The Murder of Donna Gentile: San Diego Policing and Prostitution 1980

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THE MURDER OF DONNA GENTILE:

SAN DIEGO POLICING AND PROSTITUTION 1980-1993

Jerry Kathleen Limberg

DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to my husband, Andrew Limberg. Thank you for your love, encouragement, patience, support, and sacrifice through this endeavor. You have always supported me in my academic and professional goals, despite family and financial challenges. Your countless hours of reading drafts, reviewing film rough cuts, and listening to ideas are appreciated much more than you could possibly know.

I also dedicate this thesis to my son Drew. Thank you for your love, hugs, and sacrifice. You are bright, creative, imaginative, caring, generous, inquisitive, and the best son any mother could ever hope for. Never stop asking, “Why?”

Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my mom, Marlene Andrey. Thank you for years of love, support and encouragement. Without complaint, you allowed your teenage daughter to travel half away across the country to pursue her dreams out West. Whether you realize it or not, you provided me with the tools and skills to succeed. THESIS ABSTRACT

Donna Gentile, a young San Diego prostitute who had been a police corruption informant was murdered in June, 1985. Her murder occurred approximately a month after she testified in a civil service hearing involving two San

Diego police officers, Officer Larry Avrech and Lieutenant Carl Black. The hearing occurred approximately four months after Avrech was fired from the police department and Black was demoted for their involvement with Gentile.

Looming over the San Diego community was public speculation that Gentile’s killer was a police officer. Her murder was initially investigated by the San Diego

Sheriff’s Department and was later transferred to the Metropolitan Homicide Task

Force. The task force was charged with the investigation of not only Gentile’s murder but also others that were believed to be a series of prostitute murders.

Law enforcement generally considered prostitutes to blame for their own mistreatment and, therefore, they were often disregarded as legitimate victims of crimes. The establishment of the task force to investigate prostitute murders appeared to mark a change in those attitudes. However, this thesis argues that it was not a change because the task force’s function was to salvage the public image of the San

Diego Police Department.

This thesis consists of two components: a thirty-seven minute documentary film and three written chapters.

Keywords: Donna Gentile, Metropolitan Homicide Task Force, police, prostitution, public image, murder, San Diego, women ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis was the result of a collaborative effort of a number of individuals.

Without their assistance, dedication, and contributions, the thesis would not have been possible. It has been an honor to be a part of the history graduate program at

California State University and to have learned from such an elite caliber of scholars.

I have learned much throughout the thesis process, due in part, to the advice, knowledge, and time commitments from not only the University’s faculty but from the those who shared their stories and gave up their time to assist me.

Dr. Jill Watts, thesis and department chair and graduate advisor, I owe my undying gratitude because of her unwavering commitment to and support of my thesis, a thesis that some might consider non-traditional history. I am appreciative of her guidance, advice, and constructive criticism. It has been a privilege to have been afforded the opportunity to work with such a dedicated, distinguished, and committed scholar, professor, and mentor.

Dr. Anne Lombard, thesis committee member, it has been honor to work with such a professional and respected historian, whom I hold in the highest regard. Her knowledge of women’s history and legal scholarship was a valuable and tremendous contribution to my thesis. I am thankful for her careful attention to detail and insight.

Dr. Kristen Bates, thesis committee member, it has been a pleasure to work with such an esteemed criminologist, who provided a much needed and appreciated sociological input to my thesis. I am grateful to her for her support and willingness to take time away from her departmental commitments to assist me in this endeavor.

I would like to thank the following individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to graciously participate in my thesis: Priscilla Alexander, Kathy Hardy,

Douglas Holbrook, Monya Mitchell Davis, and Dr. Thomas Streed. I am indebted to them for their willingness and candor during my interviews with them. They helped to provide a voice for not only Donna Gentile, but for other women who have long been disregarded as legitimate members of our society.

Additionally, I extend my gratitude to my friend, Jason Rosenberg, who sacrificed time away from his family and business to provide technical support for my thesis film. He helped to alleviate often stressful and frustrating technological problems. Table of Contents

Introduction...... 1-26

Chapter One: Connections ...... 27-54

Chapter Two: Image Matters ...... 55-89

Conclusion ...... 90-102

Bibliography ...... 103-105

INTRODUCTION

While researching topics for my thesis project, I came across a book simply titled NHI, authored by a group of San Diego artists in 1992. The book was a compilation of information gathered by San Diego artists regarding the murders of approximately forty-three so called “fringe women” (prostitutes, drug users, and transients) in San Diego County between 1985 and 1992 and law enforcement’s efforts to solve them. The murders were being investigated by a multi-agency task force call the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force (MHTF). The task force included members of the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, San Diego County Sheriff’s

Department, and the San Diego Police Department.1

This book piqued my curiosity about the murders and San Diego law enforcement’s attitudes toward solving them, as well as, the artists’ efforts to shed light on both. I had never heard of these murders and wondered why the artists had taken time to meticulously document them and raise issues regarding what they saw as the questionable approach to solving these women’s murders. This prompted me to contact one of the contributors to the book, Deborah Small, a faculty member in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at California State University, San

Marcos. Small graciously loaned me another book, a compilation of newspaper articles concerning the San Diego murders and the efforts of the artists. It was from

1 Deborah Small et al., NHI (San Diego: NHI Project, 1992).

this book that I not only learned additional information about the murders and subsequent investigations, but why the artists chronicled the murder victims’ information. The artists were concerned that local law enforcement lacked interest in solving these cases because they regarded the victims as dwelling on the fringe of society, or simply as “throw away” women. The artists were particularly concerned with law enforcement’s use of the term “NHI,” an acronym for “No Humans

Involved”-- a term allegedly commonly used by law enforcement officers to describe victims who they regarded as unworthy of legal protection or justice. In October of

1990, the Sacramento Bee reported a story about the murders of forty-three San

Diego women. The article cited a San Diego police source who used the term “NHI “ to refer to the San Diego murders. According to the newspaper report, the source referred to those as “misdemeanor murders;” and called the victims of the murders

“biker women and hookers.” The source remarked, “Sometimes we’d call them

NHIs.”2

In 1992, the artists organized a number of projects to bring public awareness to law enforcement’s apparent disregard of the women’s murders and the lack of justice extended to them because of the victims’ purported marginalized social status.

Those projects included a public art exhibit with performances and photographs of the murder victims, forums, a billboard consisting of a photograph of Donna Gentile (one

2 Steve Wiegand, “43 Women Slain San Diego Cops Linked,” Sacramento Bee, October 7, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed March 31, 2012). “Misdemeanor” is a legal term that means less serious, Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “Misdemeanor.”

of the forty-three female victims) with “NHI” written beside her portrait, and the compilation book.3 In response to the artists’ project, Deputy District Attorney Dick

Lewis, who was at that time the supervisor of the MHTF, stated in a local newspaper article that NHI was a term used in police circles on the East Coast in the distant past, calling it a part of “murder history.” He claimed that he first heard the term as a child while reading detective magazines. Lewis asserted that he was unaware of San Diego police officers using the term in reference to the task force investigations of the forty- three women.4

The artists’ concern regarding law enforcement’s treatment of the San Diego female murder investigations, the use of the term “NHI”, and Lewis’ comment regarding the term’s place in “murder history,” prompted me to research the murders’ historical significance. I was not so interested in the general origin of the term

“NHI,” or its historical use, as I was interested in learning the term’s connotation within the context of law enforcement’s treatment of prostitutes and how the term’s meaning was a reflection of law enforcement’s attitudes toward prostitutes. I wondered if San Diego law enforcement’s treatment of and attitudes towards prostitutes and their murders was a reflection of a continuous historical relationship between policing and prostitution that existed since the nineteenth century.

3 One of the forum panels included Norma Jean Almodovar, Southern California Director of COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), a prostitutes’ rights organization. 4 Susan Freudenheim, “Billboards Target Unsolved Slayings,” Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1992.

Overview

This thesis explores the historical relationship between policing and prostitution in San Diego between 1980 and 1993 by focusing on the case of a young murder victim, Donna Gentile. Gentile, prostitute turned police corruption informant, legally challenged San Diego police officers’ treatment of her and was subsequently murdered. Her murder, which remains unsolved, was first investigated after her death in June of 1985 by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Approximately three years later, Gentile’s case was combined with thirty-seven other female murder victims

(later increased to forty-three) and placed in the charge of a newly formed task force called the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force (MHTF). The victims were identified by law enforcement as prostitutes, drug users, and transients; their deaths were dubbed by both local newspapers and law enforcement as “the prostitute murders” because the majority of the victims were known prostitutes. This thesis explores

Gentile’s interactions with the San Diego Police Department prior to her death, her murder, and law enforcement’s investigation of her murder. It argues that in the case of Donna Gentile, the law enforcement approach to crimes involving prostitutes has remained static for approximately one hundred years despite the rise of the second wave of feminism and police reformers’ attempt to eradicate police corruption by professionalizing police organizations.

Historically, although police viewed prostitutes as engaged in sinfully illegal activities, they simultaneously sexually exploited these women under the guise of offering them protection. In addition, historical scholarship reveals that prostitutes were often not regarded as legitimate victims of crime and were discounted as reliable witnesses of crimes. This thesis will show that police officers’ sexual exploitation, harassment, and disregard of prostitutes as victims or witnesses was still present in

San Diego in the 1980s and early 1990s. In essence, elements of sexism with respect to prostitutes was embedded in the attitudes of San Diego law enforcement.

Previous sociological scholarship has argued that there is inequality in the criminal justice system for victims who are prostitutes, particularly in the cases of rape and murder.5 Sociologists’ studies suggested that American law enforcement considered victimized prostitutes as a low priority, especially given that they lead what is as regarded as a sexually deviant and risky lifestyle.6 Given the historical and sociological examinations of the interaction between prostitution and policing, the creation of the MHTF, dedicated to the investigation of women who were primarily considered sinful social deviants, seems inconsistent with law enforcement’s past behavior. At first glance, it appears the creation of the MHTF represented a change with respect to the treatment of prostitutes as murder victims. However, this thesis

5 Gail Folaron and Celia Williamson, “Violence, Risk, and Survival Strategies of Street Prostitution,” Western Journal of Nursing Research 23, no. 5 (August 2001): 464, http://wjn.sagepub.com/content/23/5/463(accessed May 25, 2012). 6 C. Gabrielle Salfati, “Prostitute Homicides: A Descriptive Study,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 23, no. 4 (April 2008): 506-507, http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/23/4/505 (accessed May 25, 2012).

argues the MHTF did not exemplify equal treatment of prostitutes as murder victims by law enforcement; rather, it ultimately functioned as a public relations tool for San

Diego’s Police Department to repair a tarnished reputation that began with the public disclosure of Gentile’s relationships with police officers prior to her murder.

The thesis consists of two parts, a documentary film and written component.

The film chronicles Gentile’s upbringing, life as a prostitute, her relationship with

San Diego police officers prior to her murder, and the subsequent investigation of her murder. It shows how Gentile’s relationship with the San Diego Police Department and her unsolved murder reflected a long standing historical relationship between policing and prostitution, a relationship including sexual exploitation and harassment of prostitutes by police officers. The film depicts challenges to that relationship beginning in the 1970s by national and international groups such as COYOTE (Call

Off Your Old Tired Ethics), who demanded the relationship between policing and prostitution be revisited. This was a result of the rise of feminism and the insistence that women no longer tolerate exploitation. COYOTE advocated the decriminalization of prostitution and championed prostitutes rights including the right not to be exploited and harassed by law enforcement. COYOTE first appeared in San

Diego in July of 1986, approximately one year after Gentile’s death. Priscilla

Alexander, one the founding members of COYOTE, addressed the local National

Organization of Women (NOW) chapter, appeared on former San Diego Mayor

Roger Hedgecock’s radio talk show, and spoke to television and newspaper reporters.

According to the San Diego Union, Alexander asserted that laws against prostitution

and the police’s treatment of prostitutes were hypocritical.7 She urged the police to step up their effort to catch those killing prostitutes nationwide, including San Diego.

The movement appeared to have little impact on the San Diego police culture that had an apparent pattern of exploiting prostitutes in the 1980s and early 1990s. According to Monya Mitchell Davis and Kathy Hardy, who are prostitute outreach advocates and were prostitutes during the 1980s and early 1990s; San Diego police officers’ exploitation of prostitutes remained common.8

Although there is no known affiliation between Gentile and COYOTE, she was an example of a woman of that era, who by utilizing the justice system, asserted her rights and also demanded that police stop harassing and exploiting prostitutes. In the end, Gentile’ attempt to use the justice system to stop police officers from harassing and exploiting her, failed to impact the San Diego Police Department’s harassment and exploitation of prostitutes.

The written component focuses on the function of the MHTF’s investigation of Donna Gentile and the forty-three other female murder victims, including an acquaintance of Gentile’s, Cynthia Maine, another San Diego prostitute. The discussion of the forty-three female murders would be too extensive given the limitations of this thesis. As such, the focus of the written portion will be the task

7 Lisa Petrillo, “Woman Takes Fight to Streets of Prostitute Leader Makes Plea for Legalization, Protection,” San Diego Union, July 23, 1986, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed March 21, 2012). 8 Monya Mitchell Davis and Kathy Hardy, interview by author, San Diego, CA, May 30, 2011.

force’s murder investigation of Donna Gentile, and when warranted, Cynthia Maine.

The task force functioned as a public relations mechanism to salvage the San Diego

Police Department’s reputation after being racked with years of allegations of corruption which included sexual exploitation, harassment, and murder. The department looked to improve their image and demonstrate their concern for public safety by diverting the public’s attention to law enforcement’s efforts to catch purported serial killers.

The murder investigation proved to be controversial and sensational. It exposed widespread misconduct within the San Diego Police Department, leading to a four year task force investigation and grand jury hearings involving the department’s former police chief, Bill Kolender. The question alluded to by the media, and on the lips of San Diegans was: Was a San Diego police officer, among those slated to protect and serve, involved in the murder of two young prostitutes?

While this question may have also been on the minds of San Diego law enforcement administrators, they had other questions. Had the public lost trust in its police force?

Did the public perceive the San Diego Police Department as corrupt?

Historiography Modern day American prostitution, it causes, inter-workings, and effects is a topic that historians have only sporadically addressed - -often deferring the topic to sociologists or women’s studies’ scholars. According to historian Ruth Rosen,

“Historians and society viewed the ‘oldest profession,’ as a permanent and

unchanging aspect of the human condition.”9 As such, the historical significance of the prostitute murders, such as those investigated by the MHTF, would have likely been given little, if any attention by historians. However, Rosen characterizes the history of prostitution as one of “gradual change within a context of continuity.” 10

In other words, some aspects of prostitution change, while others remain the same.

The rise of the new social history in the 1970s and 1980s, and heightened debate concerning feminism, inspired historians to begin to really examine prostitution’s place in society as an historical issue. Most historians who have addressed American prostitution have looked at the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and center on the American frontier or urban and industrialized communities, such as New York. Their questions concern the relationship between prostitution and changing ideals of womanhood, industrialization’s economic impact on prostitution, and commercialization and moral reformers’ influence on changing the social status and role of prostitutes in American society.

Historians Patricia Cline Cohen, Anne M. Butler, and Ruth Rosen are at the forefront of historical research regarding prostitution and, therefore, inform this thesis. Although the relationship between prostitution and policing is not the crux of their studies, it is embedded in their discussions. Those works are Cohen’s The

Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century

9 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), XV. 10 Ibid.

New York (1999); Butler’s The Tarnished Frontier, Prostitution in the Trans-

Mississippi West 1865-1890 (1979); and Rosen’s The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America: 1900-1918 (1982). Work on prostitution in recent American history has mostly been done by sociologists, like Valarie Jenness, whose article “From Sex as

Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social

Problem,” examines the impact of the COYOTE ‘ social movement on the discourse of prostitution in the late twentieth century. Butler and Cohen show that the relationship between prostitution and policing was static throughout the nineteenth century, a relationship, according to Rosen, that continued into and throughout the

Progressive Era. 11 Jenness believes there was some effort to change the relationship between prostitution and policing during the late twentieth century.12 It is this static relationship and attempts to change its trajectory that serves as the basis for this thesis research.

Patricia Cline Cohen uses the life of a young prostitute in nineteenth century

New York to explain that city’s response to the brutal murder of woman who defied acceptable norms of morality. According to the Cohen, Helen Jewett made choices

11 Anne M. Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865-1890 (College Park: University of Maryland, 1979), 273-274; Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 365-367; and Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 74-75. 12 Valarie Jenness, “From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem,” Social Problems 37, no. 3 (August, 1990): 407-409.

that ran contrary to cult of true womanhood, an ideal that women’s roles were limited to that of wife and mother. Jewett was a seemingly self-made and successful prostitute, who created a fictional portrait of her past in order to package and sell herself as a provocative product. The author reveals society’s concern with the sexual dangers associated with young women, such as Jewett, who lived unsupervised in the midst of an emerging urban and modern environment. The titillating details of

Jewett’s life as a prostitute, her murder, and the trial of her suspected murderer, as disseminated by the press, created public fascination and reinforced the consequences of a sinful or immoral lifestyle.13

In Cohen’s description of New York’s early nineteenth century sex trade and account of the trial of Jewett’s alleged killer, upstanding businessman Richard

Robinson, she addresses the relationship between law enforcement and prostitution.

According to Cohen, prostitution was not illegal in New York and to some degree, tolerated with minimal regulation.14 The regulations were less about selling sex for money and more about the conduct of the parties and location of the solicitation. 15

Policemen could arrest unescorted women in public for vagrancy or disorderly conduct if an officer decided a woman was “suspiciously acting like a streetwalker.”

13 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 403- 409. 14 Ibid; 73-74. 15 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 403- 74.

Prostitutes were generally arrested for vagrancy or solicitation, whereas men on the streets soliciting prostitutes were not.16

Cohen demonstrates the unequal treatment of prostitutes in New York’s nineteenth century criminal justice system as both victims and witnesses during her account of Robinson’ murder trial. The author exposes a legal system that treated prostitute murder victims as citizens unworthy of justice and deemed prostitutes incapable of being credible witnesses, particularly when the testimony was against a man of elevated status. Cohen points to the following instruction to the jurors made by the presiding judge of the Robinson’s trial as evidence of the inequality: “[The prostitutes] are not entitled to credit unless their testimony is corroborated by others, drawn from better sources.” 17 In effect, the star witness, Rosina, a prostitute who placed Robinson at the scene of the crime was not believed given her immoral status.

Historian Anne M. Butler’s The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-

Mississippi West, 1865-1890, examines the role prostitutes played in the economic development of the Trans-Mississippi West frontier pre-progressive era. According to Butler, even though industrialization was altering the frontier’s economic landscape, due in part to the establishment of mining camps that created a demand for prostitutes, it did not alter the trajectory of prostitution.18 The author argues that

16 Ibid. 17 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 360. 18 Anne M. Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865-1890 (College Park: University of Maryland, 1979), abstract.

prostitutes deemed immoral by society were treated as social and economic outcasts and never considered members of the frontier labor force. She points out that prostitutes were mistreated, unskilled laborers who were abused not only by the public, but also by members of the judicial system.19 Public officials and authorities, including law enforcement, were given free rein by the public to treat prostitutes in any manner chosen.20 Prostitutes, having little recourse, provided sexual favors to officials and law enforcement who enjoyed economic and legal authority.21 Law enforcement and public officials privately profited from the financial rewards of prostitution and other associated crimes of vice, such as gambling, while publicly denouncing and mistreating the women of purported ill-repute participating in the trade. For example, Butler describes a public official’s segregation of prostitutes by relegating them to town allies, forcing them to live in abhorrent conditions. When law enforcement’s or public officials’ corrupt activities were exposed, the public was forgiving of their behavior. They were forgiven because the public believed their corrupt activities occurred because of the criminal element law enforcement and public officials were forced to encounter as part of their employment.22 Butler concludes that although prostitution was extensive and highly visible, prostitutes did

19 Ibid. 20 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 360. 20 Anne M. Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865-1890 (College Park: University of Maryland, 1979), 150-151. 21 Ibid; 152, 174. 22 Ibid; 164-165.

not contribute to a community’s economic development due to societal ostracism based on the immorality of the profession.23

Rosen, in The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918, uses prostitution as a mechanism to examine class structure and gender norms in early twentieth century urban America. Her discussion includes the nineteenth century public’s and law enforcement’s initial tolerance of prostitution and how that led to the creation of the red-light districts, areas in urban communities that were relegated for vice businesses such as prostitution or gambling in the second half of the nineteenth century. Rosen notes that the establishment of police forces contributed to the creation of the red-light districts. The police collected tribute from the vice businesses in those red-light areas in exchange for tolerance. Prostitution operated as long as the police were compensated.24

Rosen addresses the cultural and economic effects of the Progressive Era reformers who failed to abolish prostitution, but were successful in closing red-light districts where prostitutes were relegated to work, forcing the majority of these impoverished women into the streets. Rosen argues that reformers’ efforts caused already poor women to become unemployed, only worsening their financial status.

The once tolerated practice of prostitution in urban and industrialized areas, excluding the western frontier and South, gradually became a criminalized institution. By the

23 Ibid; 269. 24 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 4-5.

late 1910s prostitution in New York became a crime and the women who practiced it were not only marginalized because they were social outcasts but now considered criminals.

In Sisterhood, Rosen reveals a world where prostitutes were extorted and exploited by madams, pimps, and law enforcement. Some of their earnings went to either the madam or a pimp in exchange for legal, physical, or psychological protection. For example, brothel madams paid law enforcement officers to avoid fines or infractions for “disorderly conduct.” In addition to financial payments made to law enforcement, prostitutes provided sexual gratification to the legal authorities or politicians in exchange for being allowed to ply their trade.25

Rosen explores the transformation of prostitution from the late seventeenth century through the end of the Progressive Era, focusing on its criminalization and commercialization. According to Rosen, prior to the Progressive Era prostitution was not categorized as a criminal offense in America, but it was publicly castigated. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries prostitutes were harassed by an informal police comprised of laborers (gangs or rowdy club) who used mob attacks. By the mid-nineteenth century harassment became a formalized policy implemented by the police department, arresting prostitutes and madams for lewdness, vagrancy, or

25 Ibid; 72-73, 75.

keeping a “disorderly house.”26 A “disorderly house” is a legal term to describe a building or place where people “conduct criminal or immoral activities.”27

Sociologist Valarie Jenness also contributes to the historical discussion of the relationship between policing and prostitution in her article “From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem,” which analyzes the contribution made by the COYOTE Movement in its effort to re- define prostitution in the later twentieth century. The movement advocated decriminalization of prostitution and acknowledgement of civil rights for prostitutes.

Among the rights they championed were prostitutes’ rights not to be subjected to violence, rape, or police harassment and exploitation.28 Jenness argues that COYOTE contributed to the “growth and direction” of the prostitutes rights movement by

“participating” in three areas of discourse, law enforcement, feminism, and AIDS

(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).29 According to Jenness, COYOTE accomplished its goals through legal action and organized protests. For example,

COYOTE lobbied for the issuance of citations rather than the arrests of prostitutes and initiated twenty-six lawsuits on behalf of prostitutes. The group, with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged a California law targeting prostitution on constitutional grounds arguing that it restricted freedom of

26 Ibid; 4. 27Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “Disorderly House.” 28 Valarie, Jenness, “From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem,” Social Problems 37, no. 3 (August, 1990): 407. 29 Ibid., 404.

expression and that its selective use on prostitutes denied them the right to equal protection.30 Jenness points out that although many second wave feminists were resistant to supporting the rights of prostitutes, organizations such as NOW (National

Organization of Women) eventually recognized prostitution as a “legitimate issue,” though offered limited support.31 The author points to the AIDS epidemic as the most

“dramatic change” in COYOTE’s crusade for prostitutes’ rights. During the 1980s prostitutes were blamed for contributing to the AIDs epidemic by spreading the virus.

COYOTE, by educating political agencies and prostitutes, combated governmental

“calls” for mandatory prostitute registration and AIDS testing, and prison sentences for carrying the HIV virus (the virus that causes AIDS).32

A separate but related area of historical inquiry involves historians’ research on the role or meaning of policing in American society.33 Until the past thirty years, historians failed to focus extensively on studying policing. The examination of policing was generally considered the work of sociologists, specifically criminologists. However, most criminologists have been generally interested in cross-sectional analysis of causes and the quantification of behavior of deviant groups without consideration of historical change.

30 Ibid., 406-409. 31 Ibid., 411. 32 Ibid., 414-415. 33 The use of the term “police” or “policing” in this thesis will primarily refer to urban policing in industrialized communities.

In the late twentieth century historians David Johnson and Eric Monkkonen examined issues relative to policing. Among those issues were historical studies of police structure and culture.

David Johnson’s research in American Law Enforcement, A History lays the foundation for Monnkkonen and subsequent historians’ work on the policing.

Johnson surveys law enforcement’s development and reform from Colonial America through the 1970s. He discusses how political structures, ideology, and crime trends shaped American policing. For example, he contends that law enforcement actions are often influenced by the public’s fear of crime and criminal behavior. Johnson points out that it was the public’s fear of crime that drove the police to emphasize their role as crime fighters in 1930s. This emphasis on crime fighting was part of a larger police reform effort from 1920 to 1965 to not only professionalize police, but to change their public image and role in their communities.34

Prior to the 1920s, although police officers were responsible for combating crime, they were primarily viewed by the public as community service workers doing the bidding for often corrupt local politicians and crime syndicates. Some police officers, like the corrupt politicians and crime syndicates, were intimately involved in illegal vice activities such as gambling and prostitution. One aspect of professionalization included forming a policing institution independent of politicians’

34 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 113-115.

control that adhered to purported “middle class values” of efficient and honest government.35 Johnson concludes that policing is always in a constant state of reform because of the tension between the idealistic expectations of the public and the realities of policing. Police’s reform is undertaken in response to public demand to solve a problem, such as increased criminal activities, real or perceived.36

Monkkonen discusses his viewpoints regarding American policing in his articles, “Policing in the United States, 1930-1972” and “Crossing the (Blue) Line:

The Problem with Commissions.” In his articles Monkkonen focuses on policing as an institution and police culture.

In “Policing in the United States, 1930-1972” Monkkonen examines the effects of federalism on policing and how local policing authority, by its very nature, lends itself to potential corruption. For example, he points to historian Wilbur

Miller’s contention that American police, since the 1850s, have maintained a “street justice” mentality an idea that law enforcement may use any means necessary to enforce the law, including public beatings.37 Monkkonen shows how policing changed from an institution that, prior to World War II, focused primarily on public surveillance for political machines, to professional localized organizations that investigated crimes. Monkkonen also relies on scholarship from sociologist William

36 Ibid; 195-196. 37 Eric H. Monkkonen, “Policing in the United States, 1930-1972,” in Crime, Justice, History, ed. Eric H. Monkkonen (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2002), 162.

Westley to discuss the occupational purview of police groups and why an internal code of silence is prevalent within police agencies. According to Monkkonen, “An individual police officer’s self-worth, daily life, and actual job were always dangling by the other officer’s trust, and their distrust could at any moment release the thread and plummet their unhappy co-workers into joblessness, insecurity, and even physical danger.”38 The author contends that a street justice mentality is continuously reinforced by the criminal justice system because this type of justice is difficult to monitor due to the officers code of silence, attitudes, and police corruption.39

Monnkkonen continues his exploration regarding police corruption in his article “Crossing the (Blue) Line: The Problem with Commissions.” He discusses the ineffectiveness of commissions established to investigate police corruption from the late nineteenth to the latter part of the twentieth century. According to

Monkkonen, commissions are ineffective because their members are powerless to legally implement change and do not live with the consequences of their decisions.

They simply make recommendations and move on without any concern for losing their jobs.40 He concludes that although commissions are generally ineffective, they are better than the status quo. He argues that we cannot simply rely on ad-hoc

38Ibid., 163-164. 39 Ibid; 162. 40 Eric H. Monkkonen, “Crossing The (Blue) Line: The Problem with Commissions,” in Crime, Justice, and History, ed. Eric H. Monkkonen (Columbus: Ohio State University, 2002), 151.

commissions to oversee police corruption; internal demands for fairness, honesty, and quality are necessary to pick up the slack.41

This thesis will marry the preceding two sets of historiographies, showing the relationship between prostitution and policing, by utilizing both scholarship from women’s history and policing history. Butler, Cohen, Rosen, and Jenness discuss the relationship between policing and prostitution. This thesis will build on and extend the historical significance of that relationship, thrusting it forward approximately one hundred years. Relying on Butler’s, Cohen’s, and Rosen’s works, this thesis will look back to the nineteenth century to analyze the interaction between prostitution and policing in the 1980s and early 1990s and show a relationship that remained virtually unchanged for over a century. This thesis will build on Jenness’ discussion regarding the COYOTE movement and their efforts to challenge the status quo between policing and prostitution by providing an example of how their causes were advocated at a local level, albeit unsuccessfully, by an individual prostitute who had no known affiliation with the organization. Although the relationship between prostitution and policing, particularly law enforcement’s treatment of women who chose to be prostitutes, is included in Butler, Cohen’s, Rosen’s, and Jenness’ scholarship, a discussion of policing as an institution appears to be absent in their works.

41 Ibid; 153.

Johnson and Monkkonen address policing as an institution in their works, however, their discussions do not discuss women. Their discussions of women generally include the relationship between policing with respect to female police officers and not women who are purported criminals such as prostitutes. By building on the two historiographies, this thesis will contribute to and extend studies relative to the relationship between prostitution and policing in women’s and policing history.

Methodology

This work is based on research obtained from court files, grand jury reports, oral histories, legal documents, and approximately one hundred twenty newspaper articles. The interviews include Thomas Streed, a former San Diego Sheriff’s detective and task force member, Donna Gentile’s attorney, Douglas Holbrook, and former prostitutes and current prostitute outreach activists Kathy Hardy and Monya

Mitchell Davis.42 It is important to note, that at the time of Gentile’s murder, Streed had been with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department for approximately eighteen years.

For fifteen of those years, he was a homicide detective with the department. In addition to being a sheriff’s detective, he was certified by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation (FBI) in “Behavioral Analysis “(psychological profiling) in 1982 and received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Human Behavior in 1983.

42 I was unable to locate Donna Gentile’s family, primarily because most reside in Pennsylvania and she was estranged from most of them.

Because of the sensitive and political nature of this topic, the guarded attitudes of law enforcement, and the fact that the Gentile case remains unsolved, direct access to police records, including MHTF reports were not available for review. After attempts to obtain the police records, task force reports, and statistical information regarding the number of officers who have been charged with offenses against women, the San Diego District Attorney has only provided select information in response to a request for statistical information regarding the number of San Diego

Police Department officers who were prosecuted for crime against women while on duty since 1980. The response was one in 1993 and two in 2011.43 In response to requests for police records and task force reports, the District Attorney’s Office declared that the information requested was part of investigatory files and therefore could not be disclosed. In addition, the District Attorney’s Office stated there were numerous files in storage. As such, the costs in retrieving and copying the files that would be incurred by the District Attorney’s office, took priority over the public’s need to know.”44

During my research, my requests for interviews with former police chief Bill

Kolender, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis (or anyone from her office), and Judge

Chuck Rogers, all of whom were responsible at one time or another for Donna

43 Linh Lam, Deputy District Attorney, e-mail message to author, San Diego, CA, September 1, 2011. 44 Richard S. Armstrong, Deputy District Attorney, letter to author, San Diego, CA, May 24, 2010.

Gentile’s murder investigation during the 1980s and early 1990, were denied.45 Other administrators associated with the investigation, such as police chief Bob Burgreen and Sheriff John Duffy, have since passed away.46

However, local newspaper reports proved to be quite enlightening. The San

Diego Union-Tribune, and to a lesser degree the Los Angeles Times, followed the murders and police corruption very closely and relied heavily upon statements by law enforcement in their reporting. In fact, the San Diego Union was cited by a Grand

Jury investigation as receiving preferential access to information by law enforcement.

The San Diego Police Department was reprimanded for leaking previous Grand Jury testimony to the San Diego Union. Another useful source was a memoir written by

Norm Stamper, a former San Diego Assistant Police Chief, during the early 1990s that provided a revealing look at police department corruption during the 1980s and early 1990s.

As stated in the Overview section of this introduction, this thesis consists of two components, a documentary film and written portion. The film is broken into the following six segments: Introduction, Who was Donna Gentile, Police Corruption,

The Murder, The Investigation, and Conclusion. The film opens with a brief

45 Bill Kolender cited medical reasons and Bonnie Dumanis’ office stated that it was inappropriate to discuss the case. Rogers did not provide an explanation. 46 Gregg Gross, “Ex Police Chief was an Innovator,” San Diego Union Tribune, December 29, 2007, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed May 27, 2012) and David Hasemyer, “Former Sheriff John Duffy Dies,” San Diego Union Tribune, March 22, 1993, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed May 27, 2012).

discussion of the COYOTE movement and their ideas regarding prostitutes’ civil rights. The COYOTE Movement discussion is followed by a chronological account of Donna Gentile’s life beginning in Levittown, Pennsylvania in 1962 and ending in

San Diego, California in 1985. The film provides a synopsis of Gentile’s upbringing in Levittown and her work in both mainstream employment and the sex industry in

San Diego after she turned eighteen. The film then provides an overview of her interactions with San Diego law enforcement, including her relationship with two San

Diego police officers and her acts of opposition to police officers’ sexual exploitation and harassment of her. The climax of the film includes Gentile’s murder and law enforcement’s investigation of her murder, both as a single investigation by the San

Diego Sheriff’s Department and then as part of a series of murders by a multi-agency homicide task force. As the film approaches its conclusion, the film ties together

COYOTE’s ideas regarding prostitutes’ civil rights and Gentile’s experiences as a prostitute as an exemplar of those ideas. The film concludes with the introduction of the core of the thesis argument that Gentile’s murder investigation served as a public relations tool for the San Diego Police Department.

The written portion of the thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction provides an overview of the thesis arguments and historiography. Chapter One provides background information regarding Gentile’s experiences in San Diego, pertinent San Diego police Department corruption events from 1983 to 1986, and Gentile’s murder. Chapter Two covers the core of the thesis’ argument that Gentile murder investigation served as a public relations tool,

introduced at the conclusion of film. The conclusion summarizes and connects the arguments presented in the film and Chapters One and Two.

CHAPTER ONE CONNECTIONS

Three noteworthy incidents of police misconduct with prostitutes occurred in

San Diego between 1983 and 1986. These incidents involved Robert Hannibal and

Christine Cole; Larry Avrech, Carl Black, and Donna Gentile; and John Fung and

Cynthia Maine. Although the three incidents were independent of each other, they share commonalities. All three incidents shed a negative light on the reputation of the

San Diego Police Department. Moreover, each incident revealed either police officer exploitation or harassment of prostitutes, or both.

The incidents involving the San Diego Police Department affirmed a relationship between American policing and prostitution in the 1980s, repeating a general preexisting pattern from the nineteenth century. Between the nineteenth century and end of the Progressive Era, police officers harassed prostitutes, and economically and sexually exploited them.1 In the early nineteenth century, prostitution was handled in urban areas, such as New York, by an informal group of

1 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 59-60 and Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900- 1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 4.

male police and watch officers. Formal police forces were later established in the middle of the 1800s.2

Police harassment of prostitutes was an established policy implemented by police departments in the mid-nineteenth century in an effort to shield prostitution

(streetwalking and brothels) from public view. Officers had discretionary authority to arrest prostitutes and madams for lewdness, vagrancy, or keeping a “disorderly house.”3 Arrest could be avoided by paying bribes to the police. Historian David

Johnson refers to mid-nineteenth century and Progressive Era police as

“entrepreneurs” of prostitution.4 Rosen illustrates this quid pro quo relationship in an account between two male customers of prostitutes and two uniformed police officers in a Chicago saloon. Customers who complained to the barkeep that they were overcharged for the services of two prostitutes were threatened with arrest by two officers if they did not leave. After the customers left, the officers covered their badges, and exchanged their uniform coats for civilian wear, and engaged the same two prostitutes while receiving free drinks.5 Sexual and financial gratification offered to police officers by prostitutes was also common. Ann Butler points to Tombstone,

Arizona’s first sheriff, John Behan who received graft related to prostitution and

2 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 4. 3 A “Disorderly house” is a legal term to describe a building or place where people “conduct criminal or immoral activities,” Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “Disorderly House.” 4 Ibid; 57-58. 5 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 75.

Gunnison County Colorado’s sheriff Cyrus Shores’ apparent sexual relationship with prostitute Mollie Foley as examples.6 According to Rosen, on the other hand, streetwalkers in the mid-nineteenth century were subjected to brutality and harassment from police officers and were not “politically protected” like the brothel prostitutes.7

In addition to being subjected to police harassment and exploitation during the nineteenth century, prostitutes were often disregarded by the legal system as legitimate victims and witnesses of crimes. Historian Patricia Cline Cohen’s description of an early nineteenth century murder trial provides evidence of how law enforcement regarded prostitutes in the legal system. Richard Robinson was accused of brutally murdering prostitute Helen Jewett with a hatchet. Cohen points out that the prosecuting attorney “made no attempt to introduce Jewett to the jury or make them feel sympathy for her.”8 Prostitutes Rosina Townsend and Ophelia Bowels testified at the trial; both placed the accused at the scene of the murder. However, the presiding judge provided instructions to the jury regarding the credibility of the prostitutes’ testimony. He told the jury, “The prostitutes are not to be entitled to

6 Ann Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865 (University of Maryland, 1979), 156, 174-175. 7 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 98. 8 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett, The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth Century New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 339.

credit unless their testimony is corroborated by others, drawn from better sources…..”9

Exploitation, harassment, and disregard of prostitutes in the legal system by police officers that existed throughout the nineteenth century and Progressive Era continued into the late twentieth century. Similar patterns of behavior would be revealed in incidents involving San Diego police officers and prostitutes Cole,

Gentile, and Maine between 1983 and 1986. An exploration of these incidents reveal a relationship between policing and prostitution that remained virtually unchanged from the nineteenth century and Progressive Era.

ROBERT HANNIBAL AND CHRISTINE COLE

From 1980 to 1983, Sergeant Robert “Bullet Bob” Hannibal, then a fifteen year police veteran, served as a vice officer for the San Diego Police Department. In

1983 he was re-assigned to the department’s Intelligence Division. While serving as an intelligence officer, Hannibal, along with his cousin and former San Diego police officer, Albert F. Quick, and Christine Cole, a prostitute, were all accused of establishing and operating three prostitution businesses-Fantasy Outcall, California

Fantasy Fashions, and California Fantasy Lingerie. Hannibal, Quick, and Cole were each initially indicted for twelve counts of pimping, pandering, and one count of obstruction of justice, ultimately resulting in Hannibal’s dismissal from the police

9 Ibid., 360.

department.10 Hannibal, Quick, and Cole, according to the San District Attorney’s

Office, profited from the outcall business.11 Hannibal’s and Quick’s prostitution entrepreneurship was similar to the police officer profiteers from the nineteenth century. According to historians Butler and Rosen, police officers’ commonly received financial rewards from prostitute operations during the nineteenth century.12

The pimping and pandering counts were later dropped and all three pled guilty to obstruction of justice for interfering with a police probe of the organization’s activities. Hannibal and Quick were sentenced to a year in the county jail, and Cole to 270 days in a women’s detention facility.

The Hannibal episode was at the forefront of a series of episodes throughout the 1980s implicating police officers in misconduct with prostitutes. Law enforcement administrators handled the episode quickly with little fanfare. The department’s handling of the episode was an example of how administrators would handle situations involving officer misconduct with respect to prostitution throughout the 1980s. Hannibal was fired from the department and no criminal charges were filed against him for his involvement with prostitutes. Although Hannibal was

10 Rivan Taylor, “Cole Enters Guilty Plea to 1 Charge; 16 Dropped,” San Diego Union, December 30, 1983. 11 John Standefer, “Cole Says She Misunderstood,” San Diego Union, February 24, 1985. 12 Anne M. Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865-1890 (College Park: University of Maryland, 1979), 150-151 and Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 72-73, 75.

convicted of obstruction of justice, he was not convicted for his participation in the prostitution business.

The Hannibal incident was short-lived, lasting approximately six months. It received scant local media attention, amounting to approximately six articles between the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune. Three articles appeared in August of

1983, two in December, and one in February of 1984.13 Although the incident received little press coverage, it probably drew more media attention than other crimes involving prostitution because one of the perpetrators was a police officer.

Because the incident involved a police officer, the police department was likely anxious to quickly dispose of the matter and remove the department out of the negative public spotlight. Hannibal, Cole, and Quick were sentenced in February of

1984, press coverage dissipated and the incident quickly faded from the public eye.

Within a few short years after having dealt with the Hannibal incident, the San

Diego Police Department faced another incident involving police officers and a prostitute. Similar to the previous incident, this one involved a young prostitute and two police officers. One of the officers, like Hannibal, was a veteran of the department; the other was a five-year patrolman. However, San Diego law

13 Sue Edelman, “Cop Suspended Pending Prostitution inquiry,” San Diego Evening Tribune, August 23, 1983; Dick Weber, “S.D. Police Suspend 18-year Veteran in Prostitution Case,” San Diego Union, August 23, 1983; Dick Weber, “Vice Officer Said Tough on Prostitution,” San Diego Union, August 24, 1983; Mitch Himaka, “Ex-Cop Get 1-Year Term in Sex Case,” San Diego Union, February 10, 1984; Rivian Taylor, “Cole Enters Guilty Plea to 1 Charge; 16 Dropped, San Diego Union, December 30, 1983; Darla Wells,” Coles Pleads to 1 Charge, San Diego Evening Tribune, December 30, 1983.

enforcement administrators would not be able dispose of this episode as swiftly or neatly as they had the Hannibal incident because the new incident included a prostitute’s murder.

LARRY AVRECH, CARL BLACK, AND DONNA GENTILE

Donna Gentile, a San Diego prostitute, and Officer Larry Averch first met in

February of 1981 when Gentile, who reportedly expressed an interest in working in law enforcement, accompanied Avrech on a civilian ride along.14 According to

Gentile, Avrech drove her to her residence and the two of them had sex.15 Avrech claimed that the department approved the ride along, and at that time, he did not know Gentile was a prostitute.16

Between June of 1981 and January of 1982, Gentile was charged and convicted of prostitution four times.17 The details of Gentile’s activities between

January of 1982 and January of 1984 are vague. It is unclear whether she continued to work as a prostitute during that time period. There are no court records citing arrests for prostitution between January of 1982 and January of 1984. A San Diego

Evening Tribune news article about Gentile’s life, suggests that Gentile left

14 A civilian ride along refers to an allowance by the San Diego Police Department for a civilian or non -police officer to ride with an officer while he or she is on patrol. 15 Terry Colvin, “Police Confirm Two Relationships with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985. 16 Terry Colvin, “Fired Policeman Says Detectives Violate His Rights,” San Diego Union, March 22, 1985. 17 The People of the State of California vs. Donna Marie Gentile, Case No. CR 70630, San Diego Municipal Court, Court Complaint, in appellate file, Oct 2, 1984.

prostitution for approximately two years. According to the article, Gentile was a prostitute for a year, then quit to become a security guard. While she worked as a security guard, she and one of her supervisors became involved in a two-year relationship. After their relationship ended, she returned to prostitution.18

Three years later, between February and March of 1984, she was charged with prostitution three more times.19 She retained attorney Douglas Holbrook to challenge the later charges in court because her friends in law enforcement who were supposed to be “helping her out” were not doing so, and the court date to arraign her on the charges was fast approaching.20 At her arraignment, Gentile plead not guilty to all three charges and opted for a trial. Excerpts from Gentile’s trial testimony reveal what may have been her attempt to expose San Diego police officers’ sexual misconduct. During the trial, one officer, Rosembloom testified to events of the undercover prostitution sting that led to Gentile’s arrest.21 According to the officer, he made eye contact with Gentile and she approached him without invitation. Gentile got into his car and they proceeded to drive around. The officer testified that once they were in the car she solicited him for sex. After the officer rejected Gentile’s

18 David Hasemyer, “Young Prostitute Goes Home in Death,” San Diego Tribune, July 12, 1985. 19 The People of the State of California vs. Donna Marie Gentile, Case No. CR 70630, San Diego Municipal Court, Court Complaint, in appellate file, Oct 2, 1984. 20 “Arraignment” is a court proceeding where the person charged with a crime responds to a charge(s) by admitting or not admitting guilt. Black Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “arraignment.” 21 Officer Rosenbloom was only referred by his last name in the court transcript excerpt located in the court file.

offer, he dropped her off on El Cajon Boulevard and his vice unit arrested her.22

However, Gentile testified, after the officer “initiated eye contact, she walked to his car and asked ‘Don’t I know you from three years ago?’” When Gentile was cross- examined by the prosecutor as to what she meant by the statement, she stated, “she thought she had recognized officer Rosenbloom as a person she had ‘dated’ some three years earlier.” Gentile defined date as having sex with someone in exchange for money.23 Whether the officer attempted to date Gentile three years prior to the

Rosenbloom undercover sting or whether Gentile actually recognized him as a former customer is unknown. But Gentile’s testimony implied that it would not have been out of the ordinary to mistake a police officer for a customer, even if he was out of uniform. In an interview, Monya Mitchell Davis, maintained that she had sex with both on and off duty San Diego police officers during the 1980s when she was working as a prostitute.24 Davis’ sexual experiences with off duty officers and

Gentile’s testimony indicates that sexual encounters between prostitutes and off-duty officers may not have been an uncommon occurrence.25 The trial resulted in

22 The People of the State of California vs. Donna Marie Gentile, Case No. CR 70630, San Diego Municipal Court, trial transcript, 4: 1-17, in appellate file, October 2, 1984. 23 Ibid,. 5:1-11. 24 Monya Mitchell Davis, interview by author, San Diego, CA, May 29, 2010. 25 Douglas Holbrook, interview by author, San Diego, CA, October 4, 2010.

Gentile’s conviction in only one of the charges. She appealed that conviction in

October of 1984.26

While her trial was pending, Gentile came in contact with Avrech again in early June of 1984 when he approached her for sex during a San Diego Police

Department vice unit prostitution crackdown campaign (referred to by law enforcement as a detail). The detail was supervised by sixteen-year San Diego Police

Department veteran, Lieutenant Carl Black. Similar to prostitutes in the mid- nineteenth, century and Progressive Era, Gentile insisted that she was sexually exploited by a police officer. In an article in the San Diego Union, Gentile claimed that Avrech said he would go easier on her if she had sex with him and, feeling that she had no choice, she complied. She maintained that she and Avrech had sex three or four times during that summer and, according to attorney Holbrook, she looked to him for protection.27

. San Diego’s crackdown campaign was aimed at ridding the streets of prostitutes. Much like the methods used in the nineteenth century and Progressive

Era, police officers constantly cited prostitutes with minor offenses. The detail consisted of thirty San Diego uniformed police officers following prostitutes along El

Cajon Boulevard day and night, citing them for various minor offenses, such as

26 The People of the State of California vs. Donna Marie Gentile, Case No. CR 70630, San Diego Municipal Court, Settle Statement of Appeal, in appellate file, October 2, 1984. 27 Terry Colvin, “Police Confirm Two Relationships with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985 and Douglas Holbrook interview by author, San Diego, CA , October 4, 2010.

loitering, littering, or jaywalking.28 During that detail Gentile also developed a relationship with Lieutenant Black. Gentile said in an interview with the San Diego

Union, “He treated me real nice, like a friend and never like a prostitute.” She claimed that he was trying to rehabilitate her and he had offered to “watch after me and get me out of the life I was living . . . .” He wanted to get me off the streets.”29

Gentile accompanied Black, two San Diego police sergeants, Black’s girlfriend, and the girlfriend of one of the sergeants on a four-day trip to the Colorado

River in late June of 1984. She claimed that some of her companions on the trip did not know she was a prostitute. She said, “We had fun and water skied.” 30 Shortly after she returned, on June 29, 1984, she revealed her Colorado excursion with Black to Avrech while at a laundromat on El Cajon Boulevard. According to Avrech, he did not report this to his superiors or internal affairs, instead he decided to independently investigate this perceived misconduct by Black and the other officers.31

It is unclear exactly when Gentile’s relationship with Avrech soured, but by the end of the summer of 1984, she began to distrust him.32

28 Dick Weber, “Panel Hears Job Appeal of Ex-Cop.” San Diego Union, May 8, 1985. 29 Terry L. Colvin, “Police Confirm 2 Officers’ Relationship with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985. 30 Terry Colvin, “Police Confirm Two Relationships with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985. 31 Dick Weber, “Panel Hears Job Appeal of Ex-Cop,” San Diego Union, May 8, 1985. 32 Douglas Holbrook, interview by author, San Diego, CA, October 4, 2010.

In August of 1984, Gentile complained to Avrech’s superior, Sergeant Harold

Goudarzi, that Avrech was sexually extorting and harassing her.33 In a later interview with the San Diego Union she claimed that she reported Avrech because he continuously demanded sexual favors from her and threatened to report Lieutenant

Black’s relationship with her to the department. “I liked the Lieutenant and didn’t want to see his career harmed because of me.”34 Goudarzi reported Gentile’s allegations to his superiors and an internal affairs investigation of Avrech ensued.

Following her meeting with Goudarzi, internal affairs investigators approached

Gentile with the proposal that she become an informant. As an informant, she wore a wire while meeting with members of law enforcement. In exchange, the police department agreed to help her out with her pending appeal of her prostitution conviction. Gentile’s attorney, Douglas Holbrook, points out that this offer of assistance was ambiguous. According to Holbrook, the nature of the investigation— who and what she was informing about—was never made clear to him or Gentile.35 It is unclear how long Gentile was an internal affairs informant or how long the investigation lasted. Results of the investigation began to publicly unfold in March of

1985 when the press revealed the firing of patrolman Avrech and Lieutenant Black.36

33 David Hasemyer and Mark T. Sullivan, “Sergeant at Center of Storm over Slain Prostitute,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 27, 1991. 34 Terry Colvin, “Police Confirm Two Relationships with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985. 35 Douglas Holbrook, interview by author, San Diego, CA, October 4, 2010. 36 Dick Weber, “Second Cop Fired for Tie to Hooker,” San Diego Union, March 20, 1985.

Avrech’s dismissal stemmed from Gentile’s allegations that he had sex with her and in exchange gave her information regarding the location of vice officers during the prostitution crackdown campaign. Moreover, she maintained that Avrech wrote a letter asking for leniency to the presiding judge overseeing her sentencing for the July 1984 prostitution conviction. According to Gentile, he gave her fifty dollars, the letter he wrote to the judge, and then demanded sex in return. According to

Gentile, after she refused he began to sexually harass and threaten her.37 Avrech maintained that he was not harassing her, rather, he was trying to gain her confidence in order to compile evidence against Black. Avrech admitted he wrote a letter to the judge on her behalf, however, he denied having sex with her, paying her, or providing her with law enforcement logistical information.38

After the Department learned of Black’s participation in the Colorado trip from both Avrech and Gentile, an internal affairs investigation of Black ensued. The investigation resulted initially, in a ten-day suspension for Black for his participation with Gentile in the Colorado trip. His participation in the trip constituted fraternization with a prostitute, which was a violation of formal departmental rules.

He was later fired after the department learned that he had signed Gentile’s bail bond and had contacted the probation department in an attempt to influence the sentencing

37 Terry Colvin, “Police Confirm 2 Officers’ Relationship with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985. 38 Terry Colvin, “Cop’s Lawyer Denies Hooker’s Story,” San Diego Union, March 15, 1985.

on Gentile’s 1984 prostitution conviction.39 Black’s signing of the bail bond and contacting the probation department were both considered by the department as an abuse of authority and therefore considered conduct unbecoming an officer. Shortly after his dismissal, Black appealed to Police Chief Bill Kolender, and was reinstated with a demotion to sergeant. Avrech and Black appealed their disciplinary actions to the Civil Service Commission.40

After Gentile’s appeal for her 1984 prostitution conviction was denied, in

March of 1985, Gentile began serving a ninety-day sentence at the Las Colinas

Detention Facility.41 In March, Gentile also filed a harassment claim against seven

San Diego Police Department officers. The officers cited in her claim included

Sergeant Michael Blakely, Curtis Meyer, Richard Draper, Robert Candland, and detectives Frank Christensen, James Brook and Jeffrey Dean. She alleged the police harassed her from May of 1984 to January of 1985 by following her around, sometimes to her apartment. According to Gentile, they selectively and continuously cited her for minor offenses, such as throwing a cigarette on the ground, parking too close to a curb, and not stopping at a stop sign.42 According to Holbrook, she was

39 “Bail bond” is defined as “a bond given to a court by a criminal defendant’s surety, guaranteeing that the defendant will duly appear in court in the future.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “bail bond.” 40 Dick Weber, “Panel Told Demoted Police Officer was Naïve about Prostitute,” San Diego Union, June 26, 1985. 41 Dick Weber, “S.D. Police Lieutenant in Vice Case to be Demoted, Not Fired,” San Diego Union, April 13, 1985. 42 Joe Cantlupe, “Before Being Slain, Gentile Filed City Claim Accusing 7 Cops,” San Diego Union, October 27, 1990.

issued fifteen tickets in a short amount of time, sometimes within a few hours of each other.43 Davis and Hardy maintain that this type of harassment of prostitutes by police officers was common in the 1980s. Davis stated, “Harassment was just part of the lifestyle.”44 However, Gentile did not acquiesce to police harassment. Holbrook stated in a news article “Most of the girls they were harassing just moved on. Donna hung in there (on the boulevard) for whatever reason. She had that stubbornness.”45

At least a portion of this time period, from August to December of 1984, coincided with Gentile’s association with internal affairs.

While her claim was pending, Avrech’s civil service hearing was held.

Gentile, who had been released from serving the ninety-day jail sentence for a prostitution conviction, was the star witness. She reiterated the details of her relationship with Avrech and Black, although maintained that she and Black never had sex. Goudarzi, who testified on Averch’s behalf, was called in to question

Gentile’s credibility and character. He called her a “troublemaker and a known complainer.” He stated, “she didn’t like the idea we weren’t allowing her to work.”46

Gentile’s experiences were consistent with historical patterns dating back for more than one hundred years. In Crossing The( Blue) Line: The Problem with

Commissions, historian Eric Monkkonen maintains that vice offenders such as

43 Douglas Holbrook, interview by author, San Diego, CA, October 4, 2010. 44 Monya Mitchell Davis and Kathy Hardy, interview by author, May 29, 2010. 45 Joe Cantlupe, “Before Being Slain, Gentile Filed City Claim accusing 7 Cops,” San Diego Union, October 27, 1990. 46 Dick Weber, “Panel Hears Job Appeal of Ex-Cop,” San Diego Union, May 7, 1985.

prostitutes do not complain to authorities. He states, “When a police officer arrests a person for prostitution or selling drugs, credibility is on the officer’s side, making it easier for the officer to lie and difficult for the offender to complain….”47 Former prostitute Monya Mitchell Davis maintained she did not complain about police officers’ exploitation of her because it seemed pointless to do so. She stated,

“…going to jail is so traumatic, it’s like why bring up something? They are not going to listen to you anyway if they are taking you to jail, they assume you are bringing something up to try to get out of it…”48 The outcome of Gentile’s complaint to the police department regarding Avrech suggests that Davis’s assessment was accurate.

No disciplinary or criminal actions were taken against Avrech for sexually exploiting

Gentile. According to Police Chief Burgreen, Gentile allegations of Avrech’s sexual misconduct could not be substantiated. Burgreen remarked that the sexual misconduct charges were not levied against Avrech was not because they did not believe Gentile.49 However, the police department’s decision to not pursue criminal actions against Avrech for sexual misconduct suggests that Avrech denial of sexual misconduct with Gentile was considered more credible by the police department. In the end, the department would only punish Avrech for violating police department policies. Among the violations were providing confidential information to Gentile,

47 Eric H. Monkkonen, “Crossing The (Blue) Line: The Problem with Commissions,” in Crime, Justice, and History, ed. Eric H. Monkkonen (Columbus: Ohio State University), 151. 48 Monya Mitchell Davis, interview by author, May 29, 2010. 49 Terry L. Colvin, “Police Confirm 2 Offices’ Relationship With Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985.

attempting to influence a judge on Gentile’s behalf, and having an inappropriate personal relationship with her.50

Approximately two weeks after the conclusion of Avrech’s hearing and two days prior to Black’s hearing, Donna Gentile was murdered. On June 23, 1985,

Donna Gentile’s body was found in a ravine at the back of a dirt turnout on Sunset

Highway, about forty miles east of the city of San Diego. Her body had been beaten and she had been strangled, with gravel tamped down into her throat. Her dress had been methodically cut off.51 According to her death certificate, the San Diego County

Medical Examiner described the gravel as “aspirated,” indicating that she was alive and breathing at the time the gravel was forced down her throat. The medical examiner determined her cause of death to be “manual strangulation and airway obstruction by foreign material.”52 The results of her autopsy were closed to the public, reportedly because of a then new policy set forth by the medical examiner’s office.53 However, Deputy Coroner Dan Matticks stated that Gentile “had been beaten about the head and strangled” and that she had been deceased about a day prior to the discovery of her body on June 23rd.54

50 Ibid. 51 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010. 52 Donna Marie Gentile’s Death Certificate (informational) issued to author, by San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, September 29, 2010. 53 David Hasemyer, “Prostitute’s Death Shrouded in Mystery: No New Leads Seven Months After Police Scandal, Brutal Murder,” San Diego Evening Tribune, February 3, 1986. 54 Homer Clance, Nude Body Said to be Call Girl’s,” San Diego Union, July 4, 1985.

Gentile’s murder was not made public until approximately two weeks later.

Approximately a week after Gentile’s murder was made public, the Civil Service

Commission rendered its decision regarding Avrech’s and Black’s appeals. The commission determined that Avrech would not be reinstated to the police department.

The commission ruled that despite the fact there was no evidence that Avrech had sex with Gentile, they upheld seven of the police department’s twelve charges made against him. Among the charges upheld were that Avrech obstructed the department’s investigation of his case and that he violated department regulations when he disclosed prostitution enforcement procedures to Gentile. Their ruling demonstrated that Gentile’s allegations that Avrech sexually harassed and exploited her were deemed not credible.55 Their decision regarding Black and his earlier demotion was more favorable. The commission ruled that Black’s demotion would stand and placed him on probation for a year. If Black performed satisfactory service during his probation, he would be reinstated to lieutenant. A year later Black was reinstated as a lieutenant. The commission based their decision on the fact that Black had good intentions when he contacted the probation department on Gentile’s behalf.56 The decision regarding Black was not surprising given the statements made by Deputy City Attorney Nina Deane to the commission regarding Black and

55 Glen F. Bunting, “Firing, Demotion of S.D. Officers Upheld in Prostitution Case,” Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1985. 56 Ibid.

Gentile’s relationship. She told them that Gentile was “a manipulator. She was somebody that used him (Black). He was simply naïve. He believed her.”57

Because Gentile’s body was found outside the city of San Diego, the investigation fell to the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. A veteran Sheriff’s

Department homicide investigator, Thomas Streed, was assigned as the lead detective in the initial investigation of Gentile’s murder. According to Streed, from the beginning Gentile’s murder investigation was unusual and troublesome regarding both the evidence found at the crime scene and the subsequent investigatory process.58 Streed maintained that the Gentile crime scene was different from other common prostitute murders. According to Streed, most prostitute killers capture a prostitute to fulfill a fantasy about what they want to do, engage in sexual activity with the prostitute, take souvenirs, and pose the body to send a message to the public.

In addition, many prostitute killers will haphazardly dump the body on the side of the road and move onto their next victim. Streed maintains that the Gentile crime scene had none of these factors commonly associated with prostitute killings. She was concealed in a more hidden area; the tire tracks had been brushed out with shrubbery

– an act that meant someone may have been trying to conceal evidence.59 Streed believed that Gentile was not likely a victim of a killer who targeted prostitutes; rather it appeared that her murder was planned and, to some degree, covered up by

57 Dick Weber, “Panel Told Demoted Police Officer was Naïve about Prostitute,” San Diego Union, June26, 1985. 58 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010. 59 Ibid.

someone who knew that tire tracks and footprints were important in a murder investigation. The manner in which Streed formed his opinion after viewing the crime scene is consistent with criminal profiling techniques used by law enforcement.

According to scholar Ann Burgess and former FBI federal agents, John Douglas and

Robert K. Ressler, profiling further enhances what an investigator can learn from a crime scene. In short, profiling suggests the who and the why. Burgess, Douglas, and Ressler point out, “…[E]xperienced profilers look at the overall picture of the crime.”60

The day following the discovery of Gentile’s body, Streed was approached by

San Diego police officer Robert (Bob) Candland and participated in what he perceived as an unorthodox conversation. The officer asked Streed “if he knew who he had back there” (referring to Gentile’s body) and “that he [Streed] was in a lot of trouble and this would be the end of his [Streed’s] career.” Streed interpreted the conversation to imply that Gentile’s murder and the subsequent investigation would be highly political and contentious, particularly within the San Diego Police

Department. Candland, who was a member of the East County division of the San

Diego Police Department, had the opportunity to gauge the climate of the department and worked with the officers who were subjects of the earlier police department incident involving Gentile. Candland worked the summer of 1984 prostitution

60 Ann W. Burgess, John E. Douglas, and Robert K. Ressler, Sexual Motives: Patterns and Motives, (New York: The Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1992), 11.

crackdown detail, during which he cited Gentile for an ordinance violation. He was later named in her harassment claim and must have known Lieutenant Black given that Black supervised that detail.61 In addition to his conversation with Streed,

Candland also cooperated with Streed’s investigation of Gentile’s murder.

Candland’s prediction regarding the political nature of Gentile’s murder proved to have merit. Streed maintained that the San Diego police’s administrators were uncooperative and only provided a little assistance in his investigation of

Gentile’s murder. According to Streed, the police department was uninterested in supplying him with information, such as Gentile’s activities and the identities of her regular customers. Streed recalled, “They were providing information very very reluctantly.” The police department developed an intricate procedure specific to

Gentile’s murder investigation. If field officers had information about Gentile, they were instructed to contact their command and, in turn, their command was to pass the information to internal affairs. Internal affairs would then make a decision on whether to pass the information to the Sheriff’s investigators.62 One of the internal affairs officers charged with making that decision was Sergeant Harold Goudarzi. He

61 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA , August 25, 2010 and Joe Cantlupe, “Before Being Slain, Gentile Filed City Claim Accusing 7 Cops,” San Diego Union, October 27, 1990. 62 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

was assigned to the unit in mid-June of 1985, two weeks before Gentile’s body was found.63

Eventually, Candland was instructed by a police department supervisor not to talk to anyone from the Sheriff’s Department, including Streed.64 According to

Streed, his relationship with the police department deteriorated to the point that he had to resort to covert meetings with Candland to obtain information regarding

Gentile for his investigation. Candland, Streed maintained, was concerned about using the police radio to relay information to Streed about Gentile. Streed remembered, Candland had his communications center call his wife and provide her a code that indicated she was to call Streed’s residence and provide the location of where Candland and Streed were to meet.65 Streed and a Sheriff’s lieutenant met with a police commander with the east command substation to find out why the police department was not cooperating with them. Also, the Sheriff’s investigators attempting to solve the murder needed general information about Gentile, such as who she was and the identities of her regular customers. At this meeting, Streed described the police commander’s response as one of surprise, he surmised because

63 David Hasemyer and Mark T. Sullivan, “Sergeant at Center of Storm over Slain Prostitute,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 27, 1991. 64 Karin Winner and Doug Hope, “Pursuit of Truth on Cops Goes on Newspaper: Follows up Grand Jury’s Suspicion of Police Misconduct,” San Diego Union, December 23, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com (accessed March 18, 2012) and Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 1990. 65 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

the police were expecting even more probing questions. The meeting prompted the police department to provide some assistance to the Sheriff’s department.66

During the investigation a witness came forwarded claiming that she overheard the planning of Gentile’s murder. According to Streed, a female prostitute said that a man, in what she described as an unmarked police car, picked her up from

El Cajon Boulevard on a pre-arranged date, an exchange of sex for money. He then took her to a motel where the man called someone else to meet him at the motel.

When the second person arrived, they discussed a plan to kill Gentile. The plan was to make her death look like a “date” gone wrong. The unidentified woman explained that one of the men, removed his badge from his belt clip and placed it on the nightstand. As the two men were making phone calls, she noticed that the badge was from the San Diego Police Department. She later identified the two men from photos, in a police yearbook. The first was former police officer Robert Hannibal, fired in

1983 for his involvement with prostitution, and the second, Lieutenant Carl Black.

After listening to the witness’ account, Streed asked Black if he would take a polygraph exam. Although Black agreed to the exam, he left the room where the exam was taking place before the exam began. According to Streed, Black’s refusal to take a polygraph was not evidence that he killed Gentile. Streed acknowledged

66 Ibid.

that although Black was a person of interest, there was never enough evidence to prove that he murdered Gentile. 67

JOHN FUNG AND CYNTHIA MAINE

In the midst of the Sheriff’s Department’s investigation of Gentile’s murder; a twenty-six year old prostitute and acquaintance of Gentile, Cynthia Maine, disappeared. Maine was last seen by her mother, Lynda Coleman, on February 21,

1986 when she left her home, which she shared with her mother and young son,

Markie, to go to a movie. She contacted her mother a few days afterward and was never seen or heard from again. Her family reported Maine missing to the San Diego

Police Department on February 26, 1986. Six weeks after Maine’s disappearance,

Coleman discovered her daughter’s car in a restaurant parking lot in La Mesa,

California. She claimed that the San Diego Police Department refused her request to dust her daughter’s car for fingerprints while the car remained at Coleman’s house for two months. Maine’s disappearance was considered a missing person’s case by the police department and Coleman maintains that they expressed little concern for her missing daughter. Coleman remarked that one officer revealed the department’s priorities to her when he said, “Look it lady, there’s blacks and whites, and there’s prostitutes.”68 In other words, prostitutes are given the lowest priority.

67 Ibid. 68 Dayna Lynn Fried and Joe Cantlupe, “Family Fears Tattling was Prostitute’s Fatal Mistake,” San Diego Union, September 27, 1990.

Similar to Gentile, Maine had a sexual relationship with a police department vice officer and informed on San Diego police officers to internal affairs investigators.69 The details of this relationship was not widely known within the public until the San Diego press revealed it in 1990, four years after her disappearance. However, the police department would have likely been concerned that the relationship might be disclosed given the Maine’s family’s knowledge’s of it.

In interviews in the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune newspapers Maine’s sister, Lori Helle, revealed both the details of her sister’s relationship with police vice officer, John Fung, and her communication with the internal affairs division regarding allegations of police misconduct. Excerpts from Maine’s datebook for seven months in 1984 chronicled her life, including her relationship with Fung. She first met Fung when he picked her up based upon his suspicion that she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Helle maintained that Maine and Fung were simply friends and later became lovers. Maine’s datebook entry on September 10, 1984 alluded to their sexual relationship, "John called 1st time in 2 wks came over talked 2 hrs. headed for bedroom. Markie woke up from nap. Oh well !!!" Maine’s mother described her daughter’s relationship with the officer as intimate. She claimed that he visited

Maine at her house and left cards that said he loved her on her front door.70 Similar to Gentile’s description of Lieutenant Black’s intentions, Maine believed Fung was trying to rehabilitate her. Excerpts from her datebook indicate that she credited Fung

69 Ibid. 70 David Hasemyer, Eddy McNeil, Rick Shaughnessy, and Mark T. Sullivan, “Diary of Drugs, Danger and Love,” San Diego Tribune, September 26, 1990.

with trying to help her overcome a heroin habit. Her sister stated that Maine was in love with Fung and viewed him has her savior from prostitution and heroin.

According to Helle, “The only reason she tried hard was for John.”71

In addition to their intimate and sexual relationship, they also had a working relationship. Maine was an undercover drug informant for Fung and other vice officers. Helle maintained that Maine made “street buys” and worked to help police expose illegal drug activity. In exchange she received money and legal protection.

Monya Mitchell Davis stated that prostitutes often worked for the police as drug informants.72 Helle claimed that in addition to informing on drug activity, Maine also informed on police misconduct.73 Helle explained that in the fall of 1985 Maine received an early release from jail for check fraud in exchange for implicating police officers that were sexually exploiting prostitutes. Maine told Helle that officers would have sex with prostitutes and then arrest them.74 Kathy Hardy, who was a San

Diego prostitute from 1988 to 1991, maintains that the practice of having sex with prostitutes and arresting them was common among many San Diego police officers during the 1980s.75 Three months after Maine spoke to internal affairs, she

71 Dayna Lynn Fried and Joe Cantlupe, “Family Fears Tattling was Prostitutes Fatal Mistake,” San Diego Union, September 27, 1990. 72 Monya Mitchell Davis, interview by author, San Diego, CA, May 29, 2011. 73 David Hasemyer, Eddy McNeil, Rick Shaughnessy, and Mark T. Sullivan, “Diary of Drugs, Danger and Love,” San Diego Tribune, September 26, 1990. 74 Ibid. 75 Kathy Hardy interview with author, May 29, 2011.

disappeared. Shortly before she disappeared, Maine told Helle that she was afraid that police officers would retaliate against her.76

In 1987, Coleman contacted the police department after hearing about the recovery of a body on a television news report. The body was not her daughter’s, and she was told that Maine’s case had been closed.77 According the National Missing and Unidentified person’s case report (NAM), Maine’s missing person’s case was closed because she was a heroin addict and had outstanding warrants for her arrest.

In addition, the report stated that she had used several aliases and was believed by the

San Diego Police Department to be working as a prostitute in Las Vegas.78 Helle maintained that the police department provided her with misinformation and only reluctantly provided the rest of her family with scant information regarding the whereabouts of Maine. Helle was told by the police department, “Drop it. You don’t want to know.”79

The Gentile, Hannibal, and Maine’s incidents are examples of how police practices of exploiting and harassing prostitutes during the 1980s and early 1990s were reflective of nineteenth and early twentieth century police culture. The incidents also exposed the police department to unwanted media attention

76 David Hasemyer, Eddy McNeil, Rick Shaughnessy, and Mark T. Sullivan, San Diego Tribune, “Diary of Drugs, Danger and Love,” September 26, 1990. 77 Dayna Lynn Fried and Joe Cantlupe, “Family Fears Tattling was Prostitutes Fatal Mistake,” San Diego Union, September 27, 1990. 78 National Missing and Unidentified Missing Persons Case Report, November 10, 2010, https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/8606 (accessed March 2, 2012). 79 Dayna Lynn Fried and Joe Cantlupe, “Family Fears Tattling was Prostitutes Fatal Mistake,” San Diego Union, September 27, 1990.

jeopardizing their crime fighter image. In addition to tarnishing the reputation of the

San Diego Police Department and exposing police officer exploitation and harassment of prostitutes, the three incidents were connected in other ways. Maine and Hannibal later became subjects in the Gentile murder investigation. Moreover,

Maine’s missing person’s case and Gentile’s murder investigation became a part of a

San Diego law enforcement task force investigation of a series of prostitute murders.

CHAPTER TWO IMAGE MATTERS

Between 1983 and 1986 incidents involving interactions between San Diego police officers and prostitutes became widely publicized in the San Diego press, particularly in the San Diego Union and San Diego Evening Tribune newspapers.

The most prominent and publicized incident involved the relationship between prostitute, Donna Gentile, and the two San Diego police officers, Patrolman Larry

Avrech and Lieutenant Carl Black. The resulting sex scandal fueled more innuendo after her body was discovered murdered off a remote highway. Headlines such as,

“Police Confirm 2 Officers’ Relationship with Prostitute” and “Slain Woman Linked to Police Sex-Case” was a constant reminder to the San Diego Community that a disturbing degree of corruption possibly existed within the department.1 With the stated intent of both solving Gentile’s and thirty-seven other women’s murders, the

Metropolitan Homicide Task Force (MHTF) was established. The number of murders of women handled by the MHTF later increased to forty-three. In the midst of the MHTF investigation, the San Diego community would learn of more episodes of San Diego Police Department officer misconduct. One of those episodes included

1 Terry L. Colvin, “Police Confirm 2 Officers Relationship with Prostitute,” San Diego Union, March 14, 1985 and Vicki Torres, “Slain Woman Linked to Police Sex- Case,” San Diego Evening Tribune, July 4, 1985.

call girl madam, Karen Wilkening, and her operation’s connection to Gentile’s murder.

Despite the stated purpose of the MHTF, Gentile’s murder went unsolved, in the end, the task force functioned as a public relations tool by which the San Diego

Police Department (SDPD) could allay public suspicions of police corruption. After

San Diego Sheriff John Duffy retired from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department in

1991, he told the San Diego Evening Tribune, “Allegations that police officers had inappropriate relations with Gentile played a major role in the formation of the task force.”2

To what degree the San Diego public viewed the department as corrupt is debatable. However, the department’s perception of its negative image was alluded to by Assistant Police Chief Bob Burgreen in newspaper reports during the MHTF’s investigations. He referred to the Gentile murder as “a black cloud hanging over the department.”3 He also commented, “Clearly, the public’s confidence has been slightly eroded on this police department because of the rumors linking her with police officers…..”4 The San Diego Police Department’s concern regarding public perception is not surprising given the role public image played in the history of

American policing. Historian David Johnson explains in his work, American Law

2 David Hasemyer and Rick Shaughnessy, “Police Deny Progress in Prostitute Slayings,” San Diego Tribune, February 16, 1991. 3 Joe Cantlupe, “Gentile Killing Probe Back to ‘Ground Zero,’ Says Official of POA,” San Diego Union, August 19, 1990. 4 David Hasemyer, “Police Deny Progress in Prostitute Slayings,” San Diego Evening Tribune, February 16, 1991.

Enforcement: A History, the public’s image of the police mattered.5 He is referring to the motivation behind post-Progressive Era reform efforts from 1920 to 1965 to professionalize the police and define their primary role as crime fighters. In short, reformers wanted the police to be viewed by the public as crime fighters and not uniformed criminals.

From their formal establishment in the mid-1800s through the1920s, the police were responsible for controlling crime in communities. However, they were plagued with problems, such as decentralized leadership and poorly trained or corrupt officers. Johnson points out that until 1920 urban politicians, who were often allied with crime syndicates and the boss system, controlled the police. For example, in

New York, police patrolman and captains paid politicians for their positions and promotions. The captains with the assistance of subordinate detectives, exploited their offices by collecting tribute from vice operations including saloons, gambling halls, and brothels in exchange for tolerating illegal activities.6 According to historians, Butler and Rosen, in addition to currency, payment also came in the form of sex.7

5 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 116. 6 Ibid; 60. 7 Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 72-73, 75 and Ann Butler, The Tarnished Frontier: Prostitution in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1865-1890 (College Park: University of Maryland, 1979), 175-176.

By 1939, the police’s crime fighting role began to change due to the influence of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. Johnson maintains that Hoover and the FBI’s “public enemy” campaign against gangsters like John Dillenger and Baby Face Nelson promoted the police’s crime fighting image.8 After 1939, the police began to push for more autonomy from politicians and their criminal alliances by establishing independent leadership positions with their departments.9 By 1965, the police had professionalized and distanced themselves from the corrupting influence of the politics. The ideal of police as professional, above board crime fighters became embedded in police culture.10

Public image mattered to police administrators in the twentieth century

American policing, and it mattered to the San Diego Police Department administrators in the 1980s and early 1990s. The MHTF functioned in a manner that allowed the San Diego Police Department to address police corruption while also investigating the murders of several women. It is not to say that the MHTF did not investigate or solve any of the murders, because they did; however, the successful investigations and resolutions were simply a by-product of the MHTF’s ultimate function, public relations. The MHTF salvaged the reputation of the department and allowed it to maintain its ingrained and historical role as conscientious champions of crime fighting.

8 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 116. 9 Ibid; 118. 10Ibid., 121.

Police corruption incidents involving police officers and prostitutes plagued the police department throughout much of the 1980s. The department was able to handle the Hannibal and Cole incident without much fanfare. However, the Avrech,

Black, and Gentile incident, compounded later by Maine’s disappearance, proved to be much more sensational and difficult to control. Initially, the alleged misconduct involving Gentile and the police officers was handled in the same manner as Hannibal and Cole. They disciplined the police officers for their actions and hoped the scandal would eventually fade away. Perhaps, the scandal would have subsided had it not been for Gentile’s murder. Her murder was particularly suspicious because it came just a few weeks after she testified against Avrech in his civil service hearing and a few days before Black’s hearing was to begin. Shortly after the news of her death broke, public speculation as to whether she was killed by police officer(s) began to circulate in the press. One of the first news reports to raise suspicion of police officer involvement in Gentile’s murder included a tape-recorded message expressing fear of police officers from the victim herself. On July 5, 1985, the San Diego news station

KGTV (Channel 10) played part of Gentile’s recording on their nightly newscast.

Transcripts from the tape were also published in the San Diego Evening Tribune, San

Diego Union, and Los Angeles Times. Gentile stated in the recording, “In case I disappear somewhere or is missing, I want my lawyer to give this to the press. I have no intention of disappearing or going out of town without letting my lawyer know first. Because of the publicity that I have been given a police scandal, this is the reason I am making this…I feel someone in a uniform with a badge can still be a

serious criminal. This is the only life insurance that I have.”11 New articles regarding police officers involvement with Gentile and law enforcement’s lack of progress in solving her murder continued throughout the mid to late1980s. News articles, “3 months later, Slaying of Prostitute Still Puzzles” and “Prostitute's Death Shrouded in

Mystery: No New Leads Seven Months After Police Scandal, Brutal Murder,” kept suspicions of police officer involvement in Gentile’s death alive in the San Diego

Community.12 In the articles, Gentile’s relationship with Avrech and Black, particularly, her role as a witness in Avrech’s civil service hearing, was reiterated followed by their comment that Gentile was found dead shortly after the hearing took place. For example, one article stated, “Gentile told her story before a city Service

Commission last May during an unsuccessful appeal by Avrech for reinstatement. A month later she was dead.”13 Another article reported the fact that Gentile’s mouth was stuffed with rocks and debris led to speculation about her killer. According to the article, the rocks and debris in her mouth may have been a message regarding her

11 Vicki Torres, “Slain Prostitute Made Recording, Letter Voicing Fear of San Diego Police Officer,” San Diego Evening Tribune, July 6, 1985 and Daniel M. Weintraub, “Prostitute Taped Fears of Retaliation for Testimony,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1985. 12 George Flynn, “3 Months Later, Slaying of Prostitute Still Puzzles,” San Diego Union, October 7, 1985. David Hasemyer, “Prostitute’s Death Shrouded in Mystery: No New Leads Seven Months after Police Scandal, Brutal Murder,” San Diego Evening Tribune, February 3, 1986. 13 David Hasemyer, “Prostitute’s Death Shrouded in Mystery: No New Leads Seven Months after Police Scandal, Brutal Murder,” San Diego Evening Tribune, February 3, 1986.

lack of silence.14 The Sheriff’s Department was aware of public speculation regarding police officer involvement in Gentile’s murder. Lieutenant Baxter remarked “(The associations with police officers) had a lot of people speculating and commenting and drawing conclusions.”15 Continued press coverage of Gentile’s sex scandal and murder, combined with Maine’s relationship with Fung and later disappearance, created a need for the department to address police corruption.

Similar to the police reformers of the 1930s, the department needed to re-emphasize its crime fighter role and disassociate itself from allegations of criminal activity.

THE SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAIN HOMICIDE TASK FORCE

In the 1980s, a number of serial killings of women were occurring in the western United States. Because the sprees were occurring both consecutively and concurrently in a short period of time, a heightened sense of public awareness of female murders was present in the United States. The Green River murders began in

1982, followed by the Southside Slayer in 1983, the Hillside Strangler in 1984, and

San Diego prostitute murders in 1985. Multiple stories about the Green River Killer,

Southside Slayer, and Night Stalker were appearing in the national and San Diego press between 1985 and 1988. The Green River killer had been attacking prostitutes, primarily in Seattle, between 1982 and 1984 and the Southside Slayer in Los Angeles

14 George Flynn, “3 Months Later, Slaying of Prostitute Still Puzzles,” San Diego Union, October 7, 1985. 15 Ibid.

between 1983 and 1986.16 The Night Stalker attacked women in Los Angeles County between 1984 and 1985.17 Unlike the Green River and Southside killings, the victims of the Night Stalker were suburban women attacked in their homes and not prostitutes abducted from the streets. One of the Night Stalker’s victims was located as far south as Mission Viejo, in Orange County California, just ten miles north of the San Diego

County border. The Mission Viejo attack, prompted San Diego police authorities to issue an alert to the San Diego community.18 The Mission Viejo killing caused women in San Diego to be fearful that a serial killer might be operating in San Diego.

Some women had contacted the San Diego Police Department. Police spokesman

Bill Robinson told the San Diego Union, “There has been speculation in the media that the killer was headed for San Diego. The women who called us were very anxious and afraid….”19 However, the Night Stalker was caught shortly after the alert was issued and would be the subject of several San Diego news stories until his conviction in early 1989. Although Los Angeles law enforcement authorities initially believed the Southside Slayer was the work of one person, they later determined that

16 Lauren Blau, “Jailed Man Tied to Two Murders by Southside Slayer,” San Diego Evening Tribune, January 16, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 25, 2012). 17Norma Myer, “Night Stalker: Defense Statement Said Confusing,” San Diego Union, May 1, 1989, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 25, 2012). 18 Dick Weber, “ Night Stalker Alert Issued for S.D. Area,” San Diego Union, August 27, 1985, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 25, 2012). 19 Joe Hughes, “Local Women Worried about Serial Killer,” August 27, 1985,” San Diego Evening Tribune, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san- diego.ca.us (accessed July 1, 2012).

there were multiple killers. Police had identified at least three by January of 1988.20

The search for the Green River Killer continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s until his capture in 2001. In 1986, in the midst of the heightened media attention given the

Seattle and Los Angeles County serial killings, reports of a possible serial killer attacking women in San Diego began to surface. Like the Green River Killer and

Southside Slayer, the killer was preying on prostitutes.

In February of 1986, the San Diego Union reported that a serial killer might be responsible for the deaths of five San Diego prostitutes. The women’s bodies had been discovered over the course of five months. The women had been found in various locations in the city of San Diego, including a dumpster, a freeway ramp, sidewalk, parking lot, and vacant lot.21 In the 1980s San Diego police agencies had agreements regarding jurisdiction of the investigation of crimes. The San Diego

Police Department investigated crimes committed inside the city limits of San Diego and Sheriff’s Department were responsible for those within San Diego County.22

There was media speculation that five women’s deaths might be linked to each other. However, the San Diego Police Department believed that the deaths were

20 Lauren Blau, “Jailed Man Tied to Two Murders by Southside Slayer,” San Diego Evening Tribune, January 16, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 25, 2012). 21 Joe Cantlupe and Ed Jahn, “Prostitute Deaths Said Not Linked S.D. Police Have Different Suspects in 2 of 5 Cases,” San Diego Union, February 16, 1986, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us. 22 San Diego County Sheriffs Department, “Law Enforcement Department,” http://www.sdsheriff.net/about_lesb.html (accessed June 23, 2012) and San Diego Police Department, http://www.sandiego.gov/police/index.shtml (accessed June 23, 2012).

not linked and five different individuals killed the women.23 San Diego police officer, Lieutenant Phil Jarvis stated, “I'm convinced this is no series.” San Diego

Coroner David Stark supported the Lieutenant’s beliefs. Stark commented, “We don't see any pattern other than it involved manual strangulation; they were prostitutes and drug users.”24 By August, two more prostitutes were killed, increasing to the number of victims to seven. The police department still maintained that a serial killer was not murdering prostitutes.25

In the fall of 1987, the Sheriff’s Department disclosed that they were investigating the deaths of twelve to fourteen women, who they identified as prostitutes, drug addicts, and transients, so called “fringe” women. The bodies of the women had been found in San Diego County since early 1985.26 Initially, there was some speculation by the Sheriff’s Department that the killings might be connected to the Seattle murders. However, that connection was later dismissed by Sheriffs’ authorities.27 By June of 1988, the numbers of fringe women’s deaths, whose bodies

23 Joe Cantlupe and Ed Jahn, “Prostitute Deaths Said Not Linked S.D. Police Have Different Suspects in 2 of 5 Cases,” San Diego Union, February 16, 1986, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April 14, 2012). 24 Ibid. 25 Staff reporters, “Several Killers Said at Work in Slayings,” San Diego Union, August 21, 1986, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April 14, 2012). 26 Linda C. Puig, “Serial-Killer Theory Investigated,” San Diego Evening Tribune, September 24, 1987, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san- diego.ca.us (accessed May 15, 2012). 27 Frank Klimko, “Killer’s Trail Turns Cold in San Diego,” San Diego Union, September 4, 1988 and Henry Jones, “Serial Murders Toll Now as High as 38,” San

were discovered in San Diego County, increased from approximately fourteen to twenty-five.28 The Sheriff’s Department claimed that approximately ten of the twenty-five were likely the work of a serial killer.29 Approximately three months later, Sheriff John Duffy, Police Chief Bob Burgreen, and District Attorney Edwin

Miller established the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force (MHTF) to investigate the murders of approximately thirty-one “fringe” women.30

The MHTF was a two unit operation charged with investigating both police corruption and thirty-one murders. The thirty-one cases were comprised of both the

San Diego Police and Sheriffs’ Department’s earlier investigations of the “fringe” women. By December, the number of investigations increased to thirty-eight.31

Twenty-six of the women were found in remote areas of Eastern and Northern San

Diego county and twelve in he San Diego city limits.32 Two of the thirty-eight women were Gentile and Maine. Despite still being listed as a missing person,

Maine’s disappearance was being investigated as a potential murder and, thus,

Diego Evening Tribune, December 6, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012). 28 Ozzie Roberts, “San Diego, Seattle Probe Serial Killings: Defend Cooperation,” San Diego Evening Tribune, June 21, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012). 29 John McLaren, “Police, Sheriff Form Task Force on Serial Killings,” San Diego Evening Tribune, September 7, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012). 30 Ibid. 31 J. Henry Jones, “Serial Murders Toll Now as High as 38,” San Diego Evening Tribune, December 6, 1988, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san- diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012). 32 Ibid.

lumped in with the other murder victims. These cases were later dubbed the

“prostitute killings” by the local press because the majority of victims were prostitutes. Gentile’s single murder investigation and Maine’s presumed homicide became integrated with thirty-six other women’s murder investigations.33

It is unclear which police agency definitively proposed the creation of the task force to investigate all of the murders. Norm Stamper, who was the assistant police chief and oversaw the task force in 1992, identified Miller as the MHTF’s creator.

Stamper claims that Kolender initially stalled the creation of the task force at the urging of his deputy chiefs. Stamper rebuffed the task force idea because he did not want to lose manpower.34 However, in 1988, the Police Department’s administrators changed their position and agreed to participate with the Sheriff’s and District

Attorney’s Office in the formation of the MHTF.35

Given the concerns regarding manpower and money associated with serial killing investigation, it seems unusual that the police and Sheriff’s departments would willingly commit to such an undertaking for purported fringe society women.

Historically, law enforcement treated fringe society female victims, particularly prostitutes, as a low priority. Former San Diego Deputy Police Chief Norm Stamper describes some police officers disregard of prostitute killings in his memoir Breaking

33 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010. 34 Norm Stamper, Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing (New York: Avalon Books, 2005), 48. 35 John McLaren, “Police, Sheriff, Form Task Force on Serial Killings,” San Diego Evening Tribune, September 7, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012).

Rank. He states, ”I’ve heard some police officers’ refer to prostitute slayings as

‘misdemeanor murders’; employing an unofficial code for them: NHI, no humans involved.” As the terms “misdemeanor murder” and “NHI” suggests, prostitute murder victims were considered by some police officers as unimportant.36 Was the creation of the MHTF a change in that attitude? The motivations behind each of the agencies’ participation in the MHTF are not entirely clear. Why did the three agencies form a task force to address the San Diego “prostitute killings” instead of handling them as individual cases, particularly when both the police and Sheriff’s department’s were claiming that the majority of victims were murdered by multiple killers and not one serial killer? In addition, there was seemingly no public outcry to solve the San Diego murders until after the MHTF was formed. In January 1989, chairwoman of San Diego Board of Supervisors, Susan Golding, remarked, “If the victims had been from middle-class homes, I think there would have been a greater level of fear and that would have translated into a louder community concern about the killings. The level of fear is related to the level of public outcry.”37

There was no public outcry and no apparent connection between prostitute murder cases handled by the police department and those handled by the Sherriff’s

Department. So why create a task force that combined the two sets of killings?

36 Norm Stamper, Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing (New York: Avalon Books, 2005), 47. 37 Frank Klimko, “S.D Killings Raise Troubling Questions,” San Diego Union, February 12, 1989, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed July 1, 2012).

Sheriff’s Lieutenant Liz Foster, a spokesperson for the MHTF, maintained that the goal of the task force was to solve suspected unsolved murders in San Diego County.

Foster stated, “Investigators will have more access to information which can readily be interchanged if they’re working together.”38 The District Attorney’s Office stated that their role in the task force was to provide legal assistance. However, the police department also needed to address police corruption with respect to the murder of

Gentile and the disappearance of Maine. The media attention regarding Gentile’s murder and her relationship to a police scandal continued from 1985 to the latter part of 1987. Although news articles regarding Gentile’s murder and police scandal began to decrease somewhat in early 1988, a reminder of her murder and her ties to a police scandal appeared in the media as late as August of 1988. The Sheriff’s Department needed to clear an approximately twenty-five prostitute murder caseload that had grown and was investigated by one sole detective for three years.39 The task force provided a means for the police department to address police corruption and the

Sheriff’s Department to clear their long standing caseload of prostitute murders. In addition, although there was no public outcry regarding the San Diego prostitute murders, continuous news stories about female serial killing sprees in Los Angeles,

Seattle, and one budding in San Diego, placed pressure on San Diego law

38 John McLaren, “Police, Sheriff, Form Task Force on Serial Killings,” San Diego Evening Tribune, September 7, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 21, 2012). 39 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

enforcement administrators to address the San Diego murders. San Diego law enforcement had an image and credibility problem with respect to crime fighting.

The MHTF began as a nine-member operation supervised by the San Diego

County District Attorney’s Office. The task force was housed in an office somewhere in Mission Valley; its exact location was not disclosed to the public. For approximately two years after the task’s force’s establishment, little of the task force’s organizational structure and activities regarding the investigations was disclosed to the public.40 During the first two years of the task force, the press commented on the MHTF’s aloofness. The San Diego Union remarked, “[I]t operates behind an almost impenetrable veil of secrecy.”41 According to police commander

Cal Krosch, the location of the office was not disclosed to protect their files from being broken into.42 In December of 1988, the police department released some information regarding the task force’s organization. The police department revealed the names of three of its detectives who joined the MHTF during the previous

August. The detectives were Sergeant Harold Goudarzi, Gary Murphy, and David

Ayers.43 Goudarzi had been the police department ‘s internal affairs liaison during

40 Frank Klimko, “S.D. Serial Murders Reach 38, 9 Women Still Not Named, Number of Killers Unknown,” San Diego Union, December 6, 1988, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 27, 2012). 41 Frank Klimko, “Serial-Killer Hunt Low on Time, Money Probe of 38 Deaths Hampered Some Experts Critical,” San Diego Union, January 22, 1989, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed June 27, 2012). 42 Ibid. 43 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

the Sheriff’s Detective Streed’s initial investigation of Gentile’s murder.44 The

MHTF revealed little more about the organization of the task force until it was reorganized in 1990.

In an interview with Streed in 2010, he described the MHTF’s organization when he joined it in August of 1988. According to Streed, the task force consisted of two units, the police corruption and the serial killings unit. The units were kept separate from each other by a physical partition. The police corruption unit consisted of four members, three San Diego police detectives, Gourdarzi, Ayers, Ayers partner, and Sheriff’s detective, Streed.45 Although it is not clear which agency made the decision to split the task force into two units, it is Streed’s impression that the decision was made by the San Diego Police Department. The police corruption unit was charged with investigating police corruption as it related to prostitution, including Gentile, and any other allegations of police corruption. The serial killing unit was responsible for investigating the thirty-eight female murders. Streed maintained that the police corruption unit was not investigating murders, only police corruption. The serial killings unit was made up of three San Diego Police

Department officers and two Sheriff’s detectives, supervised by a Sheriff sergeant.46

Charles Rogers, who was a deputy district attorney and the supervisor of the MHTF

44 David Hasemyer and Mark T. Sullivan “Sergeant at Center of Storm Over Slain Prostitute,” San Diego Tribune, March 27, 1991. It is unclear how long Sergeant Harold Goudarzi was in the San Diego Police Department internal affairs unit. 45 Streed could not recall the name of Detective Ayer’s partner. 46 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

from September to December of 1988, stated in interview with the Los Angeles

Times, “While the task force was envisioned as being independent of all three agencies, in fact we were under constant pressure to keep the agency heads advised to what was going on,"47 Rogers pointed out that investigators had to withhold information regarding police officers alleged relationships with prostitutes from top commanders despite their inquiries.48 The addition of the police corruption unit combined with Rogers comments show that the MHTF was not established to solely investigate serial prostitute murders.

The MHTF was one of three major serial killings task forces investigating serial homicides of “fringe” women in the western United States during the 1980s.

The others included the Green River Task Force and the Los Angeles Southside

Slayer Task Force. The Green River Task Force assigned forty-five detectives to investigate approximately forty-eight female victims. The Southside Slayer Task

Force assigned two hundred detectives to investigate eighteen murders.49 In addition to the lack of resources committed, among the distinctions between the MHTF and the Green River and Southside task forces was the inclusion of a police corruption unit in the MHTF.

47 Mark Platte, “Task Force Counts Gains, Critics Losses, as It Disbands,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1992, http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-28/local/me- 1857_1_task-force/2 (accessed July 11, 2012). 48 Ibid. 49 Frank Klimko, “Serial Killer Hunt Low on Time, Money: Probe of 38 Deaths Hampered Some Experts Critical,” San Diego Union, January 22, 1989.

Therefore, the inclusion of a police corruption unit in the MHTF at the time was not standard. The San Diego Police Department had already employed an internal affairs division to investigate all incidents of alleged police corruption, including those suspected of criminal activity. The 1967 President’s Commission on

Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice describes the function of police agencies internal affairs divisions as “to investigate all breaches of police integrity and complaints, official or anonymous made against its members.”50 However, the

MHTF’s police corruption unit appeared to be an extension of the internal affairs division of the San Diego Police Department.

Streed explained that despite the task force’s implementation, he continued to experience the same lack of cooperation with police officers as he had during his initial investigation of Gentile’s murder. According to Streed, the police department appeared to be controlling the direction of the police corruption unit’s probe of San

Diego Police Department officers to ensure those officers were not implicated.51 In an interview with the San Diego Evening Tribune in March of 1991, Streed claimed that Sergeant Goudarzi reviewed leads then directed the detective to pursue certain ones that he deemed worthwhile. Streed also maintained that Goudarzi provided investigation information to command members in violation of the task force’s

50 The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1967, p. 50. 51 David Hasemyer and Mark T. Sullivan, “Sergeant at Center of Storm over Slain Prostitute,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 27, 1991 and Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

“internal secrecy policy.”52 However, Deputy District Attorney Dick Lewis, supervisor of the task force in 1991, denied Streed’s assertions that the police department was trying to maneuver their investigation away from implicating the department.53

Streed was removed from the unit and transferred back to the Sheriff’s

Department in January of 1989.54 Streed was told that he was reassigned because he was uncooperative with the other members of the unit.55 According to task force officials, Streed was removed because he was a “maverick who was out of control.”56

However, in an 1991 interview with the San Diego Evening Tribune, Streed claimed his removal was because he was actively investigating possible police officers’ involvement in a conspiracy to kill Gentile and other police informants.57

GRAND JURY PROBE

In June of 1989, a grand jury was assembled to investigate allegations of police misconduct outside of the Gentile case. Although the probe was not related to the MHTF’s investigations, it impacted them. The grand jury probe was initiated by

52 David Hasemyer and Mark T. Sullivan “Sergeant at Center of Storm over Slain Prostitute,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 27, 1991. 53 David Hasemyer, “Detective Says Probe Thwarted,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 2, 1991. 54 Staff Report, “Streed transferred from task force,” San Diego Union, January 20, 1989, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April 2, 2012). 55 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010. 56 David Hasemyer, “Detective Says Probe Thwarted,” San Diego Evening Tribune, March 2, 1991. 57 Ibid.

the San Diego District Attorney’s Office in order to determine whether members of the San Diego Police Department and District Attorney’s Office tampered with evidence in their investigation of call girl madam Karen Wilkening’s operation in

1987.58 The District Attorney’s office initiated the probe because of information provided to them in a letter by a local attorney and remarks made in the press. The probe was expanded to include allegations regarding department vice officers’ favoritism displayed toward certain bars and restaurants regarding alcohol control laws.59 It is unclear what prompted those allegations.

The grand jury’s investigation of possible misconduct by the police department and District Attorney Office’s involved the handling of the rolodex of clients belonging to call girl madam, Karen Wilkening.60 The rolodex had been seized from Wilkening’s residence by police department vice officers during an investigation of the madam’s prostitution operation in May of 1987.61 The misconduct allegations stemmed from accusations made in a letter to the District

Attorney’s office by a San Diego attorney a few weeks after the rolodex was seized.

The attorney, who had been a customer of Wilkening, inferred from a conversation that he had with a district attorney investigator that names of police officers, judges, news personnel, and prominent businessmen had been removed from the rolodex.

The attorney offered to remain silent about his conversation with the investigator.

58 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1989-1990, June 27, 1990, 1. 59 Ibid; 10. 60 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1989-1990, June 27, 1990, 1. 61 Ibid., 2-3.

According to the Grand Jury report, the purpose of the attorney’s letter was to prevent the District Attorney’s office from calling him as a witness in a pandering case against Wilkening.62 The District Attorney’s office subsequently forwarded the letter to the Grand Jury.63

During the course of the hearings, jurors heard testimony regarding police misconduct that reached far beyond the scope of its initial inquiry. Among the witnesses who testified were two of Wilkening’s former call girls, San Diego Police

Department officers, and former police chief Bill Kolender. One of the call girls testified that police officers hired and paid prostitutes to perform at bachelor parties and some hired prostitutes for individual acts of prostitution.64 According to Grand

Jury testimony, officer Chuck Arnold, who was listed in the madam’s rolodex arranged for Wilkening and a dancer to work at homicide detective John Lusardi’s bachelor party. At the time of the hearing, Lusardi was a member of MHTF and was temporarily removed from the task force. He was later reinstated when it investigators determined that Lusardi did not know Wilkening prior to the bachelor party. Other testimony revealed that a police captain had a sexual relationship with

62 “Pimping and Pandering” is a is a legal term to describe a crime that involves soliciting customers for a prostitute, Black Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “Pandering.” 63 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1989-1990, June 27, 1990, 9-10. 64 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 8-9.

one of Wilkening’s call girls.65 Perhaps the most notable testimony regarding

Wilkening’s interactions with the police department involved former police chief Bill

Kolender. One of the call girls claimed former police chief Bill Kolender was a one time customer of Wilkening.66 Wilkening and Kolender denied knowing each other or having any type of relationship.67 In interviews with the San Diego Union,

Wilkening admitted that she arranged and provided call girls to parties for vice squad officers; however, she denied knowing or having a relationship with Kolender.68

Kolender also refuted the call girl’s testimony that he had any type of relationship with Wilkening.69

In July of 1990, the grand jury issued a report expressing serious concerns about police corruption in the San Diego Police Department. Among their recommendations were that the departmental police corruption investigations be given top priority and police officers who lied to supervisors or legal authorities, be disciplined. The report stated, “Whenever an investigation involves the possibility of

65 Jim Okerblom, Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer and Dayna Lynn Fried, “Police Department Endures a Time of Trial: Alleged Links Between Cops, Prostitutes Raise Many Troubling Questions,” San Diego Union, September 30, 1990. 66 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 9. 67 Dayna Lynn Fried, Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer and Jim Okerblom, “Rolodex Seen as Less Crucial as Wilkening Investigation Expands,” San Diego Union, August 2, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April, 23, 2012). 68 Jim Okerblom, Dayna Lynn Fried and J. Stryker Myer, “Witness Ties Gentile to Wilkening,” San Diego Union, August 26, 1990. 69 Dayna Lynn Fried, Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer and Jim Okerblom, “Rolodex Seen as Less Crucial as Wilkening Investigation Expands,” San Diego Union, August 2, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April, 23, 2012).

corrupt or criminal conduct by a police officer, it should become the top priority of high commanders.”70 Moreover, jurors felt that some of the police officers lied to them. In an interview with the San Diego Union shortly after the report was released, jury foreman J. Phil Jackson expressed outrage and frustration about what he perceived as perjury committed by the officers. He stated, “They knew we knew they were lying but there was nothing we could do about it.”71 In addition to the officers’ perjury, jurors were concerned about the truthfulness of former police chief

Kolender’s testimony. However, Jackson did not disclose what he thought Kolender was lying about. What the jurors were referring to is likely what police officers refer to as a “code of silence.” “Code of silence,” as the term suggests, refers to the understanding among police officers that they do not report their colleague’s wrongdoing. According to Monkkonen, a code of silence was and is an integral part of policing. Monkkonen explains that officers are concerned if they break their silence, they will jeopardize their own or their colleagues’ working conditions and livelihood. Officers are dependent on each other to protect each others’ lives.

Officers also do not want to cause other officers to lose their job and substantial retirement benefits. Moreover, officers informing on one another may result in internal stigmatization and ostracization.72 The jurors later asked the District

Attorney’s office to investigate the perjury allegations, but their request was denied.

70 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1989-90, June 27, 1990, 17-18. 71 J. Stryker Meyer, “Officers Lied on Wilkening, Ex-Grand Jury Foreman Says,” San Diego Union, July 7, 1990. 72 Eric H. Monkkonen, “Policing in the United States, 1930-1972” in Crime, Justice, and History, ed. Eric H. Monkkonen (Columbus: Ohio State University) 163-164.

Shortly thereafter, several jurors then contacted the California Attorney General’s

Office regarding their concerns of possible police department corruption.73 The jury’s investigation was deferred to a new grand jury for further inquiry.74

The results of the grand jury’s yearlong inquiry, and the aftermath that followed, revealed more allegations of police officers’ relationships with prostitutes, inflicting additional damage on the department’s crime fighting image, already tarnished because of the Gentile sex scandal and murder. Although California law prohibited public disclosure of grand jury testimony unless authorized by the jury, testimony was leaked to the San Diego Union by an unknown source. In a sense, the disclosure of Grand Jury testimony to the press, effectively aired the department’s dirty laundry.75 The San Diego Police Department was aware of its on-going image problem and was worried about the community’s perception of the department.

Police Department homicide detective, Ron Newman stated, “When you see things in the paper, our fears are that the community thinks the Police Department is falling apart. I’m concerned that we may be losing support from the community when I see things that are happening that put up red flags.”76 Chief Burgreen acknowledged his concern regarding the police department’s image in a news article in September of

73 Joe Cantlupe, “Special Unit Will Investigate Alleged Police Corruption,” San Diego Union, September 8, 1990, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April 24, 2012). 74 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 1. 75 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 5. 76 Joe Cantlupe, Mark Sauer, Dayna Lyn Fried, and J. Stryker Meyer, “Police Department Endures a Time of Trial: Burgreen Says Force’s Woes are Similar to Those Faced by Other Big U.S. Cities,” San Diego Union, September 30, 1990.

1990. He remarked, “We are taking a beating in the press right now.”77 One month after the jury began its investigation, Burgreen announced his plans to address public perception of his leadership and the department. His plans included informal community forums and hiring a research firm to survey San Diegans opinion of the

Department.

The new grand jury’s inquiry began almost immediately after the previous jury’s release of its findings. The new grand jury was to investigate unresolved issues carried over from the previous jury. Those issues included alleged perjury by police officers, police officers’ involvement with prostitutes, Kolender’s relationship with

Wilkening, non-enforcement of criminal conduct by San Diego Charger football players, and preferential treatment regarding enforcement of alcohol control laws in certain San Diego area bars.78 The jury deferred the investigation of these unresolved issues to a newly formed “official” misconduct unit in the MHTF established in

August of 1990.79 Although the jurors and the press referred to the official misconduct unit as “new,” it appeared to have the same internal affairs role as the police corruption unit formed at MHTF’s inception. As such, it is unclear if the initial police corruption had been disbanded, if this was simply an expansion of that unit, or its replacement. In September, task force officials revealed that the Gentile’s

77 Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer, Danya Lynn Fried and Jim Okerblom, “Up to 12 Cops are Investigated for Links to Prostitute,” San Diego Union, September, 28, 1990. 78 Ibid. 79 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 5.

investigation would be taken over by the California State Attorney General’s Office.

Her investigation had been separated from the MHTF’s serial killing unit in March of

1990 after a new review of the evidence in her case.80 However, the specifics of the review were not disclosed.81

The new unit and Gentile’s investigation were supervised by Deputy Attorney

General Gary Schons.82 The new unit initially consisted of four investigators from different agencies.83 The unit’s personnel later increased, however, the exact number of San Diego law enforcement investigators and the agencies they represented is vague. Approximately fifteen to twenty additional investigators were added to the task force, however, it is unclear how many were assigned to the new unit.84

According to the1991 Grand Jury Report, half of the investigators of the new misconduct unit were from the police department.85 In addition to the unresolved issues expressed by the previous grand jury-including alleged police officer perjury, prostitution involvement, favoritism displayed toward San Diego Charger football players and San Diego bars, and the Kolender/Wilkening relationship- the unit was to

80 Jim Okerblom, Dayna Lynn Fried, and J. Stryker Meyer, “Wilkening Ties Gentile to Wilkening,” San Diego Union, August 26, 1990. 81 Mark T. Sullivan and Rick Shaughnessy, “Task Force Unveils Structure Changes, 3 Separate Probes,” San Diego Evening Tribune, September 11, 1990, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed July 9, 2012). 82 Ibid. 83 Joe Cantlupe, Dayna Lynn Fried, Joe Okerblom, Mark Sauer, “Special Unit Will Investigate Alleged Police Corruption,” San Diego Union, September 8, 1990. 84 Joe Cantlupe, Mark Sauer, Dayna Lynn Fried, and, J. Stryker Meyer, “Police Department Endures a Painful Time of Trial,” San Diego Union, September 30, 1990. 85 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 5.

address possible interference by the police department in the San Diego Sheriff’s murder investigation of Gentile. The police department publicly supported the establishment of this new unit. Deputy Police Chief Mike Rice stated in a news report, “We want the public to know we are corruption-free…. Sometimes it takes an outside agency to give that confidence.”86 In a way, Rice’s statement was indicative of the public relations function the MHTF would later serve after the creation of the new misconduct unit. The police corruption allegations disclosed in the 1989-1990

Grand Jury hearings and disseminated by the San Diego press upped the political stakes for the police department and bolstered the need for it to address the Gentile and Maine murders. The victims’ connections to police officers could no longer be treated as isolated incidents of police liaisons with prostitutes who happened to be the victims of a serial killer or killers.

The 1989-1990 Grand Jury hearing testimony, with the assistance of the local press, impressed upon the public the possibility that corruption was rampant in the police department and perhaps the Gentile and Maine murders were tied to that corruption. For example, in August of 1990, in the news article, “Witness Ties

Gentile to Wilkening,” the San Diego Union reported that one of Wilkening’s call girls testified that Wilkening’s operation provided services for San Diego police officers. She later told San Diego Union reporters and later task force investigators that she saw Donna Gentile on the evening of June 21, 1985 at a party in San Diego

86 Joe Cantlupe, Dayna Lynn Fried, Joe Okerblom, Mark Sauer, “Special Unit Will Investigate Alleged Police Corruption,” San Diego Union, September 8, 1990.

hosted by a group of Texas financiers. She stated that she saw Gentile and three other women, not employed by Wilkening, working the party. According to the call girl, she remembered Gentile because she was not dressed as well as Wilkening’s call girls and had been complaining that customers were not paying her.87 In interviews with the San Diego Union, Wilkening admitted that she provided “girls” for the party but insisted the host also brought in prostitutes from other sources.88

The media pressure on the police department intensified in the San Diego

Union news article, “Police Department Endures a Time of Trial: Alleged Links

Between Cops, Prostitutes Raise Many Deeply Troubling Questions.” In the article, reporters questioned the integrity of police department. The questions posed were

“Did police officials turn a blind eye toward such suspected relationships between its officers and prostitutes? And did that atmosphere result in the mess the department now finds itself in, with officers being investigated or relationships with prostitutes usually informants, and some officers even being eyed as suspects in a series of prostitute murders?” In the article, reporters highlighted Gentile’s relationships with police officers and her subsequent murder, Maine’s relationship with Officer Fung and her later disappearance, and grand jury testimony regarding police detective

Lusardi’s hiring of prostitutes for his colleague’s bachelor party.

87 Jim Okerblom, Dayna Lynn Fried and J. Stryker Myer, “Witness Ties Gentile to Wilkening,” San Diego Union, August 26, 1990. 88 Ibid.

In September of 1990, the San Diego Union reported that approximately twelve police officers were being investigated for links to Maine.89 One of those officers was Sergeant Alfonso Salvatierra who was a homicide detective who had recently been assigned to internal affairs.90 After investigators search of the officer’s home, car, and police locker, they found sexually explicit photos of Maine.91 In

October, investigators found nude photos of Gentile, however, it was not disclosed where the photos were found or who took them.92 Also in October, Goudarzi, who had spent approximately two and a half years on the MHTF, was removed from the task force. He was later fired in May of 1991 from the police department for conduct unbecoming an officer. Goudarzi had a sexual relationship with Denise Loche, who claimed to be his informant on the Gentile investigation. However, Goudarzi was later reinstated and allowed to resign in exchange for his agreement to not appeal his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission.93 In February of 1991, semen found in

89 Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer, Dayna Lynn Fried, and Jim Okerblom, “Up to 12 Cops are Investigated for Links to Prostitute,” San Diego Union, September 28, 1990. 90 Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer, Dayna Lynn Fried, and Jim Okerblom, “Cop’s House Searched in Prostitute Case Investigation into Police Link to Missing and Slain Streetwalkers is Expanded,” September 26, 1990, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed July 9, 2012). 91 Joe Cantlupe, J. Stryker Meyer, Dayna Lynn Fried, and Jim Okerblom, “Up to 12 Cops are Investigated for Links to Prostitute,” San Diego Union, September 28, 1990. 92 Joe Cantlupe, Dayna Lynn Fried, Jim Okerblom, “Nude Photographs of Donna Gentile Surface,” San Diego Union, October 19, 1990. 93 Harold Goudarzi v. City of San Diego, Case No. 64430, October 21, 1991 and Harold Goudarzi v. Civil Service Commission of the City of San Diego, Case No. 637914, May 21, 1991.

Gentile’s body under went DNA testing. The results of the tests were not disclosed to the public.94

In June of 1991, the task force police corruption investigation concluded and they reported their findings to the 1990-1991 Grand Jury. The jury concurred with the MHTF’s conclusions and rendered those findings in their final report in June of

1991. Among those findings were there was not enough evidence to support allegations of a relationship between Kolender and Wilkening. According to the investigators, the two call girls’ allegations regarding the relationship could not be corroborated by any of Wilkening’s other employee.95 In the end, the MHTF determined that the San Diego Police Department was not corrupt. The corruption- free police department image that Deputy Police Chief Rice hoped the public would embrace became official when the 1990-1991 Grand Jury issued its report in June of

1991. The jurors agreed with the task force’s findings and issued the following recommendation to the police department: “Officially discourage its officers from attending private events which feature nude or exotic dancers because of the strong likelihood of the link between such entertainment and prostitution activity.”96

Approximately a month later, a headline in the San Diego Union read “Task force says police force is not corrupt.” The MHTF provided Chief Burgreen with its final report regarding police corruption in the police department. According to San

94 Joe Cantlupe, Jim Okerblom, Dayna Lynn Fried, “Serial Task Force Reported Using DNA Testing,” San Diego Union, February 12, 1991. 95 San Diego County Grand Jury Report 1990-1991, June 13, 1991, 8-10. 96 Ibid., 15.

Diego City Manager, Jack McCory, the MHTF’s findings were proof that there was no deep seated corruption in the San Diego Police Department, only isolated incidents of police misconduct. The Union reported that the MHTF identified approximately ten either former or current officers in its report.97 The names of the officers were not publicized; however, a few months later, the newspaper reported the suspensions of the three police officers. As a result of the task force’s findings, Sergeant Salvatierra,

Officer Fung, and Officer Arnold received light punishments. Both Sergeant

Salvatierra, owner of the sexually explicit Maine photo, and Officer Fung, who purportedly had been sexually involved with Maine, received a twenty-day suspension. Arnold, whose name appeared in Wilkening’s rolodex and was alleged to have hired prostitutes for his fellow officer’s bachelor party, received a ten-day suspension.98

The MHTF also determined that police officers had not murdered prostitutes.

District Attorney Miller stated, “I can state flatly that no police officers were involved in the murder of any prostitutes.” Although the task force’s initial purported main mission was to solve the prostitute serial murders, they produced minimal results compared to those results they produced regarding their proof that there was no pattern of police corruption. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Deputy

97 Jim Okerblom and Dayna Lynn Fried, “Task force Says Police Force is ‘Not Corrupt’,” San Diego Union, July 10, 1990. 98 Dick Weber, “3 Officers Suspended for Links to Prostitutes,” San Diego Union, November 8, 1991, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed April 23, 2012).

Attorney General, Gary Schons, remarked, “[T]he task force was diverted from its true task, which was to solve the murders of Gentile and the others.”99 The final

MHTF report stated that of the forty-three total murders (three cases were added after

1988), twenty-six murders were cleared by modus operandi.100 Of those twenty-six, ten were cleared by arrest and sixteen by investigation. According to the FBI’s

Uniform Crime Report, an offense is cleared by arrest when an offender is arrested, charged, and given to the court for prosecution.101 In contrast, an offense cleared by investigation does not include the arrest, charge, and prosecution of an offender. The

MHTF’s investigation resulted in the convictions of nine men, each convicted of one murder of a single victim. In short, the perpetrators of nine of the forty-three murder victims were convicted.

However, Gentile and Maine were not among the nine resulting in convictions. In January of 1993, MHTF determined that auto-mechanic and convicted murderer Ronald Porter had killed Donna Gentile. The belief that Gentile was murdered by Porter was based in part on the fact that she worked the same portion of El Cajon Boulevard and was found in the same general location as one of his other victims. Porter was convicted of killing prostitute, Sandra Cwik, in 1992

99 Mark Platte, “The Homicide Task Force was a Tangled Web,” Los Angeles Times, August 12, 199, http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-12/local/me-288_1_task-force (accessed July 10, 2012). 100“Modus Operandi” is a legal term to describe a criminal pattern of behavior” Black Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “modus operandi.” 101 United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook Revised 2004,147.

and linked to thirteen of the forty-three victims. Porter was also believed by investigators to have likely been responsible for the disappearance of Maine although no details were given as to why. In response to the MHTF’s allegations that Porter was Gentile’s killer, Porter’s mother referred to her son as a scapegoat. She stated,

“They have to answer in Gentile’s case. It takes the suspicion away from cops, and they can justify all the money they have spent on the task force.”102 In the end, Porter was never charged with Gentile’s or Maine’s murders.

In March of 1993, the MHTF declared its investigation over and it officially disbanded a few months later. Deputy District Attorney Edwin Miller praised the task force, calling it, “The most effective serial killer task force in U.S. History.”103

Police Chief Burgreen stated that the question of whether or not police officers were involved in prostitute killings have now been “clearly answered.”104 However, Streed believed that nine convictions and twenty-six solved by modus operandi, not to mention those women not identified, was a terrible result.105 Whether or not the nine convictions is considered a good result by law enforcement standards, the fact still remains that Gentile, Maine, and many of the other victims whose cases were placed in the charge of MHTF did not receive justice. This was primarily because the task force appears to have been more focused on issues of police corruption than the

102 Joe Cantlupe and David Hasemyer, “Cops May Freed of Gentile Mystery, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 31, 1993. 103 Jim Okerblom, “Probe of 43 Serial Killings is over,” San Diego Union-Tribune, March 25, 1993. 104 Ibid. 105 Thomas Streed, interview by author, San Marcos, CA, August 25, 2010.

murders of the prostitutes. The nine murder convictions, were a byproduct of the

MHTF’s primary function. The police corruption unit established in the MHTF in

1988 and the official police misconduct unit created in 1990 served as a means to protect the police department’s crime fighter image. The 1988 unit allowed the department to control its image by simply extending the reach of its internal affairs division. The official misconduct unit allowed the department to publicly declare that it was not corrupt, while simultaneously solving a few female murders. In the end, the police corruption inquiry dominated the MHTF’s investigations.

In Breaking Rank, former deputy police chief Norm Stamper describes his first visit to the MHTF in the early 1990s. According to Stamper, the MHTF’s supervisor spent little time briefing him on the prostitute murders. He stated, “he spent five minutes on the prostitute murders and two and half hours on the official misconduct activity that may or may not be linked to prostitutes.”106 His description was indicative of the MHTF’s focus on addressing police corruption. The police department’s image problem began with the exposure of Donna Gentile’s relationships with police officers in 1985 and her subsequent murder. The police department’s image continued to be tarnished with Maine’s disappearance and the

1989-1990 Grand Jury’s probe unveiled more police misconduct with respect to prostitution. The MHTF was a means for the police department to repair that

106 Norm Stamper, Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing (New York: Avalon Books, 2005), 48.

tarnished image. As historian David Johnson stated regarding police reformers in the second quarter of the twentieth century, “public image mattered.”107

Image over substance is a by-product of the professionalism of American policing. The MHTF’s approach to the investigations of Donna Gentile and the other prostitute victims is evidence that image was still a primary concern of American policing in the 1980s and early 1990s. The MHTF’s investigations of crimes perpetrated against prostitutes took a back seat to cleansing the reputation of the San

Diego Police Department. The MHTF valued reputation more than the solving of prostitute murders, demonstrating how police attitudes towards victimized prostitutes remained unchanged since the nineteenth century.

107 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History ( St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 113-115.

CONCLUSION

Throughout most of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, formal and informal law enforcement exploited and harassed prostitutes. The degree of exploitation and harassment depended upon whether the woman was a brothel prostitute or a streetwalker—the former afforded more protection than the latter. The closing of the red-light districts in urban areas during the Progressive Era signaled that the public and the police would no longer tolerate prostitution. Although the police no longer tolerated prostitution, it continued to participate in the exploitation and harassment of prostitutes. Attempts by police reformers during the post-

Progressive Era to deliver the police from the corrupted influences of politicians and organized crime did not seem to affect police officers’ ill treatment of prostitutes.

Although, professionalization attempted to distance police officers from profiting from prostitutes, it did little if anything to address sexual exploitation and harassment of them.

The reformers’ professionalization efforts during the 1920s and 1930s focused on bolstering their public image as honest and ethical crime fighters. Technology, education, and training were elements implemented to support the professionalized police forces. The crime fighter image was solidified in the 1930s with the help of

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and his public enemy campaign. The reformers’ efforts

to establish police leadership independent of politicians began in 1939, progressed during the 1940s and 1950, and ended in the 1960s.1

During the 1960s and 1970s second wave feminism erupted with the establishment of the National Organization Of Women (NOW). However, NOW did not promote rights of prostitutes and thus in the early 1970s the COYOTE movement was born. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, COYOTE and its co-founders, Margo

St. James and Priscilla Alexander, advocated civil rights for prostitutes. Among those rights were the right to be free from violence, police exploitation and harassment.

One of the organization’s slogans was “Hookers Unite, You Have Nothing to Lose

But Cop Harassment.”2 COYOTE did not have a chapter in San Diego, however, it was somewhat embraced by the local NOW chapter. 3 In June of 1986, Alexander addressed to the NOW organization in San Diego, appeared on a local radio show, and spoke to the press.4 According to Alexander, although the San Diego chapter of

NOW was supportive of COYOTE’s issues, she was not aware of any actions taken by it to progress prostitute rights.5

1 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 116-121. 2 Valarie Jenness, “From Sex as Sin to Sex as Work: COYOTE and the Reorganization of Prostitution as a Social Problem,” Social Problems 37, no. 3 (August, 1990): 407. 3 Patricia Alexander, email message to author, April 4, 2012 and in telephone conversation with author on April 30, 2012. 4 Lisa Petrillo, “Woman Takes Fight to Streets,” San Diego Union, July 23, 1986. 5 Patricia Alexander, email message to author, April 4, 2012 and in telephone conversation with author on April 30, 2012.

Alexander’s visit occurred in the midst of a series of prostitute murders and also in the aftermath of a sex scandal involving Donna Gentile and two San Diego police officers, and Gentile’s murder. There is no evidence to suggest that her visit to

San Diego was specifically prompted by the San Diego murders. However, she encouraged the police in Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Diego to increase their efforts to catch the persons who were killing prostitutes in their cities.6 Although Gentile had no known affiliation with COYOTE, she also tried to pierce police culture by challenging their poor treatment of prostitutes. Gentile’s efforts to inform on and take legal action against San Diego police officers exemplified COYOTE’s nationwide fight for prostitutes’ rights. In fact, there was media speculation that her local fight may have ultimately led to her death in June of 1985. Police Chief Bob Burgreen remarked with respect to Gentile’s death, “I regularly read that perhaps a police officer was involved.”7 Gentile’s murder investigation spanned seven and half years in two phases. The first phase was the San Diego Sheriff’s Department three-year investigation lasting from 1985 to September of 1988. In September, her case was integrated with thirty-seven other prostitute murders and placed in the charge of the newly formed Metropolitan Homicide Task Force. Her murder investigation ended with the disbandment of the MHTF in 1993.

6 Lisa Petrillo, “Woman Takes Fight to Streets of Prostitute Leader Makes Plea for Legalization, Protection,” San Diego Union, July 23, 1986, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed March 21, 2012). 7 Frank Klimko and J. Stryker Meyer, “Burgreen Re-opens Gentile Case: Hints Changes,” San Diego Union, June 29, 1990, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed July 15, 2012).

Gentile’s interactions with San Diego police officers, her murder, and the subsequent investigation illustrate aspects of policing that remained virtually unchanged since the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Gentile case study illuminates exploitation and harassment of prostitutes, as well as, disregard for their credibility as witnesses in the legal system, remained nearly unchanged in the nineteenth century and Progressive Era. For example, during the Gentile murder investigation, law enforcement discredited a prostitutes’ claim that she witnessed

Black and Hannibal plan Gentile’s murder and they later disregarded two prostitutes’ testimony during the 1988-1989 Grand Jury probe despite the Jury foreman’s view to the contrary. Gentile’s case study also reveals the police’s ingrained attitudes towards maintaining public image that began during the 1930s as part of police reform efforts. Police Chief Burgreen’s efforts to survey San Diegans opinion of his leadership and the San Diego Police Department was indicative of the police department’s concern about their public image. Moreover, various statements made in the press by San Diego police administrators reflected their anxiety regarding their negative image due to the Gentile case. For example, Burgreen remarked” The public’s confidence has been slightly eroded on this police department because of the rumors linking her with police officers….”8 The police’s concern for public image was also exemplified in the operation of the MHTF. Sociological studies suggest that police have given prostitute murder cases low priority. Police officers’ purported use

8 David Hasemyer, “ Police Deny Progress in Prostitute Slayings, San Diego Evening Tribune, February 16, 1991.

of the term NHI (no humans involved) is indicative of some officers’ disregard for prostitute murders. According to former police chief Norm Stamper, who recalled in an excerpt about the San Diego prostitute murders in his memoir Breaking Rank: A

Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing, the term was used by some police officers.9

However, the establishment of the MHTF to investigate thirty-eight and later forty-three prostitutes murders appeared to be a change in the police‘s attitudes regarding prostitute murder investigations. In San Diego, law enforcement, whom had generally disregarded prostitute victims as NHI, were now seemingly dedicated to solving them. However, an examination of the MHTF’s activities and the events surrounding it reveal that the task force’s primary function was more dedicated to repairing the police department’s image than to solving prostitute murders. The department’s inclusion of a police corruption unit in 1988 was as an extension of the police department’s internal affairs role. The unit’s internal affairs arm served as a means for the department to monitor the investigation of its officers and thereby control its image. For example, the unit was initially comprised primarily of members from the police department, one of whom had served as the department’s internal affairs liaison to the Sheriff’s murder investigation of Gentile. The fact that

Gentile had been involved in a highly publicized sex scandal with police officers and was subsequently found dead after serving as an informant against officers was of

9 Norm Stamper, Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing, (New York: Avalon Books, 2005), 47.

great concern to the department. Burgreen’s illustrated the Department’s worriment when he referred to the Gentile’s murder as “a black cloud hanging over the department.”10 Publicized speculation as to whether police officers were involved in her murder was inherently bad for the department’s crime fighting image.

From 1988 to 1990, the MHTF disclosed little information about their efforts to solve the prostitute murders. In June of 1990, the Grand Jury released its scathing report after its yearlong investigation of allegations that San Diego police officers sanitized a local madam’s client rolodex. The report voiced concerns about the existence of widespread corruption in the police department. The Grand Jury, unable to complete its investigation, deferred the investigation to a new Grand Jury in July of the same year. The new Grand Jury outsourced the police misconduct investigations to the MHTF. However, the alleged misconduct grew beyond the department’s alleged tampering of the rolodex. Among those allegations were police officers interactions with prostitutes and preferential treatment professional football players.

In August, an official misconduct unit within the MHTF was created to investigate allegations of misconduct. The unit was supervised by California Attorney General’s

Office and comprised of members from different agencies, including the San Diego

Police Department. The creation of the new unit coincided with the addition of approximately fifteen to twenty investigators, more than doubling the size of the

10 Joe Cantlupe, “Gentile Killing Probe Back to ‘Ground Zero,’ Says Official of POA,” San Diego Union, August 19, 1990.

MHTF. The police misconduct investigations seemed to be the focus of the MHTF.

The task force, who had until 1990 maintained a silence regarding its investigation, began to disseminate information. An array of news reports began to surface regarding the task force’s purported progress, particularly with respect to the Gentile and Maine investigations. The task force’s progress in the serial murders investigations also appeared in some news reports. For example, the conviction of

Alan Buzzard Stevens for the murder of Cynthia McVey, one of the forty-three prostitutes identified in the MHTF’s investigations, was published in the Union in

November of 1990.11

A police source, in a Sacramento Bee news article, referred to the San Diego prostitute victims as “NHI.”12 For a group of San Diego artists, the police source’s slur called into question the MHTF’s interest and efforts in solving the prostitute murders. These artists erected a billboard, held forums, and presented an exhibit in effort to bring awareness to what they perceived as the MHTF’s lack of interest in the prostitutes’ cases. At the close of the MHTF’s investigation, the MHTF reported that

Gentile and Maine were the victims of a serial killer who was convicted in 1992 of murdering another prostitute. At the same time, the task force also determined that the police were not corrupt and not involved in any of the prostitute murders. In the

11 Frank Klimko and Gina Lubrano, “Stevens Guilty of Murder, May Face Charges in 3 Other Killings,” San Diego Union, November 1, 1990, http://0- infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed July 1990). 12 Steve Wiegand, “43 Women Slain San Diego Cops Linked,” Sacramento Bee, October 7, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed March 31, 2012).

end, nine prostitute murders were directly solved and the San Diego Police

Department was cleared of all wrongdoing. The officers who were sexually involved with prostitutes received very light punishment. The most severe punishment levied against a police officer was the termination of Larry Avrech in 1985, after he had been on the force for approximately five years.13 The MHTF re-built the police department’s crime fighting image by declaring the department corruption free while also convicting the murderers of nine of forty-three women.

Approximately seventeen years after the disbandment of the MHTF, the San

Diego Police Department was at the forefront of another police corruption scandal. In a Los Angeles Times article “In San Diego, not your typical police scandal” was the tagline preceding a critical story regarding events within the San Diego Police

Department in 2011.14 The article was published just days after a San Diego police officer, Daniel Dana, was charged with kidnapping and raping a thirty-four year old prostitute under the color of authority.15 “Color of Authority” refers to a person that is “performing an act that is made possible because he or she is clothed with the

13 Larry Avrech is currently a registered sex offender in Tennessee as the result of a sexual battery conviction in early 2000. The specific details surrounding his conviction were not disclosed, http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/sorint/sor_Details.aspx?htid=SO008265 (accessed July 19, 2012). 14 Tony Perry, “In San Diego, Not Your Typical Police Scandal,” Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2011, http://www.articles.latimes.com/2011/may/15/local/la-me-sandiego- police-20110515 (accessed May, 20, 2011). 15 Kristina Davis, “ Ex-Cop Accused of On-Duty Rape Pleads Not Guilty,” San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/may/13/ex-cop-accused-duty- rape-pleads-not-guilty/ (accessed May 13, 2012).

authority of law or he or she is acting under pretense of law.”16 The charges stemmed from a woman’s complaint that an officer threatened to arrest her unless she had sex with him. While on probation for a previous prostitution charge, she encountered the officer in a Denny’s parking lot on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. She walked into an alley when the officer approached her because she was on probation. She was surprised to learn the officer was not there to arrest her for solicitation. Instead, he asked for her name and cell phone number. He seemed nice to her and they later exchanged a few text messages. She thought the officer was someone who could possibly warn her about future vice operations in the area. On May 10th, the officer parked his patrol car in an alley near a 7-Eleven and threatened to take her to jail if she did not have sex with him. He placed her in the back of his patrol car and drove away. According to the prostitute, she was scared and unsure of where he was taking her. He drove her to Presidio Park in San Diego and told her to get in the front seat.

He demanded sex from her, and she complied because she did not feel as if she had a choice. San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Annette Irving said the woman was credible because of DNA evidence subsequently found on the front seat of the patrol car, the consistency of her statement, and the route she described was consistent with the route the officer drove that night.17 Dana resigned from the

16 “People v. Plesniarski, 22 Cal. App. 3d 108, 114, 99 Cal Rpptr. 196 (3d Dist. 1971). 17 Tony Perry, “In San Diego, Not Your Typical Police Scandal,” Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2011, .http://wwwarticles.latimes.com/2011/may/15/local/la-me-sandiego- police-20110515 (accessed May, 20, 2011).

department shortly after the prostitute’s allegations were made public.18 This example was one of four incidents of alleged misconduct perpetrated against women by San Diego Police Department officers in a three-month period. Those offenses included an officer sexually assaulting women while on DUI patrol, alleged rape of a female college student, acts of domestic violence, and stalking and harassing a fellow female police officer.19 Although all incidents of alleged misconduct against women are important and unsettling, the most striking and relevant to the subject of this thesis was the one involving the alleged rape of the prostitute. In a Los Angeles

Times article, a former San Diego County District Attorney, Paul Pfingst, saw the San

Diego allegations as "individual, unrelated acts as opposed to a pattern of similar behavior engaged in and explicitly or tacitly approved by colleagues.”20 However, the incidents raised a question among the public and some law enforcement officials of whether the disbanding of the anti-corruption unit, originally established by the former police chief Burgreen in 1993, contributed to the latest events involving police corruption.

18 Dana Littlefield, “Plea Deal in Ex-Officer’s Sex Case,” San Diego Union-Tribune, July 19, 2012, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/19/tp-plea-deal-in-ex- officers-sex-case/?print&page=all (accessed July 30, 2012). 19 “Police Chief Vows to Address SDPD’s Officer Misconduct Problems,” CBS8.com, May 10, 2011, http://www.cbs8.com/story/14616126/police-chief-to- address-recent-officer-misconduct-cases (accessed June 20, 2012). 20 Tony Perry, “In San Diego, Not Your Typical Police Scandal,” Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2011, http://wwwarticles.latimes.com/2011/may/15/local/la-me-sandiego- police-20110515 (accessed May, 20, 2011).

Police Chief William Lansdowne pointed out in the interview in 2011 that there was currently an upswing of misconduct cases in the United States, particularly in other large cities. He explained that they were “struggling” to understand the reasons for the increase and pondered how to resolve it.21 He implemented a plan, including a “twenty-four hour complaint hotline that can be used by the public and officers to report misconduct confidentially, random quality checks of officers daily work and a shorter turnaround between the time misconduct allegations are made and discipline occurs, should it be warranted.”22 In other words, he implemented reform policies.

Lansdowne alludes to the economic recession as a contributing factor for the officers’ misconduct. According to Lansdowne, the recession of the 2000s not only created stress, but also led to budget cuts in ethics and legal training and the number of supervisors overseeing officers’ conduct on the streets. He claimed that one remedy to resolving misconduct issues is self-policing, a concept being implemented in other large city police departments. Lansdowne stated that the “code of silence” has no place in present day police culture.23

21 Kristina Davis and Craig Gustafson, “Sanders Blames Jerks for Tarnishing Officer,” San Diego Union-Tribune, May 13, 2011, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/may/12/sanders-backs-police-chief-blames- absolute-jerks-t/?page=1#article (accessed July 19, 2012). 22 Debbi Baker, “Police Chief Working to Curb Officer Misconduct,” San Diego Union-Tribune, June 27, 2011, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/27/police- chief-working-curb-officer-misconduct/?page=2#article (accessed July 19, 2012). 23 Kristina Davis and Craig Gustafson, “Sanders Blames Jerks for Tarnishing Officer,” San Diego Union-Tribune, May 13, 2011,

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Similar reform recommendations were made earlier by San Diego Police

Chief Bob Burgreen in 1993 when he created an Anti-Corruption Unit. The unit was seen as a proactive attempt to combat police corruption. The unit consisted of police officers who monitored police misconduct by implementing undercover sting operations against officers suspected of misconduct. Burgreen claimed the creation of the unit had nothing to do with the Gentile and Maine cases. Regardless, the unit functioned to restore confidence in the police department. Their need to restore confidence in the police department is consistent with the culture of policing. As

Johnson points out, public image was part of policing beginning in the 1920s.24 In addition to public image, sexism with respect to prostitutes was also a part of police culture. According to Butler and Cohen, prostitutes were sexually harassed and exploited by police officers in the nineteenth century. Rosen maintains that treatment continued throughout the Progressive Era. This case study of Donna Gentile shows that public image and sexism towards prostitutes was evident in police culture in the early 1980s and 1990s.

The 2011 allegations of rape of a prostitute by San Diego police officer Daniel

Dana and that case’s end result, show that patterns of police culture regarding prostitutes that existed during the eighteenth century, Progressive Era, the 1980s and early 1990s continued in the twenty-first century. Similar to the officers in the 1980s

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/may/12/sanders-backs-police-chief-blames- absolute-jerks-t/?page=1#article (accessed July 19, 2012). 24 David R. Johnson, American Law Enforcement: A History (St. Louis: Forum Press, 1981), 116-121.

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and early1990s, ex-police officer Dana received a light punishment from San Diego law enforcement for his behavior with a prostitute. In July of 2012, he plead no contest to the less serious crime of a lewd act in public, in exchange, the District

Attorney’s Office dropped the rape charge levied against him.25 As a result of this plea bargain, he received a sentence of three years of probation. According to the San

Diego Union, Prosecutor Annette Irving agreed to the plea bargain because the

District Attorney’s Office were worried that a jury might not accede that a prostitute had been raped.26 Despite efforts to challenges law enforcement’s treatment of prostitutes by COYOTE, Gentile, and probably others, the conclusion of the Dana case showed that the relationship between prostitution and policing has scarcely changed since the nineteenth century.

25 A “no contest” plea is a legal term to describe a criminal defendant who does not admit guilt, while at the same does not contest the charge levied against them. Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v “no contest.” A “lewd act in public “is when a person is charged with soliciting another person to engage in a lewd act in a public place. Lewd acts include touching sexual body parts of oneself or someone else with the intent to sexually gratify in order to annoy or offend another person. Judicial Council of California, Criminal Jury Instructions. CalCrim, Matthew Bender,Lexis Nexix, Series 100-1800 (San Francisco, 2006 ) 1048. 26 Dana Littlefield and Greg Moran, “ Ex-cop Pleads No Contest to Sex Charge,” San Diego Union –Tribune, http://wwww.signonsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/18/ex-cop- pleads-no-contest-misdemeanor-sex-charge/ (accessed July 21, 2012).

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Newspapers Los Angeles Times, 1985, 1992. Los Angeles Times, 2011. (on-line source). Sacramento Bee, 1990. San Diego Union, 1983-1991. San Diego Evening Tribune 1983-1991. San Diego Union Tribune, 1992-1993. San Diego Union Tribune, 2007 San Diego Union Tribune, 2011-2012 (on-line source).

Memoir Stamper, Norm. Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing. New York: Avalon Books, 2005.

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San Diego County Grand Jury Report, 1989-90, June 27, 1990. San Diego County Grand Jury Report, 1990-91, June 13, 1991. The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1967.

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Donna Gentile v. San Diego District Attorney, Court record Complaint, Appellate file Oct 2, 1984. Harold Goudarzi v. City of San Diego, Court record, Case file, October 21, 1991. Harold Goudarzi v. Civil Service Commission of The City of San Diego, May 21, 1991.

Court Cases

People v. Plesniarski, 22 Cal. App. 3d 108, 114, 99 Cal Rpptr. 196 (3d Dist. 1971).

Other

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