Man Convicted 2nd Time in Murder Plot

Former West Hollywood restaurateur H. Daniel Whitman was convicted Friday--for the second time--of conspiring to kill a witness in a federal ticket-scalping investigation.

A federal court jury in Los Angeles found Whitman, 55, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, witness-tampering, retaliating against a federal witness and conspiracy to deprive a witness of his civil rights.

U.S. District Judge Francis C. Whelan set sentencing for Aug. 12, and permitted Whitman to remain free on bail.

Conviction Overturned

Whitman, former owner of Cyrano’s restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, was convicted on the same charges in 1984 and sentenced to eight years in prison, but the conviction was overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered a new trial.

Defense attorney James Twitty said he is confident the second conviction will be reversed, too. “Mark my words, we’ll win in the (U.S.) 9th Circuit (Court of Appeals),” he said.

Whitman was convicted of ordering the death of Raymond Cohen, a former Calabasas businessman who provided the Internal Revenue Service with information in the 1980 Super Bowl ticket scalping and tax-evasion case in which Dominic Frontiere, husband of Rams owner Georgia Rosenbloom Frontiere, recently was indicted.

Businessman Indicted

Cohen also gave the government information that led to the indictment of Jack Catain, a Tarzana businessman, against whom charges are pending.

Federal prosecutors said it was during that investigation that Cohen provided information implicating Whitman. Federal Strike Force attorney John DuBois said Whitman’s motives for plotting to kill Cohen were revenge and to keep Cohen from talking.

DuBois said that Whitman discussed killing Cohen with Robert Cohen, a long-time associate (not related to intended-victim Raymond Cohen). Robert Cohen, he said, later met Ted Shove, a government informant, and at which time the government said the conspiracy was hatched.