Charles O’Brien, confidant of Jimmy Hoffa, dies at 86

Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien called himself Jimmy Hoffa’s foster son but for decades was thought by investigators to have been complicit in Hoffa’s disappearance — and was depicted that way in last year’s film “The Irishman” about Hoffa’s demise.

O’Brien, 86, died Thursday in Boca Raton, Florida, according to his stepson Jack Goldsmith.

“My stepfather, Charles Lenton “Chuckie” O’Brien, passed away today at the age of 86,” Goldsmith said on his blog. “He appears to have died of a heart attack.”

O'Brien

Rage Against the Machine adds second show in Detroit

Detroit will be getting at least two Rage Against the Machine reunion shows: The band has added a July 15 Little Caesars Arena date to its summer schedule.

Seats are on sale now at Ticketmaster. Tickets for the group’s previously announced July 13 show sold out in less than an hour. Rage is embarking on the Public Service Announcement Tour, its first full-scale tour in two decades. The LCA concerts will be the band’s first in metro Detroit since a Palace of Auburn Hills date in 1999.

Pittsburgh-area official makes deal in Detroit hotel incident

A Pittsburgh-area official accused of obstructing police at a Detroit hotel pleaded no contest Thursday to disturbing the peace and was placed on probation, prosecutors said. The charge is a misdemeanor, and the case could be dismissed if Chelsa Wagner completes the six-month probation without any problems, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office said.

Wagner, the elected controller in Allegheny County, won’t face a second trial on a felony charge of resisting police.

A jury in November couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on that charge and acquitted her of disorderly conduct.

Wagner, a Democrat, was accused of interfering with police as officers tried to remove her husband, Khari Mosley, from the Westin Book Cadillac hotel last March. They were in Detroit to attend a concert.

Hotel staff had called 911 to report that Mosley was unruly during a dispute over registration and a room key.

Mosley was acquitted charges in July.

of misdemeanor

Drugs linked to death of woman once considered a missing person

HONOR – A Detroit-area woman whose disappearance last fall led to highly publicized searches in northern Michigan and suspicions about foul play died of a drug combination, tests revealed.

The medical examiner in Benzie County pointed to the effects of methamphetamine and Diazepam, an anti-anxiety drug, according to a report released Thursday. Cold weather also was a factor.

The body of Adrienne Quintal of Southfield was discovered in December, outdoors in water near a family cabin, two months after she had traveled to the northern Lower Peninsula. There were no obvious signs of foul play at the time.

Relatives said Quintal, 47, called a friend in the wee hours on Oct. 17 to say she was involved in a shootout with two men who were outside the cabin near Honor, about 20 miles southwest of Traverse City.

Detroit cop gets 18 years in prison for aiding drug ring

A former police officer was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison for assisting a drug organization while working at the Detroit department.

Federal prosecutors said Chris Staton assisted dealers by running license plates, staging a traffic stop and providing other sensitive information.

Staton “had a choice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Cares said. “Enforce the law and protect the citizens of Detroit or use his experience as a police officer and his law enforcement tools to assist a drug trafficking empire. He chose the latter. Again. And again.”

Staton, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sean Cox for a conspiracy conviction. His attorney had requested a 10-year term.

“There was no competent evidence that Mr. Staton ever possessed any drugs, delivered drugs or arranged for any narcotic delivery,” Sanford Schulman said.

– Compiled from USA TODAY Network

and Associated Press reports