Man Called Largest Porno Seller Indicted

A man described by authorities as the largest distributor of pornography in the world has been charged by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas with racketeering and illegally shipping X-rated videotapes, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Justice Department officials said the indictment of Reuben Sturman, 62, who keeps residences in Van Nuys and Cleveland, is the biggest development in a stepped-up, yearlong federal campaign to crack down on the trafficking of obscene materials.

Sturman, who controls more than 200 corporations worldwide, was indicted Wednesday along with four associates who operate the “Talk of the Town” bookstore in Las Vegas.

Acquitted on Similar Charges

It is at least the third time that federal officials have attempted to prosecute Sturman. He was acquitted in federal court in 1978 on similar charges that he had engaged in interstate transportation of obscene materials. He has been free on bail on a 1985 federal indictment charging that he evaded $3 million in income taxes. In that case, investigators claimed that they had uncovered a far-flung pornography business that allegedly laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars through foreign banks.

The latest indictment said that videotapes shipped through the mail from the Las Vegas bookstore depicted sexual acts with animals, sadomasochistic acts including torture and bondage, and urination and defecation in a sexual context.

“I have no doubt these materials qualify as obscene” under U.S. Supreme Court rulings banning distribution of obscene materials, said Asst. Atty. Gen. William F. Weld.

In the case, the Justice Department is using for the second time what it calls a major weapon in its offensive against obscenity and organized crime, an anti-racketeering law that provides for the forfeiture of assets in addition to imprisonment.

Seeks Control of Assets

Thus, the indictment asks that Sturman and his associates be forced to give up all interest in 14 corporations, 12 parcels of real estate, $162,000 in cash seized in an FBI search of the bookstore last year, all “peep machines” at seven stores and six automobiles--three Cadillacs, two Mercedes-Benzes and a Ford.

The defendants also face up to 55 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 apiece if they are convicted on all eight counts.

Weld said that Sturman is believed to have deposited as much as $7 million in Swiss bank accounts in recent months. U.S. Atty. William A. Maddox of Las Vegas, who appeared with Weld at a news conference here, estimated that $150,000 a week is taken from Sturman’s Las Vegas stores “in briefcases.”

Sturman, identified by President Reagan’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography as the leading distributor of hard-core materials, operates under the umbrella organization of Sovereign News Inc. The firm is based in a sprawling Cleveland warehouse, which is cynically referred to by some lawmen as the Ft. Knox of pornography. Thick steel doors and an elaborate electronic surveillance system protect the property.

Business Described as Booming

Investigators said that Sturman’s multimillion-dollar network, which deals in X-rated magazines, movies and videocassettes, has expanded dramatically in recent years.

Documents filed with a Cleveland grand jury in 1985 suggested that the Internal Revenue Service had been tracking Sturman and his associates almost from the day that he was acquitted in 1978.

One of Sturman’s Los Angeles associates, Allan I. Goelman, pleaded guilty in 1984 to income tax evasion in connection with charges that he concealed personal earnings of more than $270,000 over a four-year period as head of “U.S. retail operations” for Sturman.

Four Others Indicted

Indicted Wednesday along with Sturman were Ralph Levine, an owner of the “Talk of the Town” bookstore; Stanley Loeb, operations manager of the store and its subsidiaries; Gerald Fields, a counter clerk at the bookstore, and Glenda Perry, the store’s office manager and Levine’s secretary.

Loeb, Fields and Perry were taken into custody and released on their own recognizance until arraignment Oct. 23. Maddox said he was advised by attorneys for Sturman and Levine that they intend to surrender to authorities.