Friends Offer New Twist to Old Murder Mystery : Crime: Frank Christi, a tough-guy actor who police believe was involved in real-life capers, died 11 years ago. The latest theory is that he was killed over a woman.

Brooklyn-born character actor Frank Christi was the consummate New York tough guy, police say, and sometimes the lines between his roles and reality blurred.

On screen, he played villains in 1970s movies such as “The Godfather,” “Terminal Island,” “The Hit” and “The Don Is Dead.” He appeared in countless episodes of television crime shows such as “Beretta,” “Mannix” and “The Rockford Files.” Off-screen, Los Angeles police said, he had been involved in counterfeiting and forgery scams.

“The irony of course is that he was shot to death in much the same fashion as the characters he played,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Tom Lange.

But, according to Christi’s friends, the underworld did not cost him his life. A woman did.

Los Angeles police, who this month cracked the 11-year mystery of Christi’s murder with the arrest of three suspected hit men, are discussing few details about the motive for the slaying. The case remains shrouded by grand jury secrecy rules.

But Christi’s longtime friend, actor Scott Wells, said he always has known: “This was a love triangle deal. The other guy said: ‘Stay away from my girlfriend.’ Then the guy went and hired these three knucklehead safecrackers to do the deal.”

Wells said Christi died because he failed to heed his own advice: “He told me once: ‘Scott, no matter what you do, never get whacked over a broad. They’re like buses. There’ll always be another one.’ ”

Police will say only that the case remains under investigation and that there might be other suspects.

But details of the alleged murder-for-hire plot should emerge once the cases of the suspected hit men start working through the courts, beginning today.

A Los Angeles County Grand Jury indicted the three--Harvey Rosenberg, 60; Alan Betts, 45, and Ronald Coe, 41--in November, 1992. Rosenberg, arrested Oct. 1 in Ventura, is scheduled to be arraigned today. Betts and Coe were arrested Oct. 4 near Seattle and extradition hearings are scheduled this week.

Lange said the three are convicted burglars and safecrackers who have worked together for years.

The indictments and murder warrants received little notice at the time they were issued. But in May, police sought the public’s help in finding the men, who had disappeared just before the indictments came down.

Lange has worked the case from the beginning, since July 9, 1982, when Christi, 52, was shot to death in the carport of his ramshackle house in the 6900 block of Woodrow Wilson Drive, in the hills above Studio City. “More than one weapon was used,” Lange said, but he will not discuss details. Christi was found lying in his carport, next to his red 1974 Datsun 260-Z.

A neighbor said at the time that he had seen “two figures” scuffling with Christi about 12:15 a.m.

The early stages of the investigation were marked by an ironic coincidence: Two of Christi’s friends died violently at about the same time, Lange said.

“During the week he was murdered, right across the canyon, Frank Salitieri was shot and killed at his house,” Lange said. Salitieri, an attorney and movie producer, had represented Christi in his divorce. About the same time, another friend, actor Vic Morrow, was killed during a freak helicopter accident while filming “The Twilight Zone” movie.

Initially, police came up with three possible motives: Christi’s involvement in “funny money” schemes, possible cocaine dealing or a love triangle. At first, the money scheme seemed most plausible.

Christi had a record of burglary and grand theft arrests dating to the 1950s, Lange said. And, he had been arrested by the Secret Service in 1973 on suspicion of possessing $100,00 in counterfeit money. He cut a deal, Lange said.

Lange said he and his then-partner, Detective Enoch (Mack) McClain, got their first break in 1988, when an informant came forward. Later, the informant’s information would help them make their case against the three alleged hit men, he said.