Paduano Is Ordered to Trial; Judge Cuts His Bail to $250,000

Robert G. Paduano, accused of robbing several Orange County drug dealers in attempts to force them to help him expand his own drug operations, was ordered Monday to stand trial on 71 counts of robbery, burglary and extortion.

West Municipal Judge Alan N. McKone also ordered--over prosecution objections--reduction of Paduano’s bail from $500,000 to $250,000. However, the judge ruled that Paduano must show that none of the funds he would use for bail came into his possession illegally.

Paduano, 44, who has long been reputed to have ties with organized crime, was indicted by the Orange County Grand Jury last month on 73 felony counts. On Monday, prosecutors asked the court to dismiss one count each of robbery and extortion when a witness could not be found in time for the preliminary hearing.

The two-week proceeding before Judge McKone was essentially a fact-finding hearing, requested by Paduano’s attorneys. He would have faced trial in Superior Court on the indictment anyway, even if McKone had not ordered him bound over for trial.

Much of the hearing was spent in testimony from victims in three robberies, which prosecutors claim were Paduano’s scheme for eliminating independent drug dealers and getting them to work for him.

One of the drug dealers, Marilyn DeFalco, testified that she was robbed at gunpoint at her home in Fountain Valley on Jan. 27, 1986, by two men who are now in prison for other robberies. Prosecutors brought in several witnesses to testify that both men were working for Paduano and robbed DeFalco on his orders.

DeFalco and her boyfriend, Vance Morielle, who readily admitted in testimony that they were drug dealers up until a few weeks ago, said they agreed to pay Paduano 10% of their drug profits in exchange for “protection” from him against further robberies.

Outside the courtroom, Paduano’s 23-year-old son, Rocky Paduano, has claimed that DeFalco, Morielle and other drug dealers who testified against his father were lying in an attempt to stay out of jail on drug-related charges. Three of Paduano’s four children, who attended each day of their father’s preliminary hearing, said that DeFalco should not have been given immunity in exchange for her testimony.

DeFalco admitted that she had lied to the grand jury, first telling that panel that she had never been robbed. Prosecutors have granted her immunity against possible perjury charges.

Rocky Paduano dismissed some of the people who testified against his father, saying: “Look who they are: dope dealers, people who will not be credible in front of a jury.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans acknowledged that several prosecution witnesses had engaged in illegal activity. “Anytime you are trying to pry into the inner workings of a conspiracy, you are going to have to rely on information from some of the people involved in that conspiracy,” he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade earlier in the proceedings noted that DeFalco was not just a drug dealer but also “a robbery victim who was threatened at gunpoint.”

Paduano’s attorney, Alan May, repeatedly told the court that no one has proved that the white powder Paduano allegedly passed on to the dealers was actually cocaine.

Morielle, for example, acknowledged that he was not present when the white substance Paduano passed on to him and DeFalco actually was tested.

“Then how did you know it was cocaine?” May asked.

Morielle grinned sheepishly and answered: “If you sell it to somebody and they come back to buy from you a second time, and then a third time, you have to figure that what you’re giving them is cocaine.”

Paduano will formally enter a plea on March 31. His trial date has been set for April 6.