Officials Seeking Clues in Killing After 22 Years

More than two decades after famed boxing manager Howie Steindler was kidnapped from his Encino home and killed, Los Angeles city officials are seeking fresh leads in the unsolved homicide.

At the request of Steindler’s daughters, the City Council will vote this week on a proposal to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects in the 22-year-oldcase.

“It’s the anniversary in March, and the family still wants to know what happened,” said Det. Mike Mejia of the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division. “We’re taking a second look at it.”

Steindler, a former featherweight fighter, was a local legend in the boxing world.

At the time of his death, he was running the Main Street Gym in Los Angeles, where boxing champions including Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey and Sugar Ray Robinson trained.

Among boxers managed by Steindler was featherweight champion Danny “Little Red” Lopez.

On the night of March 9, 1977, Steindler, then 72, closed the gym and drove to his home in Encino. He was grabbed in front of his house and severely beaten by two men.

His body was found in the car, which had been abandoned on the Ventura Freeway near the Laurel Canyon Boulevard offramp in Studio City.

The day before his death, Steindler tried to contact state Sen.Alex P. Garcia (D-Los Angeles) to discuss problems he was having with the state Athletic Commission.

“There was speculation that the boxing world had something to do with his death,” Mejia said, adding that no evidence supports that idea.

Anyone with information about the crime can reach Mejia at (213) 485-2129.