Extreme Associates

Infobox_Company
company_type = pornography
foundation = California, United States (1997)
company_name = Extreme Associates
location = Chatsworth, California, United States
key_people = Rob Zicari, Founder, Owner, Director, Janet Romano, Owner, Director, Tom Byron, Owner, Director
industry = pornography
products = adult films
homepage = [http://www.extremeassociates.com/ www.extremeassociates.com]

Extreme Associates, also known as Extreme and Extreme 2.0, is a major adult film producer, featuring a popular catalog of VHS and DVD titles and internet content. It is owned by Rob Zicari ("Rob Black") and his wife Janet Romano ("Lizzy Borden"). It is also closely associated with another adult film company, Evolution Erotica.

History

Extreme Associates evolved from Rob Zicari's former company, Extreme Video. It became known as Extreme Associates in 1998 when Rob Zicari, Tom Byron, Tiffany Mynx, and Van Damage broke away from Patrick Collins' Elegant Angel company and formed their own corporation. Tom Byron, Van Damage and Tiffany Mynx have since left the company. Janet Romano started to work for Zicari in 1998, first as an actress and then as a director.

In 2003, it was indicted by the U.S. federal government for obscenity charges. The company is well-known for being controversial, as it has engaged in public relations wars with Vivid Video, Patrick Collins and his company Elegant Angel, Paul Fishbein and his publication Adult Video News, and Larry Flynt.

Extreme Associates has been featured on America's Most Wanted, Nightline with Ted Koppel, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and many other television shows, and also in publications such as TIME Magazine and Details Magazine. The company is the subject of the documentaries: "PBS Frontline: American Porn" and "The Porn King vs. The President", and co-owner Lizzy Borden recently stated that there are more documentaries about the company in the process of being filmed.

Extreme Associates operated a professional wrestling promotion called Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) from 1999 to 2003.

Obscenity prosecution

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. 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 is located in Chatsworth 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. The involved movies are
*"Extreme Teen 24": contains a scene of a naive pre-teen being talked into having sex by an adult man
*"Cocktails 2": various scenes of women drinking vomit and other bodily fluids
*"Ass Clowns 3": a female journalist is being raped by a gang led by Osama bin Laden; the journalist is freed and the gang members killed. The director's cut version also contains a scene where Jesus steps off the cross and has sex with an angel.
*"1001 Ways to Eat My Jizz":
*"Forced Entry": the story of a serial rapist and killer who eventually gets killed by a mob

During a hearing in November 2004, Zicari's lawyer argued that the right to privacy gave individuals the constitutional right to view offending materials in private, a right which cannot be meaningfully exercised without a corresponding right of companies to distribute such materials. The prosecution countered that an individual's right to privacy is unrelated to a company's right to commercial distribution.

On January 20, 2005, the District Court judge dropped the charges, agreeing with the defense that the Federal anti-obscenity statutes are unconstitutional. The Department of Justice (at the time headed by Alberto Gonzales) announced on February 16, 2005 that it would appeal the ruling. That appeal was filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on April 11, 2005, argued on October 19, 2005, and decided on December 8, 2005. The appeals court reversed the lower court and reinstated the suit against Zicari and Romano, ruling that the lower court had erred in setting aside the federal obscenity statutes, which had been repeatedly upheld in Supreme Court decisions.

Product

Extreme Associates is known for its extremely hardcore content. Some of its most well-known video series are "Cocksmokers", "Extreme Teen", "Extremely Yours", and "Whack Attack".

Directors

Extreme's current directors are Rob Black, Lizzy Borden, Tom Byron, Mark Zane (also known as Alias), Ivan E. Rection, Chris Justice (also known as Chris Evans), Coffee Ron, and Thomas Zupko, the last of whom returned to the company in May 2005 after having left approximately three years earlier. Extreme's former-directors include Ashlyn Gere, Derek Newblood, Gene Ross, Jane Waters, Luis Cypher (also known as Bobby Darlin), Luciano (Mike Long), Scott Snot, Slain Wayne (Eric Brummer), Smiley Johnson, Tiffany Mynx, and Van Damage.

Contract Girls

Past starlets of Extreme Associates have included Alana Evans, Alexandra Nice, Amber Lynn, Bridget the Midget, Heather Gables Paris Gables (The company's main contract starlet currently), Iroc, Jasmin St. Claire, Jessica Darlin, Jewel De'Nyle, Juanita Chong, Kendra Jade, Kristi Myst, Lizzy Borden (currently one of Extreme's directors), Monique DeMoan, Nikita Denise, Stryc-9, Tiffany Mynx, and Veronica Caine (formerly Barrett Moore). Gia Paloma left the company in May 2005. Pro wrestler Nicole Bass did some non-sex bondage videos for Extreme in 2000.

See also

*Evolution Erotica
*Rob Zicari
*United States v. Extreme Associates
*Xtreme Pro Wrestling

References

* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/ American Porn] documentary by Frontline (first aired in 2002, updated in 2004), watchable online.

External links

* [http://extremeassociates.com/ Extreme Associates' official web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/extremeassociates Extreme Associates on Myspace]
* [http://www.bordensblogs.com/ BordensBlogs.com - the official blog of Extreme co-owner Lizzy Borden]