Bamboozled Read online

  Joey says that one day in the pizza shop, the phone rang. His brother made a face; which normally meant that it was someone important and to be quiet. He answered in Sicilian, tore off the apron, and turned to Joey, “You wanna go for a drive?”

  In “the family” there were allegedly two bosses. Frank Sica was from the valley and rumor reported that he ran everything from prostitution to numbers. The big boss supposedly was Jimmy the Weasel and his sidekick, Ray Giarusso, whose operation was located in Hayward, California.

  Joey got in the car with his brother and they drove in silence. Luigi was holding the wheel with such force that his knuckles were white. Joey had never seen him like this. They arrived at a gated compound where Joey says Luigi was identified as a friend. Joey says he walked into a room of cigar smoke and old timers smelling like Hai Karate Cologne. He says he recognized Fratianno, who he describes looking like a mouse. Joey says “Uncle” Frank Sica asked him to throw a hook, and the old timers tried to show him the proper way. Uncle Frank gave him a hug and said, “Thanks.” Joey says he wondered why. As they left, he was smacked, kissed, and cheek-pinched all the way out the front door.

  On the trip back, he says his brother seemed happier than ever. At the split in the Grapevine, instead of going left, Luigi veered into the Los Angeles lane. Joey remembers Luigi telling him, “It’s your time to grow up and become a man,” and “if you’re gonna dance in life, you gotta pay the band.” As they drove into the Hollywood area, Joey says Lugi informed him that “some piece of shit” had ripped off Uncle Frank and the family for six figures and needed to be “baptized.”

  The man, supposedly, was the owner of Steve’s Mufflers in North Hollywood, and Joey says as Luigi was telling him about Steve, he reached under his seat and handed Joey a leather slackjack and instructed him to whack Steve a couple times in the head. “Do not kill him! Make sure he gets the hint and pays his bill.”

  Joey says he felt that being in Vietnam had taken away his brother’s conscience and that, without a second thought, if the family told his brother to put a bullet in him, that Luigi would make him dig his own grave.

  Joey says they stayed at a hotel on Ventura Blvd. drinking wine and falling asleep to Johnny Carson. Later that night, Joey says Luigi was getting nervous as they parked in front of Steve’s, telling him what to do, and sweating. Joey says Luigi calmly whispered, “You mess this up, they’ll bury us both.”

  The mark got out of his car and unlocked the garage. Joey says he stepped inside and hit him a couple shots, instructing him to pay his bills. As Joey turned to leave, he says it felt so good that he turned around and hit Steve a few more times.

  Back in Lancaster Joey says they stopped off on the highway to make a call at one of Frank’s pizza places. The brothers looked up as Uncle Frank’s caddie supposedly rolled into the parking lot. Joey says he strolled to the back room and palmed the .38. Joey claims that Frank walked in, all smiles, with a phony painted on tan. “I was on my way to Vegas and wanted a good pie,” he reportedly said, with two goons standing behind him.

  Joey says Frank gave Luigi a nod to go in the back, leaving him with two broken-nosed men as wide as the booth they sat in. Joey broke the silence, recognizing traits of “boxer’s nose.” The one in front also had cauliflower ear. One thug introduced himself, and Joey recognized the name as a contender in the 1940s. Joey says he took his finger off the hammer of the gun he was holding under the table; his body language relaxed. The other thug was at the jukebox, singing along to Dean Martin. Uncle Frank reportedly emerged from the back, looked down on Joey, rolled his eyes, and walked out. Luigi grabbed a bottle of wine, sat next to Joey, and supposedly poured out rolls of bills on the table from a paper bag.

  Joey claims that as he was taking off the rubber bands, Luigi noticed the gun and smiled. Joey asked why Uncle Frank rolled his eyes. Luigi puffed on his giant cigar, supposedly responding, “Uncle Frank received a package this afternoon from Steve filled with more than six figures!” Joey says they were counting out the excess.

  Frank wanted this guy baptized and you broke the mark’s nose, ribs, and eye socket. Frank wanted a baseball bat to the knees. Joey says he crunched his shoulders and looked at Luigi, “Then why did you give me a five pound blackjack?”

  Joey says he left for the gym after counting out 50 grand, marking the first time in his life with $25,000 in his pocket.

  Joey loved money and could never earn this much while living with his parents and working in a pizza shop. It’s almost no wonder he continued chasing the kind of money he could only get from crime.

  4

  Six weeks before the epic fight in Sacramento, Joey stopped the partying, coke, and sex. It was making his legs weak. He stopped lifting weights.

  The phone rang, and it was Rueben Urquidez, Benny’s older brother, who abruptly told Joey, “We have to talk. You have mail here.” Joey was concerned because he was not close to Rueben, so it had to be something substantial. Joey says he took a shower, put on some Coltrane, and drove into the Valley.

  Rueben opened the office door and waved Joey to sit down. Reuben looked Joey up and down and said, “I am against you fighting in Sacramento because you have no concern for anyone but yourself, and this is a big thing for our family and for martial arts. I have been informed that you’re fighting Shig Fugayama, and this man is tough, to say the least.” He went on to tell Joey that the judges came to a middle ground on what would be allowed in this event. The Martial Arts Federation agreed that there would be no sweeps, no groin shots; but knees were legal. Each fighter has to throw six kicks and six punches each round or be disqualified.

  Joey had no problem with the rules except for no sweeps— he loved to sweep the front foot and leap in with the left hook or spinning back kick.

  Joey trained with Benny, learning by watching, for five weeks. The difference in rules would make a different fight, and Joey had the option to pull out at any time. Benny instructed Joey to make sure to get the six kicks and punches out of the way and concentrate on winning. Benny slowly lifted a knee, pulling his head down and touching Joey’s nose, letting Joey know that this was Fugayama’s bread and butter!

  Joey says he didn’t talk to the media because he was running the fight through his mind and trying to visualize the outcome. As he walked into the arena from the dressing room, Joey says he had never seen so many Japanese men. Every seat was filled. Joey watched a tiny man step up on the canvas, wrapped in the rising sun flag. Joey says he approached him, smiling, trying to shake his hand with the gloves on.

  The lights went out in the arena, and through the smoke-filled ring, the referee called them to the center. It was the first time Joey was taller than an opponent.

  Joey says the man’s face looked like it’d been hit flush with a shovel. His eyebrows were replaced by scar tissue. He had no nose, only two holes. His ears were inside-out from cauliflower syndrome. The left ear was swollen and red.

  Shig approached Joey, guns blazing; left, right, and he was backed into a corner as his knee struck Joey’s thigh and hips before connecting a head-butt. Frozen and locked up, Joey attempted left hooks to the jaw, but caught his elbows back in the face. The referee broke them apart. Joey was able to throw six punches and six kicks so when the bell rang, he was relieved.

  Reuben was calm, and Benny said, “Get on your toes and box.”

  Joey came out and they touched gloves. He got on his toes; jab, jab, right, roundhouse flush on his face, but with no effect. Joey’s right thudded against his opponent’s face. He says he saw blood coming from Shig’s ear.

  Joey stayed on his toes the rest of the match to keep some distance between them. In the sixth round the referee stopped the fight to have the doctor look at Shig’s closed eye and ear; which was almost severed in half. Joey wasn’t doing much better with both eyes nearly shut.

  By the 7th round Joey was out of gas. After training aggressive forward motion, it was exhausting to be backing up for six rounds instead. Joe
y had Shig in the corner and leaned down for a body shot, but Shig grabbed the back of his head, connecting his knee to Joey’s face five times. Joey heard his nose crack and felt the swelling begin.

  In the 8th round Joey says he caught his second wind, got up on his toes, and started hitting with left, right, left, right combinations as blood sprayed back on his face. Joey remembers returning to his corner and not being able to see. Shot and surrendering, Rueben woke him up with ice.

  Through two slits, Joey says he saw the referee checking him out. He felt confident the ref would stop the fight, but instead, the ref grabbed Joey’s arm and marched him to the middle of the ring, raising his hand in victory! Shig’s corner had tossed in the towel. Joey felt the audience throwing things at him that hit him in the face. After Rueben stepped in to hold a towel over his head, Joey realized the crowd was throwing money. Joey says he hugged Shig as he lost his last sliver of vision.

  Joey turned 18 and bought a 1978 Harley Sportster. Riding on Manchester Blvd. on his way to take his newest girlfriend to a baseball game, Joey claims he turned left on 43rd and saw someone punching a little girl in the face. He says there was a crowd beginning to surround them but no one was stopping it. Joey says he ran at the attacker and kicked him against a store front. Turning to check on the girl, Joey says he saw a bullet coming at him from the downed man. The first bullet tore through his thigh, throwing him back. The second bullet caught him an inch below the knee cap. The shooter took off running.

  Joey says he crawled over to his bike, slid his bad leg over, and rode off to the General Hospital, as his blood boiled on the engine head. Joey woke up days later with his leg in an open cast with bullet holes and puss.

  Joey thought he’d never fight again. The bullets crushed his tibia and shattered the fibula. He still wears a leg brace to this day and “walks like a duck” as he puts it. Word on the street was that Joey was shot by some guy named Red, from Grape St., Watts. Joey was released from the hospital on a Friday morning.

  The cast was supposed to be on for six months before his knee would be reconstructed, but he grew impatient. Joey claims he was owed money by Ramirez for the tough guy fights and money in trust from the Steve’s Muffler baptism, though it’s hard to believe even a young Joey trusting his fortune to anyone when he could be spending it on prostitutes and cocaine.

  Joey could walk with a cane as long as he locked his thigh, giving him control of his knee. Joey walked slowly, downstairs to the café, to the payphone and found Ramirez was in Yuma, Arizona with Joey’s brother, Luigi! According to Joey, Luigi and Ramirez were business partners.

  A few weeks later Joey walked into the Main St. gym with two prostitutes, Sonya and Emma, looking for Ramirez and his money. Joey needed help up the flight of one hundred stairs. Joey says he felt like damaged goods in the gym and that no one even wanted to say “hello.” Carlos saw Joey’s cane and walked over, shaking his head, giving him a hug. Joey informed him, “Never stop to help anyone!”

  Carlos supposedly informed Joey, “Ramirez was living at the track and lost everything; going from a Benz to the bus.” Carlos offered to float Joey some money, then went back to his workout.

  After they left, a gang unit police car cut them off in the crosswalk and put Sonya and Emma in the back seat, on the grounds that they were prostitutes. Joey claims one cop walked him down the alley behind 4th St. and proceeded to beat him with his nightstick. He claims the officer called another car and had Joey arrested for pimping and pandering. After this incident, Joey’s bad leg was a mess and his cane was broken in half.

  While we don’t know what Joey may have done to escalate this situation, this interaction points to an aspect of the justice system where fear and intimidation won’t ever give people on the streets rehabilitation or better opportunities. Joey’s own budding lucrative career of threats and intimidation was hard to trifle with. It had career perks that couldn’t be replaced by working in a pizza shop.

  Joey says he gave the police a phony name and called the only person he could think of to bail him out: Luigi. Luigi answered the phone and within an hour Joey was out. Meeting at the front door of the police station, Joey says Steve from the muffler shop was standing there with another roll of money for him.

  5

  Joey had a “friend,” JoJo, who lived out on Venice Beach and as she rang his room, Joey grabbed his bag, hugged the girls, tossed Emma the keys to his Harley, and told her to sell it. Joey hobbled into JoJo’s car and rolled away, past the Crash unit, who he says was watching his every move. Joey felt good when the hospital set his leg again, put a hot cast on, and gave him crutches. The doctor instructed him to rest, and that is what Joey had in mind as they pulled into the Central Food Market on Hill St. Joey bought bags and bags of food, spending hundreds of dollars. Feeling ever so secure with his cast, they arrived at JoJo’s home on the beach as the sun was setting.

  Joey still had a serious cocaine habit to pay for and kept thinking about the money he felt Ramirez owed him as he walked on the beach. Sonya and Emma visited on the weekends, walking the boardwalk with him, telling Joey stories about Main St. that were likely to make him seethe with more anger. On weekdays, JoJo and Joey were tanning on the roof when she mentioned calmly that she was five weeks pregnant. Without boxing, Joey had no income. Not one to let things go easily or be forgiven, Joey says he became increasingly determined to find Ramirez.

  Joey was sitting on the boardwalk when he saw Sonya get out of a taxi. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Sonya slumped on the bench next to Joey and handed him an envelope with Emma’s handwriting on it. Joey saw a few hundred dollars as he opened it. Joey says Sonya burst into tears and said that Emma was found dead in Griffith Park with her throat slashed—victim number 6 of the Skid Row Slasher.

  Joey sat on the bench looking out into the ocean. Sonya put her head on his shoulder as JoJo walked up and held her. The next day, Joey and Sonya went to the morgue and used the Harley money to bury Emma.

  It was the summer of 1979. JoJo was well into her pregnancy, and Joey was playing a shell game with money to keep up. One day when he returned from his daily walk, Ramirez had called.

  Joey expressed to Luigi that Ramirez, in his purview, had burned him. Joey says Luigi told him, “Do what you have to do,” and kissed his cheek. Joey didn’t see Sonya and JoJo, again, and didn’t see his brother for another 30 years.

  Joey claims he took a taxi to see Ramirez. Not needing crutches anymore due to a rubber stopper on his cast foot, Joey says he rolled up the front of Ramirez’s office and saw him on the phone. Ramirez reportedly looked up and smiled, putting something into the top drawer.

  Joey says he stood there waiting for Ramirez to hang up. When he finally did, Joey says he demanded all of his money. He says Ramirez peeled off five hundred and laid it in front of Joey. Joey says he demanded five grand and that Ramirez informed Joey he was washed up and he’d taken Ramirez’s best girl; Emma.

  Joey says Ramirez opened the drawer and pulled out a .25 automatic pistol and raised it at him. Joey claims he grabbed Ramirez’s wrist, pointing the gun against Ramirez’s shoulder, pulling the trigger with his other hand. Joey claims he never robbed the safe (which the transcripts seem to support) and instructed Ramirez to call 911 before taking a taxi to the airport and flew to Miami, then a Greyhound to New York City.

  The facts diverge here in numerous ways from the way Joey tells it. Pamela Frohreich, the Los Angeles prosecutor investigating Joey’s case dug into the meat and potatoes of his story.

  “A lot of prominent people believed Joey, but nobody bothered to check the facts,” said Frohreich. “That includes Joey himself, because I believe he has convinced himself of his story. He used that story to talk himself into two years of freedom.”

  Joey actually fled to New Orleans after the shooting but was found by the police when he returned to Los Angles two weeks later. The man he was charged with murdering seemed to have no apparent links to boxing and was 21-y
ear-old Armando Cardenas Jasso. The gun used to kill Jasso was reportedly a .25 cal that was sold or loaned (accounts differ) to Joey under the name “Boxer” by people who claimed he was living with them at the time.

  The scene of the murder is also notably different. Jasso was a lone night time gas station attendent. In a somewhat cartoonish scenario, drivers refueling at that Texaco station on Florence Avenue in Downey couldn’t believe their good fortune. There was not an attendant in sight and so, on June 18, 1979, they drove off, one by one, into the night without paying for their gas.

  For more confusion, Jose Ramírez is the name of a Lightweight division amateur boxer who wasn’t born until 1992. It seems almost as probable that Joey would borrow this name through his routine interest in following his favorite sport.

  The curious thing is that Joey’s story is different in almost every fundamental detail, even ones that wouldn’t point to his innocence or absolve him of the crime. In one interview he uses the passive verb, “the gun went off,” as if it was merely a disassociated event unrelated to the actions of any person. For further head scratching, while robbery was listed as the motive for the murder, as Joey asserts, the police documents say that the safe was never opened. Other reports say it was opened and that Joey stole $335. So what actually took place? Was Jasso the real name of Ramirez? Has Joey merely created an elaborate fiction over the years and convinced himself of its truth?

  6

  June 25, 1979—A freshly nineteen year old Joey worried about what would become of him. He says he called an old friend who informed him that the murder was all over the T.V. and Ramirez had died, but that the police were looking for a six foot black man, so he should come back to LA.

  Joey’s “friend,” Edward Santana, and his wife picked him up at the LA bus depot, and they changed for a party at the Paladium. “Mr. Ralph,” a security guard, told Joey to get rid of his gun if he’s packing because the place was surrounded and to head for the back entrance. Joey says he walked off the dance floor and opened a door to find guns drawn on him.