Victim Tells How Shooting Was Set Up

Testifying under tight security, the man who was blinded in a gangland-style shooting last year described Tuesday how two reputed organized crime figures lured him to a deserted parking garage in Costa Mesa, shot him three times in the head and left him for dead.

William C. Carroll, an investor in the now-closed Mustang topless club in Santa Ana, testified during a preliminary hearing for Joseph Angelo Grosso, who, along with Michael Rizzitello, is charged with first-degree attempted murder, mayhem and conspiracy to commit murder in the April 30, 1987, shooting.

Municipal Judge Gary P. Ryan ruled that there was sufficient evidence to bind Grosso to trial and schedule a Nov. 18 arraignment in Orange County Superior Court. Grosso, 45, of Las Vegas, is in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1-million bail.

A preliminary hearing for Rizzitello--considered by authorities to be in the top echelon of Los Angeles’ organized crime family--is scheduled later this month. Rizzitello, 61, of Los Angeles remains jailed without bail.

Carroll, who has a criminal record involving bank fraud and grand theft dating back 15 years, was shot about midnight in a parking garage near the Orange County Performing Arts Center. He is permanently blinded and uses a cane to walk.

Carroll, 56, said he refused to discuss the incident with police until late October because he had received threats on his life and because his attorney had advised him not to talk while he was being investigated for alleged criminal activity.

“There had been threats, calls to my home telling me if I was found guilty of the prosecution I was under, if I went to the County Jail, I would be killed,” Carroll testified. He did not elaborate on who made the threats.

Because of the threats, prosecutor Wallace J. Wade said he ordered tight security at the hearing. Everyone entering the courtroom was required to empty their pockets and pass through a metal detector. Security guards searched purses and briefcases.

Carroll testified that Grosso restrained him in the front seat of the car while Rizzitello used a gun with a silencer to fire three shots into Carroll’s head. He said the shooting resulted form a dispute over who would control alleged illegal activity at the Harbor Boulevard bar.

Carroll testified that Grosso telephoned him April 30 and invited him to meet Rizzitello at Emilia’s restaurant in Santa Ana. According to Carroll, Rizzitello wanted to discuss an incident in “late March or early April” during which a gunman fired into Carroll’s car as he left the Mustang. Carroll said he was not injured in that shooting, and he did not report it to police.

In court documents filed last month, Carroll said Rizzitello had told him during the meeting that the “Mexican Mafia” had shot at him and that he could “straighten it out” for him.

But Tuesday, Carroll testified that Rizzitello never said who was responsible for that shooting.

“I asked Mr. Rizzitello why anybody would want to shoot me. He was evasive about it. He said, ‘Let’s find out what we can and straighten it out,’ ” Carroll testified.

After the meal, Carroll agreed to give Grosso and Rizzitello a lift back to their car, which was supposedly at the parking garage, Carroll testified. He said he allowed Grosso to drive his car and sat in the front passenger’s seat. Rizzitello sat in back.

Grotto “stopped the vehicle and Mr. Rizzitello grabbed me around the neck,” Carroll testified. “I tried to get free. . . . His left arm was around my neck. The gun was pointed at my head. (Rizzitello) said to me, ‘This is for not letting us eat.’ ”

Carroll said he was unconscious after the shooting, then came to and crawled out of the car.

“I heard some voices . . . and they said they were security of some kind,” he testified. “They asked for ID. The next thing, the ambulance came . . . and took me to the hospital.”