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I Want To Help

Men are such complex strange individuals and I think that if they got in touch with their sexuality they'd be nicer people.

Debbie writes: I was entertaining Cathy [Seipp] and friends at lunch yesterday with advice from your site re women and cats. While I thought it was brilliant, my lunch companions did not -- they adore cats! Yech! No surprise they're all single...

Connie Bruck's New Yorker Essay On Lew Wasserman

I asked for the opinion of Dennis McDougal, who wrote the book on Lew Wasserman: "I’ve ordered the book and may have a different assessment once I’ve read it, but based on the New Yorker excerpt, I am frankly puzzled as to why she went through with the project. She has found different sources than mine, but most of their conclusions and revelations are the same. And as far as getting Lew to talk – unless he tells you something, getting him to sit for an interview is an empty victory. And as near as I can tell, he didn’t tell her much. All I learned was that Lew Wasserman was self-serving all the way to the end. None of his darker secrets came out in the New Yorker and he remains a cipher. As a fellow author, I wish her and her book well, but as a reader and a student of Hollywood, I was greatly disappointed."

Israeli Policeman Mistaken For Stripper

Dave Deutsch writes: In honor of Yom Haatzmaut (Israeli Independence Day, to those of you who are Hebraically challenged). It's moments like this that make the last century of sacrifice all worthwhile:

From BBC: An Israeli policeman responding to neighbours' complaints about a noisy hen party found himself mistaken for the main attraction.

The rowdy women had ordered a male stripper dressed as a policeman and, thinking the stripper had arrived, began trying to undress and caress him, ignoring his protestations.

One of the partygoers "took off my shirt and untied my shoelaces," the officer was quoted as saying by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily. "She started stroking me and called on her friends to join in."

He showed his police badge, but the women just thought it was part of the act. The policeman was reportedly only able to extricate himself when his partner called for reinforcements. The revellers were fined.

Deconstructing Alisa Valdes-Rodridguez

Amy Alexander writes on Africana.com: The narrative St. Martin's has fashioned for its 34-year-old first-time author is both disingenuous and insulting. It is also being swallowed whole-hog by arts writers as the story of an aggrieved Latina newspaper reporter who found the racist dictates of mainstream editors too much to bear, and who subsequently received a $475,000 advance for her stereotype-busting debut.

The publisher is wisely banking on the fact that most critics won't bother to dig too deeply into Valdes-Rodriguez's professional background. It is a cynical bet that so far has paid off handsomely.

For starters, Valdes-Rodriguez is not a trained journalist, something that has been pointed out but not followed up on, in early coverage of the book. A mixed-race Latina — she refers to part of her family as "white trash" even though her website, having it both ways perhaps, touts that branch as descending from a founder of Harvard University — Valdes-Rodriguez studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music before trying her hand at journalism. Her lack of professional journalism training didn't impede her ability to land jobs at mainstream newspapers, despite the limited technical skills she displayed. But her short turns at The Boston Globe and at The Los Angeles Times were notable primarily for her artless complaining about race and gender issues, not for her outstanding journalistic chops.

Thus, St. Martin's publicity plan for The Dirty Girls Social Club is one big ball of irony: they are billing Valdes-Rodriguez as "the Latina Terry McMillan," even though the author herself bridles at being the called "the Latina" anything. They paid a daughter of a Puritan New England family nearly half a million dollars for a semi-autobiographical book that is in part the story of a brown-skinned newspaper reporter struggling with her editors' perception of her as a cross between "Charo and Lois Lane."

Cathy Seipp writes: I hold no truck with the entire concept of trained journlists, but Alisa does have a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. Which doesn't impress me, but should impress someone who cares about that sort of thing and has gripes with reporters who don't get their facts straight. Also, about that "brown-skinned newspaper reporter" character: much is made in "Dirty Girls" about this Alisa alter-ego (who is, like Alisa V-R herself, half Cuban and half Anglo) being fair-skinned and white, not brown.

What Does My New Therapist Need To Know About Me?

Khunrum writes: Straighten out this thing where you blame your mother for "leaving you alone" at age five. Do you think she said "Geeez! This brat is getting to be too much for me...Oh! Boy! I have cancer, now I can get the hell away from him"....Work on forgiving your mother and reconciling with Desmond. This is pretty heavy but you asked for it...

Helpful writes: If your shrink can get you to accept that the center of the universe is in fact the sun and not Luke Ford I think she will have earned her fee.

I am engaged and the date is July 19th. It's very exciting. We are a great match. Tell Asia Carerra that it's too late now she just missed the boat.

Khunrum writes: Congratulations. I guess that trip you and I were going to take to Asia will have to wait a few years until you get divorced. BTW if you need a place to store your porn...

Helpful writes: I have parted with over 100 videos and am now slowly giving up my DVDs. Parting is such sweet sorrow....

Khunrum writes: Ouch!! Guess you lost that battle eh! buddy. As a fellow who has been there I can assure you you won't win many. Buddy...How hard are you going to battle when she suggests you block out Luke Ford.net on the computer? We will miss you buddy. Your keen wit and humor will be irreplaceable. Try and stay in touch occasionally. You may want to drop us a quick hello when the little lady is out shopping.

Say NO to Pornography and NO to Intolerance!

My friend Elrond Hibbard of the United Sons of the Southern Cross, Orange County Chapter, writes:

I suggest that you begin by asking her what a jewish woman in the final years of her sexual life (and that's being charitable) can possibly offer to a Son of the Southern Cross like you.

I suggest you ask yourself if this woman is personally successful in life, by which I mean that she has a husband to love her and children to care for. If she is not (my guess), why would you entrust your psychological welfare to the likes of her? That would be like handing over control over your money to someone who is insolvent.

Tell her that you have been told that your habit of running to middle-aged Jewish spinsters for counseling is itself a symptom of mental illness that cannot be ameliorated by running to middle-aged Jewish spinsters with bogus degrees in bogus fields looking for counseling. If you are in need of such services, you should seek the help of a happily married heterosexual man of gentile blood who understands what it means to be a man of gentile blood trying to make his way in the world. No jewish spinster, not even one with a law degree, can help you become the man you should want to be. Elrond Hibbard

PS There is entirely too much hatred on your web site, and too much pornography, too. There should be no room for either, either on your web site or in your life. Remember, young impressionable people are now reading lukeford.net, and you have a moral obligation to them that transcends your need to make money or achieve fame.

Conversations With Tough Guys

Kevin Beechum owns the production companies KBeech, Erotic Angel and Midnight Video. He's a tough guy with connections to the underworld.

From Michigan, Beechum entered the industry around 1981. He worked for Arrow Productions, owned by Butchie Peraino. Beechum hung out with mobsters Salvatore and Natale (Big Chris) Richichi.

According to the court case US vs Reuben Sturman from the Seventh Circuit No. 94-2527: "In November of 1991, Herbert Feinberg, an employee of Sturman's, asked Kevin Beechum to hire some people "to smash a bookstore in Phoenix, Arizona." Beechum hired Jay Brisette, Donald Mares, and Paul Mahn and instructed them to vandalize one of Green's stores because she wasn't paying the money which she owed."

YYY tells Luke 5/20/01: "Tommy Sinnopoli used to hang out with Rubin Gottesman and his son-in-law Jimmy Marzullo. But they lost everything. Jimmy got beat up by Frank Barbarino's guy Ryan and Bogie. Frank Barbarino owns the printing place FB. He's good friends with Kevin Beechum. Frank does boxcovers for everybody. Barbarino hangs out with a captain in the LA family named Lou Caruso. They work out all the time at that gym off DeSoto called Power House."

Kevin Beechum supplied the bikers for Reuben to go after those porners in Chicago. The reason that Kevin ratted everyone out was not just that the bomb blew up accidentally and killed one of the bikers, but that the car they were driving was rented on Kevin's credit card.

Kevin Beechum used to send the bikers money back. One of the guys is still in prison. Kevin takes care of all of them. Kevin likes to keep guys like that around.

Kevin Beechum, Russell Hampshire's Role In Reuben Sturman Bombing Affair

ARGUED JANUARY 4, 1995--DECIDED MARCH 14, 1995 Before BAUER, and MANION, Circuit Judges, and MILLER, District Judge.

Reuben Sturman was convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, and travel in interstate commerce for the purposes of com- mitting extortion. 18 U.S.C. secs. 1951, 1952. He contends on appeal that the trial court proceeding was fraught with error and asks, on that basis, that we reverse his con- viction or at least vacate portions of his sentence. We find his arguments unpersuasive, and so we affirm.

I. From his home state of California, Reuben Sturman operated a nationwide wholesale and retail adult entertainment business for over thirty years. His power and influence was such that many in the industry believed that he was the industry. Sturman had substantial control over distribution of adult videos and magazines and marital aids. A significant portion of his income came from small operators located throughout the United States, who paid Sturman for supplies or services in organizing and run- ning local enterprises. Sturman's fiery relationship with operators in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Chicago led to the prosecution of this case.

Tamara Green took over the ownership and operation of the Book Cellar, a chain of several adult book stores in Phoenix, Arizona, after her husband, Howard, the store's previous owner, passed away in 1990. The Book Cellar leased peep show video equipment from Sturman. Soon after taking over the business, Green learned that, for several months, her husband had been paying Sturman twice the amount called for in the lease agreement. Green instructed her accountant to suspend all payments until October of 1991 when the accumulated credit would be exhausted and at which point they could resume payment at the contract rate.

Sturman was not particularly pleased with Green's decision. On several occasions in the fall of 1991, Sturman told Green's accountant and general manager that unless Green paid him the additional money, he would "send her a message." In November of 1991, Herbert Feinberg, an employee of Sturman's, asked Kevin Beechum to hire some people "to smash a bookstore in Phoenix, Arizona." Beechum hired Jay Brisette, Donald Mares, and Paul Mahn and instructed them to vandalize one of Green's stores because she wasn't paying the money which she owed. On December 21, 1991, Brisette, Mares, and Mahn entered Green's store with hammers and baseball bats and proceeded to cause approximately $10,000 in property dam- age. Convinced that this was Sturman's "message," Green resumed paying Sturman at a monthly rate twice that of the agreement. Sturman's secretary testified that when she asked Sturman why Green had resumed paying the higher rate, he replied, "I sent her a message and she understood."

Mel Kamins had been associated with Sturman since 1955. In 1986, Kamins purchased several Cleveland adult entertainment businesses from Sturman. His agreement with Sturman required Kamins to make monthly payments ranging between $60,000 and $90,000 for ten years to Sturman or Sturman's nominees.

In the meantime, the IRS had discovered that Sturman was significantly delinquent on his prior tax obligations. Consequently, the IRS served upon Kamins and others owing obligations to Sturman, tax levies directing those persons to pay directly to the IRS any money owed to Sturman.

After Kamins began complying with the levy, Sturman contacted Kamins in an effort to persuade him to ignore the levy and continue the payments. Alternatively, Sturman urged Kamins to skim his profits and pay Sturman in cash. Kamins refused.

Sturman proceeded to hire a man named James Long to investigate the level of security at Kamins's stores. Long had performed security-oriented work for Sturman in the past. Sturman told Long that Kamins had not been paying Sturman what he owed. Later that month (February 1992), Sturman and Long visited Kamins's store. When Kamins again insisted on honoring the IRS levy, Sturman wrote Kamins a note which read, "You are going to get a message." Though nothing ever was done to Kamins or his business, Feinberg did discuss with Kevin Beechum the possibility of hiring Beechum's men to do a few more jobs in Cleveland. It appears as if the only thing that saved Kamins from a fate similar to that of Green were the developments taking place in Chicago.

Roy May and his wife, Paula, owned and operated several adult entertainment businesses in Chicago. They had an arrangement with Sturman that entitled Sturman to a certain percentage of the profits received from their peep show receipts. Under this arrangement, the Mays typically delivered to one of Sturman's nominees a cash payment ranging from $60,000 to $100,000 every four to six weeks. This portion of the Mays' revenues was never reported to the IRS. Sturman frequently demanded that in addition to the payments, the Mays give him title to half of their real estate holdings, the purchase of which Sturman had absolutely nothing to do with. Understandably, the Mays refused these demands.

In 1987, Paula May was indicted for tax evasion. Subsequently, Roy May ceased making the payments to Sturman. Sturman then suggested that May pay Sturman the money through a consulting arrangement. Although he received no benefit from this arrangement, May consented to the deal for fear that if he did not, Sturman would ruin him financially. During the term of the consulting contract, May resumed his profit-skimming cash payments to Sturman, albeit at a lower rate.

In 1988, Roy May refused to renew the consulting con- tract. Again, however, his fear of what Sturman might do to him and his business caused him to agree to pay Sturman $3.7 million for the rights to show adult films produced by Sturman's new company, Wild Man Films Inc., despite knowing that these films were worth no more than $200,000. May never used these films.

When the IRS began sending tax levies to Sturman's various debtors, Sturman suggested that he and May cancel their Wild Man Films contract so that May would have nothing to pay to the IRS. They did so but soon thereafter, Sturman began pressuring May to resume paying him. Sturman asked May to start making payments to a company named Video Views, which Sturman insisted could not be traced to Sturman. Reluctant to violate the IRS levy, May refused.

In the spring of 1992, Feinberg once again hired Brisette and his men, this time for a job in Chicago. After the financial arrangements were completed, Brisette and three others, Donald Mares, Paul Mahn, and Joseph Martinez, flew to Chicago. They intended to plant several remote- controlled bombs at eight of May's Chicago stores. After successfully planting a bomb at the first site, Mares and Mahn were travelling to a store on Wells Street when one of their bombs detonated in their car at the intersection of Dearborn and Division streets. Mahn fled the scene. Mares died as a result of injuries sustained in the explosion.

After hearing about the explosion, Brisette and Martinez aborted their efforts and together with Mahn, returned to Los Angeles. From there, the plan continued to unravel.

Still panicked from what had happened in Chicago, Brisette began to cooperate with the FBI. As part of his co- operation, Brisette participated in a tape-recorded conversation with Feinberg. The FBI then approached Feinberg and asked him to cooperate in a case against Sturman. Feinberg refused and then went to meet with Russell Hampshire, another figure in the California adult entertainment industry and a friend of Sturman's. In his conversation with Hampshire, Feinberg stated that he had been hired by Sturman to damage some stores in Chicago and that one of the people involved was killed. Feinberg asked Hampshire to assure Sturman that Feinberg would not cooperate with the police as long as Sturman helped him with his legal fees. When Hampshire passed on Feinberg's message, Sturman told Hampshire that he would take care of Feinberg's legal fees. A few months later, Sturman transferred $25,000 from his account to an account held by Feinberg's attorney.

Sturman and Feinberg were indicted together but tried separately. Sturman was convicted on Counts One, Seven, and Eight of a ten-count indictment. Count One charged Sturman and Feinberg with conspiring to commit extortion with respect to Green, Kamins, and the Mays. 18 U.S.C. sec. 1951. Count Seven charged Sturman and Feinberg with an attempt to commit extortion in connection with their threats to the Mays between November of 1991 and November 1992. Id. Count Eight charged Sturman and Feinberg with causing persons to travel in interstate commerce for the purpose of promoting extortion. 18 U.S.C. sec. 1952. Sturman was acquitted of the remaining charges. The court sentenced Sturman to 235 months in prison and imposed a two-year term of supervised release. Sturman appeals his conviction and his sentence.

Kevin Beechum told Luke Ford over the phone on Thursday afternoon, 7/23/98:

"Dan Beck ripped us off. Brooke Ashley says she did not get paid. She was supposed to have earned $7500 for the gangbang and $2500 for promoting the video. She says she did not get the $2500. That's supposed to be in her contract with Beck. It wasn't my shoot. I don't know…

"Dan Beck ripped us off. I tracked him down in New York. He tells me that because she did not do the promotion for the videos, she does not get the $2500. I don't know.

"Over a month ago, Brooke was crying about this to me. I said I would try to do anything I could. Now I find out that she's been badmouthing Midnight Video and us, as though we ripped her off. I called her up [a month ago]. She couldn't have apologized more. 'I'm so sorry. I talked to Mark Snyder at Sin City. Everybody says good things about you and it wasn't you.' I said, 'I already told you all that. We didn't shoot the movie, Dan Beck did. It isn't even our type of movie to put out.'

"To be honest, I don't know why I bought it. I didn't even watch it before I bought it [$35,000]. It's a piece of shit. It's terrible. We've sold about 3500 copies of The World's Biggest Anal Gangbang and about 1500 copies each of Fluffer Whores 1 & 2.

"We only made a deal for the gangbang after they finished shooting it [mid February, 1998]. They wanted $40,000. I blew them off. See, Cash Markman shoots our movies. Cash tells us it was good. Cash bought Dan Beck in here and we bought it off him for $35,000 and cut three movies out of it.

"Cash mainly shoots for Playboy. Our Erotic Angel line is mainly for Playboy. Midnight Video is harder core. Then we have Dreamland Video. Kbeech Video Inc is our distribution company. I have a telemarketer who sells to all the video stores direct.

"The market's so flooded today it's hard to sell anything. I just got off the phone with Steve Hirsch at Vivid. They're begging us to do business with them. All these new companies are hurting everyone. We won't buy from no knew companies.

"The gangbang was produced by HCTV. We thought Dan Beck owned HCTV. Dan Beck came in here and told us that his grandmother was dying. This guy was good. We had one last movie we were buying off him, The Mating Game 2. 'Could you pay me the ten grand right now?' I said, 'we don't have that type of money to pay you right now.'

"Dan: 'Give me something.' So I give him five grand. He goes into my office and tells my girl and my General Manager to make the check out to him. We didn't think nothing. We usually wrote the checks to HCTV.

"This Robert DuPree phones. 'You guys wrote a fucking check to Dan Beck when it was supposed to be HCTV…' He tells me the whole story. He seems like the nicest guy on the phone. I don't like people getting ripped off. Come on down. I'll get Dan here at the same time.

"I thought I was Judge Wopner. I had them both sitting in front of me. He's crying this story. He's crying that story. They're both going back and forth. Then Ron Jeremy and five grand worth of people who didn't get paid, call us… We paid Ron. He couldn't thank me enough for the measly $400 [for editing work]. So we paid every body that didn't get nothing.

"Robert DuPree is out $25,000 to Dan Beck… Dan just worked for Robert. He'd take checks. Robert would tell him to write a check out to somebody and Dan would write it out to himself. Now Dan's selling sail boats in New York.

"I made these Johnathan Morgan dating game movies… Dan Beck took my movies, chopped them up, and sold them to Michael Esposito. We just caught Michael at it.

"We sent some guys to kick Dan Beck's ass. He called the fucking police, the Hollywood organized crime unit on me. Attempted murder. But they can't prove nothing. The organized crime unit said that if anything happened to Dan, they'd come after me… But they can't prove nothing.

"I only have two contract girls (Farrah and Angelica Sinn) right now. We took back Farrah, who has drug problems. She was my girlfriend two years ago but I haven't fucked her in two years… We're trying to get her straightened out…

"Chuck Martino is a good friend of mine. He's off the drugs and has gone straight. He's got a cute little girlfriend Shay Sweet. He looks great.

"Everything's fine with me [since Kevin's car accident a few months ago] except for my left arm. I have no range of motion so my fighting days are over. I used to box, wrestle, and street fight for money all the time. I've been in adult for 16 years.

"Who knows who infected her. I've said this before. If there was anybody in this biz who I thought would've got AIDS, it would've been her. It's not that I don't like her. I don't even know her that good. The chick hooked on the side all the time. The LAWEEKLY called me, and this guy is up on porn, and he had never even heard of her before. And I said, 'that's because she's a B actress.' Nobody used her for any main movies. All she did is the raunchy shit.

"I feel sorry for the girl. Even though I shouldn't. It's got nothing to do with me. We called her up [a month ago]. We told her that for every movie Legend sells [of the gangbang], we'll give you a buck for every movie. Just to help you out. So I'm surprised that she's badmouthing me again."

6/28/01

A few years ago, I promised Kevin Beech, like I've promised many people, to call them before I published about them. As I've done many times, I broke that promise to Kevin six weeks ago. I called him Thursday morning to apologize. And to talk about the conversation I had last Friday with Mickey Fine aka Herberg Feinberg, who called me from jail.

Herbert Feinberg tells Luke: "Reuben Sturman was wrong, in respect that they didn't owe him no money. And that's how I got in trouble. Because Sturman told me that he was going to jail and they didn't want to pay him because he was going to jail. And he asked me to go do some collecting. And it is the truth. I went to Kevin and Kevin went to Jay [Brisette]. Kevin didn't go to the other people [involved in the bombing]. Jay went to the other people."

Luke: "Is Jay still in jail?"

Herbert: "No, he's out already. Everybody's out already. I'm calling you from jail."

Luke: "How long are you in for?"

Herbert: "Forty years."

Luke calls Kevin:

Luke: "I wanted to call to apologize for not calling you before I published about you."

Kevin: "Buddy, I'm sitting with the bomber [Jay Brisette] right and he's fucking... Hey Jay, he wrote in his fucking press thing that I ratted out Mickey Fine because you guys used my credit card and that's how I got caught. Where did you get that, bro?"

Luke: "Umm... Wasn't that in that court case?"

Kevin: "Noooooooo. They didn't use my credit card."

Jay: "It's the bikers outlaws..."

Kevin: "There were no bikers, dude. The feds made that one up. Because the one guy hung out with some biker guy."

Jay: "We were riding dirt bikes. So we were a biker gang."

Kevin: "Whereever you got that dude, some of that info is made up. The feds make half of that shit up."

Luke: "The bikers didn't rent their car in Chicago on your credit card?"

Kevin: "No. Jay, who'd you rent the car from? I'm sitting with the guy who just got out of prison."

Jay: "I'm paying the motherfucking bill."

Kevin: "He's paying the fucking bill on his credit card right now. That's one of his things when he got out of prison, he had to pay for the car [which blew up when a bomb accidentally exploded]."

Luke: "So the car was on Jay's credit card?"

Kevin: "Yeah."

Luke: "So that is Mr. Brisette you have there?"

Kevin: "Yeah."

Luke: "Ohmigod."

Jay: "Who's that?"

Kevin: "Luke Ford. He writes this thing on the internet, that I ratted you out because you guys used my credit card. No bro, we only ratted out the fucking guy [Mickey Fine] that fucked us and didn't pay us the fucking money that he promised us. Because he kept it for himself."

Luke: "He called me from prison. He wanted me to read him what I'd written about him. How's Mr. Brisette doing these days?"

Kevin: "He's doing great. He's sitting right across from me."

Jay: "I wouldn't go 'Great.' I'm doing allright."

Kevin: "Better than sitting in that fucking cell for eight years. He got ten."

Luke: "But he got out early for good behavior?"

Kevin: "I don't know about that. Usually with feds, you have to do 85% of the time."

Luke: "You guys were bikers?"

Kevin and Jay simultaneously: "Noooooo."

Jay: "Motorcross bikers."

Kevin: "They weren't bikers. They just fucked around. The feds made it up that it was some fucking bike gang."

Luke: "Which guy blew himself up?"

Jay: "The low man on the totem pole."

Kevin laughs. "It was Donny Mares."

Luke: "Where's Paul Mahn?"

Jay: "He's probably getting out this year."

Kevin: "Reuben [Sturman] and I never talked, bro. It was all through Mickey Fine. They came to me first for our Arizona deal [bombing of a bookstore that owed Sturman money]. Then Jay took the guys to Arizona and came back. And Mickey wanted another job done. I was out of the picture. I wasn't even involved. Then them guys went and did it. Then that big incident [while on the way to blow up a store that owed Sturman money, the bikers had their bomb accidentally go off in their car, killing one of them, and injuring two of them] in Chicago where the guy blew up and died and dadadadada.

"The word was that Reuben [Sturman] would take care of the lawyers, etc, if these guys got in trouble. Word is that Reuben gave Mickey the money for the lawyers and to take care of everything, but Mickey never gave us the fucking money. He said there was no money. He wanted me to come up with the money. I said, 'Fuck you, I'm out of this picture.' He said, 'Fuck, there ain't no money. Do what you've got to do.'

"Well, that means, 'Fuck you.' So we had to fuck him back. We buried him and said 'He did it. He hired us.'"

Luke: "Well, he did hire you."

Kevin: "We wouldn't have told on him if he'd have paid us, taken care of our lawyers and everything. But he didn't do it.

"The deal was, when the feds asked him to cooperate, he said, 'No, fuck that. I'm not cooperating.' They call that the first tier. And that would've given him ten years [in prison] if he would've cooperated. He said no. So then, after three months went by, he had his lawyer contact the feds and say, 'Now I will cooperate.' So they went to him and said, 'Here's the deal. Now you're tier two.' Which gave him 25 years. So he said, 'Fuck it. I'll take my chances.'"

Luke: "Kevin, so all you did was connect Mickey Fine to Jay Brisette?"

Kevin: "Yep."

Luke: "Did you know Donald and Paul?"

Kevin: "I knew Little Joe, who went with them, but I wasn't buddies with them. Little Joe was from Michigan like us. Little Joe is out. He's located right here.

"I don't know who gave you that story about my credit card. I was laughing on that one. I said, 'Wait a minute. I told this fucker to call me before he ever prints anything.'

"I'll tell you what else you can fucking print, pal. That story you fucking had about fucking Kenny sending those fucking guys in to fuck with David [Sturman]? Well, you can put in there that I told Kenny that he can suck my dick and take them fucking wiseguys that he did bring over to David, to bring them over to my office and see how fucking bad they were. And they were all too fucking chicken to come over because they were all too fucking chicken to come over because they're all fucking has-been wiseguys. The same with Kenny. He's a wiseguy only with his mouth."

Luke: "Who is Kenny Gallo aka Kenji?"

Kevin: "Kenny's a fucking little punk Chinese fucker that thinks he's a wiseguy Italian."

Luke: "He seems to have a lot of connections."

Kevin: "He's was a little fucking runner for the boys in the day that would do anything and so he was associated with some. Big deal. The coattails, he's trying to scare everybody. Or he gets them to come into their office like he did with David [Sturman]. After that, David called me and fuck dude, I called Kenny and said, 'Bring them punks over here.' And they were too chicken to come over."

Luke: "Could you have handled Jimmy Caci? He's a big mobster."

Kevin: "He can suck dick."

Luke: "What's Kenny's full name?"

Kevin: "I don't know dude. He's fucking Chinese. He's got four different names that he tries to go by and puts Italian names on. Who fucking knows. He didn't shake down David like that. They went in there but as soon as they walked out of there, David called me. I got right on Kenny's fucking ass and those guys. And they actually got together and called me on the phone through a mediator and they asked me to not be after them and be pissed off after them."

Luke: "Did you know Salvatore and Natale Richichi?"

Kevin: "He was one of my partners before. Sal and I used to rent the Essex building together. I was KBeech and he was LA Video. His father was Big Chris [Natale Richichi] who was John Gotti's right hand guy. His dad was a made guy. Before you print all that shit, you should go get some books on it. They've got pictures of them all together on the front of the book [Gangland]. There's a bunch of books, dude, I used to have them all."

Luke: "Do you own FB Printing with Frank Barbarino?"

Kevin: "We're just buddies. We're just friends, man. That's another thing you wrote. We just say we're partners because we're best friends."

Luke: "Do you hang out with a guy called Lou Caruso who works out at the gym Power House off DeSoto in Chatsworth?"

Kevin: "Louie's been in prisoner, bro, for the last couple of years. He just got out. But yeah, we're buddies with him."

Luke: "So, is Mr. Brisette leading a straight and legal life now?"

Kevin laughs: "Of course. But if you can find some crime for him..."

Kevin laughs heartily.

Luke: "I hear that Farrah owes you six movies?"

Kevin: "Here bro, I'll give you an answer that you can print. She calls me, dude, and I never return her calls. If she catches me when I answer the phone, that's how she talks to me. To fulfill her contract, she owes us seven pictures which equals $14,000. I'd rather have her pay me the $14,000 or have somebody buy me out of her because she's not going to shoot another movie for anybody until she fulfills this fucking contract. She's never fulfilled one since we helped her ass out when Chuck used to beat the shit out of her when we first got her.

"Also, this girl's a whacko case. And if she thinks she's going to make a comeback, good luck."

Luke: "Are you interested in having her make those seven movies for you?"

Kevin: "I'd rather have the money bro. But if I can't get the money, I'll stick the bitch in the fucking movies to get my money back. I made her a deal before but she never sticks to one of her deals. I made her a deal that she could shoot one movie for me and one movie for someone else on a monthly basis. That only lasted one month. And she disappeared. She's never fulfilled one deal she's ever done. All I've done is help that chick and she's never done anything for this company.

"We made a deal with her back when she did the Vivid contract. And fucking didn't even know what she read or did. And she fucking thought she was a big shot because I wouldn't resign her. Then she went and did it with Vivid. And a month later she comes in here bawling. She doesn't want to work for anybody but us. So I read the contract and called Stevie up and he said, 'Just pay me back the couple gran advancement and you can have her.'

"Fine. I took her back and made her a deal with all the money she owed me. And made a new 12 picture contract with her for $24,000. She owed for previous loans, borrowing, cars, bullshit, dadadadadadada. She's never fulfilled one of those deals. She did five movies. She owes us seven."

Luke: "How well do her movies sell?"

Kevin: "They suck. Yeah dude, the only reason that people liked her is that she used to be cute. And that's when we got her, when she was young and cute and she didn't have an attitude. She's been kicked out of every dance club in America, dude. She fucked every club there was."

Luke suspects this is a gross overstatement.

Kevin: "We had her getting high money [for stripping]. She screws up everything she does."

Luke: "I thought she was your girlfriend?"

Kevin: "Well, I used to fuck her two years ago, when she first came out here, when Chuck brought her here for six months."

Luke: "Has Dan Beck paid you the money he owes?"

Kevin: "Yes he has and he's also gotten sober and straight. He's doing some deal with my guy Jeff Snyder. [Dan] owns some internet company on the East Coast."

Luke: "What about Shay Sweet?"

Kevin: "She does a movie a month for us. She shoots for anybody. We just LA Lamonte. She's going to do a movie a month. We've got Teri Weigel doing a movie a month. And Taylor Wane doing a movie a month. And whatever girls we substitute into the other movies. We put out eight features a month."

Luke: "Is Mad Jack still shooting for you guys?"

Kevin: "No dude. As of January this year, we only shoot big budget pictures. No more cheap junk anymore. We used to put out half good features and half that cheap shit that him and Don [Fernando] used to shoot. But I don't put that stuff out anymore. Steve Drake used to shoot a cheap line and we don't even do them anymore. Everything's got to be big budget, either sold to Playboy or TEN or Vivid Hot. We've found out that if you shoot good movies you've got more angles to sell them.

"Taylor Wane shoots her own movie each month. Cash Markman does two a month. Billy Moon shoots three features a month. Then this other dude does a black title a month that sells to Spice. And then he's bringing us these ones from Europe that are big budget features that are really good."

Luke: "Did you enter porn through Arrow Productions?"

Kevin: "Bro, I got in the business with Visual Entertainment with Tommy Sinnopoli. Then got done with them and I ended up at Larry Fields. That's when Anthony Peraino approached me and Vinnie DeStefano to come to work with them guys at Arrow. Then Larry Fields place, one of the biggest one-stops [for porn distribution] of all time, burnt down and he accused me of burning his place down. When I left, all my sales guys came with me, and his place burned down and he accused me. I was in court over that.

"Then I started with Arrow and Vinnie went to prison. Then me and the old man [Anthony Peraino], who used to be in the Colombo family, were partners and we opened up KBeech Video. Then we closed Century Video. And then I used to run Arrow. Shit dude, we were huge. Then the feds got [about 1991]. They had us for everything - racketeering and organized crime, obscenity... I was partners with Tony [Peraino] for five years."

Luke: "Ahh, those were the days."

Kevin: "Those were the good days."

Luke: "That's when this industry had some discipline."

Kevin: "That's right. I tell you what. If Reuben Sturman was around today, we wouldn't be in this shape. I hate to say it, but when organized crime was in this business, it was a good business. But now that they're all gone and put away and there ain't any, it fucking sucks. Now we've got all these Israelis killing the fucking business. Chaim, Danny MaMaine, Joseph [Shemesh]. They're all whores. None of them have any business sense at all.

"Chaim does the same thing that Mark Carriere does. He makes 50 titles a month and changes the box, puts the tape in it, and puts them out. It's all junk. They sell the shit for a buck and a quarter [per tape]. Now people are starting to see that if you make junk and you buy junk, sooner or later, your business will go down."

Chaim Amalek replies: "These are damnable lies. My product is never repetitious or derivative of other people's work, never shoddy in any way, and this guy knows it. Please set the record straight. Not all jews are shysters."

Kevin Beechum says: "That's why Russ [Hampshire] makes great product and his business is in half because all these losers put all this junk out. Here's a guy who's paid his dues and gives all his money to Free Speech to fight for the business and nobody even cares anymore if they buy the stuff. Because they'd rather save a buck and buy the cheap shit and sell that. The loyalty and shit is gone. It ain't like the good ol' days. When I started, everybody was loyal and everybody made money and the business was good. Now it is fucking cut-throat, cheap. Nobody cares. They all talk to your face and they all stab you in the back. You see, there ain't no guineas left. Otherwise it'd be true."

Luke: "It's all Jews and Israelis now."

Kevin: "Yeah. And look what it is. I'm not saying all Jews are bad, but 90% of them are. They kiss each other and stab each other in the back. I see that all day long. And I'm not Jewish. I'm the only guy who ain't Jewish in this business. You know, the only good ones I even know are Russ [Hampshire, gentile], David [Sturman, Jew], Chris Mann [gentile], Teddy [Rothstein, a Jew]. Guys that when they give you their word, it's good. But there's not a lot of them left.

"If this business would stick together like Reuben had it sticking together, we'd be all making money. It's because the government said it was organized crime. It wasn't with Reuben. It's too bad. The government just wanted his ass so bad. The government killed him."

Luke: "Is there any chance of returning to that organized structure?"

Kevin: "No dude. You can't. Nobody can shake a hand and say ok. There's a handful of good ones, and the rest, fuck it. I've tried to fucking hook everybody up and when they say it's not going to work, you know that none of them want it to work. It's just like Free Speech. It's just like I told them guys in the meeting. If I was running Free Speech, everybody in this business would give $500 a month. And there would be a list given out every month who belongs. And who don't belong, nobody should buy from them. Because if you can't afford to give Free Speech $500 a month to help fight the company to keep us in business, then why should you be in this business? What's $500 a month? They do that showing off gambling in Vegas. It just shows you that you can't organize these guys because they're all out for themselves."

Luke: "Are you part of the Free Speech Coalition?"

Kevin: "Yeah. I'm not saying that it is a major thing in this business but it never can be because you can never get everybody to stick with them. You can't start an organization if everybody don't belong to it. I had a meeting with Al Bloom and I told him that they're doing it all wrong. If you want to do it, you make everybody pay and join. And who don't join, then everybody sees who don't join and you don't buy from them. Then you've got enough money to fight the government and we don't have to worry about all this bullshit."

Luke: "Do you follow the Cambria List?"

Kevin: "No, dude, I don't even know what it is."

Luke: "Are you concerned about obscenity prosecution?"

Kevin: "Nah. Our government has their hands full. They took us for obscenity with Butchie, Tony and Joey [Peraino]. That was the last case in Las Vegas [around 1996]. The feds thought they had a big case and that they were going to take us down. When they had me on the witness stand. The prosecutor was going on. You were partners with the Perainos. Did you know that they were with the mob? Dadadadada. Playing up the organized crime... I couldn't lie about nothing. I was on paper with them. So they get done, and Tony's [Peraino] lawyer comes up and says, 'Beech, let me ask you. You're in business now for yourself, right? Yep. Now do you sell the same movies that we're here for seven counts on. I said, 'Every day.' He goes, 'Are you shipping those movies today?' I say, 'All day long.' That was it. We won all seven cases - not guilty.

"And the two federal agents from Washington D.C. that were sent here from that taskforce. They came to me and they were both good guys. And the one FBI agent from Las Vegas [Homer Young's son Roger?] was wearing his badge as a Mormon. And he told me, 'We're going to convict you in Las Vegas.' I say, 'You can't convict in LA. How are you going to convict in Las Vegas?' He goes, 'You think that the Las Vegas Strip is Sin City. That's only the strip. Outside Las Vegas, it's all Mormons and we're going to get Mormons on the jury.'

"These two guys from the taskforce in D.C. who wanted Tony [Peraino] bad, and were sent here just to get these guys... The guy from Vegas thought they had him hung. And after the case, the two agents came over to me and said, 'Kevin, why do you think we lost?' And I said, 'Look at him. The guy's wearing his badge as religion.' They had the sheriff's kid on the jury.

"It was seven storyline movies, like Candy Stripers. And the kid said, 'You see this shit every day in the newspapers and on television. This ain't obscene to us.' And the FBI were pissed off."

Luke: "I'm pretty sure that the Las Vegas FBI agent was Roger Young, who's father was Homer Young. They've both been on the obscenity beat for years."

Kevin: "Well, he didn't do good there. Those guys from Washington were pissed. They spent all that time away from their family and this guy promised they had a case. And they went home empty handed."

Luke: "When did you cut all connections to Arrow?"

Kevin: "Me and the old man [Anthony Peraino] split up after that. We broke up as partners. Then the feds came to me and tried to get me to roll on him. They threatened they were going to put me away for organized crime. So I just called the old man [Anthony Peraino] up and he sent over his lawyer, Jim Henderson, and he was the ex-head of the FBI in Los Angeles. He put all the mobsters away here [Los Angeles]. He came here from Chicago, where he was the head of the FBI. Jim put Pete Milano away. Now he's just Louie Caruso's lawyer [accused mob soldier]. And then Jimmy got me [as a client]. And all the FBI guys after me were hired by Jimmy Henderson. So they had no case. They were just blowing smoke up me, trying to scare me. It didn't work.

"Now Tony's dead. Butchie's dead. And Raymond Pistol took over LP Duplication from Butchie's kid. Vinnie DeStefano runs his own duplicating business."

Luke: "Do you run into Joey Abinanti?"

Kevin: "I seen Joey last at Vinnie's wife's funeral. Vinnie's a good guy. There's a straight up guy for you."

Luke: "Joey's supposed to be connected."

Kevin: "Joey's a good guy too. Joey's had his times. But they don't do nothing no more. There ain't no more organized crime, bro. It's all over."

Luke: "What about in Los Angeles?"

Kevin: "There ain't shit. There aren't hardly in New York anymore. The government cleaned it up. The only organized crime is the government."

Luke: "Well, there was that case in Long Island a few weeks ago, where this video store was a sting operation, and most of the crime families tried to extort money from it."

Kevin: "That just shows you that's bullshit. One, you're going to go after a video store to extort money? Come on. There are bigger and better things to go after. They're used to working in big fucking construction companies where the real money is, not a little pissy video store. Half of the shit you read dude the government makes up. You've got to always remember that. With my experience of 20 years, I remember in that case, they were coming up to people in the hallway, going, 'I want you to go in there and you tell them that they made you do that movie and there was no script.'

"Taylor Wane was one of them. She said, 'I'm not going in there and saying that because that ain't what happened.' The fed guy goes, 'You've got to do that.' She goes, 'I don't have to do anything.' So he'd walk back to the two FBI guys from D.C. and tell them, 'Well, she's not going to do it.' Then they'd go, 'Well, let her go. We don't need her to testify.' They were doing that with everybody in there.

"So I'm standing there right, and I'm fucking drunk as shit, I went to titty bars all night. They sent me home the first time because I was so fucked up. So then I come in and go, 'Hey, since you're sending everyone home, can I go home?' Because nobody else would go up on the stand because they wouldn't do what they [feds] told them. They said, 'Buddy, we need you to go up there.'

"The government was trying to get all of us go against Tony and them. But it didn't work that way. And I had to go up there because I couldn't lie. I was partners with him. We were on paper together. They were trying to show that we were organized crime. It didn't work."

Luke: "Did you used to play cards with [LA boss] Pete Milano?"

Kevin: "Me, Tony, Russ [Hampshire], and a couple of guys that worked for us used to play cards."

Luke: "Did you know Mike Rizzitello?"

Kevin: "Sounds familiar. I think so."

Luke: "He was a big LA [mobster]..."

Kevin: "Back in the days, I think he was..."

Luke: "Do you know Big Tony [Spasado] who just got out of jail after ten years? He owns The Money Tree restaurant in Toluca Lake"

Kevin: "Big Tony? No. Dude, all them guys are has beens now. They're all done. Everybody's had associations with the mob but today the associations are over."

Luke: "Tony Spasado. He's partners with Michael Esposito."

Kevin makes a derisive dismissive noise.

Kevin: "There's another guy [Michael Esposito] that wants to be [in the mob]."

Luke: "What happend to John Kenney aka Bo from LGI?"

Kevin: "Bo? He's still around. I gotta call him today. Bo's a good guy. He's got some gossip site too [porngossip.com]. He's mellowed out. He got away from doing all that internet stuff and he's mainly sticking with his stores and his couple of web sites. He was trying to do web sites for the girls but it turned out to be a bigger hassle than it was worth.

"I own KBeech, Midnight, Erotic Angel, Dreamland, Midnight Man, Erotic Man, Urban Attractions. Urban Attractions is another distribution company like KBeech. We had it in Michigan. Dusty Urban handles all the distributors."

Luke: "Is Dusty married to Shay Sweet?"

Kevin: "No, Jeff Snyder lives with Shay Sweet. Dusty went out with her way back in the old days."

Luke: "Did you take care of Jay Brisette and the guys when they were in prison?"

Kevin: "I always take care of my guys. I've got four more of my guys still in there. For drugs, beating up guys... They're in Folsom [prison] together."

Luke: "How do you know these guys?"

Kevin: "They're my buddies. We're all brothers man. Brotherhood."

Luke: "But they're not bikers."

Kevin: "No. Where that story came out? We were buddies with all the Hells Angels and that but that ain't got nothing to do with anything. We ride Harleys. We've got our own. We rids with the Sims guys. There are about 70 of us when we go riding. We were all up in Laughlin."

Luke: "Then you guys are bikers."

Kevin: "Yeah, we are bikers. But it's not like it was a biker gang that went and did that bombing."

Luke: "Do you go riding with Paul Cambria?"

Kevin: "I rode with them guys in Hawaii. We were at that AVN thing. There were ten of us. That's fun."

Luke: "Is Jay Brisette working for you?"

Kevin: "No, he went back into the carpet cleaning industry. He lays tile. We got Little Joe a job with our buddies who built slot machines for Vegas. They're both doing good. Back on the straight and narrow. Keep them that way.

"I used to like Mickey [Fine]. Me and him were best friends but when he fucked us, I had no choice but to fuck him back. I feel sorry for the guy but that fucking sucked. When you make a deal, you go through the deal. And he didn't go through with it but he was always known for that.

"It's too bad what happened to Reuben. It's sad because the government killed him. David's got to live with it and David's fucking a great guy. It's sad. This business is just a business like every fucking business. The way Reuben built this business is the way it should've stayed. It's too bad he built it and it crashed because he wasn't involved anymore.

"Back in the days, Tony, my boss, and them, they were all the main guys who helped everybody. Russ and everybody. That was back in the days when the mob was the mob. But that's how all these guys got started. Everybody got money from somebody."

Luke: "The mob was the power and strength and discipline behind the industry."

Kevin: "We used to do business with Marty Tacetta. He's a good guy. He's in prison and I don't think he's ever getting out. Like I said, they're all locked up. They're ain't no more [Mafia]. Everybody's either dead or locked up."

Luke: "Did Tony Peraino work with Russell Hampshire?"

Kevin: "Back in the ol' days, I guess. Back when there was Deep Throat, when Russ first started. You're talking the old days, bro. I think everybody had to work with somebody in them days. You couldn't get in without 'em in them days. When I got in [1981], there were still a lot of boys, and it still ran great. The good ol' days man, I miss 'em. Now it's just a hustle, work, family, hang out and have fun. That's why when I read that shit, I thought, 'Where in the fuck did you get that?' My credit card, oh fuck.

"I set up the first one [bombing] in Arizona, but when they came to me to do more, I thought about it and said, 'Man, I am just going to hook you two guys up and you guys go meet in an Italian restaurant and do the deal but don't tell me about it. I don't want to be involved.' Then when the bomb all happened, Jay came back and I had to pick him up... That's when I had to get involved and make phone calls and that's what sucked."

Luke: "For their defense?"

Kevin: "Yeah. I had to get involved and that's when Mickey changed the whole deal and I said, 'Fuck that. You're not fucking my buddies.' And we had to fuck him back. We never dealt directly with Reuben at all. At first people thought I snitched him [Mickey Fine aka Herbert Feinberg] out or ratted like you said. I didn't. All I was doing was paying him back for fucking us. He fucked us so we fucked him back.

"Reuben didn't care because he was already going away for the rest of his life. He was going away before the bombing [Sturman ordered]."

Luke: "Now, you arranged the Arizona bombing?"

Kevin: "Yeah, I had to set all that up. I had to pay restitution to that bitch [Tamara Green] in Arizona for the damages to the fucking store. I gave her free movies then the fucking chick never paid her fucking bills after that. She disappeared or what? I don't think she's still in business. I haven't seen since the Chicago [court] corridor.

"I've got articles from the Chicago newspapers. They thought they were shooting a movie when that car blew up. Two guys on fire running down the street. We wanted to make a movie of that called 'The Bombing.' It'd be a great Saturday night flick. They called me the boss of LA trying to take over the Chicago mob. That's why we were blowing up their bookstores. That made AP from all over the country. People were calling me from Florida, Michigan. It was a big fucking thing in that day.

"When he fucking died, he fucking didn't even know what had happened to him. The bomb went off in the car."

Luke: "Does that sort of stuff happen anymore?"

Kevin: "Nah, I don't know. Everybody and their brother thinks there a tough guy and they all want to come over and ask me to do something. I tell 'em all, 'I'm retired. I don't do nothing no more. I've got my two kids. That's all I care about.' It ain't worth that shit anymore. Somebody do something personally to me, then I'll take care of it. When somebody does something to someone else, they can handle their own business. Unless someone fucks with my own real good family."

James DiGiorgio tells Luke a joke. "There are three little pigs. A straw pig, wood pig, brick pig. Big bad wolf shows up at the straw pig's house and blows it down. The straw pig runs over to wood pig's house, can't believe what happened. The big bad wolf comes over to the wood pig's house and blows it down. The two pigs run over to brick pig's house. The big bad wolf shows up and huff and puffs but he can't blow it down. Brick pig says, hold on a second and he picks up the phone. Makes a call. A few minutes later, a big black limousine and these two monster pigs get out of the car and they're dressed in nice Italian suits. They beat the shit out of the wolf. Then they put a gun in his mouth and blow his brains out. Then they put him in the trunk of the black limo and they drive off. The straw pig and the wood pig turns to the brick pig and say, 'Who was that?' And the brick pig says, 'Those were the guinea pigs.'"

Cosa Nostra Source Deep Within Porno Sweats Bullets

67/1/01

XXX writes Luke: "A guy who is in the LA Family Tommy Gambino gave Roger Clinton 50,000 to pardon his dad. Most people in the press do not know Tommy is a made guy in the LA Family. Shit is hitting the fan. Kevin Beechum is a tough guy, when around lots of beefy guys. The funny thing is Kevin confirmed he knew Louis Caruso, 44, who by the way is out of jail and is a Capo in the LA Family. So now that the FBI has confirmation, from Kevin's mouth, that Kevin knows Louis. Kevin feels the need to hide his informant status, behind his feelings about Mickey Fine. I hear ABC is going to do a MOB in Hollywood thing soon."

Luke spoke to Kevin Beech Monday morning who set him straight. And invited Luke's source "XXX" to call him at KBeech Video or stop by.

Kevin: "Louie Caruso ain't no capo of any family."

Luke: "Wasn't he involved in the Las Vegas case about the 1996 murder of mobster Herbie Blitzstein? It's an organized crime case."

Kevin: "Yeah, but they're all old timers. It's one old timer killing another old timer because he didn't pay his debt.

"Bro, before you print stuff, you should check your shit out. You're going to get yourself killed one of these times for printing bullshit. Because somebody is going to be pissed. You can't just call someone a capo in a family."

Luke: "Then who is Louis Caruso?"

Kevin: "Bro, he's associated with them guys that were wiseguys. Pete [Milano] was a wiseguy and the boss of LA. He ain't shit now. That's done and over with. Tommy Gambino, that's all bullshit too. He ain't nothing. All he's got is some money and he runs around town using his last name. He ain't got no anything."

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal September 1, 1998, Kevin Beechum's friend Louis Caruso is an acting capo in Los Angeles: "Louis Caruso, whom the FBI has identified as an "acting capo" in the Los Angeles mob."

From the Las Vegas Review Journal, April 23, 1997: " The indictment accuses Peter Caruso, Stephen Cino and Louis Caruso of conspiring to obtain money and "direct or indirect ownership" of Any Auto Repair and DeLuca's loan business "by the wrongful use of fear against Joseph DeLuca.""

Kevin Beechum tells Luke: "I want to know who's telling you all this shit. Tell him to call me if he's such a tough guy bigmouth. Kevin would like to know who's saying all this shit, hiding behind his computer. Tell him I don't need no big guys next to me, he can come over to my doorstep and I'm by myself.

"Who's Jimmy Caci? Another old man. Dude, all those old guys ain't nothing. They were, for their associations with guys. Them guys are all dead and gone. All the fucking mobsters are gone. Trust me. There ain't any.

"That's how the FBI used to have me, for association, because I knew these wiseguys. But there ain't none left. Like Mickey [Fine], he was no wiseguy. He was just associated with wiseguys.

"Even the Perainos weren't wiseguys anymore. They were has-been wiseguys. The only guy who really was a wiseguy and came around this business was Big Chris [Natalae Richichi]. The rest of the guys are just associates, like I was. Louis is just associated, that's all. He ain't no wiseguy. I don't think he's got two nickels to rub together.

"You've got to remember that all the wiseguys that have done being wiseguys all live in Las Vegas. They're all oldtimers. They have to hire guys like us to help 'em."

Luke: "Why do they retire to Las Vegas?"

Kevin: "It's cheaper to live there and they can get money through casinos...

"A buddy of mine's kid killed Herbie Blitzstein. His kid got hired by these old fucks to go do that. It was all stupid. They all got popped. Louis got two years for something else."

XXX writes: Luke, Louie Caruso is a Capo. He is not an associate. He is a MADE MEMBER of the LA FAMILY. He is not an old guy, He does not live in Las Vegas. He owns a Biz right off Topanga behind FB Productions. He Traveled to Las Vegas with another Capo Louie Gelfuso when John Bronco testified. Louie Caruso was in the back of the court house. Louie Caruso met with Capo Jimmy Caci at Club and Pasta Mia in Palm Springs, CA, didn't he propose John Bronco for membership in The LA Family. Did Louie Caruso and Tommy Gambino have a sit-down at The Sportsman's Lodge. When Louie Caruso was locked up, did he not meet with Gambino Family Loanshark Joe Isgro. Joe Isgro is on tape in LA Shylocking. Look it up. He is not old either. How is Canyon Country Louie? Do you now have Joe isgros book?

While I think Louie Caruso is a twit and a loud mouth, he is what he is. Have James H dog Adam find this. Print this please! Luke if they are nothing why does this Kevin say you should be careful? Tommy Gambino does not use his last name. Rosario "Sal" Gambino (father of Tommy Gaminbo) made Big Chris Richichi look like nothing. Sal and his brother John were leaders of the PIZZA CONNECTION drug ring. They moved more than a BILLION Dollars around the Globe. You can read about SAL and John in The Octopus or any Pizza Connection book. Tommy is a made guy in the LA Family. Kevin says guys come to him to get things done. So is Kevin is the LA Boss? He must know these guys right? Oh yeah and Fat Herbie was killed so they could take over his LOANSHARK BIZ, not cause he owed money. It is a fact, there was a Federal case and guys were found guilty. Steve Cino, Chris Richichi and Kenny Gurino of Metro were all on a case together. Kevin I come over to see you all the time. Figure out who I am!

Kevin Beech responds: XXX sucks dick for a living. He should say all this stuff to their face.

Ori writes: Mr. Ford, I love your site! This is so much better than Gayvn! You tell it! Kevin, is Donny " Shacks" Montemarano a has been? Look on ganglandnews.com. for more info. You may use my mail, also keep up the tits and ass Mr. Ford!

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Roger Clinton, former President Bill Clinton's half-brother, declined to explain to a congressional panel investigating White House pardons why he got $50,000 from the daughter of a convicted heroin trafficker.

The trafficker in question, Rosario Gambino, is a reputed organized crime figure serving a 45-year sentence in California and did not receive a pardon. But The New York Times on Thursday said a person close to Gambino's son, Tommy, said Roger Clinton had led the family to believe he could help obtain a presidential pardon.

"Whatever he said to him made Tommy Gambino think it was a lock," the newspaper reported.

"Tommy Gambino is a friend of Roger Clinton's and has been for many years," Williams said. "I'm not going to comment on what the payment is for or about. I am going to say it was not related to Roger Clinton's assisting Tommy Gambino's father in his parole efforts or any other effort."

From GanglandNews.com: Reports that Dominick (Donny Shacks) Montemarano has been canoodling lately with leggy British actress Elizabeth Hurley out in Los Angeles didn't surprise several Gang Land sources who've known the Colombo mobster for some time.

"He was always a charming, charismatic guy," said one Brooklyn guy who knew him when he was a capo under Carmine (Junior) Persico (left) during the 1980s when both were out and about. Hollywood fits Donny Shacks, who has been into disguises for a long time. "He even dressed in women's clothes a few times to do some work for Junior in the '60s," said a law enforcement source.

Montemarano and his crewmate Gennaro (Jerry Lang) Langella, the source said, wore dresses and wigs for a rubout in South Brooklyn during the bloody Profaci-Gallo war in the 1960s. (right) And Hollywood has become a second home to Hurley, who no longer hangs out with Mickey Blue Eyes actor Hugh Grant.

Montemarano relocated there in 1996 after he was released from federal prison where he served 11 years for racketeering. Two years ago, an FBI investigation of his cozy relationship with then-star UCLA quarterback Cade McNown and other Bruins football players ended with no charges being lodged.

Montemarano, now 67, was sighted in Beverly Hills dining and holding hands with the 35-year-old Hurley, who was recently voted the Sexiest Woman In The World 2001 by the English edition of GQ magazine. Their relationship may be professional, or social, or both. Some old court documents and FBI transcripts indicate that Montemarano can be Mr. Charming, who truly cares for his women and always has them in mind when opportunity knocks.

7/11/01

Herbert Feinberg vs Kevin Beechum

Mickey Fine aka Herbert Feinberg phoned me from prison Tuesday afternoon. Seventy years old and in poor health, he's serving 40 years for arranging a bombing gone awry of a Chicago porn shop in 1992.

Herbert: "I got the conversation you had with Kevin [Beechum]. I've still got appeals pending and my lawyer is even against what I'm going to tell you now. But I can only tell you so much and you can repeat this to Kevin. You're a fucking lying bastard. I never spoke to nobody, never. You were the one. I came up to see you in your office, you were wired up. I asked you at the end of the conversation. 'Kevin, I don't like the way you're talking. Are you wired up? Let me see. Open your shirt.'

"He wouldn't do it. I called him a prick and I walked out of his office. And that didn't come out on the tapes. That was deleted from the tapes.

"[Biker bomber] Jay Brisette is a little piece of shit. He ratted out not only me but his codefendants. How do you think they caught [Joseph] Martinez? They didn't know no Martinez. He told them. How do you think they caught [Paul] Mahn? He told them. Jay did it. They even ratted on a poor Chinaman who drove them to the airport and he got three years. They're lowlife scum.

"Never did I speak to an FBI agent or any agent? They came to my home from Chicago..."

Feinberg stumbles and swallows his breath. "Excuse me, I'm so angry. An FBI agent from Chicago, an alcohol and tobacco agent came from Chicago, and the prosecutor that tried me, Mark Prosperi. He came and sat outside in the car with the other agent, Gariola. The prosecutor came in wired up. They told me they wanted to play tapes for me. Those were the tapes that I spoke to Kevin. And he gave it to them."

Luke: "Kevin says he only did this because you wouldn't pick up the legal fees for him and Jay."

Herbert: "As far as the legal fees go. Jay called me up and said that he was broke and in a hotel. It was just to get me on the phone because he was in the hotel with the FBI agent. But still, I sent over $500 to him. Then I sent over $6000 to their lawyer. Five thousand dollars to the lawyer to retain him and $1000 to give to Jay Brisette's wife. Jay Brisette's wife never saw $1000 all at once since the day she knew that pimp.

"Next. I didn't get no money because Reuben Sturman fucked me. As far as being a smart guy, I'm the biggest schmuck you could meet. How I got wrapped up in this. This was a complete lie. I was never told that these people [Roy and Paula May, Tamara Green] were told by Uncle Sam not to give money to Sturman no more. He didn't tell me that. He told me that they don't want to pay. And he offered me a deal that I don't want to talk about, that you can't refuse. And I did not get no money from him. That $6500 that I gave them was out of my pocket.

"Jay Brisette got $20,000 [from Sturman through Feinberg] and gave me back $1500. Jay kept most of the money. And I also gave him $10,000 for the job he did in Arizona [money from Sturman]. And he lied there. I told him just to break the video machine that goes to the peep shows. Just take a hammer and break it and walk out. That's all. Even on the testimony he says, 'Why would I want to use bombs? If you use bombs, you blow up the store. Even if you don't blow up the store, who's going to go into the store after it was bombed? So how are you going to get your money. So why use bombs? That's number one.

"Number two. If I told him to use bombs, why in the same breath did he say in court, 'Feinberg said, don't touch the registers and don't touch the employees.' But bomb the joint? Does that make sense to you? How could you bomb the joint and not hurt the employees? It's impossible. They're lying. The guy that was killed [Donald Mares]. He was the one that took over everything.

"He mentioned bomb. I said, 'Why do you want to use a bomb? Use a smoke bomb if you need it. This way you can get out and nobody will run after you. They'll be scared. Or a stink bomb.

"Jay knew that. He's full of shit. But they took the job away from him. They went to do two and they done four [bombings?]. He's a little fucking fag.

"And Kevin is the one who set up this whole freaking thing about the law. He went to his lawyer. He held Jay for five days at his mother-in-law's house until the lawyer [Jim Henderson] flew back to Chicago and made a deal. He was a big shot lawyer from Chicago at the time. He made a deal with his buddies [in the FBI agency Henderson used to run]. And the deal was simple.

"He'll give everybody up, just cut Kevin free. Give Kevin immunity from prosecution and Kevin will go to the Grand Jury and Kevin will take the stand at the trial. That's the bottom line. And if he says otherwise, he's a fucking liar.

"Kevin was my friend. I knew him. I never trusted him. He was always a sneaky fuck. He cheated his own fucking friends. Tell him that too. The Zane brothers. He was getting his boxes from somebody he knew that worked there. Kevin had a friend who worked for Zane who backdoored him boxes. And the Zane brothers were his friends. He used to go out and eat with them.

"Frank Barbarino is a nice man. I like him. I respect his word. I'm only sorry that there was a balance left between us two. And if you see him, just explain to him that there was nothing I could do. I've been laying in jail for eight years."

Luke: "How's your health?"

Herbert: "I'm 70 years old. I've got a bad heart. I had two open heart surgeries already. I had a tumor taken off my brain, off my pituitary gland. What am I going to do? Who lives to be 70 and don't have trouble?

"But when I read that fucking thing [interview with Kevin Beech]. Somebody sent it to me, all 16 pages. And that got into me. Believe me, I never went to a cop. I told them to leave my house. And if you want proof of that, you can call up Roger Diamond, the attorney.

"Because I called Roger Diamond from my home. I told Roger Diamond, 'They're here. I don't want them here.' He said, 'Put them on the phone.' He told them to get out and if they want to talk, talk to him. To no longer talk to me. He was my lawyer but he couldn't stay on my case because they were going to use him as an unindicted co-conspirator. Because it was his wife that brought the money to their lawyer [Jim Henderson].

"It was Kevin's lawyer. Kevin used him to make sure that Brisette didn't get clammed and put him in.

"When I went back to Jay Brisette for the second trip, for the trip to Chicago, it was done in Kevin's office. He was sitting right there [as the plan to damage porn shops in Chicago was hashed out]. He's full of shit. And I remember the exact words he used. 'Alright, how many times are you going to tell him how to do it? I got work to do. Get out of here.' And I walked out and I took them to eat."

Luke: "Kevin says he didn't know anything about the Chicago..."

Herbert: "He's full of shit. He was right there when it took place. It was Jay Brisette, Kevin and me.

"And if I told them to use bombs, why didn't they use bombs in Arizona? Why did they just go to break the machine. If I would've known that he went [to Arizona] with a baseball bat, I would never have given him the second job to do. If you're going to break a fucking machine, why do you need a baseball bat? What did these jerkoffs think they were doing? They thought they were attacking Guadacanal?

"These fucking morons. And Kevin even told me that his friend [Jay Brisette] was telling everybody after the second time he got in trouble [in Chicago]. I said to Kevin, 'You told me this guy is a helluva man. A good man. You know him from Bay City, Michigan. You've known him all your life. And Kevin said, 'Yeah, he's got a one-year old kid. What do you expect him to do?' Because he's got a one-year old kid, what do I expect him to do? I would love to see him die."

Luke: "Jay Brisette or Kevin?"

Herbert: "Both of them."

Luke: "Whose idea was it to use bombs?"

Herbert: "The guy [Donald Mares] who was killed in the car. He was a bomb expert. They all should've blown up in the fucking car. Jay gave up Martinez and Mahn. How else would they have known them? They all came back together [from Chicago]. They didn't get busted. And Kevin said he had nothing to do with the second shot. He picked them up in a goddam mall and he held them for five days. You call that not knowing anything?

"Kevin's lawyer Jim Henderson went to Chicago, made a deal to cut Kevin free, and gave them up."

Luke: "And what about Russell Hampshire?"

Herbert: "Russell Hampshire was the poor bastard who was put in the middle. Reuben's wife Naomi put him in the middle."

Luke: "You know she just married Ron Braverman?"

Herbert: "Yeah, I know she just married Ron Braverman. I may be 2000 miles from there but I know everything that goes on out there. How do you think I knew about you? And she [Naomi] went to the grand jury against me too. Because I told her to tell Reuben that I can't go to see him but he shouldn't worry. Just let him take care of the legals and I will not say a word.

"And I even told the FBI, Reuben don't know nothing about bombs. It's the truth. Reuben died in the place where I am here. It's too bad that he can't come back to life again so I could watch him die again.

"One day when this is all taken care of, everything I say to you I will prove in testimonies from the courts. And Kevin and Jay know that. Be good now. I can't keep taking up the phone from these people."

I spoke to Kevin Beechum Wednesday afternoon.

Kevin: "I don't want you to print no more after you print this."

Luke: "Ok."

Kevin: "I like what this fucking weasel is trying to weasel out on and say. Yeah right, he's got an appeal pending worth shit. He's a fucking liar.

"It came down to us nailing him, like I told you. I called him from the house, Jay didn't call. That's how whacked this fucker is. Tell him he's getting Old Timer's Disease. I called him from my fucking house with Jay [to ask Herbert to pay for their legal defense] and he told me he'd get back to me. And fucking said, he wanted me to put up my house and the money for the fucking bail and the lawyers and I said, I had nothing to do with this fucking thing. You gave me your word you would do it [take care of everything].

"After Jay came back from Chicago and we called him. What are we going to do? We need lawyers. We need money. He gave us $5000. Think of this? Guys just got popped for a murder and a bombing case and he's saying he's sending over $5000. The case cost me out of my own pocket $150,000. My lawyer wouldn't even touch it without $50,000 down. He flat out told me there is no money, I can't get the money. You put your own house up and get the money.

"I told him to get fucked. That's not the deal. If you're going to tell me that you're not getting it, we're fucking you back. And that's when we fucked him. And for him to call Jay and these guys a piece of shit, he's a big man sitting behind a fucking jail. That's where he fucking belongs.

"And he says I ripped off my buddy Chuck Zane. That shows how much of a bullshitter he is. Chuck Zane will verify to you that I caught the guys stealing out of Chuck Zane's place. And he fired both of them. They were actually buddies of mine but Chuck was a bigger buddy of mine. So I fucking told him they were back-dooring him and he fired them. They almost got killed.

"Mickey's going back so far because he's trying to cover his ass. He got money from Reuben and gave it to his wife so she could survive. I heard he got a bundle of money from Reuben. And Mickey's known for that. You can call anybody in this business and ask about Mickey Fine's name and there ain't nine out of ten who wouldn't beat his ass. Or he wasn't allowed in their buildings. He could only go into a few of us. That's because he never ripped us off. He never ripped me off. He never ripped Russ Hampshire off. He never ripped off guys he knew he'd get his ass beat by.

"But he ripped off 90% of the guys in this business by either knocking their boxes off or robbing them for money and not paying for product he'd get."

Luke: "What was his job in the industry?"

Kevin: "He was a fucking con artist. He went around smoothing everybody and taking them for what he could. Then he'd come to guys like me for protection. He pisses me off now. He opened a fucking can of worms. He better stay in there. Jay would love to get his hands on him for this. I'm going to print this for Jay.

"Nobody in the business trusts Mickey. If he was so trusted and liked, he'd be living like a king in that prison. Ain't nobody who will send him any money except for a couple of dudes, and they feel sorry for him because he never ripped them off. Everybody else in this business he took to the cleaners.

"I like how he writes that he never trusted me. I was the only fucking guy he did trust and come to when he needed help."

Luke: "What sort of help did he need?"

Kevin: "When guys were after him... Somebody always wanted to beat his ass.

"When we said, fuck it, we're busting him, we went to the cops and they wired my office. We wanted to beat him but we couldn't because the feds would've gotten us. We would've killed the fucker."

Luke: "Mickey's been around a long time."

Kevin: "He's been around since the New York days with all the old timers. He used to run with Jimmy the Weasel [Fratianno]. He used to be Mickey the Weasel.

"They didn't give me nothing. They didn't give me immunity. I wasn't charged with anything. The only thing they were going to charge me on was the Arizona case but I made restitution with her [Tamara Green] so they didn't do it. I went on the stand and roasted Mickey's ass but when they asked me anything about Reuben Sturman, I knew nothing about Reuben.

"I didn't have immunity for anything. Wait, I shouldn't say that. We must've had something written for me to cooperate in setting his ass up. For me doing what I did, which was unheard of, I did it for Jay. I put myself in the middle of it.

"Mickey and I bullshitted in my office. He buried himself. I got him to say that I had nothing to do with it. That's what got me off.

"Mickey's been playing heart problems since he was out here. He's too chicken shit to go to a real prison.

"Mickey would kiss my ass if I pulled my pants down. He was a suck ass. If I looked wrong, he'd run. He's just a little old man. I used to like him because he was such a little hustler weasel. And he fucked everybody.

"I liked him because he always came up with good deals from shit. But to everyone else, the way he got those deals, he just fucked them, never paid them.

"He's such a fucking liar. This guy's good.

"When the ATS raided and got Joe, then they came to my house looking for Jay. That was when we got out of my house, when we heard they raided Joe's house, and we went and hid at my mother-in-law's house for Easter weekend."

Luke: "What happened when Jay came back from the Chicago bombing?"

Kevin: "They called me up. All three of them were on the plane. I picked them up at Hughes Market in Chatsworth. The guy who drove them to the airport, the so-called Chinaman, was supposed to go to Chicago but he backed out at the airport. And Little Joe went in his place.

"This 'Chinaman' was at the Hughes Market when I got there in my truck. And he picked up Paul [Mahn]. Paul was hid up in the mountains, they couldn't catch him, for a couple of weeks.

"After I picked them up at Hughes, we called Mickey and said things had gone bad. And you've got me in the middle. You need to go to the source and get some money. He went to Reuben and got some money. When Jim [Henderson] told me how much it would cost, I told Mickey. Mickey came back to me and told me to put my house up. I told him, I'm not putting nothing up. Either you get the money or you get fucked.

"Finally he came back to me and said, you've got to do what you've got to do, because I can't get it. We were downtown in my buddy's Jewely mart, sweating bullets, waiting for him to give us the answer. When he said do what you have to do, I said, ok, you're getting fucked.

"When my buddy Jay called me from Hughes, what was I going to do? Fuck you. I ain't gonna pick you up? I had to go fucking get him. I got the phone call at 4AM from Jay's wife saying that Donny was blown up and dead and where was Jay?

"He says that Reuben's wife put Russ in the middle of it. Mickey went to Russ.

"When he says he can't keep taking up the phone, well, he must have no pull in there. I have five of my guys in prison. They don't get told to get off the phone. He must have no fucking pull, the little sissy.

"Mickey gets all his info from his good buddies like Michael Warner [Great Western Litho]. Of course he knows about Ron Braverman getting married. They're all Mickey's buddies.

"We got a few phone calls on this story. Some people told Jeff [Steward], we knew Kevin was crazy but we didn't know he bombed people.

"A lot of people like Russ [Hampshire] are going to be pissed that you brought all this stuff back up. They wanted this squashed. We never even talked for a long time. I didn't snitch on Mickey, I fucked him. There's a difference between snitching and fucking.

"Mickey snowballed Michael and Ron and Russ, trying to play like we did this to him. Russ knew that Mickey got money [from Sturman]."

Luke: "Why didn't Reuben spring for everyone's defense?"

Kevin: "I think Reuben paid Mick a set amount to do the job. Mickey was supposed to pay. He never paid all the money in the first place and then went to get more money from Reuben.

"Mickey says Jay got $20,000 [from Sturman] and gave him back $1500. Mickey made both ends. Reuben paid him $10,000 for the job and then Mickey made Jay feel bad and give him some money. Mickey was known for making money on both ends.

"Mickey's problem was that on this, he bit off more than he could chew. He thought he could weasel out but it didn't work because he fucked with us.

"At the end [of the story] say, I'm putting this to rest. I'm done playing bullshit games with a weasel."

Los Angeles Daily News 4/18/92

The two men riding in a car that exploded this week on the North Side, killing one of them, were bomb makers from a California motorcycle club who had flown to Chicago that day to blow up several adult bookstores, federal authorities alleged Friday.

Donald Mares, 28, who died in the blast, and fellow Vagos Motorcycle Club member Jay Brissette, both of Palmdale, were paid $6,000 for the job, according to a federal complaint.

Brissette, who authorities say was riding with Mares in the car and escaped, is listed as a fugitive, and was charged late Friday with plotting to transport explosives to Chicago. The purpose of the alleged plot, the complaint said, was to "intimidate individuals and unlawfully damage and destroy buildings."

Sources familiar with the case said likely suspects include West Coast pornography distributors who hope to forge new outlets and organized-crime figures seeking to extort money. Brissette is believed to have been at the wheel when the rental car, a blue Chevrolet Corsica, exploded in front of 43 W. Division St. about 8 p.m. Thursday.

That bomb, among several explosive devices found in the wreckage, detonated prematurely, officials said, probably as Mares fidgeted in the front seat with a remote-control device. The device might have been intended to trigger the Old Town bomb, authorities said.

Passers-by in the popular night-life area told police both occupants jumped from the car as the blast shattered windows. Mares staggered a few feet and collapsed. The car, moving on, hit a curb 140 feet away and burst into flames. The second passenger, dazed and bleeding, fled on foot. His clothing and hair were scorched, witnesses said.

Mares and Brissette flew to Chicago from Milwaukee on Wednesday after catching a flight there from California on Monday. They rented a car in northwest suburban Des Plaines and drove into the city, bringing bombs with them. Five bombs were accounted for, including the one that killed Mares. The fifth was found in the Chevrolet's wreckage Friday and was detonated.

"Essentially, all the devices are homemade pipe bombs (with) remote control detonation devices (and) were made by the same individual," the affidavit said.

A confidential informant described as a woman told authorities that Mares and Brissette had been paid $6,000 to bomb adult bookstores here.

On Thursday, federal agents in California searched the home and garage of Mares in Palmdale, and reported finding gunpowder, small radio-controlled devices and other explosives paraphernalia. Organized crime has used pipe bombs and motorcycle gang members to enforce demands on operators of adult bookstores and other businesses to pay extortion.

Testimony in the recent trial of Ernest Rocco Infelice, a suburban mob boss, showed how his street crew employed threats of violence and actual beatings to enforce extortion demands. Witnesses said pipe bombs were sometimes detonated as a "final warning to pay or die."

Chicago Tribune 3/31/93

Peep shows in Arizona were the first target. Next, eight adult bookstores in Chicago faced bombings. And, if necessary, similar businesses dealing in sexually explicit films would be hit in Cleveland.

An outrageous Hollywood movie scenario or the storyline of a Mafia bestseller? Not according to federal authorities.

In documents detailing an alleged true-life conspiracy of intimidation and violence, government court filings cite a bungled plot by convicted pornographer Reuben Sturman to get the attention-and money-of several national distributors of adult-oriented material.

On a chilly April night in Chicago last year, the scheme literally exploded in the faces of two alleged conspirators, killing one and igniting a nationwide investigation. Now, Sturman and companion Herbert Feinberg face trial April 26 in Chicago on charges arising from the alleged shakedown plot and its grim residue-the fatal car bombing April 15 outside 43 W. Division St.

On file in federal court here, the documents outline the prosecution's case against Sturman, charging he directed the violence against former business colleagues to enforce extortion demands for money. Among the identified victims were Paula Lawrence and her husband, Roy May, whose Chicago-based firms Capitol News Agency Co., General Video Midwest Inc., and Wednesday Co. Inc. distribute adult films and operate peep shows in the Midwest.

The couple paid tribute to Sturman, in payments up to $200,000 at a time, out of fear of economic harm or violence, the documents explained. The documents contend Sturman wouldn't take no for an answer to his extortion demands, and he made those demands because he had a huge tax bill.

Until 1991, when Sturman faced the certain prospect of prison for violating federal obscenity laws and income tax fraud, he had routinely received money from Lawrence, May and a porn dealer in Phoenix, Tamara Green, who operated Book-Cellar Inc. But the cash flow dried up as Sturman's legal appeals to avoid prison failed, and he was hit with a $4.66 million tax bill by the Internal Revenue Service.

That is when an indictment in the case said Sturman devised the extortion scheme and turned for help to Feinberg, getting him to hire muscle-recruit and pay people to create violence for a price, until he got his way. Sturman, 68, formerly of Cleveland, and Feinberg, 62, of Los Angeles, both veteran distributors of adult films, were indicted on charges of extortion and conspiracy.

According to court documents, Sturman's and Feinberg's implication in the case is based largely on testimony given to a grand jury in Chicago by Sturman's former wife, Naomi Delgado, and several California men who claim Feinberg paid them $20,000 to bomb eight Chicago adult bookstores. Another California man, Donald Mares, 28, died in the Division Street car bombing.

A pipe bomb detonated prematurely as Mares and his companion, Paul Mahn, traveled between bookstore bombings on the Near North Side. Three other conspirators were elsewhere in Chicago at the time, trying to bomb another bookstore. All were businesses owned by Lawrence and May.

According to court documents, Mahn, Mares and a third man began the violence in Phoenix. The trio used hammers to extensively damage peep show booths in a Tamara Green-owned bookstore on Dec. 22, 1991.

From Chicago, the indictment said, the violence was to move to Cleveland and several adult bookstores whose owner refused to meet Sturman's alleged demands for money.

Hanging out with Dr. Susan Block at the LA Press Club party 4/24/03

Pot, Kettle Black

Ken Layne writes: "What sort of lame-ass, anti-social creep would spend millions pushing buttons in the Lonely Department?"

Ken Layne deriding someone else as anti-social?