THE O.J SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Court Godfather Pulls the Plug

It took the mob to pull the plug on television and radio coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial.

Not the entire mob, just a couple of reputed mobsters and their federal witness protection agents afraid of exposing them to public view.

Judge Lance A. Ito has been trying to kick out the cameras since the trial began. But he couldn’t come up with a reason until Tuesday when he ran into the Fiato brothers, Larry and Craig Anthony, known to his associates as “Tony the Animal.”

The Fiatos were scheduled to dispute testimony of a key defense witness, Detective Philip L. Vannatter.

The brothers said Vannatter told them he believed Simpson was a suspect when he and other investigators entered the former football star’s estate without a search warrant. This would be contrary to Vannatter’s testimony earlier in the year. Back then, he said he didn’t consider Simpson a suspect at the time and entered the grounds because he believed there might be more victims there.

Before the brothers testified, the federal government insisted that the cameras and microphones be turned off because they’re both federal government informants.

Ito previously has backed down after threatening to cut off sight and sound coverage. But this time he was impressed by a government lawyer’s argument that she feared for the safety of the two snitches.

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Brushing off the arguments of a media attorney, Ito cut the electronic coverage as soon as he made his decision. He looked as though he relished this return to pre-television peace.

“That’s it, that’s that,” ABC News Radio’s Greg Jarrett told his network, which broadcasts the trial live.

“We’ve got a blackout,” said KFWB’s Steve Kindred. He hit the air immediately: “The Simpson trial fades to blackout,” Kindred reported. “Here at Camp O.J. we are completely cut off.”

Only the reporters in the courtroom could see and hear the Fiato brothers’ testimony. They’d have to take careful notes, and brief the others, providing the color needed to enliven the story.

Those of us barred from the courtroom hurried to the ninth floor to stand outside Ito’s courtroom, awaiting the brothers.

First came Larry Fiato. He was a squat, gray-haired man in a black and white checked sweater shirt. He looked as though he once had been a middle guard on a second-tier high school football team and had let himself go to fat.

His brother, “Anthony the Animal,” was a taller, more suave version of his brother. He wore one earring, silver-gray slacks, a black sport coat and had a Mephistopheles type beard, beginning at his upper lip, and ending with a goatee. His beard was black and his hair was gray. Reporters in the courtroom said he swaggered toward the witness stand, as if he had seen too many mob movies.

Despite the fears of their federal protectors, the Fiatos have been seen frequently on television.

They were prominent enough as federal informants for ABC News to shoot them walking down the street last year. It was not an ambush shot, said John North of KABC Channel 7. The brothers were aware of the cameras.

ABC also taped “Anthony the Animal” while he was eating in a diner a while back.

The ABC network news showed the tape of the Fiatos Sunday night as part of its Simpson trial coverage. The shot was also shown on “Good Morning America” on Monday.

North showed the tape of the brother in the diner on five KABC newscasts Monday. He showed the two brothers at 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, long before the brothers testified.

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In light of those many appearances, it’s baffling why the Feds or Judge Ito would think that these well publicized mobsters would be endangered by televising their brief turn on the witness stand.

Still, the media was willing to compromise with the overanxious protectors.

Radio and television representatives were prepared to eliminate television, and just pipe sound from the courtroom. In fact, they had a device ready to go that would have masked the brothers’ voices.

But so eager was Ito to ban the cameras and mikes that the radio and television people never got a chance to present their proposal.

When the Fiatos left the courtroom, the cameras and the mikes were turned on. With the help of the mobster brothers, Judge Ito had made his point to the media: In Department 103, he’s the godfather.