U.S. Disputes Frontiere’s Account of Extortion Bid

Government prosecutors on Tuesday dismissed as a false bid for sympathy Dominic Frontiere’s assertion that he did not report income from his sale of 1980 Super Bowl tickets because he had been extorted by a partner with ties to organized crime and was afraid.

The prosecutors said they do not believe Frontiere was extorted. They said they have only his word for it and have no evidence that the husband of Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere told anyone about being frightened.

“There is good reason to believe that Mr. Frontiere was never extorted at all,” said the prosecutors, U.S. Justice Department special attorneys Richard J. Leon and Sam L. Strother, in court papers filed in answer to defense pretrial motions. “To the contrary, it would appear that Mr. Frontiere’s . . . versions of events are nothing more than an afterthought designed to engender sympathy and minimize his culpability in the eyes of this court and others.”

The prosecutors also disclosed details of admissions made by Frontiere, an Emmy-award winning Hollywood composer who was indicted in June on charges that he failed to report income and pay taxes on the profits he made scalping the Super Bowl tickets.

Written Account

Frontiere’s attorney, Bruce I. Hochman, gave the Justice Department a written account of events surrounding the ticket sales as part of an unsuccessful attempt to persuade authorities not to prosecute his client because he is “basically a decent, hard-working honest man” who was taken advantage of by “truly criminal types.”

Frontiere said in that 1985 account that he gave Raymond Cohen, a convicted thief, about 1,800 tickets two weeks before the game and told him to get as much money for them as possible.

Frontiere told the government that Cohen sold most of the tickets, and gave him a paper bag containing about $100,000 in cash.

He said he placed the money in his safe deposit box without counting it but later was compelled to give $88,000 back to Cohen, who had put him in fear for his life.

Cohen is the key government witness against Frontiere.

Frontiere did not explain how he acquired so many tickets to the game, played that year at the Rose Bowl. But he claimed that no one connected with the team knew of his purpose in obtaining them.

He was engaged to the Rams owner when he said he got the tickets, but otherwise had no connection with the team.

Frontiere has also claimed through his attorney that he did not report the profits because he knew they would not have resulted in his owing any more taxes. Frontiere married the Rams owner in mid-1980 and their income tax return for that year, filed in late 1981, was joint. Because of her business interests, she had--and he shared--a $700,000 operating loss that year that more than offset income he did not report, his attorney said.

Prosecutors Leon and Strother said, however, that whether additional taxes were due is “legally irrelevant to whether or not he willfully filed a false income tax return.”

‘Still Had Legal Obligation’

Even assuming that Cohen demanded money back from him, the prosecutors said, “he still had a legal obligation to report the amount of money he received in 1980 and not to subsequently lie to federal agents when questioned about it.”

Frontiere also said through his lawyer that there was a third reason he did not report the money: He did not want to embarrass his wife.

In his 1985 account, Frontiere claimed that the idea to make money selling the tickets came from his friend, Daniel Whitman, then an owner of restaurants in Lake Tahoe and on the Sunset Strip. He said that Whitman suggested Cohen as the seller.

About three weeks after the game, trouble began, Frontiere said through his lawyer. The lawyer gave this written account:

First Cohen and then Whitman called, saying Frontiere had to meet with Jack M. Catain Jr., a San Fernando Valley businessman who has been identified by federal law enforcement officials as a major organized crime figure.

Whitman allegedly identified Catain as the head of the Mafia in Los Angeles and Frontiere said he met with Catain out of fear.

‘Took Care of a Problem’

He said Catain told him that he--Catain--had taken care of a problem for Frontiere and expected to be paid, and that Cohen would contact Frontiere later to tell him how much.

The problem was said to have been bringing a dissident Rams executive into line.

Catain supposedly learned that the executive was causing problems for Frontiere’s fiancee from Whitman, in whom Frontiere had confided.

Frontiere, however, had not asked for Catain’s help and did not know Catain had spoken with the executive, the lawyer said.

Cohen later called Frontiere and told him that Catain wanted $25,000, and Frontiere paid.

Two or three weeks later, Cohen called and demanded another $25,000 for Catain. Frontiere paid again.

A few weeks after that, Cohen called once again, saying Catain demanded a final $40,000. Frontiere paid $38,000--all he had left of his Super Bowl stash.

Catain Role Questioned

In a subsequent 1986 letter to the Justice Department, Frontiere’s lawyer de-emphasized the alleged role of Catain, noting that Cohen was “purporting to act at the direction of Jack Catain,” rather than actually acting at Catain’s direction. The lawyer said in a recent interview that he did not believe Catain was involved in selling the tickets.

On Tuesday, James Twitty, an attorney who represents both Whitman and Catain, said he believes that neither of his clients was involved in an extortion or attempted extortion. “If there was (an extortion), neither of my clients know anything about it and did not participate in it,” he said.

As an informant, Cohen told the government about Frontiere’s involvement in selling the tickets. The Internal Revenue Service then questioned Whitman, who says he was their mutual friend.

Whitman then turned against Cohen. He was convicted last month of plotting to kill Cohen. The plot was foiled and Cohen has since moved.

Whitman was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in prison.

Whitman, who was allowed to remain free on bail at least until next week, maintains his innocence in the murder plot, and told reporters after the sentencing that he had “never sold a ticket nor received one dollar.”