Former Boxer Aided Inquiry

A convicted murderer and onetime light-heavyweight boxer has emerged as a key figure in the federal investigation looking into whether executives working for a major promoter fixed prizefights.

The former boxer, Joey Torres, used his connections to vouch for a law enforcement agent posing as his cousin, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Over several months, sources said, Torres introduced the agent, known as “Big Frankie,” to major Las Vegas boxing figures, including officials at Bob Arum’s Top Rank organization.

On at least one occasion, the two men were seen at a New Mexico fight, ostensibly acting as Top Rank scouts.

Now Torres sits in Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, back in custody on a criminal matter unrelated to the current investigation. His relatives and attorney say they fear for his safety amid reports that he acted as an informant.

The 20-month investigation came to light last week when the FBI raided Arum’s offices in Las Vegas, seizing computers, medical records, videotapes, contracts and financial documents.

Top Rank officials or individuals associated with the organization are also suspected of tampering with weight scales and forging medical documents. No one has been arrested or charged in the case.

Federal investigators refused to comment on the case Wednesday. Pamela Frohreich, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, said she learned of Torres’ role several months ago through a call from the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas.

A member of the organized crime task force informed her that Torres had been “helpful” and requested information on his criminal case, she said.

Torres began working with authorities during a brief period when he was out on bail while challenging his 1979 murder conviction. Frohreich handled the district attorney’s appeal that eventually upheld his sentence.

This week, as Torres awaited transfer to state prison, his involvement in the probe was reported by several newspapers and boxing websites.

“Right now, my brother’s a sitting duck,” Marcy Bautista said Wednesday. “The other inmates think he’s a rat, an informant.”

Torres had been serving 25 years to life in the murder of his former boxing manager. He has claimed the other man pulled a gun, which fired during a struggle.

A promising fighter in his youth, Torres signed with Top Rank upon his release from prison. At age 42, he was hyped as a story of redemption, and a number of sports and Hollywood celebrities came to his side.

But the hype quickly died when, fighting at the Arrowhead Pond in April 2002, Torres was booed by a crowd that suspected foul play in his knockout of a listless Perry Williams.

State boxing officials temporarily withheld Williams’ purse but said their investigation found no evidence of a fix.

Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office was working to send Torres back to prison for the remainder of his sentence.

“He described it this way -- he’d rather be dead than be in jail,” said Chris Baca, a friend in New Mexico. “He would do almost anything to avoid going back.”

It is not clear how Torres came to be paired with “Big Frankie,” a New York Police Department detective on loan to the FBI.

Torres’ court-appointed attorney, Verna Wefald, said she worried that federal authorities investigating Top Rank saw her client as someone who might cooperate in exchange for help with his legal problems.

“It looks like they really took advantage of a pathetic guy who was desperate,” she said.

Although Arum had stopped promoting Torres after the Williams bout, the fighter still had access to the Top Rank offices.

Several months ago, Wefald said, a man identifying himself as Torres’ cousin Frankie came to her Pasadena office asking about the status of the murder case, saying he wanted to help.

Wefald complained no one at the FBI had informed her that her client was aiding an investigation, so she had no reason to doubt the stocky visitor with the New York accent.

About the same time, Baca said he got a call from Torres, who claimed to be in New Mexico to scout fighters for Top Rank. Again, “Big Frankie” was there.

“Joey said, ‘This is my cousin,’ ” Baca said. “Joey said he owned a trucking business and had sold that and was out here visiting.”

Sitting ringside at a bout on an Indian reservation, “Big Frankie” was the only one in the group who declined to drink beer, Baca recalled.

The partnership appeared to end this fall when Frohreich said the U.S. attorney’s office called to inform her that Torres was no longer active in the investigation. In September, the district attorney’s office won reinstatement of Torres’ sentence. He failed to appear at a court date.

Torres remained at large until early December, when authorities caught him and brought him back to Los Angeles. “They found him in Las Vegas,” Frohreich said.