Topless Bar’s Owner Says He Is Trying to Keep Club Open Despite Murder, Taxes

Despite the recent murder of Jimmy Lee Casino and persistent tax problems, the Mustang topless bar’s legal owner said Friday that he is doing everything possible to keep the Santa Ana establishment open for business.

On Thursday night, just hours after private funeral services were held for Casino in West Covina, Page and Saber were on stage, dancing topless at the Mustang.

Michael O. Walsh, president of Fortune Investment Inc., said he filed for federal bankruptcy protection for the corporation on Wednesday to keep the Internal Revenue Service from taking over the club while his attorneys and accountants try to resolve the Mustang’s payroll tax difficulties.

Tax Liens Filed

In the past two years, the IRS has filed tax liens of $440,000 against the corporation that owns the bar. Walsh said the tax liens are “just a ploy to shut us down.”

It was the third time in two years that Fortune Investment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors, according to court records.

In an interview, Walsh vehemently disputed a published claim by Santa Ana attorney Sylvan B. Aronson that Casino, who was murdered on New Year’s Day, was the Mustang’s true owner.

“A lot of people thought Jim owned the club because he was here all the time, but all the shares are in my name,” Walsh said.

An ex-convict who was deeply in debt, Casino was listed as the bar’s “controller” on public documents. But in an interview earlier this week, Aronson said Casino was the real owner.

Signed Checks

Walsh said, however, that Casino was not the legal owner. Walsh said he personally managed the club and signed all the checks issued to the Mustang’s 60 to 70 dancers, waitresses, doormen and other employees.

Walsh said he hopes to resolve the Mustang’s tax problems soon. He said representatives of one branch of the IRS recently told his attorney that the Mustang owes only about $10,000 in back taxes.

“Their records are wrong,” said Walsh. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”

Walsh, who was Casino’s friend for 12 years, said his death came as a shock. Walsh described Casino as a “great person with a great heart and a lot of charisma. He never told me about any threats. Jim was in a pretty good mood that day.”

He said he played golf with Casino and another friend on the day Casino was killed. Casino told Walsh that he and his girlfriend, Shelly Faciones, 22, were going to the movies that evening, according to Walsh.

Casino, whose real name was James Stockwell, lived in a $5,000-a-month condominium next to the Los Coyotes Country Club, according to public records.

Two intruders entered the condominium about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, tied up his girlfriend and shot him in the head with a small-caliber weapon.

Mark L. Corbett of Altadena and Joseph Orozco of Pasadena, arrested on suspicion of Casino’s murder, were released from Orange County Jail Thursday after authorities decided they had insufficient evidence to file charges. A third man, Richard Orozco, was arrested Wednesday, but no charges had been filed against him as of Friday night.