COSTA MESA : Conviction Upheld in 1987 Shooting
The state 4th District Court of Appeal on Monday upheld the attempted murder conviction of Michael Anthony Rizzitello, the Los Angeles mobster who was convicted in the 1987 shooting that blinded the financier of the former Mustang Club topless bar.
Rizzitello, a reputed underboss in the Milano organized crime family in Los Angeles, is serving 15 years to life in prison for the shooting of William Carroll in a Costa Mesa parking garage. Carroll was shot three times in the back of the head and later testified against Rizzitello.
Orange County prosecutors say Rizzitello, 63, whose string of convictions extends over the last four decades, tried to kill Carroll for a share of the profits at the Santa Ana topless bar, since destroyed by fire.
Rizzitello’s lawyers argued during the trial that Carroll wrongly accused their client of the shooting in an effort to steer authorities away from evidence that Carroll was responsible for the murder of Jimmy Casino, the first manager of the Mustang.
The argument also was used in Rizzitello’s appeal, but the justices called the point “rank speculation” which “deserves no more attention than it received from the trial court.”
Carroll had denied any involvement in the Casino killing.
The appellate court also stated that Rizzitello led “what was clearly a scheme to take control of the (Mustang) business.”
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