Biker Loses His Appeal of 3 Murders
A Santa Ana appeals court has upheld three murder convictions handed down seven years ago to a biker leader in what was Orange County’s longest-running criminal case.
The 4th District Court of Appeals in Santa Ana held that Thomas F. Maniscalco received a fair trial in 1994 for the slayings of two bikers and the daughter of a Los Alamitos police officer in Westminster in 1980.
Maniscalco, who co-founded the Hessians motorcycle club, has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest more than 17 years ago.
Prosecutors argued that Maniscalco ordered the killings of fellow Hessian Richard Rizzone; Rizzone’s bodyguard, Thomas Monahan; and Monahan’s girlfriend, Rena Miley, in a dispute over counterfeit money and drug profits.
An Orange County Superior Court jury convicted Maniscalco in March 1994, 10 years after his arrest. The prosecution was marred by a mistrial, hundreds of motions and bizarre twists, including the suicide of one judge assigned to the case.
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