Countywide : Mustang Club Jury Sees Re-Enactment

In a chilling re-enactment of a mob-style crime, the financial backer of the notorious Mustang Club bar clambered into a tiny Honda Tuesday and froze in the exact position he was in two years ago when three bullets were pumped into his head and he was left for dead.

Joseph Angelo Grosso is on trial for the attack. He and Michael Rizzitello, allegedly a highly placed member of the Los Angeles Mafia, both are accused in the case.

With jurors watching in a secured area of the courthouse parking garage in Santa Ana, C. William Carroll, 57, blinded in the shooting, climbed into the passenger seat of the 1981 two-door Honda Civic. One investigator from the district attorney’s office got into the back seat of the car, assuming the position prosecutors say Rizzitello was in just after midnight on May 1, 1987. He is accused of wrapping his arm around Carroll’s neck and firing three shots into the victim’s skull. Another took the driver’s seat, which prosecutors say was occupied on that night by Carroll’s driver, Grosso.

The eerie scene was staged for jurors who will be asked to decide whether Grosso, 46, accused of pinning Carroll in place during the shooting, is guilty of attempted murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors contend that Rizzitello, 62, wanted control of the Mustang Club, a now-defunct topless tavern, and eliminated Carroll because he stood in Rizzitello’s way. Rizzitello, a convicted racketeer who met Carroll when they were both in state prison at Chino in 1970, faces a separate trial next month.

Security had already been stepped up for Grosso’s trial, but on Tuesday, secrecy also was imposed. Lawyers and courtroom bailiffs said they were under orders from Superior Court Judge John L. Flynn Jr. not to discuss the case.

After The Times reported Tuesday that the re-enactment was scheduled to take place on the loading dock of the courthouse, the event was abruptly moved to a secured area of the parking garage and reporters were barred. But details were obtained from attorneys who described the re-enactment in open court.

Carroll described the last moments before the shooting in a Costa Mesa parking garage, where he testified that he went with Rizzitello and Grosso after dinner at an Italian restaurant in Santa Ana. They had asked for a ride to their car, and Carroll let Grosso drive, he said.

“As I turned my head to the left, with Mr. Grosso in the driver’s seat, to say, ‘Where’s your car?’ Mr. Rizzitello’s arm come around my neck,” Carroll testified.

During hours of cross-examination, Grosso’s attorney, WilliamYacobozzi, hammered away at Carroll, seeking testimony that would cast doubt on Grosso’s role in the shooting. Carroll acknowledged that the last moment he saw Grosso’s face, Grosso was staring straight ahead, and he admitted that he did not see Grosso put his hands on Carroll’s left leg. But he testified that Grosso had held him down.

Yacobozzi contends that Carroll is pointing the finger at Grosso to get back at him for providing incriminating information to the FBI on his other criminal activities.