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| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | William Bastone, Andrew Goldberg, and Joseph Jesselli (TSG Industries Inc.) |
| Created by | William Bastone, Barbara Glauber, and Daniel Green |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | yes |
| Registration | none |
| Launched | February 13, 1997; 28 years ago (1997-02-13)[1] |
| Current status | active |
The Smoking Gun is awebsite that posts legal documents, arrest records, and policemugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by moremainstream media 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.
Thewebsite was founded in 1997 byWilliam Bastone; his wife, Barbara Glauber, a graphic designer; and Daniel Green, a freelance journalist formerly ofThe Village Voice, and the son ofStephen L. Green. Most of The Smoking Gun's content is obtained throughFreedom of Information Act requests to federal, state, and locallaw enforcement agencies, and frompublic records such as court documents. The site has used those requests to assemble a collection of mugshots of current and historical celebrities.[2]
The cable networktruTV, formerlyCourt TV, purchased The Smoking Gun, as well as the websiteCrime Library, in 2000.[3] 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 to and shown onCartoon Network'sAdult Swim block followingTime Warner's acquisition of Court TV in 2006.[4]
The site published its second book,The Dog Dialed 911: A Book of Lists from The Smoking Gun, in October 2006.[citation needed]
From March 2008 until January 2011, on truTV, The Smoking Gun sponsored a cable television series calledThe Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest.... The series was originally known asWorld's Dumbest Criminals, but was re-titledWorld'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 totruTV Presents: World's Dumbest....[citation needed]
In June 2014, The Smoking Gun was sold back to William Bastone.[5]
The Smoking Gun began to conduct investigations ofcriminal activity and publicize its results.[6] In August 2009, the site outed members ofPranknet, avirtual community notorious for tricking hotel and fast-food restaurant employees into setting offfire alarms, engaging fire-suppression systems, and engaging in humiliating acts. The group, whose members include two convictedchild molesters,[7][8] also engaged in threateningtelephone harassment, placing fakeCraigslist 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.[9]
In 2006, the site uncovered widespread fabrication inJames Frey's alleged memoirA Million Little Pieces. This investigation led to a public rebuke of Frey by talk show hostOprah Winfrey, who had previously endorsed Frey's book as part of herOprah's Book Club. 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.[10]
In 2010, the site revealed financial irregularities inYéle Haiti, a charitable foundation set up by rapperWyclef Jean, soon after he publicized its successful fundraising for disaster relief following the2010 earthquake in Haiti. As reported byThe New York Times, 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.[11] In 2019, Jean admitted irregularities at the charity.[12]
WILLIAM BASTONE, EDITOR, THESMOKINGGUN.COM: He was arrested 13 or 14 times and we could not find anything, so that piqued our interest.
| Broadcasting and FAST streaming group |
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| The Cartoon Network, Inc. |
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| Lifestyle & Factual Group |
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| Defunct and former ventures |
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