Santa Ana : Separate Trails Granted in Mustange Case

A Superior Court judge Tuesday was forced to grant separate trials for two men accused of trying to kill Mustang Bar investor C. William Carroll, when one of the defendants refused-against his attorney’s advice-to allow anymore postponements.

Joseph Angelo Grosso, 46, went on trial Tuesday before Superior Court Judge John L. Flynn Jr. His co-defendant, convicted racketeer Michael Anthony Rizzitello, 62, will be tried in November.

The two are accused of shooting Carroll three times in the head-leaving him permanently blind-on April 1, 1987, in a Costa Mesa parking lot. Carroll had been a major investor in the Mustang topless bar on Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana. Prossecutors claim that Rizzitello was trying to muscle his way into control of the bar, which has remained closed since early 1988, after two arson fires.

Carroll, 59, refused for 18 months to identify who shot him. But a year ago, he told authorities that Rizzitello had fired the shots and that Grosso had driven the car.

Grosso, a limousine service operator in Costa Mesa who frequented the Mustang, has made statements to the media and to authorities that it was George Yudzevich, a former bouncer at the club who had shot Carroll when Grosso stepped out of the car to make a telephone call in response to a beeper message.

Grosso’s statements resulted in his attorneys this summer asking to leave his case. They were replaced by William Yacobozi Jr. of Newport Beach. Yacobozzi said Tuesday that he has repeatedly told his client he needs more time to investigate, but that Grosso has turned him down.

“He’s been in the Orange County Jail for a year without bail. I think he’s just worn down,” Yacobozzi said Tuesday.

Grosso’s previous attorneys had failed to persuae the courts to grant him a separate trial from Rizzitello. But Tuesday, Flynn had no choice. Rizzitello’s attorney, Anthony Brooklier, was tied up in another case and could not be ready.