Investigations

Apple Saves Billions by Creatively Exploiting Loopholes of International Tax System

Think different, Apple tells the world. The Cupertino company, whose creations have defined our technological age, apparently applies the same innovative thinking to its tax evasion strategies. Stuffing revenue in some low-tax, high-privacy bank in the Caribbean? 'Bout as forward-thinking as a Bla ... More >>

Cecilia Zamora, Purple-Haired Missing Woman, Found Shot Dead in Pacifica

San Bruno police found the body of 37-year-old Cecilia Zamora, the San Francisco woman who went missing nearly three months ago. According to San Bruno Lt. Geoff Caldwell, Zamora's body was found on Gateway Drive in Pacifica last Saturday afternoon. She had been shot one time, Caldwell said.

Aubrey Abrakasa: Police Need Help Solving Homicide of Popular Teen

Six years ago exactly, 17-year-old Aubrey Abrakasa was gunned down in the city's NOPA neighborhood. Police have yet to find his killer, but hope the anniversary of his death will spark new leads in this cold case.Investigators today released Abrakasa's photo with information about his death, and tol ... More >>

Eriq Escalon Homicide: Police Release Sketch of Person of Interest

San Francisco police are looking for a person who looks kind of like this dude to your right in connection to the mysterious homicide of 28-year-old Steven "Eriq" Escalon. On June 12, Escalon's body was found, bound and gagged, inside his apartment on the 5000 block of Diamond Heights Boulevard. The ... More >>

Police Need Your Help in Finding Men Responsible for Brutal Beating in Civic Center

​San Francisco police are looking for three men who savagely beat a 23-year-old Hayward man, kicking and punching him until he fell to the pavement. The cops have released these photos of the identified suspects, who have been on the lam since the Jan. 29 assault. According to police, at about 2 a ... More >>

Public Defender to Release More Videos Showing Police Misconduct

More videos like this one are coming soon to Adachi's YouTube channel.​Ready for more Police, Lies, and Videotape? Public Defender and mayoral candidate Jeff Adachi is vowing to release more video tomorrow showing new examples of warrantless searches, perjured police reports, and theft by San Fran ... More >>

DA Launches Criminal Investigation into Mayor Ed Lee's Donors

On the bright side, that's fewer thank you notes to write now ​District Attorney George Gascón refused to investigate previous accusations of questionable ethics tied to Mayor Ed Lee's campaign. But  just 24 hours after early voting started, the DA announced he would investigate allegations ... More >>

Anthony Quinn Hughes Charged with 1998 Murder of Lisa Valdez

1998 murder suspect in jail​San Francisco police have arrested 52-year-old Anthony Quinn Hughes in connection with the brutal 1998 murder of a 36-year-old Diamond Heights woman, bringing some closure to the 13-year-old cold case. On Sept. 10, 2011, Hughes was detained at Leavenworth and Turk stree ... More >>

Mark McGovern Update: DA Won't Press Charges Against Patrick Power in Gaelic Football Attack

Mark McGovern​The District Attorney's Office has decided not to press charges just yet against 26-year-old Patrick Power, the Half Moon Bay man arrested last week in connection with an off-the-ball fracas that put 22-year-old Mark McGovern in a coma. Erica Derryck, spokeswoman with the DA's Office ... More >>

SFPD Launches 'Internal Investigation' into Controversial Search for Missing iPhone 5

​It appears that the police officers and Apple security employees who stoked a tech-industry scandal with their controversial search for a lost device rumored to be the unreleased iPhone 5 will themselves be the object of law-enforcement scrutiny.The San Francisco Police Department has launched an ... More >>

FBI Takes Over Police Misconduct Investigation from DA George Gascón

DA George Gascon​District Attorney George Gascón said today that he is turning over his office's investigation into alleged police misconduct to FBI agents and the U.S. Attorney's office.Following a press conference, Gascón issued a statement that U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag "has agreed to take o ... More >>

DA George Gascón Says Probe of Alleged SFPD Perjury Isn't Conflict of Interest

Independent of what?​Update: KGO reports this morning that the FBI is launching its own investigation into the allegations over the police misconduct during a drug bust earlier this year. The agency will look into possible civil rights violations among other violations.Original story, Thursday, Ma ... More >>

Cops Suspended While FBI Investigates Drug Bust

It's like an a TV episode​San Francisco's Chief of Police has decided to suspend the police department's plainclothes unit at the southern station while the city investigates accusations of perjury and police misconduct during a drug bust earlier this year. The officers involved have been reassign ... More >>

SFPD crime lab's DNA evidence could be tainted by concealed mistakes

Lance Armstrong Lawyers Up; Doper Teammate Tyler Hamilton Spills to Feds

What's in the cup, Lance? ​The criminal investigation into the U.S. Postal Service-sponsored team of cycling champion Lance Armstrong took a vast leap forward today with reports that former teammate Tyler Hamilton has agreed to speak with federal investigators. Hamilton, an Olympic gold medal ... More >>

No Murder Charges for Alleged Pink Saturday Shooter Ed Perkins

​The San Francisco District Attorney's office moments ago sent out a press release stridently announcing that alleged Pink Saturday shooter Ed Perkins, arrested by police for the alleged murder of Stephen Powell, will be hit with weapons charges. Left unsaid -- but easily inferred -- is that Perki ... More >>

Immigration: Defending juvie probation chief proves expensive

Victims Survive the Night Following Fort Mason Double Shooting

View Larger Map A 17-year-old boy shot in the stomach last night in what appears to be an unprovoked shooting near Fort Mason is out of surgery with his condition upgraded to "non-life-threatening." He may speak to investigators from the Natonal Park Police and FBI as soon as today. The boy and a 22 ... More >>

Bleeding Man Who Died After Being Found at Bottom of S.F. Building Identified as Christopher Lamothe

View Larger Map A bleeding man discovered at the base of a 12-story residential structure at 12:54 this morning -- who died an hour later -- was moments ago identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner as 31-year-old Christopher Lamothe of San Bruno. Details were sparse and a police investigat ... More >>

Another Swastika Scrawled on Glen Park Rec Center

Like this, only far more offensive​Last month, an unknown person or persons painted several large swastikas, epithets, and phallic images around the Glen Park playground. The Recreation and Park department quickly painted over the anti-Semitic symbols, and police opened an investiga ... More >>

Accused Arsonist's Lawyer Peeved at Cops Repeatedly Tying His Client to S.F. Car Fires

​Yesterday we reported that San Francisco Police arson Inspector Jeffrey Levin still considers 62-year-old homeless woman Fafa Chan to be the prime suspect in this summer's string of car fires. "I'm convinced that she did [it]," he told SF Weekly. In the meantime, as we've pointed out before, pinn ... More >>

Time Bomb

Weather Underground leaders claimed their bombings were devised to avoid bloodshed. But FBI agents suspect the radical '70s group killed an S.F. cop in the name of revolution.

Vote on Ammiano's Marijuana Bill Postponed Amid Difficult Time For S.F. Pot Fans

In what is perhaps the best news of late for aficionados of marijuana legalization, a scheduled March 31 committee hearing of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano's legalization bill was postponed likely until 2010 (drag) -- which gives marijuana advocates some time to reverse what would have almost definitely b ... More >>

Bonfire of the Profanities

An investigator who exposed dishonest savings and loan regulators in the '80s re-encounters an old rival in the latest banking crisis.

A Protest with Extra Cheese: Costumed Carpenters' Questionable Claims

Atsa spicy protest! San Francisco is a town where you can often turn more heads wearing a three-piece suit than nothing at all. And yet, the sight of two burly union carpenters from the Local 22 handing out fliers in front of Amici's Pizza on King Street -- while dressed as Italian chefs - still ma ... More >>

Update: Police Confirm Dan Kliman Did Not Walk Into Open Elevator Shaft

By Joe EskenaziOn Tuesday, readers of the San Francisco Chronicle were informed that Dr. Dan Kliman was a quiet, retiring sort. Today, they read that he walked into an open elevator shaft and plunged to his death. Anyone who knew Kliman would scoff at the former, and Inspector Matt Krimsky of the Sa ... More >>

This Week in Government Corruption

Homeless Woman Beaten to Death Outside SOMA Nightclub

Tom Middleton

Lifetracks Six Degrees

Party Foul: Five Million Party Pizzas Recalled Over E. Coli

Party Foul: Five Million Party Pizzas Recalled Over E. Coli

Oswald's Ghost

SFPD Dedicates New Resources to Cold Cases

SF Crime Cameras: 0, Criminals: 54 68

Is he diaphragm-worthy? It may not even matter.

Tapioca and Water

An aide to Supervisor Ed Jew believes PUC officials released his house's water records, which cast doubt on whether he lives in SF, to get payback

A Union Made in Political Heaven

A labor boss in trouble with the feds joins a high-powered Democratic lobbyist to merge Konocti Resort with Indian gaming

I Spy a Scandal

Silicon Valley stalwart Hewlett-Packard is reeling, under investigation for invading the privacy of journalists and its own board members. Do you see a way out for the computing giant?

Should journalist Josh Wolf be afraid?

The Assistant U.S. Attorney, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the SFPD want to get their hands on a video shot by a San Francisco blogger

Best Chronicle Tag-Team

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams

Career Noir

Pamela Olsen once planned parties for Pacific Heights matrons. Now she interviews prostitutes and murderers as a private eye.

The Great Minnow Hunt

Why did the U.S. Attorney's Office angle for fingerlings -- and apparently ignore trophy catches -- during its corruption investigation at the San Francisco Housing Authority?

Mecklin

The Housing Authority's Dirty Dozen

Twelve convicted drug dealers and other major felons have recently been employed by the San Francisco Housing Authority. But are there even more criminals on the public payroll?

The Grid

Jordan vs. Jordan: Candidate Promises, Citizen Mayor Delivers?