so you meant to give out money to hack into that website and remove your name
,if they have good security measures they can still hunt your ass down for that ,because you are giving them ample evidence for that matter
unless that local newspaper gives you the justice you wanted i guess nothing can be done, and still i think you can take the legal approach ,(defamation) , if the case was solved . thats the only possible solution. find a lawyer and send a legal warning regarding the issue, i am sure they will take measures rather than you negotiating