LOCAL : Grosso Gets 27 Years to Life in Shooting of Club Financier
Joseph Angele Grosso was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison today for his role in the 1987 shooting of Mustang Club financier William Carroll, who had resisted organized crime efforts to muscle in on the club’s profits.
Carroll, who was shot three times in the head and left for dead in a Costa Mesa parking garage, claims that Los Angeles racketeer Michael Anthony Rizzitello shot him and that Grosso held him down while they sat in a car. Rizzitello’s separate trial in the shooting is scheduled to begin Monday.
Grosso, 46, admitted to jurors that he was in the car and that Rizzitello fired the shots. But Grosso claims that he had no idea what was about to happen and denied that he was involved in any business with Rizzitello.
In court this morning, Carroll called Grosso “the consummate con artist” who had set up all of Carroll’s meetings with Rizzitello.
“Who is more evil: the set-up man or the shooter?” Carroll told Superior Court Judge John L. Flynn Jr.
Prosecutors presented evidence that after the Carroll shooting, Rizzitello was successful in gaining control of the club, which has since been closed because of two arson fires.
Grosso predicted to jurors that he will be killed in prison for testifying against Rizzitello.
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