Restaurateur Found Guilty in Drug Case : Courts: Ronald A. Lorenzo, a frequent target of organized crime investigators, is convicted on federal narcotic charges despite support from actor James Caan.

Former Malibu restaurateur Ronald A. Lorenzo, a frequent target of organized crime investigators in recent years, was convicted Friday on federal drug conspiracy charges despite testimony in his behalf by actor James Caan.

A U.S. District Court jury found Lorenzo guilty on five counts stemming from two 1990 cocaine deals with a prized FBI informant, Robert Franchi.

Franchi spent more than three years secretly recording alleged mob contacts around Los Angeles and New England. As at a similar trial last year, which resulted in Lorenzo’s conviction on a single count, the defense argued that Lorenzo was entrapped by the government “mole.”

Caan, who gained fame playing a hot-tempered mobster in “The Godfather,” told the jury that Lorenzo is “a dear friend.” The actor portrayed the balding, 47-year-old defendant as a struggling business and family man who had asked numerous times to borrow money and once had to pawn his wife’s jewelry to pay bills.

Asked by Judge Dickran Tevrizian whether Lorenzo ever repaid the loans, Caan quipped: “No. That’s why I flew back here.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brad K. Sonnenberg used the movie star’s appearance to challenge the defense contention that Lorenzo was a legitimate businessman beset by financial problems.

During his cross-examination of Caan, Sonnenberg reminded the jury that Lorenzo at different times had an interest in three restaurants, including Splash in Malibu, and lived in the chic seaside area before moving to Beverly Hills.

Caan retorted that he found the Beverly Hills apartment for his friend at “a cheap rate.”

A New York native who moved to California in 1982, Lorenzo has been under law enforcement scrutiny since 1987, when Los Angeles police discovered his presence and alleged that he was a “made member” of “one of the five traditional Mafia families in New York,” as a county prosecutor put it in court last year.

One of Lorenzo’s attorneys once complained that Lorenzo was being persecuted for growing up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, “friends with people you and I probably wouldn’t associate with.” Lorenzo moved away to start fresh, the attorney said, only to be hounded out of business and driven into drug deals by the FBI informer, who befriended him.

The federal case was based on evidence gathered by Franchi, 38, an ex-Bostonian who testified that he fled to California after mob loan sharks tried to kill him. Franchi said he called the FBI to volunteer his help and gained the confidence of organized crime figures by posing as a restaurant supplier who sold drugs on the side. His undercover work generated numerous criminal cases, including at least nine federal drug indictments.

Defense attorney Gerald Scotti tried to make Franchi the issue at the trial, charging that payments he received from the FBI--$5,000 a month plus expenses--motivated him to “set up people for money.”

The government case centered on Lorenzo’s obscenity-strewn comments, captured on tape as he and Franchi bought five kilograms of cocaine in Brentwood and Santa Monica from a source arranged by Lorenzo--Joseph Ippolito, 42, of New Jersey.

Ippolito also was convicted Friday on five counts.

Sonnenberg said Franchi was used to arrange the drug deals only after a cautious Lorenzo twice rebuffed overtures by undercover FBI agents.

“Their job is to catch criminals, and you can’t catch criminals without tricking them and trapping them,” Sonnenberg told the jury in closing arguments.

Lorenzo’s alleged mob ties were never discussed before the jury.

Outside the courtroom, Caan scoffed at news descriptions of his relationship with the man he said became his best friend after they met on a film set 15 years ago.

“All of a sudden I’m depicted as some sort of gangster,” the actor complained. “The guy comes from New York. I come from New York. People use the word connections , ties . . . . I don’t condone crime. All I know him to do is work his butt off.

“A boss? He borrows $100 a week. The boss!”

Caan said he recently discovered that he was taped in the FBI investigation. It happened when Lorenzo took Franchi to the actor’s Bel-Air home for a game of pool in 1990. The tape includes no discussion of criminal activity, only banter surrounding the game. Caan said he was pleased by one detail of the encounter: “I made all my shots.”

When Lorenzo was arrested last year, Caan offered his home as collateral for his friend’s $2-million bail. Caan at the time was planning to open a restaurant in Beverly Hills and hoped that Lorenzo could manage it. The Mulberry Street pizzeria has since opened, but Lorenzo’s wife had to take the job instead because Lorenzo remains imprisoned, the actor said.

The restaurant’s decor suggests that Caan enjoys mocking the police allegations. The walls feature an antique machine gun above a photo of old-time gangsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano.

Sentencing for Lorenzo and Ippolito was scheduled for May 3. Each count is punishable by up to 40 years in prison. Attorneys for both men said they will appeal the convictions.

Lorenzo faces a trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. A state indictment charges him and four others in a series of robberies and kidnapings around Los Angeles.