Last month it was Charles Manson's turn to get his parole shot down and this month it was the Son of Sam's. A parole board came to the decision yesterday that David Berkowitz, 58, is not ready for the release. This was the reportedly reformed serial killer's sixth failed bid for freedom. more ›

[UPDATE] Berenson was stopped at the airport by Peruvian officials. "They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," Berenson told the AP earlier today. "An abuse of authority has been committed," her attorney said. "Administratively, you can't block a court order." On Wednesday, a three-judge panel agreed to allow the visit, and Peruvian officials denied to comment on why Berenson and her 2-year-old son Salvador, have been denied the trip to New York. more ›

One of the more uncommon ways to get caught after six years on the lam for violating one's parole? Save a suicidal teenager from drowning and rescue a police officer stuck in the mud. That at least is how 49-year-old Michael Rogers, convicted in 2001 on four counts of child molestation in Georgia, was caught this week in Connecticut. He is currently being held in lieu of a $200,000 bail in Connecticut while Georgia seeks to extradite him. more ›

Despite being a holiday primarily geared for children, Halloween in New York City is very much for adults, with boozy parties and haunted houses that require waivers. But one group of adults were left out of yesterday's fun: sex offenders. And the Daily News reports that the state's Division of Parole made sure that those who are on probation for sex-related crimes stayed indoors. more ›

On June 19, 1980, officer Joe Keegan, 41, attempted to eject a 22-year-old fare-beater, Bruce Lorick, from the Columbus Circle station. Instead Lorick grabbed Keegan's gun and executed the cop before fleeing the station into Central Park. Lorick was eventually caught and sentenced to 25 years to life, with his fourth parole hearing set for February 21. But if Keegan's family, which includes 13 NYPD cops with more than 150 years of service, has anything to do with it he won't be going anywhere fast. More than 40 of Keegan's relatives are planning on storming the Division of Parole to testify against the cop-killer. more ›

During his parole hearing, in which he was denied parole for the sixth time, Mark David Chapman discussed his other possible targets with the board—but over the years he's forgotten many of them! In a 1987 interview with People magazine, Chapman says aside from John Lennon, he also considered killing Paul McCartney, George C. Scott, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Carson, Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis, (now former) Hawaii Governor George Ariyoshi, and Ronald Reagan (who was President at the time). The NY Post reports that at his recent parole board hearing, however, he could only remember Carson and Taylor. more ›

In unsurprising news: John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole again yesterday. The AP reports that a State Division of Parole board decided not to release Chapman after they interviewed him via teleconference at Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The board wrote to Chapman, saying they remained concerned about "the disregard you displayed for the norms of our society and the sanctity of human life when, after careful planning, you traveled to New York for the sole purpose of killing John Lennon." more ›

It's been just over two years since Mark David Chapman was last up for parole for killing John Lennon. At the time, Yoko Ono said, "It's dangerous for him to come out. Not only for us, but for himself. There are so many people out there who dislike him. It's safer for him to stay in jail." The parole board stated his release "would not be in the best interest of the community," and denied him parole for the 5th time. Chapman has said in the past that Lennon would have forgiven him (and below is an interview he did with Barbara Walters, where he describes the night he killed Lennon). more ›

NYC native Lori Berenson was set free Thursday after almost 15 years in Peruvian prisons on a conviction of aiding leftist rebels. Her release caused widespread controversy in Peru, where she's perceived by some as a terrorist for her participation in a foiled terrorist plot to take the Peruvian Congress hostage in the mid-'90s. As part of her parole, Berenson is required to stay in Peru for five more years, and she proceeded directly from prison to an apartment in the upscale Miraflores neighborhood in Lima, where she was greeted by neighbors shouting, "Go away, terrorist!" more ›

David Berkowitz, better known by his psycho killer name: Son of Sam, has just been denied parole for the fifth time. The state Parole Board told him last Tuesday, "Your actions exhibited a total disregard for not only the law but the lives of innocent members of society. Not only did you harm the victims and their families, but the N.Y.C. community as a whole. Your release is not in the interest of the public safety and welfare." So: phew! more ›

Thomas Hagan, the only man who admitted to having a role in Malcolm X's assassination in 1965, was released yesterday morning from Lincoln Correctional Facility in East Harlem. Hagan had been denied parole 16 times since he became eligible in 1980, but has been on work release since 1989. He admitted to shooting at the civil rights leader after another man already took a shot, and recently told the parole board, "My thoughts are that it never should have happened, number one, that I have a lot of regret about my actions and participating in that." He will presumably return to his family's home in Sunset Park; Malcolm X is still dead. more ›

A prison term of 20 years to life will end for the man who shot Malcom X at Manhattan’s Audobun Ballroom in 1965. Thomas Hagan, who’s applied for parole 16 times, had his request granted yesterday. He's already been on a work-release program and spends only two days/week in jail, but on April 28, the 69-year-old will walk free. One of the slain civil rights icon’s daughters, Illyasah Shabazz,spoke last night at the scene of his death and said she was ready to forgive Hagan, a former militant member of the Nation of Islam: "I would really think that at this point in his life he's regretful for having been a pawn, one of the pawns in killing my father." Two other men who were implicated in the killing, but didn't confess, were released twenty years ago. more ›

The woman whose false rape claims put an innocent man behind bars for nearly four years was sentenced to one to three years in prison on perjury charges. After pleading guilty to making up a story that she was gang raped in Upper Manhattan in 2005 to elicit sympathy from friends, Biurny Peguero Gonzalez was hit with jail time. "I question myself every day as to how I could have done this," she told the judge at her sentencing hearing. more ›

Back in 1983, the Post penned its most famous headline of all time, "Headless Body in Topless Bar," but to this day the man incarcerated for the humorously described crime claims innocence. For the third time in his 27 years behind bars, Charles Dingle asked for parole, claiming he wasn't responsible for the blood bath in a Queens strip club, where one man was decapitated, a stripper was raped, and several women were robbed and held hostage. For the third time he was denied. "They expect you to come in and plead guilty and take responsibility for the crime," he said of the parole board. "I can't do it because I didn't do it." A gruesome flashback follows the break. more ›

Mark David Chapman was just denied parole for a fifth time, and although nothing really stands out, CityRoom notes that with this hearing "some details that were not publicly discussed during Mr. Chapman’s previous attempts at obtaining parole" surfaced. In the interview he discussed his crime with the parole board, and noted of his shooting John Lennon: "I don't recall saying: Mr. Lennon. I think that was something that the press elaborated on; that did not happen, he didn't turn I shot him in the back." He continued on, saying he's changed, apologizing to Lennon's family and noting that if released he would go work on a farm upstate, where a man had offered him a job. The board decided to keep him locked up, of course--and as Yoko Ono said herself, he's "safer" in jail. more ›

Following yesterday's news of Mark David Chapman's latest chance for parole coming up this week, The Daily News chimes in with some more from Yoko Ono. She has, naturally, long been against her husband's killer being released, for her family's safety, but has also stated that: "It's dangerous for him to come out. Not only for us, but for himself. There are so many people out there who dislike him. It's safer for him to stay in jail." He's been behind bars since he shot John Lennon four times in the back in 1980, and chances are that's where he'll stay. Meanwhile, Ono has been in the Hamptons keeping her late husband's name alive and promoting "Come Together, a show that will look at John's life through his artwork." Hundreds of pieces will be on sale, most of of which were "published after he died, and the majority are signed by Ono." Proceeds will go towards the Human Resources of the Hamptons. UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Chapman was denied parole (he'll be up for it again in around two years), the board stated his release "would not be in the best interest of the community." more ›

The Daily News takes a look at Mark David Chapman's time behind bars at New York's Attica Correctional Facility; the man who killed John Lennon is up for parole for a fifth time this week. In 2000, Yoko Ono wrote a letter to the parole board, referring to Chapman only as "the subject" and asking that he not be released because "With his one act of violence in those few seconds, [he] managed to change my whole life, devastate his sons, and bring deep sorrow and fear to the world." She recently reiterated those sentiments, and fears that his release would leave her family unsafe--the board has also received around 50 letters from Lennon fans this time around. more ›

Thomas Hagan is appealing the most recent denial of his parole for the 1965 murder of Malcolm X, who was gunned down in front of his family at Washington Height's Audubon Ballroom. The September 2007 denial for parole means that Hagan's next opportunity nine months from now will be his 14th. Hagan has been imprisoned for 43 years since he pleaded guilty to killing the controversial community leader. more ›