http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/entertainment/19915905/detail.html
Pittsburgh Obscenity Case: ‘I Didn’t Know Horror Porn Would Destroy My Life’
Federal Prosecution Of Zicari, Romano, Extreme Associates Spanned Several Years
PITTSBURGH — The married owners of a California company that distributed pornographic videos depicting simulated rape and murder were each ordered by a federal judge in Pittsburgh to spend one year and one day in prison.
Robert Zicari, 35, and Janet Romano, 32, both of Northridge, Calif., pleaded guilty on behalf of Extreme Associates Inc. to conspiracy to distribute obscene materials.
Prosecutors originally charged them in 2003 with distributing videos through the mail and images over the Internet to western Pennsylvania.
"This material is the most violent and disgusting portrayal of women that has been produced. That is what they wanted to do," said U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, whose office spent several years pursuing the case.
For sentencing purposes, the couple’s attorneys asked for probation and challenged the government’s claim that the material was "sadistic or masochistic," but U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster denied that argument.
Zicari did not speak during the sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse downtown. Romano sobbed and said, "I didn’t know making a horror porn was going to destroy my life."
WTAE Channel 4’s news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Lancaster noted there were no victims in this case and the movies were available through a members-only Web site, not in store windows.
One of the movies that Lancaster described in court depicts a woman who is suffocated with a plastic bag during a home invasion and sexual assault. Romano said she wrote and directed it, adding, "Everybody that was in that movie was friends of mine."
Zicari — also known as "Rob Black" — and Romano — who used the stage name "Lizzie Borden" — got two years of supervised release, in addition to their prison time.
Lancaster dismissed the charges against the couple in January 2005, finding that the prosecutors improperly applied obscenity statutes. Later, the charges were reinstated by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The couple decided to plead guilty because prosecutors agreed not to calculate how much they earned from the porn business, which could have affected their potential sentence, attorney H. Louis Sirkin said.
Obscenity Test
Federal prosecutors used the U.S. Supreme Court’s Miller v. California ruling from 1973 to argue their case against Extreme Associates in Pittsburgh.
The ruling says that materials are obscene if they pass a three-part test:
The average person, applying contemporary community standards (not national standards, as some prior tests required), must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
The work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law.
The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Mary Beth Buchanan’s full quotes regarding this case are sadly humorous. She actually thinks she’s protecting the public. She and Rob Black deserve each other, it’s tough to tell who has the bigger ego. I go with Buchanan, she probably has a bigger dick too.
It’s a clean sweep. Max, Chico, Jack Venice, Rob Black, and Lizzy Borden are where they ALL belong. In my humble opinion they took Porn to new depths, hurting the industry far more than anyone can imagine.
John Stagliano better hire a better lawyer than those guys.
(D)NL, If I may make a suggestion for an interview: John Stagliano.
I was wondering when the hypocritical schadenfreude was going to kick in on this board. I thought that loser blowhard the Colonel would draw first blood. Nice work ,pornster.
Maxie, fuck you piece of shit. I understand your pain and that pleases me, I feel fucking good, allright. With all criminals like Max Hardcore and Rob Black gone bankrupt or behind bars, there’s no vile material left for scumbags like you to jerk off to. So now you must either go out of your way for an orgasm and end up behind bars with your favorite criminals, or you can crawl in the hole where you belong and fuck yourself, you disgusting little pig.
ahh! colonel how is your day going! its about 4 p.m. central time here got my lawn mowed today. at this time if you like i’d like you to call me jerry,my first name or pornfan it does’nt matter. i’m sure you’ll probably forget in the future but thats cool.
I’m fine Jerry. I’m about to step out and get something to eat: probably a BBQ cheese burger at Chili’s, my favorite restaurant. Enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll talk to you soon.
was Black the one doing the explosive enema series?
schadenfreud.. havent heard that expression in a while..
chico did vile stuff? i wouldnt normally put chico in same categories as these guys, artistically or any villainous ways…unless i am uninformed.
One of these days, some dickhead lawman is gonna come after the colonel. Then what?
No, softgoods, The Colonel runs his program by the book, and there would be no reason for the law to come knockin’. Best that you check your own head.
Evil Angel’s movies chosen for prosecution are by the book too. So that’s clearly not the end all here. All it takes is for one asshole in the Department of Justice to choose you as someone they don’t like. Each of these cases is the result of the Bush Department of Justice. Now that that is history, this prosecution trend should be as well.
“Everybody that was in that movie was [sic] friends of mine.”
…they have friends
couldn’t have happened to two a better pair.. Don’t have a problem with the movies, some where creative, but the way these two treated people, well i believe they got what they had coming.
I agree.
Too each their own…
But for crying out loud, this is sick. I’ve spoken on the subject with friends. It would be scary to meet fans of Black’s work. They have been so desensitized with porn that this gets them off.
I’m a regular listening to DeadPit, a funny horror podcast. They had a caller a few weeks back talking about being a fan of “Toe Tag Pictures”; the dark side of horror films. Granted it’s consensual, but that stuff is sick. His comment really bothered me. Regular horror movies don’t do it for him. Holy shit.
Same deal with Black fans.
What I remember was an ad in AVN years ago. It had the bloody decapitated head of Lizzie Bordan held by her hair by a man with an axe. You use this image to sell porn??? What the frack?
Dude, there’s something wrong with you.
Does anybody remember when 2 of PBS’s Frontline cameramen (they were shooting a documentary called “American Porn”) were so disgusted by a rape scene directed by Slizzy that they immediately left the scene?
Check it out here if you want–in it’s entirety: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/view/
Sorry, about my last post (#15) I forgot to issue the warning – EXTREME/FILTHY WHITE TRASH ALERT!