Hawthorne Merchant Charged in Murder Plot

The owner of a Hawthorne sex-book store was arrested on charges that he tried to hire someone for $15,000 to kill a San Diego man he suspected of having an affair with his wife, the FBI said Friday.

Allen Eugene Morrison, 56, of Tarzana was taken into custody without incident late Wednesday at the Hollywood Park Race Track, said FBI spokeswoman Karen Gardner.

Police also arrested Ted Gaswirth, 58, of Dade County, Fla. The two suspects are longtime friends who both run businesses distributing sexually explicit materials, said agent William A. Gavin of the FBI’s Miami bureau.

Morrison, owner of the Wildcat Adult Book Store in Hawthorne, traveled to Florida in late June and met with Gaswirth to arrange the killing, the FBI said in a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

Morrison believed that a family friend, Joseph Steingold of San Diego, was romantically involved with Morrison’s wife of more than 30 years, Gavin said.

In Miami, Morrison gave Gaswirth $15,000 in cash to hire the killer, the FBI said. Morrison also provided Steingold’s photograph, his home and business addresses, and information about his vehicles and schedule, the FBI complaint said.

A few days later, Morrison and Gaswirth met with the hired “hit man,” who was actually an undercover FBI agent, Gavin said. Gaswirth also told the undercover agent that if the killing of Steingold went well, he would be hired for other killings, Gavin said.

Both men were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to travel across state lines to commit murder. They face 15 years in prison and $20,000 in fines if convicted. No bail has been set for either. Morrison faces a 2 p.m. bail hearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Robert M. Stone in Los Angeles, Gardner said. A similar hearing is scheduled Monday for Gaswirth in Miami.