Briefly

California

Vice principal arrested in killings of wife, kids

A school vice principal long a suspect in the deaths of his wife, three children and mother-in-law last July was charged with five counts of murder, Bakersfield police said.

Vincent Brothers was taken into custody without incident Friday near his house. He pleaded innocent at his arraignment in Kern County Court and was being held without bail.

Brothers’ estranged 39-year-old wife, Joanie Harper; their children, Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 2, and Marshall, 6 weeks; and his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper, 70, were found shot and stabbed in their home.

Brothers’ attorney said his client was out of state when the killings occurred. Brothers was a teacher and vice principal at a middle school before switching to the vice principal job at Fremont Elementary School in 1996.

Phoenix

Inmate gets 7 life terms for role in standoff

An inmate who took part in a 15-day prison standoff, holding two guards hostage and raping one of them, was sentenced Friday to seven life terms.

Steven Coy, who was already serving several life terms before seizing the watch tower with another inmate in January, also received other sentences ranging from six to 35 years.

Coy pleaded guilty in March to 14 charges, including sexual assault, escape, kidnapping, assault and promoting prison contraband. He admitted raping a female guard, who was held hostage for 15 days, and a female kitchen worker.

Ricky Wassenaar, the other inmate, is awaiting trial.

Hong Kong

Crocodile delights city

The hunt is back on for a stray crocodile — and local celebrity — that gained fame by managing for months to elude capture by trap, dart and harpoon, foiling even the clutches of a wannabe “Crocodile Dundee.”

Nicknamed “Gucci,” the saltwater croc, above, has enthralled the people of Hong Kong, more accustomed to seeing such creatures on TV nature shows or the outside of handbags. Soon after the reptile showed up in November, radio callers elected it “personality of the year.”

The reptile dropped out of sight for a while during the cold weather, but now it’s back in the same polluted creek.

Further embarrassing Hong Kong officials, local news media have had plenty of luck capturing the crocodile — on film. Hong Kong has no native crocodile species, and it’s unclear where this one originated.

Connecticut

Governor faces impeachment

Members of a special legislative committee considering whether Gov. John G. Rowland should be impeached asked their lawyer Friday to draft one or more articles of impeachment because the governor hasn’t cooperated with their probe.

The decision came after a lawyer for Rowland refused to testify before the House Select Committee of Inquiry about why Rowland and his wife have not yet turned over almost 10 years worth of personal financial records.

Rowland, 46, a Republican, has been under increasing pressure to resign since admitting in mid-December he lied about who paid for improvements to a summer cottage.

Los Angeles

Truckers abandon rigs on freeway to protest

Independent truckers parked their rigs Friday morning on a busy freeway outside Los Angeles, snarling rush-hour traffic for miles in a wildcat protest over high diesel prices. Other truckers rallied at two of the largest ports on the West Coast.

The gridlock occurred during the morning commute on Interstate 5 south of Los Angeles when truckers parked or jackknifed three big rigs, then sped away in a waiting car.

Police had been tipped Thursday night and were prepared with tow trucks that cleared the lanes within an hour along Interstate 5 in Commerce. Five truckers were arrested.

Later in the day, hundreds of truckers rallied near the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland to protest high fuel costs and other issues they said were cutting into their profits.

Oklahoma

Prosecution rests in Nichols’ murder trial

Prosecutors rested Friday in the state murder trial of Terry Nichols, 49, who they argued was deeply involved in plans to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building.

Prosecutors presented evidence over 29 days that they said linked Nichols to the attack. He faces possible execution if convicted.

The defense begins making its case Thursday and may call as many as 200 witnesses.

The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder in federal court and executed.

Nichols already is serving a life sentence in federal prison.

Boston

Mafia ‘boss of all bosses’ dies in federal prison

Gaetano Badalamenti, once described by federal authorities as the “boss of all bosses” of the Sicilian Mafia, has died, a Justice Department spokesman said Friday.

Badalamenti, 80, a ringleader of a $1.65 billion heroin and cocaine smuggling operation that used pizzerias as fronts to distribute the drugs from 1975 to 1984, was sentenced in 1987 to 45 years in federal prison.

The Justice Department spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, could not confirm when, where or how Badalamenti died, but he was most recently housed at the Federal Medical Center in Ayer, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons Web site.

Louis Freeh, who went on to became director of the FBI, was one of the lead prosecutors. Rudolph Giuliani, later the mayor of New York, was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time of Badalamenti’s trial.

New York

Activists lining up to protest GOP convention

A growing list of potential protesters, including abortion-rights supporters, anti-war activists and even off-duty police officers, wants permission to stage demonstrations during the Republican National Convention, police officials said Friday.

About 17 organizations have contacted the NYPD so far about rallying outside the convention at Madison Square Garden. More are expected to apply before a June 15 deadline.

One request by an anti-war group has been denied already because the estimated draw — 250,000 people — was deemed too large.