Former Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW for the cali wrestling fans) Promoters and former Extreme Associates owners Rob "Black" Zicari and Wife Janet "Lizzie Borden" Romano Were Sentanced to prison for Obscenity Charges on July 1st 2009.

On July 1st 2009, former XPW/Extreme Associates owner Rob Zicari, known professionally as Rob Black along with former XPW performer Janet Romano, known professionally as Lizzie Borden, were sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison as well as two additional years of supervised probation.

The couple plead guilty last March to one count of conspiracy to distribute obscene materials, and before the plea, they were facing upwards of 50 years in prison and up to a $5 million fine.

The plea agreement was agreed too, and prosecutors dropped nine counts of violating federal obscenity statuettes.

The couple and the Extreme Associates company, owned by Black, were accused of sending obscene movies to a PO Box in the Pittsburgh area as well as sending obscene tapes and DVDs to a local wholesaler, and also transmitted “obscene footage” on the Extreme Associates Website.

The filming of Lizzy Borden’s movie Forced Entry, which included several simulated rapes, was covered in the PBS Frontline documentary American Porn (2002),; the makers of the documentary were repulsed and walked off the set. The filming of the movie was also a part of documentary produced for the BBC 2 hosted by Louis Theroux which follows various figures of the porn industry. Louis Theroux also leaves the set in a similar manner to that of the PBS documentary. After Zicari was interviewed in the documentary and challenged Attorney General John Ashcroft. These scenes possibly led to the subsequent undercover operation by federal authorities.

In April 2003, the premises of Extreme Associates were raided by federal agents. Zicari, his wife and his company were indicted for distributing obscene pornographic materials. The case is United States v. Extreme Associates.

Zicari’s company was located in Northridge near Los Angeles, but the trial took place in Pittsburgh, from where under-cover agents had ordered the offending materials.

Zicari remained in business during the trial; he continued to market and sell the five tapes that are at the center of the prosecution as The Federal Five, with a portion of the sales price going to his defense fund. Note that buyers of those materials do not break the law, since mere possession of obscenity (unlike production and distribution) is not illegal.

In April 2004, Zicari engaged in a public dispute with fellow pornographer Larry Flynt, who also had to fight various obscenity trials in the past. Zicari asked the adult industry for financial support to aid in his defense; Flynt declined, saying that he only promotes consensual sex and that Zicari’s actions harmed the industry as a whole.

Zicari’s lawyer H. Louis Sirkin initially argued that laws against the distribution of obscenity were unconstitutional since people have a right to own obscenity, but this argument was rebuffed on appeal.

After 6 years of legal costs, Black and his wife both plead guilty to the reinstated federal obscenity charges in hopes to avoid more extensive loss and penalties if they lost at actual trial.

Zicari and his wife were both sentenced to one year and one day in prison on July 1 2009.