Several months ago I was made aware of a television story that was being produced for 48 HOURS on CBS. A story that involved a few people that I knew. The piece finally made it to the air on February 19 and was titled “48 Hours Mystery: Playing with Fire.” How often do I know the players in major news stories happening around the world? Way more often than I would like to admit.
“Playing with Fire” was produced by Greg Fisher and two others, Chris and Ira. Greg Fisher and I have had lunch and breakfast and lunch again, I believe, in reference to this story as well as another project. …Here was one of my very good friends, Detective William Cox, a very good acquaintance that I have a great deal of respect for, Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times, and of course Michele Braun, formerly of “Nici’s Girls.” I met Ms. Braun during the good ol’ days and met with her during what was perhaps one of the worst times in her life.
Note: Michele [Braun] was charged in 2009 by the feds with Money Laundering and Prostitution. What made this all the more interesting was that she paid taxes all those years and still got bagged. It makes one wonder how she came to the attention of the government. An even better question: has the cloud totally moved on? Or are there still some thunderstorms brewing? Sometimes, when you escape a nuclear warhead with your hair intact, you may want to go and play dead for several years. Michele looked great and you could tell she was excited to be telling “her” story. Michele always has a purpose in everything she does. And if a book ever comes out, I am buying a copy. Seeing Ms. Braun blabbing away, I was reminded of the story of the bull sleeping and leaving it alone, let it sleep.
Back to the best parts of the show, can you imagine how bad Sandy Bentley must have felt for this story to air for the entire world to see and hear? Hell, she makes Paris Hilton look like a candidate for sainthood. One thought I had watching Sandy Bentley drive away in her Chevrolet in what looked like a part of the San Fernando Valley, the worm has turned, well at least a little. Hell even her boyfriend Michael Tardio was found shot to death and burning in a Mercedes, how Hollywood is that? Sandy Bentley’s unwillingness to cooperate with the cops was also interesting and very Hollywood, “protect your own ass no matter who is smoldering in the ruins.” When you run around with the rich and famous you learn that lesson real quick, you are disposable…
…Re: Ms. Linda Kim, did anyone else out there feel funny about watching and listening to this one? “International arms dealer” who almost toppled the entire South Korean government. And she did one of the best “dumb and dumber” routines I have ever seen in years. Ms. Kim mentions “very special jewelry,“ but she states she sent Tardio on his way. However, she takes another meeting with Tardio, hours before his murder…”bad energy“ in Kim’s words. Just watch that segment with Ms. Kim and listen closely! Enough about her, I am not buying her or her story
Having worked and looked into cases all over the world and most recently a murder case in Paris, France there is one person I would not want…
…If Detective Bill Cox had not retired, this case would have been solved and from what I am hearing that dam worm is turning again. And not just for the individual(s) who shot and killed Michael Tardio and Christopher Monson…
One person involved in all this lunacy that I sorta liked was Mark Yagalla, he came across as a guy just trying to…
Yagalla paid $50,000 a night to bang a pretty woman… Another great quote was when Ms. Braun was asked about the “love” factor between Mark Yagalla and Sandy “I smell something burning” Bentley. …However, if Michael had never met Sandy Bentley he would more likely be alive today as would his best friend, Christopher Monson…
…One thing that caught my attention was that there were no “officials” on this show or for that matter on the record. Folks, it is that silence that I am telling you is not good for a few people involved in this story. Time is always on the side of the good guys.
I know better than most how frustrating this has to be to sit and wait for the system to work. The killing of people in Los Angeles, it would seem, is a lot easier than you would think. We are watching the system at work in the case of Mike Yepremyan who was murdered with five witnesses and the cops cannot seem to put a lid on it, or in the case of Lauren Ann Freeman and the guy who hit her with his Bentley and left her to die on Sunset Blvd…Bentleys can be deadly.
Congratulations to Bill Cox, Andrew Blankstein and Greg Fisher for getting this murder case to the attention of the public. Please give Detective Cox the “one little lead” if you have it: Los Angeles Police Department 1-877-527-3247
There are a lot more of John J. Nazarain’s thoughts on this double murder so be sure to visit Desperate Exes.com to read the rest. While there read the article about John J. Nazarain being deposed by Gary Fishbein and Lisa H. Meyer, nice! The rent-a-judge, Judge Richard Denner; I think that was one of about four times in the last four years that someone wanted to know how much control of Rose Speaks.com and/or owned part of Rose Speaks.com has come up via emails to us. Go figure, when John is a guest author even the site owners can feel a tad of heat.
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, John Nazarian, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.
Los Angeles police say a man believed to be connected to the slaying of publicist Ronni Chasen shot himself to death at a Hollywood hotel as Beverly Hills police served a search warrant. Well not exactly a “Hollywood Hotel” as most of us “assume” that are not in Hollyweird. It was actually a Hollywood apartment building called the Harvey Apartments at 5600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, near Western Avenue The Harvey Apartments are home to a diverse mix of tenants who pay month-to-month rents. The man moved into the building some months ago but was evicted per Brandon Harrison who spoke to multiple media outlets last night.
Then we have the dueling banjos explanation that goes from a “suspect” to only “a person of interest”.
Here are the facts as reported by multiple news outlets working the crowd and alleged “inside sources”.
The man — who apparently went by the first name Harold — was described as a tall, thin black man in his 40s. Neighbors giving news interviews on camera described “Harold” as being “very strange”, Neighbors described him as unusual, perhaps mentally unstable. Harold owned a bicycle that he kept with him including keeping it in his apartment and talked about it when he engaged in small talk with neighbors. Harold described himself to other residents as an ex-convict who served two stints in state prison, the most recent for weapons and drug convictions. Harold said he would never go back to prison, according to neighbor Brandon Harrison “He told me several times, `If it ever came back down to me going to prison, I would die first,’ ‘ Harold also bragged all the time that he was the one who killed the publicist, and he was always talking about how he was going to get paid $10,000 for it.” However Harold also said he was supposed to be getting $10,000, either for a job he did or from a lawsuit. Another neighbor, Terri Gilpin, told KTLA News that on several occasions, Harold said he had a gun and threatened to use it. “He would talk crazy stuff. He kept always bragging about having a gun.”.
Ok we have a “Harold” who had been evicted from the apartments, owned a bicycle which he loved so much that he kept it in his apartment and talked about it when he engaged in small talk with neighbors. He was very strange and even the neighbors thought he was so unusual that he might be “mentally unstable”. Yea this sounds like a guy who could ride his bicycle fast enough to catch up with a Mercedes and shoot so well as to leave a clean crime scene and get away on his bicycle fast enough not to be caught. UPDATE: “Harold walked with a “shuffle” so he could not have even ran from the murder scene, can we say RED HERRING. Does the police feel a tad stupid today?
Inside sources, up to four of them none of which were named, told media that; “The man had been under surveillance for some time and when police officers approached him in the lobby of the apartment building, he backed up and refused their orders to raise his hands then he pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the head, the sources said. He died at the scene. Police investigating the suspect’s suicide collected a bicycle from the dead man’s apartment as evidence. Police did not reveal what they think his role in the murder was, whether he was the trigger man or an accomplice. Cough Cough, really????
A leaked coroner’s report raised more questions, including whether the gunman was a hired killer. News media got a look at a copy of the initial coroner’s report, which said one bullet was recovered from her back while at the hospital and is possibly a 9mm hollow-point. Chasen received three apparent wounds to the right-side breast/chest area and two apparent gunshot wounds to the right shoulder. The report has now been put under a security hold. You think????
Detectives suspect the gunfire came from an SUV or a truck pulling alongside her car, and say it appears the shooter was an expert marksman.
“Normally they turn that gun sideways and this is something that’s done with some skill,” said former L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. homicide detective Gil Carrillo. “I’ll be honest with you: I’ve carried a gun for 38 years and had to qualify quarterly. I don’t know that I could shoot and hit that mass like that.” Carrillo was a homicide detective for more than 20 years in Los Angeles. “My gut tells me that somebody contracted someone else to kill the victim,” Carrillo said.
Detectives have previously stated they believe the incident was not a random act of violence. Here’s a clip from an email Deadline obtained:
“My police source stated that it’s not clear that Chasen knew her shooter, only that she ‘may have known her shooter.’ Deadline goes on to say that; “The important information here is that if someone is being surprised by a shooter, they’d be shot through the shoulder or the back and then the bullet would enter the chest. It’s significant that Chasen was shot on the right breast plate in a cluster, indicating that she’d turned towards her shooter. Something occurred that prompted her to turn towards her shooter. The police source added that because the shooter had such a steady hand, it indicated that they were an expert in firearms.
However what the news reported ONLY once and never again is what caught my attention and that is the security cameras at the corner of Whittier Drive and Sunset Boulevard where the shooting occurred were not working that night, so they had to gather security footage from the homes on Whilshire Blvd. Who is responsible for those cameras? UPDATE The security cameras has not worked for two years because of budget cuts. Those rich people are going to love that finding of where their tax dollars are NOT going.
Chasen was shot five times in the chest at close range through the passenger window of her late-model Mercedes-Benz E-350 as she made a left turn onto Whittier from Sunset, at about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 16.
Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad two weeks ago said police had determined Chasen was the intended target of the shooting.
After the shooting death of Chasen police have been investigating whether it was a hit or some other type of attack.
Chasen a high profile publicist in Hollywood previously served as vice president of publicity at MGM studios.
Chasen’s death was the third homicide in Beverly Hills this year. The neighborhood had no homicides last year.
The location has been called the Bermuda Triangle of Beverly Hills because it’s near the area where Howard Hughes survived a plane crash in 1946 and Bugsy Siegel was gunned down on the street.
I see screen writers already working on a script called the “Beverly Hills Bermuda Triangle.”
As soon as John J. Nazarian gets back from his latest client related trip we will contact him and ask him his opinion on all of the happenings from last night.
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The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of Rose Turner or our featured authors, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners. If comments to this or any other articles are not related to the article or does not meet the terms of use for Rose Speaks, they will be removed by the moderators.
Sub title; “Another happy customer of General Motors”)
Well there is always a first, a few months back I did a story on the Keyes Woodland Hills, Buick, GMC, Cadillac dealer. And said to avoid the place at all costs. Keyes has to be one of the biggest automobile dealers in the United States and maybe the world. This organization is headed by Howard Keyes and Howard Tenenbaum, and it’s impressive to see the size of it and all the different brands, Mercedes to Toyota and all in between. It became obvious to me very quickly that the Keyes organization was not happy with my experience at one of their new stores.
Now there is no way in hell they built it by having nitwits like the one I met at the Woodland Hills GMC dealer on my quest to buy a new SUV. Background, my son Chris and I drove over one day to see about buying and or ordering a new 2010 GMC Yukon 3/4 ton SUV. We got to meet “Charlie” with his less than friendly attitude and demeanor of…. …He was directly responsible for Chris and me walking away from our purchase. In other words, he committed the ultimate sin as a car salesperson, he turned a “buyer” into a “shopper.” And the second biggest sin: he never followed up with any calls to see what he had done wrong in shooing us away (I had left my card). Note: Charlie is an L.A.P.D. retired officer who now works as a reserve officer, and his little office is just full of pictures of chiefs of the L.A.P.D. and other pieces of memorabilia to impress that he is either a cop “groupie” or had something to do with police work. Great pictures, well little did he know I too have pictures of me and my family having dinners with some of these people at birthdays and private BBQ’s…welcome to my world.
Anyway, when I never heard back I decided to send a letter to both Howards, Keyes and Tenenbaum, and you know what, Howard Tenenbaum himself called me to see if he could sell me a car! These two guys are “big shots” in the world of car sales and he took the time to call me and apologized for the way Charlie had treated us. Well, when one of the owners calls and does that what do you think I did? I drove back to the dealership to see if this was for real, and we were greeted like customers and not parolees or grand theft auto suspects. As a matter of fact, we were treated like people with money to spend on a new SUV!!! The General Manager Evan Hoffman and Howard Tenenbaum sat with us and listened and took the order, and a few weeks ago the new 2010 GMC Yukon that was built to my specifications was delivered.
The whole process was simple, professional and a total pleasure, as you-know-who was not involved. Then we got to meet Oscar and Roberto, both porters who drove us and picked us up could not have been nicer. Their service vehicle to shuttle us around was a new 2010 Cadillac. When small problems surfaced as they sometimes do with any new car, they were handled by Mr. Hoffman and his team quickly and smoothly, competence does live at Keyes Woodland Hills. One of the highlights was when a young man named Lior showed my sons and me how to work all the options on this Yukon…lots of stuff. Certainly not like my 2001! The bottom line is this folks, I bought my new truck from a group of people that somehow had escaped my son and me on our first visit to Keyes Woodland Hills, and instead fell into the hands of “officer charlie” and we were handled “the old way,” you know the attitude and behavior that caused General Motors to go bankrupt. Mr. Tenenbaum along with Evan Hoffman and people like Oscar and Roberto and of course Lior are the people who will turn General Motors around. So in closing, when you visit Keyes Woodland Hills, BUICK GMC CADILLAC avoid the “substation” and get into the showroom and find Evan Hoffman and his crew will take care of your purchase.
The expressions in this blog article are based on the opinions of our featured author, John Nazarian, please remember we are not lawyers and those opinions expressed here are each of our individual opinions and should not be taken as legal advice and/or legal opinions. The comments following this blog article are the opinions and sole property of the blog site members and do not necessarily reflect those of the site owners.
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