Witnesses Framed Maniscalco, Jurors in Slayings Case Told

Thomas Maniscalco, the lawyer and one-time motorcycle gang leader accused of masterminding the slayings of three people in Westminster on Memorial Day weekend in 1980, was framed for the crimes by the same witnesses who will testify against him, one of his attorneys told jurors Tuesday.

Maniscalco, 44, was not involved in the slayings, and was made the fall guy by drug dealers and murderers “willing to lie to save their own necks,” co-counsel Andrew Roth said Tuesday in his opening statements during the first day of the often-delayed trial.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King told the jury a different story about the outspoken lawyer.

“The defendant had a legitimate business. He was a lawyer with clients and a law firm, but he also led another business--a criminal enterprise involved in the sale and distribution of narcotics and counterfeit money,” King said in his opening remarks.

As chief operator of the clandestine business more than nine years ago, Maniscalco planned the killing of longtime friend Richard (Rabbit) Rizzone, 36, who had stolen drugs and counterfeit money from his organization, King said.

He said two other victims, Rena Miley, Rizzone’s 19-year-old girlfriend, and Thomas Monahan, 28, a former legal client of Maniscalco’s, were simply unlucky to be with Rizzone at his Navajo Road house in a middle-class Westminster neighborhood at the time of the attack.

King accused Maniscalco of running the organization with the help of Daniel M. Duffy and Phil Warren, a couple of loyal partners, who helped kill Rizzone. They had planned to blame the slayings on Robert Robbins, another member of Maniscalco’s klan, who admits being at the house when the three were killed, he said.

It was not until October, 1981, a year and a half later, that Maniscalco and Duffy became key suspects. Michigan officials picked up a motorcycle belonging to Rizzone and falsely registered to Robbins.

Questioned by police, Robbins first denied that he knew anything. Eventually he admitted that he had stolen the motorcycle and had participated in the triple slayings. Robbins said the triggerman was Warren, but that the plan was masterminded by Maniscalco with Duffy helping out.

Warren died in a shoot-out with Oklahoma police in an unrelated incident on July 31, 1981.

Duffy, whose attorneys were in the back of the courtroom Tuesday, will be tried after Maniscalco’s trial is over. If convicted, both men face a possible death sentence.

King on Tuesday described to the jury the events leading up to the slayings and Maniscalco’s arrest in 1984.

Most of the people who participated in the drug and counterfeiting operation--managed from Maniscalco’s house in Westminster--fear the lawyer because of his ties to the motorcycle gang the Hessians, King said.

Many of the witnesses that will testify during the trial at one time were involved in Maniscalco’s business, King said.

“These witnesses . . . are not the Vienna Boys Club Choir,” he offered. But “these witnesses are sufficiently corroborated for you to find Mr. Maniscalco guilty of three first-degree murders.”

Robbins, who is the star witness in the prosecutor’s case, has denied he shot anyone.

Defense attorneys disagree. Roth said that the killings were carried out by Robbins, Warren and Bruce Van Arsdell, who was also involved in the drug and counterfeit ring and is now a sergeant in the U.S. Marines.

Those three, Roth said, “conspired to kill, did kill and attempted to frame Mr. Maniscalco” for the murders.

Roth told the jury they could not find Maniscalco guilty if they determine that Robbins, who testifies today, is not credible.

“Robert Robbins is not only a thief, a drug user and distributor, but also a forger, a robber, a burglar, a rapist and a has committed perjury,” Roth said.

Roth said by using physical evidence left at the scene and Robbins’ own testimony, he will prove that Maniscalco is not guilty.

Since his arrest, Maniscalco’s court proceedings trial has sputtered along because of a slew of defense motions, many of which prosecutors have claimed were not relevant to the case. The proceedings were also delayed by the death of Superior Court Judge James R. Franks.

To prevent further delays, Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary, who is now handling the case, has ordered several hearings to run into the night. Attorneys on both sides predict that the trial will last several months before it is handed to the jury.