Film Producer’s Wife, Acquaintance Charged : Justice: Police say a pornographer was slain for his estate, and not for his organized crimes connections. His wife is alleged to have paid the killer.

Discarding theories of a Mafia execution, authorities now believe that slain pornographer Theodore J. Snyder, a flamboyant figure whose video company churned out dozens of money-making sex videotapes in the early 1980s, was killed by a social acquaintance hired by his wife.

Sharon Snyder, 39, of Woodland Hills, and Victor Diaz, 47, were charged in San Fernando Municipal Court with first-degree murder for allegedly killing Snyder on Aug. 1. They were also charged with the special allegation that they killed for financial gain, which means prosecutors may seek the death penalty.

According to the district attorney’s complaint against them, Sharon Snyder offered Diaz $20,000 to kill her husband so that she could inherit their property.

Los Angeles Police Detective Kirk Mellecker said he could not estimate the value of Teddy Snyder’s personal holdings. Although his company had filed for reorganization under bankruptcy laws, Snyder led a luxurious life. He drove a Rolls-Royce, frequently took friends flying in his seven-seat airplane and wore gold and diamond jewelry.

Sharon Snyder and Diaz are also each charged with one count of conspiracy with an unnamed third party, and Diaz faces one count of possession of a machine gun.

Snyder, 47, was shot four times from the front and five times in the back with a .380-caliber Mac II submachine gun near his parked car in Northridge.

Initially, the style of the killing led authorities to speculate that it was an organized crime “hit.” Snyder’s Northridge video company, Video Cassette Recordings, had gone bankrupt in 1988 and owed money to a company linked by federal prosecutors to an East Coast crime family.

Others, noting the vial of cocaine found in his hand, said that Snyder, regarded as a heavy cocaine user, probably met his death in a drug deal gone awry.

But the investigation took a new direction in December after Ventura County law enforcement officials arrested William Fisher in an unrelated investigation. Port Hueneme police were investigating drug sales in their city and followed a suspect, not Fisher, to a Simi Valley residence where Fisher, 35, lived, said Sgt. Dennis Fitzgerald.

In late November, authorities raided the property and arrested Fisher on misdemeanor drug charges. He was later arrested again for violating the conditions of a federal parole by associating with a convicted felon, and is currently in federal custody in Los Angeles, authorities said.

Police found undisclosed evidence linking Fisher to the Snyder killing during the November raid and contacted Los Angeles detectives. Fisher then gave investigators information about the killing, authorities said.

According to the San Fernando court complaint, after Sharon Snyder offered Diaz $20,000 to kill her husband, Diaz offered Fisher $20,000 to commit an unspecified murder. Fisher later helped Diaz obtain the submachine gun which authorities believe Diaz used to shoot Teddy Snyder, the complaint stated.

Detective Phil Vannatter said Fisher will be a witness against Sharon Snyder and Diaz.

In August, Sharon Snyder gave Diaz a $10,000 bill, the complaint said. The rare bill came from Teddy Snyder’s money collection, Mellecker said.

Teddy Snyder had known Diaz for about a year before the killing, probably through the narcotics trade, Vannatter said.

Snyder and Diaz were arrested Friday by Los Angeles police and are being held without bail. Their arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Times staff writer Mike Connelly contributed to this story.