Rizzitello Ordered to Stand Trial on Attempted Murder

Reputed gangster Michael A. Rizzitello was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on attempted-murder charges, despite an attempt by his attorney to show that prosecutors had struck a deal with their star witness.

Eighteen months after he was shot in the head and blinded in a gangland-style attack, William C. Carroll came to police for the first time last month to name Rizzitello as one of his assailants. Authorities consider Rizzitello, a former business associate of Carroll, one of the leaders of Los Angeles’ Milano crime family.

It was disclosed Wednesday at Rizzitello’s preliminary hearing that the day before Carroll gave investigators that testimony, prosecutors had decided to dismiss 10 felony counts against Carroll in connection with an alleged bank fraud. Carroll pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count of using a false business address in the case. The court file in the case has been sealed by court order.

The attempted-murder case against Rizzitello hinges almost exclusively on the testimony of Carroll. Prosecutors say these charges have brought their best chance yet to imprison permanently a powerful Mafia figure whose alleged career in organized crime reputedly spans 4 decades.

Rizzitello’s preliminary hearing before Judge Gary P. Ryan was in a heavily guarded courtroom in Municipal Court in Santa Ana.

Seeking to dent Carroll’s credibility in court Wednesday, defense attorney Anthony Brooklier asked skeptically whether the close timing of Carroll’s accusations against Rizzitello and the dismissal of the felony counts against him were “just a coincidence.”

The question clearly riled Carroll, a former investor in the scandal-wracked Mustang topless club in Santa Ana who also has been implicated in organized crime dealings.

“I absolutely did not make a deal with the D.A.’s office,” Carroll said.

“I have never been promised anything--not even a cup of coffee--by law enforcement to testify here today,” he said, grasping occasionally for the microphone during his testimony. “I’m not a . . . bought informant. I’m here because it’s the right thing to do.

“I know Mr. Rizzitello shot me” in April, 1987, in a Costa Mesa parking garage near the Orange County Performing Arts Center, he said. Carroll said he decided not to name his attacker until the fraud case against him had been resolved. Carroll said he feared that should he have gone to jail in that case, he would have been killed there for having fingered Rizzitello.

Carroll told the court he has received anonymous telephone death threats at his home, and concerns for his safety were evident in the court Wednesday. Court guards used metal detectors to check everyone entering the courtroom, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans won a court order allowing Carroll’s testimony at the preliminary hearing to be videotaped in case Carroll is “unavailable” for further appearances. At least two other witnesses involved in gang-related prosecutions involving Rizzitello have been fatally shot, Evans said after the hearing.

Evans denied that prosecutors struck a deal with Carroll, saying he believes Carroll was telling the truth about his fear of being killed in jail if he named Rizzitello.

The suggestion of a deal “is entirely and absolutely imaginary. We don’t make deals,” Evans said in an interview.

Prosecutors, stymied in their investigation of the Carroll shooting for 1 1/2 years, arrested Rizzitello and Joseph A. Grosso, his alleged accomplice, last month on charges of attempted first-degree murder, mayhem and conspiracy to commit murder.

After Carroll finished his testimony Wednesday, Ryan said there was sufficient evidence to order Rizzitello to stand trial for attempted murder.

Grosso was ordered last week, also on the basis of Carroll’s testimony, to stand trial in the shooting.