Jimmy casino

For years it was one of Orange County’s most notorious unsolved slayings.

Shortly after midnight on Jan. 2, , the self-named Jimmy Casino – the flashy, flamboyant, larger-than-life owner of the legendary Mustang Topless Theater – returned to his Buena Park condominium overlooking Los Coyotes County Club with his year-old girlfriend.

Two masked, armed intruders were waiting. They held Casino at gunpoint, raped his girlfriend, and ransacked the condo, taking jewelry, furs and credit cards, cash – and two of his cars.

And then they killed Jimmy Casino with a coup-de-grace shot in the back of the head with a caliber handgun. Detectives at the time characterized it as a mob hit.

More than a quarter of a century later, Richard Charles Morris II, 59, goes on trial in Orange County, charged with the special-circumstances murder of Casino during the commission of a robbery and a rape.

Attorneys picked a jury last week. Opening statements begin Monday before Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno for what is expected to be a two-week trial.

Morris was arrested at his home in Hawaii in after a national crime lab reported that his DNA matched a sample recovered from the crime scene in Buena Park. Morris’ DNA was entered into the national database after he was convicted of driving under the influence in Hawaii, which required him to provide a DNA sample.

ONE MAN ON TRIAL

Prosecutors believe Morris was one of the two masked men who shot Casino and raped his girlfriend. Authorities also believe there are others involved – men who were either present or outside the condominium when Casino was slain, or men who hired Morris and his accomplice to do the job, according to court records.

But Morris is – so far – the only person standing trial.

The slaying of Casino became one of the top news stories in Orange County in , in part because of that incredible pseudonym: Jimmy Casino.

His real name was James Lee Stockwell, and he was a one-of-a-kind character.

He ran the notorious topless theater on Harbor Boulevard, but – according to news accounts – also read the Bible to his dancers and implored them to avoid drugs and prostitution as he borrowed money from them.

He had an arrest record that spanned three decades – on charges of attempted murder, burglary, auto theft, writing bad checks, mail fraud, counterfeiting and fraud.

He had a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.

And he owed a lot of people a lot of money, according to court records, including some with known ties to the Mafia, according to court documents

Casino’s slaying more than a quarter of a century ago seemed to trigger a wave of mob-style shootings, shakedowns and arson fires in Orange County – all linked to financial control of the lucrative Mustang Theater, court records and news accounts show.

Among other things:

•Bill Carroll, a financial backer of the topless club, was shot three times in the head on April 30, , in a parking structure in Costa Mesa after dining at an Italian restaurant with two organized-crime associates, according to police. Authorities believe that Carroll took control of the Mustang after Casino’s death, and others wanted a piece if the action.

Carroll was blinded, but survived. He later testified against his two dinner companions, alleged Mafia associates Mike Rizzitello and Joey Grosso, and both were sent to prison.

•In March , “Big George” Yudzevich, a bouncer at the Mustang who sold lingerie to the dancers, was shot in the head at close range in an Irvine parking lot. Yudzevich so looked like the stereotypical Mafia henchman that he actually portrayed one in the movies.

MUSTANG DESTROYED

Eventually, after a previous suspicious fire, The Mustang Theater on Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana was set on fire and destroyed in January Police concluded it was torched for insurance purposes.

It was a violent time for organized-crime types in OC.

It all started with Jimmy Casino – or James Lee Stockwell.

The Mustang Topless Theater was the first and largest topless nightclub of its day, originally allowed to exist in Orange County by a judge’s ruling that it was a theater and not a strip club. It was therefore constitutionally protected as freedom of expression, the judge said.

It was a financial bonanza for all who had interest in it, including Casino, according to police reports. He once lived in a $ million mansion in Anaheim Hills with some of his dancers. He had a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes-Benz SL and a Chevrolet Camaro.

But his lavish lifestyle also may have led to his demise, according to court documents. Casino, who liked to wear expensive shirts unbuttoned to midchest, borrowed lots of money using the Mustang as collateral, including from Bill Carroll, according to court documents.

Eventually, at age 48, Jimmy Casino needed to downsize his lifestyle. He moved into a two-story condominium near Los Coyotes Golf Course in Buena Park with his year-old girlfriend.

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