L.A. Man Charged in Seagal Threat Plot

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday October 17, 2002 01:00 PM EDT

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A West Los Angeles man was charged Wednesday with threatening Los Angeles Times reporter Anita M. Bush, who was working on a story about an alleged Mafia extortion plot against actor Steven Seagal, the newspaper reports.

Alexander Proctor, 58, was arrested outside his home and is being held without bail. Law enforcement officials allege that Proctor broke Busch's car window and left a package containing a dead fish with a long-stemmed rose in its mouth, as well as a cardboard placard with the word "STOP," according to the indictment by a federal grand jury.

The incident occurred in June, a few weeks into Busch's reporting, according to the paper, which had published several stories that month about the arrest of Seagal's former partner for his alleged role in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme against the "Out for Justice" actor by the Gambino crime family.

An FBI spokeswoman told the Times Wednesday that more arrests were possible.

As PEOPLE.com reported in early September, police in Los Angeles were looking into threats made against Busch and against Ned Zeman, of Vanity Fair magazine, after both had written about alleged Mafia attempts to extort money from the pony-tailed action star.

The Associated Press reported that Zeman, whose article on the situation appeared in the September issue of Vanity Fair, had told investigators that a driver pulled up alongside his car on Aug. 26, pointed a gun at him and ordered him to "Stop."