Turnabout in Shooting Testimony : Trial: Joseph Grosso has changed his earlier story, testifying that his co-defendant shot and blinded Mustang Bar figure William Carroll.

Joseph Angelo Grosso, in a turnabout from earlier public statements, told jurors Wednesday that his co-defendant--Los Angeles racketeer Michael Anthony Rizzitello Jr.--shot the chief financier of the Mustang topless bar, who was left for dead in a deserted parking garage.

Grosso, 46, also admitted for the first time that he was driving the car on May 1, 1987, when financier William Carroll, seated next to him, was left permanently blind from three bullets to the back of the head. But Grosso told jurors in his trial for attempted murder that the shooting was a surprise to him. He denied prosecution claims that he was a participant in the attack.

The Grosso-Rizzitello case has drawn widespread attention among Southern California law enforcement officials because of Rizzitello’s known role as an under-boss in the Milano organized crime family in Los Angeles. Rizzitello, 62, has a long history of fraud and racketeering convictions. But this is the most serious trouble he has ever faced in a courtroom.

Grosso’s decision to name Rizzitello as the triggerman is viewed as highly damaging to the racketeer, whose own trial in the Carroll attack is expected to begin in late November.

Grosso told a radically different story of what happened to a Los Angeles Times reporter in a jailhouse interview last March. He said then that Rizzitello had nothing to do with the shooting. He also denied that he was in the car.

Instead, Grosso told The Times that Carroll was shot by Big George Yudzevich, a former Mustang bouncer who has since been murdered. “Mike Rizzitello didn’t shoot nobody,” Grosso declared then. Grosso also said in the interview that as he, Carroll and Yudzevich were leaving a Costa Mesa restaurant, his pager went off and he left to use a pay phone, unaware what Yudzevich was going to do.

But on Wednesday, Grosso said on cross-examination that he made up that story on orders from Rizzitello, who was also in County Jail. Grosso said Rizzitello had threatened to kill him and his family if Grosso testified against him.

“You’ve told about this shooting a whole bunch of different ways, haven’t you? How many? 10? 20?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans barked at Grosso on cross-

examination.

“Probably more than that,” Grosso admitted. “It may have saved my life.”

“You are a gifted actor, aren’t you?” the prosecutor shot back. “When you get in a tight spot, you tell a story, don’t you?”

Carroll, 57, claims that Rizzitello shot him from the back seat of his car in a parking garage near the Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Carroll identified Grosso to jurors last week as the driver who held him down to prevent his escape.

Rizzitello has denied involvement in the Carroll shooting. His attorney, Anthony P. Brooklier, will say only that “my client is an innocent man.”

Prosecutors contend that Rizzitello wanted to take control of the Mustang Club on Harbor Boulevard, since closed because of two arson fires, and decided to eliminate Carroll, who had not been cooperative. Then, prosecutors allege, Rizzitello moved in on Gene Lesher, Carroll’s successor, with more death threats.

Lesher has testified that he gave in to Rizzitello’s demands out of fear for his safety. He also told jurors that Grosso was part of the conspiracy to take over the topless bar.

Grosso, a longtime FBI informant, on Wednesday said that he was only Carroll’s driver and that he had no relationship with Rizzitello at all. But both Carroll and Lesher testified that it was always Grosso who would call them on Rizzitello’s behalf.

Testimony by Grosso on Wednesday bore many similarities to Carroll’s version of what happened. But there were some exceptions, particularly on Grosso’s involvement, and on where the shooting occurred.

Grosso said the shooting took place in an open-air parking lot near Antonello’s restaurant in Santa Ana’s South Coast Village, not in the parking garage a few blocks away where Carroll was found bleeding and left for dead.

Carroll testified that Grosso arranged a meeting between him and Rizzitello at Emilia’s restaurant in Santa Ana on April 30, 1987, the night of the shooting. Grosso admitted that he was at the dinner meeting but denied that he set it up. Carroll has testified that he hoped Rizzitello would have information on who had shot at him two weeks earlier.

Grosso told jurors Wednesday that Rizzitello was upset that night because Carroll had ordered the death of Jimmy Casino, the former Mustang operator, without permission from Rizzitello. (Prosecutors insist that Carroll has never been a suspect in the Casino shooting, which remains unsolved, and Carroll has denied involvement.)

Carroll has testified that Rizzitello and Grosso asked him, after dinner at Emilia’s, to take them to Grosso’s car in the parking garage. Grosso, who had driven for Carroll before, got behind the wheel. Grosso testified Wednesday that he drove them to Antonello’s, rather than the parking garage on Carroll’s orders.

Carroll has testified that Grosso held him down once they reached the empty garage so that Rizzitello could shoot him. Grosso testified Wednesday that he had just pulled Carroll’s car into a side lot near Antonello’s, and almost had the car parked, when he heard a shot.

Grosso: “I felt something metal hit my head, and I heard a loud boom, a tremendous noise, and then a ringing in my ears. . . . I thought I had been shot. I ran.”

Grosso had an apartment just a few blocks away, and he told jurors that he ran there. Afterward, he said, he treated a wound to his head and then headed for the Balboa Bay Club, where he spent the next two days.

But prosecutor Evans hit Grosso hard, claiming clear contradictions in Grosso’s testimony.

For example, Grosso admitted that the FBI was paying him at the time for information on Carroll’s activities. Yet Grosso told the jurors he deliberately tried not to hear anything Carroll said at his meetings.

Also, Grosso told the jurors that Carroll admitted to him that he was responsible for at least a dozen murders. But Grosso also said that when he drove Carroll on business, the financier made it a point to prevent Grosso from knowing what he was doing most of the time.

On direct examination, Grosso said Rizzitello angrily told Carroll in the car: “Do you just want to kill everybody?” On cross-examination, Grosso said that Rizzitello asked the question at the restaurant. When Evans pointed out the discrepancy, Grosso said that Rizzitello said it both in the restaurant and in the car.

Also, Grosso indicated to jurors that he went to the Balboa Bay Club to hide out because he was too scared to stay in his apartment. But Evans produced records to show that Grosso was already checked into the Balboa Bay Club before the shooting occurred.

Grosso attorney William Yacobozzi Jr. has told jurors that Carroll had numerous enemies and that any one of them might have tried to kill him.

Grosso denied that he knew anything about an attempt by Rizzitello to take over the Mustang.

Carroll included Grosso as one of the attackers because he was upset at learning that Grosso had spied on him for the FBI, Grosso speculated on the witness stand Wednesday.