Heat Surrounds Sheriff For Alleged Mob Association

Friends of mine: Rick Rizzolo, Freddie Glusman

A candidate for Orange County sheriff called Thursday for the resignation of Sheriff Mike Carona in the wake of a published report and photos showing Carona in a cozy pose with a man identified as a mob associate.

Ralph Martin, a commander in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and an Orange County resident, is one of two current and one retired law enforcement officers running against Carona in the June 6 primary.

Martin said an article in the O.C. Weekly and accompanying photos show Carona smiling while the arm of Rick Rizzolo, a man the FBI has called a mob associate, is draped over Carona's shoulder. Carona is in uniform.

The article also contains photos of Carona with Freddie Glusman, owner of the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach and Piero's in Las Vegas, and Gary Primm, owner of a Nevada casino. Both Glusman and Primm, according to the Weekly, are Carona contributors and were sworn in as departmental reserve deputies before they were cleared through background checks. Michael Schroeder, campaign advisor for Carona, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Martin said he saw the pictures Wednesday for the first time. "Rick Rizzolo is a known Mafia associate," Martin said. "He owns a strip club up in Vegas and he has a criminal background."

The picture, he said, was taken at the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach, "during some ceremony. We know the sheriff is in uniform, and (it is) obviously a social gathering. They look to be pretty close here."

Pointing to another photo, Martin said Carona is "in the middle giving deputy reserve sheriff's badges to Glusman, who likes to associate with the Mafia especially at his (Newport Beach) restaurant and another one in Vegas."

Martin said Glusman likes to host a clientele that is known to law enforcement officers. "His places are hangouts for known mobsters," Martin said. Martin said he does not know of any criminal background for Primm. "I don't know if he has one," Martin said. "What I saw today was really over the top for Orange County's sheriff," Martin said of the photos. Organized crime agents, according to the Weekly, say the Rizzolo posed for the shot at the Ritz sometime between 2002-04.

Rizzolo, according to investigators, is tied to Chicago and New York organized crime families, and has been described by the Las Vegas Review Journal as a target of an ongoing corruption probe.

The Orange County Register reported in November that Carona accepted a contribution of $1,500 from Rizzolo, and Carona's media consultants acknowledged the men met two or three times.

Two weeks ago, according to the Weekly, Carona's spokesmen said they were "clueless" about Rizzolo's occupation and mob ties.

Glusman, according to the Weekly, flashed his sheriff's badge during a parking space dispute with a former officer, who reported it to police. Glusman resigned before an internal affairs investigation was completed, the Weekly reported.

Carona drew criticism for appointing political allies to reserve deputy positions in 1999 over the objections of the department's own background investigators. According to published reports, Carona appointed 86 allies, friends and relatives to the reserve program, before background checks were completed and days before the state stiffened training requirements. They were later removed from the state's peace officer database after it was determined the checks were incomplete, but the Sheriff's Department allowed the reservists to keep their badges and in some cases, department-issued guns.

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times reported that a handgun belonging to a reserve Orange County sheriff's deputy turned up at the mansion of the former video game executive accused of crashing a Ferrari in Malibu in February.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies confiscated the gun during a raid at the Bel-Air home of Bo Stefan Eriksson, who faces grand theft, embezzlement and driving under the influence charges related to the accident, and detectives were trying to determine how Eriksson came in possession of the weapon.

A sheriff's department spokesman told The Times that the .357 magnum Smith & Wesson was registered to Roger A. Davis, a Newport Beach businessman and deputy with the Orange County sheriff's professional services division.

Davis was issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon by the Orange County Sheriff's Department in August 2002 for protection, and detectives were still trying to sort out Davis' connection to Eriksson.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, said the gun was a key piece of evidence. Prosecutors have charged Eriksson with a weapons violation because, as a convicted felon, he is not allowed to possess a firearm.

Martin said the article and photos are "really more a reflection of the failed reserve program that (Carona) calls the professional services reserve program."

"These names have been around, but we've never realized at this point that they were sworn in," Martin said.

Martin said Carona, within the last six months, returned the $1,500 donation from Rizzolo. "If any of (Carona's) deputies were found to be associated with any criminals and internal affairs investigation would be launched and they would be disciplined and terminated," Martin said.

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Witness Protection Program Places High-Profile Mob Informant on Kansas City Royals

Friends of ours: Junior Gotti, John Gotti

The Kansas City Royals added a new rightfielder yesterday – a 5-foot-8, 275 pound, 53-year old mob informant the federal witness protection placed with the team as a means to keep him out of public view.

Listed on the roster as "Jim Smith," the new Royal is reportedly Vinnie Macaluso, a construction foreman and Mafioso from New Jersey who is preparing to testify for the government in the trial of John A. Gotti, the son of late mob boss John Gotti.

No one from the Federal Witness Protection program would comment on record about "Smith," but an anonymous source within the department confirmed Macaluso was placed with the Royals. "We couldn't think of a place where a person is more likely to go unnoticed than with the Kansas City Royals," said the source. "By playing with them we can be assured no one will ever find him because his face will never be on television and because almost no one attends their games."

"Smith" reportedly has never played baseball in his life, something the Witness Protection program thinks works to their advantage. "Since he'll probably be striking out all the time and dropping fly balls and falling down and stuff, he'll fit in perfectly with the Royals and won't raise flags with anyone," said the source. "We heard he could actually play a little bit of football, so that's why we didn't place him with the Arizona Cardinals."

Thanks to the Sports Pickle

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Now on DVD: In the Mix

Singer Usher stars in this romantic comedy as a nightclub DJ who saves the life of a mob boss (Chazz Palminteri), then finds trouble when he falls for the don's daughter. The DVD has deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

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It's Splitsville!

Friends of ours: John "Dapper Don" Gotti
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa

Mafia cop Louis Eppolito and his mouthpiece Bruce Cutler are calling it quits. Less than a week after the convicted hit man for the mob complained to the Daily News that his lawyers "abandoned" him and former NYPD partner Stephen Caracappa at their trial, his defense lawyers had a message of their own.

"Counsel agree that Mr. Eppolito should have new counsel represent him," Cutler's co-counsel Bettina Schein informed the judge in a letter filed late Friday. "We respectfully request Mr. Eppolito be afforded sufficient time to find new counsel."

What amounted to a legal divorce filing came just days after an exclusive Daily News interview in which Eppolito blasted the colorful Cutler — best known as the lawyer for the late mob boss John (Dapper Don) Gotti.

"We were abandoned by the lawyers," Eppolito told The News. "They put up no defense for our lives. I believe you have to fight."

The legal bickering also came less than three weeks after Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted by a Brooklyn federal jury of eight gangland murders — including two killings they personally carried out for the Luchese crime family while they were NYPD detectives.

The duo faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when sentenced in one of the most notorious cases of police corruption in NYPD history.

Federal Judge Jack Weinstein ordered a hearing for today on Eppolito's comments — made to The News in a phone interview from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is being held in solitary confinement.

"I wanted to take the stand. I begged them," Eppolito, 57, told The News. "I said, 'Put me up there. This is my life I'm fighting for.'"

Eppolito's family members stepped up the blame in letters to the judge made public last week. "Lou and Steve had two very able attorneys that did not put on a defense," wrote Eppolito's sister Paula Guarneri. "There is so much the jury did not hear in their defense."

Cutler generated a lot of noise in court with his theatrics, but not much else, jurors told The News after the April 6 verdict. Schein mostly handled the legal paperwork.

The search for a new lawyer will likely delay sentencing currently scheduled for May 22. Eppolito's new lawyer must review the entire case and prepare a motion to set aside the verdict.

Caracappa, 64, has not publicly stated any opinion about his lawyer, Edward Hayes. "I think I'll stay with him until the sentencing," Hayes said. "I think he needs a fresh view for the appeal, but I will assist him in any way I can."

Thanks to John Marzulli

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Overheard: Longshoreman's Union

Homeland Security announced Tuesday all U.S. port workers will have to undergo background checks to look for any security threats. This administration doesn't know the Longshoreman's Union. There are no more patriotic Americans than the Mafia.

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