Police issue alert seeking jewelry made by murder victim Gatto

This post has been corrected. See below for details.

The Los Angeles Police Department issued an appeal earlier this month in trying to find any of the jewelry that was made by Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s father, Joseph, who was shot to death in his Los Feliz home last month.

Investigators believe the murder of the 78-year-old may have resulted from a home-invasion robbery and they are searching for any of his jewelry pieces that may have been purchased or sold by pawn shops.

Joseph Gatto was an artist and craftsman who created ornate, custom-made jewelry pieces, such as rings, bracelets, pendants and necklaces using precious metals, stones, bone, ivory, porcelain, glass, wood and Egyptian scarabs.

The elder Gatto engraved many of his pieces with his initials and name ‘J A Gatto’ along with a circular design, according to a department press release.

Anyone who believes they may possess any of Gatto’s jewelry or with any information about the pieces is urged to call LAPD detectives Telis or Gable at (213) 486-6890 during business hours Monday through Friday or the LAPD Realtime Analysis & Critical Response Division at 213-484-6700, 24 hours a day.

[For the record, 5:30 p.m., Dec. 30: A previous version of this post said the alert was issued by police on Saturday. It was actually released earlier this month.]

--Tim Traeger, Times Community News

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