Richard C. Morris Jr arrested Orange County’s most notorious unsolved slayings: the mob-style execution of topless bar owner Jimmy Casino.
Richard C. Morris Jr., 54, was arrested in Honolulu last week and extradited to Orange County in connection with the Jan. 2, 1987 of Casino, the behind-the-scenes owner-operator of the Mustang Topless Theater.A Hawaii man was charged Tuesday with special circumstances murder for his alleged role in one of Orange County’s most notorious unsolved slayings: the mob-style execution of topless bar owner Jimmy Casino.He appeared in Orange County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon in a long-sleeved yellow T-shirt, brown knee-length shorts and flip-flops with his hands cuffed behind his back. Superior Court Commissioner Vickie L. Hix continued his arraignment to June 13 and ordered him held without bail.Casino’s death was the first in a series of mob-style shootings linked to financial control of the highly lucrative Mustang to rock Orange County in the 1980s. A financial backer in the club was blinded after he was shot in the head three months later and a bouncer was killed execution-style in an Irvine parking lot in 1988.Orange County prosecutors declined to discuss the case, including what led them to Morris.But they filed a murder charge Tuesday morning against Morris, who was been living in Hawaii for 10 years, accusing him of killing James Lee Stockwell – Casino’s real name.
Morris faces a potential death penalty if convicted because he was also accused of two special circumstances: murder for financial gain and murder during the commission of a robbery.Debbie Chow, Morris’ fiancée, described her boyfriend of three years as a gentle, kind, non-violent person who helped her take care of stray dogs and cats.“He is just a great guy. We did everything together,” Chow said in a phone interview from their home in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, about 15 miles from Waikiki.
She said they live together with Morris’ brother, who is disabled. Morris, Chow added, is unemployed because he is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
“He did drink when I first met him, but I got him to quit,” Chow said. “I told him you got to take care of yourself if you want to live.”She said Morris “has never hurt anyone that I know of. ... It’s really hard to believe that he could be involved in something like this,” Chow said.
“Oh man, this really has been hard for me,” added Chow, an artist. “My heart has been pounding fast since he was arrested. My head has been floating in the air; I lost my appetite and I can’t sleep.”The unsolved murder of Jimmy Casino and the subsequent gangland-style shootings became the top news stories in Orange County, in part because of the name Jimmy Casino – one of the all-time great mafia monikers.He was a one-of-a-kind character. He ran the notorious topless bar on Harbor Boulevard, but he read the Bible to his dancers and implored them to stay away from drugs and prostitution.He had an arrest record that spanned three decades, for attempted murder, burglary, auto theft, bad checks, mail fraud, counterfeiting and fraud.He had a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.
The execution of Casino, 48, quickly became Orange County’s most famous unsolved murder.Whenever someone wanted to confess anything, Orange County detectives took to asking, “Well, did you do Jimmy Casino too?”
Casino – born in Fullerton in 1939 – was listed in court documents as a consultant or financial manager of the Mustang topless theater.
But he was actually owner and operator, according to his civil attorney Joe Dickerson. Casino, however, was barred from having his name on the liquor license because of his extensive criminal past.
The Mustang was the first and biggest topless club in Orange County in the mid 1980s, created in 1983 by a judge’s decision that classified it as a “theater” rather than a night club, which protected its activities as freedom of expression.
It was extremely successful, especially for Casino, according to police reports.
He lived in a $1.4 million mansion in Anaheim Hills for awhile with some of his topless dancers. He had a near-new Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz 450 SL and a new Chevrolet Camaro.Casino, who liked to wear expensive shirts unbuttoned to mid chest, with a comb-over of his thinning brown hair, eventually moved into a two-story condominium near Los Coyotes Golf Course in Buena Park with his 22-year-old girl friend.
When they returned home shortly after midnight Jan. 2, 1987, two masked and armed intruders were waiting. The intruders tied up and raped his girl friend and dragged Casino downstairs.They ransacked the condo, taking jewelry, furs, credit cards and two cars.
Morris faces a potential death penalty if convicted because he was also accused of two special circumstances: murder for financial gain and murder during the commission of a robbery.Debbie Chow, Morris’ fiancée, described her boyfriend of three years as a gentle, kind, non-violent person who helped her take care of stray dogs and cats.“He is just a great guy. We did everything together,” Chow said in a phone interview from their home in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, about 15 miles from Waikiki.
She said they live together with Morris’ brother, who is disabled. Morris, Chow added, is unemployed because he is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
“He did drink when I first met him, but I got him to quit,” Chow said. “I told him you got to take care of yourself if you want to live.”She said Morris “has never hurt anyone that I know of. ... It’s really hard to believe that he could be involved in something like this,” Chow said.
“Oh man, this really has been hard for me,” added Chow, an artist. “My heart has been pounding fast since he was arrested. My head has been floating in the air; I lost my appetite and I can’t sleep.”The unsolved murder of Jimmy Casino and the subsequent gangland-style shootings became the top news stories in Orange County, in part because of the name Jimmy Casino – one of the all-time great mafia monikers.He was a one-of-a-kind character. He ran the notorious topless bar on Harbor Boulevard, but he read the Bible to his dancers and implored them to stay away from drugs and prostitution.He had an arrest record that spanned three decades, for attempted murder, burglary, auto theft, bad checks, mail fraud, counterfeiting and fraud.He had a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.
The execution of Casino, 48, quickly became Orange County’s most famous unsolved murder.Whenever someone wanted to confess anything, Orange County detectives took to asking, “Well, did you do Jimmy Casino too?”
Casino – born in Fullerton in 1939 – was listed in court documents as a consultant or financial manager of the Mustang topless theater.
But he was actually owner and operator, according to his civil attorney Joe Dickerson. Casino, however, was barred from having his name on the liquor license because of his extensive criminal past.
The Mustang was the first and biggest topless club in Orange County in the mid 1980s, created in 1983 by a judge’s decision that classified it as a “theater” rather than a night club, which protected its activities as freedom of expression.
It was extremely successful, especially for Casino, according to police reports.
He lived in a $1.4 million mansion in Anaheim Hills for awhile with some of his topless dancers. He had a near-new Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz 450 SL and a new Chevrolet Camaro.Casino, who liked to wear expensive shirts unbuttoned to mid chest, with a comb-over of his thinning brown hair, eventually moved into a two-story condominium near Los Coyotes Golf Course in Buena Park with his 22-year-old girl friend.
When they returned home shortly after midnight Jan. 2, 1987, two masked and armed intruders were waiting. The intruders tied up and raped his girl friend and dragged Casino downstairs.They ransacked the condo, taking jewelry, furs, credit cards and two cars.
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