The Justice Department on Thursday charged a North Hollywood wholesaler of adult films with violating federal obscenity laws, launching the first of what it promised would be a wave of criminal cases against purveyors of pornography.
The 10-count federal grand jury indictment against Extreme Associates and its executives, Robert Zicari and Janet Romano of Northridge, raised alarm among adult entertainment companies in the San Fernando Valley, which is considered the capital of the nation's multibillion-dollar pornography industry.
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft promised upon taking office that he would crack down on the distributors of adult entertainment material such as movies, magazines and Web sites, much as his Reagan administration predecessor Edwin Meese III did in the 1980s.
With the government's antitrust trial against Microsoft Corp. completed and the war on terrorism well underway, Thursday's charges suggest pornography has moved closer to the center of Ashcroft's radar.
"Today's indictment marks an important step in the Department of Justice's strategy for attacking the proliferation of adult obscenity," Ashcroft said.
The department, he said, will "continue to focus our efforts on targeted obscenity prosecutions that will deter others from producing and distributing obscene material."
Executives at Extreme Associates did not return calls Thursday, but one industry official said adult entertainment businesses were preparing for a fight.
"This is just another form of harassment by the government," said William Lyon, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based trade group for the adult entertainment industry. The government will "try to get convictions on the edges of this industry, and we will fight them all the way."
Thursday's indictment came after investigators with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service set up a sting operation in Pennsylvania. From September 2002 through July 2003, the indictment says, the defendants sold allegedly obscene material over the Internet and distributed videotapes and DVDs across state lines through the postal system, a violation of federal law.
Extreme Associates produces movies such as "Extreme Teen #24" and "Forced Entry -- Directors Cut," which depict the fictional rapes and murders of several women, according to court documents.
