Nobody ever said pulp was enlightened. Noted editor and author William T. Brannon proves that point as he explains to the readers of True Crime why female victims bring it on themselves. Of course, True Crime’s readership was almost exclusively male, so Brannon’s article isn’t selfless advice to women as much as it is a reiteration of long-held sexist tropes. We have a sneaky feeling that kind of shit didn’t fly at all when Mrs. Brannon was in the room. In any case, we like this blue cover.

In Brooklyn, New York, authorities have found actor John Costelloe dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Costelloe, who played the character Johnny Cakes on television’s Sopranos was found yesterday in his basement bedroom, but died days earlier. He had been appearing off-Broadway in playwright Jim Neu’s Gang of Seven, and was due on the big screen in Doubt opposite Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Neu said he had noticed a change in Costelloe’s mood of late, and had queried the actor what was bothering him, but without success. “He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would reach out,” Neu said. “There couldn’t have been a more supportive and friendly group. If he wanted to reach out to people, we were right in front of him. I wish he did.”

We showed you the American promotional art for Emmanuelle a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the poster for the Japanese premiere, which was today, also in 1974. The image illustrates an interesting characteristic of mid-20th century promotional art: even when the product advertised was raunchy, they usually tried to portray it in artful fashion. Mission accomplished.

Famed whistleblower Mark Felt aka Deep Throat died yesterday of heart failure in Santa Rosa, California at the age of 95. In 1972 Felt was instrumental in helping Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break open the infamous Watergate scandal, which remains one of the most important events in American history.

At the time, Felt was an FBI operative frustrated by the slow pace of investigation into a break-in at Democratic Party Headquarters at Washington, D.C.’s Watergate Hotel. It seemed clear to him that Republican operatives—possibly directed by President Richard Nixon—were likely involved, and that they were sabotaging the FBI investigation. Felt took matters into his own hands by secretly meeting with Bob Woodward during the Post’s investigation of the crime.

At these meetings, which took place in the dead of night in a Virginia parking garage, Felt gave Woodward crucial FBI information. They agreed that Felt’s identity could not be revealed, and that was when Woodward coined the Deep Throat moniker. Felt coined his own immortal phrase: “Follow the money.” That advice helped keep Woodward and Bernstein moving in the right direction during their investigation, and today is a mantra for investigative reporters seeking the truth behind political scandals, as well as an almost universal insight into human motivation.

When the Watergate scandal broke, Nixon resigned the presidency rather than be impeached. The event is often cited as the first major blow to the American public’s belief that their presidents were incorruptible. In that way, Mark Felt helped usher in an age of political cynicism. When he finally revealed his true identity in 2005, the Watergate saga was replayed and he was criticized and praised anew for his role. But whether hero or traitor, he is without question one of the most important Americans of his time.

Lupe Velez was born in Mexico, bounced from Hollywood films to the Broadway stage and back to Tinseltown, but never achieved the level of stardom she craved. She had a career, though—she made more than forty films, including the Mexican Spitfire series, which consisted of five projects over three years. But there were failed love affairs and a divorce. When an unmarried Velez became pregnant in 1944, her strict Catholic upbringing prevented her from seeking an abortion, but also caused her to believe giving birth out of wedlock would be an unbearable stigma for the child. Unable to see a way out, she took a handful of sleeping pills that killed her and her unborn baby. The suicide rocked Hollywood, and even inspired a 1965 Andy Warhol film entitled, appropriately, Lupe. She died sixty-two years ago today.

U.S. and E.U. authorities reported yesterday that more than 170 people around the world, including 61 in the United States, have been arrested in a major sting targeting international child pornographers. The operation, called Joint Hammer in the U.S., and Koala in Europe, freed girls who were sexually abused by child pornographers.

The investigation was launched after investigators determined a videotape of child porn found in Australia had been produced in Belgium. A joint EU-U.S. effort exposed a Belgian father who was sexually abusing his young daughters, and employing an Italian photographer to produce images of the abuse. So far 11 children were freed in the U.S., and dozens more were rescued in Europe.

Officials said ringleaders primarily targeted prepubescent females, but added that other groups produce photos and videos of boys and girls of all ages, including infants. Agents are still attempting to locate many victims whose images appeared in photos and videos and more arrests are expected as the investigation continues.

Forrest J. Ackerman, who was instrumental in the spread of science fiction and coined the term “sci-fi”, died yesterday at his home in Los Feliz, California. Ackerman is best remembered as the editor/writer of Famous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine that helped establish the literary value of science fiction, and has been cited as an inspiration by some of Hollywood’s most famous actors and directors, including George Lucas. Ackerman was also instrumental in the discovery of Ray Bradbury, who borrowed money to launch his magazine Literary Fantasia.

Ackerman published fifty stories, either alone or in collaboration with other sci-fi writers, penned pulp lesbian novels under the name Laurajean Ermayne, and wrote the origin story of Vampirella and gave the character her unforgettable name. He helped found the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and the National Fantasy Fan Federation, and generally assumed the role of No. 1 Booster for sci-fi/horror/fantasy. But of all his accomplishments, perhaps nothing symbolized his love of—and value to—science fiction more than his 18-room home the “Ackermansion”, a veritable museum that contained more than 300,000 books and pieces of sci-fi memorabilia. Ackerman had been in failing health, which prompted several premature reports of his death. Sadly, this time the news is true.

Mexico has accused its former top drug cop of accepting bribes from a drug cartel. According to officials, Noe Ramirez Mandujano—then head of the Special Organized Crime Investigation Division—took $450,000 from a member of the Pacific drug cartel. Ramirez was promised identical amounts monthly in exchange for inside information about police activities. The potential of nearly $5 million a year was enough to corrupt Ramirez and, before being arrested Thursday, he allegedly met twice with members of the cartel to solidify the deal.

Mexican president Felipe Calderon has lately cracked down on police corruption after the U.S. government, which funds a large part of Mexico’s drug war, tied up about $45 million in funds until an effort was made to root out bad cops and officials. Calderon said about the arrest: “The Mexican government is strongly committed to fighting against not only organized crime but the corruption that organized crime generates, and that has become entrenched over years and perhaps decades in the structures of power.”

The scandal is the most serious in Mexico since the 1997 arrest of Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who was then the top man at Mexico’s anti-drug agency and whose illicit dealings with drug lords provided the basis for the Hollywood movie Traffic. Despite President Calderon’s efforts to put a positive spin on Ramirez’s arrest, the event only reinforces suspicions among a cynical public that police corruption is rampant. These suspicions are not exactly unfounded. An early 2008 study conducted by the non-profit organization Transparency Mexico showed that Mexican citizens doled out US$2.58 billion in bribes in 2007.

The website Christian Nymphos launched in December 2007 and has so far received more than 1.5 million hits. The site was conceived by religious women with excessive sexual desires, and offers bedroom advice, suggested fantasies, and even answers prayer requests. The women believe firmly in sex only within the bounds of marriage with their husbands, which isn’t very pulp, but hey, they’re nymphos, which is as pulp as it gets, right? We’re so confused.

The wheels of justice move slowly but they still have a way catching up with you. Millionaire Palm Beach real estate developer Thanos Papalexis found that out when he was accused of a murder that occurred more than eight years ago. Feds arrested Papalexis in broad daylight at a swanky West Palm Beach eatery, and now the British national is being extradited to the U.K. to face charges that he snuffed 55 year old Charalambos Christodoulides.

According to extradition papers, Christodoulides was a resident in a warehouse Papalexis planned to renovate and then flip for big money. But Papalexis couldn’t move forward with his plan as long as Christodoulides remained in residence. And Christodoulides refused to vacate. Allegedly Papalexis was losing $120,000 a week in interest on a bridging loan he’d taken out to finance the deal, so he compounded that serious error with another by hiring thugs Robert Baxhija and Ylli Xhelo to help kill Christodoulides and vanish the body.

Unfortunately for Papalexis, his hired henchmen weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and the victim’s corpse was found a mere week after the killing. He had been beaten, strangled, dumped in a mechanics’ pit at a car repair shop, and doused in lighter fluid in an attempt to thwart police dogs. The extradition papers claim Papalexis is circumstantially connected to the murder via telephone records, legal documents, and physically connected via forensic evidence—including DNA at the crime scene.

The implication is clear—authorities will try to prove Papalexis personally administered a grisly goodbye beating to Christodoulides before the troublesome tenant was slain and secreted. The violence of the event was surprising even to cops—blood spray reached the ceiling of the room where the victim was worked over.

The charges came as a surprise in swanky Palm Beach, where Papalexis spent years clawing his way up the social ladder and had become a major player, even hosting a January political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in a 5,700 square foot mansion he rented in nearby Manalapan. But high times rubbing shoulders with the political elite are just a memory for Papalexis now—he’ll be held without bail until trial.