Trial of Singer Valli’s Wife Opens With Dual Accounts of Dispute in Restaurant

Frankie Valli topped the charts with hits like “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” but it is the latest Valli hit--an alleged slapping incident involving his wife and a Moorpark restaurant owner--that is playing in a courtroom this week.

On Tuesday, jurors were presented with two staunchly different summaries of the incident in which Randy Valli is accused of slapping the restaurateur during a dispute last fall over a pricey meal.

During opening statements, Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lonergran called the case an example of celebrity arrogance running out of control.

But defense attorney Louis “Chuck” Samonsky countered that the case was actually an example of greed--accusing the restaurant owners of lying about the altercation in preparation for a civil suit against the celebrities.

He said Randy Valli was the one assaulted that evening--that she was pulled so abruptly from her dinner chair by one owner that she lost an earring and her bra strap broke.

Randy Valli, a Calabasas resident, is charged with one count of misdemeanor battery for allegedly slapping the face of Sandra “Alex” Sofsky, owner of the Secret Garden restaurant, following a dinner at the upscale eatery on Oct. 7. If convicted, Valli faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“In the end,” Lonergran told jurors, “this is a case about obnoxious celebrities, and one person who broke the law. It’s about the defendant, who battered and slapped Alex Sofsky across the face.”

Valli, 39, and her 61-year-old husband--known for crooning such songs as “Walk Like a Man” and “Grease”--were dining with singer and actor Frankie Avalon, 58, and his wife Kay, 61.

It was late on a Wednesday night, Lonergran said, and the dining room was fairly empty when the group arrived. Sofsky was busy in the back of the restaurant hosting a party for an employee’s birthday, so her husband, Bob Sofsky, seated the group and got them a waiter.

During the dinner, the group ordered two bottles of wine before eating their meal, Lonergran said. Throughout the evening, the group was rude and complained the restaurant’s prices were too high, he said.

By the end of dinner, Lonergran said Avalon, who sang the 1960s hit “Venus” and starred in the film “Beach Blanket Bingo,” spoke to Bob Sofsky away from the table and mentioned what he considered steep prices.

But Samonsky told jurors that Sofsky actually sought Avalon’s comments about the restaurant and added that Avalon’s critique was sandwiched between compliments about the restaurant’s food and ambience.

The attorneys had wildly differing accounts of what happened next.

Lonergran said it was now very late in the evening, and the Avalons and Vallis summoned Sandra Sofsky to their table.

“Words were exchanged, comments were made,” Lonergran said. “Ultimately, [Sandra Sofsky] had to go into the back to get her husband.”

The couple asked the group to leave, Lonergran said, but they refused. Randy Valli in particular, he said, was loud, rude and remained firmly in her seat. So Sandra Sofsky pulled on Valli’s chair, hoping she would stand up and leave. Instead, “she got up and slapped Sofsky across the face,” Lonergran said.

Not so, argued Samonsky, saying it was an angry Sofsky who confronted the group after learning about Valli’s negative critique of the restaurant’s prices.

“So you can’t afford my place?” Samonsky said Sofsky yelled. “You can’t afford my prices? Maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

Then grabbing Valli’s chair, she yanked with such force that Valli lost an earring and her bra strap broke, the attorney said. As he spoke to jurors, Samonsky held up Valli’s black bra, with a single strap dangling out of place.

The trial continues this week in Superior Court Judge Herbert Curtis’ courtroom. Frankie Valli and Frankie Avalon are both expected to take the stand, attorneys said.