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The Smoking Gun is a
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police
mugshot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a Portrait photography, photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is placed under arrest. The primary purpose ...
s on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more
mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...
sources. Most of the site's content revolves around historical and current events, although it also features documents and photos relating to out-of-the-ordinary crimes and people.


History

The
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
was founded in 1997, by
William Bastone William Bastone is editor and co-founder of The Smoking Gun website. In 1997, Bastone and his wife Barbara Glauber, who is a graphic designer, created The Smoking Gun with freelance journalist Daniel Green. In 1984, Bastone worked as an investig ...
; his wife, Barbara Glauber, a graphic designer; and Daniel Green, a freelance journalist, formerly of ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'', and the son of
Stephen L. Green Stephen Lawrence Green (born January 28, 1938) is an American real estate developer. He is the founder and former chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., which claims to be Manhattan’s largest owner of office buildings. He retired in January 2019 ...
. Most of The Smoking Gun's content is obtained through
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...
requests to federal, state, and local
law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...
, and from
public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. Depending on jurisdiction, examples of public records includes information pertaining to births, deat ...
s such as court documents. The site has used those requests to assemble a collection of mugshots of current and historical celebrities. The cable network
truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
, formerly
Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...
, purchased The Smoking Gun, as well as the website
Crime Library Crime Library is a website documenting major crimes, criminals, trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books. It was founded in 1998 and was most recently owned by truTV, a cable TV network that is part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcast ...
, in 2000. A series of the same name premiered on Court TV in 2005, which featured some of the site's stories and assorted sketch humor, using string puppets. This series was later moved and shown on
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...
and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
. The site published its second book, ''The Dog Dialed 911: A Book of Lists from The Smoking Gun'', in October 2006. From March 2008 until January 2011, on
truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
, The Smoking Gun sponsored a cable television series called '' The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...''. The series was originally known as ''World's Dumbest Criminals'', but was re-titled ''World's Dumbest...'' and began covering other topics. William was a cast member on the show alongside Smoking Gun writer Andrew Goldberg. They left the show after season 1. As of January 2011, the program was re-titled again to '' truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...'' In June 2014, The Smoking Gun was sold back to
William Bastone William Bastone is editor and co-founder of The Smoking Gun website. In 1997, Bastone and his wife Barbara Glauber, who is a graphic designer, created The Smoking Gun with freelance journalist Daniel Green. In 1984, Bastone worked as an investig ...
.


Investigations

The Smoking Gun began to conduct investigations of
criminal activity In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...
and publicize its results. In August 2009, the site outed members of
Pranknet Pranknet, also known as Prank University, was an anonymous prank calling virtual community that was involved in a string of malicious pranks and instances of telephone harassment, especially during 2009–2011. Their pranks were coordinated throu ...
, a
virtual community A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual commu ...
notorious for tricking hotel and fast-food restaurant employees into setting off
fire alarm A fire alarm system is a building system designed to detect, alert occupants, and alert emergency forces of the presence of fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, or other fire-related emergencies. Fire alarm systems are required in most commercial buil ...
s, engaging fire-suppression systems, and engaging in humiliating acts. The group, whose members include two convicted
child molestor Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
s, also engaged in threatening
telephone harassment A nuisance call is an unwanted and unsolicited telephone call. Common types of nuisance calls include prank calls, telemarketing calls, and silent calls. Obscene phone calls and other threatening calls are criminal acts in most jurisdictions, part ...
, placing fake
Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...
ads and shouting racial epithets and obscenities at people responding to them. The group members responded to Craigslist ads placed by young mothers selling household goods, and after gaining the seller's address in an exchange, members would threaten the seller, saying that they would go to their house to rape them and murder their children. In 2006, the site uncovered widespread fabrication in James Frey's alleged memoir ''
A Million Little Pieces ''A Million Little Pieces'' is a book by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir and later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following Frey's admission that many parts of the book were fabricated. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic ...
.'' This investigation led to a public rebuke of Frey by talk show host
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
, who had previously endorsed Frey's book as part of her
Oprah's Book Club Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show '' The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a novel, for view ...
. Frey's book, describing his alleged years of drug and alcohol abuse and subsequent recovery, contained a number of descriptions of criminal or otherwise outrageous incidents. In 2010, the site revealed financial irregularities in
Yéle Haiti Yéle Haiti, also known as Yéle and legally known as the Wyclef Jean Foundation, was a charitable organization established in 2001 by the Haitian musician Wyclef Jean, who was born in Haiti and has kept ties there. The charity was incorporated in ...
, a charitable foundation set up by rapper
Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...
, soon after he publicized its successful fundraising for disaster relief following the
2010 earthquake in Haiti 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
. As reported by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', the foundation had failed to file several years of tax returns. Later it was found to have illegally diverted funds to the personal use of Jean and some of his family. In 2019 Jean admitted irregularities at the charity.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smoking Gun American news websites Internet properties established in 1997