COUNTYWIDE : Deal Nailed Rizzitello, Lawyer Says

Reputed racketeer Michael Anthony Rizzitello did not shoot and leave for dead a Mustang Club topless bar financier, but he ended up charged with the crime as a result of a deal prosecutors made with the victim, Rizzitello’s defense attorney said in court Tuesday.

William Carroll, 57, was left blind when shot three times in the head in a Costa Mesa parking garage near midnight on April 30, 1981. He refused to say who shot him for 18 months but finally named Rizzitello, 62, as the gunman and Joseph Angelo Grosso, 45, as a participant.

But defense attorney Anthony P. Brooklier told jurors in his opening statement at Rizzitello’s trial Tuesday that Carroll named Rizzitello only because he hoped prosecutors would give him a break on a criminal case of his own.

“Mr. Carroll knew he could get the maximum. . . . He responded to prosecutors’ desire to nail Mr. Rizzitello,” Brooklier contended. “Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Carroll walks away (from the charges).” Brooklier claimed that the real gunman was Big George Yudzevich, a bouncer at the club who later was murdered.

Carroll, who took the witness stand after Brooklier spoke to the jury, testified emphatically that no one from the district attorney’s office made him any deals.

Carroll had faced felony charges of grand theft in connection with information he provided for a bank loan. But in October, 1988, a judge found him guilty only of a misdemeanor and ordered no sentence or fine. Moments later, Carroll named Rizzitello and Grosso as his assailants.

However, prosecutors have called Brooklier’s accusation ridiculous.

They contend that Rizzitello wanted Carroll dead because he was an obstacle to Rizzitello’s attempt to muscle in on the profits at the topless bar, which has since closed because of arson fires.

“Three bullets in the head wasn’t to scare him,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans told jurors in his opening statement. “It was to kill him.”

Carroll said that Rizzitello and Grosso asked him to take them to the parking garage to get Grosso’s car. But Carroll said that when they got there, Rizzitello grabbed him from behind, shoved a gun to his left temple, and said, “This is for not letting us eat.”

Another key witness against Rizzitello is Gene Lesher, the former manager of the Mustang who controlled the finances at the club after Carroll was shot. Lesher has previously testified that he caved in to threats from Rizzitello after being threatened with the same fate as Carroll, and paid Rizzitello $5,000 a week through Yudzevich. Yudzevich was found dead, with three shots to the head, in Irvine nearly a year after the Carroll shooting.

But defense attorney Brooklier told jurors Tuesday that it wasn’t Rizzitello who gained any money. It was Lesher, Grosso and Yudzevich who put together the scheme to take profits from the club, he contended.

Grosso was convicted two months ago of attempted murder for his role in the Carroll shooting. Carroll testified that Grosso held his legs down while the shots were fired.

It is not known whether prosecutors will call Grosso to testify against Rizzitello. Grosso testified at his trial that Rizzitello fired the shots into Carroll but denied involvement himself. In an earlier statement to The Times, Grosso blamed the shooting on Yudzevich.

On cross-examination, Brooklier hammered away at inconsistencies between Carroll’s testimony Tuesday and his earlier testimony or statements to police. But prosecutors contend that any inconsistencies are minor.

Carroll became visibly upset when Brooklier concentrated on why he did not identify his assailants to authorities on the night of the shooting.

“I was thinking about self-preservation,” Carroll said. “I was only thinking about staying alive.”

Cross-examination of Carroll continues today in Superior Court Judge John L. Flynn Jr.’s courtroom.