...going to share one of my more interesting stories.
Some of you may have read that I was a witness in a murder trial, and then the 2nd trial when the first came back hung....so here it is. Funny, I can't really think of anyone that I've really shared it with, just maybe a "I was a witness" kinda thing.
It was March of 1979, Phoenix, I and my soon to be 1st Hub were living in a friends's property that was in escrow, and seeing how we were going to be married the 2nd week in April and move to San Jose soon after, he let us stay there for free. We just covered the utility costs.
Big 3 bedroom place, fenced back yard, so we let my soon to be bro in law stay in one of the rooms. A few days later, he met a "corn fed, midwestern" looking kid named Tony who needed a place to crash for a while. We agreed, and Tony moved in his meager belongings.
Here I will explain a little back ground on the players:
My 1st ex Hub: 24, recently released from Santa Clara County Jail for "trespassing", (I later found out he was caught in someone's house dismantling a Grand Piano, ie, Felony Burglary) after serving 4 years in Florence for another "trespassing" conviction (he and 2 of his cousins burglarized a home in Biltmore Estates, the 2 elderly owners came home, Cuz gave Ex the gun, and Ex told the old couple to move into the living room while elderly woman is telling her husband NOT to tell them about the safe, ie, Felony Burglary, 2-Kidnapping, 2-Assault with a Deadly Weapon). I was young (17), dumb, and had been isolated from the darker side of life, so I believed my intended when he told me they were "trespassing" charges. He was/is a Lt. in the Old Mexican Mafia, blood in, blood out, Mafia tatts, all that....which I hadn't figured out yet. And other "stuff" but I won't get into that.
My bro in law: 19, bi-sexual, earned extra cash on the "Milk Run" as a "street walker". Regardless of his orientation, he was the kindest, most protective, generous person I ever met in my life. He saved my life more than once, literally.
Anthony (Tony) Lack: 20? 6 foot maybe, blond hair, looked like he belonged on a farm. My bro in law met him on the "Run", he was young and just trying to make some money and get his life together. Had nothing but basically the clothes on his back, but he was polite, courteous, and fun to hang out with.
"Baseball Bat Larry": Maybe around 35? I never really knew his real name, but his nickname had something to do with a baseball bat and where he wanted his "buddy" to insert it. (I will not elaborate) Tony met him on the "Run" and they started "spending time together". BB Larry was kinda creepy. He said he was a Phoenix Homicide detective and moonlighted as a security guard at a high rise apartment complex. He flashed his badge at me once, and had the handcuffs, (I was home alone one day, he came over looking for Tony and the next thing I know, one of my hands was cuffed and he was trying to get the other one....my ex showed up just in time and gave him a piece of his mind) police radio, and brought all kinds of guns over to the place. The M-16 really bothered me. The .357 Mag Revolver was the important one. The prosecutor and defense asked me about that gun in court.
"The Giant": Never met him, just knew that he lived in the high rise apartments and had a lot of money.
The week of March 28th, BB Larry and Tony show up in BB Larry's undercover cruiser, a muscle car, something like a Cobra or GTO, outfitted with a police radio and scanner, dark blue, beautiful vehicle. Tony pulled out 4 or 5 fuchsia colored footlockers out of the back and the trunk, stowed them in his room.
We were headed to my folk's house in Scottsdale, BB Larry threw us "his" keys and said go ahead and take it for a spin. Ex, Tony, and I got in and took my lil' bro's birthday present over to the folk's, showed him this "cool undercover cop car", cruised around and came back, listening to the police radio crackle the whole time.
2 days later, Tony and I are sitting on the front porch, shooting the bull, passing a joint. We kind of hit a silence, and then Tony started talking......."I got to tell someone and, Nina, you're the only person I can really trust...."
I'm thinking, Ok, he wants to borrow some money so he can take a bus back home....poor guy's going to say he misses the cows, ah....
He starts slow, there was this Giant guy that BB Larry had met at the high rise. He had a lot of money. The blue car was his. BB Larry convinced Tony into helping him rob him. BB Larry was NOT a cop.
BB Larry and Tony got the Giant pretty wasted, got him in his car and drove him to Lake Pleasant. BB Larry pulled the Giant out of the car and unloaded the .357 on him. The Giant didn't die. A ball pein hammer, ax, and saw was involved. Not going to go into details. Anyway of identifying the Giant was scattered in the area around the lake. And NEVER, EVER be alone with BB Larry. Tony was horrifyingly descriptive...
Cheese and rice!!!!! Holy chit! WTF?
Sometimes you find yourself scared sober, that's where I was at, and I just couldn't connect Tony with everything he said.....
Later that night, I did a very abbreviated run by of Tony's tale to my Ex. He laughed it off and said Tony was probably just trying to impress me, my ex being an ex con and all that. Phew, sounds good to me.:facepalm:
The next week was time to go to the Justice of the Peace and get married. 2 days prior, Tony gives me a sealed envelope, tells me he's going with BB Larry to California for 4 days to pick up some things...........if he doesn't come back in 4 days, open the envelope. I put it on top of the toaster oven and told him it would be right there waiting for him.
4 days later, there was Tony and I gave him the envelope. Tony started avoiding BB Larry. He acted like he was afraid of him. We stayed about 2 more weeks and parted ways, us to California and Tony to who knows where.
Our trip to Cali was another adventure, but I'll just skip ahead 2 months. We are back in Arizona, end of June or first part of July. Stop at a Circle K and on the front page of the New Times Weekly, "Headless Giant Murder Mystery". I liked New Times back then, free and dropped off at campuses and gas and go type places early Wednesday mornings. Very Underground! Bob Boze Bell usually had a cartoon or wrote an article in it.
The cover had a pic of the coroner's autopsy room with a sheet draped over something, IIR. Read the article, wow, a mystery at the lake!
Fast forward, New Year's 1980, and we're back in Cali, more adventures, and return to Scottsdale in August, 6 months pregnant, and we're in a hotel, waiting for our new apartment to be available and who shows up on the 10:00 News? Yep, Tony in his MCSO mug shot. All I caught was "Anthony Lack" and everything else just went over my head. "What did they say?" Just didn't catch it, was kind of in shock.
A week later, a detective shows up at my dad's business. Tony evidently was really good at remembering places and he remembered the business my dad owned. He also remembered where the hands, feet and head were buried, and BB Larry's real name. He was going to trial on a murder charge in the next few weeks. The judge had separated the 2 defendants' cases. And Tony's attorney had been looking for me for half a year. My dad was pretty tight lipped, he passed on the info about the attorney to me, but didn't say where I was or how they could contact me.
I found myself in Tony's attorney's office. He didn't even know my full name. And he didn't want me to tell him anything he didn't ask about.
When I showed up in the hall of the courtroom, the only people who knew me was the defense attorney and his PI. I guess I was listed as a "Jane Doe" on the witness list, because the prosecution kept looking at me during recess and finally walked over to see who this now 8 month pregnant, 19 year old, little gal was. The defense attorney said we were just talking "football". The prosecutor said something about where the "star" defense witness was........Holy chit!
I took the stand and answered the questions like Tony's attorney had done when he ran me through a "practice questioning", answer "yes", "no", and don't elaborate, just simple and straight forward. The prosecution was stumped, they really didn't know what to ask me. I was excused.
I saw Tony that evening at the jail, separated by glass and by phone. I told him "I know". He nodded. I asked about the envelope. He didn't respond. He told me BB Larry had planned on killing me the day he tried to hand cuff me. He had his kill kit in the car. He wanted to do it just because he could.
Tony's jury was hung and they rescheduled a new trial. 1981, I testified again. The envelope came up. I later found out it was Tony's confession to his part of the murder, that he feared for his life, and he had left it with me in case BB Larry killed him in California. They went there to collect the rest of the Giant's coin collection and some other stuff from the Giant's sister. She didn't know they had killed him. The footlockers and the car were also the Giant's.
BB Larry got LWOP and was moved back East where his family was.
Tony was convicted of accessory or manslaughter, it was a 4 year sentence.
No one EVER asked me if Tony had told me ANYTHING. I didn't know what I was supposed to do with what he told me or if I was supposed to do anything with it. Just "yes", "no", keep it simple and don't elaborate.
I don't even know what his defense was or what was testified to in court. I've tried googling his name and nothing. I wonder if the jury would have convicted him differently. Crazy chit.
Just glad BB Larry was LWOP.
lease:
