At the start of the extortion conspiracy...

At the start of the extortion conspiracy trial of Roulette Records President Morris Levy, the prosecution announced in a surprise move that it would not call its expected star witness in the case, former Philadelphia record distributor John LaMonte. Levy is charged--along with Howard Fisher, Roulette’s controller, and Dominick Canterino, a reputed member of New York’s Genovese crime family--with conspiring to extort payment from LaMonte for 4.7 million “cutout,” or discontinued, recordings that LaMonte purchased from MCA Records in 1984.