Head of Roulette Records Convicted in Conspiracy

Morris Levy, president of New York-based Roulette Records and a longtime behind-the-scenes power in the music business, was found guilty Wednesday of conspiring to extort a Philadelphia-area record distributor in the 1984 purchase of nearly 5 million so-called cutout, or discontinued, recordings from MCA Records.

Convicted along with Levy in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., were Howard Fisher, Roulette’s controller, and Dominick (Baldy Dom) Canterino, reputedly one of the most powerful members of New York’s Genovese crime family. The three men each face maximum penalties of 40 years in prison.

The three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Brotman was the culmination of a 3 1/2-year investigation into alleged organized crime infiltration of the record industry. Levy, Fisher and Canterino were convicted of conspiring to take over a small budget record distributorship owned by John LaMonte after LaMonte refused to pay a $1.25-million debt owed to MCA for the cutouts. The three were indicted in September, 1986, along with reputed New Jersey Mafia figure Gaetano (Corky) Vastola, who is scheduled to stand trial in October on charges of extortion and racketeering stemming from the same case.

In the course of the trial, Assistant U.S. Atty. Bruce Repetto traced a series of transactions by which the MCA cutouts were sold to LaMonte, with Levy guaranteeing payment through a company called Consultants for World Records. Consultants was owned by reputed Mafia figures Salvatore Pisello, Rocco Mussacchia and Frederico Giovanielli, who were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case.

Used Phone Wiretaps

According to prosecutor Repetto, it was all a setup. “LaMonte was chosen by Levy and Vastola to be the recipient” of the records, he said. After LaMonte refused to pay for the records--claiming that the most valuable titles had been removed from his shipment--he was severely beaten by Vastola in May, 1985, according to the government.

LaMonte later entered the government’s witness protection program with his family. He did not appear as a witness at the trial, however, and most of the government’s cast consisted of wiretapped phone conversations among the defendants and Vastola.

The tapes played for the jury were remarkable for their rough language and for a number of colorful threats against LaMonte by Vastola--”I’m gonna put him in the hospital . . . I’m gonna put him in a bucket . . . such a beating I’m gonna give him you won’t believe.”

The tapes also contain a great deal of bickering among LaMonte’s creditors about who is responsible for his failure to pay up. According to the government, a Sept. 23 meeting was called by Canterino to mediate the dispute that had arisen between Vastola and Levy.

The convictions Wednesday are the latest stemming from the 1984 MCA cutout sale. In April, Salvatore Pisello was convicted in Los Angeles of evading taxes on money he earned from the deal. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison. MCA, the Los Angeles entertainment giant that owns Universal Studios, has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing in the cutout sale.