Suspect in Wayne Attack to Aid in Gionis Prosecution

A Beverly Hills private detective who returned Friday to this country to face charges that he directed last fall’s attack on John Wayne’s daughter has now agreed to help authorities in their prosecution of Pomona surgeon Thomas A. Gionis, a prosecutor disclosed Monday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans emphasized that law enforcement officials have made “no offers, no deals, no nothing” to O. Daniel Gal, 32, in exchange for his potential testimony. But the prosecutor did acknowledge in an interview that they had secured Gal’s cooperation in their investigation into the assault.

Police say that Gal, acting on the orders of the 35-year-old Gionis, hired two men last fall to attack Wayne as a result of a dispute between Wayne and Gionis over custody of their daughter. Wayne, 33, and financier-friend Roger W. Luby, 53, were beaten, pistol-whipped and threatened by two intruders at Luby’s Newport Beach mansion last Oct 3.

One of the two alleged hit men in the attack has already agreed to help prosecutors in their case against Gionis, testifying at Gionis’ preliminary hearing that he understood from Gal that the physician wanted to “teach his wife a lesson.”

But the cooperation of Gal--who sources said was interviewed Monday by investigators--could prove even more valuable to authorities in their case against Gionis, since the detective was allegedly involved in the orchestration of the assault.

Investigators say they have evidence of two payments totaling $40,000 that Gionis made to Gal just a month before the attack, along with four phone calls between the two men on the day of the attack.

Gal “is the last, and maybe the most important, piece of this whole puzzle,” said Harry Block, a private investigator who works for Aissa Wayne.

A defense attorney for Gionis said the cooperation of Gal in the case came as no surprise, particularly since the suspect had agreed to waive extradition proceedings following his April arrest in Switzerland.

“You have to expect something like this. When the people who hold the key to (Gal’s) freedom are obviously asking for something, he’s going to give them what they want to hear,” said defense attorney Allan H. Stokke of Santa Ana.

Gal, now in the custody of Newport Beach police after having been turned over Friday night by the U.S. marshal’s office at Los Angeles International Airport, was to have been arraigned Monday in connection with the attack.

But the arraignment was delayed in part, said prosecutor Evans, because Swiss and U.S. diplomats were still debating what Gal can be charged with under the terms of his return to this country.

Citing pretrial publicity, Evans and other officials involved in the Gionis investigation said they could not discuss details of Gal’s cooperation in their case or what information he may provide. Gionis’ defense team has indicated that it may move for a new trial location outside Orange County because of what it calls local negative pretrial publicity.