Porn Suspect Allegedly in Organized Crime

An alleged East Coast organized crime figure and two men indicted in a 1980 FBI “sting” were among the 20 people charged this week in Los Angeles with distributing pornographic videotapes that a city official termed “really awful . . . just appalling.”

Five of the eight corporations charged with misdemeanors in the city attorney’s complaints are in the San Fernando Valley. Two men doing business as Video Home Entertainment-Video Home Library in North Hollywood were also charged, but the company was not.

Deputy City Atty. Michael Guarino of the Special Trials Section said the sting, launched in January, 1985, by the Los Angeles Police Department, was a comprehensive investigation of hard-core pornography throughout the city.

“Whether it is a historical accident that so many were located in the Valley or an indication of a growing problem of pornography distribution in the Valley remains an open question,” Guarino said.

Awaits Trial

One of the corporate officers charged was Robert (Bucky) Caravaggio, 46, who awaits trial in a New Jersey federal court for his alleged involvement in the Luchese family crime organization. Caravaggio and 25 others were indicted by a federal grand jury in August on a variety of drug, gambling, loan sharking and fraud charges, said Grady O’Malley, a special attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice office in Newark.

O’Malley said the New Jersey racketeering trial is scheduled for April 15.

Caravaggio was listed in the Los Angeles city attorney’s complaint as an officer of Nite-Flite Video Corp. of North Hollywood, one of eight firms charged with the illegal distribution of obscene materials or the possession of such materials with the intent to distribute.

Officers of two other Valley video firms that were charged Thursday ran into similar trouble in 1980, when they were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on charges of distributing obscene materials. The outcome of those cases was not immediately known.

‘No Affection’

The two are Norman Arno, 58, of VCX-Humphrey Sales Inc. of North Hollywood and Noel Bloom, 45, of California Video Distributors of Canoga Park.

City attorney spokesman Ted Goldstein said the tapes seized in the Los Angeles undercover operation involve sadomasochism and that the “depiction is so graphic that it begs not to be described.”

Guarino said the films are “nonstop, 80 minutes of humiliation, degradation and torture of women.

“They’re dealing with misery and pain. There is no affection or warmth at all.”

The investigation began a year ago, when two Los Angeles police officers attended a convention of adult video distributors in Las Vegas, City Atty. James Hahn said. The officers made contracts with representatives of the firms and arranged to have sales brochures sent to them after the convention.

The maximum penalty upon conviction is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, but the maximum fine increases to $50,000 if there is a previous conviction. The defendants, who face from six to 10 counts each, are scheduled for arraignment March 17.