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The sting came in conjunction with an obscenity investigation conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department as well as complaints sent to the Justice Department in western Pennsylvania, said U.S. Atty. Mary Beth Buchanan.
"If a company is wanting to take advantage of the Internet for marketing and distribution purposes, it's their responsibility to make sure they're not violating local laws," Buchanan said. "If their conduct is not legal, it's up to them to take a firm stance not to operate there."
Extreme Associates, a relatively small player in triple X-rated entertainment, has garnered both financial success and public attention in the last several years for its line of hyper-aggressive adult films.
The privately held company employs 15 people and has annual sales of $20 million to $49.9 million, according to the U.S. Business Directory.
Extreme's offices were searched in April under a federal search warrant. The unsealed warrant shows that federal and postal investigators seized copies of five different movies as well as sales records, distribution invoices and an array of other business documents.
On the company's Web site, which Thursday featured an American flag waving in the breeze, Zicari posted a statement that said no one had been arrested and that the company remained in business. He vowed to fight the government and wrote, "I definitely will not sit here and cry a bunch of tears."
He went on to name the five allegedly obscene films and, in an act of defiance, announced that the company was selling "The Federal Five" tapes at a discount on its Web site.
Zicari and Romano are scheduled to be arraigned in Pittsburgh on Aug. 27.
If convicted, Zicari, 29, also known as Rob Black, and Romano, 26, also known as Lizzie Borden, each could face as much as 50 years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million. The company could pay a fine of as much as $5 million.
The case is a flashback to the war on pornography that the government waged in the 1980s, which shut down dozens of production companies and sent executives to prison for distributing raunchy fare.
Meese's Commission on Pornography linked sexually violent materials with "antisocial acts of sexual violence" and attempted to draw ties between extreme sex entertainment and child molestation.
The commission's 2,000-page report set off an unprecedented flood of anti-porn sentiment and legislation that landed several high-profile porn executives in prison ? including Russell Hampshire, head of the video manufacturing company VCA Labs Inc. In 1988, he served nine months for shipping obscene videotapes across state lines to federal agents in Alabama.
Hampshire wasn't alone. Vivid Video Inc. in Van Nuys and founders Steven Hirsch and David "Dewi" James were indicted by a federal grand jury in Mississippi in 1991 on obscenity counts for shipping four hard-core tapes to the state. The company pleaded guilty and paid a $500,000 fine.
The industry has been bracing for a renewed crackdown since Ashhahahahaha became attorney general in 2001. Film producers took note when the department spent $8,000 on curtains to cover two partly nude classical statues in its Washington offices.
Though there has been a steady string of state and federal cases tackling obscenity issues in the last few years, many of the suits have focused on online child pornography.
"Every time we get a Republican administration, these kinds of cases seem to perk up," said lawyer Elliot Abelson, who defended the industry in obscenity cases from the late 1970s to the mid-'80s.
The adult entertainment industry has grown dramatically since then. Annual rentals and sales of adult videos and DVDs top $4 billion, and the industry churns out about 11,000 titles each year ? more than 20 times as many as Hollywood, according to Adult Video News, a trade magazine.
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