducted by outside lawyers and auditors, we have not found any evidence of impropriety at Dow Jones,” Keve told the Times. “Nor has anyone taken issue with our findings.”

The FBI declined to comment or say whether agents were still investigating the bribery claims.

Steve Neavling

FBI agents arrested a San Louis Obispo detective on allegations he was involved in a bribery scheme, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Cory Pierce, 39, was charged in federal court with one count of bribery, the LA Times wrote.

He’s accused of taking cash and narcotics from two people whom he calls “cooperating witnesses.”

In exchange, Pierce provided the pair with drugs for personal use and fake drugs to sell, the FBI reported.

Pierce also is accused of tipping off drug sources about the ongoing probe.

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Steve Neavling

The FBI is investigating whether Buffalo police accepted bribes and dished out work to select tow truck operators, the Buffalo News reports.

FBI agents searched Jim Mazz Auto Inc. in connection with an city-initiated probe into towing truck contracts.

The Buffalo News wrote that other operators are under investigation.

Competition between operators is so intense that fights sometimes break out.

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Steve Neavling

 A member of the Indianapolis City Council and former police officer cannot argue he was entrapped by the FBI for accepting bribes from an undercover agent, the 7th Circuit has ruled, Courthouse News Service reports.

Lincoln Plowman came under scrutiny after developing a reputation for “questionable use of the power and influence he had acquired,” the court wrote last week.

An FBI agent posing as a strip club owner gave Plowman $5,000 in cash to help push through necessary licenses and a liquor license, the FBI alleges.

The amount was sufficient enough to constitute inducement, the judge said.

Plowman is appealing his 2010 conviction, which landed him a sentence of more than three years in prison, Courthouse News Services reported.

FBI agents investigating bribery, fraud, extortion and money laundering at Trenton City Hall are probing the owner of a scrap auto and towing business, the New Jersey Times reports.

Feds investigating Mayor Tony Mack’s administration are examining business dealings the city had with Nedal Abuhumoud, owner of Acres Auto in Hamilton and co-founder of a Trenton scrap yard and towing business, according to the New Jersey Times.

Abuhumoud told the Times he is not part of the investigation and has not been questioned by the FBI.

The news comes a week after agents searched Mack’s home and city hall.

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Steve Neavling

A Santa Fe Springs Councilman accepted $11,500 in bribes from a marijuana dispensary owner who was working as an FBI informant, according to a plea agreement released Thursday, the L.A. Times reports.

In the latest example of corruption in a Los Angeles County town, the case against Councilman Joseph Serrano Sr. alleges he sought monthly payments of up to $1,6000 in exchange for helping the pot shop survive bureaucratic threats.

Court records say Serrano was desperate to make his mortgage payments.

Under the plea agreement, Serrano will plead guilty to one felony count of bribery.

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The FBI is investigating the small Southern California city of Cudahy after arresting three officials Friday that feds say accepted bribes to support the opening of a marijuana dispensary, L.A. Times reports.

Documents in the case against former City Manager Angel Perales, Mayor David Silva and Councilman Osvaldo Conde suggest bribery and other malfeasance are far more pervasive, according to the Times.

“These guys are not your typical, uh, council people,” the longtime official, Angel Perales, advised the informant in a phone call on Jan. 26, according to a transcript released by the U.S. attorney, the Times reported. “They’ve dealt with, you know, people that throw money down.”

Federal investigators also appear to be determining whether the city was involved with election fraud.