Ex-Criminal Says Blake Sought a Hit

A career criminal turned preacher testifying in Robert Blake’s murder trial Tuesday said the actor wanted to “annihilate” the mother of his child and intimated that “a blank check” would be waiting for the man if he came to California to kill the woman.

Frank Minucci, who lives in New York, testified in a Van Nuys courtroom that Blake never specifically said he wanted Minucci to kill Bonny Lee Bakley, but that Blake’s meaning was clear.

Minucci, whose career has included acting, said Blake even referred to Minucci’s turn as a character named Tony T. in “Carlito’s Way.” In the movie, Tony T. is a mob boss and heartless thug.

Minucci, who exuded street-wise confidence from the stand, appeared to bolster the prosecution’s theory that Blake hated Bakley and was looking for others to kill her. When they refused, prosecutors say, Blake fatally shot her outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001.

Minucci’s testimony was a sharp contrast to another prosecution witness, veteran Hollywood stuntman Gary McLarty, who preceded him on the stand.

McLarty told jurors that Blake laid out four possible murder scenarios and offered him $10,000 to kill someone, though he did not name the intended victim. But McLarty faltered under cross-examination, acknowledging a cocaine habit and a mental breakdown last year. During the breakdown, he believed police were tunneling under his home and that he was being spied on by space aliens, McLarty acknowledged.

But Minucci, delivering pointed testimony in a deep New Jersey baritone, recounted Blake’s frustration with a woman who had said Blake impregnated her. At that point, Blake did not name the woman.

“He said he wanted to annihilate the [expletive],” said Minucci. “He said, ‘I’ll kill both her and the kid.’ ”

Minucci said his talks with Blake continued and, despite Blake’s vague language, the subject of murder came up again.

“Bobby, what are you talking about?” Minucci said he asked Blake. “You want me to whack somebody?”

Blake didn’t want to elaborate on the phone, Minucci said, adding that he told Blake: “You got the wrong guy, I don’t do those things anymore. He says, ‘I want that guy in “Carlito’s Way.” I know you, that’s the guy I want.’ ”

Minucci added: “He says, ‘I will pay you good money.’ ”

Blake, 71, star of the 1970s television show “Baretta,” and Bakley had a stormy relationship after their daughter was born in June 2000. After tests confirmed the child was Blake’s, the couple married in California in November of that year.

Blake is accused of shooting Bakley, 44, while she sat alone in a car after the two had dined at Vitello’s restaurant in Studio City. If convicted, he faces possible life in prison.

Minucci testified that Blake contacted him through a literary agent in early 1999 after the publication of “Brother Frank: A True Story” by Minucci and William Hoffman. Over the next year and a half, the two had weekly phone conversations.

Their discussions initially centered on their rough childhoods, but before long, Blake began to complain bitterly about a woman he referred to as a “pig,” Minucci said.

At first, Blake suggested that Minucci intimidate the woman so she wouldn’t call Blake. At that time, Blake and Bakley were still unmarried.

Blake also sought help from an acquaintance known as “Cockeyed Ralphie,” Minucci testified. That moniker was the latest in a series of nicknames to pop up during the case. Stuntmen “Whiz Kid” McLarty and Roy “Snuffy,” Harrison have already testified. Another stuntman, Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton, is scheduled to testify today.

In contrast to those men, who had long careers in Hollywood, Minucci’s past was checkered.

Minucci said he turned to crime early in life, joining an outlaw motorcycle gang, selling drugs, running rackets, selling stolen cars, loan sharking and busting heads for the mob.

After a near-fatal cocaine overdose in the late 1980s, Minucci said he found God and became an ordained minister, sharing his turn-around across the country and ministering to prisoners and troubled youth.

But Blake did not appear convinced of Minucci’s conversion. In 2000, Blake sent him two letters, two days apart, each containing $500 and no explanation about what the money was for, Minucci testified.

Minucci said that, despite his efforts, Bakley could not be intimidated and Blake eventually asked him to come out to California because “he had something really heavy for me to do.”

Blake offered him “a blank check,” Minucci said.

Defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach, who grilled McLarty on Monday, appeared to tread lighter with Minucci.

During a short cross-examination, Schwartzbach focused on Blake’s dealings with Bakley.

“The last time you had a conversation with Mr. Blake, the very last time you spoke to him, he told you that he was going to retire with that woman, correct?”

“Either that or retire her,” Minucci shot back, prompting a strenuous objection from Schwartzbach. Minucci’s comment was struck from the record.

It was not the only time Minucci challenged Schwartzbach.

At one point court observers were taken aback when Minucci responded to a defense objection by barking, “What?” He later told Schwartzbach, “I’m not on trial here,” when asked about his criminal contacts.

But Minucci’s also showed humility. “I don’t have a Harvard degree, so you have to help me out,” he told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp

“Well,” she replied, “I wasn’t in Harvard either.”