Person Page - 403

     Skylar Briones was born.

     Timothy Briones was born.

     Angelo Debono was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 March 1869: Stabbed.—Angelo Debono was stabbed, it is feared fatally, last night, at the corner of Montgomery and Pacific streets. Dr. O'Donnell dressed his wounds; after which the man was sent to the French Hospital. John Pazanno was arrested on suspicion of being the guilty party. Debono kept a chicken stall in the Clay-street Market, in partnership with a man named Lewis—both of them Maltese. There seems to be some mystery about the matter.

Carlo (?) was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 December 1877: A chicken ranch near the Franconi House on the San Bruno Road, was the scene of a cowardly murder on Saturday evening. The Deputy Coroner who went to the spot learned the following facts: A chicken ranchman named Carlo, a native of the Island of Malta, who lived in the vicinity, left his place during the morning. In the afternoon, two Maltese, whose names are unknown, called at his place, but did not find him at home. Later, Carlo returned in a wagon, and took his team into the barn. Soon after he was seen to run out into the road, exclaiming something in his own language, and fell. His two countryman soon appeared, carried him into the house, and shortly after reported at a neighboring house that Carlo was ill. They then drove off. On going into the house the neighbors found Carlo lying dead on the floor, with two stabs in the shoulder and two in the back. His clothing was disordered, indicating that the murderers had killed him for the purpose of robbing him of a belt of money he was known to carry. They must have concealed themselves in the stable, and attacked him unexpectedly. The murderers are yet at large.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 April 1888: Murdered
A San Francisco Poultry dealer found dead in his Room.
San Francisco, Cal., April 11.—John Mefstutt, a poultry dealer, was found murdered this morning in his room on Clay street.
There are a number of knife wounds in his head and on his body, from four of which a great quantity of blood had flown. The room was in a very dirty and disorderly condition, and presented a horrible appearance when the man was found. Suspicion pointed to his partner, Julian Portelli, the perpetuator of the crime, and he was immediately arrested.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 April 1888: THE MALTESE MURDER -- Julian Portelli Thought to Bo Guilty. -- FOUND OUT IN FALSEHOOD.
Antonio Santi Prepared to Provo an Alibi at the Inquest.
“That man is the prinoe of liars.” said Dotective Bob Hogan last evening to a Chronicle reporter. The detective referred to Portelli, the Maltese. who is accused of murdering his partner, John Mifsult on Tuesday night. Hogan has been detailed to work on the case in conjunction with Patrolman Manning, who arrested Portelli.
" Every single statement which he has made," continued the deteollve, “he has contradicted or else it has boen proved false. There is no doubt in my mind that he committed the crime and he is now clumsily trying to lie out of it. Even if he is innocent, the mess of lies which he has told about the case would convict him. Wherever he has failed to contradict himself we can prove his statement false.
Hogan is convlnced that Antonio Santi, the man arrested under the name of Franchi had nothlng to do with the crime, and is positive Portelli aloue dld the fearful job. He learned yesterday that the day following tho quarrel on Saturday night Portelli and Mefsutt renewed hostilities, and beat each other with stunt sticks? until bystanders interrfered. That same night Portelli met Santi at the Bottle Koening saloon on Montgomery avenue, and in the presence of several persons spoke of his quarrel with Mefsutt. In the statement after arrest he said he had seen Santi last on Saturday. Several witnesses can be procured to prove that Portelli's room was open late on Tuesday night, and the other inmates of the lodglng-house where the crlme was committed are certain it took place before 9 o’clock on Tuesday nlght. Some of them were in thelr rooms before that hour, and it was impossible for tho terrific struggle to have taken place after that without attracting their attention.
The web of evidence accumulating about Portelli is very strong. He knew too much about the crime before the police ordered the room and with many of the particulars only the actual criminal himself could be acquainted, His statement about how the murderer got into Mefsutt's room by breaking a pane of glass in the window is proved to be wrong. At the inquest which will be held tomorrow morning it will be aliowed that the window was broken last week. It will also be shown that Portelli's window was open until a late hour on Tuesday night, notwithstanding his statement that the murderer got into the apartment that way and showed the chipa on the wlndow ledge as evidence.
Antonio Franohi, whose real name turna out to bo Santi is prepared to prove a complete alibi at the inquestl. Each of the accused men made statements yesterday which they swore to. Portelli stuck to the statement made the day before aud Santl gave an account of his whereabouts on the fatal night, He sald he had been on a apree since Moudayafternoon with two men named Beano and Barti, which was continued all through the night and into the next day. He was with tbese men until in the morning and then fell into the company of several others. When he started out he had $210 in money, and when arrested but $48 were fouud in hie pockets. Santi thinks he was robbed of a portion of his money by the two men with whom he waa spreeing. He says in his statement that he knew the deceased well and first met him in Malta before they came to this country. He then knew the murdered man in New Orleans. In that state he was employed in a fruit house and saw a countryman kill another. The murderer escaped and was never arrested, and since Santi had lived here he had been accused of committing the crime himself. This was not true, he claims. The only time he was ever arrested was in this city, when he wae charged with battery for assaulting a man who had cut his horse with a knlfe. The man he assaulted never appeared against him, and the case was dismissed. The police are inclined to believe Santi's story. Julian Portelli was mentioned in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 April 1888 Portelli in Court
Preliminary Examination Yesterday.
The Prosecution Proving That Antonio Santo Is Not Implicated In the Marder.
Judge Hornblower was occupied all yesterday afternoon and last evening hearing evidence in the preliminary examination of Julian Portelli, accused of the murder of his partner, John Mefsutt, in his room on the corner of Clay and Davis streets. The courtroom corridors were thronged with long-haired, dusky compatriots of the defendant, who talked volubly among themselves in reference to the mysterious and peculiar circumstances surrounding the tragedy, though they seemed unable to follow the testimony adduced.
Officer Manning was the first witness called by J. H. Long, who conducted the prosecution. He related how the defendant came up to him at 6:30 o'clock on the morning of the 11th last, and stated that he thought his partner had been killed, as he found blood all along the building. The witness accompanied him and described the ghastly scene in the room when he entered in terms the same as has already appeared in the press.
Detective Hogan then took the stand and graphically related to the Court the arrest of Portelli, the various conversations which be had with him and the conflicting statements his prisoner made on every occasion that the witness spoke to him. The witness read a long statement made by Portelli immediately after the arrest, in which be denied all knowledge of the murder. The only thing that he knew of that several people had threatened his partner and himself and that he was still afraid. The officer was cross-examined at great
length by Attorneys Campbell and Stevens, with a view that he had threatened Portelli and badgered him in the Chief's office in order that he might make a statement implicating himself, and that he was refused an interpreter. These statements were separately and collectively repudiated by the officer, and his Honor remarked that if Mr. Campbell has not more careful in selecting his questions the city would be bankrupted by the shorthand writer‘s bill. Henry Wager, an old man who lives in the room adjoining the one occupied by the two Maltese, said that on the night before the discovery of Mefstutt’s body, he heard a noise in their room. It was between 11 and 12 o’clock and he was in bed. He jumped up and the noise ceased at once. He saw the defendant soon after 6 o'clock the next morning knocking he heard
at the door. He said he wanted his basket. Fred Meyer, a saloon keeper, was called and stated that the defendant Portelli used to keep his money with the witness. At the time of his arrest Portelli had $80 with the witness.
“Was the money discolored? asked Mr. Long. ‘I object.“ said Attorney Campbell. “The money will be the best evidence. Let it be produced.“ “Yes I thought so. That’s what the attorney has been after all day. There will be $10 for each,“ retorted Mr. Long, but the money was not produce. Louis Vampool, the son of the landlady, in whose lodging house on Battery Street Antonio Santo lived, was placed on the stand. Attorney Long stated to the Court that he would endeavor to prove by this witness and those who would be called afterward, that Antonio Santo was drunk on the night before the murder, and was also not near the house on Clay at the time that the murder.
The witness stated that Antonio came home drunk between 11 and 12 o’clock on Tuesday night and that he partly undressed and put him to bed. The witness slept in the same bed with him that night and knew that Antonio did not leave the room until 7:30 o'clock the next morning. The defense made many futile efforts to have the witness prove himself drunk and not capable of knowing what took place.
Antonio Santa, the man arrested on the suspicion of being the murderer and then released, was then placed on the stand. He stated that he had been on a spree from Sunday until the time of his arrest. On the Sunday prior to the murder he was in a saloon with the accused Portelli about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. He, at that time, asked Portelli whether he wanted to buy the horse, to which the accused replied that he had no use for it now, as he had split Johnny, meaning the deceased. The examination will be continued tomorrow in Judge Hornblower’s court. .

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 May 1888: PORTELLI'S CASE
MEFSUTT's Murder Will Be Avenged
Tbe Assassin's Shirt, Stained With Blood Is Found After a Very Long Search
A disccovery in the Mefsutt/Portelli murder case, that is likely to prove important as affecting the guilt or innocense of the personss charged with the crime, was made yesterday. A whlte shirt that Jullan Portelli wore on the night before the murder was committed, and which had mysteriously disappeared with some other article of the chicken peddler’s wardrobe, has been found. Tho. circumstances under which the linen was discovered appear to tho police suspicious. The condition of the shirt is also regarded as likely to have some bearing on the case. There is blood on it in several places; examination proved it to be human blood.
A few days ago Larzolere and Wtham, agents of the property on Davis aud Clay streets in which Mefsutt, the Maltese chicken peddler, was murdered, received from Giovanni Parpetto, a saloon-keeper at 1228 Dupont street, the following letter:
County Jail— Please give to the bearer all my things-trunk, clotnes and whatever may be in my rooms. I want him to take care of them for me until this thing is all over. He will take good care of them until they will be out of your way, anyway.
Julian Portelli
Portelli -- In jail awaiting trial for tho murder of his partner. The crlme was an atrocious one, rivaling in horror any that have shocked this city in late years. Mefsutt was hacked to pieces. Portelli was suspected, and there appeared good grounds for his arrest. No evldemce that made the case agalnst him any stronger than it was the day he was put in prison was discovered until the order on Larzolere and Witham was found. Every effort was made to find the clothes the suspected man wore shortly before the murder was committed,
but they provod fruitless.
His rooms, the houses of his frlends and the place where he kept his stock were ransacked, but with no other result than the suggestion that Portelll had burned the garments.
0fficer James Smith heard of the order, and that Parpetto had received Portelli's trunk, he went to the saloon and demanded that all of the prisoner's clothes be turned over to him immediately. After a short dlsousslon he received the chest. In it was fouud the shirt. It had been handled by reporters and police officers shortly after tho discovery of tbo rnurdor, but its filthy condition entailed a degree of herolsm on the part of the investigators that few possessed. Smith, however, in looking through the box again saw fit to inspect the garment, and was rewarded by finding the blood stains on it. The pollce say there is no doubt this is the shirt worn by Portcelli at tho time Mefsutt was murdered. As the whereabouts of the clothing of tbo prlsoner was considered a most important point in the case, and one llkely to prove troublesomo to tbe State, the discovery of tho bloody garment is timely.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 October 1888: THE Portelli Trial -- The Accused Becoming Nervous as it Progresses
The hearing of testlmony in the Portelli murder trial was resumed in Judge
Tochy's court yesterday morning. The first witnesses introduced were police officers, who swore to the finding of Mefsutt's dead body and the queer conduct of Portelli before it was known that a murder had been committed. The prisoner delayed the progress of the trial by confusing the identity of the witnesses and cross esamining them at great length about things of which they knew nothing. Notwithstanding the claim of his attorneys that he was unable to speak or understand English, Portelli sat behind them and coached them in very good Anglo-Saxon all through the day. The defendant was in a very excited
mood, and as the evidence tending to show his connection with the crime was brought out link by link he grew noticeably nervous. But little new or interesting testimony is expected in the case until Detective Robert Hogan taken the stand tomorrow. The prosecutlon expects the testimony to clear up the mystery and show Portelli's guilt completely. Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 October 1888: Portelli’s Trial.
Damaging Testimony Heard Yesterday. Evidence Connecting Him With the Murder of John Mefstutt Gradually Accumulating.
Julian Portelli, the Maltese murderer. now being tried for the murder of John Mefstutt, was until yesterday a merry man.. His mood since his arrest last April has been jocular and impudent. When placed on trial he was even saucy, And at the time preliminary testimony was introduced on the first day of the trial which is now in progress he laughed at the witnesses and their testimony. Yesterday his mood changed. He has lost his confidence and impudence, and aa the cumulative circumstantial evidence against him is brought out by the prosecution his soberness increases. The testimony that had the most to do with his change in the manner of the accused, and creating also a deep effect on the jury, was that of W. W. Finnis a porter for the commission firm of Larzaller and Witham, whose place of business is one of the storerooms on the ground floor of the building where the tragedy occurred.
Finnis testified that on the Saturday before Mefstutt’s murder he heard a noise in the room above, as though a struggle was going on, and soon after Mefstutt and Portelli came down the stairs together. Mefstutt was covered with blood, and when he and Portelli came into his presence Mefstutt immediately complained to him of Portelli’s abuse.
“He has thrown me down stairs and whips me all the time. Look at me!" cried Mefstuut. "He not only whips me, but robs me. Isn’t he a ___ ______ -___?"
Finnis said that Portelli laughed and repealed the offensive epithet that Mefstutt applied to him, and said that he was a ___ ___. Mefstutt accused Portelli of having thrown him down stairs, and Portelli admitted it.
Fred Meyers, who keeps a saloon directly across the street, corroborated the witness Finnis as to the quarrel between the men. He heard the noise of the disturbance. and saw them quarreling on the stairs. Later on that night Portelli came to him and left $80 for safe keeping. The money was in $20 gold pieces, and they Appeared to be mildewed, as though they had been laid away for some time. Meyers said that at another time the accused had given him money to keep, on this occasion leaving $110.
Just before this money was left with Meyers, the dead man, Mefstutt, had been robbed of the identical amount, $110. Robbery is one of the motives the State is attempting to show for the crime, and the prosecution will try to prove that Portelli was systematically robbing the murdered man. Private Watchman John Walls, the man who saw Portelli on the awning leading from his room to that of the victim on the night of the murder, about l:30 o'clock in the morning, took the stand and swore to that fact. He positively identified Portelli, and his testimony was unshaken by the defense in the cross-examination. The prosecution then proceeded to the dispose the suspicion attached to Antone Santo, the man accused by Portelli of having committed the crime, and succeeded by introducing the testimony of a number of witnesses accounting for the actions and whereabouts of Santo, and proving conclusively that he had no knowledge of the murder. Santo himself was put on the stand, and swore to Portelli telling him in Bottle Koenig’s saloon that he and Mefstutt had had a fight, ana were no longer friends nor partners. That was the Sunday before the murder. Several witnesses were then introduced to prove that Alfred Woods, the nineteen year-old boy, likewise accused by Portelli of the murder, had nothing to do with the crime. Woods is now on the high seas, having shipped last August in a vassal bound for Liverpool. His mother was present and testified to that fact. Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 November 1888: PORTELLI'S TRIAL. THE DEFENDANT HIMSELF ON THE STAND.

Kaiser, the Police Court stenographer, Appears as a friend of Stevens, the Attorney.
The trial of Julian Portelli for the murder of his partner, John Mefstu [Mifsud], which has been in progress in Judge Toohy's Court for a month past, is rapidly drawing to a close, and will doubtless be finished in a few days. Yesterday morning the defense called to the witness stand Fred W. Kaiser, the shorthand reporter in Judge Hornblower’s court. Kaiser testified to going to the scene of the murder at the instance of Martin Stevens, one of the defendant’s attorneys, and making some measurements and examinations, which did not agree with those made by Detective Robert Hogan. He said he saw the blood on the floor when the door was opened four inches. After he had related all he discovered in the murdered man’s room, be stated that he had known Mr. Stevens for over fifteen years, and that he had succeeded Stevens as Police Court stenographer, He had gone to school with Stevens, and they were close friends, and it was on this account that ho had gone with him to Mifsutt's room.
After severe cross examination, he swore that the visit was made on the afternoon of April 24th between 2 and 3 o'clock, and the day was very bright and sunny. "You approached me on one occasion about this case, did you not?". asked Assistant District Attorney Dunne. . Yes, sir,” answered the witness." "State what you said to me about hanging this man and about your friendship with Mr. Stevens.. The defense objected, but the question was allowed. "I asked if you were going to convict and hang Portelli and you replied "What about it". I said to you that Stevens, Portelli's attorney, was a particular friend of mine and I should like to see him win the case and I hoped that he would not hang the fellow. You replied we wouldn't if we could get over Bob Hogan's testimony against the accused.
"What else did you say? "I said that while I believed Portelli guilty, I hoped you wouldn't hang him." The Assistant District Attorney explained that this matter was brought out to show that the mind of the witness was "prejudiced in favor of the defendant, solely on account of his friendship for Martin Stevens, his attorney.
Martin Stevens requested permission to take the stand and did so. He explained that his purpose in going to the room was to learn if Portelli had told the truth about seeing the blood through the door. The witness found that he could see the blood himself when the door wee sprung four inches at the bottom. Mr. Sevens contradicted Kaiser about the time of the visit to Mefstutt’s room, which he said was in the afternoon of April 25th, and not on the 24th, as Kaiser swore.
J. A. Campbell, the leading counsel for the defendant also look the witness stand. He said he had made investigation similar to those made by Kaiser and Stevens, and for the same purpose—to learn if Portent had told the truth about seeing the blood. Campbell said be had seen the blood when the door was sprung four inches. His visit was made near noonday, on a bright and sunny day.
A Juror asked him if the reason he had given was an honest one, why he had not made his investigations at the same hour Portelli said he had seen the blood, at 6:30 o'clock the morning the murder was discovered. Campbell answered that he was not in the habit of getting up at that lime. A recess was then taken until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
When the court reassembled Portelli himself took the stand, He told of his acquaintance with the deceased in Malta, where they both were born, and how they both came to this country, and how he had first met Mefstutt in this city. Several points connected with the lives of the two here, touching their partnership and other relations, were testified to by the accused and he finally told the quarrel that took place between them on the Saturday night before the tragedy. He said that they both had been drinking heavily, and were in Mefstutt's room together. Mefstutt wanted to go out, to which Portelli objected, and as Mefstutt insisted, defendant pushed him. He fell, striking against a faucet cock that was lying on the floor, cutting his head and causing the blood to flow. They then left, and went to Herman’s saloon on Davis street, and then to Meyer's saloon, at the corner of Davis and Clay streets, where Portelli gave the bartender $80 to keep for him. At this point the court adjourned until this afternoon at 1 o’clock.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 November 1888: GHOSTS -- They Invade the County Jail. Portilli grows excited --
Results of imprisonment of Harry Wild the materializing medium
Tho prisoners of the County Jail have a new and strange subject of interest to break the monotony of life in that bastile. Ghistss are making nightly visits to tho affrightened inmates, for the^; first time In the history of that institution. Disembodied spiritsi hold revels in its darkest recesses, laughing at thick wills and massive bolts and bars as a strong men might at the impediment of thin air. They float about the corridors, create strange, unearthly noises which are mainly for tho sensitive ears of the superstitious and appear as weird apporitions in the dark and dismal cells, in whose dim light and lonely confines sheeted ghosts and goblins might be supposed to- find congenial surroundings. A number of the women and some of the male prisoners in cells at the farther end of the main corridor, where so many murderers have been sent into eternity, deciare that a few nights ago there was a strange dlsuirbance there in the middle of the nighti which admits of no ratlonal explanation.
Portelli, the chicken dealer who is charged with murdering his partner some time ago, is greatly excited over certain communications from the spirit world, including some from his alleged victim, and has a firmly rooted idea his head that the jury which is trying hlm will contain one juryman who will hold out to the last conviction. Goldenson is just now making the county jail, a favorite stamping ground, and others who have explained crimes on the gallows there are returning.to the place of their former terrible vigils.

The sudden Hegira from ghostland is the natural consequence of the confinement there of Harry Wild, the well-known materialising medium, who is charged with complicity in the schemes of the Enterprise gang, Since his incarceration his nightly seances 'have brought spirits of high and low degree about him in swarms. He is confined in cell B with Bartman and Trottor, who are getting along nicely with their ghostly companions and the medium is regarded by the other prisoners with wonder, curiosity, fear and awe. They hear the strains of hymns coming from his cell in the night and rumors of the strange visitations there, and they hardly know what manner of man he is, while the imaginations of tho more superstitious easily conjure up all sorts of unearthly souude and visions. They never miss an opportunity when let out to pace the oorrldor for a short time of stopping at the wlcket of Wild's cell to get a Job lot of Information about themselves, their cases and their future, which the big and smillng Harry is happy to give them for one round dollar a piece. During tho two weeks of Wild's incarceration, nearly twenty women, who have been his regular customers have called on him during visiting hours, and received through him and through the wlcket of his cell door an immense amount of consolatlon and advise from the spirit world.
Until a few days ago Wild, Bartman and Trotter were in cell 10, next to that occupied by Portelli, and communication was more easy than at present. The presence of the medium gave a number of departed spirits a long-wanted opportunity of communicating with Portelli, and he was. soon given the exciting information that tbere was a "medium' in the cell who could talk with spirits, and that some of the spooks wanted to talk to him. Portelli did not quite understand, but his eyes bulged out in amazement, Bartman was doing the talking from cell 19, and informed Portelli that the medlum was in a trance and would answer any questions he might ask the spirits.
^,r What Spirit is there?" asked the excited ocoupant of cell 10. "Your partner John,” came the reply. After Bartman had consulted the medium. "John? My partner? gasped Portelli. "My partner? "What's his odea name.”
^uMestuft." "What he say?" "He say I killed him?" inquired Portelli, breathlessly.
"He won't say but he says he hopes you'll get out all rlght." "What else he say?" "He's gone now, but he'll come back again. Some, of the other spirits say they’re working for you and they're going to try to help you out".
⁴¹ How theo devil they help me out?" asked Portelli in half doubting tone, '
"Well they're going to try to fix the Jury for you. You. see, they will try to enter their hearts and got them to vote to acquit you."
Portelli was speechless, "They say they've had one trial up there and one of the jury stuck for oonvictlon. The jury down there is liable to go the same way, but the ’re going to have another trial, and we will let you know what they do."
The guying went on until. Portelli expressed the opinlon that the splrlts were trying to fool him, and then his attorney is sald to have glven him a pointer that there might be a scheme to get a oonfession out of him. and since then he has been very oareful of what he says. He is nearly terrlfied at tlmes and is oonstantly expeoting a visit from the ghostly beings which he has heard inhabit the medium's cell.
On the second night of his oonflnement Wild fixed up a cabinet out of the scant furnishing of the cell, the principal element appearing to be a blanket stretched across one corner of the cell, and the seances have been going on ever since, principally for the entertainmont of himself aud his companions. While the usual accesories have been lacking, the materialising seances, though somewhat crude, have been similar to those presented elsewhere in this city constantly, and the visits from the borderland of death fully as numerous.
An interveiw with real spirits in a narrow, dark and haunted cell is not an everyday occurence. and with the permission of Mr Wild and the proper authorities a Chronicle reporter entered cell 8 in tho County Jail last evening
ready to face tho apparltlona which were said to invade the dismal plaoe when
night gives lioens3 to the dead.
When the heavy door of iron was slammed behind him. and the ponderous
bolt slid into its socket there came to the reporter for the first time a realizing sense of what a prison was. The narrow space seemed but little larger than a grave, and the heavy walls and bars appeared to be mainly to crush hope from an inmate's breast. When the hospitable hosts had made ready for the seanoe the corridor’s light, which struggled through the little wicket to mingle with the feeble rays of a tallow candle on a shelf, was shut out and the oandle snuffed. The sudden gloom was slowly mellowed by a few rays of the corridor’s gaslight which crept through a narrow ventilating slit and filtered through papered over the wlcket, giving an indescribable weirdness to the dlm scene. A medium seemed unnecessary to call forth, all the gnomes and goblins with which mythology has peopled the earth.
The two whom the visitor found inside felt no influencss to repress jokes at the expense of the situation. The reporter seatod himself on an upturned soap box. Bartman and Troter, who have become pretty good materializing mediums themselves, took fresh chews of tobacco and seated themselves on upturned pails, and Wild went into the Holy of Holiess behind his blanket.
"Now, please sing something to get the medium enu rapport with the spirits," came from behind the horse blanket. Bartman and Trotter qulokly squirted out some tobaoco juice and raised two melodious voices in "Nearer, My God, to Thee," the old familiar strains, floating out to mingle with felons gibes.
The voices died away and the sceance went on as nearly like those to which spiritualists in this city weekly flock, as the circumstances would permit. The melody referred to had worked like a oharm, and Peggy the spirit of aa old Alabama colored woman, who is familiar to many in this city, and who is Harry Wild's chief "control,” announced herself in a falsetto key through the entranoed medium's vocal organs, "What, would the auditors have?''
" Aleck Goldenson, Mamie Kelly’s murderer, who has been enjoying the bliss of spirit land since September 14th, had not reported since the evening before, and inquires were made as to hls whereabouts. '*Yes, Golenson is here,” said Peggy, speaking from the whereness of the whense through Harry’s gentle voice,
"and I think he’ll be able to appear after a while." "How's Aleck getting along now?” inquireded the reporter from his box in the opposite corner of the cell. ^,rHe is happy here with Mamie,” was the reply. After a little further discussion of
Aleck’s good fortune, hls oomoing as a materialized body was announced.
A white form, dim and ghostly in the faint, weird llght, whloh had to push
aside the curtain to make an appearance before it, suddenly apeared, with invisible features and with one arm extended. In accordance with the time
honored ghost custom. The reporter was not engaged in making an expose of spIrltualism and did not test the quality of the palpable form before him, rather training hls imagination to make the apparition an ethereal vision for the moment. "Yes, I am Aîeck Goldenson,” replied the questioned visitor. "Oh, yes, l am very happy, 1 am with Mamie now. Sbe met me within two hours after I crossed over and we are wedded forever. She has forgiven me wholly, for spirits know no resentment or revenge. She belougs to a higher sphere than I do, and will take me there with her as I am more developed in spirit life.’'
The materialized spirit, was quite fee with his information, in the style that splrits usually are.
*' When I was walking to the gallows," he continued, "I saw a bright light ahead of me aud heard faint music and that was what made me calm. I suffered terribly when I first left the body, but alter wanderlng around I saw a bright light ahead of me, and on approaching it I dlsoovered my darling Mamie draped in shlnlng robes of spotleea white. 8he beokoued me to follow her and led me into a land full of sunshine, rnusic and flowers. "I have tried to manifest myself to to several of my frlends here in the jail, but oould not I propose in the future to devote myself to doing good to criminals. I hope Bowers and Dimming will get through all right. Does Portelli get enough to eat now?"
"My brains? Oh, they needn't bother themselves about them." "I have got a better set of brains now than anybody in the world. Well, I ain't ready to say anything about that polson yet. I am felling rather weak and will go now. Goodby.”
The spirits of the other world were standing in line waiting for Peggy to give them a chance to call on the Chronicle reporter, and most of them appeared in the spirits of the other world were standing in line waiting for Peggy to give them a chance to call on the Chronicle reporter, and most of them appeared in that same shadowy outline, some only talked through the medium Wheeler, the strangler, who preceeded Golden, some years ago, told of his sufferings, and "Jimmy. the Newsboy", who has so often appeared to San Francisco audiences, under a friendly oall. Carrie Miller, the noted departed spiritualist, forsook the San Francisco female medium whom she usually attends, to oomfort persecuted Harry Wild, while the Empress of Saturn, another spirit well known in San Francisco, told something of life on the planets and then hastened away to India to see Madame Blayatsky, the great theosophist. All told the usual stories and departed. .
The spirits diaappeared, the seance ended, the sordid present broke in on the ghostly revel and the medium awoke from hie trance to down a cup of Spring Valley water.

Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 September 1889: Sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 September 1889: HIS SECOND TRIAL.

Portelli Is Again before a Jury for Murder.
Julian Portelli, the peddler, who, in April, 1888, was arrested for the murder of John Mefstutt, a companion, which is alleged to have occurred during a quarrel over some vegetables, was placed on trial for the second time yesterday before a jury in Judge Van Reynegom's court. Portelli was tried in October last, and the trial lasted seven weeks. The evidence against Portelli is mainly of circumstantial character, and the first jury which tried him could not agree upon his probable guilt The whole of yesterday afternoon was devoted to securing a jury. He was mentioned in a newspaper article: on 24 Sep 1889 at San Francisco Chronicle The Trial of Portelli,
Ex-City Physician Carpenter, with the skull of murdered John Mefstut in his hand, described to a jury in Judge Van Reynegotn’s court yesterday, the twenty-nine wounds which Julian Portelli is charged with having inflicted, and for which he is now on trial. The evidence of the day was mainly of a professional character necessary to the introduction of the people's testimony. A new juror had to be secured to take the place of the other who was taken sick. The first trial of Portelli consumed seven weeks. The present one will take a month.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 September 1889: The Trial of Portelli,

Ex-City Physician Carpenter, with the skull of murdered John Mefstut in his hand, described to a jury in Judge Van Reynegotn’s court yesterday, the twenty-nine wounds which Julian Portelli is charged with having inflicted, and for which he is now on trial. The evidence of the day was mainly of a professional character necessary to the introduction of the people's testimony. A new juror had to be secured to take the place of the other who was taken sick. The first trial of Portelli consumed seven weeks. The present one will take a month.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 October 1889: Stenographer's Fees.
The Portelli Trial Proving' a Mint to Riley
Judge Van Reynogom ordered Treasurer Reis yesterday to pay Stenographer Riley of his court $270 for transcribing the evidence in the Portelli oase. Thus far this month $871 has been paid for this purpose, and the end is not yet, Treasurer Reis considers the law upon which those orders are based as unjust to taxpayers, and it is his intention to bring the matter to the attention of the Grand Jury, with a vow of ultimately having the law amended by the Legislature. .


Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 October 1889: Portelli’s Fate

It rests in the hands of the jury.
After being out for 10 hours they return for instructions and are locked up. Julian Portelli, who has been on trial in Judge Van Reynogorn’s court for seven weeks for the murder of his partner. John Mefstutt in April, 1887, still remains in ignorance of his fate. The jurors were charged by the Judge yesterday morning, and at 10:30 a.m. retired to consult upon a verdict. Nothing was heard from them until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when they reported through the bailiff that they were unable to agree and that there appeared to be no probability of their doing so. At 8:30 o'clock last evening the jurymen came into court and asked for further instructions.
The defendant at the time was sleeping on the floor in the prisoner’s dock, but arose with much eagerness and anxiety in his face as the bailiff aroused him by a touch on the shoulder. At the request of the foreman of the jury the shorthand reporter read from the transcript of testimony the statement made by Portelli to the police at the time of his arrest. Information was then requested as to whether a verdict of murder in the second degree could be returned, to which the Judge by rereading that portion of his charge referring to the form of the verdict. The Jurors then again retired and were locked up for the night, taking with them the for examination the door of Mefsutt’s room, on which so much stress was laid by the prosecution during both trials of the case. It is understood that the jurors stand five for acquittal, with the remaining seven divided as to murder in the first or the second degree.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 October 1889: THE MEFSTUTT MURDER. Found Guility in the Second Degree.
The case of Julian Portelli_; charged with the murder of John Mefstutt, was given to the jury on Friday after three days of argument by Deputy District Attorney Southard and two days and a half by Attorney J. A. Campbell, who represented the defendant. The Jury was taken into court yesterday at their request and informed Judge Van Revuegom that they saw no prospect of agreeing. In reply, the Court said that the trial had lasted nearly six weeks, at great expense to the county, and he was reluctant to let the jury separate without an opportunity to thoroughly examine the case, and if possible reach a conclusion in accordance with justice. He therefore sent them back for further consultation. At 9 o’clock last night the jury brought in a verdict of murder in the second degree.

Julian Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 November 1889: Sentence Day
Portelli to serve thirty years in prison. He creates a scene in court by accusing a witness of perjury.
Julian Portelli, the chicken peddler, convicted of murder in the second degree for killing John Mefstutt his partner, on the 10th of April, 1887, was sentenced by Judge Van Reynegom yesterday to thirty years imprisonment at hard labor at San Quentin Prison. The prisoner, when asked by the Court if he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced, created a scene by arising in the dock and saying: “I have been convicted on the perjured testimony of that man.” at the same time pointing at the witness, J. F. Malley, who was sitting on the other side of the courtroom. “I am innocent of the murder of which I have been convicted, and I have only Mr. Malley to thank for the fact that I am not a free man to-day." The prisoner then thanked the Judge and jury for the fair trial they had given him, and calmly received his sentence. J. C. Campbell, attorney for Portelli, subsequently informed a reporter that he would in all probability carry the case to the Supreme Court, as he was satisfied that the verdict rendered by the jury was contrary to the evidence.

Michael Portelli was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 August 1893: CHICKEN PEDDLARS FIGHT. Partners Quarrel Over Assets and Knives Are Freely Used. Salvatora Forrogia and Michael Portelli, chicken peddlers on Merchant street, engaged in a controversy over business affairs yesterday which ended in a vicious fight. The two had been partners,in the peddling concern, but desired to dissolve. The fight was over a division of the assets. During the dispute it is charged that Ferrogia drew a knife and assaulted his former partner, cutting his face and almost laying his cheekbone bare. Portelli was removed to the receiving hospital. Ferrogia escaped, but was soon arrested. Ferrogia claims that Portelli struck him first, and that he acted simply in self defense.

John Frendo was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 May 1895: INCARCERATED AT SAN Rafawel, -- Rafael Apostle Held to Answer for murder at Marshalls
SAN RAFAEL, Cal., May 25.—Rafael Apostle, who was found guilty by the Coroner’s jury of the murder of a fisherman named Jose Carlo at Marshalls last Wednesday, was held to answer before the Superior Court by Judge Fisher of Tomales to-day. Rafael was brought here to-night by Sheriff Harrison and lodged in jail. Rafael’s partners in crime. Crocket Vue ket and John Frendo, will be brought up for examination on Monday.

Giovanni Agius was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 March 1896: LIVED OVER A 100 Giovanni Agius, Oakland’s Oldest Citizen, Dies of Dropsy. Found in poverty.
Taken Care of During His Last Months by Catholic Ladies. Ever true to his rosary.
The Deceased Was a Soldier During the Troublous Times When the Century Opened.
Agius who was known in Oakland for many years as John Rogers is dead, and in his death Alameda County loses her oldest citizen. Giovanni was 104 years old, and as his mother died when he was 4 years of age, he has lived just an even oentary since that event. Agius was in possession of his faculties till a few weeks ago and gave no sign of dying of old age, but several days ago be was attacked with dropsy and soon the old man, passed away. He died at the residence of Mrs. Hannegan, 804 Filbert street.
Giovanni was born at Malta in 1792, and came to this country when he was 7 years of age. In the war of 1812 he was a soldier and remembered till a few months ago all the details of those eventful times. Years ago, in the early fifties, Agios came to California in the ship Thompson, of which be was second mate. He deserted, like thousands of others, and rushed to the gold mines, and although then a comparatively old man he took quite a fortune out of the earth. While in Seattie, twenty years ago, Agius was robbed of what little money he had hoarded and since then he has been a broken-down peddler.
While in the possession of his health up to about a year ago, he made a living by selling fruit, and his face was familiar to thousands of people, especially in the West Oakland neighborhood. Sorne time ago the aged man was found by a Call man in a shanty near tue water front. His old horse shared the barn, and a more miserable place could not be pictured. A sack of rags had been his bed for years, and the neighbors said that even what food he received was first used to feed the old quadruped.
Throughout all his long life Giovanni never forgot the lessons of piety that he learned in early life. For over half a century before his death he wore a rosary around his neck and never failed to make daily use of it.The beads have been so long around bis neck that there is a groove in the old man’s flesh which was made by the beads having been so closely buttoned aroond his neck. Agius used to say that the Archbishop of Malta gave him the rosary more than a lifetime ago.
After the publication of his story and his abject destitution Giovanni was taken in charge by the Catholic Ladies’ Aid Sociaty, and from that time till he breathed his last was probably the most comfortable and devoid of anxiety in all bis long life.
After the Ladies took the old man’s welfare in hand, papers in his possession showed that his real nam was not John Rogers, but Giovanni Agius. Although everything possible was done for him, his vitality was almost gone, and when dropsy appeared it could not be resisted. Agius' appearance, even in death is that of a well-preserved man of about 70 years old. He is a little under six feet in height and he had a good crop of hair to the last. His teeth were perfectly sound, and the man must have lived a very careful and abstemious life to reach such a long score of years. The funeral will be held tomorrow, and tlie Catholic Ladies’ Aid Society, who took charge of him in life will also see to the old man’s burial.

Joseph Frendo was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 April 1910: WORKMAN KILLED While workingf at the bottom of a sewer trench at Romaine avenue and Douglass streets yesterday afternoon, one man was killed and another barely escaped death when a great mass of overhanging earth caved in upon them. Joe Frendo managed to escape the heaviest mass of earth, which caught and killed his friend. Joe McQuade. But for the quick work of the the fire department in shoveling away the sand Frendo would not have been saved, as he was nearly suffocated when he was dragged out and taken to tha Mission emergency hospital.

Giovanni Antonio Bajada was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 January 1913: John Bajada, who was married to Theresa Bajada at San Leandro on July 1. 1907, now wants a divorce. He says that his wife has deserted- him for Manuel P. Bartley, and is living at the Pacific Hotel. San Jose.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 December 1913: MALTESE ARE EXAMINED.
John Calley, Frank Aquilina. Joe Aguas. Alfred Schembri and Paul Borges, the five Maltese who were arrested near a counterfeiting plant and a quantity of spurious money in a shack at the foot of Twenty-first avenue on Wednesday night, were taken before United States Commissioner Krull Friday for a preliminary examination on charges of conspiracy in counterfeiting. The examination will be continued Tuesday. Their bonds were fixed at $2000 each. Assistant United States Attorney Walter E. Hettman is conducting the prosecution.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 December 1913: Alleged Makers of Coins Are Indicted
Conspiracy Charge Is laid Against Five Men Arrested by thecFederal Officers.
Tha Federal Grand Jury voted conspiracy indictment yesterday against five men who were arrested December 10th in a raid on shacks at 1309 Underwood street and 16 Crane street, Bay- View. It is charged that the five men. all of whom are natives of the island of Malta, conspired to counterfeit the coin of the United States. When the raid was made. Captain. Karry Moffitt of the United States Secret Service, and Detectives Regan. Mannion. Burke and Richards of the local police force, seized a number of spurious coins of the denominations of one dollar, fifty cents, twenty-five cents, ten cents and five cents. The men against whom the indictment was found are Alfredl Schembrl, John Calley, Frank Aquillna. Joe Aguas and Paul Borges.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 January 1914: ALLEGED COUNTERFEITERS ALL PLEAD NOT GUILTY -- Many Maltese Attend Arraignment
of Countrymen.
The band of five Maltese arrested in a shack on Twenty-first avenue on the night December 10th by United States Secret Service Chief Harry Moffit and city detectives pleaded not guilty to the charge of counterfeiting when arraigned before Federal Judge Maurice T. Doollng yesterday. A considerable quantity of spurious coins and molds for counterfeiting when found in the shack when tho men were arrested. Their names are John Calley, Frank Aqullina. Joe Aguas. Alfred Schembri and Paul Borges. More than twenty Maltese, friends of the accused, were in court yesterday as spectators.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 15 February 1914: COUNTERFEITER SENTENCED. -- Alfred Schembri one of the five Maltese arrested by United States Secret Service Agent Moffitt and city detectives on charges of conspiracy in counterfeiting last December, yesterday changed his erstwhile plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty before Federal Judge Dooling, who sentenced him to six months' imprisonment in .the Alameda County Jail.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 February 1914: JURY DISAGREES OVER ALLEGED COUNTERFEITERS.
Alter debating until nearly midnight the jury in Federal Judge Dooling’s court sitting at the trial yesterday of John Calley and Paul Burges, two of five Maltese charged with conspiracy in counterfeiting finally filed into the courtroom and reported that no agreement could be reached. Judge Dooling fixed March 5th as the date for a new trial of the two men. Two of the five accused, Frank Aquilina and Joseph Aguas, pleaded guilty before the trial began yesterday and will be sentenced this morning- The fifth man. Alfred Schembri. pleaded guilty a week ago and is now serving a six month term in the Alameda County JaiL The five men were arrested with a complete counterfeiting plant and a quantity of spurious coins in their possession by United States Secret Service Agent Karry Moffitt and city detectives in a shack at the foot of Twenty- first avenue last November.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 March 1914: Counterfeiters Sentenced—Frank Aquillina and Joseph Aguas, two of tbe five Maltese arrested in this city last November on charges of conspiracy and counterfeiting, and who pleaded guilty to the charges Friday morning, were sentenced by Federal Judge Dooling yesterday to serve one year each in the Alameda County Jail.

Alfred Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 March 1914: Counterfeiter sentenced -- John Cally [Calleja] one of a group of Maltese arrested last month by Secret Service Agent Harry Moffitt, was sentenced Friday by Federal Judge Dooling to a term of one year in the Alameda County Jail.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 May 1915: MALTESE CATHOLICS Establish a Congregation for Their Own People. San Francisco, Cal., May 22. —A chapel for the Maltese Catholics of this city is the latest addition to San Francisco’s cosmopolitan religious life. A hall has just been secured in South San Francisco and a Franciscan Father, Rev. F. Andrew Azzapardi, has taken charge of the Maltese congregation. There are about 700 Catholics in the local Maltese colony, all young men; a promising nucleus for the parish that will eventually grow up around their newly acquired chapel. The chapel has been named “St. Paul of the Shipwreck,” in commemoration of the rescue of the Apostle of the Gentiles from shipwreck on the shores of the Isle of Malta, as recounted in the Holy Bible.

Father Theophilus Cachia O.F.M. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 April 1917: First mention in SF Chronicle in 1917: "A congregation composed entirely of Maltese worshipers in the chapel at 1509 Oakdale avenue, under the direction of Rev. Theophilus Cashia, a Maltese member of the Franciscan Order, who came here from the Isle of Malta.


Pubblio Scicluna was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 August 1917: GIRL STRUCK BY MOTOR Katie Lamuth, 13 years old, of 3207 Jennings street, suffered cuts and bruises about the legs last night when she was struck and knocked down at Thirty-third street and Railroad avenue by a motorcycle ridden by Pubblio Scicluna. The girl was treated at the Potrero Emergency Hospital. Scicluna was arrested by the Bay View police and charged with battery. .

History of Maltese in Bay Area was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 November 1917: Male Help Wanted: Concrete Laborers, Italians or Maltese, $3.25 per day.

Emmanuel Cachia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 June 1920: Non-Union Ship Men Are Attacked -- Striking Workmen Believed to Have Been Responsible
Renewed attacks upon non-union shipyard workers led yesterday to orders for extra precaution to be exerted by police in protecting men returning from work.
Emanuel Cacbia. 1515 Oakdale avenue, and Andrew Cauffet, 1786 Quesada avenue, were attacked by a band of ten men. said to be striking shipyard workers, as they were leaving a train from the Schaw- Batcher yards, and severely beaten. The attacking band waited at Newcomb street and Quint avenue until the two workers came along, at different intervals, and set upon them. Cachia was treated at Potrero Hospital for wounds of the scalp, eye and shoulders. Rocks were flung at the non-union men and they were knocked down and kicked.

Joseph Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 October 1920: Policewoman Loses Star at ‘Dance Row" --Miss Josîe Kelly, special policewoman at a dance hall at 15 Roma place, had her police star stolen from her during the course of a fight in which three men were engaged early yesterday morning. Frank Caponi of 1525 Grant avenue also reported to the police yesterday the theft of a diamond ring from his finger during the course of the free-for-all. Three men. said to have participated in the battle, were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace. They are Angelo Forte, John Spiteri and Joseph Vella.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 August 1922: ST. PAUL OF THE SHIPWRECK BAZAAR PROGRAM -- All of the residents of the Bay View district are busy making ebborate preparations for the bizarre for the benefit of St Paul of the Shipwreck, 1509 Oakdale avenue which opened oa a grand scale Friday night, August 25. Mrs Eleanor Giovannetti. the queen of the children, will open the door to Fairylaod. and Dr. Musante will make the opening address. Natale T. Giacomini, Jr., will sing and dance in costume. He will dance Irish jigs and Russian dances and the latest songs, accompanied by Charles Bowden on the violin and Miss J. Bowden on tha piano. Gehring's Dance Orchestra will play Friday evening...
Sunday afternoon the Third Order of St Francis, St. Anthony's branch, will attend in a body and the orphans from the Roman Catholic Orphanage will be the guests of the bazzar Sunday night with the Third Order of St. Francis, St. Boniface Branch.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in February 1923: Whist game held at St. Boniface Hall to help benefit Fr. Cachia to help him complete the new Church, St. Paul of the Shipwreck.

Frances Paganucci was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 February 1924: Miss Frances Paganucci, who won the right to her maiden name by a divorce decree yesterday, and then immediately after changed her name to Mrs. Joseph Deguara.
Use of Maiden Name Won, Lost -- Divorcé Decree Followed by Marriage License
Skeptical because of one mlsmatching? Not for 20-year-old Frances E. Paganucci, 1296 Galvez avenue, who yesterday secured a final decree of divorce from Superiors Judge Pat. R. Parker. and à few minutes later took out a marriage llcense to wed Joseph Deguara, a young San Francisco commission man. Henry Christenson, a bond salesman, who she married in 1921, did not develop into what she believed was the right kind of husband, and telling a tale of asserted nuptial cruelties, the then Mrs. Christenson divorced her mate.

Emmanuel Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 April 1925: Death of Baby Will Be Sifted
Trace of poison revealed in the stomach of Victor Falzon 3-month- old infant son of Emanuel Falzon, 1797 OakdaJe avenue, by an autopsy yesterday, set in motion a police investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the sadden death of the baby. Early Friday morning the child was seized with convulsions. The parents summoned Dr. Walter Smith of the Flood building, but the baby was dead when he arrived. The body was turned over to an undertaking establishment and the Coroner notified. Not satisfied with the apparently unexplainable circumstances of the case. Deputy Coroner Michael Brown investigated and upon his report Coroner T. B. W. Leland ordered an autopsy performed yesterday morning by Dr. Shelby Strange. In the infant's stomach Dr. Strange found traces of a deadly poison. The stomach was sent to the city chemist for analysis.
Late yesterday afternoon, in a preliminary report of the results of his first tests on the stomach. City Toxicologist Frank Green corroborated Dr. Strange’s findings. Although he had not competed his tests, Dr. Green reported he has already found unmistakable evidence of the presence of the same poison found by Dr. Strange. The case was placed in the hands of Lieutenant Charles Dulles of the police homicide squad. He questioned the parents and took specimens of the milk and cereals. The parents could give no explanation of the presence of poison in the child's stomach and expressed themselves as much perplexed as the police and Coroner’s office.

Emmanuel Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 April 1925: Father, Working in Acids, Unintentionally Has Dose on Finger
Victor Falzon, 3-mouth-old son of Emmanuel Falzon, employee in the kitchen of a local hotel, is believed by police to have been killed by touching his mouth to a. grain of a virulent poison which clung to his father’s finger. Falzon explained to Lieutenant of Detectives Charles Dullen that he cleans silverware with the poison In the hotel and it is the theory bf the homicide squad that the infant’s inquisitive mouth came into contact in some manner with a microscopic bit of the deadly substance. Evidence of the presence of this poison, which is used in scourine silver, was found by Dr. Shelby Strange in the stomach of the infant who died yesterday in his home at 1797 Oakdale avenue. So powerful is the poison, police detectives say, that an amount that might be carried under the finger nail would be sufficient to instantly kill a person. Lieutenant Dullea wholly exonerated the parents from any suspicion. The child was suffering from pleurisy at the time of its death.

Philip Galea was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 June 1925: S. F. Youth Killed In Auto Accident -- Fred Brady. 15 years old, 1433 Clay St. was fatally injured late yesterday afternoon when the automobile in which he was riding threw a tire and overturned on the old Pedro road from the Skyline boulevard near Colma. Phllip Galea. 22 years old, S7 Waterville street, driver of the automobile, was severely cut and bruised. The child was taken to St Luke's Hospital, where be died from a fractured skull. Galea was placed in custody at the Ingleside police station and is being held for Constable S. A. Landini of Colma.



Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 March 1926: $2000 TO BOY FOR EYE LOSS
Jackson McElvaln, aged 15, Js to reçoive $2000 for the loss of his left eye. it was decided yesterday in Redwood City, when a notice of compromise was filed In the Superior Court. McElvaln was wounded on February 21. when Joseph Sammut, aged 8, fired an air rifle at him. the shot lodging in the youth's eye. Mrs. Mary McElvaln of San Bruno, filed a suit for damages, but before it came np in court the compromise was effected with the father of the other youith. Joseph Sammut Sr, San Bruno billiard hall proprietor.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 November 1926: Priest Artist Decorates Church in San Francisco

(N. C. W. C. News Service) San Francisco, Nov. 1. —In the Church of St. Paul of the Shipwreck, this city, there has recently been completed a deccration of the sanctuary with a very beautiful triptych of St. Paul, as well as the decoration of a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony. Both of these works are from the brush of Father Luigi Sciocchetti, a Roman artist of distinction, who is making a short stay in California. Father Sciocchetti is also a “Professor”, being a graduate of the Italian Ministry of Fine Arts, working for a number of years under the guidance of Ludivico Seitz, Director of the Vatican Museums, and has been employed in the basilicas of Loreto and of St. Anthony of Padua.

Frances Paganucci was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 April 1927: SAN FRANCISCO — Because her husband insisted on sharing control of an automobile she bought with her own tonds and because his “back seat driving” was a form of
mental cruelty, Mrs. Frances DeGuara has filed suit for divorce. He sometimes emphasized his disapproval with his fists, she added.

Vincent Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 August 1927: Police Jail Suspect In Party Stabbing Vincent Vella, 106 Sagamore street, San Francisco, was charged with assault with intent to murder yesterday following the stabbing Saturday night of Pete Lucia, 337 Santa Barbara avenue, Daly City. According to police, Lucia was stabbed at a wedding reception in Eagles Hall. He was taken home after an abdominal wound was treated. Vella was taken into custody after he jumped through a window at his home in an attempt i to escape officers.     |.

Benjamin Robert Azzopardi was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 November 1927: Unless He Pays Fine -- Demand that he pay his entire fine or spend one day in jail for each dollar unpaid, was yesterday forwarded to Ben Azzonardi) 370 Charter Oak avenue, San Francisco, by Justice of the Peace Arthur A. Alstrom of Richmond, Cited to appear in court on a speeding: charge, Azzopardl wrote to Justice Alstrom and asked what his fine would be. He was assessed $25, but only sent $15. Justice Alstrom addressed a letter to Azzopardl Informing him that if the balance was not forthcoming by return mail, a warrant for his arrest would be issued.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1928: First mention in SF Chronicle of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church as Maltese Church.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 September 1930: Daylight Bandits Seize $300 in Pool Room Holdup
Two robbers took a hazardous chance yesterday, and in broad daylight. held up one of the most frequented places in San Bruno—Joe’s poolroom. There were only two clerks in the place when the two, one redheaded and the other blond, walked in with drawn gum shortly after noon. They made one of the clerks, J. M. Sverean, go into Ihr. back room, where they zagged him and bound him to a chair. The other clerk, George Gallea, who was in the back room, was ordered to keep quiet. After trussing and gagging Severan, they robbed him of $300 he had just borrowed from his sister Mrs. Dorothy Bowman of San Francisco, to buy an interest in the business. He had been waiting for the proprietor, Joe Sammut. to return from lunch to close the deal.
While the bandits were going through the victim's pockets, a truck driver came in the front door with a case of soda water on his shoulder. He was added to the collection of victims in the back room. The robbers obtained nothing from him or from Gallea. Apparently content with the $300 they had taken, en from Severan they threatened to blow the head off the first man if he
made an outcry, and fled. Each was old and well dressed.

Charles Michael Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 March 1932: The Mission lineup looks better this year in every department with the exception of catching than last season. The graduation of Charles “Killie" Vella, who starred last year behind the bat, has left that spot more or less of an uncertainty. Vella is now playing for the University of San Francisco. Bevilaqua is wearing the mask and pads for the Mission preps.

John Fenech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 January 1933: Thief Bounces Cabbage Through Glass at Grocer [with a cartoon]: John Fenech, grocer, 153 Bacon street, was in his store surrounded by food yesterday morning when a man attempted to kidnap a cabbage. The gentleman took the cabbage and ran. Fenech leaped his counter and yelled ’Hey!" in no uncertain terms. “Oh. al'right—take your cabbage,” said the stranger, and hurled it. The cabbage, in transit, broke a front window and bounced from Fenech's head, while the stranger went away.Fenech called at the Bayview police station and asked that something be done about the matter.

Spiro Peter Gauci was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 April 1933: Dole Racketeer Makes Good; Escapes Jail -- Police Hunt Grafter Who Sent $3500 Savings to Malta
Another charity racketeer was fined, compelled to make restitution and given six months probation in Municipal Court yesterday. At the same time it was disclosed that investigators have discovered another of the same ilk who is allleged to have withdrawn $3500 from his bank account, sent it to his former home in Malta and was preparing to follow it.
PLANNED TO LEAVE U. S. - He was Spiro Gauci, arrested late yesterday at his home, 1719 La Salle avenue, on a petty theft warrant, issued by Municipal Judge Steiger, on complaint of John W. Shannon, relief fund investigator. According to Shannon, Gauci. who is named in the warrant as Gaecci. drew all but $240 from a bank and was about to use the balance for a ticket to his home land. Gauci denied that he ever had a $3500 balance, and declared he had $200 in the bank, but owed the money to a doctor for treatment of a daughter, injured in an automobile accident.

Valentino Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 October 1933: TWO CHILDREN INJURED -- Two babies, Ben, 3, and Dolores. 2, were severely cut and bruised when an automobile in which they were riding with their father, Val Mallia, 2375 San Bruno avenue, collided at San Jose avenue and Thirtieth street with the car of Raymond Nutti, 270 Hearst avenue. The Mallia car was overturned.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 August 1934: Citizenship Classes Due: English, Naturalization to Be Taught
Seven day classes and live evening class in English and naturalisation are being offered through cooperation of the Italian Board of Relief and the Board of Education, it was announced yesterday by Miss Laura B. Ratio, director of the board of relief. The board has headquarters at 550 Montgomery street. room 902. Night classes are held at Maltese Church hall, 1531 Oakdale avenue; Telegraph Hill Neighborhood House. 173 Stockton street; 6315 Third street; 442 Congo street, and at Preclta Valley Community Center, 534 Preclta avenue.

George Galea was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 June 1937: Six Jailed in Gambling Raids
Two Alleged Bookies Taken In San Bruno -- “Heat On" in Northern End of County -- GRAND JURY ACTS -- McGrath Says He Moved In On Orders
The “heat was on" in the 1 northern part of San Mateo, county today with six men under arrest on gambling charges after a sensational double raid on two asserted bookies establishments in the San Bruno business district, and indications that other raids will follow.
Prompted by the county grand jury and in cooperation with n San Bruno police, deputies of Sheriff James J. McGrath late yesterday swopped down on the San Mateo pool hall and Joe's pool room on San Mateo avenue, arrested the two proprietors and four other men and seized bookmaking paraphernalia and $1186.55 in cash.
Felony Charges
Arrested were George Galea, 39, proprietor, and Kenneth McLeod, 25, a clerk, at the San Mateo pool hall; "Artichoke" Joe Sammut, 53, proprietor, Harold J. Magnuson, 32, Joe Sammut Jr, 21, and Armand Wright, 30, clerk, at the Sammut pool hall.
Charged with felony gambling charges_r Galea, McLeod, Sammut Sr. and Magnuson were released on $250 bail each. The others, booked on misdemeanor gambling charges, were freed after posting $100 bail each.
The raids, staged simultaneously to prevent a "tip off" shortly after 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, were conducted at the insistence of the grand jury, according to Sheriff McGrath.
"Sore Spot," Charge
"I don't make it a practice to go into cities unless I have to.' McGrath explained. The grand jury has regarded San Bruno as "one of the. county's gambling sore spots," C. M. Doxsee, secretary, revealed. "The grand jury called this to the attention of Chief Maher and asked his co operation," Doxsee said. From reports received by the grand jury on the gambling- situation, this apparently has been allowed to continue." Authorities were understood as having been investigating gambling places in San Bruno and other parts of northern San Mateo county and indicated that additional raids would be staged. They turned to the northern front after conducting a series of similar raids in the southern part of the county. A three-week period of quiet followed triple raids on ... (Cont. p. 3)
Page 3
Six Jailed in Gambling Raids
’Th« Casino'* in Belmont, "Berl's Place" near Atherton and the "Menlo Inn" in North Palo Alto.
Racing Wire Service
Raiding officers reported finding racing wire service, loud speakers, form charts and other alleged bookmaking equipment at the two San Bruno pool halls.
About 15 persons in each place at the time of the raids were not arrested. Wright and young Sammut were’ said to have keen conducting a crap game, when Undersheriff Lawrence Nieri, Deputy Sheriff Adolph Waldeck and officer Arthur Brillain arrived at the Sammut pool hall. The dice game "pot" of $160.86 was seized. Sammut Sr. and Magnuson were officiating at the loud speakers, the officers said. Sammut had an $88 "pool" and Magnuson had $894.50. The raid on the San Bruno pool hall was staged by Deputy Sheriffs Thomas Maloney, Hugh Williams, and Police Chief Thomas Maloney. There the officers seized $44.90 in cash.
Accused by Woman
Records show that McLeod was acquitted by a jury in Superior Court Judge Aylett Colban's court, Redwood City, six months ago of a charge of attacking a San Francisco mother at San Bruno. He was later arrested in a Sheriff's gambling raid in Belmont and fined, authorities said.
The six arrested yesterday were taken to South San Francisco for arraignment before Justice of the Peace W. H. Clay in the absence of Judge R. A. Rapsey of San Bruno who is vacationing.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 July 1937: San Bruno Men Up for Arraignment
Arraignment of the six San Bruno defendants on felony and misdemeanor charges is scheduled next Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock in the court of Justice Wade H. Clay, South San Francisco. George Galea, 39, Kenneth McLoad, 25; Joe Sammut, 53, and Harold Magnuson, 32, are charged with felony counts of bookmaking. Joe Sammut, Jr., 21, and Armand Wright, 30, face misdemeanor gambling charges. They were arrested in two raids by San Bruno police and deputies of Sheriff McGrath, a week ago. All are at liberty on bail.

Joseph Paul Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 November 1937: LEGAL NOTICES After this date I will no longer be responsible for any debts contracted by my wife. Margaret Sammut, 28 Ceres street. Joseph P. F. Sammut.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Examiner on 29 May 1939: Maltese Club Fetes Men of British Ship Forty officers and men of His Majesty's ship. Orion, here for Saturday's British Empire Day ceremonies on Treasure Island, were guests of the Maltese Club at a reception yesterday following mass at the Church of St. Paul of the Shipwreck.
The sailors attended church in a body, where Father Theopholus Cachia celebrated a special mass, and later were entertained at the₍ Maltese Club by members of the local English colony. John Sehembri, president of the club, headed the welcoming committee.

George Galea was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 November 1939: Bruce Archer, 23. of 562 Baden avenue. South San Francisco, was in South City Hospital in critical condition after he was struck by a machine driven by George Galea of San Bruno on the Bayshore highway.
Archer died in South San Francisco Hospital at 1:35 a.m. today, the result of injuries received when he was struck by an automobile driven by George Galea, 40. San Bruno. South San Francisco police said the steel workerhad run across the highway near Butler Rd. directly in front of the car. The latter was not held.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 August 1940: S. F. Maltese Give $1100 to War Fund -- San Francisco’s Maltese colony of 2500 persons has donated $1100 for a relief fund for residents of Malta who have been forced from their homes by air raids. The donation was forwarded to Valletta by the San Francisco Maltese Club, 1789 Oakdale avenue, according to Joseph Calleja, president.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 August 1942: Food Sale Will Benefit the Malta Babies -- These tragic mites, the babies of Malta, raised in the bomb shelters of that much bombed isle, will be the beneficiaries of the food sale held at the British War Relief shop at Orant avenue and Bush street tomorrow. The Maltese women of San Francisco wiII offer for sale the gourmet foods of the island, little known in this country. There will be pastîzzi (cheese cake), inkarett, a delectable cake made with dates and a grape liquer, kakta lasèl, a fruit pudding and a favorite with the Maltese, buskqutteili biscuits and almarette, known as the “patron saint*’ cake of the natives of Malta. Mrs. Sidney Ellis, in charge of the sale, will be assisted by Mesdames M. C. Zammit. H. R. Scicluna, Theresa Bajada, E. Falzon. Frank Fenech, and Senech Colwell.

Samuel J Fenech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 January 1944: Recommend Fenech: "If the Oaks art looking for another catcher to help Billy Raimondi, this season recommend Sam Fenech of the Farallonas Packing Company team In San Francisco. The St. Louis; Cardinals are interested in the youth, and have sent him a Sacramento contract. Friends say he doesn't want to hook on with a chain club, if he can find another berth. Competent baseball men who have watched Fenech. say, "Don't hesitate in recommending him for doubie-A baseball, the kind of double-A they’re playing today, The fellow will be able to handle a regular assignment." Wiry, enduring and a good hitter, Fenech can make the Oaks a good man.
This observer, has not talked with Fenech, has no axes to grind, merely wants to see the right parties get together. Understand Pete Connolly at ATwood 0700 knows where Fenech works week days."

Samuel J Fenech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 August 1945: Sailors Beat Oakland, 11-3
Treasure island’s Chuck Richardson hit a home run off the first pitched ball by Oakland’s Van Slate, and the sailors went on to down the Coast Leaguers. ll-3,^: yesterday before 5500 bluejackets. Ex-Oak Fred Tauby and Sam Fenech figured in an unusual play, in the fifth inning. Tauby, up for the sailors, belted a line drive down thifd base line. Fcnech, Oaks catcher, temporarily playing third, turned his back bn the ball. The horsehide struck him in the small of the back, whereupon Fenech turned around, picked it upp and threw Tauby out at first base.

George Galea was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 July 1947: "while the case of Trainer George Galea of San Bruno, suspended at Tanforan for alleged false statements on his license application, was continued.
May 7 1947 article: "A development at Tanforan yesterday was suspension of George Galea, San Mateo owner of thoroughbreds. He was suspended for the remainder of the meeting and his case was referred to the California Horse Racing Board for allegedly having falsified his application for an owner’s license and registration of colors."
George continued to race horses into the late 1970s.

Carmelo J. Azzopardi was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 December 1947: How Muni Bus Drivers Start Work
Carmelo Azzopardi, an APL bus driver lor the Municipal Railway, arrived at the bus depot at Twenty - fourth and Utah street at 5:45 a.m. yesterday. As he entered the driver's gillie (waiting) room, he was handed a white AFL leaflet and a blue OIO circular. They told the men to report officially on time for work—but no earlier.
The drivers, the leaflets and union officiials said, were to carry out each step required by the management. If they did this, they explained, it would be impossible to get the busses rolling in the seven minutes check-in time allowed by the railway. Azzopardi, who lives at 224 Nueva street, hung around the gillie room and talked to the boys until 6:02, his reporting time.Then he got in line outside the clerks' window and waited two and, a half minutes until he received a small bag of 200 tokens, a pad of transfers and some necessary papers. After spending a few seconds signing for the material, Azzopardi walked over to a table, sat down, counted the tokens, to make certain he wasn't accidentally shortchanged, punched his transfers, filled out his trip sheet. This task took about eight minutes—or one minute more than the overall seven minutes allotted by the railroad.
Azzopardi walked briskly to his Sunset Express bus, which was waiting at Twenty-third and Vermont streets—three blocks away. The walk took four minutes. A short time was spent squaring things away in the bus and then another another bit of time was used driving back to the barn, where an inspector checked the change box.
At 6:20. 18 minutes after he reached the window, or 11 minutes late, Azzopardi was on his way. Of the 227 busses which rolled yesterday morning, only six left on time. Most busses were six to nine minutes late in departing. The union held this proves the men need more than the allotted seven minutes for checking and 10 minites for checkout time at the end of the day.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 August 1948: Bookie Wild Guilty article; mentions Joe's poor memory of their encounters.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 August 1948: Agents Investigate Returns of Bay Area Bookies
Federal Income tax investigators yesterday were reported betraying professional curiosity about the profits of four big-time bookies— two in San Francisco, one in Oakland, and one local agent for Easterners. The last was believed to have reported $3000 returns on a year which assertedly brought him $500,000, and the others were said to have been similarly careless. The report was one of several chips still flying from last Friday, when Federal Judge George B. Harris gave the axe to ex-Bookie Julius Wild for shortcomings on income tax returns. The FBI yesterday was investigating "Artichoke” Joe Sammut, Wild associate, for the future edification of the Grand Jury.
Income tax men turned up the signature of Fireman Robert F. Callahan, secretary of the David Scannen Club, on a return filed for Wild March 10, 1942. Callahan previously had said he hadn’t signed it. District Attorney Edmund G. Brown and City Attorney John O’Toole said they were planning no immediate action.

Joseph Borg was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 February 1949: Holdup Nets $10—for The Victim
A San Francisco grocer proudly made the following entry in his 1040 ledgor yoctordoy: "Holdup-plus $10." And income tax agents won’t be able to challenge him. Because the cops will back him up. He is Joseph Borg, 45. Two men entered his store at 1302 Fairfax avenue yesterday, put a $10 bill on the counter and asked tor a bottle of wine. Then one of the men drew a gun and told Borg to hand over his money. Borg ducked into an alcove and returned with a .45 automatic. One robber dropped to the floor. The other fled. Borg fired a shot, and the remaining robber scrambled to his feet and ran out tho door. He and hls comrade joined a third man in a car and got away. Borg may keep the $10, according to Inspector Martin Lee, in charge ef the robbury detail. But there's one catch, Lee said with a straight face. The robbers may file a formal complaint for the money if they wish.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 February 1949: Sammut's Perjury Trial Opens Today..
Joseph Sammut, known to the Sixth street horse-players as “Artichoke Joe,” goes on trial today before Chief Federal Judge Michael' X Roche on a charge of perjury growing out of the Income tax trial of Julius Wild, a “bookie." Wild will be the Government’s' star witness, according to Robert B. McMillan, assistant United States Attorney. Wild was en route last night from the Federal hospital at Springfield, Mo., where he was sent by Federal Judge George B. Harris after being sentenced to two years and fined $5000.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 February 1949: Artichoke Joe Perjury Trial Jury Chosen -- A Jury of eight men and four wcmen was selected in Chief Federal Judge Michael J. Roche’s court yesterday for the trial of Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut on a perjury charge growing out of the income tax evasion trial last fall of Julius Wild. After the Jury was picked, the trial was recessed until this morning, at the request of Assistant U. S. Attorney Robert B. McMillan, to permit attendance of Wild. who once conducted a bookie business in the basement of the Orpheum Theater on Market street, was en route from the Federal hospital at Springfield, Mo., whither he was sent by Federal Judge George B. Harris as part of a two-year sentence. Wild’s train, McMillan said, was delayed by blizzard. Sammut was a Government witness at Wild’s trial. At that time he said he had never seen Wild, didn’t know him, and never even heard of him. The Government prodded Wild’s books, prominently mentioning Sammut, better known to the Sixth street horse playing crowd as Artichoke Joe. Judge Harris, who had ordered the perjury charge lodged against Sammut, will also be a witness at the current trial W. P. and Jack Kyne, turf men, were also subpoenaed. An interested spectator yesterday was Bill Kyne’s counsel, William B. Homftlower. Sammut, decked out in somber gray from hat to socks, sat solemnly as the Jury was selected. Prosecutors said Sammut acquired his nickname lrom his former residence in the Half Moon Bay area where he reportedly organized artichoke growers into an association.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 February 1949: Artichoke Joe Perjury Trial Jury Chosen
A jury of eight men and four women was selected in Chief Federal Judge Michael J. Roche’s court yesterday for the trial of Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut on a perjury charge growing out of the income tax evasion trial last fall of Julius Wild.
After the Jury was picked, the trial was recessed until this morning, at the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert B. McMillan, to permit attendance of Wild. Wild, who once conducted a bookie business in the basement of the Orpheum Theater on Market street, was en route from the Federal hospital at Springfield, Mo., whither he was sent by Federal Judge George B. Harris as part of a two-year sentence. Wild’s train, McMillan said, was delayed by blizzards.
Sammut was a Government witness at Wild’s trial. At that time he said he had never seen Wild, didn't know him, and never even heard of him. The Government produced Wild’s books, prominently mentioning Sammut, better known to the Sixth street horso playing crowd as Artichoke Joe. Judge Harris, who had ordered the perjury charge lodged against Sammut, will also be a. witness at the current trial. W. P. and Jack Kyne, turf men, were also subpoenaed. An interested spectator yesterday was Bill Kyne’a counsel, William B. Hornélower. Sammut, decked out in somber gray from hat to socks, sat solemnly as the jury was selected. Prosecutors said Sammut acquired his nickname from his former realdence in the Half Moon Bay area where he reportedly organized artichoke growers into an association.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 February 1949: Bookie Wild Holds Reunion At Joe's Trial
It was old home week for onetime bookie Julius Wild, convicted of income tar evasion, when he showed up at the Federal building yesterday to play a role in the perjury trial of Joseph Sammut.
With a considerable number of the bookmaking profession out of work because of the “heat”—temporary at least—many of Wild’s old cronies, coworkers and professional colleagues were on hand to say hello. HOSPITAL PATIENT He had Just arrived for a brief visit from the Federal hospital at Springfield, Missouri. He was sentenced to prison in the Income tax case which involved Sammut, also known as “Artichoke Joe,” in his present trouble.
Wild established his one-man receiving line in the witness room of Chief Federal Judge Michael J. Roche’s courtroom, where the 'perjury charge Is being heard by a jury of eight men and four women. The perjury trial resulted from Sammut’s testimony during the Wild trial that he did not know Wild. The Government, particularly Federal Judge George B. Harris, thought otherwise, and instituted the perjury proceedings. IDENTIFICATION ATTEMPT Wild's books mentioned Sammut.
The time came yesterday for Wild to identify Sammut. With individualistic aplomb, he searched the courtroom and picked as the defendant. Defense Counsel William B. Malone.was a bit startled. Wild retained his composure. "Busted my cheaters on the train,” he explained and tried again.j He was successful. "That’s the guy,” he said, almost putting the finger on Sammut, who remained impassive. Wild testified that sometimes he would “layoff bets” with “Artichoke Joe” and produced betting tickets bearing the signature of J. Sammut.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 February 1949: Bookie Wild Holds Reunion At Joe's Trial
It was old home week for one time bookie Julius Wild, convicted of income tax evasion, when he showed up at the Federal building yesterday to play a role in the perjury trial of Joseph Sammut. With a considerable number of the bookmaking profession out of work because of the “heat"—temporary at least—many of Wild’s old cronies, coworkers and professional colleagues were on hand to say hello.
Hospital Patient: He had just arrived for a brief visit from the Federal hospital at Springfield, Missouri. He was sentenced to prison in the Income tax case which involved Sammut, also known as “Artichoke Joe.” Wild established his one-man receiving line in the witness room of Chief Federal Judge Michael J. Roche’s courtroom, where the perjury charge is being heard by a jury of eight men and four women. The perjury trial resulted from Sammut’s testimony during the Wild trial that he did not know Wild. The Government, particularly Federal Judge George B. Harris, thought otherwise, and instituted the perjury proceedings.
Identification Attempt: Wild's books mentioned Sammut. The time came yesterday for Wild to identify Sammut. With individualistic aplonb, he searched the courtroom and picked as the defendant: Defense Counsel William B. Malone. Malone was a bit startled. Wild retained his composure. "Busted my cheaters on the train," he explained and tried again. He was successful. "That’s the guy,” he said, almost putting the finger on Sammut, who remained impassive. Wild testified that sometimes he would “layoff bets" with "Artichoke Joe" and produced betting tickets bearing the signature of J. Sammut.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 February 1949: 'Artichoke Joe' Guilty Of Perjury
"Artichoke Joe" Sammut was found guilty of perjury yesterday afternoon, a week after trial began on testimony he gave last August in income tax evasion proceedings against Bookie Julius Wild.
The verdict was returned by a Jury ot eight men and four women after deliberating an hour and eight minutes. He will reappear in court at 9:30 a. m. Friday, when arguments for a new trial wlll be heard. If a new trial is denied, date for sentence will be set then. The perjury conviction can bring a penalty of five years imprisonment and $10,000 fine. “Artichoke Joe," an alleged celebrity in the local bookie world, testified last August that he was not acquainted with Julius Wild, who was later sentenced to two years for income tax evasion. Wild was brought here from the Federal Hospital at Sprlngfled, Ill., to contradict Sammut’s testimony last Friday.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 February 1949: 'Artichoke Joe' Figures Odds and Begs a Prison Term -- Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut, one of the Bay Region’s better known bookies, parlayed a Jail sentence into a prison term yesterday. He liked the odds better. Found guilty of perjury, Sammut received a sentence of one year in the County Jail, plus a fine of $2000, when he appeared before Chief Federal Judge Michnel J. Roche. He figured the percentage, and came back an hour later with a glzmo. He asked for a longer sentence. He would like to have a day added to that year. He got it, and along with it, a chance to get out in four months instead of serving a sure-thing 10 months. As a County Jail prisoner, he would not have been eligible for parole and at best would have earned no more than two months off, for good behavior. Because no sentence of moré than a year can be served in the County Jail. Sammut automatically became an inmate of the Federal penitentiary [San Quentin] when he got that added day. As such, he can apply for parole, in four months. This display of what his clientele calls smart figuring came shortly after Sammut had been described as the victim of an occupational disease that breeds in horse parlors and insidiously afflicts the minds of bookies. His attorney, Raymond Sullivan. In pleading for mercy, told the Court his client undoubtedly suffers from “Bookies’ Disease.” This psychopathy, he explained, is a cross between a delusion of persecution and a phobia against all matters legal. Every bookie, he says, knows he is being hounded by the cops, and every bookie backs away from the law and its trappings by acquired instinct. Thus, he said, when Sammut was brought, (the attorney said "yanked”) into court as a witness, he reacted in the classic manner and didn’t know or remember anything. Judge Roche conceded Sammut had shown symptoms of a mental nature, only he diagnosed it as "stupidity." Just the same, he said, the defendant merited punishment!
For violating his oath, he imposed the sentence "as a warning to weak-minded persons who lie on the witness stand.” Sammut's manifestionof "Bookie's disease came last August when he was called as a defense witness for his confere, Julius Wild, who was on trial for income lax evasion. Sammut said he never knew, or saw or even heard of Wild, a story that Wild shattered by producing documents and records that, showed they not only laid off bets with each other, but that Sammut loaned Wild $1000.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 February 1949: 'Artichoke Joe' Figures Odds and Begs a Prison Term
Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut, one of the Bay Region’s better known bookies, parlayed a Jail sentence into a prison term yesterday. He liked the odds better.
Found guilty of perjury, Sammut received a sentence of one year in the County Jail, plus a fine of $2000, when he appeared before Chief Federal Judge Michnel J. Roche.
He figured the percentage, and came back an hour later with a gizzmo. He asked for a longer sentence. He would like to have a day added to that year.
He got it. and along with it, a chance to get out in four months instead of serving a sure-thing 10 months.
As a County Jail prisoner, he would not have: been eligible for parole and at best would have earned no more than two months off, for good behavior. Because no sentence of moré than a year can be served in the County Jail, Sammut automatically became an inmate of the Federal penitentiary when he got that added day. As such, he can apply for parole in four months. This display of what his clientele calls smart figuring came shortly after Sammut had been described as the victim of an occupational disease that breeds to horse parlors and insidiously afflicts the minds of bookies. His attorney, Raymond Sullivan, in pleading for mercy, told the Court his client undoubtedly suffers from "Bookies’ Disease.”
This psychopathy, he explained, is a cross between a delusion of persecution and a phobia against all matters legal. Every bookie, he says, knows he is being hounded by the cops, and every bookie backs away from the law and its trappings by acquired instinct.
Thus, he said, when Sammut was brought (the attorney said "yanked”) into court is a witness, he reacted in the classic manner and didn’t know or remember anything. Judge Roche conceded Sammut had shown symptoms of a mental nature, only he diagnosed it as
"stupidity." Just the same, he said, they not only merited punishment for violating his parole. He imposed the sentence as a warning to weak-minded persons who lie on the wit-
ness stand." Sammut's manifestation of "Bookie's disease" came last August when he was called as n defense witness for his confere, Julius Wild, who was on trial for income tux evasion. Sammut said that he never knew, or saw or heard of Wild—a story that Wild shattered by producing documents and records that they not only laid off bets with each other, but that Sammut loaned Wild $1000.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 August 1949: Artichoke Joe Home on Parole From McNeil Island
Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut was all choked up with emotion when he returned to San Francisco yesterday on parole from the Federal penitentiary at McNeil Island.
The 56-ycar-old former Sixth street bookie was so overcome by tears he was unable to answer the routine questions of Chief Federal Probation Officer Albert Wahl.
Wahl asked Artichoke Joe what he planned doing for a living. Sammut buried his head in his hands and cried. His wife answered the questions for him. She said he just wanted
to go to his home in San Bruno and retire. Sammut was convicted last February 18 of perjury in the income tax! trial of Julius Wild, a fellow bookie. I Federal Judge Harris sentenced him to one year in the county jail, but, at Sammut request, the sentence was extended to a year and a day. This automatically sent Artichoke Joe to a Federal penitentiary where! parole regulations are more liberal. Wahl said yesterday Sammut was released ahead of schedule because of his poor physical condition.

Joseph Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 August 1949: Artichoke Joe Home on Parole From McNeil Island
Joseph (Artichoke Joe) Sammut was all choked up with emotion when he returned to San Francisco yesterday on parole from the Federal penitentiary at McNeil Island. The 56-year-old former Sixth street bookie was so overcome by tears he was unable to answer the routine questions of Chief Federal Probation Officer Albert Wahl. Wahl asked Artichoke Joe what he planned doing for a living. Sammut buried his head in his hands and cried. His wife answered the questions for him. She said he just wanted to go to his home in San Bruno and retire. Sammut was convicted last February 18 of perjury in the income tax trial of Julius Wild, a fellow bookie. Federal Judge Harris sentenced him to one year in the county jail, but, at Sammut's request, the sentence was extended to a year and a day. This automatically sent Artichoke Joe to a Federal penitentiary where parole regulations are more liberal. Wahl said yesterday Sammut was released ahead of schedule because of his poor physical condition.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 December 1949: Artichoke Joe's Son Fined $500 For Bookmaking -- Joseph P. Sammut Jr., 32, son of the one-time San Francisco bookie, known as Artichoke Joe, was fined $500 and placed on a year’s probation by Superior Judge A. R. Cotton in Redwood City yesterday for book making. Otho M. Lites. 27, and Charles P. Grech, 21, two employees in young Sammut's San Bruno poolroom, were fined $250 each and placed on six months’probation. All pleaded guilty. They were arrested by representatives of Attorney General Fred N. Howser in a raid October 25. Judge Cotton also ordered the return to Sammut of $6000 in cash which officers seized in the pool-room.

Vincent Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 April 1950: 7 Arrested In Marijuana Easter Raid
Easter Raid
A prodawn Easter party yesterday in the Richmpnd district ended in the arrest of three persons on charges of possessing marijuana. Four others attending the party were taken into custody on $1000 vagrancy charges, police said. Police at first received a tip from an anonymous source that a "marijuana ring" was operating from a house at 530 40th avenue.
Members'of the vice squad and a Federal narcotics agent early in the evening . raided that address, but. found no^! one there. Shortly after 2:30 a. m., they reported; three persons entered, apparently to begin the party. Marijuana cigarettes were found on their persons, the squad said.
Taken into custody for possession Of marijuana and also on $1000 vagrancy charges were.¹ Mrs, Mary Garcia, 24, a housewife and lessee of the flat; Sandra Corona, 22, a waitress of the same address, and Vincent Vella, 28, a clerk of 16th street...

Anthony Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 February 1951: FEB. 1, 1955: Canon sells Tahoe Club to Harrah’s
George Canon today announced sale of George’s Gateway Club at Stateline, Lake Tahoe, to Harrah’s Club Inc. of Reno. The purchase price was “considerably in excess of $500,000,” Canon said. Canon said today that he wants to be able to devote full-time to operation of the Senator Club here, which he recently remodeled and enlarged. George’s Gateway Club has been operated by Canon and his partner, Phillip “Curly” Musso. Canon said it will be turned over to Harrah’s Club Thursday morning. It is reported that Harrah’s will establish at the Stateline resort the famed Pony Express museum which it recently bought from W. Parker Lyon of Arcadia, Calif. Included in the same deal was Tony’s Club at Stateline, operated by Tony Grech. An application seeking a state gambling license for the Gateway Club was filed with the state tax commission here yesterday just before a temporary license moratorium enacted by the Legislature became law. At the same time, Canon and Musso filed an application seeking a gambling license for Casino de Paris at Lake Tahoe, formerly known as Tahoe Village. The club, presently in the hands of the Nevada board of trade, has gone bankrupt several times in the past. This continues the Appeal’s review of news stories and headlines during its Sesquicentennial year.

Helen Marguerite Arana was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 February 1951: ARTICHOKE JOE JR., BOOKIE, SUED BY WIFE -- Joseph, P. Sammut, 34, a San Bruno bookie known as “Artichoke Joe Jr.’ yesterday was sued for separate maintenance in San Mateo County Superior Court by his wife, Helen Marguerite. Mrs. Sammut asked for custody ,of the couple's four children, $1000 monthly allowance, $2500 in attorney fees and division of community property, including a home at 651 Huntington avenue, her husband's office, “Joe’s Pool Room,“ at 676 San Mateo avenue and various parcels of real estate. Sammut is the son of Joe Sammut Sr., a bookie who a few years ago was sentenced to the Federal penitentiary for perjury. “Artichoke Joe Jr.” himself was arrested for bookmaking in 1940 and 1949.

Paul Francis Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 May 1951: Telephones to be checked in Bookie case
Telephone company lnvestlgators: The telephone company said two will go to Brisbane today to check of the phones found on the premises the four phonos in the bookie establishment raided by the San Mateo County Sherieff's office Tuesday night. The raid conducted on two apartment« over the Vis-Valley Club at 107 iVisitaclon avenue, Brisbane, netted a number of records but no arrests. The telephone company said two of the phones found on the premises were regularly assigned to subscribers at that address. The other two, however, were apparently moved from another location. This constitutes a felony under the State penal code. Sheriff Earl B. Whitmore yesterday began studying 24 ledger books seized in the raid to get a better idea of the bookie establishment’s operations. Some bets listed in the ledger were as high as $2500 and these were thought to be layoff bets from San Mateo county and San Francisco bookies.
Inspector Marlon Overstreet of the San Francisco Police Department Special Services Bureau, said he will go to Redwood City today to confer with Sheriff Whitmore. Inspectors Overstreet and Al Halonen arrested two men in San Francisco yesterday on suspicion of bookmaking, following a raid on a cottage In the rear of 2571 San Bruno avenue. They were James J. Attard, 38, and Paul F.Falzon, 25. Falzon lived in the cottage, which the officers described as headquarters for a $400-a-day bookie business.

Reno Joseph Abela was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 July 1951: Story of apartment fire: "Reno Abela, 4ß, a sheetmetal worker, lived on the third floor, in a room facing the light well; I went out my window and crawled into the next room but that was no better. I crawled down a pipe and into another room on the second floor, But I couldn’t get out that door either. For half an hour, maybe more, I crawled from one room to another through the light well windows. But each time I tried to get out a door the flames from the hall pushed me back. The firemen came and water was pouring down the light well from their hoses on the roof. The water was boiling hot. At last I climbed all the way down to the bottom of the light well arid a fireman led me out through a passage to the convent néxt door."

Reno Joseph Abela was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 July 1951: Apt building fire in which 8 people lost their lives; possible arson by homeless person: "Meantime, one of the survivors— Reno G. Abela, 45, a sheetmetal worker—appeared at the naturalization bureau in the Post Office Building and applied for a new set of papers to prove he became a U. S. citizen in August of last year. Abela, a former British subject from Malta, had lost everything In the fire. Sympathetic clerks underwrote the cost of restoring Abela’s proof of citizenship."

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 November 1951: Artichoke Joe Jr. Will Close
Joe Sammut Jr. — more commonly known as "Artichoke Joe Junior” — promised yesterday that he would close his San Bruno cardroom. Sammut was summoned to a
conference with San Mateo District Attorney Louis B. DeMatties and San Bruno Police Chief William Maher after he took out one of the new $50 gambling stamps with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Joe Sammut Jr. denied that he was a gambler. He told. DeMatties he thought he needed the stamp for the cardroom he operates under his city poolroom permit. DeMatties replied that the purchase of the stamp carried the implication that Sammut intended to carry out some illegal activities. Sammut, who has a police record for bookmaking, said he would turn back his $50 stamp to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The bureau’s local office said there was no provision for returning the gambling stamps.

Anthony Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1952: Eddie Sahati died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 41. His brother, Nick, then leased the Stateline Country Club and Sahatis Club to a group of businessmen including Paul Venturi, Anthony Grech (who also ran Tony's Slot Machine Bar across the street, between George's Gateway Club and the California state line), and Karl Berge, who ran the bar (Berge later owned Karl's Silver Club in Sparks). Sahatis Club was renamed to the Stateline Redwood Room, next to the Stateline Country Club, from 1954 to 1956. In 1955, Bill Harrah had purchased George's Gateway Club, across U.S. Highway 50 from the Stateline Country Club, and after a successful couple of years was able to persuade the businessmen to give up their lease so Nick Sahati could sell the property to Harrah.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 29 January 1952: 29 Gambling Stamps Sold Here in '52
Business has perked up for the Government’s new $50 gambling stamp since the first of the year. Whereas only five were sold here in the two months after the new law took effect on November 1, applications have been made for 29 more since New Year’s Day. The total now stands at 34 in Northern California.
Nine of the applicants gave the same address—661 Jackson street. The stamp is required of all bookies, lottery operators and punchboard dealers. In addition to : buying the stamp and having it on display, they must pay 10 per cent of their gross wagering transactions to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The stamp is known officially as the Wagering Tax Stamp...[there were many applicants in China town]...
Art Sherry, chief of the Attorney General’s criminal division, said that his office was making careful lists of all applications for ne stamps.
"They are helping us a lot," he said, "They serve to Identify people."
In addition to the nine stamps at 661 Jackson street, another new San Francisco purchaser is Wilbur Lee Stump, operator of the "Blue Note" Club at 545 Post street.
The first stamp was purchased on November 1 by Thomas B. Rickey, 322 Hayes street, a pottery manufacturer who makos a hobby of collecting "firsts."
Other applications are in the following names: Joseph Sammut Jr., 709 Mill Ave., San Bruno...

Anthony Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 15 April 1953: Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday. April 15. 1953 -- Redwood Cify Pair to Run Tahoe Club
CARSON CITY, Nevnda— On the theory that “uecan't go from bad to worse.” the Nevada Tax- Commission Tuesday granted a gambling license To Anthony Grech and Paul Venturi of Redwood City, Calif., for operation of the Stateline Country Club at. Lake Tahoe. The Stateline has been operated In recent years by Nick Sahati and
I his late brother. Eddie Sahati, of San Francisco. The “bad to worse” reference came from Commissioner-Wallace Parks of Lake Tahoe as he moved that Venturi and Grech be Riven the license. Earlier. Gov. Charles Russell, chairman of the gambling control agency. had observed of the Redwood City men: “These applicants aren’t too Rood, but they are better than Sahati.” -Neither Grech nor Venturi have criminal records but reports to the commission indicated they had Bay Area Gambling for some years. The two told the commission they would be financed In the State-line operation by Businessmen John O'Neil of San-Mateo and Joe Casaretto of San Carlos to the tune of $250.000 on a 10-year promissory note. Attorney Virgil wedge confirmed rumors that Nick Sahati may have changed his mind about leasing but the lawyer said he thought that problem would be worked out If the Bay Area men got their gambling license. Rumors heard'by the Tax Commission were that Sahati may want to operate the club himself this summer in partnership with Dave High. Reno gambler by way of New Jersey. High was unsuccessful in trying to get. a gambling license for a Reno operation.

Anthony Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 July 1953: Court Fight On Over Sahati Club
RENO. July 3:— A iruling on a motion by San Francisco Bay Area gamblers Anthony Grech and Paul Venturi seeking appointment of a receiver to operate the Stateline Country Club at Lake Tahoe was expected in Reno district court today. Grech and Venturi are seeking the receivership pending settlement of a legal motion they have filed against Nicholas Sahati which involves a lease for the Stateline the two gamblers claim was given them bv Sahati but which the latter refused to honor. District Judge Mervin Drown of Wtnnemucea yesterday dismissed a motion by Sahntt seeking seeking dismissal of the suit. Grech and Venturl. who have been given a year gambling license for the Stateline bv the state tax commission, claim that Sahati had reused to allow them to take over the club after agreeing earlier to lease it to them for a five-year period. They have asked that a receiver be appointed until the court decides their demand that the lease either be honored or they be paid $30,000 they gave Sahati when the lease was signed plus $2,200,000 which they estimated as prospectlve profits of the club during the five-year period.




John Bonnici was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 October 1953: Three in Family Burned in Gas Blast Here -- A San Francisco man, his wife and one of their two children were burned yesterday when a water heater pilot light ignited
fumes from some gasoline spilled on their kitchen floor. The explosion started a fire in the, home at 263 Hearst avenue but the fire was quickly snuffed out.
Police said John Bonnicii 43. a cabinetmaker, brought the jug of gasoline to the kitchen, to clean the floor. Somehow the gasoline was spilled, officers said. Bonnici was mopping it up when the explosion occurred. Bonnici was taken to Alemany Emergency Hospital suffering from 3rd degree burns and his condition was described as serious. His wife, Nina, 23, suffered 2nd degree burns on her feet. Their son, Andy, 2, was slightly burned. Another child, John Jr., 9 months, was in the kitchen at the time of the explosion, escaped injury.     

Anthony Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 May 1954: Eddie Sahati's Old Club Has New Partners
Reno, May 24—Paul Venturi, former San Mateo courty gambler, announced a new lineup of ownership of the Staleline Country Club at Lake Tahoo today. The Statellne once was operated by the late Eddie Sahatl. Venturi said he has purchased the interest of his partmr, Tony Grech, another San Mateo county gambler.
In addition, Venturi said an interest In the Statellne has been purchased by four San Francisco Bay Area residents. He Identified them as A. J. Ceorgetta, a San Jose retail produce dealer; Charles (Chuck) Benglveno, former San Jose chain store operator; Lou Gnrdelln, former Mayor of Livermore, and Bill Paulosso, Oakland tavern owner. There waa no mention of money in the transactions. It was presumed, however, that the four new partners put up I the $200,000 Venturi and Cr*.h had been ordered to return to eight gamblers and bus nessmen who recently were dened State gambling licenses in Nevada. The eight men applied for licenses after buying into the Stateline to the extent of $200,000. The Nevada Tax Commission said it suspecled they ¹wanted to use the Statellne club as part of a bookie coramunlcatlons system, and ordered Venturi and Grech to return their money.     

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1954: SF Chronicle Political Roundup: Joseph P. Dorcey writes that the “Maltese American Social Club, Inc." commonly known as the Maltese Club, and the only organization representative of the Maltese community in Bayvlew district, is a non partisan organisation. “It should not be confused with the headline 'Maltese Club for Graves " he writes.     — E.C.B.

Vincent Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in October 1955: Appeals Court Refuses to Block Vice Case Trial
A plea by one of the alleged participants in the vice spree of two teén-age Sacramento girls here last spring to prevent his trial was refused by the State District Court of Appeal yesterday. Vincent Vella, 32, of 1001 Wisconsin stréet sought the action on the grounds that the Grand Jury that indicted him had not received legally sufficient evidence. He was indicted for conspiracy in procuring and for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Vella’s trial has been set for October 31. He has pleaded not guilty.

Vincent Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1955: Girls in Vice Case Mum—Suspect Freed
Vincent Vella, 32, was freed yesterday of charges of conspiracy in procuring and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after the two runaway Sacramento girls declined to testify against him. As usual the girls—known as “Pat” and “Ginger”—pleaded the Fifth Amendment that their testimony might degrade or incriminate them.

Anthony P. Borg was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 29 January 1956: Together Again -- Five years ago Anthoney Borg left his farm on Mediterranean Malta for a new life in America. Hiring out as a janitor at the Best Foods plant in San Francisco, he put away every penny he could of his |69 take-home pay, finally saved enough to fetch his whole family from the island. Last week end, laughing and weeping, he was on hand to greet them at trainside in the Oakland Mole. "Hi, Johnny,” 46-year-old Borg cried, poking a finger at a shy youngster. “No, no,” his family cried, “Manuel!” Borg turned to another boy: “Johnny?” “No, no,” came the delighted chorus. Once straightened out on his progeny, ex- farmer Borÿ passed around bubble gum and proudly shepherded home: wife Teresa; Carmel, 19; Vincent, 17; Santa Maria, 15; Joseph, 13; Christian, 11; Polly, 10; Candon, 9; John, 7; Manuel, 6.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 July 1956: Notice of intention to engage in the sale of Alcoholic Beverages, July 23. 1959
To Whom It May Concern: Subject to issuance of the license applied for...and commencing not less than 15 days after the date posted, notice is hereby given that the undersigned proposes to sell alcoholic beverages at these premises. described as follows: 1789 Oakdale Ave, San Francisco, CA
Pursuant to such Intention, the undersigned Is applying to the Department of Alcoholic Bevemge Control for issuance on original application of an alcoholic beverage license for these premises as follows: On-Sale Beer. Anyone desiring to protest the Issuance of such license may file a verified protest with the department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at Sacramento.: California, stating grounds for denial as provided by law. The premises are now licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages.          .
MALTESE AMERICAN SOCIAL CLUB. INC.     A. Zammit. President.

Joseph Paul Grech Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 October 1956: 'Hot Shot in Motel -- 2nd Dope Death; Blonde Addict Held

An attractive blonde 22-year-old drug addict was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday after police said she admitted administering a lethal dose of heroin to a seaman. The man, Joseph Grech, 32, died shortly after midnight in a Lombard street motel room where he had registered with the woman minutes before she gave him the “hot shot.” Grech was the second seaman to die here within a week from an overdose of heroin. The body of Douglas Callies, 20, was found in a church parking lot Thursday night. HUSBAND IN PRISON Held in connection with the death of Grech is Carmelita Valentine Costa, who has a long record as an addict. She Is the wife of Chris Costa who is currently serving time in Folsom as a parole violator on narcotics and pimping convictions. She was arrested at the home of her mother, Bonnie Lachine, at 591 Seventh avenue, after she fled the motel in Grech’s 1954 green and ivory Cadillac coupe. Grech, who lived at 2039 Silver avenue, left his ship in Eureka Tuesday, police said, and came here by plane. According to Leonard Overton, 50, night clerk at the motel at 1501 Lombard street. Continued on Page 17, Col. 5
Dope: Blonde Held in Motel Death Here Continued from Page 1
the seaman registered there shortly after midnight while the blande waited in the car. Overton said Grech paid for the room with a $100 bill. About. 40 minutes later, the motel clerk said, the woman came to the desk and asked for some small change for a telephone calL Shortly after that a woman called Central Emergency Hospital and reported a man needed an ambulance. When the ambulance crew arrived, the woman and the Cadillac were gone. Grech, who also had a narcotics record, was found sprawled on the floor fully clothed. His head was wet indicating water had been thrown on him in an attempt to revive him. A recent penetration, such as would have been made by a hypodermic needle, was found in a vein on his right arm. Police Homicide Inspectors George Asdrubale and. William Guthrie recognized Mrs. Costa as Grech's companion from the description given of her by the motel clerk. Knowing that she has arrested tuberculosis, they checked records at the TB clinic at San Francisco Hospital and found the Seventh avenue address. She was there and had parked Grech's Cadillac near the.house.
CONFESSION
She readily admitted she had prepared and administered the heroin to Grech and had taken an identical dose herself. Police said the massive shot had not bothered her because she was a constant user and had built up a resistance. Grech however, had been on a long sea voyage and had not been using narcotics. The shock of what to Mrs. Costa was a normal dose killed him, police said. The woman also admitted it was she who had purchased the narcotic and police yesterday were looking for the
peddler who sold it to her. She said Grech became ill immediately after the dope had been injected.
‘A TERRIBLE DEATH’
“I knew he was in a bad way,” she said, “so got change for the phone and called the hospital.” She was booked, at City Prison at 1:15 p. m.—just 13 hours after the fatal dose of heroin was administered. The two narcotics deaths within seven days caused narcotics officers to speculatethat a quantity of dangerously pure heroin may be in circulation here. Heroin, as used by addicts, is diluted greatly by the pusher. Walter Creighton, head of the State Narcotics Bureau, theorized that both men may have received shots of virtually, pure heroin by mistake. “It’s a terrible death’ he said. “Heroin paralyzes the lungs and the victim suffocates internally.”.

Joseph Paul Grech Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5 October 1956: Grand Jury To Study Dope Deaths The cases of a blonde dope addict and an asserted narcotics peddler, both connected by police with the deaths of two seamen from overdoses of heroin, will be presented to the Grand Jury Monday. Still being sought by police is a third person who assertedly supplied the woman with heroin that killed Joseph Grech, 32, Wednesday morning. Grech’s body was found in a Lombard street motel room shortly after he had registered there with Carmelita Valentine Costa, 22, who admitted she gave the fatal dose to the seaman. Mrs. Costa, who has a prior police record, is being held on suspicion of murder. In City Prison yesterday she was suffering from severe narcotics withdrawal symptoms. She said she had been spending $60 a day on heroin
She said she, “supposed” she was sorry about Grech's death. “But the way I feel right now I don’t very much care. I'm in bad shape,” she whimpered. I'm sick.” The alleged peddler in the second dope death is Luther Poindexter, 44, who pleaded not guilty to a murder charge yesterday before Municipal Judge Alvin Weinberger. The Judge set October 11 for a preliminary hearing. Poindexter, an ex-convict, was said by police to have furnished the heroin that killed seaman Douglas Callies, 20, last week. His body was dumped by friends in a parking lot.

Joseph J. Attard was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in May 1957: Story of 12 year old Joseph Attard who was "mauled" by his teacher who was trying to get him out of the classroom for being obstinate. Teacher's pencil scratched the boy.

Sam A. Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 September 1957: Sam A. Falzon, 23, of 101 Elmira street, five days in jail for doing 90 on the Great Highway, plus an additional 90-day sentence for driving with a revoked license.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 February 1958: Say San Bruno Brass -- 'Artichoke Joe Jr. Runs a Nice Place'
The Mayor of San Bruno, a city councilman and a police captain testified as character witnesses at a State liquor board hearing yesterday for Joseph Sammut Jr., a former bookmaker known as Artichoke Joe. Jr. Sammut is seeking restoration of the license for his tavern, Artichoke's, at 676 San Mateo avenue, San Bruno.
The license was suspended last year on grounds Sammut is not a fit and proper person to have a license and that he violated rules, anyway, by transferring the title to an aunt in order to conceal the true ownership. Mayor Robert B. Price told State Hearing Officer Ivores R. Dains at a Redwood City hearing that the tavern is run in an orderly manner and Sammut is an asset to the community.
Captain Russell Cunningham said the place “is not a police problem.” and City Councilman Richard Stagg declared he had himself advised Sammut several years ago to give up gambling.
“Everyone in town knows you can’t place a bet at Joe’s,” said Stagg. A fourth character witness, Josua Maule, a druggist, described Artichoke’s as “a nice place to drop into” and Sammut himself as “a good fellow ”. Sammut said under cross- examination that he began bookmaking at the age of 8 but had stopped after his arrest in 1949, when he was 32
Sammut said he started bookmaking because his father was sick and “I had to support the family.” Sammut’s father was once a big San Francisco bookmaker.
LICENSE TRANSFER Sammut said he transferred his bar license to his aunt, Antonia Baumann, 2799 Bryant street, San Francisco, because District Attorney Louis B. DeMatteis told him he would have to get rid of it. DeMatteis is now & Superior Judge in San Mateo county. Sammut said he had successfully served a six months’ period of probation for his 1949 bookmaking arrest, and that the conviction has now been expunged from the record.
Asked if the bar alone supplies him with an adequate living, he philosophized:
“The bar is making money now, but the bar business runs in seven-year cycles like the Bible says — seven lean years and seven good years.” Dains took the case under consideration.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 February 1958: Good Guy
Artichoke Joe Jr., by his own admission, became a bookie at the age of 8 because his father was sick and “I had to support the family/." Bookmaking was a family tradition —his father was once a big San Francisco bookie — and Artichoke Joe, real name: Joseph Sammut Jr, kept up the tradition until his arrest in 1949 when he was 32. After serving six months probation, Sammut went into a new profession and opened a tavern, Artichoke’s, in San Bruno. But the license was suspended last year on the grounds that Sammut was not a fit and proper person to have one and that he had violated the rules, anyway, by transferring the title to an aunt in order to conceal the true ownership. Artichoke Joe desperately wanted the license back. And last week, at a State liquor board hearing in Redwood City, he paraded an impressive cast of. character witnesses: San Bruno’s Mayor Robert Price, Police Captain Russell Cunningham and City Councilman Richard Stagg. All testified Sammut was a good guy and his place well run. “Everyone in town knows you can’t place a bet at Joe’s,” said Stagg. Asked if the bar alone supplied him with an adequate living, Artichoke Joe replied: “The bar is making money now, but the bar business runs in seven year cycles like the Bible says — seven lean years and seven good years.” State Hearing Officer Ivores Dains said he would take the case under consideration.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 May 1958: Artichoke Joe Decision to Be Altered
A decision by a State hearing officer denying a tavern license to Joseph Sammut Jr., a former bookie known as Artichoke Joe Jr., is going to be rewritten to modify some “harsh language” about San Bruno city officials. Russell S. Munro, director of the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said yesterday he agrees with the conclusions of the hearing officer, Ivores Dains, but feels it contains “harsh language."
During the hearing on Sammut’s license application in February, San Bruno Mayor Robert B. Price, City Councilman Richard Stagg and Police Captain Russell Cunningham appeared as character witnesses. Sammut ran the Club Artichoke, at 676 San Mateo avenue in San Bruno, although the license had been in the name of an aunt, Antonia Baumann, since he was convicted in 1951 of bookmaking. In his ruling turning down Sammut’s application, Dains noted that Tanforan Race Track is within the San Bruno city limits and is perhaps one of largest taxpayers. “Under such circumstances,” wrote Dains, “we are inclined to think that the
stances,” wrote Dains, “we are inclined to think that the persons referred to by applicant Sammut have been exposed to horse race betting, legal and illegal, for so long a time as to be unable to see any wrong in wagering on the event of a race or in bookmaking, and we are unable to give much or any credence to their recommendations.”. Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 June 1958: Burglar Trap Scores Hit, Run, Error
Joseph Abela of 10 Chester avenue, has his store wired to catch burglars. He sleeps above it, with one ear open. Early yesterday his vigilance paid off—in a way. Abela, 29, owner of the Merced Heights Market, was sleeping in his quarters over the store when the intercom buzzed loud and clear at 4:15 a. m. He hastily grabbed his shotgun, got downstairs in time to see a burglar stuffing cigarettes into a cardboard carton. Abela shot at the fleeing thief. He missed and did $100 damage to a sink. He chased the thief over a backyard fence. The thief got away. Abela fell and hurt his toe.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 October 1958: "Malta Is Like a Convent' -- A Reverend Mother with sunny smile and wide understanding in her brown eyes visits San Frandapo from the island of Malta the small island in the middle of the Mediterranean with a bursting population, 400,000 to be exact. .... The Reverend Mother Luba Busuttil, of the Fraaebean Sisters of Malta, reaches the end trf a half-way around the world tour at St Paul of the Shipwreck elementary achooi, the Order's only UJS. foundation. Starting in Italy where their 11 houses indude homes for the aged and dinks as well as schools, the Reverend Mother with her traveling companion Sister Geafil% Formosa stopped between , here and there in Brazil where plans were laid for the founding of a novitiats. Although not on .the itinerary for tbb trip, the Sisters have schools In Greece, Pakistan and Australia.
The Franciscan Sistars of Malta originated there, tbe visiting representatives state proudly. It b not surpris&g that such a small country should flower thus, for it be in many respects a "Catholic” country, all schools, public and private, teaching the religion of 90 per cent rtf tbe population. The customs of the people, their living habits centar around the .Church, which causes visitors from abroad to comment, "Malta is like a convent.” REV. MOTHER LUISA ...visits S.F.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 October 1958: Sisters’ Profession Tomorrow at St. Paul of Shipwreck
Four Franciscan Sisters of Malta will make their profession of perpetual vows at 8:30 am tomorrow at St Paul of the Shipwreck Church, 1509 Oakdale avenue, San Francisco. The Reverend Mother Luisa Busuttil, Mother General of the Franciscan Sisters of. Malta, will receive the profession of Sisters Annanda, Dositea, Imeldina and Stefana. Mass will be celebrated. The Sisters staff St Paul of the Shipwreck elementary school.

Anthony Charles Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 October 1958: Drugstore Thefts Jury Indicts 16 In Bay Dope Ring
The Federal Grand Jury here indicted 16 persons yesterday as members of a narcotics ring that burglarized Bay Area drugstores to obtain dope. Those indicted include the son of a San Francisco police inspector and a 19-year-old blonde, a former photographer’s mode). Assistant U. S. Attorney James B. Schnake, said the ring was responsible for sell- ing some $40,000 in morphine, cocaine, and codeine tablets taken from drug stores....which they sold...
INDICTED
Indicted for burglary were: Anthony C. Grech , 24, unemployed, of 1936 Donner street, San Francisco; his brother, Jerry, 22, a printer, same address; Robert M. McClure, 21, of 1320 Girard street, San Francisco; Albert M. Patron, 23, a printer, of 16 West Bellevue avenue, San Mateo; and Miss Stoner.
Others indicted for narcotics include.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 November 1958: Christmas Party Meeting on Agenda

A Christmas party-meeting on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the, school auditorium, is planned by St Paul of the Shipwreck Mothers’ guild.

Father Benvenute Bavero, pastor, and Mother Olympia, principal, will give a progress .report of the school children. Gifts will be exchanged.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 February 1959: Herb Caen: .. . The glorious and/or notorious “Artichoke Joe” Sammut, who lost the likker license for his Club Artichoke in S’Bruno after the ABC learned he’d once been a bookie, is about to get it back—because of (or despite) glowing recommendations from the town’s Mayor, Police Chief and Big Banker. Damon Runyon, youse died too soon . . .

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 May 1959: St. Paul Shipwreck Parish Picnic Set

The parishioners of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church In San Francisco are preparing for their annual picnic op Sunday at the Sunnyview Family dub in Mountain View. The picnic committee under the chairmanship of Edward Avanrino promises a day of games and relaxation with activities for the children, and parking space. Donation Is 75 cents for adults, and children under 12 will be admitted free.

Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 May 1959: 'Artichoke Joe' Back on Right Track -- The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ruled that Artichoke Joe has turned over a new leaf and shown a good heart.
And so Artichoke Joe was back operating his tavern of the same name in San Bruno yesterday, much to the satisfaction of city officials, who love him.
Artichoke—more formally known as Joseph Sammut, Jr., 42 — lost his liquor license last year after conceding that he had been a bookmaker since the age of 8. But, he added hastily, he had reformed in 1949.
San Bruno’s mayor, the police chief, a city councilman and a neighborhood druggist all took the stand to testify that the only nags ever mentioned in Artichoke Joe’s were the kind that called up to find out where their husbands were. After considerable thought the board reversed itself Wednesday and decided that Artichoke Joe could have his license back because he really had reformed. The new, law-abiding Artichoke, happy as a filly, said he felt it had been a tough race but he was glad he’d put on a strong finish in the stretch and had won by a nose going away.

Mary Charlotte Tonna was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 September 1959: Romantic News Announced By Visiting Accountant The Honolulu Chapter Number 62 of the American Society of Women Accountants honored Miss Mary Charlotte Tonna of San Francisco, national educational chairman of the society, Monday evening at the Tropics. Miss Tonna, who is vactioning at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, extended a personal invitation to the newly organized group to attend the national convention October 21 through 24 at the Hotel Mark Hopkins In San Francisco. It will be a joint session of the American Woman's Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Society of Women Accountants. "I MUST SAY that I've wanted to come to the Islands since I was a teenager," Miss Tonna said, and at the same time announced to the group her engagement to Richard F. Gouveia, son of Mrs. Mary Gouveia and the late Manual Gouveia, formerly of Honolulu. The Gouveia family have been long time Island residents, living on Maui prior to moving to Honolulu. Richard and his mother moved to Burlingame, California, in March, 1958. MISS TONNA, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emmanu-ele Tonna of San Francisco, received her bachelor of science degree from the University of San Francisco and is a certified public accountant. She was editor of the AWSCPA News and wrote a coast-to-coast column for the society's national publication four years. Her fiance is a graduate of St. Louis High School and attended the University of Hawaii He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, and works for the Naval Shipyards in San Francisco. THE WEDDING will take place at 11 a.m. November 28 at the St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church in San Francisco.

Father Theophilus Cachia O.F.M. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 September 1959: Fr. Cachia Rites Set For Monday - Requiem High Mass for the Rev. Theophilus Cachia. O.F.M., pastor of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church for 34 years, will be held at the church at 1509 Oakdale Ave., at 10 a. m. Monday. Father Cachia died of a heart attack at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Buena Vista Ave., Thursday. He was 68. A native of Malta, he was ordained priest 44 years ago, and came to San Francisco in 1916. Father Cachia was also chaplain of the Italian Catholic Federation Branch 29, the Catholic Ladies Aid Society Branch 69, the Mother Cabrini Society, and the Maltese-American Social Club The rosary will be recited at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church tonight at 8 o’clock and the Friar’s Office of the Dead will be recited at 8 o’clock tomorrow night.

Father Theophilus Cachia O.F.M. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 October 1959: A Solemn Requiem High Mass was offered on Monday for the repose of the soul of Father Theophiius Cachia, 0.F.M., at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church in San Francisco, where he served as pastor for 34 years. Burial was in Holy Cross cemetery. Father Theophiius, a native of Sliema, Malta, where he was ordained a Franciscan priesL died Sept. 24 in St Joseph’s hospital. He was 68. A priest for 44 years. Father Theophiius came to San Francisco in 1916, and was pastor of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church from 1919 to 1953. In addition to serving at the Maltese and Italian national church, he was past district council chaplain of the Italian Catholic Federation and chaplain of Branch No. 69. He was also the chaplain of the Mother Cabrini society and the Maltese American Social club. Father Theophiius is survived by three brothers, John Cachia of San Francisco; Emanuel Cachia of Woodside; Lawrence Cachia of New York, and two sisters, Julia Cachia of Detroit; Dolores Barbara of Australia.

Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 January 1960: His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop, announces the following appointments: Rev. Urban Habig, O.F.M.—Assistant Pastor, St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, San Francisco.

Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 July 1960: St. Paul Shipwreck Groundbreaking: Father Benvenute Bavero, 0.F.M., pastor of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, will preside at groundbreaking ceremonies for the new church and hail this Sunday, at 2 p.m., Third street and Jamestown, San Francisco. Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 May 1961: Spice worker Falls Off Train Into Car's Path     -- A department foreman at the Shilling spice plant was critically injured yesterday when he fell 15 feet from a freight car and was run over by a station wagon at Second and Folsom streets. George Powell, 50, of 140 Shakespeare street, fell from the freight car, parked on the company’s loading ramp, directly into the path of an auto driven by Angelo Vella, 34, a metalworker of 1951 Quint street. Powell suffered chest and possible internal injuries and a fracture of the right wrist, according to Patrolman William S. Hardeman Jr. He underwent surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Edward James Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 July 1961: Loudmouth Gets $610 in Holdup -- A gunman got away with $610 yesterday at Siri’s supermarket, 1245 South Van Ness avenue. Manager Ed Grech, 25, of 703 Pepper drive, San Bruno, said the man walked into the crowded market and complained loudly that his wife had been short-changed $20. He followed Grech into the office and, once inside, whipped out a revolver and made Grech fill a paper bag with money.

Mary Delores Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 September 1961: Woman Killed -- Fatal Knifing In a Grocery Store
A 54-year-old woman was stabbed to death yesterday in the little corner grocery she and her husband had operated at Hunters Point for 28 years. A 16 year-old Balboa High School student was arrested a half hour later after a yard-by-yard search of the area by dozens of police officers. The boy admitted the crime after several hours of questioning. The dead woman was Mary Borg. who. with her husband. Joseph, owned the Fairfax Market at 1302 Fairfax. Police gave this version of the tragedy: Mrs. Borg was alone in the store when a teenager entered a few minutes after 11 AM. When she went to the candy case at the end of the wooden cabinet to wait on him, the youth announece. "This is a hold-up." Mrs. Borg screamed. "I said 'Stop that!" the boy told polce, "but she just screamed aid screamed." The youth stabbed her 16 times in the chest. Borg upstairs in their apartment, heard his wife scream. He grabbed his .45 caliber pistol and ran downstairs. When he tried to open the door behind the counter, he found his wife’s body wedging it nearly shut. In a frenzy, Borg squeezed though in time to see the killer darting through the swinging door to the street.
Borg fired once at the retreating figure, but missed, and the bullet broke the store window. He chased after the killer, but lost him a few blocks away and ran back to call police. Squad cars and motorcycle officers sealed off the area within minutes. The police called off their dragnet 30 minutes later, when officers found 16-year-old Ben Williams of 574 Head street in the Valley Motor Lines yard at Third and Quint streets. Arrested byOfficers Robert Mattcx, Robert Brady and Earl O’Brien, young Williams al first denied any connection with the slaying.

(?) St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 October 1961: St. Paul of Shipwreck Dedication Bishop Guilfoyle To Officiate at Maltese Church -- Fitting its name, anew church in San Francisco’s outer 4 Bay View dietrict juts streetward like the prow of a ship.' St. Paul of the Shipwreck, national parish church for the Maltese and Italian famniee of that area, will ba dedicated thie Sunday at 10:43 a.m. by Bishop Merlin J. Guilfoyle. Of pink-toned concrete block, it rises from a slope at the comer of Third street and Jamestown, main route to Carrdlestick park. The upper level, with entrance on Jamestown. is the church proper, seating 650 persons. Deep excavation into the slope—courtesy Charles Harney—gave the church space for a full gymnasium-audito-rium beneath the nave, seating 900. It is the two-story, prow-shaped rear of the building that most passers-by see from Third street. Father Benvenute Bavero, 0.F.M.. pastor, watched workmen rushing to complete the interior of the church this week. He noted many of them were parishioners who had volunteered to do carpentry, cabinet work, tile-laying, and installation of the oak pews. A special crew took on the task of mounting the main altar, of black marble fronted with white angels on gold mosaic. The white marble top weighs 3500 pounds. The new SL Paul’s replaces a tiny church at 1509 Oakdale avenue, where the Franciscan Fathers in 1915 began tending the spiritual needs of the largest Maltese-Amerlcan community west of Detroit. Sixty per cent of the parish's 1000 families hail from Malta, the tiny Mediterranean island-state. The remainder are Italian-Americans. A new rectory, still to come, will complete a blocksquare parish plant begun in 1956 with the opening of St. Paul of the Shipwreck school (Franciscan Sisters of Malta) and convent. Large panels of light nak, with light pink separators, line the sanctuary of the new church. Altar railing is of white marble on red marble supports. Side altars occupy two of six alcoves flanking the neve, with the others to house shrines of carved wood, including a pair of 17th-century angels donated by Mrs. Kathleen Norris. Stained glass windows feature the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. St. Paul of the Shipwreck is honored in one of several paintings and ceramics from they studio of the late Father Luigi Sciocchetti. Baptismal font of the vestibule of distinctive dark green marble The church seats an additional 100 persons in the choir loft. Louvers shield the wooden pipes of a small organ. Architect for St. Paul's was Leslie Irwin, the contractor, William Horstmeyer Cos.

Emanuel Anthony Bonnici was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 March 1962: Car hits houses---Two Injured -- Two persons were seriously hurt early yesterday when they were thrown from a sports car which spun out of control along Army street and slammed into two houses. Emmanuel A. Bonnici, 24, of 933 Sunnydale avenue, suffered internal and head injuries. His passenger, Lois Temple, 21, of 780 Post street, suffered a fractured right arm and back injuries.

Nazzareno Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 January 1963: Honor Breakfast For Grads of O'Connell High -- A breakfast meeting this morning will honor the eight graduating senior of John A. O'Connell Vocational High School, Principal Edwin R. Duncan announced yesterday. Nazzareno Grech, student body president and class president, will preside, and Assistant Superintendent Edward D. Goldman will speak. Because of the small size of the class there will be no forrmal commencement exercises. The graduates, in addition to Grech, include Joseph R. Arzac Jr.. Michael Galea. Dewey A Hansen, Oliver McBride, Jacques Oyancabai. Peter A. Shevchenko and Joseph C. Vella.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 September 1964: Congratulating the People of the State of Malta. Resolution No. 557-64 Whereas. September 20, 1964, marked the birth of the sovereign State of Malta, which gained its independence after 164 years of British rule; and WHEREAS. Cognisant of the manner in which the United States, secured its independence, the people of the City and County of San Francisco join with the large Maltese! population in the San Francisco 8av Area in celebrating this joyous event: now, therefore, be it RESOLVED. That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County ot San Francisco do hereby extend to the people of the State of Malta heartiest congratulations upon the occasion of their Independence Day and the birth of the State of Malta. I hereby cert^:fy that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco at its meeting of September 21. 1964. ROBERT J. DOLAN. Clerk. Approved September 23. 1964.
LEO T. McCarthy, Acting Mayor, Sept. 26. 1964.     

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7 March 1965: If one were to seek all the old fashioned virtues of family, church, and patriotism he would find them nowhere in greater flower than the Bayview district of San Francisco. It is there, to borrow an old Reader’s Digest phrase, one finds the Maltese among us.
Some 9,000 Maltese live in San Francisco, compared with 42,000 in the rest of the U. S. They came just before 1900, lured by tales reaching their Mediterranean island that the post Gold Rush period in San Francisco was every bit as good as the real thing.
About 50 Maltese who were here were given $400 by Archbishop Hanna and raised another $900 themselves to buy a saloon in the Bayview district and turn it into a church. The church is still there today at Jamestown and Third Street. All the nuns are Maltese as are two of the priests.
In the Maltese make-up there is no room for gray tones. Everything is positive. They are 100 percent Catholic, completely honest, fiercely patriotic, Democrats, hardworking and resolute. They are one of the few immigrant groups where each succeeding generation stays in the same neighborhood, marries within the Maltese community, allows none of its members to become a public charge. It is this stamp of character which enabled the Maltese people to stand endless bombings in World War II without cracking

Malta is an island 58 miles southwest of Sicily. In its area of 122 square miles live less than a third of a million people. These small, dark people preserve a language in which Dido may have welcomed Aeneas to Carthage. The sound of Maltese being spoken makes one think of it as a combination of Arabic and Italian. Indeed the Italians and the Maltese can understand each other's speech fairly well. The Maltese though, were Phoenicians.
One of the energetic spokesmen for the San Francisco Maltese is Charles J. Vassallo, a real estate broker. He came to the U. S. in 1947, worked first as an upholsterer, and later studied real estate.
The U. S. immigration quota for Maltese is 100 per year. Vassallo had always dreamed of and strived to come here, and says this is true of almost everyone in Malta. He was in the British Army taking a training course in London after the war when the word arrived that he could go to America.
He became acquainted with his fellow Maltese here at the Maltese Club. 1789 Oakdale Ave. He is an example of all those qualities he attributes to the Maltese in San Francisco—‘‘They own their own homes, they want to become number one citizens, they work hard, they stay in one place, they prosper.”
The Maltese Club was just remodeled for $165,000. Vassallo says “We all helped out. I gave the materials for the back bar, somebody else donated the labor, others gave ashtrays, carpets, clocks, and sofas.’’
Today Vassallo brings the politicians of the moment to parties at his club—Roger Boas, Leo McCarthy, George Moscone, and “You should see the way Mayor Shelley eats those cheesecakes.” The Maltese make a flaky, pastry cheesecake with a ricotta or a pastizzi filling.
Vassallo also helps his fellow Maltese to come to the U. S. by being a guarantor for many. He is proud when they make good. The vice-president of the club, Tony Spiteri, is with the naval shipyard at Treasure Island as a head barber.
Both Spiteri and Vassallo feel the Maltese don’t marry out because of the fear that most Americans don’t take family life so seriously as the Maltese. “There's a fear that a divorce may take place.”
In the Maltese family the man is definitely the head of the house. At least he was in Malta. The lament is that the women are coming up fast—“they are getting a little Americanized."

Michael Lawrence Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 April 1965: Boy Vanishes —Sharks Seen
A teen-age San Bruno boy disappeared off a surf board in swirling waters off Pacifica yesterday afternoon—and may have been killed by sharks. A Pacifica police officer, Douglas Freutel, said he saw three sharks cruising in the waters off Pedro Beach early yesterday afternoon. And a Coast Guard helicopter which raced to the scene reported seeing one shark in the area where the boy disappeared. Still missing late last night was Michael Saimuut, 19. soil of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Sammut of 709 Mills avenue. San Bruno. The alarm was sounded at 4 p.m. when an unidentified boy raced up to three men on the beach and shouted "My buddy’s in trouble out there!"
The three clambered into a rubber life raft and paddled out through the heavy riptides. Finally they spotted the boy foundering about 100 yards out. But when they got within 75 yards of him he disappeared, they said. Tiey didn’t see him again, and neither did the crew of the helicopter.
The three men who paddied out in the rescue attempt were Robert Mosser, 27, of 1280 17th avenue and John D. Rausche, 23, of 1282 17th avenue, both San Francisco, and Paul W. Foster, 22, of 68 Perito street in Daly City.

Jack Pisani was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 29 August 1965: NEW publisher in town: A series of novelty books, chiefly comic, appeal’s from Pisani Press, San Francisco. This is a division of the Pisani Printing Company, the
Brannan street firm founded in the 1920s by the late Jack Pisahi, Italian-born opera buff and long a member of the San Francisco Opera chorus. Mr. Pisani’s son, Richard, and a nephew, Michael Pisahi, operate the business now and are responsible for branching out, gingerly for the moment, into this publishing experiment.
Pliciiii Louks ax e .cliieily softeover. or spiral-bound novelties. Bill Bates’ “Ping,” a collection of appealing car- - toons featuring the San Francisco Chinatown figure of that name, is a current success....

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 November 1965: Gift for Malta -- The Maltese-American Social Club raised $1300 at a Saturday dance to send to the United States Ambassador George Feldman at Malta to distribute among underprivileged children at Christmas, a club spokesman said yesterday.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 September 1966: Malta Premier Arrives In S. F. Today. Dr. George Borg Oliver, prime minister of Malta, is due to arrive here at 5:30 p.m. today, the Maltese American Social Club of San Francisco has announced. Oliver will visit with members of the local Maltese community of the Bay Area. Tomorrow he will attend mass at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, a Maltese Roman Catholic congregation. A reception will be held afterward at 1789 Oaklale avenue. A dinner in his honor is to be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 November 1966: 'Brave Island' Malta's Leader Honored Her
Several hundred members of the San Francisco Maltese community gathered last night at the Mark Hopkins to pay tribute to the prime minister of Malta, Giorgio Borg Olivier. It was a convivial evening with much exchanging of gifts and medals. and numerous speeches punctuated by applause. The dinner was sponsored by the Maltese American Social Club of San Francisco. San Francisco Supervisor Peter Tamaras, representing the mayor, gave Olivier the key to the city. Olivier gave Tamaras a gold medal, struck to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Valletta, capital of Malta.
AMBASSADOR
Tamaras commended Malta for its courage under bombing during World War II, calling it a thorn in the side of the Axis. The Free World was strengthened by the knowledge that Malta was still free. G e o r g e J. Feldman, U.S. Ambassador to Malta, also mentioned the courage of the Maltese, saying, “It is this courage that is going to make Malta develop a viaable economy.” Malta, which is now Independent of Great Britain, faces the task of adjusting to the loss of British economic support.
Oliver spoke on this theme, also saying "Let us ask of you only this: not to forget our little island of Malta. It is only with the help of friends like America and Britain, that we will emerge from the present difficulties.
MILITANCY
He then switched into Maltese—which is a combination of Arabic and Sicilian, and his tone grew more militant. To much applause and cheers, he told the Maltese
that, in matters affecting the w elfare of the island, they should set aside politics and forget their differences, that ‘When you see the flag, I think of Malta united."
Olivier came to San Francisco from Australia, and is to visit several cities in the U.S. and Canada before returning to Malta.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 December 1966: Awards for i n s t a n t courage, in going up against guns and capturing criminals, went to: Officers Edward J. Erda latz Jr. and Frank J. Falzon, for disarming a man with a gun who confronted them during a marijuana investigation.

Hon. Charles Joseph Vassallo was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 June 1967: New Consulate -- Malta's Man in San Francisco, By Ralph Craib
San Francisco welcomed its 60th foreign consulate the other day, a modest and almost unnoticed event that suddenly elevated a Portola neighborhood store-front real estate office into the heady world of international relations. It was also an event of deep satisfaction for Charles Vassallo, who operates his little business at 2464 San Bruno avenue, the working-class shopping street that runs parallel to the Lick freeway out near the city line. Vassallo was formally notified that he is now the honorary vice consul of Malta, the string of three rocky islands 58 miles south of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean are now on newer maps. His status has not previously been official, but Vassallo has very avidly been looking out for Malta’s interests in the Bay Area for many years. His activities have been wildly varied: he has collected clothing for the poor, looked after Maltese professional soccer players now playing for the Pittsburgh Phantoms and has done some effective lobbying with friends in the local Democratic Party.
There is proof of this in a couple of street names: Malta drive and Valletta court are now on the city’s newer maps. I figured that if Russia had a street, why shouldn’t Malta?" Vassallo said. “I went down to the Board of Supervisors and got our streets.’ They’re in a new subdivision near West Portal. His street-naming lobbyings it must be noted, has not been limited to San Francisco. He visited Malta a few years ago and succeeded in getting a new four-mile scenic highway named Kennedy drive. Vassallo, a stocky, balding man, is one of 10,000 Maltese who live in the Bay Area, a very large group of them in the area where his office is and in Bayview where their church, St. Paul of the Shipwreck, is located
He served with the Malta Defense Forces in the British Army during the long siege of the island by the Axis powers during World War II and was in London at the end of the war when he was allowed to immigrate to the United States. He spent 13 years working as an upholsterer and then, eight years ago, went into the real estate business.

Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 July 1967: Sam's Anchor Founder Dies
Sam Vella, for 40 years the owner of Sam’s Anchor Cafe in Tiburon has died in his native Malta, it was learned here yesterday. Mr. Vella died June 29. He was about 78 years old, although his age was always a well-kept — by Mr. Vella — secret. Known as the “Mayor of Main Street” in Tiburon, Mr. Vella’s waterfront spa was the focal point for tourists, residents and, on weekends, hundreds of yachtsmen who would tie their craft at the dock on the Bay side of the restaurant and make their way to the friendly bar and groaning board. Mr. Vella opened the restaurant in 1920 aa a lunchroom for workers on the Northwestern Pacific Railway, but credited his success to Prohibition, which brought thirsty customers from all ‘ over the Bay Area to his door. He sold the restaurant in 1960, and in 1964 returned to Malta to visit relatives. He suffered a heart attack there that year, and was unable to return to Marin County. He is survived by his wife, Louise, and a sister in Malta.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 May 1968: Bravo Malta -- Editor — (I hereby would like to draw attention to) the special interest taken by the Maltese Government in the unique social service of the International Institute of San Francisco, the strenuous efforts made by the indulgent and industrious Vice Consul for Malta, Mr. Charles J. Vassallo, and his congenial and generous wife, the admirable cooperation of the Maltese-American Social Club of San Francisco, Columbus Savings and Loan Association (and many others) . . . (which made) Malta's first participation in the Gourmet Gala 1968, held at_: the Civic Auditorium on May 15, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the International Institute of San Francisco, a huge success ...CHARLES J. SPITERI, San Francisco.

Emanuel T. Xuereb was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 June 1968: Emanuel Xuereb Dies at 54 -- Emanuel Xuereb, President of the Maltese-American Social Club of San Francisco, died unexpectedly yesterday. Mr. Xuereb. of 201 Brussels Street, was a member of the board of directors of Emanuel Fumiture Manufacturers of South San Francisco.
He had served as a member and officer in the Maltese-American Social Club for the past 16 years. A native of Malta. Mr. Xuereb is survived by his father Ferdinand: three sisters. Anastasia Xuereb. Helen Vella and Jane Gatt; two Ibrothers. Frank and Angelo, all of Malta: and a sister. Jerome Attard and brother. Tom. both of San Francisco.

John A. Grima was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 April 1969: Escape With Hostages -- Guard Is Shot at S.F. Judge's Home -- Dramatic Capture Of Suspect By Tim Findley
A policeman guarding the home of Superior Court Judge Bernard Giickfeld was shot and seriously wounded last night by a gunman apparently looking for the judge.
The gunman commandeered a passing car and took its five occupants hostage in making his escape from Glickfeld’s home in St Francis Wood. A suspect identified as Grant Richard Powell, 24, of 4154 Piedmont avenue. Oakland. was captured by highway patrolmen in Gilroy at 9:55 p m.. 3 hours after the shooting. Authorities in Gilroy said the hostages were unharmed. Giickfeld and his family were on an outing in Redwood City at the time of the shooting. The wounded officer, Patrolman Jay Rogovoy. 30, was in satisfactory condition after undergoing surgery at Mission Emergency Hospital for wounds in the neck, side and hand...
Rogovoy was detailed to guard Glickfeld because the judge had received death threats after giving an admitted rapist a lenient sentence April 11.
It was not immediately know whether Poill made any of those threats. But his hostages told police last night that Powell repeated over and over, ‘‘the judge, is against me and that policeman was against me.” The five hostages, held at gunpoint, during a tense hour with Powell, were identified as John Grima, 21, the driver; Mary Ann Larieca, 19; Yolanda Santana, 19; Maria Santana,18, and Martha Vega, 19, all of San Francisco. Police discovered after arresting Powell that his gun, a chrome. pearl-handed .22 calber revolver, was empty. All six shots had apparently been fired in the exchange with Rogovoy. Grima was credited with juick thinking in leading police to the capture. He told authorities that Powell, riding in the back seat of the auto, told him to “keep cool, and just keep heading south.”
A short distance north of Gilroy, Grima noticed a Highway Patrol car on routine patrol behind him. Without signaling, Giima deliberately changed lanes. Patrolman Lou Blake, seeing what he thought was a traffic violation, pulled Grima’s car over. Despite Powell’s warning to Grima to “play it cool.” Grima managed to whisper to Blake that the four young people were being held at gunpoint. Blake told Giima to drive on into Gilroy, while the patrolman alerted other authorities.
TRAP: Just inside the city, Highway Patrol and Gilroy Police cars converged to stop Grima’s vehicle. Powell, sitting passively with a coat covering his pistol, surrendered without resistance. Police said, however, that he refused to talk about the shooting incident...
The dramatic series of events began about 6 p.m. last night. Officer Rogovov was staked out in a marked police radio car outside Glickfeld’s home when a man he later described as “very nervous" approached and asked where Judge Glickfeld’s house was located. Rogovoy suspicious, inquired why the man wanted that information. The suspect then pulled out his revolver and ordered Rogovoy to show him the house. The officer was ordered to kick the door down if you have to." Rogovoy complied, kicking the door down. Once the two were inside, the policeman was told to lie face down in spread-eagle fachion on the floor of the dining room.
A neighbor. Wilson W. Morrison. alarmed by the noise of the front door being smashed in. ran to the Glickfield home. Police said Rogovoy shouted “Get out, get out” to the elderly Morrison, and the gunman, distracted momentarily, turned back toward the door. Rogovoy sensing an opportunity, reached for his service revolver as Morrison bolted back out the door and off the porch, suffering a broken ankle in the fall. The gunman had apparently seen Rogovoy’s move, however, and fired first.
The exchange of shot followed in whicn tne Officer was wounded three times and Powell once. Two other bullets from the suspect’s gun were found imbedded in the dining room wall. Police said Rogovoy, seriously wounded, fired five shots at the fleeing gunman. Outside, the gunman raced to the corner of El Verano and Monterey boulevard in view of several neighbors who had gone to their windows after hearing the shots. The witnesses said Powell tried to stop the first passing car lie saw. but its driver sped away. The next auto, Grima’s, stopped when the suspect ran into the street pointing his gun at the driver The suspect got in and forced the driver to go east on Monterey boulevard..





Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 June 1969:...The other officers honored were: ...Frank J Falzon... 'Falzon and Otten jointly received two separate awards. One was for capturing an armed suspect in a bar. The other was for heroism when, after observing smoke and flames billowing from a building, they aroused the sleeping tenants and assisted some, who had been trapped, to safety.

John A. Grima was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 June 1969: Shooter of Judge's Guard Is Insane
A young man who wounded a policeman while gunning for a judge was sent to a Stäte mental hospital yesterday. Superior Judge Harry J. Neubarth ordered 24-year-old Grant Powell committed to Atascadero State Hospital after receiving the reports of two court-appointed psychiatrists. The psychiatrists, Drs. Vernon Collins Jr. and Arthur B. Carfagni Jr., said they considered Powell to be legally insane. Powell was arrested April 20, houro after ho shot and seriously wounded officer Jay Rogovoy, 30, while trying to enter Judge Bernard Glickfeld’s home in St Francis Wood. Rogovoy had been guarding the house because Judge Glickfeld bad received several threats on his life at the time — apparently the result of an unpopular decision in a rape case. Judge Glickfeld was not home at the time of the incident.
Powell was arrested in Gilroy by the California Highway Patrol. Officers said he had stopped a passing car near Glickfeld’s home and forced the driver, John Grima, 21, to drive him out of the city. Neither Griaaa, nor the four women in tie car with him at the time were injured in the incident.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 July 1969: Black Lady Teacher Says Cop Degraded Her By Maitland Zane
An attractive Negro woman teacher from Fresno complained to Mayor Joseph L Alioto yesterday that police “'insulted and degraded her by treating her as a suspected prostitute Thursday night
Mae Ethridge who teaches physical education at Fresno City College, is one of 21 junior college teachers from around the country who ore here for a Federally financed coarse at San Francisco City College on improving education of ghetto students. Miss Ethridge, who is about 30, looks like anything but a streetwalker. She is tall, slim elegantly dressed, with a considerable dignity in her manner. This was the story she told newsmen and the mayor, while demanding an official apology: On Thursday night she and some fellow teachers went to Glide Memorial Church for a “happening.” Then about 11 p.m. she and her friends went to La Bamba, a Mexican restaurant ät 40 Turk street, for a late meal. The interracial group had just sat down to order when they heard the roar of several motorcycles. She and her friencs ran to the door of the restaurant to see what was happening. There, she said, she saw four city motorcycle officers chasing four “drag queens.”; male homosexuals dressedi as women. She said one of the officers ran his bike up on the sidewalk and followed the “queens.” bumping at least one of them with his cycle. “The cops were giggling to themselves,” she said.
Her friends then returned to the table, but Mss Ethridge remained in the doorway because at that point several carloads of police rolled up, and she wanted to see what wouid happen next Partolman Anthony Spiteri, saw her standing in the doorway and came over to question her.
Within minutes, she said, “I was surrounded by nine cops. Spiteri told her that the Tenderioin is a high-crime area with a great deal of prostitution, she said. His manner was abusive; she told the mayor and she was ‘insulted and degraded” at being taken for a streetwalker. And she demanded that the field interrogation or ‘"white card’’ on which Spheri described her as a “suspected prostitute" be given to her so that she would have no police record whatever in San Francisco.
She also is demanding an official apology and is even thinking of filing a lawsuit against the city.
One of the things which rankled most, she said, was that two white girls were loitering in a doorway nearby, but police ignored them. “I was picked on because I am black,” she said. “If I was white, it wouldn’t have happened. I was horribly embarrassed. I never even have had an occasion before to speak to a police officer." "Now I think of them as ‘pigs’ which is a word I’ve never used before.” Bill Wood, 50, one of the 20 teachers who accompanied Miss Ethridge to the mayor’s office, identified himself as chemistry instructor at Riverside City College. "We were insulted because she was insulted.” Wood said. ‘'We’ve visited several ghetto neighborhoods in our three weeks in San Francisco, and all we’ve heard is a story of harassment. The police here seem to be against the people, not for them.” Alioio spent 15 minutes with Miss Ethridge and the other teachers, questioning them in detail about the incident. Don Peterson, an English instructor at City College, who is in charge of the summer program, said Alioto promised to investigate the matter personally and, if the situation warrants it,to get the “white card” returned to Misss Ethridge. Whether an officiai apology will be forthcomiag seemed somehow unlikely last night. Officer Spiteri, 23, who joined the force only last October, was identified by the department as one of 150 officers who took parti a crime prevention squad “sweep’* of the Teadenoin on Thursday. Supervising Captain Edward Cummins defended Spiteri's actions, saying it was “standard procedure” for police to stop and question “people who are acting suspicously or out of chsracter. Furthermore, he said, a '‘white card" is purely for department use and is “not a police record.”.






Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 September 1971: Cops Deliver Baby in a Car
Two young police officers, remembering a 20- minute training film they saw three years ago at the Police Academy, yesterday turned a parked car into an emergency room and delivered a healthy 6 pound, 13 ounce baby boy. Patrolmen William Taylor and Anthony Spiteri delivered the baby in the 2000 block of San Jose avenue at 1:30 a.m., when Frankie Gates was caught short by her newborn son. anxious to get into the world. Taylor and Spiteri, both three years on the force and members of the Crime Prevention squad, were on routine patrol when they were stopped by three women in a car who frantically asked for an escort to Mount Zion Hospita. “When we saw Mrs. Gates said Taylor, “We knew it was too late for the hospital.” While Taylor summoned an
ambulance, his partner instructed Mrs. Gates to lie in the front seat of the car. Recalling a movie shown to them at the police academy, the two officers went to work. Improvising as they went
along, Spiteri cleaned the baby with tissue and tied off the umbilical cord with his shoelace as Taylor “slapped” the first squawk from little Howard Armand Gates. Taylor, who last year killed
a man in the line of duty, said it was a particularly moving experience to “have been able to give a life.”.

John Paul Fenech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 January 1972: Question: Are you difficult to live with?
John Fenech, pipe fitter, 330 Oak Street, San Bruno: That, I couldn't tell you. You’d have to ask my wife. I can tell you better about her. Is she hard to live with? You want to knot* the truth? Well, she’s a woman and they have their problems. Women are, women. Sometimes they let things bother them that they shouldn’t- But it all boils down to the fact that no matter what, I love her. That’s what’s important.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1972: S.F. Cops In Italy on Corona Case
Two San Francisco homicide detectives have been in Florence, Italy, for the past two weeks running down a hot lead in the Juan Corona mass murder case. The Chronicle learned last night. Inspectors Jack Cleary and Frank Falzoa went to Florence at the expense of Sutter county, reportedly seeking a homosexual who formerly lived in the Yuba City area. Sutter county Sheriff Roy Whiteaker said “no comment“ when asked about the matter, saying he was “prohibited by court order“ from
talking about it. But a high San Francisco police official who asked that his name not be used said that in early October Sutter county officials contacted local police and asked that a lead be checked out. Cleary and Falzon were assigned to the case. “Later,” the official said. “Sutter county asked that these two men be detailed to them at Sutter county's expense to investigate a lead in Florence, Italy, which evolved from their original investigation here.” Cleary and Falzon are expected back in San Francisco possibly today, but the official would not comment on the “substance” of their investigation. However, another reliable informant close to the Corona trial speculated that Cleary and Falzon have been trying to locate a witness, homosexual himself, who might shake defense attorney Richard Hawk’s claim that Corona is “hopelessly heterosexual.” Hawk said last Friday he believes the murders were committed by a homosexual who carved up his victims in a rage.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1972: Jailed Man's Trial Testimony - Corona Linked to a Victim -- By Don Werors
Fairfield, Solano county
A man serving a year in tail for receiving stolen property testified yesterday he saw one of the victims allegedly killed by Juan Coioita get into Corona’s pickup truck about 25 days before the victim’s body was discovered. ’’And 1 didn’t see him no more,"Byron Shannon said. Shannon, a farm labor foreman, told the jury he was standing with John Henry Jackson on a Marysvllle street corner early one morning on either May 3 or 4, 1971. Jackson, he said, was asking him about a farm job.
But then, Shannon said, Corona drove up in a blue and-white pickup truck with another man and Jackson went over to him. "I ain't going with you.” Shannon said Jackson called back. ‘I'm going with these fellows.” Defense attorney Richard Hawk, after asking Shannon repeatedly where he lives, tried to introduce into evidence a picture of the Yuba county jail in Marysville. “This is where he lives,” Hawk said. "He’s a thief and he’s doing a year in jail." Superior Court Judge Richard Patton excused the jury, while both prosecution and defense argued — and finally agreed — that Shannon was, indeed, serving a year’s sentence for receiving stolen property.
Earlier, special prosecutors Bari Williams asked Shannon which way Corona was traveling when he pulled up to the corner, “He was traveling east ' and west. ' Shannon replied. When asked again, Shannon said he was traveling "east going west," and a third time, pointed to the east on a diagram of Marysville while saying "he was
going west." Judge Patton allowed Shannon to view photographs of the victim's clothing although Hawk complained it was the first time he (Hawk) had seen the photos. Throughout the trial, Hawk has complained bitterly that the prosecution has withheld evidence from him. Shannon identified the clothing as having been worn by Jackson that morning and said they were the same clothes he was wearing in January, too.
Earlier in the day Hawk questioned a veteran finger print expert about discrepanciess in dates on evidence being used by the prosecution. Russell Parmer, who retired yesterday after 36 years with the California Bueau of Investigation and Identification, told Hawk among other things that a fingerprint card on one of the 25 men Corona is is accused of killing cannot be found and "we have no idea where it is." State documents indicated that fingerprints were taken from victims some days before other records show the bodies were discovered. "Six or seven” reports of attempts to fingerprint victims were not dated at all. "Wouldn’t you say this is a strange circumstance?” Hawk asked him of the premature finger print record. "I would say so,” Parmer replied. "It’s not possible to have fingers before you find the man. is it?” Hawk persisted. "Hardly,” the veteran expert acknowledged.
Later, however, Parmer volunteered that “I think I can clear this up." Dates recorded in a box labeled "date fingerprinted" on a fingerprint card actually refer to the date he entered the case. That would explain, he suggested, why bodies discovered May 28. 1971 are recorded as having been fingerprinted on May 26. Hawk was incredulous. "Do you sit there under oath and try to say that?" he asked. "Isn’t it plain that the import of the English language on these records is that the card qas made up May 28?" Parmer replied. "That's what's indicated." Parmer replied. "But I know better." And not dating some unsuccessful attempts to take finger prints, he admitted was simply "a mistake." The prosecution 'was was also less than successful yesterday in getting clear testimony to build its case that Corona killed 25 men and burled their bodies 18 months ago. Leonard Brunelle, an Investigator with the Sutter County sheriff's department, brought into court a dozen photographs he took
of the "lower end" ol Marysville last June and a large diagram he had made of the area from an assessor's map. The area is where Corona’s half-brother, Natividad once ran the Guadalajara Cafe. A superior court julge in February. 1971, found Natividad liable lor $250,000 damages for savagely beating a man in the bar. Natividad vanished shortly thereafter.

Alfred Frendo was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 January 1973: Street interview: Fred Frendo: car service advisor; 10 King PJaza. Daly City : On wife swapping, or something like that. I put my foot down.'but. most of it I go along with. If two people want to live together. I don’t say. .^"Oh, ugly: nasty.'* In my personal life I’m more conservative. There-s been no need to do anything, else.. We used to spend time at each others' place before we were married. but 1 don't call that Living together. •.


Lawrence Frederick Gatt was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 March 1973: Larry Gatt, a sophomore at Riordan High; was chosen Police Athletic League Boy of the Year. Gatt was the most valuable player of last summer’s PAL baseball league and had a perfect 4.0 grade point average his freshman year.

Maltese In the News was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 July 1973: Maltese-American Family Club's Activities in San Francisco By a Staff Reporter
Mr. Abraham D. Vella, vice-president and one of the founder members of the ‘‘Maltese- American Family Club" in San Francisco, California, is one of the hundreds of Maltese migrants at present holidaying in Malta. Last September a small group of Maltese-Americans met to discuss the possibility of forming a club in the "peninsula" — the area south of the city of San Francisco. A questionnaire had subsequently been sent to about 300 Maltese families half of whom replied to indicate their interest. The first general meeting was held last January at St. Robert’s Church Hall in the city of San Bruno. Thirty families became members after the first meeting.
A board of directors was formed under the leadership of Mr. Emidio Fenech and the Maltese-American Family Club started functioning. By the beginning of this month, four general meetings bad been held. In June the Club premises were established at 645/647 San Mateo Ave., San Bruno, 94066.
Mr. Vella yesterday said the future of the Club was promising and by the time he left the U.S.A. to fly to Malta the number of families registered for membership rose to 72. Mr. Vella stressed that one family membership comprised the husband, wife, sons and daughters over 18 years of age. Though the Club was basically a family social group, the committee members and families would do their best to help each other in different ways.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 December 1973: Herb Caen: with a sore back? ... At the Hall of Justice, there has been a revival of 'The Bow Tie Boys/⁷ as the homicide detail was known in the legendary days of Ahern, Cahill and Neider. Inspectors Gus Coreris, Dave Toschi, Earl Sanders, Frank Falzon and George Murray have blossomed wit with big bow ties, despite denigrators who call them “The five fruiters”.

Emanuel David Aquilina was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1974: Manny, general foreman of Hayward BART repair station, was quoted about poor workmanship of new BART cars: "The main problem seems to be the way the car is built."

Paul V. Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 September 1974: Killed by Elevator -- A 17 - year - old apprentice carpenter was crushed to death yesterday in the Financial District in a freight elevator accident. Paul V. Mallia, of 245 Hamilton street, was reaching from the elevator platform attempting to retrieve a screwdriver he had dropped down the shaft when someone on another floor pushed the button. The elevator started to rise, crushing Mallia against the wall, witnesses said. He was killed instantly, police said.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1974: Herb Caen: INTERNATIONAL NOTES: S.F. Homicide Inspectors I« rank Faizon and Jack Cleary, in Genoa, Italy, on a case, woke up one morning in their hotel room to discover Jack’s watch missing from the night table. Down in the lobby, they waved their arms to no avail (neither speaks Italian) and even drew a picture of the purloined ticker but all they got was shrugs till Cleary produced his SFPD badge and hollered “Effa Bee Eye!” At that, the manager hastily opened a drawer in his desk and handed over Cleary’s watch ...

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 May 1975: Zebra Case Prosecution Wins a Major Point By Charier Raudebaugh
Superior Court Judge Joseph Karesh ruled for the prosecution yesterday on a critical legal point in the Zebra murder case..He held that the state has now laid the legal groundwork to support a charge of conspiracy to commit murder against the four black men who had been on trial since March 3.
The ruling opened the door for the prosecution to begin producing evidence on every one of the 13 street murders and seven assaults that terrorized San Franciscans during the winter of 1973-74. In legal language., the judge held that the slate had established a prim* facie case of conspiracy. Prima facie translates, literally, as “on the face of it." The four accused killers are indicted under a common count of conspiracy, and tnen separately tor three specific murders and four assaults, as well as kidnaping and robbery charges tangential to the specific crimes. Defense lawyers bitterly opposed the conspiracy charge, arguing that the evidence was weak at the best and came only from a man glibbly admitted purpose, lying when it suited him. Yesterday Judge Karesh called lawyers to court and jury ahead of time for final arguments. "The prosecution is trying to bootstrap itself into proof of a conspiracy." said John Cruikshank one of the defense lawyers. "I will agree there is no evidence (these defendants) established by-laws and sgned a written agreement." said Assistant District Attorney Robert Dontero. "But we do have by inference a stronger case than most conspiracy cases.”
Karesh emphasized in his ruling that he was not assing judgment on the credibility of the state’s witnesses. That will be for the jury, he said. But, he said, the prosecution can introduce evidence of other murders not specifically charged against the four men as “acts in furtherance of a conspiracy to commit murder.” The prosecution quickly took advantage of the ruling.
A series of witnesses—an autopsy surgeon, policemen, a criminologist, and others—began detailing the slayings .of Frances Rose. 28; Paul Danzic. 26; Neil Moymhan, 19. and Mildred Hosier. 50. all in the latter months of 1973. Miss Rose, a physical therapist, was slain in front of the University of California Extension Division Center at 55 Laguna street Jessie L. Cooks, one of the four men on trial, was arrested six blocks away, with a pistol in his waistbard. He s now serving a life sentence for the killing, having pleaded guilty. Homicide Inspector Frank J Falzon said the night of the crime. Cooks confessed. “He stated he first met the victim when she pulled up and offered him a ride in her car,’ Falzon testified. “Once in the car he became angry. She began making racial remarks and calling him ‘nigger.’ This angered him very, very much and he shot her four times.” It was the first time even these details of the crime have been made public. Lawyers for the other defendants protested that the testimony was prejudicial against their clients. Judge Karesh reaffirmed his initial ruling on conspircy, asserting that the evidence of murder would be admissible only against Cooks, and would have no weight against the other defendants except possibly in regard to testimony about the weapon used to kill Miss Rose. Proscutor Robert Podesta thereupon called Inspector Kenneth Moses to the witness stand to identify the .22 caliber pistol that killed Miss Rose. It had already been identified by earlier witnesses as “similar to” a gun carried by Cooks on other crimes when other defendants were along. The trial will resume at 10 o'clock this morning.



Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 September 1975: Herb Caen: ELSEWHERE: Tom Manney, key defense witness in the Zebra trial, was arrested by Police Inspector Frank Fzizon in one of those coincidences that could and probably did make a TV episode. Frank was fullback and Tom halfback on the St. Ignatius High football team that won the city championship in 1959.. They were even chums through grammar school, but, concedes Falzon, their relationship at the moment is “a little strained.”. Dramatic line of dialogue from Manney ;when the arrest was made: “I thought you’d be coming for me, Frank” . . .

Anthony J Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 March 1976: Neighborhood Group Honors Policeman -- Anthony J. Camilleri, Jr., 26, was honored as the city's “Policeman of the Year” yesterday by the Market Street Development Project. Camilleri, who is assigned to Park Station, will mark his fifth year on the force in May. He was nominated by his station captain and was chosen by a police selection board after receiving 25.captain’s commendations and a medal of valor.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 April 1976: Herb Caen: BARREL'S BOTTOM: The apparent solution to the Popeye Jackson slaying is sweet vindication for those quiet operators, Homicide Inspectors Dave Toschi and Frank Falzon. often loudly accused by Jackson's followers of “just going through the motions” on this case.

Joseph John Scicluna Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 October 1976: Missing Man's Body Found -- The body of Joseph John Scicluna, 30, of 535 Acacia Ave., San Bruno, was found in a wooded area near the Bayhill Shopping Center Sunday. Scicluna, reported missing Oct. 15, apparently shot himself in the forehead with a handgun, police said. Scicluna, believed dead for two days, was discovered by San Bruno Police Officer Jerry Sacgen, who was patrolling the area at 9:45 am, Sunday. A machinist, Scicluna left no note.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 November 1976: Stalking the Brown Bag Killer
...In the weeks and months to come, this blond young man was to become known to police and citizens of San Francisco as the Paper Bag Killer.
Inspector Frank Falzon, homicide detail, was on call at the Hall of Justice when the report of the shooting came in.
Frank Falzon is a new-breed cop. He is 33, a college graduate who has been a police officer in San Francisco for 11 years.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 February 1977: Cop Kills Suspect Whose Shots Missed
An escaping supermarket robbery suspect answered an off-duty homicide inspectors verbal challenge with three pistol shots last night, and was slot dead on the street by the officer. The shootout rattled the quiet residential Ingleside neighborhood around Selmi's Market at Holloway and Ashton streets at 6:40 p.m.
The dead suspect, about 18, was not immediately identified. Police said homicide Inspector Frank Falzon had stopped his car outside the store to buy a sandwich when he observed the holdup in progress. He crouched behind a parked car near the dcor and was prepared to await the suspect’s exit. When a customer approached, Falzon was forced to give up his cover to prevent the customer from entering. At that time, police said, the suspect left the stcre with a .45 caliber automatic pistol in one hand and an unknown amount of cash inside a paper sack. Faizon identified himself and the suspect fired one shot which whizzed by Faizon from a distance of six feet
Holding his police badge in one hand, the officer returned one shot and the suspect ran down the street, firing two shots as be fied. police said. Faizon then fired a second shot from 20 feet which struck the suspect in the head, killing him instantly. Police said two other homicide inspectors will investigate the shooting in conjunction with the district attorney’s office.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 12 February 1977: Cop Who 'Sensed' a Holdup By Robert Popp
Homicide inspector Frank Falzon said yesterday that a "sixth sense” made him stop Thursday evening at an Ingleside supermarket where he later shot it out with a holdup man. The exchange of gunfire rattled the quiet neighborhood around Selmi’s Market at Holloway and Ashton streets and brought death to Lloyd Henry Hill, 25. of 440 Alameda del Prado, Novato. Hill was on parole from a 15 years-to-life term he received in 1970 for his part in a Redwood City supermarket holdup in which a policeman and woman were wounded. "I was driving east on Holloway to attend a class at City College,'' said Falzon, “when I saw a man inside this market motioning with his hands. I didn’t see a gun then, but a sixth sense, or something. made me stop. “I parked the car ten feet away, and then I saw him plant a .45 against someone's head. I got out and got down behind the car and trained my gun on the middle of the door. “I waited for him to come out, but he didn't, and it seemed like an eternity.” At this point, a passerby started to walk up to the store, so Falzon. fearing the robber might take the man hostage, left his cover to warn him against entering. “Then the guy came out. and I told him: 'Stop. I'm police.' He fired two shots at me and started running. I fired once and I just hit his clothing by his right shoulder. “We were both in the middle of the street by this time, and he turned and fired at me twice again. I assumed the cup-and-saucer position (cupping his left hand to steady the other fist holding the gun). "I fired once and got him in the head and he went down.” Hill's body was lying over a bag containing $279 taken from the store. He had a .45 caliber pistol in his hand. There was one bullet in the pistol's chamber three left in its clip. Police found four shell casings in the area. Falzon
who is 35, has been with the police department for 12 years, the last five with homicide.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 March 1977: Behind Aranda Murder Case By Birney Jarvis
Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon said last night that a series öf “baffling coincidences” led to the wrongful imprisonment of murder suspect Luigi Aranda.
“I don’t think a case like this could ever occur again,” said Falzon. The detective said he and his partner Inspector Jack Cleary were contacted about six months after Aranda was sent to prison by the wife of the unnamed current “prime suspect” in the 1974 execution-style slaying of Hells Angel Jesse Galvin.
The woman is now in protective custody while her husband is being sought for the slaying, Falzon said. Faizon said the woman knew at the time of the trial that Aranda was innocent. “She was living in fear of her life, from what she had heard from her husband. She was fearful of her own safety and that of her child.’ Falzon said that because of the woman’s fear, “it took a great deal of persuasion” to induce her to talk for the record on tape. He said a big reason why he and. Cleary initially thought they had an airtight case against Aranda was because two eyewitnesses to the killing “positively identified” Aranda in a police lineup.“It was a tragic mistake , on their part,” the detective said. “The similarity in appearance between Aranda and the man we now believe to be the real killer is remarkable.” Falzon said police thought Aranda had a motive for shooting Galvin because the two men had had a fight the week before in tie Tip Top Bar, a bikers’ rendezvous in the Outer Mission.
There were other “baffling coincidences,” Falzon said. For example, the homicide team learned that Aranda had threatened to “get even” with Galvin because of the bar fight, in which Aranda’s woman companion had two teeth knocked out and was hospitalized. Moreover, said Falzon, he and Cleary discovered that Aranda had a pistol similar to the one believed used in the slaying.     Months before, police learned, Aranda had fired a shot into the wall of the bar. When the bullet, was dug out of the wall, ballistics tests showed it had “characteristics similar” to thé'bullet that killed the Hells AngeL Finally, said. Falzon, “for some reason Aranda didn’t téll thé entire _ truth on the witness stand, and it was quite obvious (to the jury).” Falzon said the evidence he and Cleary amassed since the wife of the prime snspect began talking led them to the conclusion that Aranda should not have been , sent to prison. “I do not believe that any jury would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Falzon said.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 January 1978: Tahoe Gambler Sought in S.F. By Robert Popp
A murder warrant was issued yesterday tor the arrest of a South Lake Tahoe man, suspected of killing a man who allegedly sold cocaine to society figures here.
Named in the warrant was David Alan Duke, 25, described as an unsuccessful gambler who attempted to get out of debt by trying to rob Robert Kent Whitfield, 33, at Whitfield’s large flat at 2167 Grove street January 16. According to police, witnesses said they heard the two arguing in a distant part of the flat, then heard a struggle, and finally heard one shot from what turned out to be a .38 caliber pistoL _: They said they, saw Duke Tuning down the stairs towards the street, Whitfield's Irish setter Jubal nipping at his heels, and then saw Duke wheel and fire once at the dog. Another witness living across the street said that Duke ran from the building, missed the pursuing dog with two more shots, and then drove off in a green 1976 Ford camper, Nevada license plate number OB 1685.
As homicide inspector Frank Falzon pieced the story together, Duke was heavily in debt. He had met Whitfield recently, and drove to San Francisco to rob him. Falzo said that Whitfield had met many social figures while remodeling their Victorian homes. “In addition to his remodeling,” Falzon said, “Whitfield was dealing in coke' to his society friends. He had friends in society. Indeed, it was learned that one of the unnamed witnesses in the flat at the time of the murder is a member of what
.. When police arrived, they found 16000 in cash in Whitfield’s pockets, and $20,000 worth of drugs...In an, Falzon said, police confiscated 169 grams of cocaine.
Duke, Falzon said, was a professional gambler out on bail from South Lake Tahoe for allegeclv trying to extort $8000 from a loan shark. Duke did not appear in court at South Lake Tahoe Tuesday, for a preliminary hearing on the extortion charge.

Charles Frederick Micallef was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 February 1978: 85-Year-Old Beaten -- Brutal Bayview Robbery -By Peter Kuehl
Police were searching for three teenagers who terrorized an elderly Bayview District couple Saturday night, finally pistol-whipping the 85-year-old husband almost senseless because he had no money to give them. The three males, about 17 years old. escaped with $13 and two rings taken from the wife at knifepoint. During the ten-minute robbery. termed a "professional job” by the investigating officer, a 10-year-old girl visiting the couple was forced to lie face-down in the living room. Neither the wife. Mary Micallef, 77, nor the girl was hurt. But the bandits kept threatening them. The wife eventually was locked in the bathroom as the robbers ransacked the plain two- bedroom house at 9 Hahn street. The husband. Charles Micallef, 85, was treated at San Francisco General Hospital for severe bumps and cuts on the head and several long, deep gashes on both cheeks. Ironically, the Micallefs, who have a reputation as people who help their neighbors, may have been victimized by their sunny nature. On the day before the attack. Mrs. Micallef told patrolmen Vic Fleming and Dave Rossi, the boys knocked on their door asking for help. “They said they had an accident and needed Band-Aid. I found one. But I didn't like their looks,'' she said yesterday, as her husband slept following release from the hospital. “So I gave it through upstairs window. I dropped it to them." But when the doorbell rang at 7:15 p m Saturday night, Mr Micallef thought it was a neighbor returning a screwdriver and he opened the door without looking. Instead of a tool, at least two guns greeted Micallef. a retired janitor. The three teenagers, one vaguely disguised as a girl. But I knew better. He didn't fool me." Mrs. Micallef recalled, - pushed their way inside and separated the victims. That act plus the immediate ripping out of the phone cord, stamped the youths as “pros” officer Fleming said. As one of the bandits began to beat the husband, a comrade shoved a ten-inch butcher knife against Mrs. Micallefs chest and locked her in the bathroom after she turned over $13 and two rings worth about $100 each. Meanwhile the child was ordered to “lie down and don’t look up or I'll stick you.” The ordeal lasted ten minutes. Mr. Micallef managed to go next door to phone police.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 September 1978: A Cop Is Shot Near Candlestick -- A San Francisco police officer was shot in the leg yesterday while attempting to question a man prowling around a car parked in a dusty lot south of Candlestick Park. Patrolman Anthony Spiteri, 31, was in satisfactory condition later after surgery at Mission Emergency Hospital. Homicide inspector Frank Falzon. called with dozens of other officers to the 1:30 pm shooting, said Spiteri apparently had gotten out of his squad car to talk to the suspect when the man pulled a revolver and fired at him several times. Spiteri managed to roll onto the driver's seat after being hit once in the right calf, investigators said, and fired back at the fleeing suspect through the patrol car windshield- Then, they said, he drove after the man for about 50 yards before radioing for help. The suspect. Falzon said, escaped in a dark green compact car with out-of-state red and white license plates. He was described as black, in his mid-20s. six feet tall, about 150 pounds. medium-Afro hair and wearing a zippered green jacket.
No witnesses came forward immediately. But Falzon said there were reports that a group of young men regularly congregate by the bay at the tip of the landfill area, just south of Jamestown avenue about a half-mile from the stadium. Spiteri was assigned to Candlestick to help patrol the crowd for the Giants-San Diego baseball game, which began 25 minutes before he was shot.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 October 1978: SAN FRANCISCO Anthony J. Spiteri, a St. Julian's-bom Policeman in the City of San Francisco, was shot twice in his right leg by an unidentified gunman last week. Spiteri. 28. was patrolling a car park and having a closer look at a suspicious car when he was attacked by the gunman. The young policeman, father of two young girls. Lisa and Angela, would have been mortally wounded had he not worn a bullet-proof vest. The gunman fired at least eight shots in the direction of Spiteri. Though two bullets lay embedded in his leg, Spiteri eventually engaged the gunman in a car chase, but then passed out. He has been with the San Francisco Police for the past 10 years. He had several scrapes as well. A few years back he chased a dangerous Canadian convict who had escaped from prison and was responsible for his recapture. On another occasion he foiled an armed bank robbery after he himself was initially held at gunpoint. Police work in San Francisco is a dangerous profession. The Mayor of Francisco, Mr. George Mosconi, visited Spiteri at the hospital soon after the first operation to remove the bullets was carried out. The Mayor is a friend of the Maltese community and has expressed the city's gratitude for Spiteri's persistence to fight crime. The young policeman is the son of Mr. J. Spiteri, formerly of Hamrun, who migrated to the U.S.A. in 1951.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 January 1979: District Attorney To Probe Shooting Of S.F. Policeman -- The case of a San Francisco police officer who said he was shot in the leg by a gunman near Candlestick Park last September 27 has been turned over to the district attorney's office. Lieutenant John Jordan, head of the homicide detail that investigates shootings involving police officers, said yesterday that "serious doubts" had arisen over the version of the shooting given by Officer Anthony Spiteri. Spiteri, 31, said he was questioning a tall, slim man in a parking lot south of Candlestick Park when the man pulled out a revolver and fired at him several times. Assistant District Attorney Robert Graham said he is reviewing the case to determine if any action should be taken against Spiteri.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 February 1979: S.F. Cop Surrenders In Shooting Case
A San Francisco policeman surrendered at city prison yesterday after being charged with filing a false report about how he was shot in the leg at Candlestick Park last September.
Anthony Spiteri, 31, was released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a m. today in Municipal Court at the Hall of Justice.
The charges stem from an incident September 27, when Spiteri was assigned to Candlestick Park to help patrol the crowd at a baseball game. Spiteri said then that he was shot in the leg by an unknown suspect as he got out of his squad car to talk to the man. But in January, police Lieutenant John Jordan said “serious doubts” had arisen over the version of the shooting given by Spiteri. The charges against Spiteri include making a false police report, possessing a weapon with an obliterated serial number and violating a state law which prohibits public officers from making a false report to their agencies. All three violations are misdemeanors.
Spiteri has been at home on paid sick leave since the incident.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 April 1979: Dan White's 'Confession' Told in Court By Ruben Rupp
Former Supervisor Dan White confessed that he shot Mayor George Moscone and Supenisor Harvey Milk because they were playing a game against him and be would be “the fall guy and scapegoat.” according to a document filed in Superior Court yesterday. In a brief filed by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Norman opposing White's motion to have “special circumstances” dropped from the murder charges against him, the previously secret testimony of Inspector Frank Falzon at White's preliminary hearing last January was quoted at length. Inspector Falzon tape-recorded a statement given by White soon after the 32-year-old former fireman and policeman surrendered after the City Hall shootings on November 27. Paraphrasing White's remarks. Falzon said: "He felt at this time there was a game being played against him and he was going to be the fall guy and scapegoat. And that it was a political opportunity for the mayor to destroy him and appoint somebody else.”
White had resigned his supervisor's job from District 8 two weeks earlier, citing financial need, and had then changed his mind and tried to have Moscone reappoint him. Falzon said White described how he had tried unsuccessfully to reach the mayor by telephone and the mayor had not returned his calls. White, according to the inspector said he had no plan "That he left home on the morning of November 27 but that he called a former aide to pick him up, put on his revolver and grabbed a handful of bullets. Falzon said White could not recall how many shots he fired at the mayor but that he did remember reloading his gun before encountering Milk.
"He (White) thought if he went to Harvey Milk, maybe he would be honest this time if he confronted him with why he had schemed behind his back and why he had tried to get the constituents in District 8 to be against himself and have somebody else appointed," Falzon said. White described how he invited Milk into Milk's office and asked him why be had schemed against him, the inspector continued. “When Harvey Milk gave the appearance as if he knew nothing was going on. but he also had kind of a wry smirk on his face, as if deep down inside he knew, and it was a political game.'' Falzon said, "he ( White) said that he felt himself get all flushed and hot and at that time he shot Haney Milk." The prosecutors brief filed yesterday also included part of the preliminary hearing testimony of Dr. Roland Levy, a psychiatrist, who talked to White after the shootings. White felt, he said, that the mayor had been subjected to pressure not to reappoint White and that one of the prime movers of the pressure was Milk. The former supervisor, according to Levy, expressed disappointment over the political situation m San Francisco and said he found it "much more corrupt than he bad realized." White. according to the psychiatrist felt that his job was to "straighten out the corruption.’' “And yet he was stymied every time he tried to do anything and to represent what he considered the will of the people of San Francisco against the small pressure groups," Levy said.
In his brief opposing White’s motion to have the "special circumstances" dropped from the murder charges. Assistant District Attorney Norman argued that the twin kill
ings were carried out "in retaliation for or to prevent the performance of official duties." If White is found guilty of first- degree murder and the jury determines that "special circumstances" applied to the killings, he could be sentenced to death or to life in prison without possibility of parole. Citing the testimony of Falzon and Levy, Norman declared that the record "is replete with material which amply inferentially supports the allegations of special circumstances."
Attorney Douglas Schmidt, who is representing White, filed a motion last week asking that the “special circumstances” be dropped.
Arguments on White’s motion are scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday before Superior Court Judge Claude Perasso.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 April 1979: Secret Tapes Bared In S.F. Mayor’s Killing
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Former Supervisor Dan While confessed he shot Mayor George Moscow and Supervisor Harvey Milk because “there was a game being played against him and he was going to be the fall guy and scapegoat,” ac:ording to a court brief filed Monday. The brief was filed by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Norman and quoted at length from the previously secret testimony of police Inspector Frank Falzon at White's secret preliminary hearing last January 7. Inspector Falzon taped a statement given by White shortly after he surrendered following the Moscone- Milk shootings at City Hall last Nov. 27, the papers said.
“He felt at this time there was a game being played against him and be was going to be the fall guy and scapegoat," Falzon said of White’s statement. “And that it was a politico opportunity for the mayor to destroy him and appoint somebody else." White who had resigned his supervisor’s job two weeks before thr shootings, was trying to get Moscone to reappoint him to the post. Flazon said White described how he had tried to reach the mayor by telephone and tbe mayor had not returned his calls. The inspector said White told him he had no plan when he left his house on the morning of Nov. 27. However, he put on his revolver and grabbed a handful of cartridges before leaving in the car of a former aide. Falzon said White could not remember how many shots he fired at the mayor. However, be did recall retailing his gun before encountering Mük. ‘He (White) thought if be went to Harvey Milk, maybe he would be honest this time if he (White) confronted him with why he had smerked behind his (White's) back and why he had tried to gel the ccnstituents in District 8 to be against himself (White) and have somebody else appointed,” Falzon said. After seeing Milk with a “kind of wry smirk on his face," White said “he felt himself get all flushed and hot at that time he shot Harvey Milk,” Falzon said. White, whose trial is scheduled to begin Monday, is charged with first degree murder committed under “special circumstances." His special circumstances part of the
charge means be could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. White's attorney, Douglas Schmidt, has asked that the special crcumstances be dropped and as was his motion which prompted prosecutor Norman's brief containing Fclzon’s testimony. Arguments on the Schmidt motion are scheduled for tomorrow.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 May 1979: WHITE'S DRAMATIC CONFESSION
'It was just like a roaring in my ears . .. then I just shot him. That was it. It was over!' By Duffy Jvnnina'
A tape recording of Dan White's tearful and tormented confession to killing Mayor Georye Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk was played to an emotionally charged courtroom at his murder trial yesterday. At least four jurors wept while listening to the gripping 24-minute tape. White himself also cried, with greater intensity than he had on Wednesday. HLs wife, one of his awyers and several persons in the packed audience were also moved to tears. In a halting and anguished voice, White said on the tape, that therere was a roaring" in his ears just before he gunned down Moscone in the mayors private sitting room at City Hall last November 27. “I Just shot him." said White. "That was it. It was over. Of his encounter with Milk moments later, White said: ”He just kind of smirked at me . . . and then I got all flushed and hot and I shot him.” White had been interviewed at the Hall of Jtstice by homicide inspectors Frank Falzon and Edward Erdelatz an hour after the shootings and 30 miiutes after he surrendered to police. Asked by Falzon, his longtime personal friend to explain "in a narrative form" what happened, White, began: “W'ell. it’s just that I've been under an awful lot of pressure lately - - financial pressure, because of my job situation, family pressure,not being able to have the time with my family. It’s just that 1 wanted to serve the people of San Francisco well and I did that.” White told how those pressures led to his resignation from the Board of Supervisors. He said he asked for the job back alter his family and friends urged him to reconsider. The mayor, he said, told him he was ‘‘doing an outstanding job'* and indicated he would reappoint White to the board. “And then it came out that Supervisor Milk and some others were working against me, White said, and told of overhearing a telephone conversation between Milk and City Attorney George Agnost in Agnost's office one day. White said he complained to Moscone that his opponents “had traumatized my family*' by making “false charges'* to the district attorney that he had not reported campaign contributions from large corporations. Two months later the district attorney said the charges were unfounded but no one hears about it ... but my family suffers and I suffer for it.' White complained on the tape. ‘ Moscone then told White he would have to show "some support from the people of District 8" in order to be reinstated. “I could see the game that was being played.' White told the inspectors. ‘They were going to use me as a scapegoat, whether I was a good supervisor or not was not the point. “This was a political opportunity and they were going to degrade me and my family and the job that I had tried to do and more or less hang me out to dry." White said he attempted to contact Moscone during the week prior to the shootings, but his calls were never returned. “It was only on my own initiative when I went down today to speak with him." White said. I was troubled, the pressure, my family again, my son’s out to a baby-sitter. My wife's got to work long hours. 50 and 60 hours, never see my family." Tears began to flow down White's face in the courtroom. His wife. Mary Ann. hung her head where she was sitting behind him in the spectator section. Inspector Falzon asked White what he planned when he went to see the mayor. "What did you have in mind?“ Falzon inquired. "I didn't have any devised plan or anything.“ said White. “I was leaving the house to talk, to see the mayor, and I went downstairs to make a phone call and I had my gun down there. "I don't know. I just put it on. I. I don't know why I put it on, it’s just
when he confronted Moscone in his office. White said, the mayor told him a press conference had been scheduled to announce the appointment of Don Horanzy to the District 8 seat. ‘ Didn't even have the courtesy to call me or tell me that 1 wasn't going to be reappointed." said White. “Then I got kind of fuzzy and then just my head didn’t feel right." White said he protested to the mayor that his opponents “had been dogging me since I've been in office“ and that his supporters had collected signatures on petitions on petitions in his behalf. “He knew that and he told me it's a political decision and that’s the end of it. and that's it." said White.
Moseone invited White into the mayor’s back room and offered him a drink. “I was obviously distraught and upset ... but I just kinda stumbled in the back... and he sat down and he was talking and nothing was getting through to me." said White. “It was just like a roaring in my ears and then ... it just came to me. you know, he . . ."
“You couldn't hear what he was saving. Dan?” asked Falzon. “Just small talk ... it just wasn’t registering. What I was going to do now. you know, and how this would affect my family, you know. and. and just all the lime knowing he’s going to go out, and, and lie to the press and, and tell ’em. you know, that I wasn’t a good supervisor and that people didn’t want me and then that was it. ‘Then I just shot him, that was it, it was over.”
White said he left by a back door and was going to go downstairs when he saw Milk’s aide and then it struck me about what Harvey had tried to do and 1 said. "Well. I'll go talk to him.” As he crossed the second-floor corridor to the supervisors’ office. White said, he thought “at least maybe he’ll be honest with me, you know, ’cause he didn’t know I had . . . heard his conversation. And he was all smiles and stuff and I went in and. like I say, I was still upset. White said he told Milk he wanted to talk to him “just to try to explain to him, you know. I didn't agree with him on a lot of things but I was always honest, you know, and here they were devious and then he started kind of smirking at me cause he knew that 1 wasn't going to be reappointed." “I started to say you know how hard I worked for it and what it meant to me and my family and then my reputation as a hard worker, good honest person ..White said Milk smirked at him again. "As if to say. too bad. and then, and then 1 just got ail flushed and. and hot and I shot him.* By this time in the tape, several persons were dabbing at their eyes with tissue and handkerchiefs, and sniffling could be heard from various parts of the courtroom. Associate defense lawyer Stephen J. Seherr shifted restlessly in his chair at the defense table beside attorney Douglas R. Schmidt and also wiped his eyes.After leaving City Hall that day, White said, he drove to the Doggie Diner at Van Ness and Golden Gate Avenues and telephoned his wife.
“I didn't tell her on the phone." he said. See. she was working, son's at a baby sitter’s, s—. I just told her to meet me at the cathedral." Mary Ann took a cab and met him at St. Mary’s Cathedral at Gough Street and Geary Boulevard, he said. White said be had not told her of the pressure building within him. She always has been great to me. but it was. I couldn’t tell anybody. I didn't, there was just, just the pressure hitting me and just my head's all flushed and I expected that my skull's going to crack. "Then when she came to the church. I told her and she kind of slumped and just, she couldn't say anything." White said she accompanied him to Northern Station where he turned himself in. "Is there anything else you’d like to add at this time?" asked Faizon. "Just that I've always been honest and worked hard, never cheated anybody or. you know. I'm not a crook or anything and I wanted to do a good job." said White. "I’m trying to do a good job and I saw this city as it's going kind of downhill and I was always just a lonely vote on the board and tried to be honest and. and I just. I couldn’t take it anymore anc that's it." Assistant District Attorney Thomas F. Norman had called Falzon to the witness stand to play the tape. When it was over. Superior Court Judge Walter F. Calcagno ordered a brief recess, after which defense attorney Schmidt cross-examined Falzon about his relationship to White. Falzon said he had known White almost ten years. He described White as a “man among men. a hustler." On the day of the shootings. Falzon said. White was “destroyed ... a shattered individual both mentally and physically." Falzon said White excelled in pressure situations, especially on the athletic field, but sometimes “had a tendency to run from situations.." “His ultimate goal was to purchase a boat and sail around the world and get away from everybody." Falzon said. Norman's final witness was Mitchell Luksich, a police criminalist and firearms expert. He testified that the two fatal shots into Moscone’s head were fired from a distance of between six and 18 inches. Norman, who called 19 witnesses in three days, is expected to rest his case this morning. Schmidt could begin the defense as early as this afternoon.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 May 1979: Jury hears tape -- White trial judge reaffirms charges
SAN FRANCISCO (, AP) - The judge in the Dan White murder trial refused today to dismiss charges against the former supervisor in connection with the shooting deaths of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. After prosecutor Thomas Norman formally rested his case, White's attorney. Douglas Schmidt, said the charges should be dropped because the prosecution had not presented "enough evidence to go to the jury." Superior Court Judge Walter F. Calcagno rejected the motion, saying there was "sufficient proof." Schmidt was to begin White's defense later today. The trial began Monday and Norman presented 19 prosecution witnesses.
In court Thursday, the jury heard a tape recorded statement given to police just after the shootings in which White tearfully described the shootings, saying of Moscone’s death: "I just shot him That was it. it was over." "He (Moscone) was talking and nothing was getting through to me. It was just like a roaring in my ears...." White's voice, recorded an hour after the Nov. 27 assassinations, told a Superior Court jury Thursday. While, on trial for the two slayings, said he was worrying about "what I was going to do now...all the time knowing he's (the mayor) going to go out and lie to the press and tell them, you know, that I wasn’t a good supervisor.”
Then Milk, San Francisco's first openly homosexual supervisor and White's poltical adversary, was killed about 90 seconds later, according to testimony tefore Superior Court Judge Walter F. Calcagno.
The confession was submitted by prosecution witness Frank Falzon. a police homiclde inspector and friend of White, a former policeman. Falcon taped the interview after White surrender to authorities following the shootings. Falzon was the last prosecution witness. Several jurors and spectators wept openly while the recording was played, and White sat at the defense table with tears streaming down his cheeks.
White has pleaded innocent to the killings. Prosecutor Thomas F. Norman has asked for the death penalty under the "special circumstances" provision" of a newly passed state law. which provdes for capital punishment in cases where a public official has been killed to prevent him from carrying out his official duties or there is more thaï one death. Leaving Moscone's office, White said he saw a Millk aide, "and then it struck me about what Harvey had tried to do, so I said "Well, I'll go talk
to him.' After enterlng Milk's office and speaking with him, "he just kind of smirked at me as if to say, too bad,' and then I got all flushed up and hot and I shot him.”.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 May 1979:...Baseball cornes up frequently when friends talk about Dan White Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon. who coached the state champion 1971 San Francisco police softball team, said White was on the tournament allitar team, and was voted most valuable player. An umpire who had officiated for 30 years, Falzon testified, said that White was the finest ball player he had ever seen. Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Examiner on 24 June 1979: Behind Dan White’s confession By Jnn Wood, Examiner Staff Writer
Seventy minutes after killing Mayor George ;Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, a shattered Dan White sat alone in'an interrogation jroom at the Hall of Justice.
The door opened, and Frank Falzon, a homicide inspector who has won 30 first-degree murder convictions and sent four men to deathrow. looked in. For an instant the two close friends stared at each, other. Then Fabon. ’stunned, blurted out a question": “Why. why?" At first White could not reply. ‘His eyes began to swell and tear, and he put his head down on his arms and shook his head back and forth as if to say. "I don t know,’ Falzon recalls. Falzon went to his desk in the homicide detail to get a tape recorder and cassette and asked Inspector Ed Erdelatz. who happened to be on duty in the homicide detail to assist in taking Whites statement.
The statement that followed was the heart of the prosecution's case against Dan White. In it White admitted arming himself, going to City Hall and killing the two officials. It gave prosecutor Tom Norman what he has described as a technically perfect first-degree murder case. But even before White was found guilty of manslaughter, instead of murder as charged, the statement also raised a number of questions — some of which Falzon calls legitimate, some playing on the tensions of a grief-racked city. Why was the statement taken by a close friend? Did the police go east on a former officer? Why wasn't White asked about climbing through a window to enter City Hall? Why did interrogators allow White to tell his own story instead of pelting him with tough questions? Here is Falzon's account of the story behind Dan White s confession: The official times of the deaths were 10:50 a.m. for Moscone arid 10:55 am for Milk on Nov. 27. Falzon was one half of the on-call homicide team that day. The homicide detail calls for six oncall teams to handle whatever comes up on a rotating basis. Falzon's partner was Inspector Herman Clark, 16 years a police officer and nine a robbery investigator and regarded as one of the outstanding such investigators in the state. Clark was new in the homicide unit, replacing Jack Geary, who moved to the district attorney's investigating staff. At about 11 am. Falzon was in the district attorney s office conferring with Deputy District Attorney James Lassan, when homicide head Lt. Jack Jordan telephoned to Falzon to “get up here right away." Jordan told Falzon and Clark that there had been a shooting at City Hall and ordered them -See Page 10, CoL 1.
Story behind Dan White’s confession — From Page 1...to go at once to the mayor's office. They arrived at 11:10 AM. In the midst of the chaos, Falzon and Clark attempted to learn what was happening, unaware that at Northern Station, White, accompanied by his wife Mary Ann, already was surrendering to a longtime family friend. Officer Paul Chignell. Significantly, given what was about to occur. White told Chignell that he would not make a statement. Shortly before leaving City Hall, of the Hall of Justice by Inspectors Carl Klotz and Howard Bailey. The homicide detail in Room 451 consists of a small space for the secretary, a glassed room for the lieutenant and a large room to house desks for the 12 homicide inspectors. At one end are two rooms for interrogating witnesses in privacy. It was in one of these bare interrogation rooms that Falzon found White. Outside the homicide detail, there was bedlam in the corridors. Repeaters were pushing to squeeze into the tiny portion in the front of the detail and Jeff Brown, the public defender, was struggling to gain admittance to the main part of Room 454. Brown s purpose was to advise White against making any statement. Although Brown was a well-connected public official, he had no status in the White case as far as the homicide officers were concerned, and despite his repeated and noisy protests, he was refused entry to the homicide detail. Falzon, picking up his tape recorder from his. desk, realized he did not have much time. After advising White of his Miranda rights to remain silent or to see a lawyer, Falzon began taking the statement. Falzon’s beginning was unusual:
“Would you, normally in a situation like this, we ask questions. I'm aware of your past history as a ponce officer and also as a san Francisco fireman, I would prefer, I'll let you do it in a narrative form as to what happened this morning if you can lead up to the events of the skooting and then backtracking as to why the skooting took place." Falzon has been criticized for this departure from customary police technique. “It was apparent the man was shattered." Falzon says. “As he spoke the man was not only crying and sobbing, but his whole body was. convulsing. Any other line would not have s elicited the facts about why these events took place. Falzon says that narratives also lead the person being interrogated to ramble, making it harder for him to protect what he’s saying, and it also suggests questions to be followed up.
Most important though was the timing. Jeff Brown was outside the homicide detail, trying to get in and stop the questioning. Because Brown did hot represent White, the inspectors thought it proper to continue their interrogation; but they knew thére wasnt much time. Indeed, minutes after the statement was concluded at 1230, attorney John Purcell, hired by the White family, arrived and said he wanted no further questioning of White. He aiso refused to allow laboratory technicians to perform neutron activation tests to determine whether While had fired a gun. If police were to obtain a statement from White Falzon say's, they had to take it just when they did, between noon and 12:30 the day of the shooting. Falzon says he was unaware of a number of key facts in the case, facts he has since been criticized for not asking about during the interrogation.
Falzon says be did not know: - That Dan White entered City Hall through a.. — See next page.
‘Police acted professionally
— From preceding page side -- ...basement window. Falzon says he assumed that White had entered without passing through the metal detector, simply walking around the electronic gate. As a police officer. Falzon knew this was a courtesy customarily extended to members of the Board of Supervisors (and to police officers) Falzon didn’t learn about White's entry until 2:10 pm, after talking with Inspector Jeff Brosch. That both Mcecore and Milk were killed by coup de grace shots after being wounded. Clark and Falzon were notified by Coroner Boyd Stephens at 2:25 pm, that both men had been shot several times and something of the nature of their wounds. Falzon says it was 3:05 before he arrived at the coroner's office, inspected the wounds in each body and leaned that both men had been given coup de grace shots after being wounded. The importance of White's remark near the end of the interview that he had reloaded the gun, Falzon says he did not know the number of times Moscone and Milk hat been shot. Although the questioners obtained White's statement that he had reloaded in his office. While was not asked to elaborate on this key fact pointing to premeditation.
The statement taken by Falzon and Erdelatz had one flaw beyond the control of the officers — White’s coolly distraught condition. Prosecutor Norman, who heard the tape several times before using it in the trial was aware that While's chest-rattling sobs and labored breathing might be jury dynamite. The tape's probative value had to be weighed against the emotional impact. It was a tough decision and Norman made it. But Norman says that “a kid out of law school“ should know that he couldn't have just played parts of the tipe, as one critic suggested. When one part of a statement or tape is placed, the defense is entitled to have the entire dociment or tape presented. "You know what the judge would have done to me if I'd tried to pull something like that.“ Norman says, shakng his head.
Under California's evidence laws, the entire tape had to be made available to the defense before the trial began and defense counsel Douglas Schmidt could and woulc have played it But Norman had not But Norman says he coüd not rely on the defense to prove his case. Norman says that people maintaining that he should have introduced a transcript of the testimony, rather than letting jurors hear the taped emotion, ignore two facts: the defense then could have played the tape, capitalizing on how the prosecution was attempting to conceal White's state of mind, or, in the alternative, that the defense could have printed out, under California law, that a record was made and not played and that the jurors could draw the inference that the tape would have been less helpful to the prosecution.
Like Falzon, Norman has taken a share of the heat generated by the manslaughter verdict. Many critics — Norman calls them them Mondaymorning quarterbacks — have suggested that the prosecution should have put on more psychiatrists to rebut the battery of defense witnesses who said White was mentally ill. Norman says that his psychiatrist, Dr. Roland Levy, was well qualified and had examined White the day of the slayings. As a result, Norman says. Levy's testimony should have been given more weight. The jury disagreed. After White's statement was taken, police continuel to build the case against their former colleague. Falzon, who in his nine years as a homicide investigator has worked or 200 cases, says the investigation was as thorough as any case he ever participated in. White's home and office were searched, friends and enemies interviewed. Falzon says not one incident of brutality has turned up, although the rumors persisted. In fact, Falzon says, the only brutality in connection with White was when be quit the Police Department after protesting brutality by oter officers.     Falzon and Clark’s investigation totaled 480 hours, not including the work dore by the entire homicide team under Jordan. “It’s my opinion that the prosecution showed beyond a reasonable doubt a first degree murder conviction,' Falzon says. The defense was able to counter with White’s background as a city servant, being a police officer, a fireman and a supervisor along with a history of heroism, undue pressure that had built up and finally, showng a mental breakdown. I believe homicide inspectors and the police act as     ^;
professionally as humanly possible on this tragic day in the history of San Francisco.“.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7 July 1979: S.F. Jury Finds Policeman Guilty -- A San Francisco police officer was found guilty yesterday for deliberately shooting himself in the leg in order to collect disability pay. Anthony J Spiteri, 32, was convicted after a special investigation was launched into a shooting incident he reported at Candlestick Park, where he was assignee on the final day of the baseball season last September 27. Spiteri claimed a black man shot him in the right calf after the officer attempted to run a stolen car check on the assailant's auto. But a month later a fisherman near the scene of the shooting retrieved a corroded .38 caliber handgun from the bay. A check by crime lab specialists showed that though one serial number was etched off. a second number remained in a concealed spot on the gun. The gun was owned by Spiteri. according to Assistant Distnct Attorney Bob Graham. Spiteri was convicted by a jury in the Court of Judge Albert C. Wellenberg on charges of possession of a weapon with an altered serial number and making a false statements concerning an official investigation. Spiteri has been on paid sick leave since the shooting incident Police spokesmen indicated that any departmental disciplinary proceedings would be conducted after all criminal charges are settled.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 August 1979: Caller Tells Cop He Killed Woman
Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon said yesterday that a man confessed over the telephone to the murder of Laura Stanton, 27. whose nude body was discovered Wednesday in Hunters Point. But the agitated caller hung up without identifying himself. "I am certain that the man I talked to was the killer, the detective said 'He is a man on the verge of breaking. I hope he comes in before he hurts anyone else.' For the past year Stanton had worked as a live-in baby sitter with friends living on Green Street. She was last seen when she left the home of other friends in Sebastopol to return to the city late Tuesday. Falzon said he answered the phone at about 155 p.m. yesterday at the Hall of Justice to hear a voice that He heard to be that of "a young, nervous black man.' "Man. I need your help." the caller said.
"What kind of help do you need?" Falzon answered. You know that woman who was in the paper today. Laura Stanton? The one who was killed? I did It." the caller said. "I didn't mean to kill her. I wanted to be a friend, but she wouldn't let me" As Falzon tried to persude the caller to surrender, the officer said, the man became increasingly agitated. "Man.^- he said. I don't want to go to jail." The connection was broken as Falzon tried to talk the man into contacting an attorney. The woman was raped and bludgeoned to death with a short piece of timber. Her body was discovered at noon Wednesday on a walk way behind Sir Franca Drake School. The car she had borrowed was found at the school. Flazonsaid Stanton may have been kidnaped after visiting Union Street where she had once worked as a bartender. Friends have told police she would never have picked up a hitchhiker. Friends said Stanton's parents and sisters had been to San Francisco just two weeks ago to visit her. “They went everywhere together. At least they had that." one friend said.

Anthony Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 August 1979: S.F. Cop Sentenced -- San Francisco policeman Apthony J. Spited, 32, who shot himself in the leg to collect disability pay. was sentenced to one year in county jail by Municipal Court Judge Albert C. Wollenberg yesterday. But Judge Wollenberg offered to suspend the sentence and put Spiteri on probation for three years if Spiteri agreed to resign from the police department, serve 30 days in jail and pay a fine of $500. Spiteri’s attorney, Mortimer F. Mclnerny, called the sentence “unduly harsh” and said he will appeal. Spiteri was convicted July 6 of two misdemeanors — possession of a weapon with an altered serial number and making false statements concerning an official investigation. Spiteri told fellow officers he was shot in the leg by a man while the officer was on duty last September 27, the final day of the baseball season at Candlestick Park.
A month later, however, a fisherman near the scene of the shooting retrieved a corroded .38 caliber pistol from the bay. A check by crime lab specialists showed that although one serial number was etched off, a second number remained in a concealed spot on the gun.
Assistant District Attorney Bob Graham, after a special investigation into the shooting, said the gun was owned by Spiteri. Yesterday, in passing sentence. Wollenberg said he could not “countenance the possession of such a gun by a police officer." Wollenberg gave Spiteri until September 17 to clean up his affairs before reporting to begin his sentence. If Mclnery's appeal is accepted by the appelate division of Superior Court the reporting date would be extended.

Dr. Eric Nelson Vella PhD was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 September 1981: Checkers fine but others go for Go -- Yesterday’s Go tournament left Kyung Kim, 40, a San Francisco letter carrier, less than pleased. For three years the U.S. national champion, Kim yesterday lost a game, which, however, will not knock him out of the competition
“It’s a very elegant game. The rules are simple but the strategies are complicated,” said Eric Vella, a University of California at Berkeley physics student who won his game yesterday
against Michael Bull. The Go tournament will continue at the California First . Bank Hospitality Room at the Japan Center today. The Checkers tournament will continue at the Claremont Hotel through tomorrow.

Joseph Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 November 1981: Street Caves In Under Moving Car By Randy Shilu
As a bemused crowd stood by in the Haight Ashbury last night. authorities tried to figure out what to do with the Plymouth slicking out of Central Avenue.
"It happened like something out of the Twilight Zone." said Bruce Shell, who had been looking out his window. "This car was just driving down the street and the road started to swallow it up." Among the 10 or so gathered around the surrealistic scene were the three people whose misfortune it was lo have been in ihe sedan. They were fortunate enough, however. not to have been seriously injured. Carmen Camilleri, 31, was in the back seat when the street opened. "It felt like someone hit us and we wero going to turn over, except that all of the sudden we were under the street." she said. Shell helped Carmen and her parents. Joseph and Mary Camilleri out of the car. which was embedded from its headlights up to its rear fender. Joseph Camilleri said the accdent happened shortly after 6 p.m. as he slowed for a slop sign while driving north on Central, half a block south of ihe Golden Gate Park Panhandle. "It's a miracle we’re alive.” he said as he watched a tow truck edge tentatively near the sinkhole. Up the street. Tommi Harper and her friend Joyce Gilbert, talked angrily about how they had gone to the Police Department's Park Station at 4 pm. yesterday afternoon, about two hours before the street ingested the Plymouth; to warn officers that the street's asphalt surface was sagging. A giant hole had similarly appeared up the block last year, they said. "You think that if you could call a cop about something like this, they would close the street and save somebody's life." fumed Gilbert. Police Sergeant Bob Quinn confirmed that Park Station had been warned about the hole, but said the radio car dispatched to the location saw no evidence of a hazard. Frank Curran, superintendent of street and sewer repair for the Department of Public Works, said at the scene during cleanup efforts last night that he did not know why the street caved in.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 November 1981: Homicide inspector Sues Gay Activist -- San Francisco homicide inspector Frank Falzon has filed a S1.25 million libel lawsuit against a gay activist who wrote a letter to the editor of a local gay paper, criticizing the officer's handling of a homicide investigation. Falzon claims that a letter by Randy Schell, printed in the Bay'Area Reporter, caused Falzon to suffer a "loss of his reputation, shame, mortification and hurt feelings.” Schell's letter outlined his grievances at Falzon's handling of the killing of Schell's roommate and lover. Thomas Hadley, who was shot in the head in Buena Vista Park in August 1980. Schell’s letter said Falzon would not check out bars that Hadley frequented, saying "no gay guy would give me information because I am a police, officer." Schell , also wrote that Falzon had said gay murder investigations were difficult because homosexuals are sexually promiscuous. Falzon's complaint against Schell cites the gay activist's statements that Falzon had treated the murder "with little regard” and that Falzon did not act "in a manner befitting police officers" as the reason' for his litigation. Neither Falzon nor his attorney James Collins. was available for comment yesterday. Schell, who works in the Castro Street office of Community United Against Violence; would not comment on the particules of the case beyond saying. "I will not back down on anything I said."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 April 1983: Herb Caen: One Thing After Another
INSIDE OUT: Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon, who took Dan White’s confession after the murders of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, is considering legal action over the way he is portrayed in the play “The Dan White Incident,” now running at People’s Theater in Fort Mason. “Dan was a friend of mine but he got no breaks from me,” insists Falzon. “In fact, after I took his statement, all I could think was. This guy just admitted two murders — he’s going to the death box’”.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 July 1983: Jury Called Biased -- Prosecutor's Defense
The prosecutor and the chief detective in the Dan White case said yesterday they thought the jury was looking for a way during the trial to give White “a break.”
The detective, Frank Falzon, also said the case “really put a black cloud" over himself and Assistant District Attorney Tom Norman, despite their excellent records.
“This is the case that eats at my guts," said Falzon. a 12-year veteran and close friend of White's. "I know the case was investigated as thoroughly as possible So the reason the case eats at me is that 1 don’t know what I could have done differently. I've gone over this case a million times in my head. I don’t know what could have brought a different result. I wish someone could tell me what we could have done differently.” Looking back on it all. Norman said that because Dan White was such an All American boy, “I think the jurors were looking for a way to give him a break. Sure they were. “I have no apologies to make for this case,” Norman added. “I've tried about 200 murder cases. I’ve never had one like this where the evidence was so strong.” Norman, who some jurors said put on a weak case and too little psychiatric testimony against White, said he felt that he handled the psychiatric testimony as he should have - getting a respected psychiatrist, Roland Levy, to interview White on the day of the slayings. Had he tried to put more psychiatrists on the stand, Norman said, he thinks the defense would have attacked them and it would have worked against his case. “As to his bad background, there wasn't any bad background" to present, Norman said. Norman said he put on all the evidence he had.
That included testimony showing how White learned Mayor George Moscone was not going to reappoint him to the Board of Supervisors and that Supervisor Harvey Milk was working against his reappointment.
Falzon who along with another inspector took White's confession shortly after the killings, agreed with Norman's assessment that the jurors sought a way to give White a break- “I looked at tho pooplo on that jury.” said Falzon, who became good friends with White when the two were on the police force together. The jurors were all American type parents. Most saw him as their child who got caught up in City Hall and got overwhelmed and lost his mind. "The jury was kind of rooting for him They were looking for a way out and Doug Schmidt gave them a way out with his defense. The jury got caught up in the emotiions. I don t blame them. " In his testimony. he said he prefaced everything with “before November 27" because until then he never would have believed in the wildest stretch of imagination that White was capable of killing. Falzon also said that on the day he look White's confession, it was never discussed in the homicide unit that he was White’s friend and perhaps someone else should take ihe confession. Instead, he had been the homicide officer on call when the case broke, and later, things were moving too fast for such considerations to be raised. When he took White’s confession. Falzon said. "I felt I got a statement that would put him in the death chamber.” Later, though, be began to have doubts about what effect the confession tape would have, because it was such an emotional portrait of a man in turmoil. "I think five or six Jurors cried" when the tape was played at the trial. Falzon recalled. "I think they looked on him as one of their own." Falzon, who has investigated hundreds of homicides, added that he thought defense attorney Schmidt "did an awesome job. He played it to the hilt. He had an argument for every prosecution point'
Describing his own emotions, Falzon said he knows that he and Norman now live with a reputation as the ones “who handled the Dan White case and bungled it"
From the beginning, the case troubled him deeply, he said. “Before that day. I would have hoped my son would grow up to be like Dan White. Nothing set me back more than to hear one of my best friends was the killer."
Mayor Duane Feinstem, who was criticized by some jurors who said she testified favorably about White and that she attacked the verdict, denied vehemently that she had tried to say favorable things about White. "Its as if the jurors are looking for a scapegoat." she said. Conceming her testimony that it would not be her opinion that White was the sort to kill two people, Feinstein said: “No one thought Dan White was the kind who would kill anyone." Feinstein idded that it was “bialantly untrue and unfair to suggest that her comments on the verdict were arything other than her true sentiments as a citizen. She said her comments after the verdict had not been political posturing and that she said what she truly believed - that these were two murders. Instead of grandstanding when the press sought her out to get her reaction. Fernsten said as a matter of fact, "I tried to downplay it."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 July 1983: The Controversial Issues And Their Effect on Jurors -- Here are some of the issues that werer faced by the Dan Whiete trial Jury:
THE LAW - For a first-degree murder verdict, the Jury would have needed to find that White premeditated, deliberated and harbored malice. For a second degree verdict, they would have had to conclude that he harbored malice before the killings--but without premeditation and deliberation. For their voluntary manslaughter verdict, the Jury needed to flnd the shootings were intentional killings, without malice, committed in a sudden quarrel or heat of passion..
RELOADING — Jurors said one of the biggest fights, if not the biggest, was whether White's reloading of his gun between the time he shot Moscoie four times in the mayors office and the time about 90 seconds later, when he shot Milk five times in White's old office down the hall indicated premeditation.
White’s taped confession - made to police homicide inspector Frank Falzon, a longtime friend of White's, and another homicide inspector — did not clarify exactly where or when the reloading occurred in City hall, Jurors said. The defense argued that White reloaded "on instinct. because of his police training." Although Jurors played the tape over and over, they couldn't decide exactly where the reloading occurred, and they said court instructions were clear: If there was any doubt, resolve a question in favor of tho defendant. "If White reloaded in his own office and then asked Milk to step out (and talk to him), tiat would definitely have been murder — premedkalcd and everything else," said one Juror, Lindy. But to her the reloading location remained "clear as mud."
TWINKIE DEFENSE - The Jurors all denied that the notorious Twinkie defense " — psychiatric testimony linking Junk food consumption, depression, and violent behavior — affected their decision ai all. Psychiatric testimony touching on this point was extremely brief during the trial, and several jurors said the topic got similarly brief treatment Inside the Jury room.'     '
HOMOSEXUALITY — Jurors said that Supervisor Harvey Milk’s homosexuality did not color their deliberations — although a couple of them added that they didn't mind gays as long as they kept to themsdves. "The verdict wasn't against gays," said one Juror, John. "We looked at Moscone and Milk like iidlviduals. 1 had friends that were gay and still do. I din't come up with the verdict because Milk was gay."
WHITES CONFESSION' - While's tearful confession has been widely credited with influencing the Jury strongly in his behalf. Several Jurors said that the confession tape was definitely emotional, but they added that it was not a central factor shaping the verdict. One juror, Tom, that it would be wrong to argue, however, that the tape had no effect. "You'd be lying" if you said you were unaffected. ‘We're a society of humans and of compassion for otheo." He said the tape made While seem more real, more human, more beset by encircling financial pressures."
THE WITNESSES - Many who testified at the trial were friends of White, including prosectuion witnesses like one of tho two policemen wlo took White's confession,
Falcon testified that before the killings the only flaw he saw in White was his tendency to run, on in occasions, from situations. and I just attributed it to his own righteousness.'' Otherwise, Falcon said."to me Dan White was an exemplary individual, a man that 1 was proud to know and be associated with." Today, recalling Falcon’s testimony, one juror puzzled aloud over why Falcon took White's confession — considering that White and Falcon lad been longtime friends: "I wondered how he got assgned to the case." the juror said.
THE GUN AND THE WINDOW - Almost always, the people angered by the verdict had the same sort of questions for the jurors. "White confessed. He carried a gun. He brought along extra bullets. He climbed in a window at City Hall to avoid being caught by a metal detector at the main entrance. He reloaded his gun between the killings. How can you say these were not two premeditated murders?" During the trial, there had been testimony that ex-police officers like While often carried concealed guns. It wasn't legal to do so without a permit If officers quit the department as White did before retirement. But many carried guns anyway, and that was the way it was. Also, other city officials — including Supervisor Diane Feinsteln — carried guns for self-protection. This was a time, too, the defense aserted, when city officials were especially nervous because the Jonestown deaths had occurred only a few days earlier. There was also testimony that in the past other people had used that basement window to enter City Hall, as White did that day, so it wain't that odd. Jurors said all this testimony aflectcd their thinking. “We felt there was no premeditation," John said. He added he knew that anger could grab someone. He had caught himself in the past reaching out in a flash to lay a hand on someone.
‘‘Anger can happen to a person where they lose their head for those few seconds — where you kind of blank out and then get a hold of yourself and wonder then what you're doing."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 September 1983: Policeman kills cleaver-wielding man in Chinatown
A San Francisco police officer shot and killed a man last night in Chinatown's Waverly Alley. The officer said the victim had charged him, swinging a machete.
The dead man was identified by police as Vo Tuoc Traung, 33. Homicide inspector Frank Falzon said the incident began about 6:45 p.m. Police were told a man was walking up and down Washington and Clay streets and WaverlyAlley with a meat cleaver. Witnesses told police the man was swinging the weapon, pounding it against walls and shouting at passersbys. A group of Kung Fu students came to clear a pathway between Traung and the people he was threatening, Falzon said. He said they tried to establish eye contact with him, while others called police. Because a Chinatown festival was in progress, two uniformed members of the Community Relations detail were already in the area. The officers, Edward Dare and David Tambara, first tried to subdue the man, Falzon said. One of the Kung Fu students threw a garbage can at him. knocking him over and disarming him. But when the officers approached him again, Falzon said, he jumped up, seized the cleaver and raised it over his head as he charged the officers. Officer Dare fired once, but Traung kept coming, Falzon said. Dare fired twice more. Traung died two hours later at Mission Emergency Hospital of a bullet wound in the stomach and another in the chest. Falzon said numerous people were interviewed. He said the district attorney's office joined the investigation.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 November 1983: New Wrinkle in White Case By Maitland Zane
San Francisco District Attorney Arlo Smith complained yesterday he is getting the brushoff in his efforts to persuade the Justice Department to prosecute Dan
White on federal charges in connection with the murders Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Amid rumors that federal prosecutors will make a decision this week. Smith has been asking them to consider an unconfirmed report that questions the credibility of one of the homicide inspectors who investigated the case and was a witness the White trial. But the district attorney said yesterday that Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lowell Jensen, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division and his classmate at Boalt Hall law school, has not responded to his phone calls this week.
"There’s been no movement in the case," Smith said yesterday. He has been urging federal officials to prosecute White under federal civil rights laws.
In frustration, the district attorney yesterday sent a telegram to Attorney General William French Smith, asking for consideration of a report from a former City Hall aide who said she saw a homicide inspector view Harvey Milk's body at the scene, although he testified to the contrary at the White trial. The inspector, veteran homicide Detective Frank Falzon, has denied the claim by former City Hall aide Gale Kaufman that she saw him at the Milk death scene shortly after the shootings on Nov. 27, 1973. "The statement I gave on the witness stand was true and factual and I stand behind it,” Falzon said yesterday. “1 never saw Milk’s body until I saw him on a slab in the coroner’s office.” It is unclear what effect the allegation, if true, might have had on the White trial, other than to raise questions about Falzon’s credibility as a witness. The district attorney has assigned one of his own investigators to look into the report. If White is not indicted on federal charges by November 27, the five-year statute of limitations will have run out and he must be freed from Soledad Prison on January 6. Kaufman was Supervisor Quentin Kopp's aide at the time of the City Hall assassinations and now works in Sacramento as a consultant to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 November 1983: Dan White Case Witness Upheld -- District Attorney Arlo Smith said yesterday he is satisfied that a veteran homicide inspector was telling the truth when he testified during the 1979 murder trial of Dan White.
The issue arose last week, when a former City Hall aide said she saw Inspector Frank Falzon a: the death scene of Supervisor Harvey Milk shortly after Milk and Mayor George Moscone were killed on Nov. 27,1978. Falzon. who played a key role in the investigation of the shootings by White, said he had neverseen Milk's body in the supervisor’s City Hall office. Yesterday, Smith issued a statement that said Falzon's version "has been corroborated” ihrough interviews with eyewitnesses. "The declaration of Ms. Gale Kaufman, who stated that she saw Frank Falzon come into the area and view Milk's body, has been reviewed with Ms. Kaufman and eight other persons at the scene.” Smith’s statement said. "Ms. Kaufman now states she saw Falzon in the corridor before Milk’s body was removed, iut did not see Falzon view the body of Supervisor Mill. "It is our belief that Ms. Kaufman was confused about seeing Inspector Falzon in the supervisors* offices area on the morning of Nov. 27.1978.”
Falzon responded yesterday. “I am hurt by the way Mr. Smith handled this whole affair. I feel I was used as a political ploy for Mr. Smith to gain furthei support in the
gay community. “Why did he fire off a telegram to the U-S attorney general saying that he was ‘investigating new evidence* (in the Dan White case) without ever contacting me until after he announced the investigation.”.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 November 1983: The Return Of The Pretty-Boy Killer
The title of tonight's documentary drama. ‘The People Versus Dan White." is both sad and infuriating for San Franciscans tecause the decision in that case went to the assassin. It is a public defeat that the decent and compassionate citizens of this city have been wrestling with for nearly five years. It will remain with us forever.
There is little that hasn't alread been said about this deplorable miscarriage of Justice but some new insights will be added for msny viewers and some old suspicions substantiated on tonight's program (8 o'clock. Channel 9 with a repeat Thursday at 10 p.m.) The recent Steve Dobbins stage play, 'The 'Dan White Incident," provides the KQSD production with the dramatic part of its 90 minute presentation. I am told that some of the sensational aspects of the play were removed by KQED producers because they could not be substantiated, particularly those involving the coroner's report. What is left is serviceable and presumably accurate. The acting in the dramatized sequences is first rate and the performance of Kevin Reilly as the killer is impressive. The 33-member cast is drawn from the playwright's Illustrated Stage Company, which is planning to open in Los Angeles in January. But I doubt if the drama Itself — as enacted tonight — would serve as anything more than a backward glance at a sordid chapter in City Hall Justice if it weren't for the documentary additions provided by some remarkable interviews. Foremost among them are the refreshing comments by two colorful Chronicle byliners, Warren Hinckle and Randy Shilts, both of whom are first-rate Journalists and full-fledged local characters in the very best sense of that word. They add the punchy, real-life observations that are missing in the Dobbins drama.
“Above all, Dan White was a brat — a neurotic, vindictive, sadistic, Irish Catholic mess," said Hinckle, right on target. '"I think he just killed Moscone on his way to kill Harvey. "
"White could bave won an Oscar for his confession," observes Shilts. “It was a beautifully crafted and delicately honed performance. The whole idea that he was some babe in the woods exposed to dirty city hall politics is a joke. "
The question of the colorless and ill-prepared prosecution versus the well-prepared, volatile and entertaining defense does not go unnoticed — including a lectern that turned into a pulpit, enabling the defense attorney to invoke God 27 times during his summation to the jury. "It boils down to this: did they blow the prosecution or did they throw the prosecjtion?" observes Shilts. "I’m not sure which, but there's a lot of evidence to Indicate that for purely, crassly’, political reasons the decision was made within the District Attorney's office not to prosecute the Dan White case with all the ammunition they had .. The word 'assassination' was never used by the prosecution during the whole tria!." Only 57 minutes of tonight’s 90-minute KQED production were available for previeving as late as 3 p.m. yesterday. At that time, Ken Ellis, KQED current affairs director, filled in the missing half hour, verbally, for me. Ellis also added that Frank Falzon, the SFPD inspector who was White’s buddy and is prominently interviewed (and portrayed dramatically as well) on tonight's program, requested that some of his footage be removed. Ellis refused.
"Falzon makes a rather remarkabh statement on camera where he explains that a lot of cops hated Police Chief Charles R. Gain," Ellis told me.
"And Falzon adds that their hostility was not directed at Gain but toward the man who put him there, George Moscone." The program is certain to raise some questions in viewer’s minds regarding the character of the marvelous men in blue and their tenacious devotion to the image of San Francisco, as they see it. in areas far removed from law and order, in the more dangerous and neurotic realm represented by their pretty boy killer.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 January 1984: Looking back at Dan White -- By Susan Sward
One day nine bullets changed their lives. Initially, they had little in common as a group, except for having been close to Dan White or his victims, or having worked somewhere in the city’s court system. Yet, when White, an ex-supervisor from the Excelsior District, shot to death San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor
Harvey Milk five years ago, he touched them all. Now, on the eve of White’s release Friday from state prison, several of these people talked about how the case affected them and what they feel about White after those five year
Frank Falzon:
San Francisco homicide investigator Frank Falzon says the Dan White case still eats at his guts. A mliiion times, he says, he has gone over what he might have done differently. When the call came in to the Police Department about the City Hall shootings, Falzon was one of the homicide investigators "on call.” Until he reached City Hall, Falzon did not know that the killer was White — his friend since childhood, his former teammate on the San Francisco police championship softball team, and someone he considered almost like a kid brother. Looking back on his investigation, Falzon says: “Here was a case that was 1OO percent is its entirety, and yet we lose it. To find a scapegoat in this case, it has to go beyond me —the investigator — and the district attorney who prosecuted the case. "I think it was the law. Without the diminished capacity defense in the psychiatric testimony, there was no defense in this case.” "I ask myself, what did I do for Dan White except tell the truth?" Falzon said. He had helped build the case with all its pieces: murder weapon, motive, the premeditated avoidance of the metal detector at City Hall. During the trial, Falzon was asked by White’s attorney to give his opinion of White, and Falzon responded that before the killings he had thought very highly of his friend. Critics later blasted Falzon, arguing that the case was a classic example of police protection of one of their own. The criticism stung Falzon. “I can take it. I know everyone is looking for an answer, and 1 know Frank Falzon must answer their questions. I have big enough shoulders to handle it. I'll always be an honest cop. I will continue to be that kind of policeman.” Fakon said there's nothing he would have done differently in his handling of the case — even after all these years of self-examination about what he might have done. He said only one person could say what went on almost every minute of the day of the murders. and that was Inspector Frank Falzon. Now Falzon said glumly, "the final chapter hasn't been written yet" on how While will fare outside prison walls. "When are we going to let this thing rest? What does the media want? Are the reporters going to be the semi-literate leaders of the lynch mob? *'How far do you push it?"

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 February 1984: Where are Harvey Milk's Clothes
Coroner Boyd G. Stephens has hidden the clothes worn by Harvey Milk the day he was shot to death, and he's not telling anyone, not even the cops, where they are.
Stephens has also secreted away the clothes of assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The coroner said he took them from the police property room because he feared unauthorized people might "damage” the evidence. "I'm not saying where it is,” Stephens said of the clothing, which the Police Department acknowledged yesterday was no longer in the property room in the basement of the Hall of Justice. The coroner indicated that the murdered man’s clothing is not in his office, either. "It’s in a private area and there’s only one key, and I’ve got it,” he said. The coroner’s actions have touched off an unlikely tug of war over Milk’s clothes. The attorney for Milk’s estate. John Wahl, called Stephens’ actions "appalling and bizarre.” Wahl said the slained supervisor’s clothes "are the property of Joseph Scott Smith and no one in this city has the right to deprive him of his property.” Smith is Milk’s former lover and heir. Yesterday, the attorney asked Mayor Dianne
Feinstem to intervene with Stephens, but she declined. A spokesman for her office said that she discussed the matter with Stephens and "supported the coroner’s view that Harvey Milk’s clothing remain in a secure place.” Wahl said if the coroner does not surrender Milk’s clothes he will go to court to recover them.
The latest controversy in the five-year-old City Hall slayings began Monday when Smith called police Inspector Frank Falzon. the chief investigator in the Moscone- Milk slayings, and asked for Milk’s clothing. “I told him that I would photograph the property for the record and release it to him,*’ Falzen said. But when he checked he found that the coroner had removed the clothes from the property room. “Dr. Stephens is of the opinion that this case still has potential judicial proceedings," Falzon said. “His feeling is that if we lose control of the clothing, we lose control of the evidence.” Smith did not receive this news without emotion.
What's going on here?” he said. "This case is over. We tried everything we could to get Dan White re-prosecut- ed and it was no go. He has served his time and he's out. Harvey’s clothes are my property and 1 want them. Now the coroner says he’s hidden them. This is looney.”
Falzon said that he now agrees with Stephens. "This whole Dan White case has been so crazy that you never know what might happen next," he said. “I’m a little paranoid about this myself. I’ve got my whole Dan White case investigation file locked up.” 1 called Stephens to ask him if, after all the city has been through over the City Hall murders, a flap over the disposition of Milk's clothes wasn't an avoidable ugliness. Stephens replied that he felt he was safeguarding both his personal reputation and the integrity of the city of San Francisco by keeping the clothing of the two slain men in a secret place."The law gives me the authority to hold and maintain evidence,” he said. "This evidence is secured in a safe place under the chain of custody of the court.” Stephens said that what prompted him to take
the clothing from the police property room —“where people are wandering in and out all the time” — was the concern that the pants the two dead men were wearing on the day of .the murders “might get damaged. “I don’t want thèse clothes to get out of my possession and all of a sudden find a bullet hole in the seat of
the pants that wasn’t there before,” Stephens.said. The coroner said he ^signed out for the clothes” to keep them safe in March of 1983 when allegations were made lira play about the City;Hall murders that White had mutiliatedthe bodiës of his two victims by firing a bullet into the seat of the dead mayor’s pants and crushing Milk’s-genitals with his foot. Stephens said such; charges wëre “absolutely unfounded” and a libel both upon himself and the city. He said the clothes of the victims show that such acts never occured. The play is “The Dan White Incident” by Steve Dobbins, which played here to mixed reviews but is now playing in Los Angeles to hurrah notices. : “The coponer threatened to shut us down, so we dropped the lines in the San Francisco production,” Dobbins said yesterday. The playwright said.that “twoSan Francisco policemen" told him about the alleged mutilitation and he remains unconvinced that such an event did not occur. Dobbins said some of the offending lines had been restored in the Los Angeles production. Stephens said he was going to keep the evidence until he was "convinced that this case is finally over." At that point, he said, he plans to "destroy" the clothes. He seemed unimpressed by the idea that Milk’s clothing should go to his heir.
"My position would be that the clothes should never be returned." he said. “I’d want assurances that the clothes wouldn't end up in a sideshow. His clothes could become like Billy the Kid’s pistol. I would not like to see a mannequin dressed in Mr. Milk’s clothing. Smith is.the director of the Harvey Milk Archives. which collects memorabilia of the slain .gay supervisor. Smith was outraged at the coroner’s remarks. "Billy the Kid? 1 would think Martin Luther King would be a more proper analogy." Smith said that he had no plans’ to make any-use of the clothing his former lover.was slain in. "Hey. that stuff belongs to me. it’s my property and I want it"
Inspector Falzon said: "I'm beginning to think that this whole Dan White thing is never goiag to die — not in this town.” Well, whenever the Dan White case is finally over. 1 think the whole town will be. in Huck Finn’s words, rotten glad of it.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 February 1984: State Probes Rumor Of White's Book By Susan Sward
The state attorney general’s office said yesterday it has begun an investigation ofa report that Dan White, who is under parole supervision in Los Angeles County, has received a $50.000 advance to write a book about his life. Chief Assistant Attornev General Steve White said his office was interviewing parole officials about the alleged payment to the killer of Sun Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, but "we dont know any of the facts yet “ The sole source of the allegation about White's book advance is Jeffrey Walsworth. an Orange County attorney who said he represents a group of businessmen who recently offered $10,000 in return for word of White's whereabouts in Los Angeles. The group's statedment was to alert White s neighbors that he lived nearby. Walsworth also said in interviews Monday that White was living in a mansion in the wealthy Bel-Air district, an assertion that was flatly denied by the state yesterday. The attorney said this Information was disclosed by White to one of Walsworth’s clients after White himself contacted the group and a meeting was arranged. Howard Miller, deputy state corrections director in charge of parole, said White "is not living in s mansion" and "not residing in Bel-Air." Miller also said he knew nothing about White obtaining "any $50,000 to write a book." A new state law. which look effort January 1, is aimed at sharply curtailing the book and movie profits a criminal can make from his crime. The law prompted by White's case, requires such profits be placed in a trust for five years while anyone who received at least one quarter of the victim's estate may file damage claims in the courts.
Citing that law, both Assemblyman Art Agnus. of San Francisco, the measure's author, and John Wald, attorney for Scott Smith, the former lover of Harvey Milk, said they were going to press Attorney General John Van de Kamp to find whether White had such a book advance, and if so. to make sure the proper trust fund is set up immediately. Walsworth. an attorney from the city of Orange, did not return repeated calls from The Chronicle yesterday.
In another development in the White case yesterday. Doug Schmidt. White s attorney, issued a statement through a close friend, attorney James Collins, criticising a recent KRON-TV series of stories that stated that Schmidt was trying to interest publishers in a book about the trial. According to KRON, the b ok would include the assertion that police officers searching White's home after the killing failed to discover a diary that could have cast doubt on the defense's portrayal of White's depressed state of mind. Collins. wno would not comment on whether Schmidt is actually working on a bonk about the trial, also said "Channel 4 inferred that Mr. Schmidt was going to dlsclose the current whereabouts of his client. Dan White. That is not true." Collins described Channel. 4's story as "highly distorted and inaccurate. It falsely portrayed both Mr. Schmidt and Inspector Frank Falzon of the San Francisco Police Department. Falzon, who was the chief police investigator on the case and a friend of White, said yesterday he and several other officers "did a very thorough search of White's home following the City Hall killings and found no diary. The inference is the good old friend bypassed the diary." Falzon said. referring angrily to KRONs story “That hurt, to insinuate that I'd deliberately miss a diary. I don't even know if it exists." Larry Lee. the producer of the KRON story, stood by the story. "Our quoted informatlon was accurate — both our direct quotes from Schmidt’s outline and our summarizations."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 September 1984: Herb Caen: ... The Demos have THIS kind of money to throw around? Police Inspector Frank Falzon rec’d a $1943 check from the Demo Nat’l Committee for “100 hours of overtime.” He returned it because he has already been paid for the mere 12 overtime hours he DID work.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 October 1984: Ex-Convict's Confession To Two Grisly Murders By Robert Popp
A 42-year-old ex-convict with a long history of violent offenses has confessed to it least two gruesome local slayings, San Francisco homicide investigators said yesterday. Homicide Inspector Frank Falzaon said investigators are looking for evidence linking the suspect William Melvin White Jr., to other crimes, including the disappearance of Kevin Collins, a 10-year-old San Francisco boy who vanished while walkig for a but on February 10. and the slaying of Samantha Voneta Hill, an 18-year old whose dismenbered body was found near Lands End last December. White is being held without bail in City Prison for investigation of homicide, kidnap and sodomy. He was arrested by Oregon state troopers after he was accused of robbing a teenaged hitchhiker near Salem, Ore., on Saturday. After his arrest, White told Trooper Mike Ogle that he had killed two people in California, and Ogle arranged for his return to San Francisco. Falzon said White has confessed to killing 15-year-old Theodore Gomez, who was found dead of stab wounds in Golden Gate Park on September 22. Herman Clark, one of the homicide inspectors working on the Gomez case, said White "told us things only the killer would know." Falzaon said the confession cleared another man whom police had earlier considered a suspect in Gomez’s death. White also led investigators to two graves at Lands End containing the remains of a red-haired teenage boy wearing a jacket inscribed with the name Ozzie. Falzon said White told investigators he cut the boy's body to pieces with a knife, hatchet, machete and a saw on May 13. "If he hadn't showed us where it was. let me tell you, we never would have found It," Falzon said of the corpse. "They (the two graves) had been concealed very, very carefully" Sex crimes officers also are investigating the possibility that White may have kidnaped and sodomizîd a 22 year old men on September 17. Inspector Brad Nicholson said the victim in that assault was handcuffed in a car, threatened with a gun and sodomized twice during a lengthy captivity. Nicholson said the victim escaped after he forced his captor's car to crash on Internate 280 near Army Street. White was wanted on a $250.000 warrant for that kidnaping at the time of his arrest in Oregon, Nicholson said.
California Department of Corrections officials said White was convicted on homicide charges in the Los Angeles area in 1971 and served a five-year sentence in state
After his release, he moved to Pennsylvania, where he was convicted of assault in 1982 and was given a one-year sentence in the Lehigh County Prisor.. Officials at the prison. He said they had records of "assaultive behavior" by White dating back to the 1960s. Falzon said that after While was released from prison in September 1983, he moved back to the Bay Area and lived briefly it the National Hotel on Market Street He then found work as a janitor for the Salvation Army, Falzon said.
In March, White began camping in a group of caves known as the "Love Tunnels" at Lands End. a trysting spot for homosexuals. Homicide Lieutenant George Kowalski said White and other street people were living in the caves and "practicing survival in case of Armageddon."
Police said the grave found on Monday was near White’s encampment. a short distance from El Camino del Mar and directly under a site known as Inspiration Point.
Falzon said some parts of the teenagers dismembered body had been stuffed into a sleeping bag and buried under rocks, brush and a large tree limb. Other parts were found wrapped in a grocery bag in a similar hole 75 feet away. The victim's identity is not known, and a spokesman for the coroner's office said his identification from X-rays and dental records will probably take "a considerable amount of time."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 October 1984: Herb Caen: QUICK, LAY IN a supply of Twinkies: You may have exlerienced an unnerving case of deja vu upon reading reporter Robert Popp’s story on the front page last Thursday. It was about a confessed killer named White who murdered a straight and a gay in a case that was investigated by Inspector Frank Falzon and will be prosecuted by Asst. D.A. Tom Norman. This White is not Dan but William Melvin White Jr. and Norman concedes, “It IS eerie.” Happy Halloween.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 January 1985: Herb Caen: IN ONE EAR: Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon is still quizzing his prime suspect in the murder of Chef Masataka (Masa) Kobayashi but is not ready to make an arrest. “Look,” he says plaintively, “this isn’t like the old days in Chicago. We can’t hold him out the window till he confesses” ..

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 February 1985: Police Hunt Masa's Gun as a Lead to Killer
San Francisco police appealed to the public yesterday for information about a missing pistol that may provide the key to solving the murder of master chef Masataka Kobayashi. Investigators said the engraved automatic gun was missing from the famed chef’s attache case when Kobayashi’s body was discovered in his Pine Street apartment. "The gun could lead us to the killer,” said Inspector Frank Falzon. Falzon said that Kobayashi, who was beaten to death, carried the pistol in his attache case because he was often out at night with large sums of money. "He also had been known to comment that people could hurt you just because you’re famous,” Falzon said. Kobayashi, 45, who was co-owner of Masa’s restaurant on Nob Hill, was found sprawled in the blood-splattered hallway of his apartment on November 13. The attache case was by his side, but the gun was missing and may have been stolen by the murderer and later sold, Falzon said. It is described as a Llama .300-caliber automatic, blue engraved, serial number 892272. It is worth about $1500. Anyone with information about the gun is asked to contact Falzon or Inspector Carl Klotz at 553-1145 during the day, or 553-1071 at night The mayor's office has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. Falzon said “we are looking at certain individuals” as possible suspects in the case.

Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 May 1985: Notice of Dissolution of Partnership: Notice is hereby given that JOSEPH SPITERI. EMANUEL FALZON. FRANK SPITERI (Frank Spiteri passed away in 1984. however prior to doing so he transferred his interest to the Frank Spiteri Living Trust wich continued as a partner) and EMANUEL SPITERI, heretofore doing business at 2490 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, Calfiomia as Partners under the firm name of SPITERI INVESTMENTS -at said address, have dissolved their Partnership as of April 8.1985, and by mutual consent JOSEPH SPITERI has the sole authority to pay and discharge all liabilities of the partnership, collect and receive all moneys payable to the partnership (if any), and to act In any manner which he deems nècessary to wind up the affairs of the partnership.
Per Josie Spiterie: This is my father’s business with my uncles. The 2 spiteri’s and the one falzon are my mother’s brothers and brother-in-law. Per son George: hat was the partnership dad was in for the building only.
The business was incorporated in 1974.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 August 1985: Persistent Broke the Detectives Stalker Case By Paul Liberatore
Tenacious detective work led San Francisco Police to Ricardo Ramirez as the principal suspect in the Night Stalker ease that has terrified California.
"'You bet we broke this thing’ said homicide Inspector Frank Falzon smiling broadly after a conference last night. Leads developed by Falzon and his partner, Carl Klotz, last night yielded the identity of the elusive suspect in 10 killings. Just 90 minutes before the press conference. Falzon and his partner came up with the suspect’s last name after “receiving statements from individuals from the East Bay who were able to give us a last name." Falzon said. Falzon and Klotz had been holed up in their office most of the day interviewing their East Bay informants. and apparently made one trip to San Pablo in connection with the case. Falzon was doubly proud because his son. Danny, a 25-year-old patrol officer, had also helped with yesterday's major break in the case. The younger Falzon handled a burglary August 15 at a posh, two-
story home at 3637 Baker Street in the Marina District that apparently figured prominently in making the breakthrough. Items from the Baker Street burglary were laier recovered by police, but officers would, not say where they were discovered or what dues the stolen goods yielded that led them to Ramirez.
The Baker Street case, coupled with information in the San Francisco murder of accountant Peter Pan and the wounding of his wife two days later, gave the inspectors the direction they needed. “We put the two together and developed those leads with information from L.A. and eveiything came together,” Falzon said.
He addod that additional leads from sources in Lompoc in. Santa Barbara County also “ended up putting the case together for us." Falzon credited Sin Francisco criminologist Larry Dusour with an important role in the iivestigation. At the Baker Street home, an elegant Mediterranean-style house in the shadow of the Palace of Fine Arts, the residents said last night that they were happy tiat their misfortune had yielded some big clues' in the case. The family, asking that they not be identified, said the burglar entered their house through an open rear window when no^;one was at home. An apparently exhausted Falzon, returning to his office at the Hall of Justice late last night, said, "We’ve been at this since the Fan murder. I hope 1 can go home and get some sleep tonight’’ Then he shut the door of the humicide division to work on into the night.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 August 1985: STALKER SUSPECT NAMED By Paul Liberator and Carl Notts San
Francisco police positively identified a suspect last night they say is the “Night Stalker" — a serial killer wanted for 16 California murders.
The suspect — Kicardo Ramirez, a 25- year-old Los Angeles man with a criminal was last seen yesterday afternoon in the East Bay.
Police say he is armed and dangerous. According to police sources, Ramirez turned up in the East Bay yesterday afternoon when he tried to buy guns at a shop in San Pablo. The sources said a clerk talked to Ramirez and sold him shotgun shells. Ramirez was wearing a black cowboy hat, a black vest and a long-sleeve shirt at the gun shop. He disappeared after that, but there was an unconfirmed report that he had been seen early yesterday evening in Santa Rosa, 50 miles north and west of San Pablo. Ramirez, who uses at least five other aliases, may be driving a green 1976 Pontica Gran Prix with California license nunber 1 LFA 239. The announcement of the suspect's identity was made in both San Francisco and Los Angeles last night. San Francisco Police Chief Con Murphy appealed to the public to watch for the suspect.
Ramirez was described by San Francisco police as being a white male of Latin descent. 6-foot-l and weighing 155 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. The Los Angeles police said that both his upper and lower teeth were clearly decayed.
The photograph released by both San Francisco and Los Angeles authorities was remarkably similar to a composite drawing of the Night Stalker suspect released earlier this month. Ramirez also uses the aliases of Richard Ramirez, Noah Jimenez, Richard Munoz. Richard Munoz Moreno and Nicholaus Adams, according to the San Francisco police. Ramirez is originally from El Paso, Tex., has lived in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay Area, authorities said. He has what police termed a "lightweight*' criminal record involving drug possession and car theft. "It is important for public safety that the public know what ho looks like and to let the police know if he is seen. "We don’t know where he is,” Murphy said. “We know who we are looking for. Murphy said that Ramirez, who is wanted in connection with 15 killings in Southern California and at least one In the Bay Area, must, have been traveling sometime In the last two weeks. “He had to stop somwhere and got gas somewhere and he must have eaten somewhere. Hopefully, someone will come forward with some information." Both San Francisco and Loss Angeles authorities warned citizens that the suspoct could ho armed. "Don't try to stop him," Murphy said. Instead, he said, the police want to find out where Ramirez is and what car he is driving. Ramirez is the principal suspect because San Francisco police connected a burglary at a Marina District home with the shooting of Peter Pan. a 66-year old accountant who was killed two weeks ago.
The Night Stalker was identified as the man who shot Pan, and police linked him with a burglary at 3637 Baker Street that occurred two days before Pan was shot.
Police did not say what the link was, but one source close to the investigation said Ramirez was connected through stolen property that was found at the Pan murder scene. Murphy said homicide investigators Carl Klutz and Frank Falzoni, who flew to Los Angeles midweek, came up with Ramirez's name last night. "We developed leads with information from Los Angelos," Fälzon sald last night. "And everything came together."
One of the keys to the case apparently were fingerprints or other evidence obtained from a stolen car apparently used by the Night Stalker in a killing in Orange County on Sunday. The car, a 1976 Toyota, was recovered in Los Angeles earlier this week. Falzon said he and Klotz had obtained some information from a case in Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, but they would not say what the information was. Folzon said the inspectors had ‘developed some information" in the East Bay which provided Ramirez's name. Although both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County sheriff's office also announcei that Ramirez was the suspect last night, the San Francisco police apparently have a different idea about what he might do next. "They have their theories and we have ours.” Murphy said.
The Night Stalker got his name because of his method of operation — his specialty Is entering a house between 10 p.m. and dawn. He usually enters through an unlocked door or window, and ho favors one- story homes near freeways or freeway ramps. The Night Slalker attacks his victims as they sleep. The man has been both a klller and a rapist. Police think his last victims were 29-year old William Cairns, who was on Sunday in Mission Viejo in Orange County. Whoever shot Cairns also sexually assaulted his fiance. Cairns was hanging on to life yesterday but is not expected to live. The Night Stalker's turf generally has been Southern California, but two weeks ago the killer struck in San Francisco. The killer has been linked to 10 murders — two more were added to his total late this week — and at least 21 other attacks ln earlv spring. The killer’s first victim was Dayle Okazaki, 34. who was found dead in her Rosemead condominium on March 18. Officers at the time thought it was a simple murder, but five months later a task force compared notes on a which scenes of unsolved deaths and found they were dealing with a serial killer.
Since then the killer, who also is called "The Valley Intruder” because a number of his victlms lived in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, has struck again and again. The Stalker struck fear into Californians from L„A, to the Bay Area — especially after reports that the killer might be using the freeways and could turn up almost anyplace. Residents of some Southern California neighborhoods reportedly began arming themselves. and police in all parts of the state are being deluged with reports of sightings of the Stalker. San Francisco police, opened a special telephone hotline and reported they were nearly overwhelmed with calls.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5 September 1985: Fingerprints Link to Stalker Suspect By Bimey Jarvis and J. L. Pimsleur
Fingerprints found at the scene of a Los Angeles murder last year match those of the man accused of being the Night Stalker, Los Angeles police said yesterday. ,
The woman was one of 14 victims — at least one of them in San Francisco — believed to have been slain by the Stalker. So far, however, Ricardo Ramirez, 25, the suspect in the killings, has been charged in only one case, the murder in May of another Southern California victim. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates said yesterday that the prints were lifted from a window screen in the Los Angeles suburb home of a 79-year-old woman found stabbed to death 15 months ago. ‘This is one of the many cases that detectives are researching for possible connection to the... serial killings,” Gates said. In addition to looking into unsolved homicides, Gates said that his investigators, along with police in San Francisco, are reviewing burglaries, kidnapings and molestations reported since 1981. Some of these cases reportedly may be linked by drawings of five- pointed stars, or pentagrams, and scrawled messages found at crime scenes, but investigators were reluctant to talk about this aspect of the case yesterday. San Francisco police Inspector Frank Falzon did say, however, that “a five-pointed star which was suggestive of a satanic symbol” was found on a wall in the Lake Merced home of Peter Pan, whom the Night Stalker is suspected of killing. The pentagram is often used in satanic rites, according to experts on the occult, and Ramirez was said to be obsessed with satanism. Ramirez, who was captured last Saturday after a wild chase through East Los Angeles, has a pentagram tattooed on his forearm, police said. Homicide Lieutenant George Kowalski said yesterday that police also were looking at San Francisco welfare rolls for Ramirez's name, based on a report that he had applied for assistance here. Kowalski said if Ramirez did apply for welfare here, it would help pin down the dates that he was in the city.
Kowalski said Ramirez also was believed to have been treated for an injury or illness at San Francisco General Hospital, and records are being cheeked there.
Last night, San Francisco police interviewed 13 victims of recent Bay Area robberies in the continuing effort to link physical evidence with the suspect’s statewide crime spree. The victims were shown hundreds of pieces of stolen jewelry in a “line-up” of evidence conducted in the Police Department’s fifth-floor gymnasium at the Hall of Justice. Representatives of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and a Los Angeles Police Department criminologist joined San Francisco homicide Inspectors Carl Klotz and Frank Falzon in conducting the line up of evidence. Eight tables loaded with several hundred pieces of jewelry — earrings, pendants, bracelets, pins, necklaces and brooches — were displayed for a two-hour piece-by-piece inspection. Klotz and Falzon said last night that they could not comment on the physical evidence in the case, or whether positive identifications linking Ramirez with the stolen jeweliry had been made, but a smiling Falzon said the inspectors were “extremely pleased with our night's work. San Francisco police also ...revealed yesterday that they are reexamining the evidence in the unsolved murder case of Masataka Kobayashi. Kobayashi, 45, part-owner and chef of Masa’s, the fashionable Nob Hill restaurant, was shot to death in his Pine Street apartment on November 13, 1984. “We do have a suspect in mind in that case, although we are not ruling out Ramirez,” Falzon said. Ramirez was arraigned in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Tuesday on the one murder charge and several connected felonies. Other charges are expected to follow. He also was served last weekend with a San Francisco warrant charging him with the
August 17 murder of Pan and with assaulting Pan’s wife, Barbara. She remains hospitalized. Yesterday, a small-caliber pistol found in Tijuana last weekend was being examined by Los Angeles ballistics experts to determine whether it could be linked to the stalker investigation, authorities said. “We don't know at this point if (the gun) is stolen property or possibly one of the murder weapons,” said Lieutenant Dick Walls of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Stalker task force.
Walls would not reveal where or how the gun was found, but the Stalker used a small-caliber gun. Yesterday, members of the Los Angeles sheriff’s task force and about 40 cadets from the Sheriff’s Academy scoured the Boyle Heights neighborhood where Ramirez was caught, using metal detectors to try to find a gun that officials believe he threw away during the chase. "We are looking for the .25-caliber (pistol) that we think was dropped in the pursuit,” Walls said.- The Stalker’s victims were shot with either a .22-caliber or .25-caliber pistol, according to authorities.
Koben Vopp oho contributed to this report.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 October 1985: The Paths Cross Again For White and Falzon By Murk Z. Barabak
Dan White and Frank Falzon: two men whose lives interwined as if scripted in a tragic lay, were together again for the final act. They were chums as fellow officers on San Francisco’s Police force, and Falzon happened to be the homicide inspector on duty Nov. 27, 1978, when White shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Until he reached City Hall, Falzon did not know the killer was White — someone he considered almost like a kid brother. At the Northern Police Station, Falzon took White’s tearful confession within hours of the slayings, and he testified at White’s trial. Critics blasted Falzon after White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, calling it a classic example of a cop protecting one of his own. Still stung by the criticism even years later, Falzon angrily denied that he ever went easy on White. “Dan was a friend of mine, but he got no breaks from me,” Falzon once said. “In fact, after I took his statement, all I could think was, This guy just admitted two murders —he's going to the death box.’ ” Again yesterday, Falzon was the inspector on duty when another urgent call came, this time from White's younger brother, Tom, reporting Dan White's suicide. Falzon later spoke to reporters, “The tragedies of Nov. 27,1978, affected many people’s lives. Now hopefully the final chapter in San Francisco’s most notorious murders has been put to rest with Dan White taking his own life. Prior to Nov. 27, White always tried to do the right thing. But the day he crossed that line by taking human lives was something he could not live with. I feel grief now for the family of the victim as I did for the families of the victims of 1978.”.

Andrew Donald Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 November 1985: Man Says Ape Bit Him — Wants S.F. to Pay By Dave Farrell
A Redwood City man says the San Francisco Zoo owes him damages because a honeymooning city gorilla nearly bit off Ills finger at the Sonoma County ranch of a San Francisco Zoological Society director.
But the zoo says it doesn’t own the gorilla, and the zoological society director says the gorilla is not a gorilla.
In a claim filed against the city, Ancrew Sammut said he was bitten by i gorilla named Alice on July 13 at the Healdsburg ranch of Sonne Grilfen. Griffen, who volunteers at the zoo, is a director for the zoological society, a nonprofit group dedicated to helping the zoo.
Sammut said Alice bit him in a fit of Jealous rage after Sammut paid too much attention to her primate companion, Chester.
Griffen acknowledged late yesterday that a “privately owned pri
male" on her property had bitten a man, but she declined to provide further details. She said the animal was not a gorilla, but would not say whit kind of animal it was, who owns it or where it came from.
"It wasn’t a city-owned animal. That should satisfy you," she said. "I don’t have any city animals here. The zoo doesn’t check out animals like a library."
Sammut was invited to the
Farrell
ranch "to admire two fully developed adult gorillas located on the property which were owned and maintained by the San Francisco Zoo," his claim ctaUc.
Sammut, who now acknowledges that the creatures may have been orangutans, said in his, claim that the primates were tethered to a tree with rope. He said he "was informed the gorillas were fully tame and that he could be more'than confident while petting the' animals."
One of Sammit’s lawyers, H. Frank Wentholt, said Sammut .was told the primates were "zoo résidents on a little vacation, maybe a honeymoon ... From what he tells me, they were up enjoying a rural setting in the hopesthat they might mate.”
Sammut, who vas bitten on the right pinkie, says he has incurred nearly $7000 In medical bills so far. and he’s looking for someone to pay them.
The city told him yesterday that it won't pay because the .primates named in the suit don't belong to the zoo.
Those were rot our gorillas. We know of no primates vacationing up there at the Russian River," said Irene Casserly.a claim adjustor with the Recreation and Parks Department.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7 February 1986: 61 S.F. Police Officers Honored at Ceremony By J. lPimtleur
Sixty-one San Francisco police officers received awards al a special Police Commission ceremony last night, including four homicide inspectors who were credited with cracking the “Night Stalker” case. For their work in the Night Stalker investigation, Inspectors Michael Mullano, Frank Falzon, Carl Klotz and Larry Duliour won Meritorious Awards for a "brilliant and classical investigation" representing the "highest tradition of professionalism in the San Francisco Police Department."
The inspectors were honored for linking evidence from the August 17 murder of Peter Pan in his San Francisco home and a Marina district burglary to a series of slayings in Los Angeles. The evidence led to the identification and eventual apprehension of suspect Richard Ramirez in Southern California.

Alfred Chircop was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 November 1986: The Enterprising 'Star Trek' Fans By Elaine Herscher
By the time she got into the movies yesterday. Gloria Oberste had boldly gone where few men or women had gone before. Oberste had slept outside all night on Iho corner of Sutter Street and Van Ness Avenue. For this, all she got was a movie — but attending yesterdays first San Francisco showing of Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home" was all she wanted. "We're still here, and we've grown like an amoeba," she said, pointing to the small cluster of diehard Trckhles who tamped outside the RcRoncy Theater for up to 17 hours. Behind them, the line snaked around the corner and all the way down the block. The people in the rear were casual Cans. They had been there for only three hours. The real "Sur Trek” devotees pull on their official "Star Trek" T-shirts, cover themselves with photo buttons of Mr. Spock and think nothing of sleeping in the cold in November to see the new adventures of the crew of the starship Enterprise. “My friends say if you go next week you won t have to wait in line. And I say this is an adventure." said Delrdre McCarthy. who has spent 12 of her 24 years in love with "Star Trek." Devoted fans mark momentous times In their lives by episodes in the television series and the films that followed when the show left the air ln 1969.
Al Chircop, the first person in line, remembers fondly how he met his wlfe. “We met In 1973. six years before the first movie was filmed." Chircop said. He was a fan. She wrote a "Star Trek" newsletter. -It was lose at first sight." sighed his wife Maureen Bums. Even their progeny are fans. The kids slept on the sidewalk at their parents' side. "They’re strange, but so am I," said their 13-year-old daughter, Alexandrea. "I guess it's in my blood."
Tli« most faithful followers are 1960s social reformers still attracted to tht nonsexist, nonracist portraya of life in space in the 23rd century. In the new film. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock. Dr. McCoy and other member» of the old crew show up in modern-day San Francisco on a mission to save endangered humpback whales.
The crowd of Trekkies was so large that the theater opened its doors at 11 am. yesterday for a noon showing. Inside theater manager Pearl Stimmel was frantically taking tickets. 'These people aren’t so bad.’ Stimmel said. "It's the intellectuals I don’t like. The ones that come in to see Woody Allen. They’re the type who won't take any directions."

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5 December 1986: S. F. Police Find Suspect !n '73 Murder By Birney Jarvis and Robert Popp
A suspect in the brutal killing 13 years ago of a Nob Hill widow has been tracked down by a couple of San Francisco homicide investigators who combined high-tech computers and common sense to locate the man. Police yesterday identified the murder suspect as Richard Leon Fowler. 35. who is awaiting sentencing in New York state for the killing last year of an elderly Rochester woman. The San Francisco victim was Alice L. Bartley, a 57-year-old retired federal government secretary. Her savagely beaten body was found Oct. 19, 1973, in her modest studio apartment at 925 Jones Street. Investigators said at the lime that ßartiey had been bound and gagged. then beaten, raped and strangled by a man they described as "an animal." San Francisco Homicide Inspector Carl Klotz said a fingerprint found at the Nob Hill murder scene was recently fed into a new $17 million state Department of Justice computer, which spit out an alias that Fowler allegedly had used more than a decade ago when he was arrested in Southern California. Klutz said he and his partner. Inspector Frank Falzon. called the FBI in Washington and asked them to run the alias through their computer. which is programmed to single out and identify suspects through their assumed names. The computer connected the alias to Fowler and revealed that he lived in Rochester, N.Y.. and had just been found guilty of murder, according to Klotz. Police also suspect Fowler of slaying two other elderly women recently killed in the Rochester area. They said Fowler allegedly gets into women’s apartments by offering to help them with their packages. or befriending them in other ways, then attacks them. The .Sun Francisco district attorney's office has been asked to obtain a warrant charging Fowler with the Nob Hill slaying so that he
can be returned here for trial. Klotz said. "It s nice to put a case to rest that's been hugging me for years. I feel we have a good sotid case against Fowler." said Falzon, who was one of the original investigators in the 1973 slayings.


Jerry William Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 February 1987: Herb Caen: ... Jerry Schembri, owner of the Arco station on Geneva, would like it known he no longer has leaking gas tanks, by golly (he was listed by the S.F. Bay Region Water Quality Control Board among “the 275 worst cases”)...

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5 March 1987: Herb Caen: Forget the rumor that Dep. Mayor Rotea Gilford will run for Sheriff but believe the one about Frank Falzon, the SFPD’s highly regarded homicide inspector. “I’m weighing the pros and cons,” he says, “and will make up my mind in a couple of weeks. A lot of Mike Hennessey’s deputies want me to run. Deputies around here are Rodney Dangerfields, know what I mean?” .

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 March 1987: Herb Caen: house ... Is he or isn’t he running against Sheriff Mike Hennessey? Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon, I mean. “Money’s the problem,” he says. “If I can raise some, I go. The sheriff’s office is a disgrace,” etc., etc     ...

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 June 1987: Slaying Aboard Boat Follows Owner's Death By Maitland Zant
Hours after his former companion died at San Francisco General Hospital, a distraught man forced his way aboard his friend’s boat late Tuesday at the new South Beach Marina where the boat’s prospective buyer shot and killed him, police said. Randy Murray, 25, of Redwood City, was shot dead aboard the pleasure boat Wanna Be Merry at the new marina at Pier 40. Thomas Jacobson, 34, of Riverside. told investigators that he was sleeping on the boat when a man began pounding on a door at about 10 p.m. Jacobson was staying overnight on the boat in anticipation of buying it from James Harding, 54, of San Francisco, said homicide Inspector Frank Falzon. Harding died Tuesday of natural causes, Falzon said."He told the person to go away," Falzon said, recounting Jacobson's explanation. "Then, a fist came through the window and started unlocking the door." Murray entered the cabin, mumbling incoherently, Jacobson told police. Jacobson retrieved a 9mm pistol that Harding kept on the boat and fired a warning shot over the intruder's head. When the man rushed toward him, Jacobson fired a fatal shot that entered Murray's shoulder and passed into his chest, police were told. Murray reportedly had been distraught and confused by the death of Harding, Falzon said. His reason for going to tho boat remains unclear "It’s hard to say what was going through his mind at that point," Falzon said.


Anthony J Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 August 1987: Suspected Serial Robber Arrested in S.F. By L. A. Chung
A suspected holdup man was charged yesterday in a three-day spree of robberies from Cow Hollow to the Outer Sunset districts, San Francisco police said. Ted Muchey, 33, of San Francisco, was charged with nine counts of robbery, said police Inspector Tony Camlllerl of the robbery detail. The run of robberies began on Tuesday night when a tall man with a long mustache displayed a large chrome pistol in Shaw’s Candy store at 122 West Portal Avenue and took $200 from the person behind the counter, Camllleri said. Over the next 48 hours, a gunman with the same description struck several shops citywide, including a Mrs. Field’s cookie store on Union Street, taking about $2,000 in all, Camlllerl said. In some cases, the man, who wore a snap-brim cap and glasses, brandished the gun; In other cases, he threatened clerks physically, Camllleri said. A good memory and quick action by police at three stations led to Muchey’s capture, Camilleri said.
On the gunman’s last stickup, at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, he had a cab driver take him to a market near the Great Highway, then emerged with a coin box. After dropping him off near 14th and Valencia streets, the cab driver contacted the Mission police station. Police officers Tony Hartzer in Park Station and Albert Pardini from Southern Station both recognized the description of the gun man from previous reports, Camilleri said. Pardini brought Muchey’s picture to the cab driver, who said it matched his passenger. Mission Station officers Craig Brandolino and Dino Zografos later spotted Muchey near the Valencia Gardens housing project and caught him in an alley inside the complex, Camllleri said. Muchey, whose arms bore needlemarks from shooting cocaine, confessed to the robberies, police said, but denied abducting the cab driver.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 November 1987: Herb Caen:... Some of the town’s heaviest political heavies — Walter ..Shorenstein and “Mighty Mo” Bernstein, for two have been urging John L. Molinari to concede to Art Agnos and save everybody the hassle of a so-called runoff, but The Mole is adamant. “It’s not in my nature to quit,” he says. “Besides, the day after my sorry showing, I got the endorsement of — ready? — the Maltese American Social Club. Talk about people jumping out of the lifeboats and onto the Titanic! And if I win it’ll be the political upset of the century. The three of us can have lunch at the Washbag — you, me and Tom Dewey"... Sense of humor: intact.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 February 1988: Herb Caen:...ADD INFINITEMS: Insurance exec CharlcsGucrrero invited homicide inspector Frank Falzon and Marin public defender Larry Heon to play that “murder mystery” game at dinner the other night, and neither star could unravel it. Guerrero finally solved the crime. And the “murderer” turned out to be Falzon’s wife, Donna ...

James Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 September 1988: Saga of the striper -- Beach battle: “Shore fishermen are not getting reasonable sport use of the striped bass fishery out on the coast of Pacifica. Why? It’s because of all the live-bait chuimming that comes here and hammers every school of striped bass they can find... This type of fishing has to come to a stop now. They take 1,500 to 2,000 fish a week all summer long and we as shore fishermen get no runs of striped bass and are forced to watch these butcher boats day in, day out.” — James Schembri. Pacifica.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 September 1988: Herb Caen column: NOW THEN: Homicide inspectors Frank Falzon and Herman Clark will be glued to the tube tonight, watching Ch. 7s documentary on Robert Lee Massie, the murderer whose sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Reagan. He then killed local liquor store owner, only to have his death sentence reversed by Rose Bird for judicial error (he is still in San Quentin). Falzon, who with Clark captured Massie, growls, “This guy used to say he wanted to die. I hope he gets his wish”...

James Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 October 1988: Now some coastside fishermen led by James J. Schembri, a carpenterr from Pacifica, say they're
“mad as hell" and have organized a petition campaign to stop what one bait shop owner called “a slaughter. ’ Says Schembri:"We want the boats back out in deeper water. Chumming live bait, he asserts, has changed the feedingng habits of the stripers, keeping them away from shore and making them sitting ducks for the party boats."' - Charter operators argue, with some justification, that these beaches are practically the last place to bag striped bass, a threatened fishery down to virtually nil in San Francisco Bay and Delta waters.
Now, commissioners can no longer ignore what the Department of Fish and Game is trying to brush off as merely “an angler allocation problem." They need to bite the bullet: Get the boats off the beaches, or drop ttîe striper season entirely until it is restored.

James Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 October 1988: James J. Schembri, a Pacifica carpenter representing the beach anglers, says the chumming this
year cut the number of successful beach runs to just four. Schembri presented the commission with a petition bearing 800 signatures. The surf casters want to halt chumming within 500 yards of San Francisco and San Mateo shorelines; to stop chumming from Mussel Rock in Daly City to Pedro Point in San Mateo; or to split the striped bass season in half, with chumming allowed at any distance from shore for half the season while stopping it for the other half.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 December 1988: Police Seek Killer of S.F. Muni Driver By Susan Sward Chnmlett Stuff Witter
Police mounted a search yesterday for the man who fatally stabbed a San Francsco Municipal Railway bus driver on his route through Sunset District. Donald Joseph Mills, a 51-year- old Hunters Point man who had worked as a part-time driver for Muni for eight months, died at 658 a m. yesterday at San Francisco General Hospital.
Mills was stabbed several times at about 6:10 p.m. on Thursday aboard hi Norlega Express bus at the corner of 48th Avenue and Pacheco Street — an area of small, neat homes and apartments one block from the ocean. His assailant was seen running from the scene. Homicide Inspector Frank Fahon said that police believe they have the murder weapon, a large knife found by a postal clerk in the mail box at the intersection. Fingerprint tests were being run yesterday on the blood-smeared weapon.
In another development, police interviewed and released one youth whom two witnesses saw leaving the bus. One of the wltnosses went to the aid of the wounded driver, and the other followed the youth and later pointed out his residence to police. Officers interviewed the youth and learned “he was frightened by what he saw and didn’t want to be involved." "He is now cooperating with us," Falzon said. Faiion added that the youth apparently got off the bus to walk home and turned back to see being attacked by the lone remaining passenger — a Latin or light- skinned black man about 35 years old about 5 feet with a medium build, black hair and dark clothing. "We thnk the suspect may live in or arouid the area and had a short flight to his residence," said Falzon. He added that the killing may have occurrcd during a robbery attempt. -At this time, we don't know if there was aiy loss of property." Falzon said. They did find $8.85 on his (Mills’ person), but his wife says he often carriedl much more cash than that.” The detth of Mills — described by coworkers as a genial, quiet man — was the third killing of a Muni driver in 20 years. In 1981. a driver was shot to death near City College of San Francisco. and in 1968 a third driver died in a holdup in Hunters Point....

Charles Muscat was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 July 1989: 2 Women Hit by Car In Golden Gate Park -- Two elderly women were badly injured in Golden Gate Park yesterday when they were struck by an automobile driven by an 86- year-old man. The two were walking on John F. Kennedy Drive near the if. H. de Young Memorial Museum shortly before noon when they were hit and thrown 30 feet, said Officer Ray Shine. Both were taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where Ming Yat Louie, believed to be in her 60s, was later reported in critical condition from internal injuries. Jane Lew, in her 70s, was in serious condition with internal and head injuries. The driver of the east bound auto that struck them, Charles Muscat, was not cited pending completion of a police investigation.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 July 1989: The Death of Jane Doe No. 22 Uncovers a Life of Tragedy
By Susan Sward Chronicle Stuff IVriter
When San Francisco homicide Inspector Frank Falzon first saw Sally Cesena, she was stretched out under a sheet on an autopsy table in the coroner’s. office.. She was listed as Jane Doe,No. 22. Within hours, a fingerprint check established thé 28-year-old murder victim’s identity and showed that she had been arrested twice before — once for prostitution and once.for'drug possession. ' At first, there seemed to be nothing very startling about her stabbing death. A mother of four children, Cesena was one of scores of women on the streets of San Francisco who sell their bodies to get money for their drug habits. Once in a while one of these women is killed. Sometimes the cases are solved, but many times no witness comes forward. Leads don'tpan out, and the murder ends up as a dusty file in the homicide office on the fourth floor of the Hall of Justice.
But the case of Cesena, a high school dropout who grew up and died in the Mission District, gnawed at Falzon. After Falzon and his partner, Carl Klotz, visited her bereaved family, Falzon said they decided “to exhaust all efforts to solve this one.” "I saw a nice family that was not only grief-stricken by the loss of Sally, but they were also hurt" when a short article ran in the newspaper identifying her as a prostitute, he said. "They said they didn't realize she had a prostitution history, and they didn't like that being in the paper because that wasn't the woman they knew." Two years later, Falzon hopes the work he and his partner put into
Two years later, Falzon hopes the wpr.k he and his partner put into lHe case may pay off. In connection with- Sally’s death, he recently interviewed Alfonso Cruz,'who'Was convicted last year of slaying a Boston prostitute. Cruz, a 31-year-old, unemployed citizen of Mexico, denies ever killing anyone. Falzon thinks otherwise.
Cruz was arrested by Boston police as he stood with a knife in his hand over the butchered body of a prostitute. Detectives found several trinkets in his pockets, including pantyhose, a small red handkerchief and several pieces of jewelry, that pollce speculaie may belong to other slain women.
"Séria, killers will many times take something from a victim, and when they want to recollect memories of this victim, they hold it, fondle it," said Boston homicide Inspector Robert Tinlln. Among the trinkets were a small circnlar pin and a barrette with a feat 1er dangling off it. When Falzon recently showed the items to one of Sally’s sisters, "tears welled up in her eyes," Falzon said. “She grabbed her face and turned away," he said, and then she identified the-items as belonging to her sister.
How Did It Happen?
Today, Sally’s family lives in the shadow of her death, wondering how she came to be on that lonely stretch of Shotwell Street where neighbors heard her moaning and called police at 9:35 p.m. on June 2. Arriving officers found her unconscious. They concluded that she had been dragged by her attacker. Her knees were rubbed raw. She had been siabbed ln the stomach. Police don’t know for certain that Sally's killer approached her for sex, but Shotwell is one cf those streets where prostitutes in ihe Mission take their “dates." "The Mission is like the end of the line for prostitutes," says San Francisco police Lieutenant Mike Kemmitt of the vice squad, it’s like $90 dates— pretty slim. "I have seen some prostitutes who have drifted from the Tenderloin to the Mission, and whtn I see them it seems they’re at the end of their rope — physically, mentally, in every way," Kemmitt said. "It’s a vicious cycle. They get into prostitution to support their habit. After they are into prostitution. a lot of them take more drugs to cope with the fact they’re prostitutes” — to help numb them to the endless run of customers in dark alleys. Sally's mother, Dolores, said she never knew what Sally did all those nights that she went out "She was just a wild girl nobody could stop," sighed Mrs. Cacsena .
She Was a Fighter
From her earliest years, Sally was a fighter. She grew up in a working class family with five brothers and sisters, living is a Mission District flat. At one point, her father, whom she idolized, taught her how to box, and her mother remembers Sally often fighting with someone in her family or with the kids in the public schools.
Before she graduated from Mission High School, Sally dropped out and got pregnant. By the tine her second baby was coming, her common-law husband, Albert Leaillo, said he couldn’t make ends meet as a shoe salesman, so he started selling drugs. Soon he and Sally became frequent users. In 1984, a judge sent Leaillo to a drug rehabilitation program for two years, and Sally ended up collectlng welfare and trying to raise a family in a Tenderloin hotel. The kids made it kind of hard, but she loved the kids," said one of her former boyfriends, Eurnett Larrlmore. "She wasn’t going to give them up for nothing, but you could see they were cramping her style."
Her heavy drug and alcohol use continued, and she sold herself on the streets of the Tenderloin to help support herself, Larrimore said. In 1986 she lost custody of her children to her common-law husband. Toward the end, she started telling friends and relatives that her life was unraveling. A few days before she died, Sally told her mother that she wanted to take her own life. "She said, 'No one wants to help me. feed me, shelter me,”’ the mother recalled. "I told her, 'Don’t talk like that.' She said, 'It's the truth. No one cares for me.’ I said, 'Sally, we all care for you.' " Dolores Cesena never saw her daughter alive again. Sally’ s liver was severely damaged when her killer stabbed her, and she died on an operating table at San Francisco General Hospital on June 3,1967. "Deep down inside. I knew her life was catching up with her, and this was the only way she could rest," said one of Sally’s friends, Lisa Hauls. "I would have figured she would die on drugs or something. But I never figured she would get killed like that."
He Stared at Her Photo
Falzon. who has spent 25 years on the San Francisco police force, says he knows he doesn’t have enough evidence yet "for the district atterney to be able to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Cruz is Sally's killer." But he remains convinced. During an interview at a stonewalled prison outside Boston, one thing really struck Falzon about Cruz, who stands about 5 foot 10 with blast wavy hair and a jutting jaw. "When I showed her picture to him, he stared at it and wouldn’t stop staring at It," Falzon said. "Even when we went on to other questions. his eyes went back to the pbotograph. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. That fascinated me.”
Cruz denied he ever killed anyone. He said he found Sally's jewelry in a garbage bin while he wâs living for a while in San Francisco He said he never met Sally.
Cruz's conviction in the Boston case is now on appeal. If he loses, his sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole will remain in effect. In the meantime, Falzon’s boss, homicide Lieutenant Jerry McCarthy. says a witness Is needed before a San Francisco murder charge could be filed in Sally’s case. So Falzon waits, hopiig to get that witness. "I had lost my father as a young boy. and I saw my mother try to raise four kids." Falzon said. "When I met Sally’s mother and saw how- genuine the family was, 1 felt for her. "As policemen, we have to be her friend, and I promised her we’d do all we could to find her daughter's killer."

Christopher V Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 June 1990: Ruins of Crashed Dirigible Located -- Navy sub finds Macon off Point Sur, near where it sank in '35 -- By David Perlman Chronicle Science Editor
Navy scientists in a tiny deep-diving submarine have discovered the drowned ruin of the huge dirigible Macon, which crashed 55 years ago with its crew of 83 men into the Pacific off Point Sur, 100 miles south of San Francisco. Eighty-one of the Navy airship’s crew survived the 1935 disaster, bit the rigid-framed craft and the four fragile Sparrowhawk sout planes it carried in its belly had eluded searchers for decales because undetected ocean currents had carried it well norh of the crash site.
On Sunday, three specialists aboard the deep-submercible Seacliff located and photographed the Macon and at least two of its intact aircraft lying in 1,500 feet of water, officials at the Navy Postgraduate Schcol in Monterey disclosed yesterday.The titanium-hulled Sescliff is on a mission to study the œean bottom along the Californla coast and to explore the wa Is of the undersea Monterey Caryon, where meters measuring currents and other instrunents placed there long ago by Navy oceanographers are believed to have shifted at least 600 feet because of the October 17 earthquake. On Feb. 12, 1935. Coast Guardsmen at the Point Sur lighthouse watched througk bin oculars as heavy gusts of wind and rain blasted the Macor into the sea. The 785-foot-long dirigible was on maneuvers with thî Pacific fleet, and rescue was swift. But at the time, Navy experts assumed that its sunken carcass would drift south from Point Back Page Col 3
NAVY DIRIGIBLE FOUND OFF POINT SUR
...Sur, and the hunt for the Macon’s remains has focused mistakenly to the south ever since.
The Seacliff’s crew was helped in this week's venture by information from earlier attempts to locate the sunken wreck. Information was provided by Dav.d Packard, the electronics industrialist, and Chris Grech of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, who last year used a remote-controlled, unmanned diving device on a vain hunt for the Macon. Navy oceanographer Steve Tlomp hod recently recalculated undersea current speeds and directions in. the region based on new data, and this too helped locate the Macon’s wreck site for the Seacliff.The crew of the submersible that found the Macon included Lieutenant Patrick Scanlcn, Lieutenant (j.g.) Jerry Peterson and Grech.

Christopher V Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 June 1990: Clue to Airship Was on Restaurant Wall
Fisherman found aluminum scrap from 1935 Macon wreck By Charles Peti
After Marie Ross spotted the piece of debris,
...word quickly reached Christopher Grech of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Richard Sands of Pensicola, a Navy pilot and a
privately operated Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Fla. Both have been interested in finding the Macon for years.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in February 1991: 2 Cops Exonerated Of Brutality Charges -- A jury exonerated two police officers of brutality charges in a civil suit brought by a man arrested in the Tenderloin in 1984.
James Angelo, 38, a Pacific Bell communications technician, sued the city and officers Arthur Stellini and Jimmy Miranda over an incident in which he suffered a badly cut lip and bruises. He claimed the officers taunted him with homophobic remarks, and his doctor testified that Angelo suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the 1984 incident. Last year, an arbitrator awarded Angelo $82,500, but the city exercised its option to have the award vacated and try the case in court.
Angelo's lawyer, Philip Knudsen of Oakland, said yesterday that he and Angelo have not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict, which stated that the officers, both 33, had neither been negligent nor committed assault, battery or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Angelo’s lip was cut, according to testimony in San Francisco Superior Court, during booking at Northern Police Station. After Angelo hit Miranda in the side of the head with his elbow, testimony indicated, the two police officers wrestled him to the ground. Angelo had been arrested after receiving a citation for blocking traffic while allegedly conversing with a person police knew to be a male transvestite prostitute.

Charles P Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 May 1991: Fatal Accident Blamed On Drunken Driving -- A fatal accident on Highway 101 in San Francisco on Wednesday night was caused by an alleged drunken driver speeding at more than 100 miles an hour, the Highway Patrol said y aster day. Arrested on charges of manslaughter and felony drunken driving was Charles P. Camilleri, 20, of South San Francisco. Patrol spokesman Don Gappa said Camilleri, driving a Cadillac, ran into a Volkswagen north of Silver Avenue, injuring the driver, Paul Dixon, 23, and killing Dixon’s passenger, Randolph Anderson, 18, of San Francisco.
Gappa said Camilleri suffered minor hi juries, as did Dhiou.

Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 February 1992: Sculpting Skates For Olympic Feet -- Family’s clients take home medals -- BY TORRI MINTON
CHRONICLE Staff Writer
Before Joseph Spiteri took a boat to America, he had never seen ice. He was a shoemaker from Malta who was sick of making shoes. He’d been making them since age 12, working where rats crawled behind the leather. Once he picked up a sole shape soaking in water — but it was a dead rat Leaving his tools behind, he and his new wife, Carmen, arrived in America. They took a train from New York to Oakland, nearly broke. Soldiers bought them apples in Reno. They had 25 cents left when they arrived in the Bay Area, Jost enough to call relatives to bring them to San Francisco. They arrived on a Saturday in 1947. By Monday, Spiteri was back making shoes. “I never did like it,’* says Spiteri, 68, the smell of boot glue strong in the air around him. “But I had no choice.“ He did it for 15 years, making ballet slippers, tap shoe«, cowboy boots, flamenco shoes, sandals and a kind of shoe he’d never seen — ict skates. You’d think he would have had enough. But no. Spiteri started his own skate company in 1963, with a $20,000 loan from family and friends. Family-run SP-Terl of South San Francisco is now the second-biggest maker of skating boots in the country. It makes almost half the ice skates for American figure-skaters at the Olympics, and for Olympic skaters from England to Russia and beyond.
Shaping Skates of The Stars
Pair figure skaters who won gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals in the past few days bought SP-Teri boots: Unified Team members Artur Dmitriev, Natalia Mishkutionok, Denis Petrov and Elena Bechke; and Canadians Lloyd Eisler and Isabelle Brasseur. Handmade S P-Terls have covered the feet of champions like Tal Babilonla and partner Handy Gardner in 1960 and Scott Hamilton, 1984 Olymplc gold medalist. You'd think that by now, Joseph Splterl would quit making shoos. He's only boon doing it for 56 years.
But no. He still works six days a week. "It's in ny blood, to come here," he says. standing amid stacks and rolls of leather and flat foot-shaped boot linings, half- made boots ind the rumbling of leatherstiching sewing machines. Although his job of president has been tuned over to the Spiteri's son George, 42. Joseph is still in charge of soles and heels, and cuts patterns for custom boots. Carmen Splterl, 71, and daughter Teresa Lencioni, 37, clean the insides of the boots and lace them. They are the final inspectors. The family bufcness is a small operation, with 22 employees, making about 36 pairs of skate a day. All are handmade, one-quarter of them custom, costing as much as $500, not counting blades, which run from $140 to $440 for fancy freestyle Jumpers. Cousin Joseph Falzon, vice president, is working next to a veiny white plaster cast of the foot of Edith, an ice skater with large bunions. She has a corn on her second toe and her feet bend inward. She wants custom skates, and she will get them. So will a coach from Colorado who wants pink suede skates with a red heart at the ankle. So will Snoopy. S P-Teri is working on an order for the woman who plays Snoopy at Chartes Schulz’s ice rink in Santa Rosa. Pedro Becerra, bootmaker to the stars, is in charge of things like red hearts at the ankle. Before his 20 years at S P-Teri, he made boots for musicians like Santana and The Who, boots with secret hollow heels and extra zippers strategically placed. George Spiteri came to this business the way his father did. He wasn't looking forward to it He wanted to go into accounting and took a job in skates just to pay for college. By the time he graduated, he started to like the work. He was getting to know skaters, watching them grow up, watching them compete. The Spiteri family attends four to five major skating competitions a year. George says he’s become close friends with some, skaters, like Charles Tickner, winner of the Olympic bronze in I960.




Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 March 1992: A Stormy Career for Hongisto -- He has often had public feuds with police and jailers he tried to govern By David Dietz
Story mentions Frank Falzon's comments about new Police Chief Hongisto...
"Humane Cop" In an interview, Frank Falzon, a retired San Francisco homicide detective, recalled three decades ago when he and Hongisto were partners at Potrero Station. He praised Hongisto as a “humane cop before it was the in thing to do” and said he will make a good chief. But Falzon noted Hongisto’s keen political interests even then. “Right from the beginning, he knew he was going to be a politician,” Falzon said. “He told me his ambition was to be a politician.”.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 April 1992: Herb Cain column: BAY CITY BEAT: There’ll be a retirement party May 8 at the Irish Cultural Center for Frank Falzon, the legendary S.F.P.D. homicide inspector who was on the Zodiac, Zebra, SLA and Moscone/Milk cases with his partner, Ed Erdelatz. Falzon, who quit the force on his 50th birthday after 28 years, says, “In the old days, a good cop could aspire to be chief some day, like Cahill and Neider. Now you have to be a social worker or a politician, so it’s time to get out” Erdelatz will go two more years ...

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 September 1992: S.F. Maltese to Host President: Mediterranean island nation's leader to visit Bay Area this weekend. By Stephen Schwartz Chronicle Staff¹ Writer
In a weekend cultural festival of food, drink and worship, Maltese Americans will honor the Bay Area arrival of President Vincent Tabone of Malta, the small Mediterranean island that has served as a crossroads throughout history. A small but proud element in the tapestry of San Francisco’s ethnic communities, Maltese Americans have lived in the Bay view and Portola neighborhoods for more than 65 years. The community numbers about 20,000 today. “We in San Francisco are a very high-profile section of the Maltese in America,” said honorary Consul General Charles J. Vassallo, a retired businessman. “We have also had recent visits by Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami and the bishop of Malta. We are proud to show them our achievements here.” 'Maltese are a Catholic people who speak a dialect of Arabic, reflecting long domination over the island from nearby North Africa. The island has a chivalrlc past as the headquarters of an order of Christian crusaders, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, who used Malta’s strategic location to amass unparalleled wealth."
It is also historically known for withstanding two ferocious sieges. The first, by the Turks, lasted four months, ending Sept. 8, 1565. The defeat of the Turks at Malta is considered by most historians to have marked the end of the Muslim threat to Europe. From 1800 to 1964, Malta was a British possession. A second great siege, by Hitler’s air force, came during World War. President Tabone represents the conservative and church-oriented Nationalist Party, which was brought back into office in 1987 to replace the Labor Party. Labor politicians had been criticized for strengthening ties between the island and Libya, under Moammar Khadafy.
Notwithstanding the weight of their history, most Maltese are unpretentious, hardworking and religious people, who will celebrate the visit of the island republic's s president with ethnic eating and drinking. "We like to get together over plenty of pastitsi cheese or meat pies," Vassallo said.
The main event in Tabone’s visit will be a Saturday evening reception at the Clarion Hotel in Millbrae. On Sunday, the party will attend a morning Mass at St Elizabeth Church at Somerset and Wayland streets in San Francisco, followed by a reception at the Maltese American Social Club, at 1789 Oakdale Avenue.
The agenda will include visits to Salinas, which also has a sizable Maltese community, as well as to San Francisco City Hall and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Dr. Charles E. Xuereb MD was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in November 1992: Attending psychiatrist, full/part-time for expanding, dynamic Psychiatric Rehabilitation program, treating the chronic mentally ill. Excellent multi-disciplinary treatment teams, pleasant environment, beautiful sylvan setting Expertise in Psychopharmocology essential. Addictionolocy helpful. Generous Administrative fees, easy commute. Contact Charles E. Xuereb. M.D.. Medical Director. (415) 367-1890. Cordiiiera's Mentai Health Center (49-bed recovery-focused Adult Residential Facility.)

Hon. Louis John Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 September 1993: New Redwood City Law Requires Fire-Retardant Roofs -- Redwood City Fire Marshal Louis Vella, wary of the potential for wildfire in the city’s heavily wooded, increasingly populated Emerald Lake Hills neighborhood near Interstate 280, said he is glad to see the ordinance in place.

Pacifico Calleja was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle Pacifico Calleja - One of the Unsung Heroes by Greg Caruana, NSW MALTESE E-NEWSLETTER 287 September 10, 2019

Pacifico Calleja was born in Mosta on the 17th April 1905. He was the third child with two older brothers and two younger sisters. His parents were Annunciato (Lonzu) Calleja (Tas-Siggijiet) and Teresa (Zeza) Bugeja. He attended Mosta Boys’ School and finished year 6 Grade. He left school at the age of 12 years and went to work with his father as a assistant builder. Around May of 1921 Pacikk (as he was known) left Malta together with his dad Lonzu on the ship “Empress of Asia” and arrived in Ellis Island, New York Harbour, USA on 21st June 1921.
Pacifico and Teresa Caruana on their wedding day
Pacifico worked at Charles Restaurant (chain) for about nine and a half years. He started washing pots and pans and ended up as an assistant baker. He then went to work at Woolworths as a short-order cook for about 6 months. Then he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana for the next two years with his father’s brother Wenzu Calleja, who was a wine and spirit maker. In 1933, Pacifico returned to Malta, where he was more of an entrepreneur. He ordered two buses from Italy, which arrived as parts and he hired a mechanic to assist in the assembly. He painted these buses brown with lead paint as Mosta buses. He had a construction business with his brother Karmnu. They also had a grocery store and a petrol station.

When war started in Malta in 1939, he converted three cars into trucks and leased them to the British Army. At the same time, he helped some of his friends get work, by allowing them to drive needed supply to the British troops that where in Malta.
On January 1942, Pacikk met Teresa Caruana. She was a refugee with her family in Mosta from war-torn Paula where she used to live. They got married on the 11th January 1942. Teresa and Pacific had 6 children: Lannie, Carmen, Tessie, Victor, Nancy and Mary. After the war, there was not much work in Malta, so Pacikk decided to migrate for the second time to the United States. His oldest brother Joe was a foreman at “Goodman Lumber” in San Francisco. And he offered him a job there.
In 1952, Teresa with five siblings Carmen, Tessie, Victor, Nancy and Mary retuned to the United States via New York. Then Pacikk caught a plane from San Francisco to New York and the family returned to San Francisco by train. By then, the family grew with the addition of Joyce, Joe, Rita, George and Tony. Pacifico had to work really hard to provide for his family; he worked long days and did side jobs building fences and other odd jobs. In the meantime, he helped lots of people, especially his fellow Maltese.
Pacifico and his parents Annunziato and Tereza
Pacifico and Teresa decided to return to Malta once he retired. So, on the 22nd of February 1968 Pacifico sent his wife Teresa along with their children Mary, Joyce, Joe, Rita, George and Tony, the youngest, to Malta on Pan American Airlines. On the 17th of April 1968, Pacific retired from work after 17 years with Goodman Lumber at the age of 63. He never had a sick day or a day vacation. He then flew to Malta, along with his daughter Carmen, about a week later. The family lived in Lija for a few months while their home was being built in Birkirkara; then on the 28th April 1973 their daughter Joyce got married and left to the States. Two weeks later, their son Joe left for San Francisco.
On January 1974, their daughters Carmen and Mary left for San Francisco, with everyone retuning to the States and with Rita and George coming of age, the house being too big. In 1974. Pacific and Teresa where thinking of selling their house and buying a smaller one. But Tony the youngest one, now 14 years old, suggested that since everybody was returning to the States perhaps it was time to go back to the States. Pacifico and Teresa lived in San Francisco from 1974 to 1986. Then they moved to Federal Way, Washington.
The golden-hearted Pacific passed away on 2nd May 1993 at great age of 89 years. Theresa lived there in Washington till 2000. Then she moved to New York and lived there, until she was 84 years of age. On the 4th of January 2004, she passed away to go and be united with her beloved husband Pacifico.
This incredible loving couple worked hard to maintain their family and they bestowed their love wherever they were. These are my loving Ziju Pacikk, and my Zija Teresa. Which I am pretty sure they are enjoying eternal rest.

Donna Marie Coudures was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 October 1994: Suburbs lure police to live outside S.F.
...In Novato, with the average price of a three-bedroom, two-bath home just under $300,000, San Francisco cops can afford a large house in a safe, family-oriented neighborhood with good schools, says Donna Falzon, a Novato real estate agent and the wife of retired San Francisco homicide Inspector Frank Falzon. Donna Falzon guesses a comparable house in San Francisco would cost as much as $100,000 more. “No matter what neighborhood you are looking at in Novato, you are going to find a San Francisco policeman,” she said. “It just really works for them ... people like living next to their friends. There's a tremendous camaraderie and tremendous brotherhood.” In fact, selling homes to San Francisco police, officers is such a brisk business that Falzon regularly advertises in the San Francisco Police Officer's Association newsletter. Her client list always includes a police officer or two.

Donna Marie Coudures was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle Donna was in a multitude of real estate ads as a real estate agent.

Kenneth Angelo Mifsud J.D. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 April 1995: Mom Guilty of 2nd-Degree Murder of Twins - Oakland - 23-day-old babies were suffocated By Tara Shioya Chronicle East Day Bureau
An Oakland mother accused of suffocating her twin babies because she “couldn't take the pressure anymore“ of looking after them was found guilty of second- degree murder yesterday. As the Alameda County Superior Court clerk read the verdict, 26- year-old Traci Foskett sobbed into a blue handkerchief, her face
flushed and streaked with tears. Several jurors wept also. Tho jury took a painstaking five days of deliberations to find Foskett guilt/ on two counts of murder in tta 1992 deaths of her twins, 23-dayold Andrea and Antoine Yearby.
Foskett's public defender, Don Greenberg, argued that because she is brain-damaged, police manipulated her into confessing to what was actually an unfortunate case of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a condition in which infants mysteriously stop breathing. She could face 15 years to life in prison on each count when she is sentenced at a yet-to-be determined date by Judge Alfred Deluc- chi, who presided over the trial. Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Ken Mifsud had asked thp jury to find Foskett guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances, which would have meant a life sentence without possibility of parole. Still, Mifsud said he is satisfied. ‘This was a very tough case," he said. “This was as emotional a case as you could get. The jury did the right thing.”
Foskett’s public defender, Don Greenberg, sent colleague Susan Sawyer in his place yesterday, as he was unable to appear in court. Sawyer could not comment on tte case but said Greenberg may file a motion for a new trial.
In a taped confession one day after the twins’ deaths in January 1992, Foskett told Oakland police she killed the twins. As Mifsud replayed the tape during the three- week trial’s closing arguments, Foskett’s shoulders shook as she sobbed and wiped her eyes.
“I was frustrated,” she said on the tape. “I couldn’t take the pressure anymore — changing them, being there by myself with them, having to listen to them cry.”
Foskett moved the babies from her bedroom to another room because they were crying. Then she covered them with a quilt, she said, hoping they would suffocate, and left.
Later, when Foskett saw the babies were still alive, she drew the blanket up over their heads. She placed onehand on each child and pushed down with all the weight of her 210-pound body, counting down slowly from 50 to 1 before letting go, according to the confession. She checked that the twins breathing had stopped, then went back to her bedroom and watched television. Then she went to sleep. The next morning, Andrew Yearby — Foslett’s boyfriend and the babies’ father — discovered the twins, blue-faced and motionless. He called 911. Foskett confessed to police the next day, saying she first lied to authorities because she had hoped the deaths would look like sudden infant death syndrome. She later recanted and vent back to the syndrome explanation.
Greenberg said that because his client was hit by a bus at age fi, she has significant brain damage and an IQ of 83 — an impairment that helped police extract a “coerced, compliant confession.” Yesterday’s conviction is the latest of several incidents involving Foskett and her children. When the twins died, Foskett was on probation for having broken the leg of her then 9-month-old daughter, who was later placed with Foskett’s mother. Foskett had an earlier set of twin daughters in 1990, one of whom died apparently of SIDS when she was 4 months old. The surviving twin was placed in another relative’s care.

Hon. Charles Joseph Vassallo was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 April 1995: Herb Caen: The original ``black bird'' from ``The Maltese Falcon'' film, now owned by Harry Winston jewelers in N.Y., arrives at SFO today, to be rec'd by the honorary Consul General of Malta, Charles Vassallo. The well-guarded statuette will be on view Friday night at John's Grill, scene of a fund-raiser ($55) for the police and fire dept.'s toy program .

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 May 1995: Tiny firm develops murder game on CD-ROM By Michelle Quinn
Chronicle Stoff Writer
A man's body, covered with bits of concrete, floats off Pier 92 In San Francisco Bay. The body is supposed to be dead but the actor, Skip Przyborowski, shivers so much he's hardly a convincing corpse. But once he’s warmed-up and sprinkled with water the corpse is ready for the morgue while the coroner delivers his line, “Look's like severe trauma to the back of the head." Around the pier and in rented offices this month, a film crew is shooting scenes for an upcoming game on a disc called San Francisco Homicide. Based on a real murder case in the 1970s, the game is the story of a rookie cop who has two weeks to solve the murder of a two-timing gambler. As in real life, the game doesn't end in an arrest, but the cop, or player, has to build a solid case and convince a jury.
For InterWorks, a small San Francisco company that specializes in training CD-ROMs and videos, Homicide is its first real shot at the consumer market. For Grober Electronic Publishing, which is financing the game’s development, Homicide is the company’s leap into the game market after a decade of CD-ROM encyclopedia and reference book hits. The 100-year-old publishing house owned by the French company Lagardere Group, Grolier of Danbury, Conn., is getting into the game business because it’s where the growth is, said David Argan bright, president of Grolier Electronic Publishing. The publisher came out with the first CD-ROM encyclopedia in 1986, but since then the market has become glutted with CD-ROM encyclopedias, with the main challenge from Microsoft and Compton’s NewMedia. People buy one encyclopedia, said Arganbright, but they buy at least a dozen games. For San Francisco’s forensic experts, the CD-ROM game is a chance to get their 15 minutes of fame Though the names have been changed from the original case to protect the innocent, a real investigator plays a role, as does a medical investigator and a detective. A former deputy police chief...
MURDER: Former S.F. Policemen Star in a CD-ROM Game -- From Page B1
also holds forth about murder.
In Los Angeles, police officers moonlight as television news experts or write scripts for sitcoms. In San Francisco, cops show up in video games. ^MIt’s introducing me to the modern world,” said Kevin Mullin, a retired San Francisco deputy police chief and criminal history writer. "It’s the front end of the future.” To help the player, Frank Falzon, a retired police inspector, and Mullin recently donned makeup for their cameo performances in Homicide. David Zimmerman, the city and county’s medical investigator, plays the coroner who carts away the body; Kirk Brookbush, a San Francisco detective, gathers evidence as the game’s criminologist and Michael Brown, a current San Jose police detective, consulted on the CD-ROM game. Paul Drexler and Julie Marsh, the co-founders of InterWorks, had developed two other games before Homicide but in January, Grolier agreed to finance Homicide in a contract worth "well into six figures,” Drexler said. "It’s analogous to producing a low budget feature film." For the police officials, the game is a chance to show how difficult it is to pursue an investigation and get a conviction. They occasionally had the scripts changed for authenticity. In agreeing to do the CD-ROM game, Falzon asked that the game be nonviolent and give the player a realistic sense of how hard a police officer’s job is. “People think it is easy to solve a murder," Falzon said. “I think by playing this game you will feel the frustrations and successes that a detective actually lives. It will make you more aware of how difficult some cases are to solve. “Evidence can be twisted whether for the prosecution or for the defense." InterWorks, with financial backers, is racing to make its July 15 deadline for a rough version of the game (the final version is due in September). Grolier plans to sell the game for Christmas 1995 at $49.95 a pop. Solving a homicide is usually difficult, said the crime experts-turned-actors. But the reasons behind a murder are often quite simple. “An old detective once told me when you get down to it, most homicides are about love or money,” Mullin says in the game’s opening. “Sometimes, they are about both.”.

Anthony J Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 June 1995: Police probe of death criticized
Dennis J. Opatrny, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
June 30, 1995

1995-06-30 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorneys for the family of a man who died in police custody after a violent struggle say department investigators are trying to "whitewash" the incident to protect fellow officers.

"The Police Department is now lying to cover up the felonious behavior of their officers," attorneys Clarence Livingstone and Robert Kroll said in a statement Thursday.

Kroll and Livingston were critical of a preliminary investigation by homicide Inspectors Tony Camilleri and Jim Bergstrom that found no fault with police conduct the night of June 4, when burglary suspect Aaron Williams died while handcuffed and with his feet bound.
exp-player-logo
Read More

Williams, 35, had been arrested after a struggle with police outside his Western Addition home. He was pronounced dead a short time later in the parking lot outside Richmond Station. Several people, including neighbors and family members, witnessed the incident but have told conflicting stories.

Chief Medical Examiner Boyd Stephens said Thursday that he had not determined a cause of death and probably wouldn't before next week at the earliest.
"No findings' of abuse<

Camilleri said the witnesses he and Bergstrom had interviewed had not corroborated the family's allegations that officers beat, kicked or clubbed Williams after he was subdued.

"There are no findings physically to support anyone was hit in the head with a baton or kicked in the ribs or kicked in the legs," Camilleri said.

He said that only a young nephew and his mother had told investigators that Williams was brutally beaten by 12 officers who responded to the scene after a reported break-in at a nearby veterinary clinic.

"There are several witnesses connected to the deceased that have their version," Camilleri said. "There are numerous other witnesses, some of whom also live in the house and in the neighborhood, who said that police conduct after he was handcuffed showed no one kicking him . . . striking him . . . beating him with batons or putting any boots to him after he was restrained.

"You have a youngster who witnessed an episode where his uncle was arrested, and it probably is not a very pleasant thing to see," he said. "Who knows what has been told to him that others allegedly saw. Is he parroting it back?"
Attorneys say they have witnesses<

But at a press conference, Kroll said his private investigator had interviewed 13 people who say they witnessed the struggle and will testify that police used excessive force to subdue Williams.

The family's attorneys, who said they plan to file a claim against The City that could lead to a wrongful death lawsuit, charged that police "executed" Williams.

"The police have declared themselves not guilty of this act of brutality that smacks of a lynching," the lawyers said. "The San Francisco police have announced their whitewash. There will be no criminal prosecution for this homicide."

Camilleri replied, "That's pretty strong language, declaring someone being executed. That takes on a terrible negative connotation. That did not happen in this instance."

At the press conference, Livingston read from a paramedics report prepared the night Williams died that alluded to his arm being "deformed" as he lay in the police wagon that took him to the station.

The attorney attributed the deformity to officers' handling of Williams while he struggled with them. He said family members and friends recalled no such deformity of his arm area.

But Camilleri said he had viewed the body and considered the deformity either "congenital or an old injury," but doubted it had been caused by police.

In addition to the homicide detail's and coroner's investigation, the Police Department's Management Control Division, formerly internal affairs, is looking into the case. The FBI has said it is reviewing the matter, but has not opened a formal investigation of its own.

Charles James Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 August 1995: Where the Wild Things Are -- Salinas company has biggest manes in showbiz
ByJohn Rjnn, Examiner

SALINAS — When Lowenbrau's ad agency needed a male lion for a commercial it was filming in Kenya, it searched all of East Africa without finding the perfect beast.
Instead it put out a call for Josef, a 525-pound African lion who makes his home in
Salinas, behind the International House of Pancakes. Probably the most photographed lion in the world, Josef has sauntered insouciantly down Wall Street as the corporate symbol of Dreyfus Corp. and posed regally for Disney animators drawing “The Lion King” For the last three years his throaty roar has opened every MGM film. Josef is the undisputed star and major breadwinner of Wild Things, a menagerie of exotic show-biz animals improbably located amid suburban sprawl nearly 300 miles north of Hollywood.
The business has managed to carve out a niche for itself in the highly competitive
world of supplying animals for movies, television shows, print ads and magazine covers.
But anyone expecting to ride a lion’s tail to riches should look elsewhere, said owner
[See ANIMALS, B-3]
Charlie Sammut: “You can make a living doing this, but I wouldn't want my kids to do It,“ he said. "It's a lough way to earn a buck. It’s the animals that keep me doing it”
A former Seaside police officer, Sammut is one of about 60 people running such a business in California, and one of only about 10 with a large stock of exotic animals. Under Sommut’s roof are 112 animals — everything from a hooded cobra to an elusive snow leopard, a dromedary camel to a black panther. Costly diets -- To make ends meet, Sammut also runs a dog kennel and a horse boarding facility. While the business may not make him rich, it’s done well enough to allow him to begin moving his operation to a 51-acre spread on the western edge of the Salinas Valley.
Insurance, food and veterinarian costs are high, and then there are the specialists: Puff, a 70- pound monitor lizard with back trouble, gets regular visits from a chiropractor.
“I have no idea how much I spend on food, and I don’t really want to know,” Sammut said. He did allow, though, that he spends $300 a month on chicken and nutritional supplements for just one cougar. Nick Toth, current president of the California Animal Owners Association, estimates it costa him $300,000 a year to run a similarly sized compound near Palmdale. Half that total, he said, is food. "Nobody has ever made a lot of money in this business," Toth said. "The overhead kills you.”
A lion or tiger might command thousands of dollars a day, he said, but the phone can go months without ringing. As Sammut showed visitors around his compound recently, he carried a female baboon on his back. The baboon immediately began grooming the back of Sammut’s head, searching for lice and straightening his hair. “That’s just being a baboon,” Sammut said. “We’ll sit and watch TV together, and she’ll do that all night”
Scars are an occupational hazard — “You work with bears, you’re going to get bit. My alligator bit me once, too. No big deal.”
Only once has Sammut had an animal seriously turn on him. The attack came while he was visiting a compound of a fellow animal trainer in Northern California. Unbeknownst to Sammut, a jaguar had escaped its cage. “I walked through the gate and the jaguar jumped me right away,” he said. “It broke my hip. I was out three months.”
Sammut, 34, got into the animal business 12 years ago by an unusual route: While making a drug bust as a Seaside cop, he stumbled upon a cougar in the suspect’s garage. Sammut and the mountain lion got along so well that the alleged drug dealer gave it to him as a pet
Three years later, having become fascinated by big cats, Sammut decided he wanted a pet tiger. After obtaining the necessary permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of the Interior, state Fish and Game, state Department of Food and Agriculture and a handful of city and county agencies, Sammut contacted the West Coast Game Park,
an animal facility in Bandon, Ore. They didn’t have any tigers for sale. Would he be interested in a lion cub for $800? He hesitated, but the game park eventually talked him into it. “It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me,” Sammut said.
The cub, Josef, grew into a beautiful specimen, with an impressively hill mane. And, like all great models, he had a face that was perfectly proportioned and unblemished. Most male lions, said Sammut, have scarred faces from fighting or rubbing their noses on cages.
Art directors and producers began calling, eager to book Josef for photo shoota. A. $2,000 to $6,000 a day, Josef was bringing in more money than Sanmut was making as a police officer. He quit to devote full time to managing his animals..
One of his smartiest jobs was a...brau's ad agency wanted to fly Josef to Kenya for a photo shoot. The agency couldn't find a lion in all of Africa that could be trusted not to eat the model it would be working with. Josef, though, proved to be domesticated; he walked right out to a herd of zebra without interferring — good news for the model but a disappointment for photographers who had hoped to see the king of beasts in action.
For "The lion King," Josef moved into the Disney studios for weeks at a time, posing for teams of illustrators. Ha even let Barry Sanders of the Detrot Lions hurdle over him for a Spots Illustrated Kids cover and has roaed for souvenier pictures with ewryone from James Bari Jones (his voice in "The Lion King”) to Sonny Bono.
To buy a lion today costs about $1,500, if you ... your permits and can find one for sale. Add to that about $6,000 for a cage, more for the cost of maintaining a regulated facility and even more for a vehicle to transport the beast. With food and vet bills, "it's well over a $100,000 investment in one cat,“ Semrnut aid.
Josef gets the lion’s share of the bookings, but some of his neighbors are begining to work regularly. A few stops away from Josefs cage lives Kolui, the current Bengal tiger and ...photo-shoot companion of male model Fabio. Another neigbor is Brandy, a
black bear who has starred in "Return to Grizzly Mountain“ and 1 Renault commercial.
Two of Sammut’s animals are blind: an old South American macaque living out his last years and Reebok, a kangaroo who appeared in an American Express ad despite his disability.
"Not all of his animals work." Sammut said. "But it's a moot point- I just like having them around, and they have a good life here.“
Not everyone agreesa. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animais, a nationwide animal rights organization is steadfastly against the use of animals for commercial entertainment purposes. While the organization has nothing specific to say about Sammut, it opposes the entire industry and has filed lawsuits to stop some acts on the grounds that the animals were abused. “We’re totally against the capture and confinement of exotic animals for amusement purposes, 'said managing director Ingrid Newkirk. “It's a ludicrous, uncivilised, old fashioned form of entertainmentt. Even the kindest owners are depriving those animala of something important,"
Sammut, who buys his animals from zoos and other captive breeders, has invited animal rights activists to tour his compound. He said his animals lead a good life.
“A lot of people feel that using animals for TV and movies is cruel, that you have to torture them to get them to perform." he said “But it's just not true, at least not here. “I see no difference betwees what I do and a dog breeder who keeps a kennel." Sammut said "The idea that the quality of llfe for a lion should be so much better than (that of) a dog, is beyond me. don’t feel my animals suffer at all.'

Steven Martin Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 October 1995:...Steve Sammut, secretary-treasurer of the Point Reyes Business Association, which has 47 members in the Olema, Inverness and Point Reyes Station area, puts revenue losses for lodging and meals this weekend alone at $120,000.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 July 1996: Artichoke Joe's Cardroom Wins OK to Expand
By John Wtldermuth Chronicle Peninsula Bureau
One of the Bay Area’s oldest cardrooms has received an OK to expand, even though its owner says he has no immediate plans to add any new tables. The San Bruno City Council unanimously approved the expansion Monday night, despite complaints from a half-dozen residents that the card club was getting off much too cheaply and a general rise in anti-gambling sentiment in the Bay Area. Dennis Sammut, whose family has owned Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno for 80 yean, will be paying the city an additional 1700,000 a year for the right to boost the tlae of hit downtown eltih from 35 tables to 51. The city's take could rise to about $1.6 million a year if Sammut ever increases the club to a maximum of 60 tables. Sammut has said all along that he is willing to pay
Dennis Sammut, whose family has owned Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno for 80 years, will be paying the city an additional $700,000 a year for the right to boost the size of his downtown club from 35 tables to 51. The city’s take could rise to about $1.6 million a year if Sammut ever increases the club to a maximum of 60 tables....Sammut’s popularity in San Bruno is a big reason the city has been reluctant to change the way the gambling club is taxed, Bartalini said.
"Dennis (Sammut) puts out money like confetti and everyone knows he's a soft touch for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sports teams and other activities," he said. “He puts out $100,000 in donations and saves $3 million in taxes."
Bartalini and other opponents to the expansion were unable to sway any of the council members.
"Artichoke (Joe’s) has a lot to be proud of,” said Mayor Ed Simon. "They have helped this community and always paid a fair tax."
Although the council approved the club’s request for additional tables, the club must come back to the city before physically adding more gaming tables. And although the club will begin to pay the increased tax in January, no date has been set for actually expanding the club, said Wilbur Duberstein, attorney for the card club.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 24 September 1996: Opposition to Bart extension through San Bruno; concerns about loss of parking spaces for his Casino which sit on public land. He spent $300,000 in opposition. In 1997 he agreed to a $6 million dollar deal for a 40 year lease on the land and stopped fighting the extension.

Meisha Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 April 1997: A Night to Remember -- Students hold prom for senior citizens •
By Lori Olszewski, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
Jerry Pimentel of Hayward went to the prom last night. He’s 64.
In a fresh twist on the age-old rite of spring, a group of teenagers from southern Alameda County threw a prom for senior citizens from the Fremont-Hay ward area at the Aitken community center in Castro Valley.
“I was excited when 1 heard about it,” said retiree Pimentel, who brought his friend Marrie lssacson as his date. “It’s a nice reversal, for the young ones to be doing everything for us and all we have to do is show up.”
The couple like to go country line dancing at the Moose Lodge in San Lorenzo, but they enjoyed last night’s change of musical pace. The dance floor mood was big band tunes, thanks to the donated services of the Arroyo High School Jazz Band from San Lorenzo. Trombonist Jeff Kwong, an Arroyo junior, was on the prom planning committee.
“1 love that music,” Pimentel said. “Plus, you can’t beat the price at $4 a ticket.” i ne young people wno threw the party for Pimentel and about 80 other elders are all from an after-school youth committee that is under the guidance of Evan Goldberg at the Alameda County Office of Education. The 20 teenagers are involved in a teaching approach called service learning, in which students take part in community service and volunteer work to explore traditional academic areas such as social studies, science and history. For example, students studying an era such as the Great Depression and the effects of poverty and hunger might visit a homeless shelter or volunteer at a food bank.
The prom isn’t directly tied to academics, but in staging it the teenagers hope to break down stereotypes on both sides of the generation gap.
“Senior citizens aren’t all old fogies who go to sleep early,” said Heidi Man? jzar, 17, a junior at James Logan High in Union City who was on the prom planning committee. And “we’re not all the violent criminals the media makes us out to be,” said Christina Fallon, a 17-year-old senior at Robertson High School in Fremont.
Fallon walked Castro Valley Boulevard recently and cajoled numerous businesses into donating door prizes for a prom raffle. Her loot included everything from beauty supplies to her personal favorite, a spay or
neutering donated by a veterinarian.
Maiio Rodriguez, 17, a junior at James Logan,spent much of Thursday night making dozens of chicken enchiladas. The prom menu, supervised by Rodriguez because he used to work with a caterer, included everything from the Filipino eggroll-like appetizer lumpia to Italian pasta in an effort to shov off the students' diverse ethnic heritages. Meisha Vella, 15, a San Leandro High School sophomore, was in charge of buying 180 balloons to complement the white, gold and whe color scheme and the theme “Forever Young.” The youngsters even arranged for prom pictures — Polaroids — for the seniors. The backdrop was a heart fashioned out of white balloons.
The girls chose slinky black as the prom dress color of the night. Vella and her prom plannhg colleagues Jackie Tornio, a graduate of Robertson High, and Geuella Llmau, a senior at Logan, explained that no one cool w*ars the pastel shades of spring that graced proms of the past.
“l’n hoping everyone learns not to draw conclusions about each other based on appearance,” Vella said. She said she has a friend who dresses “Gothic,” in combat boots, dark dresses and a rainbow of hair colors, who encounters some strange reactions from her elders. “1 see her being judged all the time and she’s a really nice person,” Vella said. Tornio said her nose ring also attracts comments. “Older people always say they can’t believe I got it and they want to know if it hurts,” she said. “By the end of the dance, I want all of us, the seniors and teens, together,” Tornio said.

Andrea Ann Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 December 1997: Fire Probably Started In Family Christmas Tree -- Redwood City — A Saturday fire that left a 25-year-old woman hospitalized probably started in the family Christmas tree, investigators said yesterday. Andrea Camilleri, who suffered from severe smoke inhalation, was in stable condition yesterday at Sequoia Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor. She was injured in the 11:30 a.m. fire that caused about $400,000 in damage to her home on Edgewood Road, said Jim Asche, a California Department of Forestry division chief. A malfunction in the Christmas tree lights is suspected. Another resident and a firefighter also were injured, treated at a hospital after the fire and released.

Hon. Louis John Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7 February 1998: Resident Held in Fire At Mobile Home Pork
RpdwnnH Tity — Ant hnrities say a fire in a mobile home park yesterday that had been evacuated because of flooding was caused by an arsonist.
Police detained a 29-year-old resident of the complex on suspicion oi arson a few hours after the 5:20 am. blaze at 1933 East Bay shore Road. The name of the suspect was not available. The blaze caused about $3,000 in damage to one mobile home. Fire Marshal Louis' Vella said.
Recause the Le Mar Mobile Home Park was evacuated earlier this week as a result of flooding and the electricity was shut off, Vella said, it was likely that the fire was arson. Firefighters found flames coming from “piled combustibles on a bed" and in another room of the mobile home, he said.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7 March 1998: From Page A ll
Dennis Sammut...that he will drop his opposition to the expansion of BART to San Francisco Internationai Airport. Under a plan expected to be approved March 16 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Sammut will pay the city more than $8 million over 40 years — at least §192,000 a year — to rent the parking lots next to his casino that sits on land owned by San Francisco.
It sounds like a lot of money — Sammut had been paying $7,680 a year for the past 36 years — but he still comes out the winner. The BART extension cuts through Sammut’s 275-space parking lot and had the potential to put him out of business. Rather than surrender, he became the single greatest opponent to the BART extension, filing lawsuits, riling up local citizens, and generally making an effective nuisence of himself. BART officials said that any further delays could cost them as much as $67,000 for every foot they tried to extend the train system.
In return for dropping his opposition, Sammut gets a guarantee from the city and BART that his casino parking will remain in place or that they will provide him with a reasonable alternative, including shuttle buses from another location. And when the BART extension is finished, don’t be surprised if there’s a stop in San Bruno that drops off passengers right outside the main entrance to Artichoke Joe’s.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 April 1998: Cop killed in hail of shots after traffic stop -- First Millbrae officer slain in line of duty; cache of pipe bombs, rifles found with suspect
By Erin McCormick
A San Francisco truck driver, carrying a cache of pipe bombs and rifles, has confessed to killing a Millbrae police officer Saturday morning in a shooting rampage that stared with a routine traffic slop. Police arrested 43-year-old Marvin Patrick Sullivan, who they said has a long criminal history involving guns, drugs and violence, after he allegedly opened fire on a San Bruno traffic officer on U.S. 101 at about 10 a.m. Sullivan then unloaded his highpowered rifle on the first officer to come to the rescue, Millbrae motorcycle Patrolman David Chetcuti, 43, police said. Chetcuti, an 11-year veteran of the Millbrae Police Department, was known for his dogged determination to be the first at the crime scene. The Millbrae resident is survived by his wife, Gail, and sons David, 17, John, 14, and Rick, 11.
Chetcuti died at the Millbrae Avenue off-ramp, with three gunshots to his head and his body riddled with bullets. His body remained there for hours under a yellow tarpaulin, surrounded by spent ballot casings. He was wearing a motorcycle helmet and boots. San Bnino police Officer Scann Graham, who had pulled Sullivan over on the Millbrae Avenue exit for not having a current registration sticker, narrowly escaped being shot by diving into the water of a drainage ditch and swimming to dodge bullets. After leading at least four police units on a chase over the San Mateo Bridge, Sullivan surrendered at the toll plaza on the Hayward side. Police found four pipe bombs, two rifles and several handguns in Sullivan’s blue Chevrolet.
"This is a sad day for us. This is the first time an officer has been shot in the line of duty,” said Millbrae Police Chief Mike Parker. “Dave was a mode! police officer. He was instrumental in catching a bank robber from Burlingame just last week. He just had a nose for police work.” Parker said investigators have not yet determined any motive for the shootings but are looking at whether Sullivan might be connected to other crimes, including a series of recent unsolved pipe bombings that, have rattled Fremont. When taken into custody, Sullivan had a superficial gunshot wound, which Parker said might indicate that Chetcuti managed to shoot the suspect before being killed. Sullivan, who lives on Leavenworth Street, was being held at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City.
The San Mateo County Sheriffs Department and Millbrae police are continuing their investigation to find out what Sullivan was doing with the pipe bombs and weapons and whether he belonged to any groups or movements. Parker said Fremont police have also been notified about the case. After Graham pulled Sullivan over to ask about his expired registration sticker, he approached Sullivan’s car. The suspect allegedly pulled out a rifle and started firing. Graham jumped behind his car for cover and broadcast a radio call for help. Sullivan allegedly fired a barrage of gunshots, forcing Graham to jump into a nearby drainage ditch, where he got into the water to dodge the bullets. Chetcuti arrived at the scene, responding to the call for help, and immediately found the rille trained on him. Parker said police are still trying to verity whether the officer was able to wound his attacker before succumbing to his injuries Arier shooting Chetcuti, Sullivan allegedly picked up the officer’s gun, got back into his car and headed south on Highway 101. Minutes later, he was spotted by CHP Officer Pat Wong, who started a chase that eventually included cars from the San Mateo Sheriffs Department and Millbrae police. When the chase reached the Hayward side of the bridge, Sullivan suddenly pulled into a parking lot and got out of his car with his hands up, Parker said. After the police discovered the bombs, the westbound bridge lanes were closed for several hours as the bomb sqiind brought in X-ray units and a bomb-handling robot to dispose of them safely. The closure and the rubbernecking on both sides of Highway 101 snarled traffic for hours.
Residents of Milibrae, where a smalltown atmosphere of barber shops and corner cafes still survives despite the bustle of nearby San Francisco International Airport, seemed utterly shocked at the shooting. Within hours of the slaying, flags at. City Hall were lowered to half-staff and neighbors began showing up with bouquets of fresh flowers to place under the plain brown sign marking police headquarters. The shrine for Chetcuti — rapidly growing even though his name had not yet been released included handpicked roses and a basket of azaleas. “I saw the flags at. half-mast and I knew something was up,” said 25-year Millbrae resident Peter Weirierljerger. who came down to the Police Department to show his respect. ‘‘You hear about this happening in the big cities,” he said. “But you think of a small town like Millbrae as being a place in the sun, like a retirement, community. Then this happens.’ !n the lobby of the 27-member police department’s headquarters, signs advertised free fingerprinting for Millbrae residents Saturdays and announced openings for young people who wanted to become “police explorers.’ But after the shooting, the building’s lobby was deserted. A sign on the door announced that there would be “No fingerprints on 4/25.” Outside, longtime resident Ida Roybal, who dropped off a bouquet, said, ‘Tm not sure which officer it is, but it wouldn’t matter. ï just want to show my respect. It’s a very special police department.” Police aie asking anyone who witnessed the shooting to call (650) 363-4000.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 April 1998: MILLBRAE -- On the last morning of officer David Chetcuti's life, he had parked his big police motorcycle at Millbrae's Taylor Field to watch the local kids play baseball. Chetcuti was that kind of cop, that kind of guy. "Give him an hour, and he'd give you 10," John Aquilina, a high school buddy, said yesterday. "He'd mow people's lawns, he'd help paint a house or put up wallboard." His last act was in keeping with how he lived: The 43-year- old Millbrae motorcycle officer was gunned down moments after leaving the ballpark Saturday morning, when he answered a call for back-up from a San Bruno officer.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 April 1998: Slaying of Officer Stuns Millbrae -- Millbrae Mourns First Officer Slain in Line of Duty -- Father of 3 called ‘most well-liked in the department’ by Sabin Russell and Kevin Fagan
On the last morning of officer David Chetcuti's life, he had parked his big police motorcycle at Miilbrae's Taylor Field to watch the local kids play baseball.
Chetcuti was that kind of cop, that kind of guy. "Give him an hour, and he'd give you 10," John Aquilina, a high school buddy, said yesterday. "He’d mow people's lawns, he'd help paint a house or put up wallboard." His last act was in keeping with how he lived. The 43-year- old Millbrae motorcycle officer was gunned down moments after leaving the ballpark Saturday morning, when he answered a call for back up from a San Bruno officer. Officer Scann Graham had pulled over a blue Chevrolet with expired registration at the Millbrae Avenue exit of nearby Highway 101, in the shadow San Francisco International Airport. Tlie first radio call was for
routine back-up. It isn't known if Chetcuti heard a more desperate call for help, when 43-year-old Marvin Patrick Sullivan — a San Francisco truck driver with a history of violence and an apparent hatred of police — allegedly began firng a high-powered rifle at Graham. The San Bruno policeman dove for cover behind his car. then into a drainage ditch, where he successfully dodged a fuslllage from Sullivan’s semi-automatic rifle, police said. Chetcuti was hit almost as soon as he arrived. At leasi 40 rounds were fired from Sulliivan's weapon, which was apparently home-built and looked like an AR-15, police said. Several rounds pierced Chetcuti's bulletproof vest, Police Chief Michael Parker said yesterday.
A search by San Mateo County Sheriffs Deputies at Sullivan's hotel room in San Francisco’s South of Market district uncovered rifle parts, gunpowder, blasting caps and other bomb-making paraphernalia, Parker said. When California Highway Patrol officers stopped Sullivan in a parking lot on the Hayward side of j the San Mateo Bridge, four crude pipe bombs tumbled out of the Chevrolet, which also carried a cache of guns. Police say he has confessed to the shooting. Sullivan was being held yesterday in San Mateo County Jail. Investigators kept a tight lid yesterday on information involving Sullivan's background, or possible reasons why he was so heavily armed. But sources said he had an extensive criminal record involving guns, drugs and attacking police officers. A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections said no information on Sullivan's prison record would be available until to day. However, investigators said he had enough convictions on his record to qualify for a three- strikes lifetime prison sentence if convicted of killing Chctcuti. Sullivan could also face the death penalty if convicted of all the charges possible in Saturday’s slaying.
The tragedy appeared to fit an increasingly disturbing pattern of risk for police officers since the three-strikes law was passed in the early 1990s. Statistics in recent years have shown that ex-convicts who clash with police and have at least two convictions on their record have become more likely to try to kill the officers rather than risk arrest acid a possible three-strikes conviction.Stunned Millbrae residents - many of them, like Chetcuti, of Maltese heritage — built a shrine of flowers yesterday for the mustachied cop.
Roses and tulips from flower shops, chrysanthemums in pots and birds of paradise from backyard gardens piled up in front of the sign marking the Milibrae police station. Photographs of Chetcutii, including a community police trading card showing him on his motorcycle, rested amid handwritten messages and votive candles.
Flags flew at half-staff all over town. He was the first police officer in the history of Millbrae, a small town of 21,000. to fall in the line of duty.
"He was :he most well-liked officer in the department, and in the community." said officer Richard Dixon, who remembers training Chetcuti when he joined the 27- meinber force 11 years ago. "He went on to being a better Field Training Officer than I.” Dixon added.
At the ball field on Saturday morning Cheteiitl had been chatting with Aquilina, who grew up with him in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. The two had remained fast friends ever since. Chetcuti loved cars and motorcycles, and had more on his mind. He talked about adding a tilt wheel to the car used in the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program, a police effort to teach kids about drugs in school. He talked about how his motorcycle’s gas tank had been dented during a repair, and had been repainted except for the police insignia. "His bike was his baby,” Aquilina recalled. “He wanted to gel the stars back on his bike.” But Chetcuti broke off the friendly ballpark chatter when a call came in about an officer needing back-up. He sped off — true to his reputation for being first on the scene — and that was the last Aquilina saw of him.
Joan and Ted Adams of Burlingame didn’t know Chetcuti at all, but they drove up to the police station to drop off flowers anyway. “We wanted to go and let them know there are good and caring people out here,” said Joan, "lfeel so bad for the family.” Chetcuti leaves a wife, Gail, and three sons: David, ago 17; John, 14; and Rick, 11. Millbrae police have set up a trust fund for the family. Friends and fellow officers described Chetculi as a remarkable community man, dedicated to his job, his family and his neighbors. "He was the biggest success in the Chetcuti family,” Julie Lipke said of her uncle and godfather, wiping back tears. David Chetcuti’s father brought his big family to America from the island nation of Malta in 1951. David was the baby of the family, the youngest of seven children, and unlike his siblings was born in the United States. Family members say Chetcuti always wanted to he a police officer, was living his dream, and passing that ambition on to the kids of Millbrae.
Lynn Azzopardi planted a small Maltese flag at the police headquarters memorial. On Saturday she had gone down to the girls’ softball game at Taylor field to introduce herself to the officer. "He’d made an impression on our 5-year old, Paul,” said Azzopardi. Her mother-in-law had struck up a conversation with Chetcuti, learning that he, like the Azzopardi’s, were of Maltese descent. The officer had given Paul one of the trading cards that showed him on his motorcycle. "Paul said that he
thought the motorcycle was cool, and he wanted to bea policeman someday, too.”
But Azzopardi never got a chance to meet Officer Chetcuti. As she was walking toward him, he hopped on his motorcycle, and drove off to answer the call for help.
Across the bay, Fremont investigators examined the pipe bombs found in Sullivan’s truck, hut concluded the suspect probably had no connection with the string of bombings that plagued the city about a month ago. The pipe bombs from the truck were much cruder than the devices found in our city,” Fremont police Lieutenant Jim McKicrnan said yesterday. "As far as we know there is no involvement by Sullivan in our incidents.”.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle Officer David John Chetcuti was laid to rest Friday, May 1, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma following a military-style funeral attended by family, friends and thousands of fellow officers. Approximately 3,000 uniformed officers, representing police and sheriff’s departments, FBI agents, BART police, mounted units and K-9 officers, some from as far away as New York, stood under a gray sky and steady rain for almost three hours to pay their respects to Officer Chetcuti.
Chetcuti was gunned down Saturday, April 25, 1998, on Highway 101 just south of the San Francisco International Airport when he went to the aide of San Bruno officer, Seann Graham. Graham had stopped 43-year-old Marvin Patrick Sullivan because his car registration had expired.
As Graham approached the driver of the Chevrolet sedan, Sullivan got out of the car and shot at him several times with a rifle, police said. Graham dived through some bushes into a drainage ditch and swam through a marshy area on the side of the highway as he called for backup.
When Chetcuti confronted the driver and ordered him to put the rifle down, Sullivan shot him in the chest and face and took his gun, police said. He then went to the fallen Chetcuti and shot him in the head. Chetcuti had managed to return fire and slightly wounded Sullivan. Several rounds pierced Chetcuti’s bullet-proof vest, police reported.
Sullivan surrendered to police without incident near the San Mateo Bridge toll plaza. A bomb squad was called to handle pipe bombs found in Sullivan’s vehicle. He has been charged with Chetcuti’s murder and the attempted murder of Graham. Authorities reported that Sullivan has a long criminal history involving guns, drugs and violence.
San Francisco and Bay Area law enforcement agencies broadcast a message to officers, as Chetcuti’s funeral took place, to observe 43 seconds of silence – “one second for each year of Officer Chetcuti’s life – for making the ultimate sacrifice to save a fellow officer’s life.
Chetcuti, a popular 11-year veteran of Millbrae Police Department, was the first line-of- duty death in that agency and the first in San Mateo County in a decade.
Chief Michael Parker told reporters “Dave Chetcuti was well liked and had a special rapport with teenagers. This is a very sad time for the Millbrae Police Department. We are a small department with only 27 officers so we’re very much like a family. It’s going to be bad for Dave’s family and for us for a very long time.”
Chief Parker added “This is a sad day for us. This is the first time an officer has been shot in the line of duty. Dave was a model police officer. He was instrumental in catching a bank robber from Burlingame just last week. He just had a nose for police work.”
Chetcuti, who lived in Millbrae, served on the Millbrae police force since his appointment on December 16, 1987. He had served as a motorcycle, patrol and field training officer and was often praised for his work. Chief Parker said Chetcuti’s commendation file was filled with letters of appreciation from citizens and local politicians, and no one had ever complained about him. He had received the department’s lifesaving award for saving a heart attack victim in 1995. He was president of the Millbrae Police Officers Association. Officer Richard Dixon, who trained Chetcuti when he joined the Millbrae Police Department 11 years ago, said, “He was the most well-liked officer in the department, and in the community.” Dixon added “He went on to being a better Field Training Officer than I.” Chetcuti was described by friends and fellow officers as a remarkable community man, dedicated to his job, his family and his neighbors.
A high school buddy, John Aquilina, stated that Chetcuti spent the last morning of his life watching the local kids playing baseball. “He was that kind of cop, that kind of guy. Give him an hour, and he’d give you 10. He’d mow people’s lawns, he’d help paint a house or put up wallboard.”
Chetcuti’s last act was in keeping with how he lived: He was gunned down moments after leaving the ballpark as he answered a call for back-up. Julie Lipke, wiping back tears, described her uncle and godfather “He was the biggest success in the Chetcuti family. He didn’t just serve the community, he was part of the community. He loved this town.” Rev. John Greene, San Francisco Fire Department chaplain, said in his homily at the St. Dunstan Church service, “He was the heart and soul of the Millbrae Police Department . . . He touched the lives of many people who didn’t know him.”
Chief Parker said of the service “I am so moved by the turnout that I see here today. “I’m really proud of the people of Millbrae . . . It makes me proud to serve this community . . . Today, Millbrae is showing its love for David Chetcuti.”
A friend of Chetcuti’s, Reno Camilleri, who had known him since childhood and immigrated from the same hometown, Mosta, Malta, as Chetcuti’s family told everyone “He was really a great guy. For the community, he was the perfect police officer. He really cared about the kids. He didn’t just want to arrest them or get them in trouble. He wanted to help them. He knew them all. I think the kids were his favorite part of the job.”
Family members say Chetcuti always wanted to be a police officer, was living his dream, and passing that ambition on to the kids of Millbrae. His son, David, an explorer scout with the Millbrae department, wants to become a cop like his dad. David helped seven officers carry his father’s coffin from the church to a hearse outside for the trip to the cemetery.
San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, who conducted the service, described Chetcuti as a devoted husband, father, police officer and friend to many. “Gail encouraged him to become a police officer and she has no regrets he chose the occupation. He came to law enforcement late in life, but he found the passion of his life.” Chetcuti’s youngest son, Ricky, wrote in his eulogy for his dad’s service “Every time I play basketball or fix a model, I’ll always think of you. You’ll always be my hero.” Rev. Greene, in his homily, said “He worked hard for his family. He found the job of his dreams. (Gail) supported him . . . She has no regrets about his choice of career.” Chetcuti is survived by his wife, Gail, and sons 17-year-old David, 14-year-old John, and 11-year-old Rick.
A trust fund has been established for Chetcuti’s sons. Please forward checks to Account No. 06-616-879, First National Bank of Millbrae, 1551 El Camino Real, Millbrae 94040.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 May 1998: Thousands of officers at fallen mate’s funeral by Stacy Finz and Marshall Wilson
Thousands of law enforcement officers and other mourners packed the sidewalks of Millbrae in the rain yesterday to say goodbye to a man they called a hero.
The officers came from as far as New York, donning black bands across their badges. And civilians brought flowers and waved American flags as they
huddled under umbrellas, unable to fit inside the 600 seat church. People even stood on the roofs of neighboring buildings to witness the somber funerai procession for 43-year-old Millbrae police officer David J. Chetcuti, an 11-year veteran of the force. The death of Chetcuti, a motorcycle officer who was gunned down April 25 while coming to the aid of another officer during a shootout on Highway 101, [FUNERAL: Slain Millbrae Officer Recalled Fondly, Laid to Rest]
reminded them of how fragile life is for a beat cop. The officers came to his funeral Mass at St. Dunstan Catholic Church to comfort one another and to lend support to Chetcuti’s wife and three sons. “None of his fellow officers here today are surprised that Dave gave his life," said the Rev. John L. Greene, chaplain for the San Francisco Fire Department, who spoke at yesterday's formal police funeral, reserved for those killed in the line of duty. “He was a proud and dedicated police officer. And the knowledge of him being a good man is more powerful than death.” Clad in full dress uniforms, more than 2.500 officers stood shoulder to shoulder outside the
Church in a dozen rows, each more than a city block long. After the service, a mounted patrol and more than 300 motorcycle officers then led the slow procession of some 1.500 to 2,000 cars to Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, where Chetcuti was laid to rest. The procession stretched more than five miles.
Both President Clinton, who was visiting Silicon Valley, and the president of Malta, the home of Chetcuti’s ancestors, publicly offered their condolences yesterday.
“I want to express my gratitude for the bravery he showed when ho lost his life," Clinton said while touring Thermo Inc. in San Jose yesterday.
Chetcuti is the first Millbrae officer to he killed in the line of duty and the first San Mateo County officer killed on the job this decade. A Palo Aito rookie officer Joel M Davis was shot to death in 1988 during a foot chase with a gunman. His killer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Chetcuti was shot more than a dozen times by a motorist who had been stopped for an expired registration. Chetcuti had rushed to the southbound Millbrae Avenue offramp to help the San Bruno offiicer who had made the stop and then radioed for help. "He surely saved the life of a fellow officer,” Millbrae Police Chief Mike Parker told mourners. “We never will he able to understand this tragedy.” The suspect, Marvin Patrick Sullivan. 43. is being held without bail in the San Mateo County jail on charges that he murdered Chetcuti, a crime that could carry the death penalty. Sullivan has a history of mental illness, according to court records.
Holy Cross field supervisor Max Maraffio estimated that the somber crowd was by far the largest he had seen in his 26 years at the Catholic cemetery.
Rain began to fall during the brief graveside service. Helicopters flew overhead and Chetcuti was honored with a rifle salute. A bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” and a lone bugler signaled taps under the dark skies. Chief Parker handed Chetcuti's widow, Gail, the American flag that had draped her husband’s casket. Members of the honor guard then slowly removed their white gloves and as a last tribute, left them atop the casket for burial. Chetcuti was raised in San Francisco and was the youngest of seven children born to John and Lily Chetcuti. He graduated from Capuchino High School in San Bruno. He and his wife married in 1979. Eight years later, he was hired as a deputy sheriff in Alameda County. The family has lived in Millbrae for almost six years. Officers remembered Chetcuti’s sense of humor and his love of fishing and hot rod cars. “Losing him is going to affect us all,” said Parker, adding that during Chetcuti’s tenure with the department, the officer had 60 letters of commendation and not one complaint. “He is probably embarrassed by all the attention.” Parker said of the funeral. “He’d say, Hey, I was just doing my job.”'
During the service, the San Francisco Police Department asked officers to observe 43 seconds of silence, one for each year of Chetcuti's life.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 13 August 1998: Veteran Cop Focus of Police-Test Probe -- Federal grand jury looking into leak
By Jaxon Van Derbe
A 23-year veteran San Francisco police inspector is the target of a federal grand jury investigation into who leaked the contents of a promotions test last fall, a scandal that rocked the department.
An attorney for Inspector Henry Kirk denied that his client leaked the test and answers to the promotion exam for inspector. He accused the department of looking for a scapegoat to distract blame from the police brass for not protecting the test better. The leak forced Police Chief Fred Lau to cancel the exam September 8, one day before nearly 700 officers were scheduled to take it. Lau scuttled the test after a man identifying himself as an officer called the department and made it clear he knew what was on the test. Law enforcement sources close to the probe say Kirk, an investigator with the general works detail, is suspected by police and the FBI of having given the test and answers to Sergeant Arthur Stellini, who works in the domestic violence) unit.
Stellini is believed to have distributed what he got from Kirk to dozens of officers planning to take the test, said the sources, who spoke on condition that they not be identified.
Stellini told, investigators that he did not know what he was distributing and that when he found out, he went straight to his bosses to blow the whistle on Kirk. Stellini is considered a witness in the case, not the target of the grand jury investigation, the sources say. Stellini declined to respond to questions about the matter. Officials’ decision to single out Kirk for possible prosecution, and not Stellini, has led to tensions in the department. Some say the case has created a feud along racial lines in the department, because Kirk is black and Stellini is white.
But officers are reluctant to deal with the dispute in public. Chris Cunnie. head of the Police Officers Association, acknowledged some conflict in the ranks about the test.
“There are a lot of concerns where (the investigation) went and where it is at,” he said.
Inspector Marion Jackson, president of the Officers for Justice, said he has yet to detect any bad feeling along racial lines. Kirk, who was placed on medical leave earlier this year because
of heart problems, has been asked to appear before the grand jury about whether he provided
test answers to Stellini.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 September 1998: Dan White Had Other Targets, Cop Says; Plot against Willie Brown, Carol Ruth Silver alleged By Jaxon Van Derbeken
Dan White intended to kill not just George Moscone and Harvey Milk during his shooting spree 20 years ago but two other members of the city's liberal establishment,
including future Mayor Willie Brown, according to the lead homicide inspector on the case. Former police Inspector Frank Falzon said that White made the revelation in 1984, after he had served five years in prison for the killings of Moscone and Milk. Falzon related White's confession to author Mike Weiss, who broke the story. White and Falzon were friends before Nov. 27,1978, the day White gunned down Moscone and Milk at City Hall. Falzon questioned White later that day after White turned himself in. White, who was convicted of manslaughter after asserting the infamous junk food-based ‘Twinkle defense,” invited Falzon to meet with him in Los Angeles during tho 1981 Summer Olympics, the former inspector said. Over the course of two days. White confessed that he had plotted to kill not only Mayor Moscone and Milk, the city's first openly gay supervisor, but also Brown, who was then a member of the state Assembly, and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, Falzon said. He blamed all four for Moscone’s refusal to reappoint him to the Board of Supervisors seat he had quit one year earlier, Falzon told Weiss. "I was on a mission. I wanted four of them,” White told Falzon, according to the article. “Carol Ruth Silver — she was the biggest snake of the bunch. And Willie Brown. He was masterminding the whole thing.”
Brown had left Moscone’s office by a back door just before the mayor saw White in. Silver was in her law office nearby and came to City Hall after the shootings.
“To react 20 years later is not productive,” Brown said yesterday. “I guess I was the last person... DAN WHITE: Page A22 Coil
DAN WHITE: Willie Brown Was on Hit List From Page A19
...to see Mayor Moscone alive, except for Dan White.” Falzon, too, was reluctant to discuss the case. “(White) owned up to what he had done — he told me basically that he had a real bad day,” Falzon said. “It could have been a lot worse — Willie and Carol Ruth were very lucky people.” happened. It was just a sad time in the history. Falzon, who retired from the force in 1992 and now works for a title insurance company, said he regrets that old wounds have been reopened by the revelations. Falzon said that after returning from Los Angeles in 1984, he told his colleagues at the homicide unit what White had said but dropped the matter.
“At the time, the city was healing,” he said yesterday. “None of this was going to be helpful to anybody. It’s not helpful today, except in clarifying people’s minds what
White canmitted suicide in 1985 at his home in Visitacion Valley. Douglas Schmidt, the attorney iho persuaded a jury to convict White of manslaughter instead of murder, said yesterday, “My thought has always been that it (White’s killing spree) was a boil-over, spur-of-the-moment thing. If he had said that (he was gunning for Brown and Silver), that is the kind of thing that would have come in handy for the prosecution at the time of trial. He certainly never told me that." Silver, now a real estate lawyer, said the revelation strengthed her feeling that the Police Department had gone easy on White, a former police officer and firefighter. “I always believed Dan White got away with murder, that he entered City Hall with the full intent to shoot George, and perhaps a lesser intent to shoot Harvey,” she said. “I never really believed he was out to get me, but now I do.” Silver said she had had coffee with a constituent that day and had broken her routine to drink a second cup, delaying her arrival at City Hall. “That saved my life," she said. “I can’t tell you today why I drank that second cup of coffee. Life is very accidental sometimes.”

F.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 19 September 1998: Cop Charged With Contempt In Police Examination Scandal
By Jaxon Van Derbeken Staff Writer
One year after a test-cheating scandal rocked the San Francisco Police Department, a 23-year veteran inspector was charged yesterday with contempt of court in connection with the exam’s release. Inspector Henry Kirk allegedly “(disclosed) information concerning the content of the examination and by doing so did knowingly disobey" a federal secrecy oath he took tn January 1997, according to the charge lodged against Kirk in federal court
Kirk’s attorney denied the allegations yesterday. If convicted of the contempt charge, a misdemeanor, the 45-year-old Kirk could face a year in custody and a $100,000 fine.
The leak of the assistant inspector’s rank exam forced Police Chief Fred Lau to cancel the test Sept. 8,1997, one day before nearly 700 officers were scheduled to take it
Lau scuttled the test after a man identifying himself as an officer called the department and 'made it clear that he knew what was on the exam. Kirk, an investigator with the general works detail, is alleged to have given the test contents and answer key to Sergeant Arthur Stellini, who works in the domestic violence unit. Stellini, who cooperated with the federal probe, is believed to have distribited what he got from Kirk to dozens of officers planning to take the test. Stellini was not charged in the case. He declined to comment yesterday. Stellini told investigators that he did not know what he was ditributing and that when he found out he went straight to his bosses to blow the whistle on Kirk, sources said. Kirk, who was placed on medical leave eailier this year because of heart problems, is scheduled to appear in federal court September 28. His attorney, Michael Cardoza, said yesterday that he will vigorously defend his client. “The Sar Francisco Police Department is looking for a scapegoat” Cardoza said. “Henry Kirk is the target because Stellini said he did it.” Cardoza said test security was so lax that almost anyone could have obtained the material. ‘'The security that they had during the preparation of those tests was at best horrible,” he said. “They did a number of things that were not security conscious.” Cardoza said there was already bad blood between Stellini and Kirk based on a previous clash. "Stellini had a motive to lie,” he said.

Hon. Louis John Vella was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 January 1999: Fire Claims Little Girl, Injures Sister

Louis Vella, Redwood City Fire Department’s administrative chief fire marshal, said Hernandez had left the garage area to make a phone call in the house when the fire began. When Hemandez returned to the garage, it was engulfed in flames and the girls were trapped inside, he said.
Marafino, Burger and Hemandez tried to save the girls. Despite the intense heat of the flames, Burger, opened the door to the garage and reached in to rescue Alejandra and Santana Marie, Vella said.
Both girls were still alive when paramedics arrived. They were taken to Stanford Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Valley Medical Center’s burn unit with first-, second- and third-degree bums over most of their bodies, he said.
Although Hemandez and the girls were living in a building that was not up to fire code standards, Vella said it is unclear whether any charges will be filed.
The fire is still under investigation, Vella said.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 July 1999: Charges Dropped Against S.F. Cop in Exam Leak Case -- U.S. judge tosses out suit — blasts police department By Jaxon Van Derbeken
Charges against a San Francisco Police inspector accused of illegally revealing the contents of a 1997 promotion exam were tossed out yesterday by a federal judge.
Senior U.S. District Judge William Schwarzer did not even let the defense begin its case before dismissing charges that Inspector Henry Kirk, a 24-year veteran, violated his oath by giving out the test questions in a 1997 assistant inspector’s exam. After hearing more than two days of prosecution evidence, Schwarzer found the U.S. attorney's office had made a case that implicated Kirk in wrongdoing but had not met the "beyond a reasonable doubt” standard needed to convict him. The judge then blasted the Police Department for failing to keep the exam under wraps.
"There is an intolerably sloppy culture in the Police Department about these tests," the judge said after he dismissed the case. "They have very poor security, the record reflected that.”
The judge’s ruling vindicated him, Kirk said. "The fact is I didn’t do anything, I’ve said that all along and I’m saying that now — I was just a scapegoat,” said the 45-year-old Kirk. “The judge said the security for the police test was in a shambles.’ The federal case evaporated under questions about who had access to the exam and its questions, said Michael Cardoza, Kirk’s attorney. “We went through their half of the case, and I made a motion, saying they hadn’t proved it," he said. "The judge said, 'You’re right, they didn't.' This is better than not guilty.”
Matt Jacobs, spokesman fer the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco and one of the attorneys in the case, had no comment on the outcome. While Police Chief Fred Lau said yesterday that the department still may press internal charges against Kirk, he did not criticize Schwarzer’s ruling.
"I have to believe in the system,” Lau said, also observing that his office cooperated with the U.S. attorney and FBI in bringing the case. “It was brought before a judge, we have to abide by his decision."
The case against Kirk was brought in U.S. District Court because prosecutors said he broke a federal secrecy oath he took in January by releasing intormation about the test.
Had he been convicted of the contempt charge, a misdemeanor, Kirk could have faced a six months in custody and a $100,000 fine. The leak of the assistant inspector’s exam forced Lau to cancel the test a day before nearly 700 officers were scheduled to take it.
Lau scuttled the test after a man identifying himself as an officer called the department and made it clear that he knew what was on the exam. Kirk, an investigator with the general works detail, was alleged to have given the test contents to Sergeant Arthur Stellini, who works in the domestic violence unit. Stellini, who cooperated with the federal probe, testified that a paper with test scenarios came to him at his desk. He told the court he "may have" gotten the paper from Kirk, but he was not sure about it. However, the government contended that Kirk’s brother-in-law
was in Stellini’s study group and that the intent was for the brother-in-law to get the test questions through Stellini. "If I really wanted to get the test questions to somebody else, why wouldn’t I just give it to them?" Kirk said. "Why would I need a go-between? That just doesn’t make any sense at all." Stellini admitted sharing the information with several other officers who were in his study group. He told investigators he did not know what he was distributing and that when he found out, he went straight to his bosses to blow the whistle, naming Kirk.
After dismissing the case, the judge said that he found Stellini credible on the central issues but still had a reasonable doubt about whether Kirk willfully violated the oath. For Kirk’s attorney, the message was clear. "This is a really important case,” Cardoza said. "The judge chided the Police Department very heavily — he said they should pull their socks up and take care of these problems and that there are way too many possibilities for leaks.” "It is a horrible system. It is horribly unfair to put people in that system.”.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 November 1999: Memories That Won’t Die -- For the people who were there, movie brings back the notorious murders and trial By Sylvia Rubin
Confessing to the multitudes of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Dan White wept and whined — a man come undone. When he explained why he gunned them down in City Hall, his voice turned cool. Officer Frank Falzon, White's close friend, took the confession on Nov. 27, 1978. “It was a day that will stay with me the rest of my life," Falzon said last week. “It's very much alive." Painful memories may be exposed again on Sunday when Showtime broadcasts “Execution of Justice," a cable movie starring Tim Daly (“Wings") as White, Peter Coyote as Milk and Stephen Young as Moscone. The movie portrays White as a deeply troubled man, while making no excuses for his actions. The lives and deaths of Milk, Moscone and White and the sensational trial, with its Twinkie defense that spared White a murder conviction, have spawned books, plays, documentaries, even an opera. Why revisit it?
Daly, who also produced the Showtime film, thinks the issues are still chillingly current. “Unfortunately, we as a society continue to produce, at an alarmingly regular rate, these Wheaties-box, All-American ... killers. Dan White was the poster boy for the disenfranchised white male.” The actor has been itching to play White for years. For one thing, he happens to be a dead ringer for the former supervisor. "Who better than me to play him?” he says. “It's always interesting when benign good looks belies something more complicated."
The actor, who got his break in Barry Levinson’s “Diner,” went on to play Joe Hackett, the serious brother, on NBC’s “Wings” for eight seasons. He played David Koresh in the 'IV movie “In the Line of Duty. Ambush in Waco,” and starred in the Stephen King miniscrics “Storm of the Century.”
In the Showtime movie. White is portrayed as an insecure, immature man who was out of his league in big-city politics. “Dan White didn't belong in City Hall," says Falzon, a police officer and vice president and business development administrator at Pacific Coast Title Co.,in Marin County. “He was in over his head. The guy I knew, he was a class act, but he was like a pressure cooker that built up and up, and he crossed the line.” Interviews with others who were in San Francisco at the time reveal that 21 years later, emotions run from profound grief to indifference to irritation that White's name is remembered at all. “I can't think of Dan White without sighing,” says real estate agent Ray Brown, a friend of White’s, who pauses for a long while before speaking. ‘Twenty-one years later. I'm still sad. I cry in my heart. Nobody should have been killed. I feel a profound sadness.” The numbing shock of the City Hall murders was made more profound because they came less than a week after the unthinkable mass suicide in Jonestown. “At the time of the killings, everything was bigger than life,” says mayoral candidate Tom Ammiano, who is featured in the movie. “I never thought about what was going on in Dan White’s mind, bul the movie showed me the mundane, ordinary things in his life, the sum of which led to an extraordinarily tragic event.” Daly listened to White’s confession tape many times and still found it difficult to get into his head. “When Dan seemed most emotional was when he was talking about himself,” Daly says. “That's when he choked up and started crying. It's a really weird, bizarre state to get to as an actor — there you are talking about murdering people and you're feeling sorry for yourself. There's a level of twisted thinking that goes along with that. That was a very tricky thing to get to.” White served slightly more than five years in Soledad state prison and was released to Los Angeles on a yearlong parole. Nine months later, he killed himself by asphyxiation in his garage. He was 39. He left behind his wife, Mary Ann, and three young children. White, the baseball star, firefighter and police officer from the Excelsior, never found peace of mind. “He didn t have any idea when he went into politics wnat it was all about,” Daly says, "He.thought being on the Board of Supeivisors was like being on a softball team. ' Most of his life was spent trying on jobs for size, then tossing them away. White resigned from the board 10 months after he was elected, then changed his mind and wanted the job back. Moscone gave White the impression he would reappoint him, but named another man to the position. The night before the murders. White got a call at home from a radio reporter seeking his reaction to Mosconc's decision. KCBS reporter Barbara Taylor made that call. ‘To this day, 1 can't discuss it without getting goose bumps,” says Taylor, still with KCBS. “He had no idea that Moscone was not going to reappoint him.”
A novice reporter at the time. Taylor found herself a part of the story. “I got letters, death threats. I was thrust into a giant story that had a profound effect on me. That I had anything to do with the murders is patently absurd,” she says. “What was so distressing and upsetting to me was that I couldn't believe that Moscone’s press secretary would tell me and not tell him first. They dropped the ball in a very inhumane and insensitive way.’
White shot Moscone first, then reloaded and confronted Milk. Jim Rivaldo, a Milk campaign activist who is now campaigning for Mayor Willie Brown, was the last person to speak to Milk that day. "My emotions about the assassinations have always been mixed," he says.'I shed lots of tears, but I knew even then that this locked Harvey into histoiy as a symbol, a rallying point.” Harry Britt, who succeeded Milk on the Board of Supervisors, says he didn't get the opportunity to cry that day. "It was one of the busiest days of my life; within an hour of getting the phone call, there were 30 people at my house, organizing the march that night, where I was to be the speaker. I remember that day not as a day of grieving — that came later - but as the extraordinary coming together of Harvey's people." The psychology of Dan White is of no interest to him. says Britt, now a professor of cultural studies at New College of California. "I don’t sit around thinking about Dan White. Dan White is a rather an important footnote at this point.” Six months after the murders, when the jury' returned a verdict of voluntary manslaughter, there were riots in the streets. Doug Schmidt was the criminal defense attorney who admits that his career was damaged by the widely negative reaction to White's sentence. Today, he says he has put the case behind him. "I've talked about this till I’m blue in the face; I still believe the defense was completely valid." he says. 'To me. the emotional aspects have long passed.’’ In many ways, 1978 doesn't seem so far away, given San Francisco's upcoming mayoral race between an ultra-liberal gay man and a longtime liberal politician. "There are still a lot of Dan Whites out there who are not going to buy into the program," Falzon says. "If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that everyone has to keep the lines of communication open."

Joseph Angelo Xuereb was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 31 December 2000: No Prank Too Wild In the Ratings Game -- Costly lawsuits don’t deter radio station By Peler Hartlaub
After Joe Xuereb looked outside his Millbnc home and saw two handcuffed men in orange jail uniforms pounding on his door, he locked his wife and daughter in the bathroom and dialed 911. Then he prepared for the worst.
What he got instead was a punch line. The uninvited visitors were part of a live or-air prank by disc jockeys* from Wild 94.9’s "The Doghouse Show.” The DJs roamed through Xuereb’s neighborhood two months ago asking residents for help removing their shackles. The Xuercbs and another family have since sued KYLD-FM il San Francisco. And the two handcuffed on-air personalities have been charged with crimes in San Mateo County.
It's just the latest in a long history of pranks gone bad for the station's current and previous owners. KYLD-FM has faced legal problems with increasing frequency since a controversial 1993 radio station stunt that stalled traffic on the Bay Bridge. And as long as the station continues to win in the court of public opinion by winning local ratings....In the latest lawsuit, filed Oct. 23, Joe and Karen Xuereb and two of their neighbors said they had no way of knowing the DJs in handcuffs were pulling a prank.
"The police came with guns drawn," said attorney Gary Angel, who represents the families. "Our clients, the entire time, thought that they were truly escaped convicts." The families are suing for unspecified damages, accusing the station of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Violet Mary Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 June 2001: Santa Rosa gains another war hero By Kelly St föhn
Vioiet Agius never kept it a secret that in Malta as a child, she witnessed pain, death and hunger almost daily during World War II. But the Santa Rosa resident didn’t talk about it either. That is until a suprise gift from her son changed all that. Joe Agius of San Bruno wasn't with his mother at Christmas, but he sent a package with simple orders: Take Violet Agius' picture when she opens it. It was a framed silver medal — a replica of the George Cross, Britain's highest honor for civilian bravery - that Violet and the rest of Malta earned six decades ago. But the bubbly grandmother didn't smile and jump for joy. She ran to the bathroom. "I cried for two days," she said. "All the honor came through my mind.” Controlled by Britain and strategically located near Italy’s coast, Malta was a key Axis target, starved by a blockade and attacked almost daily by German and Italian air forces. About 14,000 bombs were dropped on the tiny island that's just over 300 square kilometers, making it one of the most heavily bombed areas during the war. In 1942, Britain's King George VI acknowledged Malta's suffering with an unprecedented gesture. He granted the George Cross medal - Britain's highest honor for civilian bravery — to every Maltese citizen living there during the war.
That's the big story the history book tells. Violetl Agius remembers the little things. As a 12-year-old girl, the English soldiers stationed at her mother's farm taught her how to defuse the small butterfly-shaped bombs that littered the Malta countryside. She used a pen point to gently wind the hands of a clock in their middle. "Even now, when I see a nun’s watch, that’s what 1 think of. It’s amazing now the mind works, she recalled. "You are a kid, and you’re learning all these things.’’ A German fighter plot swooped down over a field wiere she was walking with her mother one day. There was no shelter nearby, so they dived to the ground. A bullet grazed Volet Agius’ head, but she and her mother survived.
“We just got up and looked at each other. It was an ugly silence,’’ she said.
Agius was also with her mother when they encountered an injured German pilot who’d jettisoned from his plane. As they approached, her rrother asked him if he spoke English. In silence, he drew his pistol and shot himself in the temple. The war also thwarted Agius' schooling, and she regrets never completing high school.
But, Agius recalled, it also brought strange moments of beauty. During a nighttime backout, she heard the buzz of German planes, the sky was lit up by red parachute flares floating down to Earth. “I like to remember the day we saw the parachute flares. Malta was lit up more than the sun,^:> she said.
Agius' son, Joe Agius, 49, never served in the military, but he is fascinated by military history and wartime collectibles.
He grew up always knowing that his mother endured hardships during the war, but after he became a parent himself, he came to appreciate what she went through, he said. Then he came up with the idea ot getting the medal.
“I wanted her to understand how much trauma she’d seen in her childhood.’ he said. “People don’t say thanks to people who survived and endured as civilians.”
Among survivors, friendships endured as well. Sebastopol resident Mary Grech, 73, lived just down the street from Violet Agius' home in the Maltese town of Mosta. Agius' sister was hiding in a public shelter during one air raid that devastated a hospital nearby. She survived. Grech’s father didn’t.
“In our backyard, we had grapevines. I saw my dad trying to tie them onto the wall. Then when the air raid came, we went one way to one shelter, while he ran the other way, Grech recalled. 'That was the last thing I saw of him.”
Born Violet Chetcuti in a family of 11, Agius met her future husband at a Maltese Catholic school where both were taking music lessons. She had considered becoming a nun, but at age 21 she married a young seminary student instead.
In 1953, the couple — Violet Agius eight months pregnant — traveled by ship to San Francisco. The marriage ended in 1972, and Agius resettled in Lake Tahoe. She landed a job as a captain in a casino showroom, and later worked with celebrities such as Ann Margret, Liberace and Wayne Newton.
Three years ago, Agius moved to Santa Rosa to be closer to her grown children; besides her son, Joe Agius, she has daughters living in Healdsburg and Chico.
Since she received her son's gift, Agius has been talking about the war — and not just with her old friend Grech. She said she relates to Sen. John Kerrey's very public dialogue about his experience killing civilians during the Vietnam War. “People are coming out to show ‘don’t do wars.’ People hear him because he’s a big man,” she said. “And there’s a lot of people that say a lot of things.” “It was living in fear, all the whole five years. You never knew when you were going to get it,” Grech said. “So the ones that stayed alive, it was a miracle.”.

Anthony Abdallah Shami was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 10 September 2001: Family of 4 found slain in S.F. home -- Dad may have shot wife, kids, himself --By ]axon Van Derbeken and Stacy Finz
A beer salesman and weekend biker was found shot to death yesterday along with his wife and two young daughters in what police said appeared to be a murder- suicide in their home near Bernal Heights. San Francisco investigators said they found a gun in the house, but it does not appear that anyone entered the house forcibly. Police said they believe the man shot his wife and children and then himself. It was the first quadruple-killing in San Francisco since October 1999, when a 63-year-old airport security guard killed three neighbors before taking his own life. Police were summoned to the scene of yesterday's carnage at about 945 a-m., after a relative discovered the bodies. The family member, according to police, became concerned that he hadn’t heard from the couple in more than a day and went to their house on Justin Drive. When no one answered, he kicked in the door and found the gruesome death scene, said San Francisco Police...
Family of 4 found slain in San Francisco home
Homicide LL Judie Pursell. Police did not release the names ol the victims, but property records show that the owners of the house are Anthony and Anna Shami, 56 and 37 yean old, respectively. Neighbors said the couple and their daughters Jasmine, 15, and 9-year-old Jamilah had lived there for four years. They were friendly and well liked, resident of the tidy street said. “It's tragic when it appears an entire family has been killed.’ Pursell said. Neighbor Anna “Mario” Contreras sad she heard shots ring out yesterday between 5.45 am. and 6 am. “I heard boom, boom, boom, boom,” said Contreras, who at first thought the shots came from the nearby Mission District. Now she believes they may have come from the Shami residence. Contreras sad some time after the gunfire, two motorcycles rumbled loudly' through the neighborhood. setting off a number of car alarms.
Weekend biker outings
Every Sunday, Contreras said, six to a dozen members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club would come by to pick up Anthony Shami, who would join them on his Harley Davidson. As they roared dwn the street, the shattering exnaust notes from the big twin-cytrader Harleys would set off car alarms, one by one. Although residents of the neighborhood around St. Mary’s Park Recreation Center found the noise to be a nuisance they said the bikers themselves seemed harmless Some were amused to see Anthony Shami, a man they knew as a mild-mannered marketing marager for Budweiser on weekdays, climb mfo his leather jacket and take off on a lood motorcycle with his burly fnends on the weekends. He often boasted about being the only Palestinian member of the notorious motorcycle gang. said people who live on his street. Members of the Hells Angels could not be reached to ascertain whether Shami was, indeed, a member of the club. *1 talked to him abou it, said neighborJim O'Shea, refering to Shami’s biker hobby. *1 said, 1 don’t get it — you have a family and kids.’ He said, "It's something I like to do. I dont drink and I don't do drugs.'
Offbeat hobby
“He just liked to ride with hs buddies," said a shocked and saddened O’Shea. “He was a good guy and he had a good heart." O’Shea said he remembered not too long ago that Anthony Shami helped an elderly neighbor who had locked herself out of her house. He always provided the sodas at the St Mary’s Park Improvement Club meetings, neighborhood get-togethers to discuss upkeep of the nearby recreation center. And neighbors fondly remembered him handing out Budweiser T-shirts and other company souvenirs. Anna Shami was also well-liked. Conteras remembered how Shami beamed when her husband surprised her with a new Nissan Pathfinder a couple of years ago. Nothing seemed amiss. No one ever knew anything was amiss." Contreras said of the family. Until recently, Anna Shami owned and operated Progressive Grounds, a coffeehouse in San Francisco. The business has new owners now. “She was a great person,” said Marco Boujbk, who has taken over the coffee shop. “I was so sorry to hear the news.” Contreras said that lately, Shami was running a travel agency not far from her home. The Rev. Michael Healy, pastor
of St. Philip’s Catholic Church in Noe Valley, said Jasmine graduated two years ago from the parish school and went on to public high school. The younger daughter was still attending parochial school at St Philip’s. *The kids were just terrific kids, really nice,” he said, adding that he saw the father a few times, but knew the mother better. “She was just a very nice lady, very committed to caring for her kids,” Healy said.
Girls did well in school
He said the younger daughter was more active m sports while Jasmine did well academically. After leaving to attend public high school in Daly City, Jasmine would often come back to her old school to visit Healy remembered her as having a good sense of humor and a playful personality. He said Anthony Shami attended school fonctions regularly and Anna was a devoted parent. “He seemed to be very much a family man and he seemed to have a good relationship with the children. I never heard anything abusive, in any way,” Healy said. *They just seemed to be a very normal family, which would make this very surprising to me, that he would do such a crazy thing to his wife and kids... but, these things happen, there's no explanation for it really.”.

Anthony Abdallah Shami was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 11 September 2001: Father defies a killer's portrait -- Other suspects sought in S.F. family slaying By Jaxort Van Derbeken Chronicle Staff Writer
Family members joined San Francisco police yesterday in trying to fathom what led to the fatal shootings of a couple and their two children in the family’s Bernal Heights home. Investigators first suspected that Anthony Shami a well-liked beer salesman who rode with the Hells Angels - may have taken his own life after killing his family in the home on Justin Drive. But after noting the absence of trouble in Shami’s background, authorities decided not to rule out a quadruple homicide.
Autopsies were conducted yesterday to help solve the mystery of who killed the 36-year-old Shami, his 37-year-old wife, Anna, and their daughters, 15-year-old Jasmin and 9-year-old Jamilah. “We are investigating it as a murder until such time that we have an indication that takes us elsewhere,” said Ll Judie Pursell.
The bodies were found in one room of the well-kept house in the St. Marys Park neighborhood Sunday morning. There was no sign of forced entry.
Police confirmed that, besides working for a decade with Budweiser in South San Francisco, Anthony Shami was a member of the local Hells Angels motorcycle club, having joined about two years ago. His wife, Anna, had run a coffee house but sold the business to devote herself to her travel agency. Police said they were called to the house about 9:45 am. after relatives, accompanied by two Hells Angels members, discovered the bodies. The two bikers
Relatives describe father as a simple family man From Page A9
had become' concerned when Shami did not show for their usual Sunday ride, police said.Some neighbors viewed the motorcycle club members with suspicion, and one neighbor reported hearing shots between 5:45 and 6 am. Pursell, however, said the family was probably dead by then. Dale Barksdale, Anthony Shami's brother-in-law, found the bodies. He said relatives are in shock. “You can say all that stuff about motorcycles,” he said, “but the bo tom line was that Anthony was a devoted family man, very loving. He would always take care of his family” He said Shami had not told family members about any marital problems, was not in financial trouble - and seemed to be happy. The only thing out of the ordinary in front of the home was a mock grave marker that Shami made for a dog owner whose pet had defecated on the lawn. Donald "Big Al" Salcedo, owner of the Main Mast bar at the foot of Potrero Hill, said Shami was eager to join the group and to ride on Sunday's "Poker Run.”
"They all liked him,” said Salcedo. who sponsors Hells Angels events. "He was a joyful guy, always up ” Shami. he said, was family man who didn’t drink or use drugs.
“I can’t believe he drd it himself,” Salcedo said of the shootings. Shami doted on his daughters, Barksdale said, and sometimes gave them rides on the back of his Harley Davidson. 'They were two little dolls,” Barksdale said. The weekend before last, Shami took hxs daughters to the park and Pier W, Barksdale said. "We had a wonderful time,” he said. "This family was very together". “The bottom line was that Anthony was a devoted-family man, very loving. He would always take care of his family.¹⁷ Dale Barksdale brother-in-law of Anthony Shami. Philip’s parochial school where Jamilah was a fourth-grader and from which Jasmin graduated last year, said the school is grief-stricken. Aima Shami coached the volleyball team and helped run a booth at the school fund-raising festival, Farren said and both parents were active m the school and church. "They were very close-knit - if there was any concern of the academic progress of their daughters, the parents were right there,” Farren said
At Milk High School in Millbrae, where Jasmin was just starting her sophomore year, students designed banners for her and envisioned creating a garden in her memory, said principal Marian Wong Park. "She certainly had a lot of friends here,” Park said.



Anthony Abdallah Shami was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 November 2001: Police say dad killed family, self in S.F. home -- Domestic abuse among theories for motive -- By Jaxon Van Derbeken Chronicle Staff Writer
A 56-year-old beer distributor found dead with his wife and children in their San Francisco home in September killed his family and then shot himself, the medical examiner's office has tentatively concluded. After conducting autopsies, the medical examiner found that Anthony Shami killed his 37-year- old wife, Anna, and then his daughter Jamilah, 9, before shooting himself Sept. 8. The office has not reached a formal conclusion about who killed the Shami's 15- year-old daughter, Jasmin.
Lt. Judie Pursell of the police homicide detail confirmed the tentative findings yesterday. She said investigators have looked into a number of theories as to why
Anthony Shami would have killed his family, but that answers have been hard to come by. “It's possible we’ll never know the full truth,” Pursell said. Police said earlier they had not ruled out the possibility that someone else killed ail four family members. Members of Anna Shami’s family said yesterday that they had confronted Anthony Shami with allegations of domestic abuse the night before the killings and indicated they were going to report him to police. Those family members said they believed Anna Shami may lave been trying leave her husband before she was killed. Anthony Shami’s relatives have insisted there was no history of domestic violence. in the household and that he was a well-liked man who loved his family. Shami worked for Budweiser in South San Francisco and joined a local Hells Angels motorcycle club two years ago. His wife had owned a coffee house but sold the business so she could concentrate on running a travel agency. The Shamis apparently died early Sept. 8 but were not found until the following day. The bodes were discovered in one room of the well-kept house in the St Mary's Park neighborhood of Bernal Heights. There was no sign of forced entry.

Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 February 2002: WINTER OLYMPICS / Skates fit for champions / Family firm crafts stars' custom boots
Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writer, Feb. 9, 2002
A glance at Joseph Spiteri's gentle hands reveals the toll taken by making more than a million stiff leather boots for ice skaters' feet.
His swollen fingers are stained from 50 years of exposure to the paints and glues used on every one -- fumes so familiar he can no longer detect them. The tip of his right pinky is missing, the result of accidentally activating a leather-cutting machine more than 20 years ago.
The calluses and cuticles caked with boot polish symbolize the perfectionism that has made his boots the choice of the biggest stars on ice --including U.S. Olympic figure skating team favorites Michelle Kwan and Timothy Goebel. As she strokes her way to the center of the rink later this month in her quest for a gold medal, Kwan will probably be wearing one of the three pairs of custom-made boots Spiteri, 79, designed and delivered to her in October. Men's skating star Timothy Goebel has become famous for his record-setting quadruple jumps, made in boots that were stitched, soled and styled by hand at Spiteri's South San Francisco factory.
Spiteri cut the pattern for Goebel's size 7B and Kwan's size 5AAA boots himself, in the garage of his Portola district home in San Francisco on a standard manila folder -- just as he has since he first started making boots shortly after coming to America from his native Malta at age 23. It's quieter at home, he explained, and he can concentrate better than amid the whirl of activity at his 10,000-square-foot warehouse. In contrast to the modern machinery inside, Spiteri's methods for finding the perfect fit haven't changed since he founded his namesake company in 1963. Working from a pencil tracing of the skater's bare foot, Spiteri calculates the specific angles and adjustments needed to support the skater. He must take into consideration every spur, fallen arch, knobby joint and twisted toe, as well as the age and weight of the skater. Some orders from far away include detailed photographs, which he uses to formulate the final design. The whole mathematical process takes him about 20 minutes. "After a while, you begin to figure it out automatically," he said, pointing to the various fractions and abbreviations written on the paper pattern. "But I feel like I am still learning because everyone's feet are so different." Spiteri said he has come to love the intricacies of designing scalloped lacing holes or creating special shapes for skaters with missing toes or physical abnormalities, but he admits his fondness for the craft did not come naturally.
He had hoped to leave his shoe-making days behind when he and his new wife arrived in the Bay Area, but there were bills to pay, and he was good at it, so he quickly returned to the trade he had learned in the "old country." Spiteri was later hired by Louis Harlick. He learned to make skating boots from the man whose San Carlos company remains one of his biggest competitors. It was 1963 when Spiteri split with Harlick and started his own business, which he named SP-Teri because he thought it would be easier for people to pronounce and remember than his last name. There were many difficulties at first, said Spiteri, shaking his head and laughing at the recollection of the confusing business letters he sent while learning English.
But the boots spoke for themselves. The business grew, and so did his family. He and his wife, Carmen, raised two sons and two daughters, although none of them became serious skaters. His son George, 52, married a skating coach and is now president of the company. Daughter Tessy Lencioni and her mother are in charge of lacing the boots, fitting them with custom insoles and packaging them. Now that George's oldest son, Aaron, works at the company, there are three generations under the same roof.
George Spiteri, who lives in Redwood City, has watched his father's company outgrow two San Francisco workshops, moving to its current site between Highways 280 and 101. He also oversees the final fittings when customers come to pick up their prized skates -- which can cost more than $1,000 once the blades are attached. Part of the process involves heating the boot in a Toastmaster convection oven in the lobby. After five minutes at 200 degrees, a blue plastic kitchen timer rings and the skater puts on the warm, now pliable, leather boot to mold to the foot as it cools. The process may be novel, but so are some of the custom skates they've made over the years. Though the majority of the skates are white, beige or black, boots with leopard-, giraffe- and zebra-print leather have become quite popular, mostly among coaches who no longer have to coordinate them with sparkly costumes for competitions. During Operation Desert Storm, a skater in Texas ordered camouflage leather boots. More recently, some skaters have asked to have an American flag stitched on the side of their boots. Because the majority of serious ice skaters are young girls, skates in purple and pink suedes are perennial favorites. And some customers have asked the Spiteris to sign the bottom of their skates or autograph the box holding their brand-new boots. But the Spiteris don't expect Olympic fever to result in more orders for skating boots, even though the extensive coverage traditionally boosts profits at ice rinks and apparel shops. Parents of beginning skaters and those who skate occasionally usually wait until they are more skilled or serious about the sport before investing in SP-Teris. Even George Spiteri opted to buy his daughter's first skates from a rival manufacturer instead of making them himself.
He may be practical about skates, but he admits he's less pragmatic when it comes to watching a skater wearing SP-Teri boots perform in a high-stakes competition.
"It's just too nerve-racking," he says, wincing at the thought of watching Kwan compete. Joseph Spiteri said he would "probably watch," then looked skyward and said, "Oh God, oh God, I pray for her." More than likely, the Spiteris will be at the factory while the skaters perform, tending to orders from those aspiring to fill Kwan's boots one day.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 April 2002: Charges filed in S.F. police test scandal -- Internal discipline could cost 2 their jobs
By Jaxon Van Derbeken Chronicle Staff Writer
More than four years after a cheating scandal rocked the San Francisco Police Department, two of the officers allegedly at its heart now face internal disciplinary charges that could lead to their dismissal. The department has lodged charges that Inspector Henry Kirk leaked scenarios from a promotions test to help his brother-in- law become an inspector, although Kirk was ultimately acquitted in a federal trial on the charges.
A second officer is expected to be charged tonight by the Police Commission. The department alleges that Sgt. Art Slellini lied by changing his testimony and omitting key details during Kirk's federal trial. Stellini had told investigators that he was sure that Kirk gave him the test scenarios, but on the stand said he was less certain, casting doubt on Kirk’s guilt. The charges suggest that despite earlier statements against Kirk, Stellini testified he just assumed that Kirk was the source simply because he saw him walking by his desk. Stellini, a 20-year department veteran, was on vacation and not available for comment.
Kirk, a 28-year veteran who was tried and acquitted in July 1999 by a judge for a federal misdemeanor, is now accused of eight violations of department policy, including breaking his federal oath to protect the contents of the test. Kirk's attorney said the case is being brought unfairly after so long a delay and with no new evidence. “I think it’s despicable,” said Michael Cardoza, who was Kirk’s defensc attomey at the federal trial. The city attorney's office is handling the case against the officers to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest The standard of guilt in misconduct cases is lower than that in criminal trials.
After the department was tipped to the scandal, the test was canceled a day before it was scheduled to be given. The cheating scandal resulted in “adverse publicity” for the department and about $250,000 in costs for a new exam, according to the charges.
Stellini is charged by the department with 15 specific violations, despite having been given earlier immunity for his cooperation. Authorities say he voided an immunity agreement by lying. Kirk helped prepare the 1997 test, and the department alleges that Kirk provided Stellini the answers to indirectly assist Kirk’s brother-in-law, who became part of Stellini's study group.
Stellini and Kirk had a conversation on the steps of the Hall of Justice in August 1997, the department alleges, and Stellini was attempting to make sure that the list of test scenarios he found on his desk the month before was authentic. According to the department, Kirk allegedly said to Stellini: “Hey, that’s the test, what I gave you is the test. I put the test together. They didn’t know what they were doing. I made the whole test up.” Stellini allegedly gave out the scenarios to his group. Kirk is charged with not reporting the conversation with Stellini and his discussions about the test with his brother-in-law.
Cardoza said the internal allegations amount to a vendetta against Kirk for embarrassing the department and winning his federal case. “Not only was he found not guilty, but we didn’t have to put a case on,” Cardoza said of the federal trial, noting that a judge dismissed the case after the prosecution rested. Kirk was implicated only because he happened to walk by Stellini's desk and Stellinii was merely speculating that Kirk gave him the answers, Cardoza said “It’s a vendetta - they are going to get somebody ” Cardoza said “It’s almost five years later - the evidence is stale, it means we have to retry this thing in front of the police commission.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 July 2002: Doctors balk at D.À. s plan to make murder defendant take drugs By Matthew B. Stannard Chronicle Staff Writer
A San Mateo County prosecutor’s unprecedented attempt to force a schizophrenic murder defendant to take drugs that would make him competent to stand trial collapsed Monday after county doctors said the plan might violate medical ethics. Prosecutor Stephen Wagstaffe withdrew his motion to compel Marvin Patrick Sullivan to take his medications after the doctor who would carry out the plan balked at the idea. As a result, Sullivan will probably face a July 22 competency trial without the drugs that state doctors said made him competent to stand trial for the April 1998 killing of Millbrae Police Officer David Chetcuti. Should Sullivan be found incompetent, he is likely to be re turned to Napa State Hospital, where he was sent after the shooting. Doctors at Napa treated Sullivan with anti-psychotic drugs and in April 2001 found him to be competent. Sullivan began refusing his medications shortly after that, however, and his defense attorneys say he will not even speak with them anymore. They want their client declared incompetent again and returned to the hospital. To prevent that, Wagstaffe filed a motion in April 2002 asking that Sullivan be forced to take his medications. Such an order would be unprecedented in California, Wagstaffe conceded, but would avoid a “yo-yo effect” of Sullivan bouncing back and forth between hospital and jail for the rest of his life without ever going on trial. Defense attorneys responded that “forced drugging is one of the earmarks of the gulag,” especially in a possible death penalty case, and argued that California law allows such a step only in a state hospital after a defendant has been declared incompetent for trial. Judge Dale Hahn of the San Mateo County Superior Court asked Wagstaffe to give him a full plan of how the county would force Sullivan to take his medication, and county attorneys brought the request to Stephen Cummings, acting medical director of hospital psychiatry for San Mateo County. Cummings said in an interview Monday that he had strong concerns about forcing medication on a patient who has been ruled competent [Doctors reluctant to force defendant to take drugs] — and therefore presumed to be able to make his own decisions about his case.“(A doctor) has a very strong duty of advocacy, and when someone else instructs him or her to treat a patient against their will, that role is being violated, the role of doctor-patient relationship,” Cummings said. "A doctor treats patients, and the criminal justice system handles criminals.” However, he added, those concerns didn't mean he was rejecting Wagstaffe’s idea — just that he wanted time to evaluate it thoroughly. “It's a very interesting problem, because clearly there are some real community needs to be addressed here,” Cummings said. 'People want resolution of the criminal justice process, and they deserve it” But from a practical standpoint, Cummings' refusal to come up with a treatment outline right away prevented Wagstaffe from meeting Hahn's request for a medicating plan by Monday, the prosecutor said. Only two weeks remain until the competency trial. “We don't have time for somebody to hold a seminar with his colleagues over a course of months,” Wagstaffe said. “I don’t think it’s incumbent on the doctors to make that choice; 1 think that’s what the court is designed to do.” Sullivan's attorney Vincent O’Malley said outside court that the doctor's reservations were appropriate and predicted Sullivan would now be found incompetent and returned to Napa. “The law can't resolve all social issues in a timely fashion,” O'Malley said. “It’s one of the imperfections we have to deal with.” Prosecutors say Sullivan killed Chetcuti with 13 bullets from a homemade semiautomatic rifle at the Highway 101 off-ramp to Mill- brae on April 25,1998. One of the shots was fired point-blank into Chetcuti's face. Sullivan told investigators that he was an astronaut, had killed more than 200 people through magical powers and had been ordered by the government to carry a weapon. Millbrae Police Chief Gregory Cowart, who was in court Monday when Wagstaffe withdrew his motion to compel medication, said after the hearing that Chetcuti's family and friends were infuriated by the doctors’ resistance. “The event that has just transpired have moved us beyond frustration to anger and outrage,” Cowait said. “We fail to see how the county’s medical staff are not working with the system to make this happen.”.

Gail Marie Bacigalupi was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 July 2002: Wife of slain officer endures agonizing wait for justice -- Gail Chetcuti went to court in San Mateo, where the defendant in her husband's death was declared incompetent a second time to stand trial. By Matthew B. Stannard Chronicle Staff Writer
Gail Chetcuti got up early Monday morning to watch the man accused of murdering her husband slip into insanity again. She rose at 6:30, dressed and put on the ring she wears instead of her wedding band - the one with two colored bands, one police blue, the other black. Marvin Sullivan, a paranoid sciizophrenic, is accused of killing Officer David Chetcuti.
She walked into the kitchen of the Millbrae home she once shared with her husband, David, to make some coffee - past the wooden box with a replica of his Millbrae Police badge No. 6, past the family portrait wi ll the couple and their three sons, assembled after his death, past the resolution naming in his honor :he section of Highway 101 where he was gunned down on April 25,1998. The man who pul ed the trigger, police said, was Marvin Patrick Sullivan, a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of violence. On Monday, for the second time since the hiiling, Sullivan wm due in San Maleo County Superior Court for a short trial to determinee whether he was mentally competent to stand triial for murder. And just like the first time he was in court, Gail Chetcuti planned to be there, even though she knew ihe judge would declare him inoompetent again.
He did. Thr ruling wasn't a surprise to her, but she went anyway. “I just have to be there. I know I don't have to go, but I have to be there," she said during an interview a few days before the hearing "If they're going to send him back, I would like them to stare me in the face.”
Still, she admitted, it is a grim day that brings back memories of the life she had. They met in the Royal Donut shop in Burlingame in 1978. She was a waitress, he was a caterer with an off-the-wall sense of humor. They married in 1979. The first of their three sons was born in 1983. Gail Chetcuti why her husband dceidel to become a police officer. But by the time he joined the Millbrae department in in 1987, it was a perfect fit. "He had his scanner on 24 hours a day, and if something happened, he wanted to go,” she said. “His job was first, and we all knew that.” Chetcuti’s last day was typical, it began with a quick breakfast of cold pizza and coffee, his wife recalled. “I’m going to go out and find some action,” he said, and walked out the door. Hours later, Gail Chetcuti looked out her front door to see Millbrae Police Chief Mike Parker, Chetcuti’s friend and fellow officer Robert Dean and a priest coming up the walk. And she knew what had happened.
David Chetcuti had responded on his motorcycle to a San Bruno officer, who called for help after a driver he stopped for an expired registration sticker opened fire with an automatic rifle, but didn't hit the officer. When Chetcuti arrived, he was shot 15 times. His bullet-proof vest didn’t save him. Sullivan was arrested and charged, and he allegedly confessed almost immediately. But it took Chetcuti’s widow more than a year to face his accused killer in court. She finally attended her first court hearing on June 28,1999. The next day, over prosecutors' protests, Sullivan was declared incompetent to stand trial and sent away to a state mental hospital to receive therapy and medication designed to return him to competency.
And Gail Chetcuti began her long wait. “It’s on your mind all the time,” she said. “I felt like the system failed." Years passed. Chetcuti spent them traveling, attending police memorials and commemorations in the Bay Area, Sacrameniojmd Washington, D.C.. Earlier this year, she finally began going through photographs and making scrap books for each of her sons. “It was hard, but once I got going on it, it's easier,” she said. “It helps me heal.” It caught her by surprise last April when prosecutor Steve Wagstaffe called to tell her Sullivan was coming back. She thought there might be a trial. Her hope didn't last long. A few weeks later, Wagstaffe called again to tell her that Sullivan had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication because the pills were a different color from the ones at the state hospital.
Months of court battle followed, as Sullivan’s attorneys repeatedly challenged the competency of a client who wouldn’t even communicate wills them anymore.
Chetcuti appeared at nearly every hearing, saying nothing, just watching Sullivan and convinced he was watching back with intelligence and awareness, chizophrenic or not. Finally, in December, the case was put off for an October trial. "I had a sinking feeling in my stomach," she said. "I felt sick. It just brings it back like it's yesterday.” She continued to attend court, as Wagslaffe fought an ultimately futile battle to force Sullivan to be medicated.
Finally, all other options exhausted, she prepared for Moiday’s competency trial — the same proceeding she watched nearly three years ago. At 9:01 a.m. Monday, Gail Chetcuti sal down in San Mitco County Superior Court and watched Marvin Sullivan, dressed in a red jail jumpsuit and manacles, take his seat in the jury box. She stared at him. And after a moment, he turned, and stared at her. Then both looked away. Neither said a word after Sullivan’s attorneys, Dek Ketcham and Vincent O'Malley, agreed that two court-appoinled doctors had found Sullivan incompetent to stand trial. They waited silently as Judge Dale A Hahn, in an unusual statement from the bench, urged both sides to find some way to insure that Sillivan — if he ever returns to Court - will not be allowed to lapse back into insanity while awaiting trial. They listened as Hahn declared Sullivan incompetent once again, and ordered him returned lo the same state hospital where he has spent more than two years.
And atl 9:11 a.m., Sullivan, guided by two deputies, rose aid returned to jail. A moment later, Chetcuti rose and returned lo her long wait to see Sullivan punished in some way "My punishment for him would be locking him in a cell with pictures of Dave surrounding him," she said, "Then he’ll really be crazy." And she returned lo her home in Millbrae, where pictures of David Chelculi stare out from every wall..

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 August 2002: Ex-cop indicted as kingpin of charity scam By Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer
In one of the biggest sham charity busts in the Bay Area, a former Santa Clara County sheriffs lieutenant and a dozen others have been indicted for bilking more than $3 million in public donations for a bogus “Police and Sheriffs Athletic League.”While the “boiler-room” telemarketers urged people to donate for “the children of dead or injured police officers” and “holiday food baskets for the poor,” former Lt. Armand Tiano is accused of using it to lavishly spend on pricey Dodge Viper sports cars, a Jaguar, a race car, recreational vehicles and a new San Jose home. Prosecutors say that less than 2 percent of the money — under $50,000 - went to legitimate
charities.Law enforcement officials hope the four-year probe - which covered more than 50,000 donor checks and thousands of Bay Area victims — raises public awareness of telemarketing schemes that often target the elderly and well-intentioned people by falsely associating their fund-raising with legitimate law enforcement agencies or charities. “It's just the saddest thing to use people who believe they are doing something good for the public,” said Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu.
Tiano and his 12 alleged conspirators — who include his ex- wife and members of San Jose telemarketing operations - are accused of deceiving the public by creating sham charities with “law enforcement sounding names,” according to the Santa Clara County grand jury's 42-page in- dictmeni made public Thursday. The 13 defendants — nine of whom were arrested in recent days and two who are already in prison — are'also accused of grand theft, tax evasion and money laundering in a scheme where at least $1.4 million in cash was funneled through bank accounts and front corporations.
The law enforcement community expressed outrage that Tiano and his telemarketing operators tried to cash in on the 1998 slaying of Millbrae police Officer David ChefcutiJ who was gunned down in the line of duty. Soon after the killing, the group convinced people to write checks for the “Officer Chetcuti Fund” and the “Millbrac Officer Family Trust Fund,” money that was never given to the officer’s widow, Gail Chetcuti, according to the indictment.
“1 think this was really a travesty to capitalize on an officer’s death and to prey upon the good will of honest people who want to do the right thing for their community,” said retired Millbrae police Capt. Rob Dean, a friend of Chetcuti who has helped his family through the tragedy and established a fund that received hundreds of donations.
Court records chart Tiano’s long fall from a powerful lawman, who oversaw the county jails, presided over the deputies union and made two runs for sheriff, to an outlaw convicted of molesting two teenage girl relatives in 2001. Tiano, 64, who retired from law enforcement in 1996, was sentenced last week to 16 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. Now prosecutors accuse him of using his law enforcement credibility and union presidency to exploit the public’s trust.
Tiano's defense attorney, Jaime A. Lea nos, said he thinks prosecutors have “harassed and singled out” Tiano because, as head of the deputies union, he “made some enemies politically and professionally.”
Nine charity scam defendants were arraigned Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court. They included: Lcsa Stone, Tiano's ex-wife and an East Palo Palo police officer; telemarketers George and Matthew Kellner of Contra Costa County and their 75-year-old mother, Lovic Nico-, letti; Sammy and Rose Marie Marino; Kenneth Amczcua, Gerrit Buijtendijk and Joseph Dagna 111, all of San Jose.
Tiano remained in San Quentin Prison Thursday, along with fellow defendant Rodney Strickland, who is being held for parole violation. Their arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday. Two telemarketers remain at large: Joseph Eric Wilhams and Stewart Levy...

Elizabeth Theresa Vella M.S.W. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 March 2003: Betty Garvey -- force behind senior center by Julian Guthrie
Services will be held in San Francisco this morning for Betty Garvey, known as a saint to the city's senior citizens because of her work at the Diamond Senior Center in San Francisco. Mrs. Garvey died March 13. She was 75 and had worked at the center until the week before she died. Mrs. Garvey, who disdained the idea that seniors should be passive and sedentary, made the Castro District center active and vibrant, with classes in everything from foreign languages and computers to tai chi and tap dancing. She arranged several trips abroad for the seniors. On Jan. 31, the Golden Gate Senior Services, which oversees the Diamond Senior Center, honored Mrs. Garvey by renaming the Diamond Senior Center as the Betty Garvey Diamond Senior Center. Paul Garvey said his mother loved helping others.
"This became her life," Garvey said of his mother's work at the center. "My father passed away 20 years ago, when we (my siblings and I) were coming out of college. My mom was 54, and she was just beginning to work with seniors." She continued to go to work at the center even after she'd been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "She was always taking care of others," Garvey said. Her 75th birthday party on March 7 drew hundreds of people to the center. "The party was wonderful, and Betty was happy," said Nick Lederer, executive director of Golden Gate Senior Services. "Betty was a saint. She was amazing. She had a real knack for working with older people. She ran the best senior center in the city. I called it our drinking and dancing group. It is very active. And it was all Betty's work. She created it." Charlie Spiegel, a parent whose daughter attends a school in the same building as the senior center, said, "She was just a very sweet and very competent presence. The center's welcoming nature really reflected Betty." She practiced what she preached, remaining active into her late 60s. She competed in the race walking division of the first National Senior Olympics in St. Louis in 1987. Later, she competed in the discus competition in the senior Olympics. She graduated from St. James Girls Grammar School in 1941, Immaculate Conception Academy in 1945, both in San Francisco, and Oakland's Holy Names College in 1949. She earned her master's degree from UC Berkeley in 1952. In her spare time, she loved to read mystery novels and was a part of the American Association of University Women's Mystery Book Group. She volunteered each year at the Bay to Breakers race and the San Francisco Marathon. She is survived by two daughters, Judith Garvey of San Francisco and Claudia Curran of Pleasanton; and three sons, Mark Garvey of San Francisco, Paul Garvey of Orinda and John Garvey of Moraga.

Elizabeth Theresa Vella M.S.W. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in April 2003: This 'n' That By Laura McHale Holland
...One star who brightly glowed was former Noe Valley resident Betty Garvey. She was featured in this column last month because the senior center on Diamond Street that she founded in 1980 was renamed in her honor. Sadly, she died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on March 13. Garvey was 75 years old. Amazingly, she worked at the Betty Garvey Diamond Street Senior Center until a week before her death.

A graduate of St. James Girls Grammar School and of Immaculate Conception Academy, Garvey earned a bachelor's degree from Oakland's Holy Names College in 1949 and a master's degree in social welfare from U.C. Berkeley in 1952. In addition to a career devoted to bettering the lives of senior citizens, she and her husband Frank (also deceased) raised five children, all of whom survive her: two daughters, Judith Garvey of San Francisco and Claudia Curran of Pleasanton, and three sons, Mark Garvey of San Francisco, Paul Garvey of Orinda, and John Garvey of Moraga. Betty Garvey was a member of numerous clubs and civic organizations. She also competed in the race walk in the first National Senior Olympics in St. Louis in 1987. Subsequently, while in her 60s, she competed in the discus throw competition. Garvey established a list of activities at the senior center that was long enough to exhaust a college student. The roster includes yoga; tai chi; origami; lessons in Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and Japanese; tap dancing; country-western dance; walking groups; current affairs discussions; and outings to the theater, ballet, opera, symphony, and circus. Indeed, she left a bold mark on this world, and will be missed. May we all be so inspired in this time of war, with all the heartbreaking repercussions it engenders.

Charles James Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 April 2003: Safari in Salinas’ wild encounters is part of charm at Vision Quest inn
By Betsy Malloy, Salinas
The lion roars all night. TV sound pierces our tent's walls and reverberates across the surrounding fields. At dawn, sprinklers come to life, ⁴¹showering silvery arcs over the
Salinas Valley's budding salads. While cars crawl down the highway in the distance, their drivers unaware of the big cat’s existence, we sip coffee on the-' porch of an African safari-style tent at Vision Quest Bed and Breakfast, less than an hour's drive from Silicon Valley. A male ostrich just a hundred yards aw.* is dancing on his knees with wings spread wide and head waç ging sideways, doing his best to impress his unresponsive femah companion.
“Did you hear Josef roar last night?” asks trainer Christy Ingram, as she brings a basketful* ^v fresh pastries for breakfast. To ” our enthusiastic “Oh, yes,” she * responds, “Good, then he gets hr paycheck today.” Vision Quest’s sister compa ny, Wild Things Animal Rentals Inc is one of a half-dozen Califomia companies that train wild animals for film, television and ed*i cational work. Owner Charlie Sammut wanted to find a way for his menagerie to work without traveling, so he combined 20 vears of wild animal training...

Long article on p. C8.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 February 2004: 2 inmates charged in decades-old slayings DNA evidence ties suspects to S.E womens deaths
By I axon Van Derbeken Chronicle Staff Writer
Armed with new DNA evidence, San Francisco authorities on Friday charged two prison inmates with raping and murdering women in cases that date back more than 20 years. Both inmates were scheduled to be freed later this month for other crimes but will now remain in custody pending the setting of bail. In the second case, police long believed that another man was responsible for the rape and killing. That changed when physical evidence...
Police say the first crime dates back nearly 25 years and claimed the life of Laura Stanton, a 27-year- old bartender, who was raped and then bludgeoned to death with a piece of wood. She was attacked as she drove home to the Marina district on July 31,1979. The next day, her nude body was discovered next to Sir Francis Drake Elementary School in Hunters Point. The man who now faces charges, 48-year-old Kenneth Crain, had been questioned in 1987 by police during the investigation of the Stanton case. The Stanton slaying got a fresh look when retired San Francisco police Inspector Frank Falzon contacted the homicide unit in 2002. “It was a case that had bothered him — he was aware that there was biological evidence, and he was anxious that it be submitted for analysis,” Hennessey said. Falzon remembered how Crain was interviewed after police had gotten a tip. “We went and talked to him—at that time we didn’t have the physical evidence,” Falzon said. “We were just never able to wrap it up.” “I was pretty excited when I heard about the DNA — we were going in the right direction, we just didn’t have the perfection we have with DNA,” Falzon added. “This is good news.” Police say Stanton was kidnapped after visiting Union Street, where she had once worked as a bai tender. Her partially nude body was left in a pathway near the school. “She was an absolutely adorable young lady,” Falzon said. “She wasn’t looking for any trouble, it just found her.”...

Anthony Joseph Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 May 2004: MATIER & ROSS: Mechanic a modern-day Robin Hood -- Twelve yean ago, Muni mechanic Anthony Camilleri took a special training course in how to fix the bus system 's often out-of-whack fare boxes. In March, prosecutors say, investigators found out just how good a job he'd been doing — when they hauled nearly half a ton of coins out of his Lafayette home. According to search warrant records, the coins — which totaled $28,000 — were crammed into 22 plastic tubs, plus a dozen boxes and assorted bank bags authorities found stashed arcund the house. San Francisco district attorney's investigators also seized $22,000 in paper money, including a Nordstrom's bag filled with $100 bundles and envelopes containing stacks of $2, $20 and $100 bills. Plus, there were envelopes with at least $35,000 in savings bonds — mostly purchased in the past year — and thousands of dollars worth of Municipal Railway tokens. Total stash found: more than $80,000. And that may be just the tip of the take, authorities say. Investigators hauled an additional $20,000 — mostly in $1 bills — out of the San Francisco home of Tan Huynh, 42, another alleged Muni fare box bandit who may or may not have been working with Camilleri, authorities say. Camilleri and Huynh — each of whom was earning $82,395 a year — have been charged with theft of public money, possession of stolen computer parts and unlawful access to computers. Neither man has entered a plea. Investigators are trying to determine whether Muni money was pumped into real estate that the 54-year-old Camilleri accumulated in recent years. A Chronicle check of his holdings found
A three-story duplex on Diamond Street in San Francisco that the 30-year Muni veteran bought in April 2000 and is now' valued at $602,000.
A $465,000 Geary Boulevard duplex that he bought in Septem ber 2001. A 3,779-square-foot, four- bedroom Lafayette home where Camilleri has been living with his wife, son and stepdaughter since March 2002. It's valued at $1.5 million. And a small Concord condo worth $106,000 that he bought in December.
Real estate records show Camilleri has investments in Texas property as well. Camilleri’s attorney, Doug Rappaport, denied that his client had used Muni money to underwrite his real estate fortune. “He has been a very shrewd investor and has been for a number of years," Rappaport said. According b Rappaport, Camilleri is a self-made man who started investing in real estate in 1979, then leveraged liis profits to buy additional property. And Camillari didn't just limit himself to real estate — he’s also a silent partner in a number of Northern California restaurants and other businesses. As for all those coins? Rappaport says Camilleri is a collector.
The bottom line, Rappaport said: If his client was stealing, it wasn't for personal profit. He certainly is generous with his friends. A Redwood City police officer, in a letter asking the judge not to raise Camilleri’s $105,000 bail, said Camilleri had given him an interest-free loan so he could attend college. Another Camilleri friend wrote that the fix-it man had repeatedly bailed his business out of financial trouble over the years. "Without exception, Tony has helped me by bailing me money with no interet charge — even when one was appropriate,” the friend, Joe Renice, wrote. “I have seen him help complete strangers.” And that, lawyer Rappaport said, may be what the thefts - if there were any — were all about. “He’s like a modern-day Robin Hood,” Rappaport said. “He is an extremely kind-hearted individual, compassionate and trustworthy.”
Tliat's not exactly how investigators see it. Court records show that Muni security officials suspected Camilleri of raiding the fare boxes as early as 2002 after they received an anonymous tip. But the sting at the time proved inconclusive. Then, last year, Camilleri and fellow fare box repairman Huynh were spotted separately showing up at the bus yards before the start of their shifts to work on the Muni fare machines — machines that the security team had determined were in perfect working condition. Soon, the Muni and the district attorney's office had the two workers under surveillance. Authorities say they got quite an eyeful. In Camilleri's case, court records say, investigators repeatedly saw the repairman leaving bus yards in his city van, black bag in tow, and making stops at any of five different Bank of America blanches aroiuid town. Surveillance cameras show^red Camilleri conducting business at a teller's WJidow. Curiously, Camilleri and Hjynh have not been charged with conspiracy — suggesting investigators don't have any real evidence that the two were operating in cahoots. But then, according to David Pleifer, head of the district attorney's special prosecutions unit, “Our investigation is continuing.” Investigators are still trying to figure out how much money may have gone missing — but that might not be so easy. Prosecutors recently told the court that, in addition to all his holdings and bank accounts in the Bay Area, Camillerii has a bank account in liis native country of Malta.

Gail Marie Bacigalupi was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 July 2004: Gail Chetcuti - wife of slain officer, aided families of homicide victims - By Ryan Kim
A part of Gail Cheicun died on April 25,1998 when her husband, Millbrae Police Officer David ChetcuU, was fatally shot while aiding another police officer. But from that dark moment, Gail Chetculi was reborn, armed with a powerful sense ol purpose to help the families of homicide victims and improve the criminal justice system. For six years, Mrs. Chetcuh comforted the gnef- stnckcn, fought to bring her husband’s killer to (ustice and pushed for legislation that would compel mentally unstable defendants to take then medication.Just a week ago, ill with cancer, she testified in a Santa Clara courtroom against su defendants accused of using her husband’s name to scam money from sympathetic donors.It would be her last public act. Mrs. ChdcuO died Wednesday at her home, |ust su weeks after being diagnosed with brain cancer. She was 48.
“When David died, the old Gail left and the new Gail came in and her strength overtook her hie alter that,'’ said her sister Sharon Fuhs. “She made us all stronger with her Even to the nunute of hex death, she made us strong." Strong is a word often associated with Mrs. Chetculi. Already a dedicated and suppirtive police officer’s wife, she seaned togrow in resolve following his death. “She was an iiland of calm in a sea of chaos, and she was that way every time I eve: talked to her or was in her presence,” said former Millbrae Police Chief Greg Cowart “Officers were upset, the family was upset, thesystem seemed to be set on its ear ty this entire case, but Gail was alwiys reflective. It always seemed like she had enough patience to pass out to all the people involved. She was an incredible human being."
Officer Chetculi died while responding to a call for help from a San Biuno police officer who was under gunfire fiom a suspect on Highway 101. Click uUarrived and was fatally shot ky Mamn Patrick Sullivan, who was arrested a few miles away. Retired Millbrae Officer Rob Dean recalled wilking up Chetcu- ti’s driveway with then-Chief Mike Parker and a chaplain the day David Clitic uU died, and how Cail Chetculi collapsed into his arms when he told hei the news that she had already guessed.
But in the aftermath of that day, Dean said, u seemed as if ihe small woman, who always seemed to be standing quietly in the background when her husband was alive, supported him far more often than he had supported her. “1 always liken it to Joan of Arc She got up on a horse and she started riding it. If it was raining or snowing or the sun was shining, she kept going forward," he said. San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstalfe worked with Mrs. Chdcuti in prosecuting Sullivan, who was diverted to a state mental hospital after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Wagstall and Mrs. Chetculi became friends and tried unsuccessfully to push legislation that would compel defendants like Sullivan to take then medication. “She was a phenomenal woman. She was one of the most courageous and stalwart women I've met in my life,” Wagstaffe said. “Even after she lost her husband to violence, her response to that was to go out and help others.”
Mrs. Chdcuti became an active member of Northern California Concerns of Police Survivors, which supports the family members of slain police officers. She would often accompany family members of dead police officers when they testified in court She visited with survivors, most recently with the family of San Francisco Police Officer Isaac Espinoza, who was shot and killed in April while on duty. The added workload was not easy for Mrs. ChclcUU, who was also raising three boys on her own. But she never complained and remained diligent to her work, said her son, David Chetcuti Jr., a community service officer with the Millbrae Police Department.
She brought that same attitude to her fight against cancer, he said. ‘‘She was very strong woman. She would never shed a tear. She would never cry and would never allow anyone to cry in front of her. She was determined to not be down,” her son said. Even in her last week,she fought for what she believed. She made thetnp to San Jose to testify against Santa Clara County Sheriffs Lt. Armand Tiano and five others, who were accused of a chanty scam that used her husband’s name.
Bom m San Francisco. Mrs. Chetcuti grew up in San Bruno. She was working at Burlingame doughnut shop m 1979 when she met David Chetcuti, then an auto mechanic. They mamed later that year. The family enjoyed boating and fishing on San Francisco Bay and Lake Shasta. An avid scrapbook maker, Mrs. Chetcuti also liked arts and crafts, a hobby that took a backseat following her husband’s death. Mrs. Chetcuti is survived by sons David Jr., John and Rick Chetcuti, all of Millbrae; two sisters and five brothers. A viewing and rosary will be observed Sunday at 6:30 pan. at Dun- stan Church, 1133 Broadway In Millbrae. The funeral will be held at St. Dunstan at 10 aan. Monday followed by bunal at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Chronicle staff writer Matthew B. Stannard contributed to this article.


Anthony Xuereb was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 15 September 2004: Strip garden on Quesada Avenue transforms the neighborhood --

A little bit of Eden in Bayview --
Garden of eating and flowers transforms a neighborhood -- ...Meanwhile, Tony Xuereb, the owner of an atrophying 1900 Victorian, was cleaning it out and wondering what to do with the 1956 Dodge in the garage.
Xuereb, a 44-year-old truck driver who grew up on Quesada, said the house was listed at $329,000 but got 11 offers and sold for $407,000.
It’s been empty since Xueieb’s father died in 1995. Pigeons and drug dealers liked to nest there, so neighbors finally contacted the city attorney's office. Xuereb used to collect dates that had fallen from the palm trees and put them in slingshots. He used to slide saucers and roll eggs from rooftops at a cop-calling woman down the street. He said Quesada was Maltese, Russian, French and Italian in those days. “These people have fixec up this whole area, and everyone loves it now and it's clean,” Xuereb said first in Maltese and then English. “This is the best I've ever seen it”.

(?) Maltese American Social Club was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 4 October 2004: Maltese club turns 75 years
By Sabrina Crawford --
SO. SAN FRANCISCO — On a recent weeknight in South San Francisco, storefronts and doors along El Camino Real were dark and quiet — except for one.
Set back from the main street under a string of white lights and a large stenciled sign reading, “The Maltese-American Social Club,” a raucous party was in full swing.
Sipping a glass of wine at one of the long banquet tables, Frank Azzopardi, one of the “old guard,” is eqjoying a pre-celebration feast honoring Maltese musicians who recently arrived from Millbrae’s sister city, Mosta in Malta, to help celebrate the club’s 75th anniversary this weekend.
A first-generation American who came to the United States in 1947 at the age of 20, Azzopardi says that although he loves his adopted country and his successful life in the lumber business, having a place to go where he can reconnect with his roots is invaluable.“I like the camaraderie," he says. “It’s nice to come and speak my own language and reminisce about the old times with other old-timers who were born and raised in the old country.” Founded in 1929 by Frank Grech, the Maltese-American Social Club of San Francisco was established to help new immigrants settle in and create a sense of community. Today, the club estimates there are roughly 20,000 to 22,000 Maltese-Americans living in the Bay Area. That’s an achievement Frank Tanti, president of the club for the past three years, is deeply proud of. For Tanti, who came to the United States in 1955 at 15, the organization has been a second home. "Anyone who is Maltese can come here and they are welcome,” Tanti said, explaining that the club has evolved from a men’s social club to a more family-oriented organization.
Gazing around a room full of plaques, proclamations and pictures of his predecessors upstairs, Tanti says the club also helped him in a very personal way by helping to introduce his wife of Irish decent to his cultural heritage. “She recently became a Maltese citizen,” he says proudly. “She loves the club and she loves Malta.”
In recent years, immigration from the island has dropped off dramatically, primarily because modern Malta now has opportunities of its own. Tourism is booming, and just last year, Malta joined the European Union. But for local Maltese-Americans, that’s why having the club, now 280-plus members strong, is so important. It’s a way not only of staying connected with their homeland but of teaching their children and grandchildren about where they come from.
“After all, we’re all getting older,” Tanti says. “And unless you get the younger generations involved, you’ll die out.”.




Anthony Joseph Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 6 December 2004: MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY BOARD OF DIRECTORS - City and County of San Francisco - Resolution No. 0 8 = 2 0 3
RESOLVED, That on recommendation of the Executive Director/CEO, the Chief Financial Officer and the City Attorney, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors approves the settlement listed below:
CCSF vs. Anthony Camilleri, Superior Ct. #4436844 filed on 12/6/04 for $500,000 (City to receive); extend the termination date as late as January 16, 2009; extend payment of the criminal fine as may be required by the Criminal Court and other material terms. I certify that the foregoing resolution.was adopted by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors at its meeting of December 2, 2008. Secretary, Board of Directors San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Officer David John Chetcuti was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 February 2005: Despite delusions, defendant fit to stand trial, doctors say -- Hearing held in case of Millbrae officer fatally shot in 1998 By Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Despite suffering from delusions, including recent instructions from God to seek his own execution, Marvin Patrick Sullivan — who confessed to killing a Millbrae police officer in 1998 — is competent to stand trial, two state doctors testified Wednesday. The doctors, appearing at Sullivan's competency hearing, contradicted four defense psychologists and psychiatrists who earlier testified that Sullivan, 50, remains incapable of thinking rationally and assisting in his own defense. The two doctors from Napa State Hospital, where Sullivan has been treated for five years, said that although Sullivan still suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, he worked with his attorneys and grasps his legal situation. ‘'People can have illogical beliefs and still work with their attorney and understand everything in the case and the evidence against them,” said psychiatrist William Flynn. “It's not self-exclusive.” San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis could rule on Sullivan's competency as early as today after closing arguments. Sullivan has confessed to the April 1998 shooting of officer David Chetcuti, who was coming to the aid of a San Bruno police officer under fire from Sullivan on Interstate 101. Sullivan was twice found to be mentally incompetent, most recently in 2002, and has spent most of his time at Napa State HospitaL He has told his doctors of numerous delusions, including his belief that he is an archangel, an astronaut, the target of a CIA-mafia conspiracy and even a clone of singer Michael Jackson. Last month, doctors in Napa alerted San Mateo County prosecutors that Sullivan was deemed fit for trial after he showed consistent progress, continued to take his medication and passed a mock trial test in October. Since then, however, his attorneys say Sullivan has taken a turn for the worse. In a videotaped meeting with his attorneys on Feb. 10, he did an about face and said he now wants to be sentenced to the death penalty because the Holy Spirit instructed him to seek it. Four mental health doctors testified Tuesday and Wednesday that despite some improvements in Sullivan's condition, he remains a captive of his delusions, even while medicated. Psychologist Joanna Elizabeth Berg said the video shows Sullivan's inability to assert control over his hallucinations.
“I think Mr. Sullivan’s beliefs and thinking is influenced directly by what he thinks he⁷s being told by God,” Berg said. But Napa State psychologist Jack Dawson testified Sullivan has shown marked improvement during the last couple of years and an increasing awareness of the charges against him. He said that despite the video, which he admits gives him some pause, he believes Sullivan is ready for triaL “There was unanimous agreement he had demonstrated competency in that (mock) trial,” Dawson said. “What I saw (on the video) raised questions for me, but I don't think it's a basis for changing my opinion.”. Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the East Bay Times on 24 May 2005: Fully prepared
By Bay Area News Group

FRANK Falzon has seen it all. He spent 28 years with the San Francisco Police Department, the last 21 as a homicide inspector. In retirement now, he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, no matter how macabre the subject matter. He was in South San Francisco last week for a speaking engagement. He discussed some of his more memorable cases, albeit ones with an ironic twist. For instance, there was the one-time Hell’s Angels hit man who was being questioned by Falzon in a murder case.
During interrogation, the guy refused to answer any of the inspector’s questions. He just sat there glaring at Falzon. Finally, in some frustration, he read the accused his Miranda rights. “But I got too close to him and violated his personal space,” Falzon recalled. “I was just inches from his face. He still didn’t say anything. He was sitting there handcuffed. Finally, he raised his hands and tugged at his lower lip. And then I saw it.” Yep, tattooed on the inside of his lower lip were just two words: “F*** y**.” Apparently, he had been preparing for something like this for some time. Later, during the cycle dude’s trial, the judge noticed that the defendant kept staring at Falzon while pulling at his lower lip. In chambers, the judge asked Falzon what was going on. Falzon told the judge about the crude tattoo. That took care of the situation. Falzon noted, however, that, “If you’re having a bad day, well, just tug on your lip.”
And there was another true story that got a chuckle from the audience. Falzon was called to a murder scene at a San Francisco playground. The dead body lay in what amounted to center field on a baseball diamond. A crowd was milling about. Falzon’s partner approached and asked if he should gently disperse the curious. Falzon, a one-time baseball player himself, said: “Sure. You take right field, I’ll take left, and it looks like the guy on the grass has center covered.”
David Letterman should be so quick. Through the years, Falzon was involved in some very high-profile investigations, including the Zebra and Zodiac slayings and the killings of Juan Corona and Richard Ramirez. But it’s those lighter moments that have stuck with him. Falzon lives in Marin County.

Anthony Joseph Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 June 2005: "And in May 2004, after a lengthy undercover surveillance, district attorney's investigators and police arrested two Muni repair technicians, Anthony Camilleri and Tan Huynh, on suspicion of pilfering more than $100,000 in cash and change from fare boxes. In Camilleri's case, authorities said they had hauled nearly half a ton of coins valued at more than $80,000 -- and tucked away in dozens of boxes, plastic tubs and assorted bank bags -- out of his Lafayette home. Trials in those cases are pending.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 April 2006: An unknown suspect stole a woman’s purse at the downtown Los Altos
Unsolved murder from 28 years ago resurfaces in Los Altos by Eliza Ridgeway - Town Crier Staff Writer Apr 26, 2006
Laura Anne Beyerly attended first-period physics class at Los Altos High School the morning of March 28, 1978. The 17-year-old was wearing a flowered black shirt, black pants and brown platform shoes. After class, witnesses noticed her talking to her ex-boyfriend, Scott Schultz, in the school parking lot. She had stayed up all night arguing with him, according to her mother's statement. And then she was never seen alive again.
Michael Schembri, an investigator for the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office, has reopened Beyerly's case because he believes her murder can be solved. After his retirement from the San Jose Police Department, Schembri continues to chase down crimes nearly forgotten and still unsolved. Schembri described Beyerly as an athletic young woman with good grades. Before she died, Beyerly enjoyed scuba diving and synchronized swimming, and considered a future in marine biology. On the day she vanished, she had planned to get a permanent then go to a classmate's to study.
Until her skull was found a year later, Los Altos was divided by two theories: had the girl run away or did her disappearance have a more sinister cause?
Investigators initially labeled Beyerly, who had left home before, a runaway. The police captain in charge of the case, Jack McFadden, was quoted in the Town Crier in August 1978: "She's probably just walking around someplace where nobody knows her." He said that her body would likely have already been found if it had been left in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a common end point for murder victims in the '70s. "Santa Cruz at that time was getting about a body a month," Schembri said. Beyerly's remains were found at the end of a remote logging road in the Big Basin area in April of 1979, and identified by dental records in July. No conclusive cause of death was determined at the time, but Schembri said her bones have been re-examined and contribute to his case. Beyerly's parents, Rear Adm. and Mrs. L.F. Beyerly of S El Monte Ave, filed a $1 million suit against the police department alleging police negligence. The Beyerlys also hired a private investigator and a psychic to pursue the case independently. While Schembri said that the police department at the time could have handled the case better, he added, "The PD even now would have a difficult time with this case. When a chronic runaway disappears, where are the signs of foul play?"
Beyerly's father died in 1979 and her mother in 1996, but the case was not entirely forgotten. It came across Schembri's desk last November as a result of the persistence of Beyerly's high school classmate, who felt the case hadn't gotten its due for the last three decades. Schembri said he reads many old files every year and pursues cases that seem to offer new avenues of investigation. "The mom was pretty adamant that (Beyerly hadn't run away)," he said. "That to me is a red flag - she talks to her boyfriend until 5 a.m. and then disappears. She was a straight-A student, very intelligent and trying to make a change in her life."
Schembri said that he has gotten "a major hit on a major lead," and believes this case can result in an arrest warrant, even now. Since November, he has combed old police files (those that hadn't been lost) and interviewed witnesses for their recollection of events long past.
Schembri hopes that Los Altos residents might remember something from that March, 28 years ago.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 30 July 2006: 1997 MH murder solved By Kate Woods

Nine-year-old Norteño gang murder cracked through diligence of county investigator
and Morgan Hill cops Justice can be served cold and slow – at least, that’s what two former Morgan Hill gang members found out this week. Justice can be served cold and slow – at least, that’s what two former Morgan Hill gang members found out this week.
In a scenario reminiscent of TV’s “Cold Case Files,” Morgan Hill police and a dogged county investigator believe they solved a murder nearly a decade old and arrested two suspects in Stockton this week. Rico Clarke and Uvaldo Salinas didn’t even see the cops coming when they were arrested in their homes – nine years after the fact. The two, who are now family men, were in their early 20s when the murder took place in Morgan Hill, said Sgt. David Swing of Morgan Hill Police Special Operations.“I don’t know if they are still affiliated (with the Norteños) but they were not expecting the police,” Swing said.
The victim was Carmel Rodriguez, who on June 13, 1997, was shot in the back of the head in the parking lot of a Morgan Hill apartment complex at 40 W. Dunne Ave. Police say Rodriguez, 29, was not the intended target of the shooters, who committed the crime on foot. Though their target was hit as well, he escaped major injury and recovered. Just moments before the hail of bullets ripped short his life, Rodriguez was chatting with friends under a carport in the parking lot. He died at the scene. Morgan Hill police said the murder was gang-ignited, but it was the blood result between two rival Norteño street gangs – instead of the usual warring between the red-dressed Norteños and the blue-garbed Sureños. Several days before the murder, a fight had broken out between the two gangs in the same vicinity as the murder. One of the eventual suspects had been hit in the head with a board. The murder went unsolved for nine years and became one of the few unsolved murders in Morgan Hill Police Department’s cold case files, until December 2005. That’s when a tenacious investigator from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office re-opened the case and started working with local police to close the crime.
“It’s not like we have a backlog of cold cases, but this case was inactive for some time,” Sgt. Swing said.
Investigator Michael Schembri spent several hundred hours re-interviewing witnesses and involved parties, including present and former gang members.
“This case would not have been cleared had it not been for the tenacity and efforts of Investigator Schembri,” said Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming. “He came to us and asked about our 1997 homicide and asked for everything we had.” In a statement to the press, Schembri said he was greatly aided by Morgan Hill Detective Chris Wagner, who is no longer with the department. Other lawmen involved in solving the murder were not available as of deadline because, according to a police spokesperson, they were busy booking the suspects into the Santa Clara County Jail. On Wednesday, July 26, Stockton police arrested Uvaldo Salinas, 31, at his home in that city following another Stockton arrest made the previous Thursday of Rico Alonzo Clarke, 28. A third suspect, Roberto Emilio Aparicio, 29, is still at large in El Salvador where he was deported several years ago. Swing said he couldn’t begin to speculate on whether Aparicio would ever be apprehended.
But he’s glad two of three suspects are behind bars. “It’s great to bring some justice to the victim and to hold people accountable for these crimes,” Swing added.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 September 2006: Investigator breathes life into cold cases
By Scott Herhold, Mercury News
Barefoot and in blue jeans, his gut protruding from a sleeveless shirt, 45-year-old Scott Schultz knew what was coming the moment he saw Santa Clara County DA's investigator Mike Schembri walking up the sidewalk to his home in Loveland, Colo. Mike, I told you the truth! I told you the truth!'' Schultz yelled in a last attempt to assert his innocence. The tears in the corners of his eyes betrayed his feelings. The baldish motorcyclist knew Schembri was there to arrest him on suspicion of killing his high school girlfriend from Los Altos, Laura Anne Beyerly, 28 years ago.
The 57-year-old Schembri, a onetime college pitcher who hides an athlete's competitive instincts behind an unassuming 5-foot-9 build and a Brillo pad of neatly trimmed gray hair, doesn't come across as Inspector Javert stalking his criminal prey. The veteran investigator strikes even the bad guys as more of a father-confessor figure, a man you want to confide in. But mark down humility as one of his most lethal assets. I'm not the best,'' he says. `I've seen the best. I just work hard.''
If Schembri is not the best investigator in Santa Clara County, his colleagues say he's one of the top three or four, a dogged man who can draw lines between dots that other people can't even see. Lately, he has become the man who breathes life into cold cases.
Through Schembri's work, authorities have made arrests in three major murder cases, the kind that keep detectives up at night chewing on antacid. The men who police think killed Jeanine Harms, Gretchen Burford and Beyerly are behind bars.`He's one of the best detectives I've ever seen,'' says Tom Wheatley, former acting San Jose police chief. `If I had the heaviest kind of case, he's one of the less-than-a-handful of guys I've met that I would assign it to. He does things that are just intuitive.''
Vintage Schembri: Nearly two decades ago, when he worked sexual assault cases for San Jose police, where he spent 28 years, Schembri noticed a colleague was bogged down on a vicious rape case.`He's working it from the seat of his pants,'' Schembri said, describing his desk-bound colleague. `So I say, let's go get a car, we can arrest him, there's some leads here.'' It was partly a sally in the dark. Schembri had no suspect. The assailant, however, left a Camel cigarette at the crime scene. The police knew he had called the victim from an East Side shopping center. The victim described a rapist with a bad case of eczema. The detectives started at the shopping center, asking store managers if they remembered a weird guy with eczema who bought Camels. Bingo. A clerk remembered seeing a transient who fit that description and thought maybe he worked at a carnival. That led them to a camper in the back of the shopping center, where a woman answered their knock. The cops asked her whether she lived with anyone. She mentioned her son. Could they talk to him? Well, OK. Still wearing the victim's T-shirt, the sleeping son had a bad case of eczema. He also was a suspect in a killing in Washington state.
`When I get a case, particularly if it's a rape, I usually go to the scene at the time of day the crime happened, just to get the feel of what happened,'' Schembri explains. `You can never tell.''
Schembri has had plenty of backing in his quest to find out what happened in the baffling cases. The county has a good crime lab that has helped him quantify such evidence as rug fibers or DNA patterns. District Attorney George Kennedy and Chief Assistant Karyn Sinunu have assigned a veteran prosecutor, Charles Constantinides, to handle cold cases.
To this mix, Schembri, a bicyclist in the police Olympics, brings two uncommon ingredients. One is an innate ability to read people, to sense when a suspect is lying. When he flew to a Texas prison to interview Tyrone Hamel, the accused killer of Burford, a Palo Alto lawyer who was stabbed to death in 1988, Schembri never got a confession. But he did get an occasional smile to a direct question. At the end, he coaxed Hamel into saying that he felt sorry for Burford's family.
The second ingredient Schembri brings is that he's not afraid to fail. `If you get a tough case, some people might say, `I don't know if this guy did it or not.' I always say, `What do I have to lose by taking this on, to get to the bottom of it?' You could be the victim here.''
On cold cases, this approach sometimes places Schembri in a delicate political posture. Not all police departments welcome help from the district attorney.
Mistakes of others -- In the Beyerly case, Schembri does not disguise his low opinion of the 1978 Los Altos police investigators. He says they failed to do the job right, assuming Beyerly was a runaway because she had run away before. Schembri started at a different point. He knew Beyerly's mother had seen the 17-year-old Los Altos High student crying because she had broken up with Schultz on the telephone. Beyerly felt she owed it to him to do it in person. Her life was turning around. She had a new boyfriend and had a hair appointment planned. To Schembri, that didn't feel like a runaway. The investigator went to where her bones were found in 1979, the steep China Grade in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It wasn't a place where a casual killer would dump a body. It demanded that the killer have four-wheel drive and know his way around the mountains. That led him to questions about China Grade. Whom could he tie to the area? Finally, one of his witnesses told him something she hadn't revealed in 1979: Schultz's uncle lived nearby. Schultz visited him frequently. That made one of the original errors in the case more poignant. Schembri says a private investigator for the family took mud samples from the wheels of Schultz's vehicle a few days after Beyerly disappeared. The investigator turned over the mud to the Los Altos police, who -- alas -- did not preserve it. (Los Altos Police Chief Bob Lacey, who joined the department in 1980, said he had not heard that story.)
Broken patterns -- A last true story: Patterns help detectives. People often repeat where they go, what they do. In the case of Harms, a 42-year-old Los Gatos woman who disappeared after going to a bar, investigators began focusing on architect Maurice X. Nasmeh, one of two men seen with her that night. Always interested in the personality of a suspect, Schembri asked about his patterns: How did he treat other women he dated? Schembri says Nasmeh would usually call the woman the next morning to thank her for the date. He left no message for Harms. It's hardly enough to convict anyone. To a detective like Schembri, though, it was telling. You wouldn't thank someone who was already dead. Joseph Simon Paul Sammut Jr. was mentioned in the Nevada Appeal on 4 September 2006: Old poker palace, surrounding property on the market for $3 million -- Monday, September 4, 2006
Artichoke Joe's Poker Palace was the social hub for seniors who liked to play cards and bingo. A family member describes it as a friendly place where players could be spotted for bingo games if they didn't have enough money. Soon it could become a development hub. Closed since the death of owner Joe Sammut on April 29, the 25-year-old gaming establishment is on the market for a restaurant, shopping center or other commercial operation. "I think it's an extremely valuable property because of its location, fronting on Curry Street and (Highway) 395," said Joan Reid, a friend of the former owner, and a Carson City attorney who is representing the estate. "The building itself has a lot of potential." The artichoke signs have been taken down and the 2292 S. Carson St. building looks its age - Sammut bought the property in 1976 - but it has several touches that mark it as an early Carson City gaming property, said Bob Fredlund, an agent with Coldwell Banker Best Sellers.

The 9,566-square-foot building contains a long, plywood bar where many locals purchased beer and spirits in its heyday. On the opposite wall are the chalk racing boards, used in the era before digital reader boards. The bingo tables are grouped in the center of the room. Artichoke Joe poker chips are still stored in the manager's office. He had pool tables, poker tables and many televisions. Sammut's passion for card games endured to the very end, his friends and family said. The 89-year-old died of cancer on in his home behind the casino, which is also included in the sale of the 2.6-acre property. "It was his life," said Reid. "He was down there dealing the night before he died. He loved it." The family also wishes to sell 1.8 acres adjacent to the casino property that contains a log home off Curry Street behind the Carson Quail Park shopping center. The family is asking $3.9 million for both properties, which are listed with Larry Messina, Coldwell Banker Commercial Premier Brokers and Coldwell Banker Best Sellers. Joe Sammut III, who lived in Carson City from 1981-1988, said his father would've liked one of the four children to continue operating the property, but all of them are engaged in their own businesses.

He lives in Auburn, Calif., and works in electronics manufacturing. Extended family also owns an Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno, Calif. The name "Artichoke Joe" was passed down from Sammut's father, who grew artichokes near his card house located in the Bay Area. "When my father first moved to Carson City he was on the outskirts of town, but now I see he's in the center of activity with the railroad museum next door," Joe Sammut said. "An expanded shopping center, or anything would go there because it gets so much traffic." In 2004, the car count for the area just north of the property at Stewart and South Carson streets was 46,500, according to real estate records.

Dr Charles J. Vella PhD was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 October 2006: San Francisco Chronicle:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
Gorgeous gourds/A San Francisco psychologist carves elaborate pumpkins in Halloween ritual
Arlene Silverman, Special to The Chronicle

In a cozy family kitchen in San Francisco, a man with a sharp blade is on a mission. The man is Charlie Vella. The mission: to bring ancient history to the common Cucurbita pepo. Vella, whose day job is director of neuropsychology services at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, is about to carve a handsome 1-foot-tall pumpkin into the likeness of an Egyptian pharaoh.
He is embarking on an annual tradition that started eight years ago, when he and his younger daughter, Maya, now a sophomore at UC Davis, became attracted to the art of pumpkin carving. We're not just talking about smiley jack-o'-lanterns with those goofy triangular eyes. This father-daughter team has carved Harry Potter, Mr. Smith from "The Matrix," intricate African masks, Escher-like Irish knots, the Mona Lisa (whose enigmatic smile comes out just a little different each year), all those presidents on Mount Rushmore, King Tut and that other king, Kong.
Each year, Vella goes to Safeway and buys 10 or so pumpkins at a time. Then he and Maya, working over three or four days, carve 40 to 50 pumpkins. (They once tried to start five days ahead of Halloween, and the first batch "just melted away" before the big day.) When the pumpkins are ready for display on Oct. 31, they are lit from within with votive candles and placed on the porch and stairs in front of
the Vellas' Glen Park home.
Pumpkin carving itself, says Vella, is not difficult, but it does take a good eye for design, including the right combination of foreground and
background, and the proper tools. In addition to using templates found on Internet sites featuring pumpkin-carving ideas, Vella is always on the lookout for fresh ideas. He's found African masks in museums. He's taken designs off T-shirts and Japanese postcards. He generally avoids political subjects (no Osama bin Laden here) but did break his own rule once with a "Vote for Kerry" pumpkin during the 2004 election campaign. All the designs are applied freehand.
Although Vella is carving his Egyptian pharaoh on the kitchen table without his daughter (she's away at college), he and Maya usually carve in the living room while watching one of his large collection of horror films. They start by carefully cutting off the top of the pumpkin and scooping out the seeds and pulp with a wooden scraping tool that Vella made himself. (Disposing of seeds and pulp from 50 pumpkins is no small feat. Sometimes the insides have to be taken to the dump lest the odor scare away trick-or-treaters.) Using small cutting tools -- Vella describes them as "cut-off band saws" -- he cautiously saws away at the pharaoh he has already penciled on, using the inside of the pumpkin as a temporary trash receptacle for the carved-out pieces. The tools are designed, Vella says, so that the carver cuts the pumpkin and rarely himself.
From his biography, the 61-year-old would seem to have been an unlikely candidate as a husband, father and pumpkin artist. Born in Malta and raised in San Francisco's Bayview district when it was a "Maltese-Italian" neighborhood, Vella attended a Franciscan seminary for 10 years. He changed his career path, however, when he met his now-wife, Marilyn, and decided to put his pastoral bent to use as a psychologist, receiving his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1978.
He says he's had no formal artistic training, although he once "built a pretty nice dollhouse" for his daughters. (Older daughter Lea, who
recently married, is a biostatistician for the Veterans Administration. Marilyn, who is an avid quilter, works at UCSF.) Vella says that he loves his day job at Kaiser. He also loves seeing "piles of kids" -- often as many as 100 -- come by his Sussex Street home on Halloween to see the creations. Like most city folks, he is sad to see that parents' concerns about safety have cut down on the number of trick-or-treaters. Nonetheless, the pleasure that passers-by get from seeing King Kong and Mona Lisa in the same place seems to compensate. And even though the pumpkins last just a few days before they collapse like fainting divas, the cycle will begin again next year. "It's tradition," Vella says, smiling at the finished Egyptian pharaoh, who looks as if he just may smile back.
Copyright 2006 SF Chronicle.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 March 2007: THE REAL DEAL / Artichoke Joe's / San Bruno casino has been catering to Bay Area card players since the early 20th century, and the place is still going strong
Matt Villano
March 22, 2007
Bay Area history is palpable at Artichoke Joe's Casino in downtown San Bruno. The venue has been serving up poker and other various card games in some form since Joseph Sammut founded it in the 1930s. Today, after a series of expansions and renovations, the Sammut family still deals 'em out, with more than 50 tables overall.
Poker reigns supreme, with a variety of limit and no-limit Texas Hold 'Em games, as well as contests in Omaha and seven-card stud. Players also come to wager on pai gow, 21st century (or California) blackjack and a game known as Fast Nine -- a variation on the gin rummy spin-off Panguingue.
The casino's bar, a classic dive, is connected to the gaming area and is a great place to sit with a drink and watch a game. The joint also has a full-service restaurant, which serves a variety of goodies and specializes in Asian food.
Sal Davis, a resident of San Francisco, says he likes Joe's because of its neighborhood vibe, reasonable table limits and the variety of games.

Read More"Whatever you want to play, they have it here," he said during a recent game of Hold 'Em. Davis added that because the cardroom is less than 2 miles from San Francisco International Airport, it's a great place to come before or after a flight.
Hit Joe's on a good day, and you can sit down at a poker table immediately. Get there when it's busy, however, and you could find yourself waiting for as long as an hour. While the casino is festooned with a number of flat-panel televisions, it's difficult to see TVs from a number of the waiting seats, so bring a book.
Of course, there's rarely a wait if you're looking to play a tournament. Artichoke Joe's sponsors limit poker tournaments of varying denominations Mondays through Thursdays. On Sundays at 6:45 p.m., the casino also hosts a no-limit tournament, with a $49 buy-in, and a re-buy for $20. The purse: a guaranteed $3,000.
Though these tournaments keep guests coming back, the casino has not been immune to controversy in the past year. Most recently, the facility was at the center of a brouhaha in Sacramento over a bill designed to raise gambling limits across the state -- a bill that supposedly would have benefited Lucky Chances Casino in Colma.
Because Joe's was founded before the state moratorium on gambling expansion, courts have ruled that the casino can offer unlimited wagering. Whatever ultimately happens with the gambling-limits issue, the market is big enough for Artichoke Joe's and Lucky Chances to coexist.
Finally, no discussion of Artichoke Joe's is complete without a mention of how the place got its name. Rumor has it that right after Sammut opened the place, he accepted any wager, no matter how large. Somebody once asked Sammut how he'd pay off a big bet if he lost, and he reportedly replied, "In artichoke leaves." But we couldn't confirm this rumor. "We don't talk to media," one manager said.

Dr Charles J. Vella PhD was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 25 March 2007: Letter to editor: "Great article on FTD! I believe public awareness is hugely important and vour article was articulate and compassionate. We diagnose many FTD cases at Kaiser and have a ioint conference with Bruce Miller at L’CSF to help identify FTD cases for him. CHARLES J. Vella, Director, Neuropsychology Kaiser Permanente Medical CenterSan Francisco.


Ronald Blake Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 August 2007: Anti-gentrification forces stymie housing development - Some say decade-old group in Mission is going too far - By Robert Selna
Ron Mallia wants to build eight apartments and condominiums on an empty parking lot next to his Mission District auto shop and rent some of the apartments to his mechanics. His project scents like the kind that would be endorsed by the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition. but the group has fought Mallia. insisting that his project not go forward until the city evaluates how new development on the city’s east side will affect industrial land. jobs and housing. The fight is one of many recent battles being waged by the coalition, a handful of community organizations focused on immigrants' rights, development and social servicest that was formed a decade ago to resist gentrfication during the dotcom boom. Supervisor Chris Daly, a former tenant activist, takes credit for helping found the group, which has a reputation for staging street protests and illegally occupying private property. More recently, it has used environmental laws to stall more than 50 market-rate housing projects...
(Ron Mattie agreed to $150,000 in fees that will help fund city services to win approval for eight apartments and condos on this lot.)
Mission group wins new concessions
from Page B1
...before narrowly losing a bid this month to block a condominium protect on Cesar Chavez Street that will replace a shuttered paint store. But some longtime Mission residents and business owners question whether the group is going too far, blocking developments that would add middle- income and affordable housing to the neighborhood, in addition to cleaning it up and making it safer. They don’t want any development at all in the Mission because any development makes the area better. ... They don’t want that because they believe that by improving the area, the cost of housing might go up,” said Mallia, who has owned gas stations and car repair shops in the Mission for 25 years. In April, facing pressure from the coalition, the city Planning Commission approved Mallia’s project but with the condition tha: he pay more than $I50,000 in fees that will help fund city services. Although Mailia believed he was getting a raw deal — similar projects have not had to pay such fees, he said — he did not want his protect to stall while he paid taxes on Ihe vacant lot. Malha's property, at 756 Valencia St, is among 2.200 acres in four South of Market neighborhoods...

Ronald Blake Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 September 2007: Mission obstructionists -- Editor — In an Aug. 27 letter, Julie Leadbetter took to task Robert Selna’s Aug. 21 article, “Anti-gentrification forces stymie housing development, Selna’s well-researched article showed how the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, for which Leadbetter fronts, has tried to stop me from building housing that I hope to rent, in part, to my employees. This proposed building will be on what is today a vacant lot next door to my auto shop on Valencia Street. Selna’s article received 280 comments on S.F Gate. The vast majority of those comments charged the Mission Anti- Displacement Coalition with worsening the housing situation with their obstructionist tactics. In sharp contrast, virtually all of my immediate neighbors residents and business owners alike provided letters of support for my project. After doing business in the area for 25 sears, it has been gratifying to see the neighborhood stand up for improvement. I’m proud to be part of it.
RON MALLIA Excellent Automotive San Francisco.

Anthony Joseph Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 November 2007: Muni-buses-asian-attacked-san-francisco -- San Francisco, CA: (Nov-20-07) The city brought charges against Anthony Camilleri and Tan Huynh, two Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) technicians, alleging that they pilfered thousands of dollars in coins and bills. The suit claimed that Camilleri began working for Muni in 1973 and was promoted to assistant electronic maintenance technician in 1991. Hyunh began working as a technician with Muni in 1993. Both were accused of accessing fare boxes with special keys during their free time in a complaint filed in 2004. Sources stated that when a judge issued warrants, police arrested the two on March 20, 2004, and searched their homes. Between Camilleri's car and house, police seized cardboard boxes filled with $1 bills, locked cash boxes, an illegal key, and a hoard of coins. In all, police collected $10,000 in bills, $28,000 in change and $8,400 in Muni tokens. Police seized about $20,000 from Huynh's home and a fare-box key that had been coated to hide the identification number. Police also found control boards and other electronic equipment used to count and receive fares. Records stated that the two agreed to a settlement of $287,000 to resolve allegations. Both Anthony Camilleri and Tan Huynh, still face charges in criminal court for their scheme.

Anthony Joseph Camilleri Jr was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 November 2007: Fare-box scam could net MTA nearly $400K -- By BY Examiner Staff • November 20, 2007 -- The City is set to receive a $287,000 settlement from two Municipal Transportation Agency technicians accused of pilfering thousands of dollars in coins and bills. The settlement is scheduled to go before the Muni board of directors today and is subject to its approval. The defendants, Anthony Camilleri and Tan Huynh, are both still fighting a battle in criminal court for their alleged scheme. Camilleri began working for Muni in 1973 and was promoted to assistant electronic maintenance technician in 1991. Hyunh began working as a technician with Muni in 1993. According to a complaint filed in 2004, the two accessed fare boxes with special keys during their free time. When a judge issued warrants, police arrested the two on March 20 of that year and searched their homes. Between Camilleri’s car and house, police seized cardboard boxes filled with $1 bills, locked cashboxes, an illegal key and a hoard of coins. In all, police collected $10,000 in bills, $28,000 in change and $8,400 in Muni tokens, according to the complaint. Police seized about $20,000 from Huynh’s home and a fare-box key that had been coated to hide the identification number. Police also found control boards and other electronic equipment used to count and receive fares, according to the documents. Muni officials claimed they knew of the scam as early as 2002, but it wasn’t until a year later that they noticed the men making repairs on machines that weren’t even broken, and that they were coming early to work to fiddle with the machines. According to Muni, the men erased data on the machines, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact amount taken. The complaint estimates at least $100,000. Camilleri’s lawyer did not return calls for comment. He is expected to be in San Francisco Superior Court in December for a pretrial hearing.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 November 2007: DNA given voluntarily links man to rape case By Brandon Bailey
When David Pearman gave investigators a sample of his DNA, he knew it might help them link his older brother to the brutal 1983 rape and murder of a Campbell teenager.
But last week, detectives came knocking at Pearman’s door again. This time, they said, his DNA had connected Pearman to a separate horrendous crime — the rape of an 81-year-old San Jose woman.
Now both brothers are facing charges that could send them to prison for life. They are being housed — in separate cells — in the Santa Clara County men’s jail without bail.
“‘Lucky’ is the word that comes to mind,” said Assistant District Attorney David Tomkins, referring to the sequence of events that led authorities to identify Pearman as a suspect in the 2001 rape of the elderly woman.
Pearman, also known as David Leonard Holland, 46, was arrested Friday and arraigned Monday on charges stemming from that case. Court records show he has a prior felony conviction for residential burglary.
Investigators say Pearman’s DNA matches a sample taken from the 2001 crime scene. But they never would have linked that evidence to Pearman if they hadn’t been looking for his 53-year-old brother in a different case.
“He probably would have gotten away with it,” Tomkins added, if a district attorney’s office’s “cold case” investigator hadn’t started looking at Christopher Melvin Holland in connection with the long-ago murder of
17-year-old Cynthia Munoz.
More than 24 years ago, the teenager was found partly nude and bleeding from stab wounds to her neck and chest inside her Campbell home. For many years, though authorities may have had their suspicions, they apparently lacked evidence to charge a suspect in that case.
But earlier this year, investigator Michael Schembri began looking closely at the Munoz murder again.
Among other things, it turned out that a friend of Christopher Holland had bragged that he and Holland raped and killed Munoz during a robbery for drugs.
But as Schembri closed in on Holland, he dropped from sight.
Realizing that authorities had a semen sample from the 1983 rape, the investigator asked two of Holland’s brothers to provide DNA samples in hopes of establishing a link.
Ultimately, it was the sample provided by another brother, Kenneth Holland, that led authorities to charge Christopher Holland in the 1983 murder. The test showed a close link between Kenneth Holland and the person who raped Cynthia Munoz, authorities say.
A lab analyst reported that it was “possible but highly improbable” that anyone other than a relative of Kenneth Holland committed the crime.
That was enough to get a warrant for Christopher Holland, who was arrested last month after a tipster told authorities he was hiding in a San Jose apartment.
David Pearman’s sample, meanwhile, contained two surprises.
First, according to a law enforcement affidavit, it showed that Pearman and Kenneth Holland did not have the same father. Ultimately, Tomkins said, Pearman’s sample had no bearing on the 1983 case.
But in recent weeks, Tomkins said lab technicians were following routine procedures for entering DNA samples into a computerized database, when David Holland’s sample turned up a match — to the sample taken as evidence from the 2001 rape.
The victim in that case, an elderly woman who lived alone, reported that a man slipped into her home about 5 a.m. and climbed into her bed. He threatened to kill her and forced her to perform sex acts, according to a police affidavit. He then spent about 20 minutes talking on her telephone — records show he called a phone-sex line — before leaving the terrified woman in her house.
The woman died of an unrelated cause in 2004, but authorities believe they now have enough evidence to prosecute Pearman. He is charged with rape and forcible oral copulation in the course of a burglary.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 December 2007: Budget cuts close cold-case unit By Mark Gomez |
Nearly 27 years after her mother was raped and murdered, Emily Greenslade got the news she had been waiting so long to receive. A DNA match led Santa Clara County cold-case investigators to an arrest in the brutal death of her mother, Virginia Correa.
“It was the most awesome feeling,”” said Greenslade, referring to a call last year from a detective. “I feel like I”m one of the lucky ones. … You can”t say that for a lot of people who don”t have a case that is solved. They are always wondering — and always have that pain.””
But the county team that assisted in breaking the Correa case — while also looking into some 300 other unsolved homicides in Santa Clara County dating to 1965 — will soon be a victim of budget cuts. As of Jan. 1, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Office”s cold-case unit, consisting of one prosecutor and one investigator, will close.
Santa Clara Police Chief Steve Lodge said eliminating the unit will “increase the possibility that the victims” families will have no resolution, and the perpetrators will never be brought to justice. That”s the way it is.””
Deputy District Attorney Charles Constantinides and investigator Mike Schembri are currently the only two law enforcement officials in the county, outside of the San Jose Police Department, who investigate cold-case homicides full-time. They have helped solve 22 such slayings since 2005.
“To me, homicide is probably the most serious crime out there, and we”re not going to have anyone”” investigating cold cases, said Schembri, who spent 28 years with the San Jose Police Department. “It just seems to me we”re not looking at it objectively, where we”re going to spend our money and resources.””
In May, county supervisors, looking to trim $118 million, informed District Attorney Dolores Carr she had to trim her budget by $5 million. By cutting the cold-case unit, a component Carr has called an “extra service,”” her office will save $316,364 next year. Carr also has eliminated the office”s Innocence Project and the last of its community prosecutors, lawyers who worked with troubled neighborhoods to prevent urban problems.
“I came up with a package that has the least impact on public safety,”” said Carr, adding that her office”s main role is to staff the courts. “These are hard choices for everyone facing reductions. It”s really a shame.””
Hoping to stave off any budget trims, the district attorney”s office in July made a presentation to the board outlining the programs on the chopping block. The supervisors didn”t back down from their request to cut $5 million from her budget, so Carr went ahead with the cuts.
Schembri, who said he will probably retire next year, questions the decision.

“I don”t think the board has said, ”Cut cold cases,”” he said, adding that the supervisors offered no guidance about how to go about cutting the $5 million. “Dolores has said we don”t have the money. I personally think it is not a good decision.””Said Constantinides, “Maybe it”s just me, but the county has a public interest in making sure murders get solved.””Without the cold-case unit, Greenslade said, her mother”s file would “still be in a little box on the shelf.””
Schembri and Constantinides have collaborated with detectives in departments across the county and, in some instances, have resolved cases from beginning to end.
The district attorney”s unit have helped make arrests in Los Altos, Campbell, Santa Clara and Los Gatos. In 2006, Constantinides was credited with assisting San Jose police in cracking the 1981 New Year”s Day slaying of a 25-year-old German woman. “Jurisdictions haven”t been afraid to say, ”Maybe we made a mistake, or went in a wrong direction. If you can solve it, great,”” Schembri said. “There hasn”t been any hard feelings. “With the smaller jurisdictions, to assist them is a full-time job.””.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 December 2007: Cold case unit victim of budget ax By Mark Gomez
Nearly 27 years after her mother was raped and murdered, Emily Greenslade got the news she had been waiting so long to receive. A DNA match led Santa Clara County cold case investigators to an arrest in the brutal death of her mother, Virginia Correa. “It was the most awesome feeling,” said Greenslade, referring to a call last year from a detective. “I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones. . . . You can’t say that for a lot of people who don’t have a case that is solved. They are always wondering – and always have that pain.” But the county team that assisted in breaking the Correa case – while also looking into some 300 other unsolved homicides in Santa Clara County dating to 1965 – will soon be a victim of budget cuts. As of Jan. 1, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Office’s Cold Case Unit, consisting of one prosecutor and one investigator, will close. Santa Clara Police Chief Steve Lodge said eliminating the unit will “increase the possibility that the victims’ families will have no resolution, and the perpetrators will never be brought to justice. That’s the way it is.”
Deputy District Attorney Charles Constantinides and investigator Mike Schembri are currently the only two law enforcement officials in the county, outside of the San Jose Police Department, who investigate cold case homicides full time. They have helped solve 22 such slayings since 2005.
“To me, homicide is probably the most serious crime out there, and we’re not going to have anyone” investigating cold cases, said Schembri, who spent 28 years with the San Jose Police Department. “It just seems to me we’re not looking at it objectively, where we’re going to spend our money and resources.”
In May, county supervisors, looking to trim $118 million, informed District Attorney Dolores Carr she had to trim her budget by $5 million. By cutting the cold case unit, a component Carr has called an “extra service,” her office will save $316,364 next year. Carr also has eliminated the office’s Innocence Project and the last of its community prosecutors, lawyers who worked with troubled neighborhoods to prevent urban problems. “I came up with a package that has the least impact on public safety,” said Carr, adding that her office’s main role is to staff the courts. “These are hard choices for everyone facing reductions. It’s really a shame.”
Hoping to stave off any budget trims, the district attorney’s office in July made a presentation to the board outlining the programs on the chopping block. The supervisors didn’t back down from their request to cut $5 million from her budget, so Carr went ahead with the cuts.
Schembri, who said he will probably retire next year, questions the decision.
“I don’t think the board has said, ‘Cut cold cases,’ ” he said, adding that the supervisors offered no guidance about how to go about cutting the $5 million. “Dolores has said we don’t have the money. I personally think it is not a good decision.”
Said Constantinides, “Maybe it’s just me, but the county has a public interest in making sure murders get solved.” Without the cold case unit, Greenslade said, her mother’s file would “still be in a little box on the shelf.”
Although smaller police agencies in the county typically assign a detective or two to work cold cases when time allows, those detectives often carry full caseloads. Schembri and Constantinides have collaborated with detectives in departments across the county and, in some instances, have resolved cases from beginning to end. The district attorney’s unit has helped make arrests in Los Altos, Campbell, Santa Clara and Los Gatos. In 2006, Constantinides was credited with assisting San Jose police in cracking the 1981 New Year’s Day slaying of a 25-year-old German woman.
“Jurisdictions haven’t been afraid to say, ‘Maybe we made a mistake, or went in a wrong direction. If you can solve it, great,’ ” Schembri said. “There hasn’t been any hard feelings.
“With the smaller jurisdictions, to assist them is a full-time job.”
Schembri and Constantinides have twice helped the Santa Clara Police Department solve cold case homicides. In December 2006, they used DNA technology to make an arrest in the slaying of Mary Quigley, a 17-year-old who was sexually assaulted and hanged at a Santa Clara park in 1977. In July 2005 the unit made an arrest in the 1994 killing and robbery of Rafael Verdejo, 33, by collecting DNA evidence from a bottle and cigarette butts.
Progress in DNA analysis has helped detectives solve a growing number of old homicides, a trend that is expected to accelerate. Beginning in 2009, the law will require DNA samples be taken from everyone who is arrested on suspicion of or charged with any felony and entered into a federal database. Currently, only convicted felons, parolees and those arrested on suspicion of rape or murder must provide samples.
But solving cases is “not going to be done on DNA alone,” Lodge cautioned. “Somebody has to go out and talk to witnesses and family members. It’s very, very time intensive.”
The cuts do not mean unsolved homicides within the county will be forgotten, authorities maintain.
The San Jose Police Department assigns two full-time detectives to handle the 200 unsolved slayings dating to 1962, and has other detectives work old cases when time allows. At the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, detective Ron Breuss spends about half his time investigating approximately 150 unsolved homicides committed since the 1940s.
Though Schembri said he’ll probably retire next year, there are “other detectives that could jump into this unit and do a bang-up job,” he said. “There’s a lot of unsolved homicides out there that can be solved,” Schembri said. “I would think of that 300, we could solve 10 or 15 percent by interview. Obviously there are some homicides that aren’t going to be solved in a lifetime, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.”.

Charles James Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 16 December 2007: It’s not so far from Salinas to the Serengeti
Wild Things is part B&B and part home to Hollywood’s biggest box-office beasts
By John Flinn
The noisy neighbors kept us up half the night — we could hear everything through the paper-thin walls — and in the morning room service seemed to take forever to deliver our breakfast. If this sounds like d complaint, it’s not. Our vociferous neighbors were the Lion King, the Exxon tiger and various other movie-star leopards, cheetahs, jaguars and cougars. And our breakfast eventually arrived at our front porch, courtesy of a jaunty African elephant named Butch. Wild Things, a 51-acre spread in the rolling hills south of Salinas, is part wild animal park, part safari-style bed-and-breakfast and part colony for some of the biggest box-office stars of the animal kingdom. It belongs to Charlie Sammut, a 46-vear-old former Seaside police officer whose hobby of collecting exotic animals as pets "got way, way, way out of hand.” "It started one day in 1985 when I arrested a guy who had a cougar in his backyard,” Sammut told me. "Before he went to jail he asked me if I’d take care of it, and back then you could legally do something that stupid. And it just sort of grew from there; It’s not an occupation for those who bruise like a peach. Over the years Summut has had his hip broken by a jaguar, his arm broken by a lion and his hand bitten by an alligator and a bear, fortunately not at the same time.
“You get to the point.” he said, “where you just go home, tape it up and go back to work.”
Just about every animal at Wild Things has a movie, TV commercial or magazine spread on his resume. The undisputed star is Josef, a 26-year-old African lion with a huge, luxurious black mane. The model used by Disney animators for the Lion King film, losef is also the Dreyfus lion and has appeared in a couple of Michael Jackson videos, the “Tarzan” and “Bom Krce” television series, the “George of the Jungle” film, “The Postman" and “Naked Gun" among others. In the animal world’s version of coals-to-Newcastle, he was once flown to Africa to shoot a Lowenbrau commercial. Unlike the local beasts, Josef could be counted upon not to eat his co-star. A few feet away lives Kolar, probably the most photographed tiger in history. He's appeared in Exxon ads and more calendars and magazine layouts than you can count. Not to destroy anyone’s illusions, but quite a few of the lion and tiger pictures you see in calendars and magazines were shot not in East Africa but in the wilds of the Salinas suburbs. Professional photographers have learned how to make the grassy hills and acacia-like oak trees stand in quite convincingly for the Serengcti Plain.
What do these animals eat? Sammutl says he goes through truckloads of Purina Elephant Chow — there really is such a thing — plus Purina Kangaroo Chow, Purina Monkey Chow and Purina Camel Chow..
Wild Things — a little confusingly. the bed-and-breakfast part of the business is called “Vision Quest" — is one of two places in northern California where you can bed down amid an African menagerie. The other, Safari West in Santa Rosa, is a much larger facility, with 11 tent-cabins. Many of its 400 animals roam freely on its 400 acres, and it’s kid-friendly. It has giraffes but no elephants, lions or tigers. Wild Things has just four widely spaced tent-cabins, but only four elephants, one zebra and a pair of ostriches are given room to roam. The lions, tigers and most of the 100 other animals spend most of their days in cages. Kids under 14 are not alowed, except in rare circumstances.
The spacious canvas tent-cabins were imported from Soirh Africa. where they’re used for high- end safaris. Ours — "The Paciderm Palace" — had a queen sized bed with a canopy of mosquito netting (purely decorative this time of year), a futon, a refrigerator and a bathroom with terrycloth robes and a walk-in shower. There was no phone — you communicate with the office by radio — but my cell phone got good reception.
All four tent-cabins ovedook a sunken. 5-acre enclosure where the four elephants - all retired circus performers — speid the day with the zebra and osriches. I never got tired of watching the elephants root around with their trunks for snacks hidden in the pen, toss dirt on their back, playfully butt heads and serialize with each other. Once, one of them gave a playful swat wth her trunk to the zebra... moved in too closely with the elephant was eating. The zebra spun around and unleashed a two-legged kick, fortunately catching nothing but air.
"They’re just playing." Sammut told me. The elephant could easily kill the zebra if she wanted to, but this is all in fun."
In the late afternoon Sammut came walking up the road to our tent-cabin with what I first thought to be a dog on a leash. It turned out to be a 2-year-old spotted hyena named Eddie, an orphan from Tanzania. A frisky, cuddly little guy. He almost certainly won't remain thisi way when he gets older. Next came Beauregard. a zebra, and then Dominic, a miniature Siicilian donkey with a distinctive cross of...shortly before he
was crucified, and when the shadow of the cross fell across the beast's track iti became a permanent feature of the breed. As each new' animal was presented I felt a little like Johnny Carson when Jack Hanna was the guest. But in no need of a big laugh from the audience, 1 refrained from having any of the animals poop on my head.
In our tent-cabin was a list of local restaurants that would deliver to our door, from a Marie Calendars to a Thai eatery. Instead. though, we dined on picnic supplies we bought on route. Nights are cold in Salinas this time of year, and wc had a little trouble staying comfortable. With the electric heater and electric mattress warmer switched on. wc kept bouncing back and forth between chilly and overheated. And — not tliat wc minded — our
...by the roars, growls and snarls coming from the big cats whose pens were 75 yards away.
Once in the night I awoke to the nearby grunt-groan of a lion, and for half a confused second I really thought I was back in the Serengrti. In the morning Butch delivered a basket full of muffins, croissants and fruit to our front porch, and the handlers passed us a bag full of apples, bananas and oranges. One by one. my wife Jeri held out pieces of fruit, which Butch gently hoovered into his trunk and then dropped into his mouth. Never before have I so enjoyed tipping for room service.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 22 February 2008: Burford killer: 'I'm crying a river of tears inside' -- Remorseful Tyrone Hamel gets life without parole for 1988 stabbing by Sue Dremann / Palo Alto Online

Tyrone Maurice Hamel, the convict who last month confessed and pleaded guilty to the 1988 stabbing death of Palo Alto attorney Gretchen Burford, 49, received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole this morning. Hamel, who is now in his early 40s, confessed before a stunned court in January. The murder had remained a cold case until Michael Schembri, a Santa Clara District Attorney's Office investigator, reopened the case and used current DNA technology to help substantiate the case against Hamel. In a Santa Clara County courtroom this morning, Hamel sat with his back to Burford's family and friends. Not a muscle twitched -- from his shaved head and broad shoulders down to his back -- while his victim's two daughters described the impact his actions have had on their lives in the two decades since he killed their mother at a Mountain View ATM. But at the end, Hamel turned to face the family, tripping over the word "humanity" as he spoke. From his lips, the word repeatedly came out "hoo-man-in-ity." It is a word he had little experience with, he said.
"I ain't got no written statement. I don't really understand how somebody could show so much compassion. I'm just all shook up," he said.
"I don't know if y'all believe me or not, but I'm crying a river of tears inside. ... I just want to be a more productive human being in my life. I do feel pain inside -- the most extreme pain," he said, causing one of his defense attorneys to cry.
Dana Overstreet, supervising deputy district attorney, said outside the courtroom that in her years as a prosecutor, she had never had anything happen such as Hamel's January confession and apology after a 20-year-old crime.
Maureen Burford, the elder of Gretchen Burford's daughters, said that after her mother died she had a powerful, direct experience of her mother's presence.
"I could feel my mother there with us in our grief: expansive, nurturing, wise. Her life no longer seemed limited in its form," she said.
"It is my conviction that we never become our behavior ... but as adults, whatever we inherit, life can be a journey of transformation, no matter where it is lived -- whether it is in prison or at home," she told Hamel.
Younger daughter Martha Burford said her mother had become a criminal defense attorney in her 40s, actively seeking to change young juvenile defenders' lives. Gretchen Burford chose to be a child advocate.
"I've never known anyone with so much life force who could change ... people's lives. ... This was the magic of my mother," she said.
Most of Hamel's victims are women, she said. The irony is that her mother, a woman, "would have helped you and would've tried to turn your life around. (And) two women -- my sister and I -- have sought to spare your life."
Gretchen Burford did not believe in the death penalty, her family has said.
Former State Senator Becky Morgan, who served on the Palo Alto school district board, said outside the courtroom that Gretchen Burford had been her best friend. When Burford died, Morgan was the one who broke the news to Burford's children.
"She was the sister I never had. It was pretty traumatic," she said. "I was about to give up on the police solving the crime. It was 17 years when they found him."
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jerome E. Brock said he believed Hamel's apologies are sincere. He said Gretchen Burford is remembered by the courts for her compassion. It is a cruel irony that Hamel is exactly the type of person Burford would have tried to help, he added.
In addition to the life sentence without parole to be run consecutively with a one-year weapons-enhancement conviction, Brock imposed a $10,000 fine for restitution, which he suspended.
He accepted the prosecution's request to drop charges in a separate robbery trial. Hamel was ordered returned to Texas, where he is already serving a life sentence plus 60 years for robberies and assaults. Schembri, the detective who reopened the case, said the sentencing feels good. "It's appropriate," he said. In January, the district attorney's office stopped funding a dedicated cold-case investigator and cold-case prosecutor due to budget cuts. Those cases are now looked at on a case-by-case basis, a spokesman for the district attorney's office has said.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 March 2008: SAN JOSE / Suspect in '78 death fights extradition
John Coté
Sep. 2, 2006
Scott B. Schultz, 45, who was arrrested in Colorado last week on suspicion of murder in a Los Altos cold-case homicide that happened 28 years ago. The victim was Schultz's former girlfriend, Laura Beyerly. Both were 17 when she disappeared on March 28, 1978. Ran on: 09-02-2006 Scott B. Schultz
Scott B. Schultz, 45, who was arrrested in Colorado last week on suspicion of murder in a Los Altos cold-case homicide that happened 28 years ago. The victim was Schultz's former girlfriend, Laura Beyerly. Both were 17 when she disappeared on March 28, 1978. Ran on: 09-02-2006 Scott B. SchultzHandout

The suspect in the killing of a Los Altos High School student 28 years ago is contesting extradition to California after authorities arrested him last week in Colorado, attorneys said Friday.

During a court appearance Friday in Larimer County, Colo., Scott B. Schultz refused to agree to be transferred to San Jose and asked a judge to consider setting bail, attorneys in the case said. A bail hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Schultz is battling extradition until Santa Clara County prosecutors provide documents outlining the information that led to his Aug. 23 arrest in Loveland, Colo., in the 1978 death of his former girlfriend Laura Beyerly, defense attorney Mark Workman said.
exp-player-logo
Read More

Prosecutors have refused to provide the documents, citing California confidentiality laws in juvenile cases, Workman said. Schultz and Beyerly were both 17 when she disappeared. "My client can't know the new information about his arrest?" Workman said. "That's astonishing to me."

Prosecutor Charles Constantinides could not be reached for comment.

Schultz, 45, is being held without bail on a California arrest warrant in Beyerly's death. She disappeared March 28, 1978, after attending her first-period class at Los Altos High. Her remains were found more than a year later in the Santa Cruz Mountains near property belonging to Schultz's uncle.

Prosecutors say Beyerly had broken up with Schultz, and witnesses saw the two arguing in the school parking lot the day she vanished. Schultz has denied having contact with Beyerly that day, said Michael Schembri, the cold-case investigator at the district attorney's office.

Michael Joseph Schembri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 September 2008: SAN JOSE / Suspect in '78 death fights extradition by John Coté

Scott B. Schultz, 45, who was arrrested in Colorado last week on suspicion of murder in a Los Altos cold-case homicide that happened 28 years ago. The victim was Schultz's former girlfriend, Laura Beyerly. Both were 17 when she disappeared on March 28, 1978. Scott B. Schultz, 45, who was arrrested in Colorado last week on suspicion of murder in a Los Altos cold-case homicide that happened 28 years ago. The victim was Schultz's former girlfriend, Laura Beyerly. Both were 17 when she disappeared on March 28, 1978. Ran on: 09-02-2006 Scott B. SchultzHandout
The suspect in the killing of a Los Altos High School student 28 years ago is contesting extradition to California after authorities arrested him last week in Colorado, attorneys said Friday.
During a court appearance Friday in Larimer County, Colo., Scott B. Schultz refused to agree to be transferred to San Jose and asked a judge to consider setting bail, attorneys in the case said. A bail hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Schultz is battling extradition until Santa Clara County prosecutors provide documents outlining the information that led to his Aug. 23 arrest in Loveland, Colo., in the 1978 death of his former girlfriend Laura Beyerly, defense attorney Mark Workman said.
Prosecutors have refused to provide the documents, citing California confidentiality laws in juvenile cases, Workman said. Schultz and Beyerly were both 17 when she disappeared. "My client can't know the new information about his arrest?" Workman said. "That's astonishing to me." Prosecutor Charles Constantinides could not be reached for comment.
Schultz, 45, is being held without bail on a California arrest warrant in Beyerly's death. She disappeared March 28, 1978, after attending her first-period class at Los Altos High. Her remains were found more than a year later in the Santa Cruz Mountains near property belonging to Schultz's uncle.
Prosecutors say Beyerly had broken up with Schultz, and witnesses saw the two arguing in the school parking lot the day she vanished. Schultz has denied having contact with Beyerly that day, said Michael Schembri, the cold-case investigator at the district attorney's office.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 20 March 2010: Putting an end to a widow’s tragic ordeal By Jaxon Van Derbeken and Matthai Kuruvila
Phan Nguyen was left with nothing. Her husband, Tong Van Le, 44, was trying to make a living running a market in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, but he was executed at his Novato home, prosecutors say, by men who went after him for reporting a holdup at his store. That was in September 2008. Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant who speaks limited English, was helpless — she was too afraid to return to her home, and she couldn't keep up her husbands... [Frank Falzon was involved in this case.]

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 October 2010: WAYBACK MACHINE - Final chapter in city's tragic history - By Johnny Miller
Here’s a look at the past. Items have been culled from The Chronicle’s archives: 1983 Oct 22: Former Supervisor Dan White killed himself this week in 1983.
Dan White and Frank Falzon: two men whose lives interwined as if scripted in a tragic lay, were together again for the final act. They were chums as fellow officers on San Francisco’s Police force, and Falzon happened to be the homicide inspector on duty Nov. 27, 1978, when White shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Until he reached City Hall, Falzon did not know the killer was White — someone he considered almost like a kid brother. At the Northern Police Station, Falzon took White’s tearful confession within hours of the slayings, and he testified at White’s trial. Critics blasted Falzon after White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, calling it a classic example of a cop protecting one of his own. Still stung by the criticism even years later, Falzon angrily denied that he ever went easy on White. “Dan was a friend of mine, but he got no breaks from me,” Falzon once said. “In fact, after I took his statement, all I could think was, This guy just admitted two murders —he's going to the death box.’ ” Again yesterday, Falzon was the inspector on duty when another urgent call came, this time from White's younger brother, Tom, reporting Dan White's suicide. Falzon later spoke to reporters, “The tragedies of Nov. 27,1978, affected many people’s lives. Now hopefully the final chapter in San Francisco’s most notorious murders has been put to rest with Dan White taking his own life. Prior to Nov. 27, White always tried to do the right thing. But the day he crossed that line by taking human lives was something he could not live with. I feel grief now for the family of the victim as I did for the families of the victims of 1978.”.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2012: San Bruno’s Artichoke Joe’s card room to pay for city cop in wake of raid
By JOSHUA MELVIN | Bay Area News Group, San Mateo County Times, Mercury News, January 9, 2012
Artichoke Joe’s Casino in San Bruno plans to pay the city for a police detective who would monitor its cardroom operation, which was raided and temporarily shut down last year by state gambling regulators. The detective, as long as City Council approves the plan at their Tuesday meeting, will have to “detect and deter criminal activity inside the casino,” as well as license cardroom workers, according to a report from police Chief Neil Telford. The new arrangement comes after the California Gambling Control Commission ordered Artichoke Joe’s to work more closely with local police. The cardroom, as well as the Oaks Card Club in Emeryville, was shutdown by state and federal authorities in March after investigators discovered loan sharks were advancing cash to broke gamblers. Those who didn’t pay had their lives threatened. Ultimately, three low-level casino employees were hit with federal charges. The Sammut family, which owns Artichoke Joe’s, told investigators they knew nothing of the crimes, which also included drug dealing. Authorities accepted that explanation and allowed the club to reopen in May as long as specific conditions were met. The terms included requirements for a better surveillance camera system, training for employees and redesigning the area of the casino that had been the source of the crimes. The Asian gaming table section had to be more open and visible to management and security guards. All of those changes have been made.

The state didn’t specifically ask for a full-time city officer to be assigned to monitoring the casino, rather that was Telford’s suggestion, said Alan Titus, attorney for owner Dennis Sammut. “We agreed,” he said. “Artichoke Joe’s thinks this is a great idea.” Titus said the detective won’t be stationed in the casino but will work closely with the operation’s staff. He said the police will review regulatory filings and watch for possible crimes. Sammut will pay the $156,400 cost of the detective, including salary and benefits. The city will then hire a new officer to replace the detective. Artichoke Joe’s is already one of the city’s biggest taxpayers, contributing more than $1 million to its coffers each year. San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said he’d be happy to hire a new cop and added the city already has a similar arrangement for the Tanforan shopping mall. “The gaming commission felt they wanted more eyes on the casino,” he said. “It’s a good thing.”.

Ronald Blake Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 March 2012: THE INSIDE SCOOP By Paolo Lucchesi: Former garages become dining magnets
Mission District landlord Ron Mallia says he likes to pick tenants who offer something unique:'a bakery, a chocolatier, a brewery, a wine specialist, a cheese shop and soon. Mallia might not be a household name, but he’s quietly playing a starring role in the continued development of the food scene in San Francisco’s Mission District.
When the economy went downhill, he converted his two historic buildings on Valencia Street — both former auto shops — into eating and drinking establishments.
“Automotive is not what it used to be. There is not as much car repair today,” he says. So Mallia morphed his old garages into restaurant spaces, then sought out small local businesses, turning down the likes of Urban Outfitters and Starbucks. In one of his properties, built in 1927, he’s installed co-op bakery Arizmendi and boutique shop Gypsy Honeymoon (1268 and 1266 Valencia St.) In spring, wine guy David Lynch, formerly of Quince, will open St. Vincent in the building’s southernmost space (1270 Valencia St.) Then there’s the second building a few blocks away Mallia has converted it into three spaces, although none are open yet. The biggest space will go to Abbot’s Cellar (740 Valencia), an upscale beer-centric restaurant from nearby Monk’s Kettle. Chef Adam Dulye is designing a menu specializing in beer pairings, with a la carte and tasting options. Lundberg Design will be responsible for the look of the 100-seat space, which will include an open kitchen and a dedicated beer room. Abbot's Cellar will be bookended by Dandelion Chocolate, an award-winning chocolate factory, and a new patisserie from William Werner.
Werner wil open the much-anticipited spot (746 Valencia St.) after a rocky journey. The pastry chefs background is in fine dining — Quince and the Ritz-Carlton are on his resume — but in 2010, he partnered vith Whisk Group to oper the Tell Tale Preserve Co. He had a spot at the Ferry Plaza Farmen Market and sold good, to cafes around town. When the partnership dissolved last summer, Werner was left out in the cold, forced to close Tell Tale abruptly and unable to buy the name or company.
But now he is back, and ready to open bis 1,200- square-foot patisserie in May, with roujhly 22 seats and a sprawling 20-foot pastry case...

Paul E. Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 April 2012: Pickup of a lifetime by MIKE KEPKA The City Expose -- A recent Thursday at 11:52 a.m., inside his Tenderloin shop, Allied Engine Auto Repair, Paul Grech, 68, methodically worked to repair a leaky oil line on his beloved 1936 Ford pickup as his 86-year-old father, Frank Grech, watched. “It's the light of my life. I can’t wait to get up in the morning to drive it,” Paul Grech said. He remembers going with his dad to buy the truck when he was just 12 years old in 1955.After only four years, the father gave the truck to his son, who had just received his driver’s license . It was the gift of a lifetime — whether or not Paul Grech knew it at the time was a different story. He spent countless hours tinkering with the vehicle. He learned to repair it and even put in a new engine. “I was a lonely teenager, but that truck was my buddy,” Grech said. Eventually his interests moved on to other cars, and he sold the truck to his sister. He married, had a family of his own and opened Allied. Then a few years ago, with a little nudging from his wife when a penny stock hit big, Grech bought the car back from his sister. She had barely driven it, keeping it in her garage for 40 years. After 13 months of labor and love, and more money than expected ($150,000), Grech ended up with a hot rod that he says makes BMW drivers cry as he passes them on the highway. “It’s just fun to drive. It’s like being on a surfboard on a 150-foot wave.” Paul said he’s lucky to have been given so much in life and credits much of his success to lessons learned from his dad. “Thanks for the truck,” said the son to his father.

Paul E. Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 8 April 2012: Paul Grech, owner of Allied Engine Auto Repair in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, holds a model of his beloved black 1936 Ford pickup.
"We went to Allied Engine (“City Exposed,” April 1) to get our cars fixed. They also tuned up our psyches and repaired our hearts. Paul and Maryanne Grech have given us, and our children, full service for over a decade. Anyone who reaches out knows that San Francisco is a small town full of good people. None more so then our heroes at Allied Engine."
Laurie Moore and Robert Brovmstone, San Francisco.

Paula M. Ebejer was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 29 September 2013: 5AN CARLOS --Tradition celebrates artists’ talents ®y Lily Bixler Clausen -- ...The driving force behind the San Carlos Art & Wine Faire is probably the 250 people who volunteer each year. A core group of about a dozen people come back year after year and spend long hours working the festival. San Carlos resident and small business owner Paula Ebejer-Moffit is one of those steadfast volunteers. She started volunteering at the fair 15 years ago and now serves on the fair’s planning committee. Why does Ebejer-Moffit keep coming back? Because she knows what the fair does for the community. Besides drawing her town together and providing a great excuse to celebrate fall, the Chamber of Commerce uses profits — at least $5,000 per year — toward scholarships for local kids.

Charles Gerard Farrugia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 17 November 2013: Young at heart, kids welcome, upgraded park By Jill Tucker
When Chuck l'amigiu was a boy in the 1970$, he threw baseball on San Francisco's Portola neighborhood baseball field and flung himself off the swing set on the small playground nearby. He still loved Portola - now Palega — Park, even a time and neglect took their toll. When the neighborhood around the park went through hard times in the 1990s, Farrugia refused to leave and instead bought a house two blocks from his child hood home, believing that someday things would get better.
Saturday was someday. Farrugia with his two young children and his 76-year-old mom, beamed as he surveyed the $21 million in upgrades to his old park at the reopening of the playing fields and Palega recreation center. "This park was forgotten," Farrugia said as children pumped their legs on the new swings and ran around the squishy rubber playground mats meant to break falls and protect little knees. Farrugia was itching to play too. "I can't wait until the crowd disappears and I can go on the baseball field and play." he said. "I'm a kid at heart' Hundreds of kids and kids at heart showed up with Farrugia around 9 AM to shoot hoops on the gleaming indoor court. The nets were so new that balls sometimes got stuck. He planned to spend at least two hours every day making sure the nets get a good deal of use, he said. 1 "I've been waiting two year»," CJ. said, comparing the new center wrh the old one. "The gym just got too old." The renovaton upgraded the site but retained the gym's 1920s bleachers, windows and lighting fixtures. The improved center also includes table tennis, martial arts mats and classrooms for art or other activitves. Dozens of families entered the grounds as a clown struggled to keep up with demand for balloon animals and shy toddlers decided whether to have a rainbow or a dragon painted on their faces. City officials were stunned by the huge turnout. "'Are the Beattles here or are we just reopening Palega Playground?" said Phil Ginsberg, general manager of San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. "This is what I'm talking about' said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who grew up four blocks from the center. "I played in this park. It is personal for me today. ”We are finally getting our fair share of the resources this city has to offer.” The renovation was part of the city’s 2008 $185 million parks bond program, with $40,000 in furniture and equipment courtesy of the San Francisco Parks Alliance.

Paul E. Grech was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2014: One man's dedication to working on cars by Thomas Zizzo
As much as I consider cars to be my passion, I'm always impressed by those who have taken their passion for the automobile much further than I ever have, and probably ever will. Of course, that also depends on how you define your automotive passion. I recently met a service shop owner who has made an entire life, and a good one, out of his love for cars. (Paul Grech and his wife Marianne, together for 47 years, and yes, that's their prized 1957 T-Bird.) Meet Paul Grech, a guy who started working on cars when he was only 15 and never stopped. Paul owns a garage in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. He's been repairing cars there since 1973. Unlike some of his competitors, Paul was smart enough to purchase the building he worked out of, saving his business from increasing prices in rent over the years, and when others struggled through recessions, Paul was able to survive. When cars became computerized, he adapted by buying the right equipment to work on them. For more than 40 years, he has been in the same building. Over the course of his career, Paul has done quite well for himself, and while others have retired, he's still there, because he loves what he does.
It's safe to say that Paul has seen it all. He's worked on classics, modern cars, foreign cars, you name it. He invested in the right tools, wasn't afraid when technology changed the dynamics of how a car operates, weathered the economic downturns and capitalized during the boom times, but above all, he always goes to work with a smile on his face. Paul, and his shop, Allied Engine & Auto Repair, has essentially come full circle. The high-tech crowd in Silicon Valley like old muscle cars and classics, so most of the cars he works on today are older cars, like he use to do when he first started, and what's really amazing is, the car he started with, he still owns and drives. When he was still a teenager, his Dad gave him a 1936 Ford truck. At one point in his life, he got rid of the old truck, but set out on a mission years later to get it back, and he did. He spent a considerable amount of money restoring it and modernizing it, but he did, and says he drives it every day.
Paul's dedication and passion for cars is probably only matched by his relationship with his wife, who he has been with for 47 years this month. She fully supports him and his passion, and actually works at the shop as the office manager. People like Paul and his wife are what makes owning old cars possible. When you value an old car, it's important that you trust the person working on it, and knowing that they share the same love and passion as you do. Paul is also a super nice guy, and when you hear people use the expression, 'he wrote the book on (insert profession here)' he actually did write a book on basic auto repair for aspiring mechanics.
Paul's Dad is a WWII vet, so he feels VERY strongly about thanking and praising our veterans.

Jane Casingena was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle Listen---to living history - The experience of life provides many community elders with fascinating stories
By Cecile Kazemi, Staff Kazemi
It’s one thing to learn history from a book — to read about poignant times and events. However, words on a page, no matter how well they are written, pale by comparison to actual experiences. And perhaps the next best thing is hearing the oral history from those who have lived to tell the tale. Many Benicia senior citizens, like Jane Abela, have the ability to bring past events into the present through vivid details that allow the listener to live and feel what they experienced. And perhaps most importantly, these Americans are willing to share their stories as living historians. Jane was born in Malta, a tiny island nation nestled between two huge continents in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite its diminutive size, Malta was strategically located for both important to both Axis and Allies for it guarded the channel through the Mediterranean. As early as 1940 the Italians said that they could take Malta in days if not hours. Joined by the British, the small Maltese airforce initially withstood the attack, but the bombardment continued, as Hitler promised to make Malta succumb in half an hour. Although that never came to pass, Jane recalls the months she and her fellow countrymen were under attack. Jane vividly recalls these attacks on her home in Senglea, a city near the shipyards, that sent her family into the more than 13 miles of tunnels that had been hastily dug into limestone rocks only weeks before the first bombs fell.
It is these traumatic events that she shares through the eyes of a child. “1 remember hearing Hitler yelling on the radio, ‘Malta is at war,’" she says. “I ran in and told my mother, and the next morning they started bombing.”
Early, the planes flew high in the sky and dropped bombs and then left, she says, recalling that she had gone out into the street to see what was happening. Jane remembers running to a neighbor’s home. “The pastor of Senglea was there and he gave all of us last rights, she says. She was 11 years old. She describes the air raid shelters as huge cavernous rooms well below ground. “Everyone would have a candle, she recalls, remembering a time the blast was so forceful, all the flames went out. “Your ears felt like they were going to bust, you could feel the wind coming down, and the whistling of the bombs.”
Almost immediately, the family began a series of moves to villages away from the city, where they took refuge from the bombing, deep inside catacombs - the old Turkish buna! grounds, lending a sense of the macabre to the already frightening experience.
Jane remembers how the war affected her family. An elder sister was literally scared to death, she says, succumbing almost immediately to the ravages of typhoid fever. "We drank water from the wells," she said, “and became ill.” However, Jane’s elder sister was so frightened and emotionally distraught her body could not withstand the physical assault of the illness. “She was scared stiff, afraid to move. That happens when you are so afraid," she says, simply. But the family suffered yet another blow when her father, a gentle, family man, utterly destroyed by the loss of lives and devastation he had seen as a result of the bombing, died only a week after his daughter. “It was,” Jane says, “too much for him.” A broken family, Jane was pulled from school to help raise her remaining five siblings.
“I loved school and I loved learning," she states firmly, “but I didn’t mind this — it was what we had to do at the time.”
Nevertheless, she says, she remembers crying bitterly when she learned that she could no longer go to school. “I loved learning."
She became a second mother to her brothers and sisters, and the biggest battle became that of sickness and hunger that followed the bombings.
Since both the Italians and Germans had failed in their attempt to overtake Malta, the next step was preventing supplies to reach the area by bombing every ship that entered the waters. "You see," she explains, "they were waiting and ready to attack every ship that had food in order to make Malta fall." Consequentally, with few provisions making to the island throughout 1942, the Maltese were slowly starving and it is the hunger that stands out most vividly to Jane.
"My mother would trade her jewelry for a piece of bread," she says "occsionally we would get a can of corned beef and my mother would go to the bakerv to trade it for a loaf of bread which she thought was more filling. She used to have to lock the uneaten portions up so we wouldn’t eat it all."
During this time, Jane recalls getting up at night and crying with hunger. “Now,” she says, “you can’t believe that kind of hunger."
She continued to raise the family while her mother stood for hours in relief lines. “That was what she could do," Jane explains, while her sister Mary, two years her junior, was also pulled out of school to work in a factory. “This is what we had to do back then," she says. But Jane and the rest of her family, like the majority of Maltese citizens, withstood the war and retained their spirit.
By the time she was 17, the war was over and the family of refugees had finally settled in the village of Curmi, where she met her future husband. Manuel Abela had immigrated to the United States several years before the war began, and enlisted in the Army to fight with the Americans. “Of course he became an American citizen while he was in the Army," Jane explains, "but returned home to see his family, and that’s were he met me.” Fondly recalling that time, Jane says that Manuel asked her who she was. “I am a refugee in your village,’’ she laughingly replied. Only a few months later, he asked her to marry him. She was 17 and he was 34, although Jane says that the age difference never mattered. "I told him that he would have to ask my mother, and if she said no, it would be no forever."
The two were married and only a few months later were on a cargo boat to America. "I was pregnant at the time," she says "and it was awful, but that's how we could travel at that time."
Coming to America, Jane hoped for a better life. “I came to America for my family — the children I would have and those I left behind,” Jane says, noting that the level of poverty in Malta at the time was devastating. “Even at that young age, I had the idea that I could do something better for them and for my mother, brothers, and sisters still in Malta." The only regret was that this was the last time she saw her mother alive. The newlyweds settled in the Bay Area where they raised five
children and continued to financially help her family in Malta. Jane never went back to school, something that also affected her deeply. “When my children were growing up, and would give me trouble about going to school, all I would do is say something like, ‘If I only could have gone to school’ and the kids would say, ‘Okay, Mom, we’re going." Like her husband, Jane became an American citizen. “I love Malta," she says. “It’s where I was bom. But I love it here, too, because America is also my home.” However, for many years, although she kept in contact with her family through frequent letters, neither Jane nor her husband could afford to return to Malta to visit their family. While taking a trip home never seemed a priority for Jane and her husband, their children, now well-educated and successful adults, had other plans. They surprised the couple with tickets home — 38 years after they had been on their native soil. “That trip was wonderful," she says fondly. And while the war years greatly impacted the woman she would become, Jane is quick to point out that it is only one part of her story. “There is much more to tell." she says. Indeed there is. And one has but to ask.
Jane Abela has lived in Benicia for more than 20 years. She volunteers her time five days a week at the Senior Citizens’ Center, helping with the BCAC Senior Meals program.

Arthur Stellini was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015: Peninsula ‘Mayberry’ rocked by cop scandal
By Kevin Fagan
Broadmoor Village has always been known as the Mayberry of the Peninsula, a tiny, quiet community tucked into the middle of Daly City where cops have long been known more for swapping yarns with locals than for chasing sex scandals. »But Broadmoor can row add the flavor of another classic TV show to its mix: “Peyton Place.”
One of the village’s police commissioners is suing the Police Department for harassment and falæ arrest, saying he was hauled to jail on trumped-up accusations of viewing pornography on a government computer and misusing equipment. The commissioner, J. Wayne Johnson, says his arrest in December was., the climax of an escalating campaign against him — all because he has aggressively criticized the department's management as inept.
Johnson says he wants the police brass put in jail for ruiring his life and Peninsula Broadmoor’s small-town placidity. The police brass responded by filing a report Thursday with the San Mateo County district attorney seeking charges against Johnson, but authorities are not elaborating on whether those charges would involve misuse of village equipment or something else. “I’d like to get my life back,” said Johnson, a 75-year-old retiree who has back problems and uses a cane. “I never watched porn. They’ve basically turned my life upside down with all of this. “I’d be happy to take their homes and cars, anything but their wives and kids. I would like to see them all incarcerated.” Police Chief Art Stellini did not return calls for comment. ‘T can’t really comment, but we don’t believe there’s any merit to that lawsuit,” saiœ David Parenti, the chief Stellini replaced in April. “We’re reviewing it, and we will move forward from there.”     I
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on Aug. 28, names the Broadmoor Police Protection District, Stellini, Parenti, Broadmoor police Officer Charles Smith and the other two colleagues of Johnson’s on the elected Broadmoor Police Commission, Joseph Sheridan and Ralph Hutchens.
Johnson’s suit claims false arrest, trespass on his property, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It also says the warrant used in his December arrest was not signed by a judge — and indeed, the San Mateo County Superior Court clerk’s office said there is no record of the warrant.
Parenti was the only one of the defendants who responded to requests for comment.
“It seems to me this Police Department operates under the radar and most people don’t know it exists,” said Johnson’s attorney, Beau Burbidge. “They’ve been doing whatever they wanted, and our client got in the way. So they’re trying to get him out oFthe way.” Broadmoor is one of the most unusual communities in the Bay Area. With 4,176 residents and no real downtown, it’s unincorporated and consists of a half-square- mile of homes entirely surrounded by Daly City.
It has the only police assessment district of its kind in the state, meaning the unincorporated residents pay for their own department — which has 10 full-time officers, including the chief, and 30 part-time officers. Historically, officers were known in the area for their community policing skills, meaning they spent more time helping out with folksy parades and chasing down lost pets than busting bad guys. But in recent years, the force modernized with more sophisticated weaponry and has had to handle rougher incidents, such as an outlaw biker party in 2013 that erupted into a gunfight. Among Johnson’s complaints: Police cars that used to be clearly marked with law enforcement stars now have confusing graphics, finance accounting is sloppy, and officers don’t connect with the community like they used to.
“Parenti didn’t know how to run a department,” Johnson said. “I was vocal with the chief and he didn’t like that, I guess because I’ve called him incompetent and incapable. We pioneered community policing, but they’re not out there doing routine patrols anymore. “The present chief doesn’t appear to be a whole lot better, but we’ll see.”.

Ronald Blake Mallia was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 21 March 2015: S.F. memory expert to compete against the best by Steve Rubenstein
Ron Mallia, a world class memory expert, practices memorizing a deck of cards at the table he sits at five days a week at the San Francisco Tennis Club in San Francisco. Ron Mallia, a world class memory expert, is able to memorize an entire deck of cards and a random, 100 digit number in five minutes and will be participating this month in a memory competition in New York. Ron Mallia, who can memorize 52 shuffled playing cards in five minutes, is ready for the big time.
He’s taking his playing cards to New York City, where countless others before him have made their mark. Now it’s his turn. If you’re the best at what you do, greatness awaits. And Mallia is the best. “Queen of hearts,” said Ron Mallia, and then he turned the card over and, sure enough, the lady in red smiled up at him from the tabletop. In many games of fortune she can be a fickle female, but when Mallia turns over cards, one by one, there is no element of chance.
“Nine of diamonds, four of clubs, jack of spades” he said, summoning them forward like errant schoolboys, and there they were. He was perfect. He always is.
Mallia, a retired mechanic from San Francisco, was sitting at a restaurant table, a shuffled red deck before him. He was doing some last-minute practicing before flying off for the USA Memory Championship this week, where he and 75 other whizzes will seek to discover who among them is best at memorizing decks of shuffled cards and lists of random numbers.The winner gets a shiny medal and zero dollars, an easy enough number to remember. While The Chronicle shuffled the next deck, Mallia sought to answer the question that countless card memorizers before him have had to deal with: What’s the point of memorizing a deck of cards?
“There’s no practical value,” Mallia said. “But it does keep your mind sharp. I’m trying to take care of my mind.”
It’s like a crossword puzzle or a TV quiz show. There is no reason for any of it, except for the use-it-or-lose-it plan for the human brain.
Mallia, a first-time entrant in the contest at 56, is seeking to stave off for as long as possible whatever is scheduled to happen to him after 56. His coach is San Francisco memory consultant Chester Santos, who conducts $400-a-day seminars for business people who have trouble remembering clients’ names and faces.
To memorize a deck of cards, Mallia uses the old technique of associating each card with a specific object and then linking them in sequence by imagining some sort of action. In his mind, Mallia sees a progression of toes kicking lightbulbs and tops spinning into candy canes. Presented with a freshly shuffled deck, Mallia sits silently, shakes his head and begins rocking side to side. He could pass for a snake charmer facing a cobra. As he flips over each card, he stabs at it with two fingers, like Moe trying to poke Curly’s eyes. The rocking and the stabbing help him focus, he said.
With the clock ticking, he must make sure of each image. If he visualizes the toes kicking the candy cane when it should be kicking the lightbulb, it’s game over.
In the next event, Mallia gets five minutes to memorize a list of 100 random digits. The Chronicle again jotted them down and Mallia did his finger-stabbing, snake-charming thing again. Then he started rocking, as if reading holy writ from the pulpit. As with the cards, Mallia commits to memory action images represented by four-digit combinations of numbers. He began, “10301990,” then, “03221994.” At the New York championship, he’ll also be called upon to memorize a 50-line poem and a big book of names and mug shots. Just as important as remembering is forgetting the meaningless things he just remembered. That way, Mallia said, he keeps his mind clear for the next set of meaningless things. There’s no point overdosing on useless information. For example, Mallia forgot a Chronicle reporter’s name and phone number. “I only remember what I need to remember,” said the man of memory.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.

John Darmanin was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 29 October 2015.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2016: At the November 9th 2016 San Bruno CA City Council meeting, local business owner Dennis Sammut of Artichoke Joes Casino was honored for Artichoke Joes being a San Bruno business for 100 years. San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane read and presented Dennis with a proclamation. Dennis and the Sammut Family Foundation continues to be a BIG supporter of many San Bruno functions. Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the New York Post on 17 May 2016: Lead investigator reveals ‘suspect’ in unsolved murder of famed restaurateur By Jamie Schram     

The prime suspect in the 1984 unsolved murder of legendary former Manhattan chef Masa Kobayashi is a drifter who was accused of molesting the victim’s relative, The Post has learned. Masa — who shot to stardom in the early 1980s after opening the posh French bistro Le Plaisir on the Upper East Side and later, Masa’s Restaurant on the West Coast — was beaten to death with a gun he carried for protection in November 1984, according to the former chief investigator on the case, San Francisco Homicide Inspector Frank Falzon. Kobayashi had moved to San Francisco from New York City months earlier and opened Masa’s, a celebrity haunt that attracted the likes of Paul Newman, Shirley MacLaine and Steve Jobs. Just before he was killed, Masa, 45, confronted a man suspected of molesting the restaurateur’s relative, Falzon told The Post, revealing new details about the murder. “Masa wanted [his relative] to stay away from the suspect.”
“We suspected that [the man], who knew karate, put [Masa] in a chokehold and broke a bone around the neck, and we think he hit [Masa] over the head with the automatic, which was missing,” said Falzon, who retired from the SFPD in 1992. The suspect, who was in his early 20s at the time, admitted to police that he was the last person to see Masa alive — and failed a polygraph test, Falzon said. But then he clammed up and hired a lawyer.
The man has never been charged with the crime, but “based upon our investigation, he remains the primary suspect” in Masa’s murder, Falzon said.
The Post is withholding the man’s name because he hasn’t been arrested. The SFPD said this week that Masa’s slaying remains an “open homicide case” and declined to characterize the man’s alleged role. Efforts to reach the man, who hung out around Masa’s apartment building, were unsuccessful because his name doesn’t appear in public records. But his lawyer, Tony Tamburello, told The Post, “[The police] have a theory that is not supported by any forensic evidence and anything independent.” Masa had moved his family into the apartment building near Chinatown, where the eatery owner’s relative would disappear for hours with the man, said Masa’s former maitre d’, John Cunin, who discovered his boss’s body. “When Masa questioned his [relative] about it, [the kin] would say they were reading the Bible together,” said Cumin, noting that he was briefed on the investigation at the time. Masa’s family eventually got the relative out of the city.
Then on Nov. 11, 1984, Masa closed his restaurant for the night and walked back to his building, where police believe the man was waiting for him and demanded to know where the relative was, according to Falzon and Cunin. The pair are believed to have gotten into a war of words as the man followed Masa to the door of his apartment, and things turned violent, Falzon and Cunin said. Under police questioning, the man admitted that “he went to Masa’s apartment and was the last one, we knew, to have seen Masa alive,” said Falzon, who convinced the guy to take a polygraph test. “The next day, [the polygraph expert] came back and said, ‘He did it. I studied the charts. There’s no doubt in my mind,’” Falzon quoted the expert as saying. But polygraph tests are not admissible in a court of law, and Falzon didn’t have enough evidence to charge the suspect. The case stayed cold. Over the years, some media reports have linked Masa’s slaying to the infamous “Night Stalker” serial killer, Richard Ramirez, who died of lymphoma in 2013 on California’s death row. Falzon, who was on the Night Stalker Task Force and helped solve the case in 1985, dismissed the idea that Ramirez killed Masa because his MO was totally different. “The Night Stalker would break in, steal all of your valuables and destroy you. Nothing like that here,” Falzon said.Masa’s family declined to comment for this article.

Charles James Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5 June 2016: Showbiz animals’ home becomes a zoo
Although the yellow brick road is still in the planning stage, staff at the recently renamed Monterey Zoo are already calling its spacious new animal enclosures “Oz."
That's because the lions, tigers and bears are the first round of animals in or moving soon to larger, more natural digs at the former Wild Things compound in the Salinas Valley. “Eventually we’ll have a yellow brick path going up to that area," said founder and animal trainer Charlie Sammut.
In August, the zoo’s four Bengal tigers — two males, two females — moved into a 12,000- square-foot playground with a . 25"foot swimming hole and a waterfall, and viewing windows for visitors. In Februar', the zoo finished nearly identical facilities for its three lions. In late May, the zoo broke ground on a new home for its two cinnamon black bears.
That in turn will allow for expanded quarters for the three camels.
.Sammut opened Wild Things in 1983, at the start of. his career handling show business animals. Along the way he acquired or rescued big cats, smaller cats, elephants, pri- iliâtes, and what lie lovingly calls “oddballs” — a hyena, capybara and aged kangaroo among them — that now total more than 180 creatures on his 51-acre Vision Quest ranch near the Gabilan Range. As filming in California moved to other locations, Sammut said, he wanted something better for his animals — and for families in the surrounding agricultural community, who have few educational leisure options. “It was amazing,” said Kaiya Torres, 9, after a recent tour. “I really like the lions and the tigers.” She was visiting with her family from Aspen, CO, and grandmother Lydia Torres of Salinas, who added, “It's so cool there. It’s beautiful.” —Jeanne Cooper.


Alpio Barbara was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 9 September 2016: One Man. One Superstore: Alpio Barbara’s Employees Call Him a Commanding, Charismatic Leader. We Call Him Our 2016 Tire Dealer of the Year
September 9, 2016 by Joy Kopcha

KEYWORDS 2016 Tire Dealer of the Year Alpio Barbara Redwood General Tire Service Co. Tire Dealer of the Year

In 1969 Alpio Barbara was a college student needing to work more hours while pursuing his dream of becoming a police officer. He had a job in a stationery store and mentioned his search for more work to one of the store’s customers. Al Howard hired him to work at Howard Tire in Belmont, Calif.

“The rest is history,” Barbara says. He feels as if he’s “been in the tire business all my life.”

He started as a tire changer and learned to do alignments and some front-end work, though he admits he’s never called himself a mechanic, or today’s preferred term of technician. He moved from the service department to the wholesale side of Howard Tire and by 1984 he was itching to learn the retail side. One weekend he told members of the California Tire Dealers Association of his dream to someday own a single tire store.

His phone rang the following Monday. Dave Redfern was operating Redwood General Tire Service Co., the business his father Ernie started in May 1957 in Redwood City, Calif., and he was looking for a way out. Howard Tire was Redfern’s wholesale supplier.

The two men had lunch and a couple weeks later — on a handshake — Barbara and Redfern became partners. Barbara’s first day of business ownership was a memorable one.

On July 8, 1985, Redfern says he was excited about his new-found freedom and opted to go home for lunch. Barbara remained at the store and was talking to a customer in the parking lot when an electrical transformer behind the store exploded. Fire engines filled the street to extinguish the blaze, and the utility company got to work assessing the damage and making repairs. Barbara remembers a large commercial tire melting like it was a marshmallow. With all the emergency crews still on the scene, Redfern returned to work.

They both laugh about it now, and Barbara jokes he needed “to light a fire under these guys.” What they didn’t immediately know was every firefighter who responded to the call had to strip down to their underwear before leaving the tire shop. There was no safe way to clean their uniforms of the contamination of the exposed oil and gas particles, so everything was stuffed into barrels and sealed.

“That was my first day at Redwood General Tire. I was thinking, ‘what did I get myself into?’”

It was a fiery start, but over the last 31 years Barbara has built this single store into one of the largest independent tire dealerships in the country. He took over sole ownership in 2000 and Redwood General Tire has grown into a superstore with 40 employees who service 50 cars a day and ring up $12 million in annual sales. Barbara is Modern Tire Dealer’s 2016 Tire Dealer of the Year.

Good service doesn’t mean free service

In its 59 years of existence, Redwood General Tire always has called Redwood City home. When the business moved to 1630 Broadway in 1970, Redfern says it “seemed like we were in the sticks,” but that’s definitely not the case now. The 10,000 square-foot shop sits on an acre of land in a city where real estate is the hottest commodity. Its next door neighbor is America’s Tire, the California-named sibling of Discount Tire.

“I’m not worried about these guys next door to me,” Barbara says. “Costco as the bird flies is a mile away. Les Schwab is less than five miles away. If you give good service and do the basics, you’re going to succeed.”

Good service doesn’t mean free service. His next door neighbors are known for their free flat repair. At Redwood General Tire, flat repairs cost $35. “They give away flat repairs. I don’t have to. I think it’s a service. I think I’m saving you what could be a $200 tire. If you give something away for free, then someone thinks it’s not a big deal.”

It’s one of the many topics he’s talked about with his sales team during their regular meetings. They call it a huddle. They review sales numbers, but also talk about ways to improve the business. When they talked about free flat repairs, the salesmen backed up his idea. The consensus: they already do so many of them — at least 10 a day — why should they start to give them away?

Store Manager Denny Reiser starts an August huddle by running down the total sales for the month for each of the seven salesmen, with notes about comparable month totals. With seven more full workdays in the month, overall sales are down, but another $1-million-month is possible. Year-to-date, the store’s revenues are down, but there’s an acknowledgement some of that is due to an overall drop in wholesale business. Each sales person manages some wholesale accounts.

Still, the lower numbers are a good segue into a discussion about price matching. “This is the perfect time to get out of the mindset we’ve been in for so long of just dropping our price and matching, matching, matching.” Reiser says. “For people who walk into the store we don’t necessarily have to drop.”

Barbara agrees, and says they need to use the triangle sales tool to present three tire options to a customer. Putting the right tires in the triangle sets up the framework for a good sale. “Just like everyone’s not going to be a doctor, not every car needs a Michelin. Michelin’s always going to be your best, we all agree on that, so let’s work from that.” Alpio tells his team an owner of a Buick might not want Michelins, but Pirelli and Continental are good options to fill out the triangle, or Pirelli and Hankook.

Reiser says, “It’s got to be a win, win, win. We talk about that all the time. What’s best for the customer? What’s best for the store? What’s best for the salesman? They’re coming in here because they want to be here. They’re not really coming here as an exercise because they want to shop tires. Once they come into the store, most likely they’re going to buy.”

These huddles also are opportunities to fix procedural problems that are slowing down the daily process. Inputting the complete part number for every tire on every invoice, rather than just the brand name or tire description, is a big one, and it holds up the check-in process when American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) makes its twice-daily deliveries. Alex Feliz says the Oct. 1 launch of the store’s new software system should help things. Feliz is in charge of information technology, on top of his assignment at the sales counter. He’s the go-to guy for wheels and all aftermarket accessories.

The discussion leads to how to best test the new system, and they plan for a soft opening on a Saturday. They’ll take care of the morning rush, but will limit mechanical work. They’ll also schedule the routine service for the company vehicles that day so Parts Manager Danny Catucci gets a chance to test his end of the system. Stephen De La Rosa will set aside a couple vehicles from his commercial fleet accounts for that day as well.

These conversations are valuable, Barbara says. They bat around ideas. The latest experiment is using Uber for a customer shuttle. The store has its own branded shuttle van which makes two runs each morning, dropping off customers at work. But Uber opens the door to transportation all day long, and customers don’t have to make multiple stops on their way. At $3 or $7 a trip and plenty of Uber drivers within reach, it’s faster and cheaper than him paying an employee. Redwood General Tire also has used Uber for tire deliveries from ATD when it’s missed the cut-off time to place an order.

“I tell these guys I love change. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll just change back. One decision is not going to bankrupt the company,” Barbara says.

A lightbulb moment

Sometimes, a $1.10 decision makes all the difference.

Barbara admits he’s a worrier, and he’s short on patience. His office sits in the middle of his store, with one glass window giving him a view of the shop, and another window with a view of the sales counter. When he sees customers pacing around the property, he knows they’re running short on patience, too. Years ago he realized it was taking too long to finish a car. It was tying up the rack, tying up the technician, and tying up the sales counter. He asked a technician what was taking so long. He was waiting for a customer to approve something spotted during the inspection process — a $1.10 lightbulb.

“I’m not going to have my technicians stop, come all the way up front, tell Denny ‘the customer needs a tail light.’ Denny calls. He has to leave a message and the customer has to call back. No, just keep going. We even do that if an air filter looks dirty.”

It’s not just about workflow, he says. It’s a matter of valuing the customer’s time. Is it worth it to interrupt a customer, likely at work, to get approval for such a small dollar amount? They attach the burned-out light to the ticket and show it to the customer at checkout. The bottom line is customers trust them to make that kind of call. If a customer did complain, perhaps because he already bought a bulb and planned to replace it at home, Barbara says the shop would take it off the ticket. He can’t think of the last time that happened.

“I don’t look at my business through the dollars. I look at my business through the satisfaction of my customers. When I see the lot completely full, I’m not looking at it as cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. I’m looking at it as are we going to get these cars done by the end of the day? If that lot is empty at the end of the day I’m going to have money.”

Pep Giannini is one of those trusting customers of Redwood General Tire. He first met Barbara in 1985. Giannini was working as a dishwasher at Green Hills Country Club, where Barbara has served as president three times. One night Barbara was leaving the club during a driving rainstorm. He noticed a man with a bicycle standing at a bus stop and thought he recognized him from the country club. He rolled down the window of his El Camino and asked if he needed a ride.

Giannini remembers him saying, “’Hey buddy,’ and I’m thinking, is he calling me Bobby? My name is not Bobby.” Barbara knows little Spanish, but quickly remembered the word for home. “Then he said casa.” Giannini put his bicycle in the back, got in the front seat and used his hands to point right and left to lead Barbara to his home.

That encounter in a rainstorm stuck with Giannini. He and his wife are now regular, longtime Redwood General Tire customers. “This is the place I trust. It’s hard to find a reliable car shop. Even when I have major issues with my car, I know I can trust them. I can give my house keys to these guys, that’s how much I trust them, but it’s all because of Alpio. He projects that image of really trusting.”

2008: A year of reluctant change

It’s that kind of trust and customer relationship Barbara has built into the foundation of Redwood General Tire. His salesmen have a following, and it’s not uncommon to watch customers wait to talk to “their guy” even if someone else is available to help them. One morning as Spence Sperduto talked to a customer on the phone another one walked in the door, waved, dropped off a box of doughnuts and left. Reiser, the store manager, admits he often gets teased by the others for how much time he spends with his customers. “Are they coming to Thanksgiving? I get a hard time for that. But it becomes a relationship. And not to stereotype, but especially with women, they want to talk more, and once you’ve earned their trust, everything’s in the open. It’s not just their car anymore; it’s their personal life.”

And those sometimes lengthy conversations come at an incredibly busy sales counter. There’s a shop rule that there can never be fewer than five people working the front counter at any time. (There’s space and computers for six.) Reiser estimates each of them answers 75 phone calls a day. Kurt Boegner, the commercial road service manager who has worked at Redwood General Tire for 30 years, thinks it’s closer to 100 calls each.

All the action at the front counter translates to a busy day for Carlos Perez, the service manager. Perez holds a pilot’s license and says the training for a controlled crash comes in handy.

“It’s controlled chaos. We have schedules. There’s always a change of plans, but somehow, by the end of the day, it works out.”

At times it’s plain loud in the showroom, but that’s because all six people at the counter are talking to customers, and more customers are lingering in the waiting area. Barbara can’t stand to hear the phone ring, so he’ll often jump on a call from his office and pass it off as needed. In one swift motion he answers a call, transfers it and then slaps the “easy” button sitting on his desk. He thrives on the frenzied pace.

Ten years ago, Barbara was in the midst of the madness. He was running the sales counter and working as the service manager. He was handling all the marketing and advertising. Nothing happened without his stamp of approval. But three strokes and one open heart surgery in 2008 forced a change, albeit a reluctant one.

He had what he described as a weird morning. He fell at home while getting ready for work. When he arrived at the shop and tried to unlock the front door it took several tries. He realized he was standing in the street, and wasn’t anywhere near the door. Once he got inside he fell again. One of the city’s firemen stopped in, as they often did for coffee or just for a chat, and Barbara told him about his “weird day.” The fireman told him to raise both his arms, and when he couldn’t raise both arms to the same height, the fireman told him he was having a stroke and needed to go to the emergency room. At that moment Darlene Barbara, Redwood General Tire’s office manager, walked in the door for work and she rushed him to the hospital.

Barbara learned he had a hole in his heart, and that a blood clot that probably had plugged the hole his entire life had moved. Doctors tried an experiment with a patch to cover the hole, but months later the patch dislodged and Barbara suffered two more strokes. Open-heart surgery was the final fix.

He was lucky to be alive. And like many independent tire dealers, he thought his business couldn’t survive without him. Two-and-a-half weeks after heart surgery, he came back to work. He had to wear compression garments under his shirt to protect the incision, and told his staff he “had to be careful.” No doctor had cleared him to return to work. His first day back, Boegner told him they were having a huddle the next day.

Barbara was worried. Something must have gone wrong while he was absent. He spent the day asking employees what had happened. Even though Boegner was one of the most senior employees, he was not the type to call a meeting. The sales team gathered in Barbara’s office and Boegner took charge, calling out his coworkers, instructing them to step up and manage the sales counter, the service department and to knock off the funny business. “He was really adamant,” Barbara says.

He asked Boegner what he was supposed to do.

“Do what bosses do. Do nothing.” Boegner told him, rattling off the number of employees, the number of spouses, and the number of children depending on him for their livelihoods. “We can’t have you dropping dead in here. That’s not part of the deal.”

Barbara can be tough, but he’s also a softy. Tears flowed down his face. “That was the beginning of me starting to let go and let these guys flourish to do what they can do,” Barbara says. “I’m not saying we haven’t had any bumpy roads, don’t get me wrong. But they’ve stepped up.”

Now Barbara, who is 65, supervises, but doesn’t manage the nitty gritty daily details. He doesn’t open the store on a daily basis anymore. He takes time off. He’s even bought a house in Scottsdale, Ariz., and this spring opened what he jokingly calls his “man cave.” Alpio’s at Troon is a 4,300-square-foot building where he’s displaying his collection of muscle cars and vintage gas pumps and also operating an event center.

But that doesn’t mean he’s disengaged from his tire business, or ever plans to leave Redwood City. He jumps from his office chair dozens of times a day to talk to customers he’s known for years. At the end of a day when a frustrated man returns with his work truck, unhappy that one of the service jobs on the order wasn’t completed, Barbara jumps in to smooth it over. He apologizes for the mistake and makes arrangements to give the man a ride home and ensure his truck is the first order of business the next morning so the customer’s work day isn’t affected. By the time the customer leaves, he was apologizing to Barbara for being an inconvenience.

A forward-thinking problem-solver

Barbara’s personality is contagious. Going to lunch with him is like eating with a local celebrity. Sitting at an outdoor café he calls the employees by name and engages in a constant conversation with others who drop by the table. They talk about business developments, hometown politics and the news of the day. He seems like a natural politician, in the ways that is a compliment.

But politics move too slowly for Barbara. Endless meetings and discussions aren’t his style. He wants to think about something and do it. Reiser says, “Everyone is afraid of red tape. He’s not afraid of the red tape. The more red tape the more he cuts through it. He is about getting things done. He’s got a strong opinion about what should be and what shouldn’t be, and that’s what helps him run his business.

“He doesn’t wait for a problem; he tries to see beyond that before it becomes a problem. He’s so forward thinking.”

That was obvious years ago when the world was just beginning to grasp the internet and email. “He knew it was the future,” Reiser says. “He adapted really early. He just has a way of thinking. It was all new to us and we were afraid of it, but he kept saying this is the future. We gotta do it.” That same thought process led Redwood General Tire to offer free Wi-Fi years ago. “We were way ahead of the game,” Barbara says.

And it’s paid off, Reiser says. “That was probably the single greatest thing we’ve done in terms of customer service, allowing Wi-Fi and having workstations for people to work.”

For Barbara, it all boils down to one thing: “I don’t want to follow.”

That mentality shows when he meets with two men from a tech start-up company. It takes him less than 10 minutes to say he’s in. He asks them to come back a week later and present the same information to his sales team at the weekly huddle. He also lets them know he’s not happy that he wasn’t the first tire and repair shop on their list.

He’s incredibly active in nonprofit and business organizations in Redwood City and across the San Francisco Peninsula, but he doesn’t want to serve on some sideline committee. He wants to be in charge. The year he had his strokes and heart surgery, he was chairing four organizations at the same time: the Independent Tire Dealers Group LLC (ITDG), a Rotary Club, his country club, and the Redwood City Downtown Business Group.

Barbara Bonilla was instrumental in getting Barbara involved in the Redwood City Police Activities League (PAL). The two met almost 20 years ago when she was organizing a fundraiser and approached him for a donation. She invited him to serve on the PAL board. He was the first civilian to do so. The PAL club works to keep at-risk youth occupied in safe activities after school.

When the group had an offer from the local school district to take over an unused plot of land for a new community center, Barbara led the charge and helped raise $3.2 million for the $4.5 million project.

“Every community should have an Alpio. It’s hard to find an organization he’s not been on the leadership board for.”

And he does more than write a check, or solicit other community leaders to write a check, Bonilla says. He flips pancakes at fundraising breakfasts. He collects toys. He helps organize everything from golf tournaments and poker runs to music festivals and comedy night fundraisers. He’s even dressed up as Santa Claus. And since Bonilla has moved from her previous job with the police department to the director of community services for the San Mateo County Sheriff Office, Barbara now is supporting its PAL equivalent, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Activities League.

Erin Niemeyer is the recreation supervisor for Redwood City and has been part of many fundraising events with Barbara. “The strength of his character is what pushes everything through. He’ll make sure the event is a success.”

That’s evident in moments both great and small. In 1996 Jenny Corral was graduating from high school when she earned the Sequoia Award, an annual scholarship given to students who exemplify outstanding community service. Corral’s family couldn’t afford to attend the $100-a-plate dinner to see her accept the award. When Barbara heard this he sponsored a table and invited Corral and her family to sit with him. They met the night of the event. “My family was taken aback by this guy,” says Corral. “He owns his own business, but he’s thoughtful enough to think of someone else in the community.”

Carlos Bolanos, the sheriff of San Mateo county, says there seems to be no limit to Barbara’s generosity, whether it’s coaching a sports team or donating shoes to a child who can’t afford them. “It’s not the big flashy things; it’s all those little intangibles. The guy never says no.”

When Brian Banks was in high school, he was building his first car, and when it was time to get tires, his dad sent him to Redwood General Tire. Barbara gave him his first set. “He won me over at 16. I’m 41 and I’ve never forgotten that.”

Now Banks is president of Action Towing & Road Service Inc., the business his father started while he was in elementary school. Redwood General Tire services its fleet of 74 trucks and provides what Banks calls “first class service.”

A commercial growth option

Commercial business is where Barbara sees an opportunity to grow. With three service trucks, Redwood General Tire does a little more than $1 million in commercial business, and De La Rosa, who focuses on those sales, says the bulk of the company’s business is with small fleets of about 10 vehicles. Barbara says there’s more business out there. The closest alternative is 24 miles away in San Jose. While chasing new customers, Barbara tells his sales team it’s important they do things right with the ones they have now. That includes charging the correct labor rate. “This is where we’re missing the boat,” Barbara says.

So they review the rules again. If it’s a medium truck or higher, dual wheels, whether it’s a one-ton Ford F-450 or GMC 5500 or a motorhome, entering the truck labor rate is essential. Without it, the store isn’t getting paid for all the set-up time it takes to jack up the vehicle and assemble the right tools in the only space available to do these large commercial jobs — the parking lot. “Our lot is full of them. If we lose one out of five (because of the higher rate), that’s fine.”

But Reiser doesn’t expect to lose any business. “We’re not robbing them. We’ve just got to get paid for it.” Barbara tells his sales team, “Maybe you guys should go outside and jack up a motorhome, then you’ll know what we’re talking about.”

No property? No problem

With an eye on increasing sales on the commercial side, Barbara says his wholesale business has taken a hit in recent years. The biggest drop has come from new car dealerships who ordered from him. “We spent so much time training them, teaching them, and then all of a sudden, they kicked us out of the equation. We’re not selling cars. Why should they be selling tires?”

At its peak Redwood General Tire was selling $150,000 worth of tires a month to at least 10 new car dealerships. Only a couple dealerships remain on the customer list.

His less-than-$1 million wholesale business now is focused on small, mom-and-pop auto repair shops and service stations. It’s a niche he serves with the blessing of his own wholesaler, ATD. “They want us to go call on the small gas stations. They don’t want their truck to drop off two or three tires, so they have no problem with that. We made an agreement on that. We’re not calling on tire shops.”

Redwood General Tire manages its wholesale and retail inventory from a series of metal shipping containers that are parked in the far corner of the parking lot. Once upon a time the tires were stored in a section of the shop, but as the service business grew, Barbara had to make room for more lifts and more technicians.

Because real estate costs are so high, he sought a unique solution. There are now a dozen shipping containers on site painted to match the building. Tires are organized by brand and size, and a metal staircase is rolled around and used to access the upper deck of containers.

When a wholesale customer needs a delivery, the tires are loaded directly from the containers into a Redwood General Tire truck. When a retail customer purchases new tires, they’re loaded onto carts and rolled across the parking lot.

Barbara isn’t afraid of unique solutions. Frankly, he’s not afraid of much at all, whether it’s tire manufacturers selling direct to consumers or trying to use his customer data from tire registration forms.

Dan Brown, the recently retired president of Tire Pros, of which Redwood General Tire is a member, says Barbara’s approach to change is refreshing. “He’s constantly watching the trends and what’s happening and how he might need to adapt his business today as compared to yesterday.

“Many dealers took a strong opinion that they weren’t advocates of installing tires bought online elsewhere. They saw that as a threat. But Alpio looked at it knowing ‘it’s going to happen and my taking a position opposing it isn’t going to stop it, so how can I modify my business?’ He embraced it. He saw it as an opportunity to turn that internet customer who belonged to someone else into his customer. I think he’s been quite successful with that.”

Barbara says, “Independent tire dealers are the foundation of the industry, and for some reason manufacturers are always trying to knock us off the foundation. They’re always trying to cause an earthquake.

“The bottom line is people come to us and say, ‘can you match this price?’ The reason they say that is because they want to do business with Redwood General Tire. If they didn’t want to do business with us, they’d just go get that tire, because it’s the best price. They don’t ask can we beat it.

“They know we have a great reputation. They know we’re in the community. They know we’re local. They know we’ll back it up.”

Lessons learned

His relentless focus on service stems back to when Barbara got a divorce in 2000 and went to a high-end furniture store to buy a new bedroom set. He spent $15,000 on furniture, arranged for delivery, drew a diagram of where each piece should be placed, left his door unlocked and went to work.

He was excited to get home and see it in place. “I get home and there’s no mattress. I call them up. They say, ‘Mr. Barbara you didn’t order a mattress.’ ‘I just spent $15,000 and you didn’t think I needed a mattress? You think I’m going to use an old one?’

“They didn’t finish the sale.”

It was a lesson he knew he could apply at his business. Another shopping trip to a Victoria’s Secret was just as painful. He was shopping for a gift and had no idea what to buy or what size to purchase and he left a sweaty, nervous mess.

But it was another a lightbulb moment. He told his team they had to explain things to their female customers in terms they could understand. And really, male customers need just as much explanation. “Help them and don’t say LOF. Lube, oil and filter is what it means to us, but we don’t know what it means to the customer.”

It’s a simple thing, and it adds up to good service, Barbara says. There are other things a dealer can do to help his or her business, and it doesn’t matter if the dealer owns one store or many more.

Barbara recommends volunteering to serve on a dealer council. Pick a tire manufacturer and tell your sales rep. “It’s the best experience. You can listen to what other people say. Share ideas. Get some ideas from the other guy. You’ve gotta give to get something back, and it really works in our industry.”

Another is to join a network. Barbara is a member of Tire Pros, as well as ITDG. On top of that, he’s part of the Bridgestone Affiliated Retailer Nationwide Network, Pirelli’s FasTrack program and the Tire One program from Tire Warehouse Inc. He’s a Continental Gold dealer. He thinks dealers shouldn’t be scared to join multiple programs. There are plenty of benefits. With Tire Pros he’s able to offer a nationwide warranty. ITDG gives him buying power. Tire One promotes twice-daily delivery and contests.

“The bottom line is they want your business. They’re not going to put the number so far out there that it’s not achievable.

“Look at the programs and don’t worry about making that big commitment. Once they see you’re giving them some business, they’ll work with you. You can’t be alone anymore. You just can’t.”

Barbara thinks community involvement is critical. “Redwood City made me who I am, not only Redwood City but our neighboring cities. Without them, we’re nothing. I’ll never leave my community. I’ll always support my community.”

There are plenty of people in Redwood City who believe Barbara has done his part. J.R. Gamez is the city’s police chief, and when he came to town five years ago he wanted to reach out to community leaders. Several people suggested he make a date with Barbara.

“He gave me the once-over and wanted to know, how committed am I going to be?” says Gamez. “I’ll be honest, I kind of liked it. He passed the smell test as far as I’m concerned. He bleeds Redwood City through and through.”

A lot of times businesses are in it for themselves, says Gamez. He’s watched Barbara advocate for things as part of the downtown business group that will in no way benefit him or Redwood General Tire. Gamez asked him why he cared so much. His answer: “Because it’s the right thing for the city.”

A man with a plan

Barbara often is asked why he doesn’t open additional stores. Clearly, he has a good thing going at Redwood General Tire. Maybe if he could clone himself, he’d consider it. “I’m a worry wart. I want to make sure my customers are taken care of.”

With additional stores he’s not sure he could guarantee his same expectations of service, cleanliness and efficiency would be met. Reiser, the store manager, understands his predicament.

“Alpio has a grand plan for everything. He envisions everything. I have trouble envisioning a week down the road, but he envisions two years down the line.”

Ironically, Barbara’s not sure about the long-term future. He hit the magical retirement age of 65 in April, but he’s not ready to cash it in yet. He is taking more time away from the business. In August he took about three weeks off and drove 5,456 miles on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He and some friends shipped their bikes to Boston, rode all over New England, across Canada, through North Dakota and then to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, S.D., before driving home.

Despite the long break, he likes being back home in Redwood City. “I like what I’m doing. I like talking to my customers. People ask me about buying the store. It’s going to have to be one of those things where you keep everybody here. You can’t just come in here and clean house, because they’re the ones who built the store the way it is.

“I just love ‘em too much. We’ve been together so long and I’ve got some great history with them,” Barbara says.

Years ago when updating the employee handbook, he decided to give employees with 20 years of service four weeks of vacation. He thought to himself, “No one’s going to work here for 20 years.” He has 13 people who qualify.

Barbara dreams of someday turning his business over to his employees. He’s not married and doesn’t have children. He can’t imagine giving up his office or not being able to see his customers.

Feliz, the aftermarket salesman, says, “He works hard to make sure we all continue to have a place to work that we can be proud of. He continually cites his reason for not selling the business as the fact that he knows an outsider would come in and start making staff changes, and he just can’t sit back and let that happen.

“He can be stern when it’s needed, but he always does what is best for the store and its employees. At the end of the day, Redwood General Tire is a family, and nothing less.”

Housing: a barrier to business

It might sound strange to cite housing costs as the most pressing issue for Alpio Barbara’s business. But this is California, and more specifically, this is the San Francisco Peninsula.

Housing costs here are among the highest in the nation. One bedroom, 600-square-foot apartments rent for more than $2,500 a month. A couple making $300,000 a year can’t afford to buy a home. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median value of owner-occupied housing units in Redwood City is $795,000.

Here and in neighboring communities, it’s not out of line to buy a $4.5 million home, raze it and build new. “That’s exactly what’s happening,” Barbara says. An acre of land is worth about $5 million. He’s turned down a recent $6 million offer for the acre on which he does business.

High housing costs force employers to pay higher wages. His tire techs make $17 an hour.

Of his 40 employees, he’s one of only six who own homes. Most rent and live nearby. One man and his wife commute two hours each day.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 March 2017: Decades later, pain lingers for family of victims in SF murder
by Evan Sernoffsky
March 14, 2017
Police detectives search throughout the rubble from the house at 1301 Kansas Street in San Francisco was set on fire by Angelo Pavageau after he murdered Frank Carlson, and brutally beat and raped Carlson's wife Photo ran 04/20/1974
If Frank Carlson had died any other way, his family said they could have mourned his loss, treasured their memories of the young husband and moved on.
But when Angelo Pavageau tortured and killed the 25-year-old aspiring journalist before sadistically raping and beating Carlson’s wife in their home in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, he plunged his victims’ families into a lifelong trauma that continues 43 years later.
Pavageau, now 68, was scheduled for a parole review in April, and as with the 12 previous times he had gone before the panel, Frank Carlson’s family was ready for a fight. They asked the community and lawmakers to submit letters to the parole board, and they created a website, urging action from the public, all the while preparing to offer statements to the board. There was an unexpected twist in the case Friday, though, when the convicted killer opted to postpone the review, thereby dodging recent laws that allow the parole board to lengthen the time before Pavageau’s next hearing. The case underscores the fact that even with the passage of state victims’ rights laws, people affected by violent crime are often forced to face their ordeals in perpetuity. “The most frustrating thing about this process is it forces our family to relive this over and over and over again,” Eric Carlson, 59, said in an emotional interview with The Chronicle. “My life has still not recovered,” he said.
The attack on April 19, 1974, stands as one of San Francisco’s most horrific crimes, shocking the city’s most hardened homicide detectives in an era marked by serial killings, notorious murders and extreme violence. The crime has stayed with Eric Carlson — who was 16 at the time of the killing — but so have his undimmed memories of his brother, an aspiring journalist who was a graduate of San Francisco State University. “He was a really good person,” Eric Carlson tearfully recounted. “He was my big brother and he always looked out for me, and I looked up to him.” After his murder conviction, Pavageau was condemned to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison — a sentence that was reduced to life with the possibility of parole in 1976 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. His state-appointed attorneys have argued for his release from the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, saying he has admitted to the crime, is remorseful and has been rehabilitated. Eric Carlson’s mother, Elizabeth “Betty” Carlson, made it part of her life’s work to guarantee that her son’s killer never got out of prison, testifying at every one of Pavageau’s parole hearings — including a stretch of 10 between 1980 and 1991. Before she died in 2010, Eric Carlson promised her he would carry on her fight. In 2008, two years after Pavageau was last denied parole, state lawmakers passed the California Victims’ Bill of Rights Act, better known as Marsy’s Law. The law allows the state parole board to extend the time between hearings to up to 15 years to cut down on the frequency with which victims’ families had to appear before the panel and relive a horrible ordeal that befell their loved ones. By deferring the hearing, Pavageau will have three years before he’s up for parole again. Retired San Francisco homicide detective Frank Falzon, who helped solve the 1974 murder of Frank Carlson by Angelo Pavageau.
While a hearing in April would have reopened many wounds, for the first time it could have given the Carlson family a longer period to heal.“It would be a way to move on from the recurring trauma — put it in a place and not have to open it up and deal with it so often,” Eric Carlson said. The nightmare began the night of April 19, 1974, when Pavageau broke into Frank and Annette Carlson’s home on the 1300 block of Kansas Street. Annette Carlson, 24, was asleep in an upstairs bedroom while Frank Carlson worked downstairs. Armed with a knife, Pavageau, a postal clerk and mail truck driver who lived down the block, sneaked in through the upstairs window, startling Annette Carlson awake around midnight. Her screams brought her husband running upstairs, she testified during the trial. The assailant forced Annette Carlson to tie her husband up with a telephone cord in the downstairs of the two-bedroom Victorian while he turned up the stereo. As the wife watched, Pavageau smashed Frank Carlson in the head with a hammer so many times its steel claw broke. He continued his beating with a 3-inch-thick chopping block, then a bottle of pennies, and a heavy vase.
“‘Why doesn’t this bastard just die? Just die, die!’” Pavageau said toward the end of the savage attack, according to Annette Carlson’s testimony.
As the stereo blared, Frank Carlson’s head eventually wobbled limply forward in death. The coroner said the victim was so badly beaten that every inch of his skull was crushed. Eric Carlson at his home in Alamo, Calif., on Thursday, March 9, 2017. Carlson's older brother was brutally murdered in his Potrero Hill home in 1974. The killer, Angelo Pavageau, is up for parole next month and Eric will be there fighting to keep the convicted killer behind bars.
Eric Carlson at his home in Alamo, Calif., on Thursday, March 9, 2017. Carlson's older brother was brutally murdered in his Potrero Hill home in 1974. The killer, Angelo Pavageau, is up for parole next month and Eric will be there fighting to keep the convicted killer behind bars.Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle “He not only murdered her husband right in front of her, but he took her upstairs and subjected her to three hours of rape and torture,” retired San Francisco homicide Inspector Frank Falzon said in a recent interview with The Chronicle. In his 22 years as a homicide detective, Falzon said, the attack was “the most aggravated case I ever worked — and I worked some bad ones.” During his time with the Police Department, Falzon investigated the Zodiac and Zebra killings, the San Francisco City Hall slayings of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, and the “Night Stalker” killings by Richard Ramirez. Now in his mid-70s, he still recalls the particulars of the Pavageau case, including exact addresses, names and the horrific details. Falzon said that after Pavageau was through raping Annette Carlson, the killer picked up a rocking chair and began bludgeoning her with it. He tried to finish her off by cutting her wrist, leaving her to die as he poured paint thinner around the house and set it ablaze.
Annette Carlson regained consciousness as the flames grew around her and crawled naked out of the window onto the roof, where she collapsed screaming. Three neighbors climbed onto the roof to help her.
“This case brings up a lot of emotion for me,” Falzon said. “Pieces of flesh had been pulled out of her head. The way I described it when I saw her in the hospital, her head looked like an orange with parts of the skin peeled off.” Police arrested Pavageau after tracking a ring stolen during the crime back to him. Inside the killer’s home down the street from the crime scene, Falzon and his partner, Jack Cleary, found more jewelry taken that night. A jury found Pavageau guilty in August 1974, and he was sentenced to death. When Pavageau’s sentence was reduced to life with the possibility of parole — the next-most-severe punishment at the time — Betty Carlson prepared for a long fight. “My mother was an amazing person,” Eric Carlson said. “After this happened, she picked herself up and dusted herself off. She reinvented herself as a victims’ rights advocate and worked until she was 90.” Annette Carlson has since rebuilt her life and has declined interview requests over the years.
Despite the emotional pain, Eric Carlson said he won’t stop fighting to keep his brother’s killer in prison. Continuing the fight is a pledge he made to his mother.
“I promised her on her deathbed I would do this,” he said. “That’s how much it means.”
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky.


Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 15 March 2017: A 4-decade quest to keep killer confined -- Victim’s brother relives horror to block parole By Evan Sernoffsky
If Frank Carlson had died any other way, his family said they could have mourned his loss, treasured their memories of the young husband and moved on.
But when Angelo Pavageau tortured and killed the 25-year-old aspiring joumalis tbefore sadistically raping and beating Carlson’s wife in their home in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, he plunged his victims’ families into a lifelong trauma that continues 43 years later.
Pavageau, now 68, was scheduled for a parole review in April, and as with the 12 previous times he had gone before the panel, Frank Carlson's family was ready for a fight. They’asked the community and lawmakers to submit letters to the parole board, and they created a website, urging action from the public, all the while preparing to offer statements to the board. There was an unexpected twist in the case Friday, though, when the convicted killer opted to postpone the review, thereby dodging recent laws that allow the parole board to lengthen the time before Pavageau’s next hearing. The case underscores the fact that even with the passage of state victims’ rights laws, people affected by violent crime are often forced to face their ordeals in perpetuity. “The most frustrating thing about this process is it forces our family to relive this over and over and over again," Eric Carlson, 59. said in an emotional interview with The Chronicle. "My life has still not recovered," he said. The attack on April 19,1974. stands as one of San Francisco’s most horrific crimes, shocking the city’s most hardened homicide detectives in an era marked by serial killings, notorious murders and extreme violence. The attack on April 19,1974. stands as one of San Francisco's most horrific crimes, shocking the city’s most hardened homicide detectives in an era marked by serial killings, notorious murders and extreme violence.
The crime has stayed with Eric Carlson — who was 16 at the time of the killing — but so have his undimmed memories of hie brother, an aspiring journalist who was a graduate of San Francisco State University. "He was a really good person,” Eric Carlson tearfully recounted. "He was my big brother and he always looked out for me, and I looked up to him.” After his murder conviction, Pavageau was condemned to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison — a sentence that was reduced to life with the possibility of parole in 1976 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. His state-appointed attorneys have argued for his release from the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, saying he has admitted to the crime, is remorseful and has been rehabilitated. Eric Carlson's mother, Elizabeth “Bett’ Carlson, made it part of her life’s work to guarantee that her son's killer never got out of prison, testifying at every one of Pavageau’s parole hearings — including a stretch of 10 between i960 and 1991. Before she died in 2010 Eric Carlson promised her he would carry on her fight. In 2008, two years after Pavageau was last denied parole, state lawmakers passed the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act, better known as Marsy's Law. The law allows the state parole board to extend the time between hearings to up to 15 years to cutdown on the frequency with which victims’ families had to appear before the panel ar.d relive a horrible ordeal that befell their loved ones. By deferring the hearing, Pavageau will have three years before he’s up for parole again. While a hearing in April would have reopened many wounds, for the first time it could have given the Carlson family a longer period to heal. “It would be a way to move on from the recurring trauma — put it in a place and not have to open it up and deal with it so often,” Eric Carlson said.
The nighrmare began the night of April 19,1974, when Pavageau broke into Frank and Annette Carison's home on the 1300 block of Kansas Street. Annette Carlson, 24, was asleep in an upstairs bedroom while Frank Carlson worked downstairs. Armed with a knife, Pavageau, a postal clerk and mail truck driver who lived down the block, sneaked in through the upstairs window, startling Annette Carlson awake around midnight. Her screams brought her husband running upstairs, she testified during the trial. The assailant forced Annette Carlson to tie her husband up with a telephone cord in the downstairs of the two-bedroom Victorian while he turned up the stereo.
As the wfe watched, Pavageau smashed Frank Carlson in the head with a hammer so many times its steel claw broke. He continued his beating with a 3-inch-thick chopping block, then a bottle of pennies, and a heavy vase. “ 'Why doesn’t this bastard just die? Just die, die! " Pavageau said toward the end of the savage attack, according to Annette Carlson’s testimony.     As the stereo blared, Frank Carlson’s head eventually wobbled limply forward in death. The coroner said the victim was
so badly beaten that every inch of his skull was crushed. ‘‘He not only murdered her husband right in front of her, but he took her upstairs and subjected her to three hours of rape and torture," retired San Francisco homicide Inspector Frank Falzon said in a recent interview with the Chronicle. In his 22 years as a homicide detective, Falzon said, the attack was “the most aggravated case I ever worked — and I worked some bad ones." During his time with the Police Department, Falzon investigated the Zodiac and Zebra killings, the San Francisco City Hall slayings of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, and the “Night Stalker" killings by Richard Ramirez. Now' in his mid-70s, he still recalls the particulars of the Pavageau case, including exact addresses, names and the horrific details. Falzon said that after Pavageau was through raping Annette Carlson, the killer picked up rocking chair and began bludgeoning her with it. He tried to finish her off by cutting her wrist, leaving her to die as he poured paint thinner around the house and set it ablaze.
Annette Carlson regained consciousness as the flames grew around her and crawled naked ou t of the window onto the roof, where she collapsed screaming. Three neighbors climbed onto the roof to help her. “This case brings up a lot of emotion for me,” Falzon said. “Pieces of flesh had been pulled out of her head. The way I described it when I saw her in the hospital, her head looked like an orange with parts of the skin peeled off." Police arrested Pavageau after tracking a ring stolen during the crime back to him. Inside the killer’s home down the street from the crime scene, Falzon and his partner Jack Clean found more jewclry taken that night.
A jury found Pavsgeau guilty in August 1974, and he was sentenced to death.
When Pavageau’ssentence was reduced to life with the possibility of parole - the next-most-severe punishment at the time — Betty Carlson prepared for a long fight.
“My mother was sn amazing person,” Eric Carlsoi said. “After this happened, she picked herself up and dusted herself off. She reinvented herself as a victims’ rights advocate and worked until she was 90." Annette Carlson has since rebuilt her life and has declined requests for interviews over the years. Despite the emotional pain. Eric Carlson said he won't stop fighting to keep his brother’s killer in prison. Continuing the fight is a pledge he made to his mother. “I promised her on her deathbed I would do this,' he said. “That's how much it means."
Evan Semoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in November 2017: San Bruno casino facing $8 million penalty over alleged money laundering on premises
By Dominic Fracassa Published 7:30 pm PST, Monday, November 20, 2017

Federal financial-crime enforcers allege that Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno failed to create adequate internal controls intended to detect, deter and report suspicious transactions. Federal financial-crime enforcers allege that Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno failed to create adequate internal controls intended to detect, deter and report suspicious transactions.
The federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has hit Artichoke Joe’s Casino in San Bruno with an $8 million penalty for allegedly violating a number of anti-money-laundering laws over the past eight years.

From October 2009 until this month, FinCEN claims, the casino — one of the largest so-called card clubs in the state — failed to create adequate internal controls intended to detect, deter and report suspicious transactions.


The 101-year old casino’s operators have denied the allegations and say they’re currently their next steps.

In a statement released on Friday, FinCEN Acting Director Jamal El-Hindi said that “for years, Artichoke Joe’s turned a blind eye to loan sharking, suspicious transfers of high-value gaming chips and flagrant criminal activity that occurred in plain sight.”


“Casinos, card clubs and others in the gaming industry should consider their risk of exploitation by criminal elements, and understand that they will be held accountable if they disregard anti-money-laundering and illicit finance laws,” El-Hindi said.

The casino was raided by federal and state law enforcement officials and temporarily closed in March 2011. The raid led to the conviction of two of the casino’s customers on loan-sharking charges. According to FinCEN, senior-level employees at the casino knew that loan sharks were conducting criminal activity at the casino, using Artichoke Joe’s gaming chips to facilitate illegal transactions.

FinCEN claims the casino’s operators failed to file reports on the alleged illegal activity, like loan sharks passing chips to casino patrons on the gaming floor in clear sight of the casino’s employees.

Without the proper internal controls for rooting out and reporting suspicious financial activity, the casino was exposed to a heightened risk of money laundering and other criminal activity, FinCEN said.

The $8 million penalty “recognizes the duration and severity of AJC’s violations, the size and sophistication of the card club, AJC’s awareness of criminal activity on its premises, and its deficient culture of compliance,” FinCEN’s statement said.

In a statement sent by the casino’s publicist, Artichoke Joe’s president, Dennis Sammut said the casino “is fully committed to upholding all laws and complying with all regulations. A lot of effort has gone into and continues to go into compliance with the many laws and regulations applicable to cardrooms, and we will continue to dedicate all resources needed to achieve compliance with FinCEN and all other governing agencies.”

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa.

Andrew Joseph Camilleri. was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 December 2017: Crash kills CHP officer in Hayward -- Driver arrested, suspected of DUI -- By Bob Egelko
A California Highway Patrol officer, just hours from getting off duty and going home to open Chrisimas presents with his wife and three young children, was killed when an impaired driver swerved off the road and slammed into his patrol vehicle, which was parked near an on-ramp to Interstate I880 in Hayward, the CHP said Monday.
AndrewCamilleri Sr..33, of Tracy, a CHP officer for a year and a half, was killed in the crash at ii:20 p.m. on Christmas Eve, CHP officials said. His partner. Officer Jonathan Velasquez,was treated at a hospital for lacerations and was released Monday, said Sgt. Rob Nacke, a CHP spokesman.
"Today is not a holiday for the Highway Patrol. Today is about a tragic loss of one of our own, one by the name of Andrew Camflleri, who we will consider a hero now and forever. "CHP Assistant Chief Ernest Sanchez said at a news ! conference Monday in Hayward. Sanchez said the driver who hit the officers, a 22-year-old Hayward man. was hospitalized with serious injuries. He is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, specifically marijuana. The driver's name has not been : released. "I come to you with a broken heart, but also anger,” Sanchez said. "This person chose to drive while under the influence of alcohol and also drugs, and this needs to stop." The two officers were as signed to a "maximum enforcement" Christmas Eve patrol for drunken drivers and speeders and were parked on the shoulder of southbound 1-880 near the Winton Avenue on-ramp when a red Cadillac moving at a high rate of speed drifted off the roadway and struck their vehicle from behind. Sanchez said. Sanchez said both officers were sittirg in the patrol vehicle with their seat belts on. Velasquez, was in the driver's seat, while Camilleri was in the front passenger seat. "The impact was so severe that it turned a utility vehicle into a very small compact vehicle." Sanchez said. “So it kind of gives you an idea of the speeds
He said he had to notify Camilleri's wife, Rosanna, of her husband s death. The couple have a 12-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 6 and 2. “The children were expecting their father to come home and help open Christmas presents," Sanchez said. He said the driver responsible for the fatality will face serious felony charges when he is released from the hospital. “This individual was coming home from a party and obviously had too much to drink and maybe too much to smoke," Sanchez said. “We have enough evidence and enough statements that h»ve been made today to allow us to charge this individual."
Camilleri joined the Highway Patrol in Augustt 2010 and graduatedn the CHP Academy on March 3rd, the patrol said. He was assigned to the Hayward area office.
He grew up in the Tracy area and graduated in 2002 from West High School in Tracy, according to an artirie published in April in the Tracy Press. While in high school he participated in the CHP Tncy office’s Explorer Program for students interested in law enforcement careers. He worked for 13 years for Clark Pest Control in the Tracy area before finally realizing his dream of becoming a member of the CHP.
“Andrew was drawn to this profession due to his courage, his integrity and his desire to serve,” said Capt. Tim Pearson, commander of the CHP Hayward area office. “Andrew was a great man who loved his job, who loved his family." Governor Brown and his wife. Anne Gust Brown, released a statement Monday lamenting the loss of Camilleri. The govemcr said flags at the State Capitol would be flown at half-staff in the officer’s honor. “Anne and I are deeply t saddened to learn of the tragic loss of Officer Camilleri, who died yesterday while working to keep our communities safe’ Brown said. “We join his family, friends and the entire California Highway Patrol in mourning his death and in honoring his sacrifice.⁰

Andrew Joseph Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 December 2017: Hundreds mourn fallen CHP officer -- Driver in crash allegedly high, raising pot use alarms -- By Evan Semoffsky
A single bell toll pierced the cold and quiet morning air at the California Highway Patrol Academy in Sacramento on Wednesday — signaling the final end of watch for Hayward CHP Officer Andrew Camillcn, who was killed Christmas Eve by an allegedly intoxicated driver. With bowed heads and tear-filled eyes and clutching single white roses, the Camilleri family sat silently during the procession before hundreds of law enforcement officials and members of the public. It had been three days of heavy sorrow for the officer's wife, Rosanna, and their 12-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and 6-year-old son, Andrew Jr. The family, excluding Camilleri’s 2-year-old son, placed flowers before a memorial to fallen CHP officers after the bell ringing. On Christinas morning after the crash, Rosanna reportedly waited until the children opened their presents before telling them their father was gone. The officer’s partner, Jonathan Velasquez, who was also injured in the crash that claimed Camill- eri, openly wept with the family. "It’s a very sad and humbling day,” acting CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said ai the event. "It’S a tragedy for Officer Camilleri’s family. It's a tragedy for the California Highway Patrol. It's a tragedy for the state of California. It's a day that we shouldn’t be here because this did not have to happen.”
The emotional event came after Camilleri, a 33-year-old Tracy resident who graduated from the CHP Academy in March, was killed by a driver allegedly under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. As the CHP honored the officer, state officials began rolling out a planned public awareness campaign to publicize the dangers of driving while high as the state gears up for the fïrcl logoi tales of roorootioool cannabis on Monday. Officials said they found evidence of alcohol and marijuana in the 22-year-old driver's Cadillac after he plowed at high speed into Camilleri’s and Velasquez’s patrol vehicle on the Winton Avenue on- ramp to Interstate 8flo around 11:30 that night. The driver, whose name has not been released, remains hospitalized. The CHP is pushing for felony charges upon his release. During an earlier news conference Wednesday on the steps of the state Capitol, officials said they expect a rise in stoned motorists — along with highway crashes and deaths.
"We have seen mariiuana usage increasing steadily for the last 20 years, starting with medicinal usage and through various stages of decriminalization,'’ said Rhonda Craft, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. "Jan. 1 ... marks the beginning of legal sales to adults. As has been the case in other states like Colorado and Washington, we fully expect to see an increase in crashes due to marijuana usage."
In fact, state officials said that 42.6 percent of drivers who were given toxicology tests after fatal crashes in 2016 tested positive for drugs — up from 26.2 percent in 2006. Of the drugs, marijuana was the most prevalent. A 2012 study by the Office of Traffic Safety showed that more drivers tested positive for marijuana than alcohol.
But unlike the famed .08 percent blood-alcohol limit, which is measured with a breath, blood or urine test, testing for the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, is

Since voters passed Proposition 64 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in 2016, California has not in ...eluded specific THC blood-level amounts as part of DUI testing. That's different from Washington, for example, which amended its law to say motorists whose blood contains more than 5 nanograms of THC within two hours of driving are considered under the influence. Nevertheless, the CHP says ' it's ready. Nearly all of ts offi- ¹ cers in the field have advanced roadside impaired drivng enforcement training ir. techniques to determine whether a driver is under the influence of substances other than alcohol. The training goes be/ond a standard field sobriety- test for alcohol and is used in states j where marijuana is legal.
I along with states where it I isn't.! "They're taking your pulse, ?J your heart rate, your blood pressure," CHP Chief Brent ! Newman said of the process, j "They’re looking at all the crazy things your eyes are j doing. They’re looking at coating on the tongue, vour skin."

The CHP launched its campaign Wednesday with a new television commercial along with electronic signs up and down the state's highways reading, “Drive high, get a DUI." Though the campaign was scheduled weeks ago. Camille- ri's death brought a personal resonance to the effort for members of the CHP.
“We’re feeling this loss because it's our officer, but there’s families all over that experience this loss on a loo- frequent basis.” Newman said. “We will mourn this officer and honor him because he was actuallv out there trying...“His first night on the job. he arrested two drunk drivers and he was so excited," said Capi. Tim Pearson with the CHP’s Havward office. "He talked about that for months. That’s what he loved doing. Unfortunately, that’s what has taken him from us." San FranciscoChronicle staff -writer Jenna Lyons contributed to this article.


Andrew Joseph Camilleri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 3 January 2018: Andrew Camilleri: Hayward man accused of DUI in I-880 crash that killed father of 3. Murder charge in death of CHP officer -- Hayward man accused of DUI in I-880 crash that killed father of 3 Murder charge in death of CHP officer

San Francisco Chronicle (CA) - Wednesday, January 3, 2018
A 22-year-old Hayward man was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder as well as driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol in the Christmas Eve crash that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and injured his partner. Prosecutors said Mohammed Abraar Ali was driving at 120 mph when he swerved and slammed his red Cadillac CTS-V into a CHP cruiser occupied by Officers Andrew Camilleri and Jonathan Velasquez, who were on patrol for intoxicated drivers and were parked on the Winton Avenue on-ramp to Interstate 880 in Hayward. Camilleri, a married father of three who had graduated from the CHP academy in March, was killed. Velasquez was injured, but has since been released from a hospital. Ali remains hospitalized with undisclosed injuries at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley. The CHP anticipates he will be released in the coming days and transferred to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Ali faces five felony counts, including second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and recklessly driving at speeds over 100 mph, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said. O'Malley and CHP Chief Ernie Sanchez announced the charges at a news conference Tuesday. In a statement of probable cause accompanying the charging documents, CHP Officer Joshua Hughes wrote that before the 11:30 p.m. crash Ali "was witnessed driving at a high rate of speed and aggressively weaving though traffic." Ali admitted to using marijuana before the crash and had THC in his system, Sanchez said. A blood test at the hospital revealed Ali had a blood alcohol content of .11 percent, Hughes wrote. The legal limit is 0.08 percent. Two days later, Ali admitted to detectives he was drunk and high, and said he had threatened his wife that night before driving from Manteca to Hayward, according to court papers. Ali said he "not only was impaired but that he should have pulled over at least three times, but did not and made the decision to keep driving," Hughes wrote. Sanchez said Ali had never previously been arrested by the CHP for driving under the influence. He had been arrested in December 2013 on suspicion of a burglary in Fremont, but charges in that case were later dismissed, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Ali has an active security guard license that was issued by the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services in September 2016.
The crash comes as the CHP rolls out a new statewide public service campaign aimed at combatting driving under the influence of marijuana. State traffic safety officials said they expect an influx of stoned drivers with the legal sale of recreational marijuana that started Monday.
"Drinking and driving is socially unacceptable - smoking marijuana and driving is equally as unacceptable," Sanchez said Tuesday.
Andrew Camilleri: Hayward man accused of DUI in I-880 crash that killed father of 3. Murder charge in death of CHP officer -- Hayward man accused of DUI in I-880 crash that killed father of 3 Murder charge in death of CHP officer

San Francisco Chronicle (CA) - Wednesday, January 3, 2018
A 22-year-old Hayward man was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder as well as driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol in the Christmas Eve crash that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and injured his partner. Prosecutors said Mohammed Abraar Ali was driving at 120 mph when he swerved and slammed his red Cadillac CTS-V into a CHP cruiser occupied by Officers Andrew Camilleri and Jonathan Velasquez, who were on patrol for intoxicated drivers and were parked on the Winton Avenue on-ramp to Interstate 880 in Hayward. Camilleri, a married father of three who had graduated from the CHP academy in March, was killed. Velasquez was injured, but has since been released from a hospital. Ali remains hospitalized with undisclosed injuries at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley. The CHP anticipates he will be released in the coming days and transferred to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Ali faces five felony counts, including second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and recklessly driving at speeds over 100 mph, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said. O'Malley and CHP Chief Ernie Sanchez announced the charges at a news conference Tuesday. In a statement of probable cause accompanying the charging documents, CHP Officer Joshua Hughes wrote that before the 11:30 p.m. crash Ali "was witnessed driving at a high rate of speed and aggressively weaving though traffic." Ali admitted to using marijuana before the crash and had THC in his system, Sanchez said. A blood test at the hospital revealed Ali had a blood alcohol content of .11 percent, Hughes wrote. The legal limit is 0.08 percent. Two days later, Ali admitted to detectives he was drunk and high, and said he had threatened his wife that night before driving from Manteca to Hayward, according to court papers. Ali said he "not only was impaired but that he should have pulled over at least three times, but did not and made the decision to keep driving," Hughes wrote. Sanchez said Ali had never previously been arrested by the CHP for driving under the influence. He had been arrested in December 2013 on suspicion of a burglary in Fremont, but charges in that case were later dismissed, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Ali has an active security guard license that was issued by the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services in September 2016.
The crash comes as the CHP rolls out a new statewide public service campaign aimed at combatting driving under the influence of marijuana. State traffic safety officials said they expect an influx of stoned drivers with the legal sale of recreational marijuana that started Monday.
"Drinking and driving is socially unacceptable - smoking marijuana and driving is equally as unacceptable," Sanchez said Tuesday.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 14 December 2018: The Zodiac case, 50 years later
Tracing the decades-long fascination with ‘our Jack the Ripper,’ responsible for a series of unsolved Bay Area slayings -- By Kevin Fagan | Dec. 14, 2018
He is our Jack the Ripper.
Fifty years ago this week, a psychopath with a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol sneaked up on two high school students parked on a windswept lover’s lane in Benicia. Shot down as they scrambled in terror, the young couple died in a spray of gunfire. It was an unusually messy crime scene.
The killing on Dec. 20, 1968, of David Faraday, 17, and his 16-year-old date, Betty Lou Jensen, marked the beginning of what became the twisted legend of the Zodiac Killer. By the time he was done, five more victims across the Bay Area would be shot or stabbed — three of them killed, two left barely alive but scarred for life.
Zodiac murder victims Bettilou Jenson and David Faraday Although the carnage spanned less than a year, the moniker Zodiac Killer was cemented into history. He would never be caught.Considering the homicidal tumult of the 1960s and ’70s, the number of his victims was actually somewhat low. Charles Manson murdered eight people. Ted Bundy killed 36, the Zebra Killers 14. Unhinged San Francisco preacher Jim Jones ordered the deaths of more than 900 in Jonestown, Guyana.
But this sadistic murderer had a repulsively unusual characteristic.
As he killed, the Zodiac mailed a flurry of taunting letters and cryptograms to The Chronicle and others. “This is the Zodiac speaking,” they opened, and were often signed with a rifle-sight crosshairs symbol.
He claimed to love killing because “man is the most dangerous game,” and once threatened to massacre a dozen people unless The Chronicle printed his message. The paper published the letter. The Zodiac also threatened to wipe out an entire school bus by shooting out the front tire so he could “pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.”
Fifty years later, with the case still unsolved, the Zodiac Killer’s death crusade is perhaps the most infamous murder mystery in America.
“There have been a lot of terrible crimes in the city, but nothing ever quite like the Zodiac case,” said San Francisco Police Homicide Inspector Gianrico Pierucci, who investigated the case for several years before retiring last year. “It was crazier than hell. There are thousands of potential suspects and lots of evidence, and it’s a tough one. Nobody ever even got arrested.
“He’s our Jack the Ripper. It’s been 50 years, and all we have is two sketches of a white male with glasses?” he said in exasperation. “Very frustrating.”
Written on greeting card mailed to a San Francisco newspaper (Chronicle) by a killer who calls himself Zodiac and included a letter and a cryptogram in San Francisco on Nov. 11, 1969. Police say Zodiac has killed five, but in his new communications Zodiac claims seven. The writer lists the months the killings took place at the bottom, with the total ?and I can?t do a thing with it!? refers to a drawing on the card showing a dripping wet pen with the salutation: ?Sorry I haven?t written, but I just washed my pen?? Photo: Associated Press 1969
Like the Zodiac, Britain’s Ripper had five confirmed kills within the space of one year in 1888 London, sent taunting letters to newspapers and never was caught. The havoc he wreaked had the same sort of effect on the population that the Zodiac did.
The Zodiac’s murders and taunts terrified people across Northern California from 1968 to 1970. His crimes inspired the 1971 movie “Dirty Harry” and spawned generations of amateur sleuths around the world who have named literally thousands of suspects they believe are absolutely, without doubt, the killer. Police investigators, meanwhile, have named only one suspect: convicted child molester Arthur Leigh Allen of Vallejo.
Allen owned boots identical to those worn by the Zodiac, and said in an interview once that his favorite short story was “The Most Dangerous Game,” which the killer had referenced in one of his letters. He was picked out in a photo lineup many years after the attacks by one of the Zodiac’s surviving victims. He also wore a watch with the Zodiac’s crosshairs symbol on it, reportedly partially confessed to a friend interviewed by investigators — and was fingered as the culprit in former Chronicle political cartoonist Robert Graysmith’s authoritative 2002 book, “Zodiac Unmasked.”
Allen, however, died of a heart attack in 1992 at age 58 before detectives could make enough of a case to charge him. Ever since, police from Napa, Solano and San Francisco counties, where the killings occurred, have continued to scrape through every clue they have filed in teeming storage cases and closets, not to mention the streams of tips that still pour in.
San Francisco alone has about 30 boxes of evidence, including the blood-spattered door of the taxi in which the Zodiac shot to death his last victim, cabbie Paul Stine, 29, in the Presidio Heights neighborhood on Oct. 11, 1969. Other departments also have car parts from the murder scenes and plastic rope the Zodiac used to tie up victims.
Between the first homicides in Benicia and the Stine killing, there were two more Zodiac attacks on dating couples: In July 1969 in Vallejo, he shot Michael Mageau, 19, and Darlene Ferrin, 22; and in September 1969 at Lake Berryessa, he stabbed Cecelia Shepard, 22, and Bryan Hartnell, 20. Mageau and Hartnell both survived and gave descriptions of the killer. They rarely speak about the Zodiac in public.
None of the investigators working the case today would speak on the record for this story. A few who worked it in the past, however, refuse to give up on the idea that the killer will be identified some day. If the Zodiac turns out to be someone other than Allen and is still alive, he probably would be in his mid-80s or 90s, given that he was described at the time as appearing to be 35 to 40 years old.
“I can’t help but believe he is somewhere in our files, that the answers are in there somewhere,” said long-retired San Francisco homicide Inspector Frank Falzon, one of the earliest investigators on the case. “With all these different law enforcement agencies, it’s got to be solved someday.”
Through 1974, well after his last known victim, the Zodiac sent about two dozen letters to The Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times Herald, ultimately claiming 37 slayings. But investigators only ever confirmed those five killings and the two survivors.
For many years, the most hopeful new direction in the case has been DNA testing — the science that cracked the decades-old Golden State Killer case this year. Investigators in that case turned to genealogical sites to match a profile to an ex-police officer who now faces 13 counts of murder and 13 more of rape.
The Zodiac case, however, is more complicated. The letters and the few possible shreds of DNA evidence were handled extensively by detectives and others long before anyone knew DNA analysis was even a tool. The Zodiac also was apparently very careful about minimizing helpful clues in the form of saliva, fingerprints or blood. So, many investigators believe the chance of a useful hit turning up in the profiles is slim at best.
Said one police source, who couldn’t speak publicly: “With the Golden State Killer, they had a full strand of DNA. Not Zodiac. We have crumbs, and not good ones.”
“I think the hunt for DNA is an illusion, a dog-and-pony show,” said Mike Rodelli, who wrote the 2017 book “The Hunt for Zodiac” after 20 years of research. He believes the killer is not Allen, but a deceased San Francisco businessman.
“The evidence is way too old and overhandled,” he said.
Tom Voigt, another private sleuth who has researched the case for decades, disagrees.
“The only thing that could solve it is the DNA — and that could happen tomorrow,” he said.
“He could be drinking coffee next to you, he could be sitting at the bus stop. Or he could be dead. But absolutely, it will be solved,” said Voigt, who runs the exhaustively researched Zodiackiller.com site. His top suspect: a long-dead Martinez newspaperman.
Of all the Zodiac evidence, the three things seized upon most by detectives and amateur sleuths are the handwritten letters, the ciphers and the sketches generated by the two survivors. But all are so open to interpretation that new tips are made to investigators and The Chronicle every month or so from people claiming to have solved the case.
Among the many theories: The Zodiac was the Unabomber, a gang of demented cops, the crazy uncle upstairs, the edgy neighbor, and so on. Dozens insist the killer was their father. But except for one long cipher sent in pieces to The Chronicle, Examiner and Vallejo papers in 1969, no detectives have been able to confirm a translation of the killer’s cryptograms, a crazy quilt of letters and symbols laid out in straight lines. The one that was solved — by a Salinas schoolteacher and his wife — offered little beyond the boast, “I like killing because it is so much fun.” The rest, according to FBI code experts, appear to be gibberish.
The killer’s handwriting also is easy to match to numerous people because it’s in such a simple hand, and the artist’s rendering depicts the typical early-1960s fellow with a crew cut and horn-rimmed glasses. In the minds of many, this leaves the lone named suspect — Allen, of Vallejo — as the mostly likely guy.
“I believe he did it, no doubt. There are just way too many coincidences that make way too much sense,” said John Henslin of Texas, who was a friend of victim Betty Lou Jensen — and whose sister, Sharon Stutsman of Nevada, was Jensen’s best friend. “Him murdering our friend ruined Christmas for all of us for life. Every year, every anniversary, we remember that killing all over again.”
In an email, Stutsman, who is ill and cannot speak clearly, fondly remembered Jensen as an “artist in every way ... funny, always happy.” Her father worked at the same Vallejo school district where Allen was employed as a janitor, and Henslin recalled that the family thought “he was creepy.”
That’s an impression shared by former KTVU-TV crime reporter Rita Williams, the last person known to have interviewed Allen, shortly before he died, at Allen’s home in Vallejo.
Williams said that although Allen denied being the Zodiac, he fit the killer’s profile in many ways. After the interview, Allen wrote Williams a letter containing a handwritten “Z” identical to the one on a widely publicized letter that some believe the Zodiac sent in 1967 to the father of an unconfirmed Riverside victim, before the Bay Area killings began. The letter to Williams also had bad grammar similar to the Zodiac’s.
“I remember him showing me tons of things on his shelves, and so many looked like clues,” Williams said. “It was almost like a game with him ... eerie.
“I said to the cameraman when we got into our car afterward: ‘We just talked to the Zodiac.’”
Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron. Andrew Joseph Camilleri was mentioned in a newspaper article: on 27 December 2018: STOCKTON — In a moving farewell, law enforcement officers from across the country joined family, friends and dignitaries Saturday in honoring the life of rookie California Highway Patrol Officer Andrew J. Camilleri, killed Christmas Eve by a suspected drunken driver. The casket of the 33-year-old father of three arrived at the Christian Life Center under a heavy fog. Once inside the church, Camilleri’s family members approached the open, flag-draped coffin for their final goodbyes before some 2,000 in attendance. Camilleri, a Tracy resident, was killed when a speeding Cadillac drifted off of Interstate 880 in Hayward and slammed into the back of his patrol SUV, which was parked on the shoulder. His partner Jonathan Velasquez, who was in the driver’s seat, was injured but survived. Velasquez, who had not been scheduled to speak, remembered his partner of three months as a “family man” and a “great officer.” Head bowed, he choked up describing their “special bond” developed working the graveyard shift. “I got to know a lot about Andrew and the special person he was,” Velasquez said. “… Andrew I know you can hear me. I love you and it was an honor being your partner. Rest in peace, brother.” Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond.
Sign up for our new Morning Report weekday newsletter. Nearby, Camilleri’s widow Rosanna clasped hands with the couple’s eldest child, 12-year-old Elizabeth, while speakers described the fallen officer as a dedicated family man and a hero who died protecting others. The fallen officer’s brother Matthew delivered the eulogy, with their sister Ashley Wharton by his side. Matthew said his brother had met his future wife while the two were working at a McDonald’s. Camilleri was the manager. He wrote up Rosanna Lopez up for being late. Their working relationship bloomed into a romance and the two married in 2004. The couple has a daughter and two sons.
“Andrew was a role model for all to follow,” Matthew said. “Your beautiful and infectious smile will truly be missed.”
It was Camilleri’s lifelong dream to become a CHP officer. He had previously worked for a pest control company. He graduated from the academy in March last year.
“Andrew’s father, Mike, talked of how Andrew would call and text him all hours of the night telling him how much he loved his job, whether it was helping a disabled motorist or issuing citations to speeding drivers because Andrew liked to drive fast,” said Capt. Tim Pearson, commander of the Hayward division where Camilleri worked. Acting CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley presented Camilleri’s wife with a red box containing his badge, No. 21653. Moments of humor were mixed in with the grief. Pearson addressing Camilleri’s daughter Elizabeth, saying her father used to say he couldn’t wait for her first date.
“Your father had a great sense of humor and said he was going to have a bunch of fellow officers over at the house cleaning their guns when the young man came to pick you up,” Pearson said. “Roxie, when that day comes give us a call and we’ll be there.” Doug Diestler, Camilleri’s pastor at Mission City Church in Tracy, said he and his wife were active in the community, always on the front lines helping others. “His life mattered and it made a difference to everyone in this room,” Diestler said. “This is what we call legacy, what people will remember when you’re gone.” A fund has been established to assist Camilleri’s family.

Jenise Lynae Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019: Snowboarder Jenise Spiteri Hopes to represent Malta in the 2022 Winter Olympics
Dan Brock
Episode 59, season 11 of the popular American game show Let’s Make a Deal was aired on New Year’s Day and has since gone viral throughout Malta and the Maltese Diaspora.
It all started when the enthusiastic native of Redwood City, California, 27-year-old Jenise Spiteri shared her snow-boarding past with host Wayne Brady.
“I tried to go to the last Olympics but that’s when I blew my knee out and missed it by one spot, so 2022.”
As Brady cheered her on with “Team USA,” Jenise corrected him with “Team Malta.”
This was all the comedian and impromptu satirist needed to make good-humoured fun of everything from Malta’s international sport accomplishment to its national anthem.
Of course, Jenise fuelled Brady’s satire with such comments as “I’m Maltese…Not like the dog…Like the humans.”...snowboarders start their “training” at the age of seven or younger, she didn’t begin her training until the age of 17.
For her, it was a quick learning curve and in just six years she was travelling around the world to Olympic qualifying events with the goal of competing for Malta at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea as Élise Pellegrin was to do in skiing.
Then, six months before the 2018 Olympics, Jenise completely tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and partially her meniscus in a random snowboard accident while training in New Zealand. Undeterred, she pushed through the injury and competed in the next Olympic qualifier only three weeks later.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019: Artichoke Joe’s Today
Third Generation: The business has remained in the family’s hands and has been run since 1975 by Dennis Sammut, son of “Joe II” and grandson of the original Giuseppe Sammut. Modern Facilities: Major expansion and remodeling in the 1980s and 1990s expanded the one-time stable into a spacious, thoroughly modern, and very comfortable building. Massive aquarium tanks featuring colorful exotic saltwater fish are a principal attraction of the high-ceilinged main cardroom.
Staff: We are one of the largest employers in San Bruno. Artichoke Joe’s employs more than 430 full-time workers, many of whom live in and around San Bruno. Our staff members range in age from early 20s to 70s. Our staff is carefully trained, and retrained annually, for the specific jobs they fill as well as for how to deal with medical and other emergencies. Giving Back to the Community: The Sammuts have been prominent contributors to San Bruno’s civic life and especially to its youth sports programs for decades. In 1990 they set up the Sammut Family Foundation, which focuses its giving on youth programs such as 4-H Clubs and the Scouts, local public elementary and middle schools, anti-drug and anti-alcohol programs at the high school, reading support programs at the city library, and children with special needs. Many local youngsters have had the opportunity to play organized baseball, soccer, and other sports thanks to Artichoke Joe’s, which sponsors 25 baseball teams ranging from “T-ball” to “teeners.”

Artichoke Joe’s Casino: 659 Huntington Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066.

Joseph Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in December 2019: SP-Teri: A Family Affair
from November/December 2019 PS Magazine by Professiona Skaters Association
By Terri Milner Tarquini
Joseph Spiteri was both a product and the embodiment of The Greatest Generation. Known as such because the men and women born in 1900 through the 1930s did not set out to seek fame or recognition, The Greatest Generation believed that whatever they chose to do should be done well. These are the values that make up the fabric of a man who founded and built a company that is still one of the leading custom boot manufacturers in the U.S. and the world. “Once my dad became committed to making skates, he believed they should be the best skates they could be,” said son George Spiteri of Joseph, who founded SP-Teri Boots over five decades ago. “He believed in working five, six, seven days a week—whatever it took— to satisfy the customer.” Joseph had been a cobbler in his native Malta, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, before migrating to San Francisco in 1946 as a newly-married 23-year-old. He soon heard of Joe Galdes, also from Malta, who owned a shoe shop and was partners with Louis Harlick.

“He thought he would work there for a little while, get some money in his pocket and move on to other opportunities,” George said of the shop that constructed such offerings as riding boots, ballet slippers, flamenco boots, and dance shoes. But fate intervened in 1947 when some ice dancers who were in need of skates approached Harlick. Back then, skating boots were really only available in Minnesota, Chicago, and New York and were essentially two layers of leather—basically a riding boot, but cut lower and with laces. Harlick saw an opportunity in the industry. In short order, Joseph became the head designer of skates for the company and, Galdes having been previously bought out, a partner of Harlick’s in the 1950s, along with Jack Henderson. “During this time, they developed one stock boot and one custom boot for figure skaters,” George said, “and they stopped making all other lines of footwear. So, skating was it.” Those were the years when George was putting in time at what would one day be his future—although he didn’t know it then. “I wasn’t even a teenager yet and my dad was still with Mr. Harlick,” George said. “I’d go sweep the floors and empty garbage cans for four hours and Mr. Harlick would give me a dollar—which was a big deal back then.” In 1960, at a time when there was no cure, Harlick was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to liquidate his ownership, selling to Henderson and his brother, Bob, thereby giving them 80 percent of the company. In 1962, Joseph sold his 20 percent to the Hendersons, resulting in what is still Harlick Skate Company, and in August the following year, Joseph started his own business. “My dad never thought about making skates for Olympic and World skaters; he just knew that there were skaters out there who needed skates,” George said. “And he had a wife and four kids to provide for. My dad had spent 15 years making skating boots, so that’s what he knew how to do—and he knew how to do it well.”

What those humble beginnings ended up growing into was something that always boggled the mind of Joseph, the one-time cobbler from Malta. “We were making boots for the Santees when they were 10 years old; we didn’t know what they would go on to do, we just knew that there were these two brothers out there who needed skates,” George said. “Paul Wylie, Charlie Tickner, Dorothy Hamill, Nicole Bobek, Christopher Bowman—they were all just kids who needed skates. You don’t know when they’re young that they’re going to go on and become these big names.” While George’s path to the world of skating manufacturing might seem more predictable than that of his father, it actually was not. “My dad told me throughout high school to go work for the government,” George said. “’You’ll have insurance. You’ll have vacation time.’ So that’s what I did.” But it was while working at a naval shipyard as a draftsman in 1969, George had a low draft number and knew the Vietnam War was about to come calling, that he enlisted. When he got out of the service, he went to college, while working at the family skate business, and graduated with an accounting degree in 1978. “By then, we had moved to a bigger location and we were one of the boot makers for higher level skaters,” George said. “I was running a lot of the business because I understood finances and we were growing and growing—we had 10 to 12 weeks of back logs for orders. It hadn’t been the plan, but I decided to stay with the family business.” In a facility they have inhabited for the last 30 years, and after more than a half-a-century as a family-owned and operated business, George made the call earlier this year to sell the manufacturing assets of SP-Teri Co. Inc. Now SP-Teri LLC, the manufacturing operations have moved to Tennessee under new president Bill Fauver. George has been traveling to the new site to aid in the transition and will continue as a consultant for the company.
In addition, the formerly SP-Teri Co. Inc. will be renamed to A & G Skate Shop, run by George and his son, Aaron. Located in their same location in south San Francisco, they will continue to sell skates and accessories and provide sharpening services. “I have files going back 15 years of custom boots with patterns and instructions,” George said. “My goal is to aid Bill, who I have known and worked with for a very long time, to have everything he needs and to establish wonderful relationships with the dealers and the coaches.” Fauver, a five-time national pairs skater, with four silver medals and one bronze medal, and a two-time Olympian, was also a dealer of SP-Teri boots, worked closely with George through the years, and knew a good product when he saw it. “The number one thing is that the materials used are the highest quality possible and none of that is going to change,” Fauver said. “Each recipe, if you will, for each boot is slightly different, but the materials and craftsmanship is unparalleled. The boots are made from leather, which articulates with the foot and has a natural return to it. While we plan on marketing it in a more expansive way with a new website and expanding into social media, the base of the company is the same and we are carrying on the heritage.” Part of that heritage, and the success that SP-Teri has continued to enjoy, is grounded in evolution. “My dad started with two models: a stock boot and a custom boot,” George said. “Now SP-Teri has 10 models. We have always developed through the years, while maintaining the quality, and I know that that will continue.”
Fauver, a Level V ranked and master-rated coach, is keenly aware that injuries are becoming more frequent in figure skating and that it needs to be a priority for skate manufacturers to address these concerns. “We will be stocking the same core quality products, but we are looking at introducing some additional offerings that will still be manufactured using the same equipment and the same materials, but have some additional benefits,” Fauver said. “If we can introduce a product that increases safety and improves performance, it would do so much for the sport.” Fauver, founder and president of Avanta Skating Boots from 2012-2014, was at a U.S. Figure Skating boot summit about 10 years ago where the major boot companies put their heads together. “Following the summit, U.S. Figure Skating came out with four recommendations they were looking for in skates,” Fauver said. “A slightly lower heel, more flexibility, lateral support and shock absorption on jump landings.”
Almost a decade later, a unique idea from 2010 might now come to fruition: Fauver holds a patent on the Variable Flexion Resistance Sports Boot.
“The patent is for a boot design that has the first three things that U.S. Figure Skating was looking for,” Fauver said. “Additionally, I designed an air bladder for inside a skate that is also covered in the patent and it would address the fourth.” Fauver likens the air bladder to the air discs inside football helmets—an addition that, when the player is hit, the disc compresses, lengthening the shock absorption process. “This would eventually be another offering in skating boots,” Fauver said. “I think there is more than an itch for an increasingly well-made, high quality boot that can do even more for the skater.”
As George Spiteri, 70, is helping in the transition, and is eyeing some time to spend more time fishing with his son, go swing dancing and ballroom dancing with his wife, and continue in local community theater, the future of the company his father started 56 years ago is still at the forefront.
“The most important thing, and I do not doubt this, is that I know the new company will maintain the quality and fit of the current models, while developing new models that will continue to move the company, and what it can provide the skating world, forward,” George said. “It’s still the SP-Teri name; that’s our family name. What that name has meant to skaters through the years—all of that will continue.”.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 23 March 2021: The DoodlerOne man’s American dream ends in his bloody death by Kevin Fagan

With detectives in the 1970s swamped by surging murder rates, the Doodler kills gay men in the shadows and walks away free. Klaus Christmann becomes his third known victim, his body left in the sands on the edge of San Francisco. Klaus Christmann wanted a new start. San Francisco in 1974 was just the place.
It was hip. It was in America — land of opportunity. It had a vibrant and growing gay population. He liked that scene. Back home in Germany, the 31-year-old Christmann had managed a bar that catered to both gay and straight customers. So that April, Christmann flew out to visit an American buddy he’d met while the friend was pulling an Army hitch in Germany. He came to San Francisco “to achieve something better for himself and his family,” Christmann’s daughter said. “Many people thought that in America, pretty much anything is possible, and you can achieve much more.”

About this project:Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan spent nearly three years investigating the unsolved murders of gay men in 1974 and ’75 by a serial killer dubbed the Doodler by San Francisco police. The Doodler podcast, narrated by Fagan and produced in partnership with Ugly Duckling Films and Neon Hum Media, is available on y

That dream ended on July 7, 1974, on Ocean Beach. Christmann’s nearly decapitated corpse was found that morning — near where the body of another man, Gerald Cavanagh, had been discovered nearly six months before. He’d been stabbed 15 times, front and back. Another rage killing.
Christmann had last been seen at the Bojangles gay dance club in the Tenderloin the night before, a Saturday. The beach was a popular gay hookup spot.
Everything about his murder screamed Doodler. A few months ago, I stood in the sand for a second time with cold-case cop Dan Cunningham, the veteran homicide inspector whose call in 2018 had propelled me into this Doodler story. He’d said he was investigating a serial killer with a signature — making his move on victims by sketching a quick portrait of them. The Doodler had hunted gay men against a mid-1970s backdrop of LGBTQ oppression, stabbing to death at least five in San Francisco, and perhaps as many as 14. The last time Cunningham and I were at Ocean Beach, we looked at the spot where Cavanagh was found, near a pay phone that a mysterious caller had used to report the killing. This time, a couple of hundred feet away, at the foot of Lincoln Way, we gazed at the place where Christmann took his last breath. Dan Cunningham walks along Ocean Beach
San Francisco Police cold-case inspector Dan Cunningham counts his steps to find the approximate location of the crime scene at Ocean Beach. He is at the approximate spot where the body of Klaus Christmann was found on July 7, 1974. Christmann, a 31-year-old German citizen, was murdered by the Doodler Killer, and his body dumped at the foot of Lincoln Way on Ocean Beach. Was there anything we could see here, all these years later, to better understand what had happened?
Cunningham recounted what he knew from the police files. Compared to the Doodler’s other victims, he said, “There were a lot more stab wounds. There was a struggle. There was a lot of blood.” He didn’t linger on the description. He’d taken it from the main cop who rolled to the scene that day: bow-tie-wearing homicide Inspector Dave Toschi, who headed the initial investigation and who died two years ago. “He said that was probably the most horrific crime scene he had been to,” Cunningham said. “That guy had seen a lot of crimes. ... He had seen a lot.” Inspector David Toschi rifles through files. He is wearing a bow tie.
Inspector David Toschi of the SFPD in 1976 — he worked on the Zodiac case and was involved in the initial investigations into the Doodler. Turns out Tauba Weiss, the woman who found Christmann’s body, was hardened, too. She’s 95 now. I found her in a person-finder database we use at The Chronicle. Age had not fuzzed her memory. I asked her if she was shocked when she stumbled across a corpse at 6 a.m. while walking her German shepherd, Moondance.
“A body is a body,” she said. “Oh?” I replied. “You’ve seen a lot of bodies?” “Young man, I was in Auschwitz,” she snapped. “I lost six brothers and sisters. My parents. I know death. A body is a body.” Hacking at a body like that — and it was hacking, not just stabbing — would require cover, so the commotion wouldn’t be seen or heard. This was the right spot for that. The sound of the waves, sand dunes shielding the view. And nearby, a cement structure that looks like a bandstand — the Doodler could have used that for more cover, we thought. It all added up. This was a murderer who thought things through. These weren’t spontaneous eruptions of emotion. Strobes light up the approximate location of Klaus Christmann’s crime scene at Ocean Beach
Strobe lights illuminate the approximate location where Klaus Christmann’s body was found at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Christmann was a 31-year-old German citizen looking for a new life in the city when he was murdered by the Doodler. His body was found on July 7, 1974, on Ocean Beach at the foot of Lincoln Way.
Three men dead now — Cavanagh in January 1974, Jae Stevens in June, and Christmann a week and a half later — and the cops still didn’t see a pattern. Small wonder. In the early ’70s, San Francisco was awash in murder. Homicide inspectors were swamped. There were the Zebra “Death Angels” Killers, new threats from the Zodiac Killer, Patty Hearst’s kidnapping by the murderous Symbionese Liberation Army. Each year the city endured about 130 killings, compared to 40 or 50 today.
Where the Doodler hunted and where victims were found
Prime targets: gay men. They had to be on guard all the time. But still they came to the city. As dangerous as it was — roving bands of teens routinely beat up gay people — it was better than other parts of America. San Francisco was a mecca where they could be themselves, mostly.
Still, it was 1974. Sodomy laws remained on the books. Cross-dressing was illegal — that law was finally overturned the same month Christmann was killed. Vice squads busted gay men for being gay. Homicide detectives were consumed with the more notorious cases.
Plus, the city’s cops had no computers to cross-reference cases, no DNA technology to crank an arrest out of a database by matching samples. Just gumshoes with instincts. Like homicide Inspector Frank Falzon, now retired. “When you were on a call, we were going seven days a week, 24/7,” said Falzon, who had a piece of just about every major case, from the Zodiac to the Doodler. “You could have a case, and the guy sitting right across from you could have a related case, and you wouldn’t know it.” When he investigated the Doodler, there was no DNA technology, just gumshoes with instincts. Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle
They’d work a murder as far as they could each shift, then hand off to the incoming guys. They were good, but sheer volume made it tough to keep up.
Into that morass dropped the Christmann killing.
In fact, this was a new kind of murder. Bodies in similar locations, killed in the same manner, over and over. That just wasn’t something investigators were familiar with before killers like the Doodler and Zodiac showed up, criminologist Mike Rustigan told me.
“The very concept of serial murder originates in the ’70s,” said Rustigan, a San Jose State University professor emeritus who teaches law enforcement officers how to investigate serial killers. “Keep in mind, if you go back historically with homicide, almost always a homicide was acquaintance-perpetrated. That is, the offender knew the victim.” In the late ’60s and into the ’70s, he said, “there’s like a new pitch in America. And suddenly you have killers — gunmen, stabbers, whatever — who are targeting victims for no apparent motivation. I mean, in other words, total strangers.”
The worst, like the Zodiac, left signs or mailed bragging letters to the news media. All had defining techniques. And hunted their prey intently. Like the Doodler.
Police sketches of the Doodler from 1975 and 2018
“You don’t see the taunting of the police with the Doodler,” Rustigan said. “But you do see a very efficient way of killing. I mean, very methodical. You know, with the doodling, and all of the trademarks of a very cunning serial killer.”
There were few clues to Christmann’s slaughter. But looking back on them now, they were telling.
The frenzied stabbing he suffered reflected focused fury, just like the murders of Cavanagh and Stevens. He wore orange bikini shorts, carried a tube of makeup, wore several rings. Handsome, with cool sideburns and clothes. Was known to frequent gay bars.
But that’s where the police files and short news clippings ended. Except to say Christmann had been staying in San Francisco with a friend named Booker T. Williams and that his wife and two kids were back in Germany.
Klaus Christmann grew up in Germany and sought a fresh start in San Francisco in 1974. His American dream ended on July 7, 1974, when he became the Doodler's third victim, his body dumped on Ocean Beach. Courtesy Christmann Family
Even with the help of private investigator and former Chronicle colleague Mike Taylor, it took weeks of records searches to unearth even small shreds of information on Christmann. Booker Williams died in 2001. His widow, living back east, knew nothing. Others who might have known him had passed away — a common theme in this hunt. Then, diving into social media, we discovered a relative in Germany had requested records from the SFPD just two years ago. We started scratching around, and pretty soon we’d hired a bilingual freelancer to interview Christmann’s widow and daughter in Germany.
The widow didn’t want to be involved. The daughter asked us to use an alias — we chose “Helen.”
The family learned in 1974 that Christmann was murdered through a curt telegram from Williams: “Sorry to tell you, Klaus has died.” A one-page death notice from the German consulate in San Francisco followed, a bit of communication with San Francisco police — that was it.
Helen said her mother lost hope fast. “They told her right from the beginning that there was very little chance that the perpetrator would be found at all, because there are so many murders,” Helen said. Christmann was working for the Michelin tire company when he was slain, she said. And though cops here had pegged him as gay — there’s no doubt about that in the police files on his killing — Helen wasn’t so sure. “He was an attractive, well-groomed man,” she said. And, yes, carrying makeup “might have been unusual” back then. But from 6,000 miles and 46 years away, she thinks assumptions that her father was gay are “conjectures.”
Her mother never thought Christmann was gay, Helen said. But she did tell Helen that “she was a bit flustered when she went to that bar” — the gay-friendly one Christmann had managed in Germany — “where he worked, when she was confronted with open homosexuality for the first time. ... I think she was a little surprised and overwhelmed by it.”
“It was another time, another generation,” Helen said. “I was raised to be be completely open towards homosexuality. I have no problem with that. Maybe that’s why I don’t believe there’s much truth to this presumption.”
In other words, from her modern perspective, she saw no reason to think that just because her father worked at a gay-friendly bar in the 1970s that he was gay himself. All interesting. But not getting us any nearer to understanding where Christmann had been. Who he’d hung out with. Or whether he’d picked up any warning signs of the end awaiting him. Where was this going to lead? The tidbits we had dredged up on the Doodler’s victims helped us better understand their agonies. But we weren’t any closer to the suspect himself. What we were beginning to understand, though, was that the fear of a murderer walking free nearly half a century ago carried through to this day. Not just in victims’ survivors, who were still so rattled they didn’t want to be named or participate in our hunt. But in anyone who was gay and remembers the horror. “It put the shivers to everybody on Polk. I mean, everybody heard about it and nobody had any substance, you know?” Ron Huberman, who later became the first openly gay investigator in the city District Attorney’s Office, said of Polk Gulch, then the city’s hottest gay sector. “It still puts the shivers.”
Those shivers were about to explode. Just as “everybody” feared, the Doodler wasn’t done.
Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron.

Dennis John Sammut was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 26 March 2021: Artichoke Joe’s Casino Agrees To Record $5.3 Million Penalty For Misleading Gambling Regulators, Violating Federal Law
March 26, 2021 -- KPIX CBS SF Bay Area
SAN BRUNO (AP) — One of California’s more profitable card rooms agreed Thursday to a record $5.3 million penalty for misleading gambling regulators and violating a federal law designed to deter money laundering, the state attorney general’s office said.

Artichoke Joe’s Casino in San Bruno failed to properly report an investigation by the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, leading to the largest agreed-upon penalty in the history of California gambling regulation, officials said. The state penalty is in addition to a $5 million federal settlement for failing to have an effective anti-money laundering program and failing to report certain suspicious activity between 2009 and 2017, state officials said. That $5 million is also the largest amount assessed against a California card room by federal regulators. “Artichoke Joe’s has worked hard for the last few years to put in place Bank Secrecy Act controls that meet rigorous and very complex federal standards, and this settlement was an acknowledgement that our efforts have been successful,” the casino’s president, Vince DeFriese, said in a statement.
The attorney general’s office said the 51-table cardroom has California’s eighth-largest gross gambling revenue. A decade ago, state gambling regulators accused the card room of engaging in loan-sharking activities, illegal drug sales, and failing to properly report violations, according to the most recent allegations. As part of that settlement, the card room did not contest the illegal loans allegation and the state dropped its claims of illegal drug sales and the reporting failure.
A federal criminal investigation at the time led to a 2011 racketeering indictment and conviction of two casino customers and others for loan-sharking and other illegal activities at the casino “with the direct assistance of the card club’s employees,” according to federal regulators.
Loan-sharks “extended extortionate and unlawful credit” to the casino’s customers, openly used the casino to conduct their business including by using the card club’s gaming chips, and some casino employees knew of the loan-sharking and in some cases helped with the transactions, federal regulators said in a 2018 settlement.
They said the casino failed to properly fix the problems as required under the 2011 settlement. For instance, in 2016 they said the casino failed to properly monitor one customer for money laundering even though the customer engaged in more than $1.8 million in cash transactions in just three months.
Artichoke Joe’s has been in operation since 1916, offering card and tile games including baccarat, blackjack, poker, and Pai Gow, according to federal regulators. Card rooms do not have slot machines, which are reserved for tribal casinos in California.
The penalty exceeds the previous record of $3.1 million in 2019 against Hawaiian Gardens Casino, California’s second-largest card room. That Southern California casino had 225 tables and is the major source of tax revenue for Hawaiian Gardens, the smallest city in Los Angeles County. It was assessed an additional $2.8 million federal penalty for allegations that included its failure to have an effective anti-money laundering program and failing to report suspicious activity.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle in April 2021: Given Frank Falzon's 25+ years as a homicide inspector, he was noted in the Chronicle on many reported crime stories.
I have listed 65 in full form.
But he is also listed in stories in the Chronicle on the following 169 dates:
Sep 20, 1965
Oct 01, 1968
Jul 08, 1970
Nov 12, 1970
Aug 08, 1971
Nov 23, 1971
+ 2 more in 1971
Jul 11, 1972
Sep 13, 1972
Dec 26, 1972
May 17, 1973
May 25, 1973
Jun 05, 1973
Jun 07, 1973
Oct 19, 1973
Oct 20, 1973
Nov 07, 1973
+5 more in 1973
Jan 25, 1974
Apr 15, 1974
May 09, 1974
May 12, 1974
Aug 14, 1974
Aug 16, 1974
Sep 13, 1974
Oct 11, 1974
+10 more 1974
Jan 14, 1975: Zebra
Feb 08, 1975
Feb 18, 1975
Feb 21, 1975
Mar 18, 1975
Jun 09, 1975
Jun 12, 1975
Dec 15, 1975
Dec 31, 1975
Jan 14, 1976
Jan 20, 1976
Jan 24, 1976
Jan 25, 1976
Jan 28, 1976
Mar 19, 1976
Mar 22, 1976
Apr 8, 1976: Popy Jackson killing
April 8, 1976
May 20, 1976: certificate of meritourius conduct
Aug 30, 1976
Sep 21, 1976: Gay vs Cop baseball
Jan 07, 1977
Feb 20, 1977
May 15, 1977
Mar 30, 1977
Mar 31, 1977
Jun 01, 1977
Aug 21, 1977
Aug 23, 1977
Dec 15, 1977: medal
Dec 17, 1977
Dec 18, 1977: Amanda case
Feb 04, 1978
Feb 05, 1978
Jul 31, 1978
Sep 28, 1978
Aug 03, 1978
Aug 30, 1978
Nov 09, 1978
Nov 30, 1978
Jan 19, 1979
Jan 28, 1979
Apr 13, 1979
May 04, 1979: Dan White Confession
May 13, 1979
May 18, 1979
May 25, 1979
May 30, 1979
Jun 03, 1979
Jun 10, 1979
Jul 11, 1979
Oct 22, 1979
Oct 23, 1979
Nov 27, 1979
Jan 11, 1980
Jan 11, 1980
Jul 21, 1980
Nov 21, 1980
Feb 01, 1981
Feb 25, 1981
Mar 22, 1981
Apr 03, 1981
Jun 29, 1981
Jul 08, 1981
Aug 26, 1981
Sep 18, 1981
Sep 20, 1981
Nov 08, 1981
Nov 09, 1981
Nov 10, 1981
Nov 12, 1981
Jan 22, 1982
Feb 24, 1983
April 28, 1983
Jul 14, 1983: White Verdict
Nov 22, 1983
Feb 07, 1984
Mar 02, 1984
Oct 25, 1984: William White case
Oct 26, 1984
Oct 27, 1984
Nov 21, 1984
Nov 30, 1984
Nov 16, 1984: Masa
Nov 30, 1984: Masa's homicide
Dec 11, 1984
Dec 12, 1984
Feb 22, 1985
Feb 23, 1985
Jun 11, 1985
Aug 20, 1985
Aug 27, 1985
Aug 29, 1985
Sep 01, 1985: Night Stalker captured
Sep 02, 1985: Night Stalker, Ramirez
Sep 03, 1985
Sep 04, 1985
Oct 22, 1985: White suicide
Oct 23, 1985
May 15, 1986
Jul 22, 1986
Sep 08, 1986
Sep 23, 1986
Sep 30, 1986
Oct 26, 1986
Sep 26, 1986
Apr 16, 1987
Apr 26, 1987
Mar 11, 1987
Oct 30, 1987
Oct 31, 1987
Nov 15, 1987
Mar 05, 1988
Apr 16, 1988
May 14, 1988
Oct 7, 1988
Dec 28, 1988
Jan 11, 1989
Jan 19, 1989
Jan 25, 1989
Mar 01, 1989
Mar 02, 1989
Sep 24, 1991
Oct 23, 1994
May 06, 1995
Oct 04, 1995: Comments on O.J. Simpson
Sep 22, 1998
Nov 26, 1999
Mar 18, 2001
Apr 05, 2005
April 6, 2021: Doddler case.

Jenise Lynae Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 November 2021: SNOWBOARDER JENISE SPITERI THE ONLY ATHLETE REPRESENTING MALTA IN THE 2022 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES by Dan Brock
In the February 2020 issue of this newsletter, we learned of how Jenise Spiteri’s goal of competing for Malta at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea was dashed when, with only 24 women getting to compete in the Olympic Half Pipe event, she was number 25. The fact that she completely tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and partially her meniscus just six months before the Olympics didn’t help either. After the Olympics, however, the Olympic Committee sent Jenise the opening ceremonies outfit that she would have worn, together with a letter stating: “We know how hard you worked for this, and that you really tried, and we want you to have this piece because we know how bad you want it.” The March issue of this newsletter told of Jenise’s paternal grandparents, Joseph and Carmela Spiteri, who had immigrated to San Francisco, California, from Hamrun, Malta in 1947. A seasoned cobbler, Joseph Spiteri, soon heard of Joe Galdes, also from Malta, who owned a shoe shop and was partners with Louis Harlick. That same year, Harlick was approached by some ice dancers who were in need of skates.
In 1948, the shop decided to branch into making skating boots. Joseph quickly adapted the production of skating boots and soon became the company’s head skate designer. In the 1950s, Harlick bought out his partner Galdes and went into partnership with Jack Henderson. Meanwhile, Joseph Spiteri continued to hone “his skills in pattern design and customizing boots to fit customer specifications.”
Louis Harlick was diagnosed with cancer in 1960 and decided to sell his partnership in Harlick Skate Company to Jack Henderson and his brother Bob who then owned 80 percent of the company with Joseph Spiteri owning the remaining 20 percent. In 1962, Joseph sold his share in the Company to the Hendersons and in August 1963, launched his own business. Thinking that “Spiteri” would be too difficult for people to remember, he decided to go with “SP-Teri,” the brand name still used by the company he founded. Janise Spiteri’s mother, Jackie, is also of Maltese descent. She was a nationally ranked American figure skater and then skated in a professional ice show. Janise, a native of Redwood City, California, who has been figure skating all her life, began snowboarding during the winter of 2010-11. Being of Maltese descent, she was able to change her National Olympic Committee from the USA to Malta in the spring of 2015.
Snowboarding has taken Jenise to Japan, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, Spain, England and across the United States, in professional level half-pipe competitions. As Malta’s first snowboarder to represent Malta at the Winter Olympics and that country’s only athlete in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Jenise got to be Malta’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony on Friday, February 4th. On the way into the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, she was eating a banana. The Maltese flag was handed to her and she had nowhere to toss the peel so she stuffed it inside her jacket. Three hours later, on the train back to where she was staying, she wondered why her shirt was moist. Jenise then remembered the peel and finally threw it away. In addition to skateboarding, Jenise enjoys surfing and exploring the outdoors. She also acts in many television and streaming platform shows. While failing to qualify for the halfpipe finals on Wednesday, February 9th, the dumpling-eating skateboarder “has certainly become an internet star at this year’s Winter Olympics.”.

Jenise Lynae Spiteri was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 18 January 2022: Facebook: Such an honor to be going to the Olympics for Malta and to be announced as the flag bearer. Growing up as a Maltese American, I was always very close to my heritage, celebrating countless feasts and holidays at the Maltese Social Club in San Francisco, and going back to Malta to visit family.
My Nannu and Nanna (Maltese for Grandpa and Grandma) immigrated to San Francisco from Hamrun after World War II when they lost their homes from all the bombings inflicted on Malta during the war. My Nannu created an ice skate boot company that became one of the prominent figure skating companies in the world. Every Winter Olympic year I would watch News crews come to his factory for interviews about how he hand made skates for top champions such as Michelle Kwan.
After supporting Olympians from around the world with equipment for so many decades, I am so proud to be able to honor my Nannu and finally represent his home country at the Olympics. He never got to see me compete on a snowboard before he passed away, but I know he would be so proud of all that I’ve achieved.
I can’t wait to make all of Malta proud as well! Jenise Lynae Spiteri was mentioned in the Times of Malta on 18 January 2022: Snowboarder Jenise Spiteri to represent Malta at the Winter Olympics
January 18, 2022| Times of Malta | Jenise Spiteri will be representing Malta at the upcoming Winter Olympics that will be held in Beijing this month. The snowboarder issued a statement on her social media to reveal the news and the America-based athlete could not hide her pride in becoming Malta’s first-ever snowboarder at the Beijing Games. “It still doesn’t feel real and I don’t think it will until I arrive in Beijing,” Spiteri wrote on her Facebook page. “But HOLY MOLY I’M GOING TO BEIJING! Qualifying for the Olympics has been such a crazy battle, with way more unexpected struggles than I imagined facing when I first began, but I’m so proud of myself for sticking to my goal and never quitting. I’ve finally earned my chance to represent Malta as their first-ever Olympic snowboarder.

Frank Joseph Falzon was mentioned in the San Francisco Chronicle on 28 August 2022: The Maltese American inspector who caught killers for a living
Frank Falzon publishes recollections of violent crimes that rocked San Francisco
August 28, 2022| Sarah Carabott |
Times of Malta
Having investigated over 300 cases in San Francisco, including high-profile murders, Frank Falzon has several impressive achievements under his belt, but he is the proudest when he talks about his Maltese connection.
From hunting down the Night Stalker and the Zodiac Killer to getting a confession out of Dan White for the killing of Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk, retired detective Falzon recalls an exciting 28-year career in the police.
“But the biggest part of my life remains my father: Frank Tabone Falzon. My dad was everything to me,” Falzon, now 80, tells Times of Malta.
Video: Karl Andrew Micallef
Frank Senior, from Cospicua, had migrated to Detroit, US, with two of his brothers – Charlie and Lawrence – after the economic crash of World War 1. He moved to San Francisco where he met Catherine Bridget Fox, of Irish heritage, at the church of St Paul’s Shipwreck in San Francisco.
“The community of the area were I, and my three siblings, were raised in, was predominantly Maltese.
"My dad’s friends were all Maltese: I remember we’d stop in front of the display window of a shop selling TVs, to watch whatever was being broadcast on this new device, and all the Maltese people would gather around my dad.
“My dad was a celebrity: he was a championship soccer player for the Maltese club and eventually the San Francisco athletic club.
“My dad and I were inseparable – we did everything together and my Maltese connection lives deep inside my heart.”
Frank Senior died of melanoma when his son was just eight years old. The bond between the two was so tight that his family broke the news after some days as they feared the little boy could not be able to handle the news.
After his father’s death, there was a point when the young boy would tell his peers he was Italian, to avoid being quizzed about his nationality.
“I don’t do that anymore – I am very proud to be a Maltese citizen and I have dual citizenship: Maltese and American, and I have since also visited my father’s hometown of Cospicua.”
Falzon’s Maltese connection features in a book he has just published, called San Francisco Homicide Inspector 5 Henry 7.
The book details Falzon’s personal inside recollections of the violent crimes that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Chinatown gang murders and the rise of a deadly underground counterculture that targeted police at the time.
‘I should have been screaming for help’
One case, known as the Zebra murders, was unfolding not far from his family home. Concerned about his family’s safety, he moved his family out of San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County.
Still, he remained involved in homicide investigations for another couple of decades.
Police photo of Frank Falzon taken in 1975 for the SFPD memory book. Photo provided by Frank Falzon
“I worked over 300 murder cases. I was fascinated by the work… to me it was paramount to make sure I did a thorough job, arrested the right person, and proved to a jury of 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt that the person I had arrested was behind the crime they were being charged with. I was catching more high-profile cases than any other team in the homicide detail.”
Did he ever fear for his life?
“Looking back now I should have been screaming for help, but I was caught up with the fact I had sworn to do my duty. I was surrounded by fine men who were pretty much like me – trying to do a good job for the city of San Francisco that meant so much to them.
“At the time, it was my responsibility to be the best homicide inspector I could be… Did I feel fear? Never. I felt almost invincible. I felt like nothing could happen to me – looking back it was silly thinking – but it was my mental capacity not to confront the fear and dangers we were going up against on a daily basis.”
Moscone and Milk murder that haunts Falzon
One case that he carries with him every day since it happened on November 27 of 1978, remains Dan White’s murder of mayor George Moscone and human rights campaigner Harvey Milk.
Frank Falzon (L) taking Dan White (R) to prison following his emotional confession. Photo provided by Frank Falzon
White and Falzon had grown up in the same neighbourhood, attended the same schools and played on the same softball field. White eventually became a police officer and was based at his same police station.
“Dan White and I had a very solid bond,” he said, recalling how after shooting and killing Moscone and Milk, White had walked over to a diner from where he called his wife Mary Ann to tell her he was going to kill himself.
“She pleaded with him, begging him to go to St Mary’s Cathedral, telling him she’d head there herself. She turned him in at the Northern Station – the same station that only years earlier he had been working at.
“I got word that White was in custody. He had already said he didn’t want to give a statement to officers who arrested him. But when I walked into the interrogation room, he took one look at me and saw the face of a man he respected and had grown up with.
Dan White and Frank Falzon while they were still both on the police force. Photo provided by Frank Falzon
“I asked: what were you thinking Dan? He was like a pressure cooker whose lid blew off. He said: Frank I want to tell you the whole truth. He started crying and convulsing. I left the interrogation room, got a tape, asked fellow Inspector EdwardErdelatz to sit in with me and we took the now famous confession of Dan White for the murder.”
The entire ordeal was shocking for him.
“I don’t know how I survived that day – later that night I had the responsibility to go to his home, approach his wife – one of the nicest people I’ve ever known – and serve her a house search warrant. I couldn’t ask for anyone to be more understanding than Mary Ann.”
All Star team - L to R middle row Dan White and Frank Falzon. Photo provided by Frank Falzon.