1 00:00:00,391 --> 00:00:02,785 In the criminal justice system, 2 00:00:02,785 --> 00:00:05,309 detectives and prosecutors face daunting challenges 3 00:00:05,309 --> 00:00:07,790 when money is the motive for murder. 4 00:00:09,966 --> 00:00:13,622 A suspicious disappearance captures media attention. 5 00:00:13,622 --> 00:00:15,493 There are still two missing people, 6 00:00:15,493 --> 00:00:18,453 and we have not heard anything from them. 7 00:00:18,453 --> 00:00:20,368 Detectives uncover ties 8 00:00:20,368 --> 00:00:23,197 to a multimillion-dollar criminal network. 9 00:00:23,197 --> 00:00:25,068 It seemed like he took glee in taking 10 00:00:25,068 --> 00:00:26,852 the life of these people. 11 00:00:26,852 --> 00:00:29,464 Prosecutors are thwarted by an arrogant, 12 00:00:29,464 --> 00:00:31,248 well-resourced adversary. 13 00:00:31,248 --> 00:00:32,597 He was flamboyant. 14 00:00:32,597 --> 00:00:36,079 He spent money like it was going out of style. 15 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:37,776 But they craft their own sting 16 00:00:37,776 --> 00:00:39,735 to take down the kingpin. 17 00:00:39,735 --> 00:00:42,999 I'm hearing it, and I can't believe what I'm hearing. 18 00:00:42,999 --> 00:00:47,134 These men and women dedicate their lives to law and order. 19 00:00:47,134 --> 00:00:49,310 I worked homicide for 17 years. 20 00:00:49,310 --> 00:00:52,487 But this case-- once in a lifetime. 21 00:00:52,487 --> 00:00:55,533 These are their true stories. 22 00:01:11,419 --> 00:01:16,032 We were out in Woodside, Queens, 23 00:01:16,032 --> 00:01:19,253 for the purposes of doing a pretty low-level 24 00:01:19,253 --> 00:01:21,081 confidential informant street buy 25 00:01:21,081 --> 00:01:24,562 from a known drug dealer. 26 00:01:24,562 --> 00:01:27,304 The guy who was doing the video in the van 27 00:01:27,304 --> 00:01:30,351 called on the radio and said, "Hey, grab the informant. 28 00:01:30,351 --> 00:01:32,353 Something's going on on this block." 29 00:01:32,353 --> 00:01:34,485 In a bizarre coincidence, 30 00:01:34,485 --> 00:01:37,575 agents then intercepted a kidnapping. 31 00:01:40,491 --> 00:01:42,711 Later, while interviewing the victim, 32 00:01:42,711 --> 00:01:45,366 they learned he was entangled in a vast web 33 00:01:45,366 --> 00:01:48,282 of violent financial schemes. 34 00:01:48,282 --> 00:01:50,893 The victim in the case was very afraid. 35 00:01:50,893 --> 00:01:54,157 It wasn't long before we realized that, you know, 36 00:01:54,157 --> 00:01:56,203 we had kind of stumbled our way 37 00:01:56,203 --> 00:01:59,902 to a much bigger and complex case. 38 00:01:59,902 --> 00:02:02,600 In order to gain protection, the victim confessed 39 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,907 involvement in a fatal conspiracy 40 00:02:04,907 --> 00:02:07,214 in Southern California. 41 00:02:07,214 --> 00:02:09,216 He said, "You guys need to find 42 00:02:09,216 --> 00:02:11,218 "this guy, Peter Kovach. 43 00:02:11,218 --> 00:02:14,046 I think he might be dead." 44 00:02:14,046 --> 00:02:16,397 OK. Wait a minute. 45 00:02:16,397 --> 00:02:19,313 Let's go back a little bit. 46 00:02:23,926 --> 00:02:26,581 Peter Kovach and his coworker Ted Gould 47 00:02:26,581 --> 00:02:29,105 had first been reported as missing 48 00:02:29,105 --> 00:02:31,063 when police got a 911 call 49 00:02:31,063 --> 00:02:32,761 from their place of employment, 50 00:02:32,761 --> 00:02:36,156 Galleria Telecom in Torrance, California. 51 00:02:36,156 --> 00:02:38,375 The business was left unlocked, 52 00:02:38,375 --> 00:02:41,857 just simply open and unattended. 53 00:02:41,857 --> 00:02:44,512 I arrived, contacted the two individuals 54 00:02:44,512 --> 00:02:46,340 who were at the location. 55 00:02:46,340 --> 00:02:49,256 Paul Poduska seemed very concerned. 56 00:02:49,256 --> 00:02:53,085 He was there to visit his friend, Ted Gould. 57 00:02:53,085 --> 00:02:57,481 I was supposed to meet my best friend Ted at 8:00. 58 00:02:57,481 --> 00:02:59,701 He told me that he had got a new job 59 00:02:59,701 --> 00:03:01,572 working at the Galleria Telecom 60 00:03:01,572 --> 00:03:04,358 beeper and cell phone sales company. 61 00:03:04,358 --> 00:03:07,448 Got off work and drove directly to the store. 62 00:03:09,493 --> 00:03:11,278 The lights were on in the shop. 63 00:03:11,278 --> 00:03:13,758 I looked around. There was nobody there. 64 00:03:13,758 --> 00:03:15,673 The next person that showed up told me that he was 65 00:03:15,673 --> 00:03:17,980 one of the owners of the company. 66 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:20,504 I happened to drive by at about 11:00 p.m. at night, 67 00:03:20,504 --> 00:03:23,290 and I saw all the doors and the lights were on. 68 00:03:23,290 --> 00:03:25,248 And when I drove in, I noticed Ted's friend 69 00:03:25,248 --> 00:03:26,467 was still waiting for him. 70 00:03:26,467 --> 00:03:27,642 It was then when I called the police, 71 00:03:27,642 --> 00:03:29,296 because it was pretty unusual, 72 00:03:29,296 --> 00:03:31,515 since both their cars were here. 73 00:03:31,515 --> 00:03:34,301 He indicated that two employees were missing. 74 00:03:34,301 --> 00:03:38,000 They were Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 75 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,263 The business, it was undisturbed, 76 00:03:40,263 --> 00:03:42,047 and none of the phones were missing. 77 00:03:42,047 --> 00:03:46,051 No indications of any violent crime, robbery. 78 00:03:46,051 --> 00:03:48,837 RJ Panah indicated that when he went inside, 79 00:03:48,837 --> 00:03:50,795 he noticed that the camera was turned 80 00:03:50,795 --> 00:03:53,015 and projected upward to the ceiling, 81 00:03:53,015 --> 00:03:54,756 which was unusual. 82 00:03:54,756 --> 00:03:56,410 Security camera for the business 83 00:03:56,410 --> 00:03:58,803 was nonfunctioning, according to RJ Panah. 84 00:03:58,803 --> 00:04:00,762 And so you start analyzing all that, 85 00:04:00,762 --> 00:04:02,416 and you become very suspicious. 86 00:04:05,549 --> 00:04:09,292 RJ Panah was interviewed while at the scene. 87 00:04:09,292 --> 00:04:11,686 Ted, I just hired about four weeks ago. 88 00:04:11,686 --> 00:04:13,514 Known Peter for about a year. 89 00:04:13,514 --> 00:04:14,863 You know, I love him like a brother. 90 00:04:16,517 --> 00:04:18,214 Peter Kovach was like a half-owner 91 00:04:18,214 --> 00:04:19,868 of the business. 92 00:04:19,868 --> 00:04:23,698 Ted Gould was just an employee for the location. 93 00:04:23,698 --> 00:04:28,137 Peter was from the East Coast and had quite a bit of cash. 94 00:04:28,137 --> 00:04:31,706 RJ Panah and Peter hit it off as friends. 95 00:04:31,706 --> 00:04:34,099 As time went on, Peter provided cash 96 00:04:34,099 --> 00:04:36,798 and became part owner. 97 00:04:36,798 --> 00:04:41,846 He was a guy in his 20s, very friendly, very charming. 98 00:04:41,846 --> 00:04:44,371 But other than that, this guy doesn't have 99 00:04:44,371 --> 00:04:47,548 much background information. 100 00:04:47,548 --> 00:04:49,463 Investigators learned that Peter had come 101 00:04:49,463 --> 00:04:50,942 from a modest upbringing 102 00:04:50,942 --> 00:04:53,031 by loving parents in New Jersey, 103 00:04:53,031 --> 00:04:55,512 gone to college in Miami, and had almost 104 00:04:55,512 --> 00:04:57,993 no record of prior employment. 105 00:04:57,993 --> 00:04:59,864 Peter was making a lot of money. 106 00:04:59,864 --> 00:05:01,388 I mean, he's pulling a lot of cash, 107 00:05:01,388 --> 00:05:03,607 and it didn't come from the business. 108 00:05:03,607 --> 00:05:07,350 I was suspicious of what Peter might have been up to. 109 00:05:07,350 --> 00:05:08,612 Paul Poduska had been 110 00:05:08,612 --> 00:05:10,571 the first person onto the scene 111 00:05:10,571 --> 00:05:12,921 and was still there when police arrived. 112 00:05:12,921 --> 00:05:16,272 He was able to give them background on his friend Ted, 113 00:05:16,272 --> 00:05:18,100 the other missing man. 114 00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:19,754 Ted was funny. 115 00:05:19,754 --> 00:05:23,584 He just had a great sense of humor, genuinely. 116 00:05:23,584 --> 00:05:28,371 Just the--the smile in all of these pictures. 117 00:05:28,371 --> 00:05:30,765 He was one of my best friends from college. 118 00:05:30,765 --> 00:05:35,509 We met at Cal State Northridge University marching band. 119 00:05:35,509 --> 00:05:37,293 Ted grew up in Southern California. 120 00:05:37,293 --> 00:05:42,298 After college, he was living in Redondo Beach, California. 121 00:05:42,298 --> 00:05:44,909 He was 29 years old. 122 00:05:44,909 --> 00:05:48,130 Ted was excited about his new job. 123 00:05:48,130 --> 00:05:52,308 He wanted to move forward with newer technology. 124 00:05:52,308 --> 00:05:54,310 It was definitely out of character for him 125 00:05:54,310 --> 00:05:55,659 to not be there. 126 00:05:55,659 --> 00:05:59,228 I felt that something was extremely wrong. 127 00:05:59,228 --> 00:06:02,013 As the hunt for Ted Gould and Peter Kovach 128 00:06:02,013 --> 00:06:03,798 went into high gear, 129 00:06:03,798 --> 00:06:06,409 news broke across Southern California. 130 00:06:08,106 --> 00:06:13,024 This case was fascinating, all the twists and turns. 131 00:06:13,024 --> 00:06:16,332 It's as if the two men had literally vanished 132 00:06:16,332 --> 00:06:17,942 into the night. 133 00:06:22,730 --> 00:06:25,559 The following morning, I was contacted 134 00:06:25,559 --> 00:06:27,517 by Detective James Cook. 135 00:06:28,866 --> 00:06:30,825 I've known him for quite a while. 136 00:06:30,825 --> 00:06:34,045 Me and Jeff worked together in the patrol division. 137 00:06:34,045 --> 00:06:35,830 We actually lived together for a while 138 00:06:35,830 --> 00:06:39,224 when we were younger police officers. 139 00:06:39,224 --> 00:06:42,227 Detective Cook related that individuals were arrested 140 00:06:42,227 --> 00:06:44,186 near the Galleria Telecom 141 00:06:44,186 --> 00:06:47,232 a couple weeks before these people were missing. 142 00:06:47,232 --> 00:06:50,453 It could have been coincidence, but I don't think so. 143 00:06:52,586 --> 00:06:55,458 On October 10, 1994, at approximately 9:00 144 00:06:55,458 --> 00:06:57,721 in the evening in the city of Torrance, 145 00:06:57,721 --> 00:07:01,725 some patrol officers observed a gray and blue Buick 146 00:07:01,725 --> 00:07:03,858 exiting between some businesses-- 147 00:07:03,858 --> 00:07:06,600 I think it was Galleria cell phone business. 148 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:08,689 When the occupants observed the police car, 149 00:07:08,689 --> 00:07:11,735 they immediately fled the area. 150 00:07:11,735 --> 00:07:13,824 Alerted by the suspicious Buick 151 00:07:13,824 --> 00:07:16,697 attempting to flee the quiet commercial district, 152 00:07:16,697 --> 00:07:19,047 officers pulled the vehicle over. 153 00:07:19,047 --> 00:07:21,615 When the cops stop this suspicious vehicle, 154 00:07:21,615 --> 00:07:24,661 they find three men inside. 155 00:07:24,661 --> 00:07:26,881 The driver, Ruben Hernandez, 156 00:07:26,881 --> 00:07:29,187 could not produce a driver's license. 157 00:07:29,187 --> 00:07:31,276 The front passenger, Kenneth Friedman, 158 00:07:31,276 --> 00:07:35,585 had surgical gloves in both his front pants pockets. 159 00:07:35,585 --> 00:07:38,501 The rear passenger, Juan Galindo, 160 00:07:38,501 --> 00:07:41,243 his address was from New York. 161 00:07:41,243 --> 00:07:43,158 When police are questioning these three men, 162 00:07:43,158 --> 00:07:48,076 what they discover is duct tape and two loaded handguns. 163 00:07:48,772 --> 00:07:49,904 They were placed under arrest 164 00:07:49,904 --> 00:07:51,427 for probable cause robbery 165 00:07:51,427 --> 00:07:54,343 and the gun violations that were in the vehicle. 166 00:07:54,343 --> 00:07:56,214 We had the area canvassed 167 00:07:56,214 --> 00:07:59,130 to see if any crimes were committed that night. 168 00:07:59,130 --> 00:08:00,654 Nothing. 169 00:08:00,654 --> 00:08:02,525 I thought that they had prevented a robbery 170 00:08:02,525 --> 00:08:03,787 from occurring that night. 171 00:08:05,789 --> 00:08:07,922 So I left that afternoon 172 00:08:07,922 --> 00:08:10,141 thinking that these guys are from New York, 173 00:08:10,141 --> 00:08:11,491 they have no money, 174 00:08:11,491 --> 00:08:14,450 they're still gonna be in custody. 175 00:08:14,450 --> 00:08:16,844 To my surprise, when I came in the next morning, 176 00:08:16,844 --> 00:08:20,412 I found out that they had bonded out. 177 00:08:20,412 --> 00:08:23,590 And I was curious why somebody would post bail 178 00:08:23,590 --> 00:08:25,766 for these three people from New York. 179 00:08:25,766 --> 00:08:27,507 The three men were able to walk 180 00:08:27,507 --> 00:08:30,901 because they had a fast-talking attorney from New York. 181 00:08:32,990 --> 00:08:35,471 We had some taped phone calls from the jail. 182 00:08:35,471 --> 00:08:37,386 The night that they got arrested, 183 00:08:37,386 --> 00:08:39,649 Kenneth Friedman was talking to his attorney, 184 00:08:39,649 --> 00:08:41,738 Gary Friedman, about bail. 185 00:08:56,927 --> 00:09:01,149 Very incriminating type of conversations. 186 00:09:01,149 --> 00:09:02,585 But there was nothing I could do 187 00:09:02,585 --> 00:09:05,588 because there was no robbery committed that night. 188 00:09:05,588 --> 00:09:08,591 When I learned what happened at the cell phone business, 189 00:09:08,591 --> 00:09:11,333 we immediately put two and two together and said, 190 00:09:11,333 --> 00:09:12,943 "I think our suspects are 191 00:09:12,943 --> 00:09:16,556 Kenneth Friedman and Gary Friedman." 192 00:09:18,949 --> 00:09:20,864 I ran a record check with New York 193 00:09:20,864 --> 00:09:23,432 and found out that Kenneth Friedman had done time 194 00:09:23,432 --> 00:09:26,435 for a robbery conviction in 1985. 195 00:09:26,435 --> 00:09:29,046 Then we found out that Gary Friedman, 196 00:09:29,046 --> 00:09:31,832 the attorney representing Kenneth Friedman, 197 00:09:31,832 --> 00:09:33,703 was Kenneth Friedman's brother. 198 00:09:42,756 --> 00:09:43,887 Two brothers, you know. 199 00:09:43,887 --> 00:09:46,020 One was a defense attorney, 200 00:09:46,020 --> 00:09:49,589 and the other one was a criminal. 201 00:09:49,589 --> 00:09:52,374 Gary Friedman was a criminal defense attorney 202 00:09:52,374 --> 00:09:54,855 who lived a lavish lifestyle-- 203 00:09:54,855 --> 00:09:57,205 big homes, boats. 204 00:09:57,205 --> 00:10:00,469 But his work as an attorney was dwindling. 205 00:10:00,469 --> 00:10:04,038 So he needed to find another source of income. 206 00:10:04,038 --> 00:10:06,562 Based on information developed from phone calls 207 00:10:06,562 --> 00:10:08,172 and background investigations, 208 00:10:08,172 --> 00:10:10,697 I was able to determine that the IRS was 209 00:10:10,697 --> 00:10:12,263 in the middle of an investigation 210 00:10:12,263 --> 00:10:15,005 that was going to file charges against Gary Friedman 211 00:10:15,005 --> 00:10:17,791 for money laundering with some other activities. 212 00:10:21,142 --> 00:10:23,666 The detectives began to formulate a theory 213 00:10:23,666 --> 00:10:25,407 on the Friedmans and their crew. 214 00:10:25,407 --> 00:10:29,106 This was the street they came out onto from the business. 215 00:10:29,106 --> 00:10:33,676 We're west of the Galleria Telecom. 216 00:10:33,676 --> 00:10:35,939 During the traffic stop on that vehicle, 217 00:10:35,939 --> 00:10:38,942 the items found appeared to be, or could have been, 218 00:10:38,942 --> 00:10:42,424 a toolkit for a kidnapping. 219 00:10:42,424 --> 00:10:44,644 You can't be that dumb to come back, 220 00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:46,297 commit the kidnapping of the two 221 00:10:46,297 --> 00:10:48,212 from the same business that you were arrested for 222 00:10:48,212 --> 00:10:49,518 two weeks prior. 223 00:10:49,518 --> 00:10:50,911 You guys are really stupid. 224 00:10:50,911 --> 00:10:53,696 And arrogant too. 225 00:10:53,696 --> 00:10:56,830 Investigators wondered if the desperate need for money 226 00:10:56,830 --> 00:10:58,832 led the Friedmans to kidnapping, 227 00:10:58,832 --> 00:11:00,921 extortion, or worse. 228 00:11:00,921 --> 00:11:02,879 We both decided that these were 229 00:11:02,879 --> 00:11:05,665 our possible suspects in this disappearance. 230 00:11:07,275 --> 00:11:08,885 We didn't know how they related 231 00:11:08,885 --> 00:11:11,322 to Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 232 00:11:12,628 --> 00:11:16,719 I was able to review Ted and Peter Kovach, 233 00:11:16,719 --> 00:11:18,112 if they were connected in any way, 234 00:11:18,112 --> 00:11:20,418 and found no connection other than just 235 00:11:20,418 --> 00:11:23,421 the simple employment at the Galleria Telecom. 236 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,209 There are still two missing people, 237 00:11:28,209 --> 00:11:30,864 and we have not heard anything from them 238 00:11:30,864 --> 00:11:34,258 or from anyone that knows them. 239 00:11:38,654 --> 00:11:41,048 I get the phone call-- 240 00:11:41,048 --> 00:11:43,006 two bodies have been found. 241 00:11:44,442 --> 00:11:46,575 We immediately drove down to San Diego, 242 00:11:46,575 --> 00:11:49,099 to the location where the bodies have been recovered. 243 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,364 I mean, it was not a pretty sight. 244 00:11:54,844 --> 00:11:56,759 There's this guy a lot of people were 245 00:11:56,759 --> 00:11:59,327 attracted to, including Peter Kovach. 246 00:11:59,327 --> 00:12:03,070 He wanted to be Tony Montana, the drug lord. 247 00:12:03,070 --> 00:12:05,333 And when you're making millions of dollars, 248 00:12:05,333 --> 00:12:07,378 you need to find a way to hide it. 249 00:12:11,469 --> 00:12:14,168 Torrance investigators rush to San Diego 250 00:12:14,168 --> 00:12:16,779 after receiving notice that two bodies were 251 00:12:16,779 --> 00:12:18,476 discovered in an alleyway. 252 00:12:23,438 --> 00:12:25,440 The identification had been made, 253 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,051 and they were Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 254 00:12:28,573 --> 00:12:30,271 The bodies were dumped and left there 255 00:12:30,271 --> 00:12:33,927 for a couple days before they were found. 256 00:12:33,927 --> 00:12:37,844 They were badly decomposed, bloated. 257 00:12:37,844 --> 00:12:39,933 Cause of death for Peter Kovach 258 00:12:39,933 --> 00:12:42,283 and Ted Gould was strangulation. 259 00:12:43,980 --> 00:12:46,069 Just an unfortunate situation. 260 00:12:49,725 --> 00:12:53,120 Detective Lancaster called me and let me know. 261 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,645 I remember feeling shocked and horrified 262 00:12:56,645 --> 00:12:59,039 and sorrow. 263 00:13:01,955 --> 00:13:05,132 It was definitely a tragic situation, 264 00:13:05,132 --> 00:13:08,352 and I don't-- I don't like to revisit. 265 00:13:12,139 --> 00:13:13,923 I need to take a break. 266 00:13:16,926 --> 00:13:20,625 Peter Kovach's mother and sister 267 00:13:20,625 --> 00:13:22,671 came by the station, 268 00:13:22,671 --> 00:13:23,933 and they were very upset. 269 00:13:23,933 --> 00:13:26,022 It was a really tough time. 270 00:13:28,111 --> 00:13:30,331 There was a warrant out for Kenneth Friedman, 271 00:13:30,331 --> 00:13:33,987 Juan Galindo, and Ruben Hernandez. 272 00:13:33,987 --> 00:13:36,032 We had no information as to where they were. 273 00:13:38,078 --> 00:13:40,384 Investigators continued pursuit. 274 00:13:40,384 --> 00:13:43,518 But the lead suspect, Kenny, was off the grid, 275 00:13:43,518 --> 00:13:47,391 and his brother and attorney Gary was uncooperative. 276 00:13:47,391 --> 00:13:50,003 Although Peter could have been a financial target, 277 00:13:50,003 --> 00:13:52,396 there was no clear connection. 278 00:13:52,396 --> 00:13:54,094 Months passed. 279 00:13:54,094 --> 00:13:57,010 But then an ATF operation on the other side of the country 280 00:13:57,010 --> 00:14:00,013 and a second kidnapping expanded the case 281 00:14:00,013 --> 00:14:03,190 to an interstate conspiracy. 282 00:14:03,190 --> 00:14:05,888 It was probably about 10:00 in the morning. 283 00:14:05,888 --> 00:14:09,674 I get a phone call, long distance, from the ATF 284 00:14:09,674 --> 00:14:11,981 that he was investigating a kidnapping 285 00:14:11,981 --> 00:14:13,896 and had some information that might relate 286 00:14:13,896 --> 00:14:15,158 to a Torrance homicide. 287 00:14:17,682 --> 00:14:19,597 It was a large break. 288 00:14:19,597 --> 00:14:23,645 Within a day or two, we were in New York, meeting with ATF. 289 00:14:31,566 --> 00:14:33,481 I was a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, 290 00:14:33,481 --> 00:14:36,571 Tobacco, and Firearms, primarily responsible 291 00:14:36,571 --> 00:14:40,053 for organized crime cases, narcotics trafficking, 292 00:14:40,053 --> 00:14:42,577 enforcing federal firearms laws. 293 00:14:42,577 --> 00:14:44,231 In 1995, 294 00:14:44,231 --> 00:14:46,668 a small-time drug case that we were trying to do 295 00:14:46,668 --> 00:14:48,670 became a much bigger case. 296 00:14:48,670 --> 00:14:51,151 We were there, actually, to look at that guy, 297 00:14:51,151 --> 00:14:52,369 the guy with the little white hat. 298 00:14:52,369 --> 00:14:54,241 - Yeah. - We were gonna make a drug buy 299 00:14:54,241 --> 00:14:56,591 from him with an informant. 300 00:14:56,591 --> 00:14:58,419 We had a van 301 00:14:58,419 --> 00:15:00,987 set up on the block to do a videotape. 302 00:15:04,991 --> 00:15:08,777 And right about now, I think, the guy inside the van 303 00:15:08,777 --> 00:15:10,518 with the camera is telling us on the radio, 304 00:15:10,518 --> 00:15:12,041 like, "Hey, something's going on. 305 00:15:12,041 --> 00:15:14,130 There's a weird--like, this guy doesn't belong here." 306 00:15:14,130 --> 00:15:15,697 - Oh-- - There's Gary Friedman. 307 00:15:15,697 --> 00:15:18,134 There's Gary Friedman. 308 00:15:18,134 --> 00:15:19,875 Gary's brother is Kenneth Friedman, 309 00:15:19,875 --> 00:15:22,356 and he was a suspect in the disappearance 310 00:15:22,356 --> 00:15:25,402 of Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 311 00:15:25,402 --> 00:15:29,450 Ultimately, these guys walked away to Gary's car, 312 00:15:29,450 --> 00:15:31,365 and they take an individual out. 313 00:15:31,365 --> 00:15:32,975 Gary Friedman's car leaves. 314 00:15:32,975 --> 00:15:36,500 They seized the individual who was in Gary's car, 315 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:39,460 walked him back, and is putting him in the back seat. 316 00:15:39,460 --> 00:15:41,157 And for a brief moment, just as he's 317 00:15:41,157 --> 00:15:42,593 putting him in the back seat, 318 00:15:42,593 --> 00:15:44,944 you can see a gun in his left hand. 319 00:15:45,857 --> 00:15:49,296 We then filmed what turned out to be the kidnapping 320 00:15:49,296 --> 00:15:52,560 of Bruce Wolofsky, who ultimately would become 321 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,302 a confidential informant for us. 322 00:15:55,302 --> 00:15:57,260 NYPD rolled in one of their units 323 00:15:57,260 --> 00:15:59,697 and stopped the car from leaving the area. 324 00:15:59,697 --> 00:16:02,439 What a lucky coincidence. I mean, it was just luck. 325 00:16:03,963 --> 00:16:07,227 Detectives noted that Gary Friedman and his crew, 326 00:16:07,227 --> 00:16:10,012 suspected for the deadly kidnapping in Torrance, 327 00:16:10,012 --> 00:16:13,711 had attempted to kidnap another victim in New York. 328 00:16:13,711 --> 00:16:15,496 We were going to conduct an interview 329 00:16:15,496 --> 00:16:19,674 with Bruce Wolofsky, the kidnapping victim. 330 00:16:19,674 --> 00:16:22,416 He was kidnapped that day by Gary Friedman 331 00:16:22,416 --> 00:16:24,853 because he had borrowed $10,000 332 00:16:24,853 --> 00:16:27,812 and was not paying him back the money. 333 00:16:27,812 --> 00:16:31,599 Previously, he had tried to get himself out of debt. 334 00:16:31,599 --> 00:16:33,427 Bruce, being in the car business, 335 00:16:33,427 --> 00:16:35,646 had access to credit bureau checks on people 336 00:16:35,646 --> 00:16:38,258 to try to ascertain their whereabouts. 337 00:16:38,258 --> 00:16:40,651 Gary had asked him to run 338 00:16:40,651 --> 00:16:45,569 some credit bureau checks on Peter Kovach. 339 00:16:45,569 --> 00:16:50,357 Bruce did provide his place of employment, also. 340 00:16:50,357 --> 00:16:52,663 Galleria Telecom. 341 00:16:52,663 --> 00:16:54,361 He said, "You guys need to find 342 00:16:54,361 --> 00:16:55,927 "this guy, Peter Kovach. 343 00:16:55,927 --> 00:16:58,191 I think he might be dead." 344 00:16:58,191 --> 00:17:00,758 That was the connection that they had. 345 00:17:00,758 --> 00:17:02,456 We were trying to piece together 346 00:17:02,456 --> 00:17:04,588 what would have caused anybody to send people 347 00:17:04,588 --> 00:17:08,201 out to California to kidnap and ultimately murder 348 00:17:08,201 --> 00:17:11,378 Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 349 00:17:11,378 --> 00:17:13,858 As investigators pressed Bruce for the connection 350 00:17:13,858 --> 00:17:17,079 between Gary Friedman and Peter Kovach, 351 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:20,387 Bruce revealed the involvement of a new player-- 352 00:17:20,387 --> 00:17:23,042 Gary Friedman's partner in a number of nightclubs 353 00:17:23,042 --> 00:17:25,218 in New York and Miami. 354 00:17:25,218 --> 00:17:28,395 Gary Friedman starts opening these clubs 355 00:17:28,395 --> 00:17:31,267 with a guy back east named Howard Bloomgarden. 356 00:17:32,747 --> 00:17:34,879 I'd never heard of Howard Bloomgarden. 357 00:17:34,879 --> 00:17:38,144 But Howard became a major person of interest 358 00:17:38,144 --> 00:17:39,971 in this case. 359 00:17:39,971 --> 00:17:44,106 Bruce was able to relate that Howard Bloomgarden was 360 00:17:44,106 --> 00:17:45,803 a businessman in Florida, 361 00:17:45,803 --> 00:17:49,503 was simply 24 or 25 years old at that time. 362 00:17:49,503 --> 00:17:52,767 Owned the Coco Bongo Lounge and had owned 363 00:17:52,767 --> 00:17:56,336 some previous locations in the state of New York. 364 00:17:56,336 --> 00:17:59,904 And maybe his business wasn't exactly on the up and up. 365 00:18:02,603 --> 00:18:04,561 Howard Bloomgarden was sent down 366 00:18:04,561 --> 00:18:07,434 to Florida for an education. 367 00:18:07,434 --> 00:18:10,915 He showed up down there in a red Corvette convertible. 368 00:18:10,915 --> 00:18:12,395 He was flamboyant. 369 00:18:12,395 --> 00:18:15,442 He spent money like it was going out of style. 370 00:18:15,442 --> 00:18:17,792 He went to the University of Miami. 371 00:18:17,792 --> 00:18:19,098 Hold on a second. 372 00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:22,188 Peter actually went to college down in Miami. 373 00:18:24,407 --> 00:18:26,366 Howard was given everything he needed. 374 00:18:26,366 --> 00:18:28,977 And he just didn't subscribe to that. 375 00:18:28,977 --> 00:18:32,981 He wanted to be Tony Montana, the drug lord. 376 00:18:32,981 --> 00:18:35,288 If Howard could make the same amount of money 377 00:18:35,288 --> 00:18:36,724 legitimately, 378 00:18:36,724 --> 00:18:38,943 he would still choose to make it illegitimately 379 00:18:38,943 --> 00:18:41,642 'cause it was more exciting. 380 00:18:41,642 --> 00:18:44,427 In fact, Bruce told us that Howard Bloomgarden 381 00:18:44,427 --> 00:18:47,169 and Peter Kovach had a long criminal history 382 00:18:47,169 --> 00:18:49,258 dealing drugs together. 383 00:18:49,258 --> 00:18:51,304 I call it a break. 384 00:19:00,095 --> 00:19:02,358 The confidential informant provided 385 00:19:02,358 --> 00:19:03,577 a lot of background information 386 00:19:03,577 --> 00:19:05,405 and then some specific information 387 00:19:05,405 --> 00:19:07,755 about criminal activity that 388 00:19:07,755 --> 00:19:11,106 Pete and Howard Bloomgarden had participated in. 389 00:19:13,064 --> 00:19:15,197 Howard Bloomgarden and Peter Kovach met 390 00:19:15,197 --> 00:19:18,635 when they were both in college down in Miami. 391 00:19:20,333 --> 00:19:22,596 Howard Bloomgarden, Peter Kovach, 392 00:19:22,596 --> 00:19:25,164 and some other individuals became organized, 393 00:19:25,164 --> 00:19:26,513 and they started doing 394 00:19:26,513 --> 00:19:29,080 hundreds of pounds of marijuana. 395 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,605 The Mexican connection would get the drugs 396 00:19:31,605 --> 00:19:34,303 to somewhere in California, 397 00:19:34,303 --> 00:19:37,001 and then back east to Florida, 398 00:19:37,001 --> 00:19:38,568 to New York. 399 00:19:41,223 --> 00:19:44,095 Howard was quite successful. 400 00:19:44,095 --> 00:19:46,446 And when you're making millions of dollars, 401 00:19:46,446 --> 00:19:48,926 you need to find a way to hide it. 402 00:19:48,926 --> 00:19:51,407 Gary Friedman was actually investing 403 00:19:51,407 --> 00:19:53,844 in Howard Bloomgarden's empire. 404 00:19:53,844 --> 00:19:56,804 His nightclubs and strip clubs were the front 405 00:19:56,804 --> 00:20:00,155 for the money laundering operation. 406 00:20:00,155 --> 00:20:03,027 Kenneth Friedman was kind of the strong-arm muscle 407 00:20:03,027 --> 00:20:06,596 for his brother, who was Gary Friedman. 408 00:20:06,596 --> 00:20:08,946 Kenneth Friedman had a long criminal history. 409 00:20:08,946 --> 00:20:12,515 He was a lot older than these college guys Peter's age. 410 00:20:12,515 --> 00:20:14,648 And, you know, he had a reputation 411 00:20:14,648 --> 00:20:18,042 of being a bad guy, somebody to be avoided. 412 00:20:19,783 --> 00:20:22,612 Howard Bloomgarden's drug trafficking was netting 413 00:20:22,612 --> 00:20:26,094 millions in cash and moving tons of marijuana, 414 00:20:26,094 --> 00:20:29,184 pushing Bloomgarden to relocate Peter Kovach 415 00:20:29,184 --> 00:20:31,142 to California to oversee it, 416 00:20:31,142 --> 00:20:34,755 until one operation spelled disaster. 417 00:20:36,365 --> 00:20:38,585 This crew of guys that were working with Howard 418 00:20:38,585 --> 00:20:41,370 bought an RV, made spaces in it 419 00:20:41,370 --> 00:20:43,894 for 800 pounds of marijuana 420 00:20:43,894 --> 00:20:47,942 to be transported from California. 421 00:20:47,942 --> 00:20:51,772 When they are in Illinois, though, they get stopped. 422 00:20:51,772 --> 00:20:54,644 And the Illinois State Police find the drugs, 423 00:20:54,644 --> 00:20:58,518 and, you know, they seize the whole thing. 424 00:20:58,518 --> 00:21:01,521 The Mexican connection, he didn't get paid. 425 00:21:01,521 --> 00:21:03,044 The street value of that was 426 00:21:03,044 --> 00:21:05,612 up to several hundred thousand dollars. 427 00:21:05,612 --> 00:21:10,138 That's what led to the rift between Peter and Howard. 428 00:21:10,138 --> 00:21:12,662 You know, we come to learn later, 429 00:21:12,662 --> 00:21:15,361 Howard believed that Pete had something to do 430 00:21:15,361 --> 00:21:17,058 with setting him up. 431 00:21:19,278 --> 00:21:21,802 At some point after he came out to California, 432 00:21:21,802 --> 00:21:23,673 Peter was trying to go straight and trying to get 433 00:21:23,673 --> 00:21:26,067 out of that type of work. 434 00:21:26,067 --> 00:21:29,505 Peter was actually really trying to redeem himself. 435 00:21:29,505 --> 00:21:31,507 He knew that he was in too far, 436 00:21:31,507 --> 00:21:33,814 and he really started a new life. 437 00:21:33,814 --> 00:21:35,990 But Howie blamed Peter 438 00:21:35,990 --> 00:21:38,514 for the loss of millions of dollars. 439 00:21:40,081 --> 00:21:42,388 Bloomgarden had become increasingly paranoid 440 00:21:42,388 --> 00:21:43,954 about Peter Kovach, 441 00:21:43,954 --> 00:21:46,305 believing that he'd engineered the police sting 442 00:21:46,305 --> 00:21:48,568 to take over his operation. 443 00:21:48,568 --> 00:21:51,484 The Friedmans were enlisted to make Peter pay his debt, 444 00:21:51,484 --> 00:21:53,660 no matter what the consequences, 445 00:21:53,660 --> 00:21:57,446 with Ted Gould caught in the crossfire. 446 00:21:57,446 --> 00:22:00,449 For Ted Gould, it could have been, 447 00:22:00,449 --> 00:22:03,147 "You can't leave a witness. 448 00:22:03,147 --> 00:22:06,107 "You know, you got a guy here, he knows what we've done, 449 00:22:06,107 --> 00:22:08,414 where we've done it." 450 00:22:08,414 --> 00:22:11,112 Wrong place, wrong time. 451 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:20,817 In March of 1995, we decided we would coordinate 452 00:22:20,817 --> 00:22:24,952 the arrests of those guys for the kidnapping-based 453 00:22:24,952 --> 00:22:27,215 crimes that occurred in New York. 454 00:22:29,173 --> 00:22:32,699 We were slowly scooping or contacting everyone. 455 00:22:32,699 --> 00:22:34,396 And they were all surrendering 456 00:22:34,396 --> 00:22:36,485 or being arrested at that time. 457 00:22:40,010 --> 00:22:43,840 We were starting to focus on Howard Bloomgarden. 458 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,320 But we didn't want to arrest him 459 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,017 and then just have him get cut loose, 460 00:22:47,017 --> 00:22:48,976 'cause we knew he'd come with expensive attorneys 461 00:22:48,976 --> 00:22:50,891 who would get him out if the case wasn't good, 462 00:22:50,891 --> 00:22:53,415 or maybe even if the case was good. 463 00:22:53,415 --> 00:22:55,635 So the two agencies are working together 464 00:22:55,635 --> 00:22:57,288 to build a case, but their goals 465 00:22:57,288 --> 00:22:58,942 are actually quite different. 466 00:22:58,942 --> 00:23:02,990 The state is looking for charges for a double homicide, 467 00:23:02,990 --> 00:23:05,253 and the feds are looking for charges 468 00:23:05,253 --> 00:23:08,735 of extortion, racketeering, and trafficking. 469 00:23:08,735 --> 00:23:10,693 I was trying to build a homicide case 470 00:23:10,693 --> 00:23:14,436 involving Ruben Hernandez, Juan Galindo, 471 00:23:14,436 --> 00:23:17,221 Kenneth Friedman, also Gary Friedman, 472 00:23:17,221 --> 00:23:19,049 and Howie Bloomgarden. 473 00:23:19,049 --> 00:23:21,400 I felt that they were all involved 474 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,577 in the California homicide. 475 00:23:27,362 --> 00:23:30,757 I was slowly developing an idea as to their technique 476 00:23:30,757 --> 00:23:33,150 of getting cash out to the West Coast. 477 00:23:33,150 --> 00:23:35,675 It was just a simple, easy code. 478 00:23:35,675 --> 00:23:38,286 They would use Western Union. 479 00:23:38,286 --> 00:23:40,070 They would take names. 480 00:23:40,070 --> 00:23:41,768 They would switch them around a little bit, 481 00:23:41,768 --> 00:23:43,509 but it was all familiar to them 482 00:23:43,509 --> 00:23:45,467 because they were friends. 483 00:23:45,467 --> 00:23:49,210 A gentleman named Gus Malave down in San Diego, 484 00:23:49,210 --> 00:23:51,517 he was receiving cash from them. 485 00:23:51,517 --> 00:23:53,475 And Western Union would forward me 486 00:23:53,475 --> 00:23:55,085 all of that paperwork. 487 00:23:58,001 --> 00:23:59,829 The Torrance Police Department made arrangements 488 00:23:59,829 --> 00:24:01,657 to bring Gus Malave in 489 00:24:01,657 --> 00:24:03,920 and have him take a polygraph. 490 00:24:05,269 --> 00:24:07,881 He was deceptive, 491 00:24:07,881 --> 00:24:10,492 but he did tell us a lot of things. 492 00:24:10,492 --> 00:24:12,494 Gus Malave was receiving cash 493 00:24:12,494 --> 00:24:15,715 from them from the East Coast, from Gary Friedman, 494 00:24:15,715 --> 00:24:19,240 for car purchases, for gun purchases. 495 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,372 Gus started describing what happened 496 00:24:21,372 --> 00:24:24,506 the night of the disappearance. 497 00:24:24,506 --> 00:24:29,685 Kenneth, Juan, and Ruben take Peter and Ted, 498 00:24:29,685 --> 00:24:30,860 drive up to the motel, 499 00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:32,688 which is right up Hawthorne Boulevard. 500 00:24:34,473 --> 00:24:38,868 This is where the three guys from New York stayed. 501 00:24:38,868 --> 00:24:41,131 Right there, room 116. 502 00:24:42,872 --> 00:24:44,961 And that's where everything starts. 503 00:24:52,142 --> 00:24:54,014 According to Gus Malave, 504 00:24:54,014 --> 00:24:55,711 they take the two guys, 505 00:24:55,711 --> 00:24:58,758 Peter and Ted, into the motel room. 506 00:24:58,758 --> 00:25:01,761 Kenneth is just a wild card, and he ended up 507 00:25:01,761 --> 00:25:04,938 strangling both those guys. 508 00:25:04,938 --> 00:25:08,245 The Friedman brothers want Gus to take care of the car, 509 00:25:08,245 --> 00:25:09,943 take care of the bodies. 510 00:25:09,943 --> 00:25:12,336 And so he's-- for a certain amount of cash, 511 00:25:12,336 --> 00:25:14,774 takes the car, drives it back to San Diego, 512 00:25:14,774 --> 00:25:17,037 and dumped them behind some businesses. 513 00:25:18,386 --> 00:25:20,823 With the statement from Malave in hand, 514 00:25:20,823 --> 00:25:22,738 investigators could take their case 515 00:25:22,738 --> 00:25:24,218 that implicated the Friedmans 516 00:25:24,218 --> 00:25:26,481 to Los Angeles district attorneys. 517 00:25:26,481 --> 00:25:29,005 And if Malave cooperated further, 518 00:25:29,005 --> 00:25:32,269 charges would fly against Howard Bloomgarden. 519 00:25:34,402 --> 00:25:36,796 As a DA, you know, I'll read everything. 520 00:25:36,796 --> 00:25:38,580 But I also--I'd rather talk to the people 521 00:25:38,580 --> 00:25:40,321 that did the investigation. 522 00:25:40,321 --> 00:25:43,542 Geoff Lewin was very, very exceptional. 523 00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:46,022 I had long conversations with Bob Schmitt, 524 00:25:46,022 --> 00:25:48,764 long conversations with Jeff Lancaster. 525 00:25:48,764 --> 00:25:52,028 In this case, we know Howard's pulling the strings. 526 00:25:52,028 --> 00:25:54,553 First, I have to prove his connections. 527 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:55,684 How are we gonna prove 528 00:25:55,684 --> 00:25:57,381 that Howard was on the East Coast, 529 00:25:57,381 --> 00:26:02,256 ordering Kenny Friedman to kill these guys on the West Coast? 530 00:26:04,519 --> 00:26:07,130 We've never seen this picture before. 531 00:26:07,130 --> 00:26:10,264 Among incompetent, uh-- incompetent crooks-- 532 00:26:10,264 --> 00:26:13,920 This is Gus Malave, who was instrumental to helping 533 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,878 the kidnapping and murder happen, but-- 534 00:26:15,878 --> 00:26:17,053 Flipped on his-- 535 00:26:17,053 --> 00:26:20,448 I believe on his first interrogation. 536 00:26:20,448 --> 00:26:22,537 According to Gus Malave, 537 00:26:22,537 --> 00:26:24,583 Howard Bloomgarden had gotten on the phone 538 00:26:24,583 --> 00:26:27,455 and said, "Kill them." 539 00:26:27,455 --> 00:26:31,459 At this point, Howard will face his own charges. 540 00:26:35,289 --> 00:26:38,597 When Howard Bloomgarden first approached 541 00:26:38,597 --> 00:26:40,642 the United States Attorney's Office 542 00:26:40,642 --> 00:26:42,426 through his attorneys, 543 00:26:42,426 --> 00:26:44,559 he, you know, seemingly wanted to cooperate. 544 00:26:44,559 --> 00:26:47,344 And he came in and gave us a lot of information. 545 00:26:48,781 --> 00:26:50,304 Howard had a lot of money. 546 00:26:50,304 --> 00:26:52,872 That meant a lot of people were attracted to Howard, 547 00:26:52,872 --> 00:26:56,049 including Peter Kovach. 548 00:26:56,049 --> 00:26:58,181 Peter did not grow up with a lot of money. 549 00:26:58,181 --> 00:27:02,664 Peter grew up in New Jersey with a very close family, 550 00:27:02,664 --> 00:27:05,101 but Howard was just this bigger-than-life guy 551 00:27:05,101 --> 00:27:06,973 who had, you know, everything. 552 00:27:06,973 --> 00:27:09,192 And that helped with getting other people 553 00:27:09,192 --> 00:27:10,933 to, you know, party with him. 554 00:27:10,933 --> 00:27:13,240 And a lot of those guys ended up being 555 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,460 his coconspirators in the drug trade. 556 00:27:16,460 --> 00:27:18,506 Howard admitted that at the height 557 00:27:18,506 --> 00:27:21,770 of this organization's moneymaking, 558 00:27:21,770 --> 00:27:24,120 they were probably making 559 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:27,167 several million dollars a month. 560 00:27:27,167 --> 00:27:30,083 When the marijuana got confiscated 561 00:27:30,083 --> 00:27:33,782 from the motor home, Howard was on the line for it. 562 00:27:33,782 --> 00:27:35,305 He was losing money 563 00:27:35,305 --> 00:27:38,221 at a faster rate than he was making it. 564 00:27:42,399 --> 00:27:45,315 He confessed he'd had people kidnapped. 565 00:27:45,315 --> 00:27:48,014 But Howard has said that he told these people, 566 00:27:48,014 --> 00:27:50,843 "Hey, get Peter Kovach on the phone with me," 567 00:27:50,843 --> 00:27:53,019 never said to kill, and then Kenny Friedman, 568 00:27:53,019 --> 00:27:55,151 this horrible guy, took it on his own 569 00:27:55,151 --> 00:27:58,938 to kill Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 570 00:27:58,938 --> 00:28:00,983 It was clear to us that he was 571 00:28:00,983 --> 00:28:02,811 holding back and certainly minimizing 572 00:28:02,811 --> 00:28:05,074 his own involvement. 573 00:28:05,074 --> 00:28:06,728 Federal prosecutors in New York 574 00:28:06,728 --> 00:28:09,470 brought interstate charges for racketeering, 575 00:28:09,470 --> 00:28:13,430 kidnapping, and extortion against Howard and his crew. 576 00:28:13,430 --> 00:28:18,479 Now LADA had to wait in line for the feds 577 00:28:18,479 --> 00:28:21,351 to finish their prosecution before we could 578 00:28:21,351 --> 00:28:23,353 prosecute Howard 579 00:28:23,353 --> 00:28:26,226 for the murders of Peter and Ted. 580 00:28:34,016 --> 00:28:36,192 So the first time they asked me to come testify, 581 00:28:36,192 --> 00:28:37,846 it was for a federal case. 582 00:28:37,846 --> 00:28:42,633 It's been a long time since I have been in that seat. 583 00:28:42,633 --> 00:28:46,855 It was obviously a traumatic experience. 584 00:28:46,855 --> 00:28:50,380 I learned that they had taken 585 00:28:50,380 --> 00:28:54,080 my friend and Pete to a hotel room 586 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,213 somewhere close by 587 00:28:57,213 --> 00:29:01,043 and had tortured and killed both of them. 588 00:29:04,220 --> 00:29:06,048 My friend Ted Gould was strangled 589 00:29:06,048 --> 00:29:07,876 with a telephone cord. 590 00:29:10,749 --> 00:29:13,926 Having Ted be an innocent bystander in the-- 591 00:29:13,926 --> 00:29:16,798 the whole situation is-- 592 00:29:16,798 --> 00:29:18,757 just makes it more terrible. 593 00:29:24,675 --> 00:29:27,591 Howard had enlisted Gerald Shargel, 594 00:29:27,591 --> 00:29:29,855 who is a really big-time 595 00:29:29,855 --> 00:29:31,465 defense attorney out of New York. 596 00:29:31,465 --> 00:29:33,989 So I was very surprised when they came in 597 00:29:33,989 --> 00:29:36,600 and offered to plead out. 598 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:38,994 Bloomgarden would plead to six counts, 599 00:29:38,994 --> 00:29:42,824 which included responsibility for Ted and Peter's deaths 600 00:29:42,824 --> 00:29:45,218 while in the commission of other federal crimes 601 00:29:45,218 --> 00:29:47,829 of racketeering and extortion. 602 00:29:47,829 --> 00:29:51,659 Howard Bloomgarden admitted in open court, 603 00:29:51,659 --> 00:29:53,748 standing right next to his lawyer, 604 00:29:53,748 --> 00:29:57,839 that he approved of 605 00:29:57,839 --> 00:30:00,102 and financed 606 00:30:00,102 --> 00:30:03,062 the murders of Peter Kovach and Ted Gould. 607 00:30:04,498 --> 00:30:06,413 The attorney's gotten this great deal, 608 00:30:06,413 --> 00:30:08,632 got 34 years in New York. 609 00:30:08,632 --> 00:30:12,158 Kenny ultimately was tried and convicted in New York, 610 00:30:12,158 --> 00:30:17,206 got life upon life in New York along with his brother, Gary. 611 00:30:17,206 --> 00:30:18,991 Juan Galindo, 612 00:30:18,991 --> 00:30:21,820 Ruben Hernandez, and Gus Malave 613 00:30:21,820 --> 00:30:23,647 pled guilty, and they received 614 00:30:23,647 --> 00:30:26,085 lesser sentences than all of the others involved. 615 00:30:28,652 --> 00:30:32,656 So Howard Bloomgarden pled in '96 in New York. 616 00:30:32,656 --> 00:30:36,660 He was finally brought out to California in 2005. 617 00:30:36,660 --> 00:30:39,663 LA prosecutors feel that Howie got off easy, 618 00:30:39,663 --> 00:30:43,537 so now they can't wait to build their own case against him. 619 00:30:43,537 --> 00:30:45,321 Howard Bloomgarden had a lot of money. 620 00:30:45,321 --> 00:30:49,151 He had John Gotti's ex-attorney, Gerald Shargel, 621 00:30:49,151 --> 00:30:51,762 with a whole team of attorneys. 622 00:30:51,762 --> 00:30:55,505 But we have him on the record saying he financed 623 00:30:55,505 --> 00:30:57,203 and he approved of the murders. 624 00:30:57,203 --> 00:31:00,684 "Judge, we want to use that statement." 625 00:31:00,684 --> 00:31:02,643 Uh, judge said no. 626 00:31:05,167 --> 00:31:07,082 Essentially, the judge in LA ruled 627 00:31:07,082 --> 00:31:08,997 that no attorney in their right mind 628 00:31:08,997 --> 00:31:11,173 would allow him to plead in New York, 629 00:31:11,173 --> 00:31:12,522 say the things he said, 630 00:31:12,522 --> 00:31:14,785 when there was a current pending death penalty 631 00:31:14,785 --> 00:31:15,961 in California. 632 00:31:15,961 --> 00:31:17,527 I strongly disagreed with that. 633 00:31:17,527 --> 00:31:20,530 I thought they-- he had incredible attorneys 634 00:31:20,530 --> 00:31:22,663 in New York. 635 00:31:22,663 --> 00:31:24,926 It was rumored he spent probably $400,000 636 00:31:24,926 --> 00:31:26,623 on his defense in New York, 637 00:31:26,623 --> 00:31:30,105 which was a fortune in '94, '95. 638 00:31:30,105 --> 00:31:32,412 It was devastating to the case. 639 00:31:32,412 --> 00:31:34,153 I may not get a conviction. 640 00:31:39,723 --> 00:31:41,856 Howard Bloomgarden's legal team 641 00:31:41,856 --> 00:31:44,467 successfully excluded his confession, 642 00:31:44,467 --> 00:31:46,992 taken during the federal trial in New York City, 643 00:31:46,992 --> 00:31:48,776 from prosecutorial evidence 644 00:31:48,776 --> 00:31:52,301 in his pending murder trial in Los Angeles. 645 00:31:52,301 --> 00:31:55,783 That was very scary in a case like this, 646 00:31:55,783 --> 00:31:58,351 where the puppet master putting it all together 647 00:31:58,351 --> 00:31:59,787 could walk on the case. 648 00:31:59,787 --> 00:32:03,356 I have a confession that is golden, 649 00:32:03,356 --> 00:32:05,575 but because of Howard's big money, 650 00:32:05,575 --> 00:32:09,405 we had our backs up against the wall. 651 00:32:09,405 --> 00:32:11,277 And John Kovach tells this story also. 652 00:32:11,277 --> 00:32:15,455 He's like, "Howard Bloomgarden sat at our table. 653 00:32:15,455 --> 00:32:18,110 He sat at our table, and he ate with us." 654 00:32:18,110 --> 00:32:19,546 Yeah. 655 00:32:19,546 --> 00:32:23,593 And to know that he was involved in killing Peter, 656 00:32:23,593 --> 00:32:25,421 he--he just couldn't deal with that. 657 00:32:25,421 --> 00:32:27,119 I couldn't get through this. 658 00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:29,556 I think my kids were 659 00:32:29,556 --> 00:32:33,777 9 and 12 or so when this happened. 660 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,129 Peter Kovach's mom, Mary Anne, 661 00:32:37,129 --> 00:32:40,393 had written a letter. 662 00:32:40,393 --> 00:32:44,136 I remember reading her letter. 663 00:32:44,136 --> 00:32:45,833 "My son is in his grave. 664 00:32:45,833 --> 00:32:50,403 "All I have is this picture of the tombstone. 665 00:32:50,403 --> 00:32:55,234 "I remember my son on his graduation day. 666 00:32:55,234 --> 00:32:57,323 "I told him I loved him more than God. 667 00:32:57,323 --> 00:32:59,542 "I watched him sleep, and I was so proud 668 00:32:59,542 --> 00:33:01,370 "that I gave birth to such a huge boy. 669 00:33:01,370 --> 00:33:03,851 I was amazed even then." 670 00:33:06,158 --> 00:33:08,247 It's hard to read now. Um... 671 00:33:11,641 --> 00:33:12,947 I can't read the rest of it. 672 00:33:12,947 --> 00:33:15,732 Hard--very hard to read. Can't--I can't read it. 673 00:33:19,954 --> 00:33:22,087 There are certain cases that stand out 674 00:33:22,087 --> 00:33:24,698 for different reasons. 675 00:33:24,698 --> 00:33:27,657 In this case, I am helping families, helping people 676 00:33:27,657 --> 00:33:29,094 that have gone through horrible things, 677 00:33:29,094 --> 00:33:33,011 and helping them to get some peace and justice. 678 00:33:33,011 --> 00:33:35,926 While Los Angeles prosecutors strategized 679 00:33:35,926 --> 00:33:39,147 how to overcome the exclusion of Howard's testimony, 680 00:33:39,147 --> 00:33:41,802 they also prepared for the state murder trials 681 00:33:41,802 --> 00:33:44,239 of Kenneth and Gary Friedman. 682 00:33:44,239 --> 00:33:47,329 The two Friedman brothers came out to California 683 00:33:47,329 --> 00:33:49,636 and pled guilty. 684 00:33:49,636 --> 00:33:52,378 Gary Friedman, he was a defense attorney, 685 00:33:52,378 --> 00:33:54,989 but he was as dirty as they get. 686 00:33:56,947 --> 00:33:59,037 Where Gary was kind of the brains, 687 00:33:59,037 --> 00:34:00,734 Kenny was definitely the muscle. 688 00:34:00,734 --> 00:34:04,216 And Kenny had a long history of violent conduct. 689 00:34:04,216 --> 00:34:06,218 Kenny had no problem 690 00:34:06,218 --> 00:34:09,264 beating people up, extorting people. 691 00:34:09,264 --> 00:34:12,093 Kenny Friedman is crazy. 692 00:34:12,093 --> 00:34:13,660 He is violent. 693 00:34:13,660 --> 00:34:16,924 He is one of the scariest guys you've ever seen. 694 00:34:16,924 --> 00:34:18,708 Kenny Friedman was sentenced to death, 695 00:34:18,708 --> 00:34:20,406 and Gary Friedman was sentenced to life 696 00:34:20,406 --> 00:34:22,930 without the possibility of parole. 697 00:34:22,930 --> 00:34:27,456 When I found out I was happy, because I think it's justice. 698 00:34:29,502 --> 00:34:31,025 Kenny the Animal. 699 00:34:31,025 --> 00:34:33,201 Kenny, also known as the Animal, he's the killer. 700 00:34:33,201 --> 00:34:36,857 It seemed like he took glee in taking the life of-- 701 00:34:36,857 --> 00:34:38,119 of these people. 702 00:34:38,119 --> 00:34:39,425 Killed himself ultimately. 703 00:34:39,425 --> 00:34:41,079 - Ended up killing himself. - On death row. 704 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:43,951 - Yeah. - Hung himself. 705 00:34:43,951 --> 00:34:46,084 Years passed as Gary Friedman weathered 706 00:34:46,084 --> 00:34:48,912 his brother's suicide behind bars 707 00:34:48,912 --> 00:34:50,784 and Howard's prestigious lawyers 708 00:34:50,784 --> 00:34:53,743 mounted attacks to delay his trial. 709 00:34:53,743 --> 00:34:55,745 His confession in federal court was 710 00:34:55,745 --> 00:34:58,008 at the heart of the battle. 711 00:34:58,008 --> 00:34:59,575 Ruling had already been made. 712 00:34:59,575 --> 00:35:02,796 I was not allowed to use that confession. 713 00:35:02,796 --> 00:35:05,973 I have probably never briefed or argued 714 00:35:05,973 --> 00:35:07,496 a single issue harder. 715 00:35:07,496 --> 00:35:10,195 I spent over a year trying to get the court 716 00:35:10,195 --> 00:35:12,632 to reconsider that ruling. 717 00:35:12,632 --> 00:35:14,938 That did not prove to be successful. 718 00:35:19,639 --> 00:35:22,555 So I have a room full of federal boxes 719 00:35:22,555 --> 00:35:23,904 for Howard Bloomgarden. 720 00:35:23,904 --> 00:35:25,688 I start going through these 46 boxes. 721 00:35:25,688 --> 00:35:29,388 And one of the things I find is letters of mitigation 722 00:35:29,388 --> 00:35:32,260 to the federal judge saying, you know, 723 00:35:32,260 --> 00:35:34,088 "Please spare Howard, 724 00:35:34,088 --> 00:35:36,003 give him a better deal, and here is why." 725 00:35:36,003 --> 00:35:37,874 And I started reading through these letters, 726 00:35:37,874 --> 00:35:40,442 and they're letters from his mom, his dad, 727 00:35:40,442 --> 00:35:43,184 his sisters, from 1996. 728 00:35:43,184 --> 00:35:45,447 They're a gold mine. 729 00:35:45,447 --> 00:35:49,321 I found five different relatives all over the place. 730 00:35:49,321 --> 00:35:52,759 I want to send out five teams of investigators 731 00:35:52,759 --> 00:35:56,545 to have a simultaneous door knock, 732 00:35:56,545 --> 00:35:58,765 where we get these people before they can communicate 733 00:35:58,765 --> 00:36:02,377 with each other, to say, "Hey, Mrs. Bloomgarden, 734 00:36:02,377 --> 00:36:04,118 "you wrote back in 1996, 735 00:36:04,118 --> 00:36:06,773 "'Howard feels horrible about what he did.' 736 00:36:06,773 --> 00:36:08,514 What did you mean by that?" 737 00:36:08,514 --> 00:36:10,211 And see if hopefully someone says, 738 00:36:10,211 --> 00:36:11,865 "Oh, Howard felt horrible. 739 00:36:11,865 --> 00:36:15,521 He ordered the murders of these two guys." 740 00:36:22,397 --> 00:36:26,053 So on January 13, 2014, 741 00:36:26,053 --> 00:36:28,708 a task force coordinates all of these interviews 742 00:36:28,708 --> 00:36:33,103 happening across the country at the exact same time. 743 00:36:33,103 --> 00:36:35,193 I remember driving up the 110 freeway 744 00:36:35,193 --> 00:36:38,021 at, like, 5:30 in the morning, heading to work, 745 00:36:38,021 --> 00:36:40,372 waiting to hear from the different people 746 00:36:40,372 --> 00:36:41,721 in the different areas. 747 00:36:41,721 --> 00:36:43,636 And one by one, they're all falling. 748 00:36:43,636 --> 00:36:45,725 Chicago, I think someone had dementia. 749 00:36:45,725 --> 00:36:47,596 Someone wouldn't open the door. 750 00:36:47,596 --> 00:36:49,555 These people, you know, didn't want to talk. 751 00:36:49,555 --> 00:36:51,165 And everything's kind of falling apart. 752 00:36:51,165 --> 00:36:53,472 And I hear from all of them, and I get to work. 753 00:36:53,472 --> 00:36:56,779 And, you know, nothing worked out. 754 00:37:00,305 --> 00:37:03,264 Afterwards, we're debriefing with the investigators. 755 00:37:03,264 --> 00:37:06,093 And one of the investigators, Shawn Robinson, 756 00:37:06,093 --> 00:37:07,747 tells me, "Hey, this is interesting. 757 00:37:07,747 --> 00:37:11,098 "When I'm talking to Susan Bloomgarden, the sister, 758 00:37:11,098 --> 00:37:14,754 "there's this guy George, her boyfriend, 759 00:37:14,754 --> 00:37:18,105 "that won't stop talking in the background. 760 00:37:18,105 --> 00:37:20,412 "He won't shut up. He keeps wanting to talk. 761 00:37:20,412 --> 00:37:22,370 "And so finally, I talked to him. 762 00:37:22,370 --> 00:37:23,415 You want to hear the tape?" 763 00:37:23,415 --> 00:37:24,677 I'm like, yeah. 764 00:37:24,677 --> 00:37:25,939 And at this point, I'm defeated. 765 00:37:25,939 --> 00:37:29,595 I'm figuring this is all not gonna work. 766 00:37:29,595 --> 00:37:32,598 I remember being at Ralph's by my house, 767 00:37:32,598 --> 00:37:34,643 a grocery store, buying something. 768 00:37:34,643 --> 00:37:38,299 And I had a--I remember a very cheap pair of headphones, 769 00:37:38,299 --> 00:37:41,041 and I have the George Kuney tape on. 770 00:37:53,836 --> 00:37:56,099 And I'm hearing it, 771 00:37:56,099 --> 00:37:58,188 and I can't believe what I'm hearing. 772 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,595 I was sort of in shock, because all of a sudden, 773 00:38:13,595 --> 00:38:17,512 I had everything I had hoped to get. 774 00:38:22,343 --> 00:38:24,476 After collecting a recording that incriminated 775 00:38:24,476 --> 00:38:26,521 Howard Bloomgarden for murder, 776 00:38:26,521 --> 00:38:29,872 Los Angeles prosecutors were ready to take him to trial. 777 00:38:35,487 --> 00:38:36,749 Defendant is not here 778 00:38:36,749 --> 00:38:40,405 because his life cast him here. 779 00:38:40,405 --> 00:38:44,365 He had everything as a child. 780 00:38:44,365 --> 00:38:49,762 Nobody stands in the way of what the defendant wants. 781 00:38:49,762 --> 00:38:51,677 He wants his money, and he doesn't care 782 00:38:51,677 --> 00:38:53,418 what he has to do. 783 00:38:53,418 --> 00:38:56,812 If he can get Peter Kovach alone, that's great. 784 00:38:56,812 --> 00:39:00,250 If someone else has to go, can't help it. 785 00:39:00,250 --> 00:39:01,687 Collateral damage. 786 00:39:01,687 --> 00:39:05,560 Even a completely innocent person-- 787 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,433 Ted Gould, in this case. 788 00:39:08,433 --> 00:39:11,305 The star witness in the trial is Ruben Hernandez. 789 00:39:11,305 --> 00:39:15,178 He walks into the courtroom surrounded by U.S. Marshals, 790 00:39:15,178 --> 00:39:19,139 and he gives the most details of this crime. 791 00:39:19,139 --> 00:39:21,968 According to Ruben, the night of the murders, 792 00:39:21,968 --> 00:39:25,232 you had Ted Gould and Peter Kovach 793 00:39:25,232 --> 00:39:28,322 working at the cell phone store in Torrance. 794 00:39:28,322 --> 00:39:31,107 As Ted is waiting for Paul Poduska to get there, 795 00:39:31,107 --> 00:39:33,632 the lights from a car come off Hawthorne Boulevard 796 00:39:33,632 --> 00:39:36,330 into the parking lot, and they shine right into the store. 797 00:39:36,330 --> 00:39:38,941 Three guys rushed in. They've got guns. 798 00:39:38,941 --> 00:39:41,509 One guy tilts the camera down, 799 00:39:41,509 --> 00:39:44,338 and they pull Ted and Peter 800 00:39:44,338 --> 00:39:48,386 into a 1974 two-door LTD 801 00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:49,735 in the parking lot. 802 00:39:49,735 --> 00:39:51,563 And they drove about two miles through Hawthorne 803 00:39:51,563 --> 00:39:53,391 to the Travelers Inn. 804 00:39:55,218 --> 00:39:58,570 Kenny Friedman starts beating Peter up pretty badly, 805 00:39:58,570 --> 00:40:00,485 demanding Howard's money. 806 00:40:00,485 --> 00:40:02,530 According to Ruben's testimony, 807 00:40:02,530 --> 00:40:06,186 there's a final phone call between Kenny and Howard. 808 00:40:06,186 --> 00:40:09,407 And in the end, according to Ruben, 809 00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:11,844 it's Howard that says, "Kill them." 810 00:40:13,498 --> 00:40:16,631 Ruben Hernandez gets on Peter's back, 811 00:40:16,631 --> 00:40:22,028 and Kenny Friedman pulls out the corded telephone cord 812 00:40:22,028 --> 00:40:24,117 and begins to strangle Peter Kovach. 813 00:40:24,117 --> 00:40:26,859 And if you are familiar with strangulation, 814 00:40:26,859 --> 00:40:32,038 it's a very long and difficult process. 815 00:40:32,038 --> 00:40:35,041 Ted Gould, who had nothing to do with any of this, 816 00:40:35,041 --> 00:40:37,217 is actually sitting on the floor 817 00:40:37,217 --> 00:40:39,524 with a pillow case covering his head, 818 00:40:39,524 --> 00:40:44,224 listening to his friend being killed and tortured. 819 00:40:44,224 --> 00:40:47,880 Once Peter is dead, Kenny looks over to Ted Gould. 820 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,317 And Kenny says, "Bring him over." 821 00:40:53,451 --> 00:40:55,496 So when I called George Kuney to the stand, 822 00:40:55,496 --> 00:40:57,498 the joke always was, "Boy, it's gonna be 823 00:40:57,498 --> 00:41:00,327 a hostile Thanksgiving at the Bloomgarden house." 824 00:41:00,327 --> 00:41:03,635 Because George basically laid out Howard 825 00:41:03,635 --> 00:41:05,941 unknowingly at the time. 826 00:41:05,941 --> 00:41:08,074 When George Kuney testifies, 827 00:41:08,074 --> 00:41:10,511 he denies he ever made these comments. 828 00:41:10,511 --> 00:41:12,905 That's when Geoff Lewin pushes a button 829 00:41:12,905 --> 00:41:15,821 and Kuney's voice fills the courtroom. 830 00:41:22,262 --> 00:41:24,177 The jury could hear it coming straight 831 00:41:24,177 --> 00:41:26,179 from the horse's mouth. 832 00:41:26,179 --> 00:41:29,399 Kuney's testimony is crucial because it corroborates 833 00:41:29,399 --> 00:41:33,926 what Ruben Hernandez said about Howard ordering the killings. 834 00:41:33,926 --> 00:41:36,189 This was a plan. 835 00:41:36,189 --> 00:41:38,408 This was not something the defendant was thrown into. 836 00:41:38,408 --> 00:41:41,455 This is something the defendant organized. 837 00:41:41,455 --> 00:41:45,067 After several weeks, the jury returns a verdict 838 00:41:45,067 --> 00:41:47,243 in a matter of hours. 839 00:41:47,243 --> 00:41:51,552 Howard Bloomgarden is found guilty on all counts in murder 840 00:41:51,552 --> 00:41:53,206 in the course of kidnapping. 841 00:41:58,037 --> 00:42:01,519 In our law, we have a separate proceeding 842 00:42:01,519 --> 00:42:04,783 where the jury gets to actually hear victim impact. 843 00:42:08,221 --> 00:42:10,658 The impact statement testimony was-- 844 00:42:10,658 --> 00:42:12,530 was really hard. 845 00:42:12,530 --> 00:42:15,489 I pretty much broke down in tears on the stand 846 00:42:15,489 --> 00:42:18,405 about how much I missed my friend. 847 00:42:18,405 --> 00:42:21,016 There wasn't a dry eye in the room, 848 00:42:21,016 --> 00:42:22,975 including the prosecutor. 849 00:42:22,975 --> 00:42:25,804 It was just quiet for a long time. 850 00:42:25,804 --> 00:42:30,939 It's difficult to think of somebody that was so vibrant, 851 00:42:30,939 --> 00:42:34,377 so happy-go-lucky, being murdered. 852 00:42:34,377 --> 00:42:38,338 He deserves to be remembered fondly. 853 00:42:38,338 --> 00:42:40,949 I would like to think that Ted would still be 854 00:42:40,949 --> 00:42:45,388 bopping around, listening to his favorite music, 855 00:42:45,388 --> 00:42:47,216 just being Ted. 856 00:42:49,567 --> 00:42:53,875 The 1993 drug bust had cost Howard Bloomgarden millions 857 00:42:53,875 --> 00:42:57,009 and driven him to end the lives of Peter and Ted. 858 00:42:57,009 --> 00:42:59,098 22 years later, 859 00:42:59,098 --> 00:43:01,579 the California courts finally sentenced him 860 00:43:01,579 --> 00:43:03,537 to life without parole. 861 00:43:03,537 --> 00:43:05,278 Howard, you know, he's still alive. 862 00:43:05,278 --> 00:43:08,020 And although he's incarcerated, he's enjoying life 863 00:43:08,020 --> 00:43:11,197 that Peter and Ted are not. 864 00:43:11,197 --> 00:43:13,242 And the appeals are exhausted at this point. 865 00:43:13,242 --> 00:43:15,244 But there are always other challenges, 866 00:43:15,244 --> 00:43:17,464 habeas corpus, other things you can do. 867 00:43:17,464 --> 00:43:19,727 Howard continues to spend his money 868 00:43:19,727 --> 00:43:21,511 to try and escape responsibility 869 00:43:21,511 --> 00:43:22,556 for what he did. 870 00:43:22,556 --> 00:43:24,906 And Howard will continue to do that 871 00:43:24,906 --> 00:43:27,692 until he's either released or he dies 872 00:43:27,692 --> 00:43:29,389 or the money runs out.