I just watched the update on this case you had asked me about.

After the original broadcast, 20 viewers called in to report that Strickland and Munday were residing in Moses Lake, Washington. Amazingly, Strickland and Munday had seen the broadcast themselves, and waited at a friend's house for the police to come pick them up. Both were taken into custody and were cooperative. Jerry Strickland himself was interviewed for the update. He maintained that he and Munday were innocent, that the evidence was circumstantial, that there were no witnesses, and that he and Munday would be exonerated at their trial. Although the trial had yet to occur at the time of this particular update, Stack did mention that Strickland and Munday will be tried separately, and could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

I also just watched the full length mail extortion swindle episode. It is a lot more complex than what was shown on Lifetime. On Halloween in 1988, the extortionists mailed letters to 263 different people in Lancaster. One of the victims interviewed claimed that she was asked for $300,000 in various denominations that was to be mailed to five local residences. Oddly enough, the people living at these addresses also received extortion letters demanding that cash be sent to five more different addresses. The people at those addresses received letters as well with even more different addresses in which to send the money. The police created a flow chart showing where all the money was supposed to be distributed to. They speculated that the extortionist was someone in the chain, but since the extortion was not paid out, they were unable to ascertain who it might have been. The letters did include personal information about the recipients. In one instance, a female widow whose husband had recently died of a heart attack was taunted by the author of the letter who claimed she might want to consider the possibility that her husband's death was not caused by a heart attack. All the letters ended with the line “if you decide not to pay, we’ll blow your brains out”. Stack read this portion of the letter out loud, and it was weird to hear him say. Unfortunately, this version did not have the update about the arrest of the two men.

If you have any further questions, let me know.

Thanks for the info Justin! I can't believe Strickland has the audacity to claim that they were innocent because there were no witnesses to the murder. I figure they were convicted and wonder what their sentences were. Yes I do have some more questions but I'll post them on our thread on IMDB so check there.

So was the extortion letters just some prank by young kids?

-Ben

No it wasn't a prank, Roman McKoosh and Richard Ferrone (both mid-late 20s) were certainly trying to extort money from their neighbors, they just didn't do a very good job because they were quickly linked to the extortion scheme shortly after the segment aired. I seem to remember that one of them had a job that would've given them access to private information that they then used to create the extortion letters.

Yeah but they never intended to really blow anyones brains out did they?

-Ben

Yeah but they never intended to really blow anyones brains out did they?

I doubt it. I read some articles on Newsbank about the case and it seemed like Beavis and Butthead were just pranksters. A lot of people suspected them apparently, as they were known as oddballs in the community and were overheard once joking about a way to mess with people using the mail.

I doubt it. I read some articles on Newsbank about the case and it seemed like Beavis and Butthead were just pranksters. A lot of people suspected them apparently, as they were known as oddballs in the community and were overheard once joking about a way to mess with people using the mail.

Did you ever find out what the job was they had where they were able to find out all this personal info about everyone?

Did you ever find out what the job was they had where they were able to find out all this personal info about everyone?

Yes, it was mentioned in one of the articles I read, but I don't remember at the moment. I tried logging on to Newsbank but the server is down. If I'm able to get in later, I'll see if I can find those articles and post them here.

MENACING CHAIN LETTERS SENT TO A.V. RESIDENTS
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - November 3, 1988
Author: DAN BOYLE Daily News Staff Writer

Dozens of local attorneys, Realtors and businessmen received chain letters Wednesday telling them they would be killed if they did not send money to people named in the letter, a sheriff's department spokesman said.

''We're really not sure what we've got," said Sgt. Robert Riley, spokesman for the Antelope Valley Sheriff's Station. "I've never seen anything like this in my 23 years. Apparently they're extorting money, but who ends up with this money, we don't know." Among the people who have received these letters are Lancaster businessman Frank Visco, former Lancaster City Councilman Lou Bozigian and Palmdale Realtor Jim Hunt.

While the letters vary in length, all tell the person addressed to send money to various other people who have received similar letters, said Riley.

One letter instructs the receiver to send $5,000 each to Bozigian, Visco and another person who is only identified by his last name.

"One of these people is looking for the cash that you mail to cancel the contract to kill you," states the letter, which is filled with expletives. ''If you don't mail the cash then you will . . . be killed. Simple."

Some of the letters also state that the organization involved in the mailings killed former Lancaster Mayor Nick Maluccio by poisoning him in a Palmdale restaurant and making it appear he died of a heart attack.

"Probably every attorney, every doctor in town got one," said Visco. ''I don't think it's a joke. I think we have a real serious nut out there."

Many of the people who received letters are residents of Godde Hills Estates in Quartz Hill, Visco said.

All the letters name a record store in Chicago, which each letter states should be one of the recipients of the money, Visco said.

A spokesman for Galgano Records, the Chicago record store, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Galgano Records is the only business or individual outside the Antelope Valley that is mentioned in the letters, Riley said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is not sure how it will handle the case, although it is being listed as extortion , Riley said.

"It appears to be very serious. We're holding all the letters for evidence," Riley said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation could get involved in the case, he said.

Steve Schneringer, an inspector for the United States Postal Service, said when mailings contain death threats, the FBI handles the case. However, when the mailings are chain letters, the Postal Service handles the case. This case combines both elements.

Besides telling the individual to send bags of money to various other local businessmen, the letter says the person must get additional money and keep it in a specific location.

One letter states, "In 10 days get $400,000 more cash in 10, 20 dollar bills. Call your bank today to get this cash ready also."

The letter then tells the individual to write the secret code number ''111313" on each stack of money and keep it in a plastic bag under the front seat of the person's car.

The letter tells the person to buy a 40-channel walkie-talkie and keep it on channel 19 for the entire trip to Las Vegas, where the letter recipient is supposed to stay at the Las Vegas Hilton on the first Friday night of every month until contacted.

"We are experts in poison. We can put toxic chemicals in your toothpaste or glue laced with poison cyanide on envelopes and stamps that you lick," the letters state.
Edition: AV
Section: News
Page: N1
Index Terms: LANCASTER ; MAIL ; LETTER ; CHAIN ; EXTORTION ; PROBE ; AV ; UNUSUAL ; MONEY ; FINANCE ; POISONING
Dateline: LANCASTER
Record Number: 8802140489
Copyright (c) 1988 Daily News of Los Angeles

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MENACING CHAIN LETTERS SENT TO A.V. RESIDENTS

PLOT SUSPECTS SHUNNED AS MISFITS - 2 ACCUSED OF FLOODING ANTELOPE VALLEY WITH PAY-OR-DIE LETTERS ARE KNOWN FOR WILD TALES
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - December 4, 1988
Author: AVIS THOMAS-LESTER Daily News Staff Writer

Friends call them "Rocky and Bullwinkle" after the cartoon characters and say they are smart - smart alecks who are given to wild bragging about incredible pranks.

''Rocky the squirrel" is Richard Matthew Faroni, 5 feet 8 inches tall. ''Bullwinkle the moose" is Roman Stephan Makuch, 6 feet 5 inches tall. Rocky was the practical joker, Bullwinkle was the consummate expert in everything, friends and acquaintances say. They became friends working as electricians on the B-1 bomber at the Rockwell International plant in Palmdale, where fellow workers shunned them as outcasts, and became almost inseparable after they were laid off.

Now, they are in jail accused of mailing 265 pay-or-die letters to prominent residents of the Antelope Valley, about 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Both deny the charge. Faroni told the Daily News in a telephone interview from jail last week that they are victims of a setup by a vindictive Los Angeles businessman - a claim investigators discount.

"They were drawn together because they had the same mentality and the same weird sense of humor and ideas," said Jeff Goins, 27, a former co-worker at Rockwell.

"Roman said he worked for the CIA at one point," Goins, said. "He gets carried away in his stories. Both of them did. I think they did it to be better liked, but I think if they hadn't tried so hard, they would have been liked more."

Family members gave a similar portrait.

"Roman feels like he knows everything and everybody else is stupid," said Makuch's older brother, Ihor, a Glendale businessman. "He is 6 feet 5 inches tall with an ego that's 12 feet 8 inches tall. He has exhibited arrogance - that is his only character flaw.

"By himself he was so-so, and by himself Richard could behave normally, but when they got together, they could come up with all kinds of crazy things."

On Thanksgiving Day, detectives kicked in the door of Faroni and Makuch's Las Vegas, Nev., apartment and arrested them on suspicion of mailing extortion letters to prominent Antelope Valley residents.

Sgt. Robert Welch of the Los Angeles County sheriff's Antelope Valley station, said he never heard of a similar case where a mass mailing was used.

"Normally, when you have an extortion there are one or two victims, and they know why they have been selected," he said.

Faroni and Makuch, who are scheduled to be returned to the Antelope Valley from Las Vegas, are suspected of mailing death-threatening letters to doctors, lawyers and other Antelope Valley professionals demanding that sums of up to $500,000 be delivered to various addresses, most of which were homes of others who had received the letters.

Authorities still have no motive in the case, saying it appears to have been an attempt to extort money - not a prank.

In telephone interviews from jail last week, Faroni, who says he is the spokesman for both men, has denied involvement in the extortion scheme. He claims he and Makuch were set up by a Los Angeles businessman after a real estate deal with him went sour last fall.

Ihor Makuch said his younger brother has changed in the two years since he became friends with Faroni.

Roman often used to spend Sundays in Glendale with his family and their parents, Ihor Makuch said. But that has changed.

"I've called him," Ihor Makuch said. "My parents have sent him five letters and he has not answered them."

Ihor Makuch said he offered his brother a job with his company at $1,500 a month after he was laid off as an electrician at Rockwell last summer. But after a few days, Roman quit.

"I tried to assist him to become a productive member of society and we tried to give him money and he didn't take it," Ihor Makuch said. "I don't know what else we could have done."

Ihor said he was unsure how Roman supported himself after his layoff from Rockwell. He said he that he spoke with Faroni about three months ago to encourage him to sell his Lancaster house to avoid foreclosure.

Faroni was having trouble paying his bills after he was laid off from Rockwell in February, acquaintances said.

"I told him to sell his house on the open market so he wouldn't ruin his credit, which he did," Ihor Makuch said. "He sold it and made about $4,000 after expenses."

Roman Makuch is the youngest child of a Ukrainian couple and the only one born in the United States. He grew up in a tightly knit family in Buffalo, N.Y., with brothers Ihor and Ivan, who is now a federal immigration official.

As a boy he was quiet and well behaved, family members said.

"He never made demands," said Ihor Makuch, who is 13 years older than Roman. "Once an ice cream truck came down the street and (a family member) said to him, 'We have ice cream at home in the freezer.' And it was OK. He waited. That's how he was."

After his grandmother's death, Ihor Makuch said, his brother joined the Marine Corps in April 1981 and was stationed in Memphis, Tenn., and at El Toro Marine Base near San Diego.

In the service, Roman Makuch served as an avionics radar technician, working on the RF-4B ambush reconnaissance plane and the SA-18 phantom fighter. He left with the rank of corporal, Faroni said.

After his four-year military stint, he settled in California. His parents moved to Glendale three years ago from Buffalo, Ihor Makuch said.

Rockwell spokesman Erik Simonsen said Makuch was employed as an electrician on the B-1 bomber in Palmdale, beginning April 15, 1985. Faroni was hired in the same capacity on Sept. 17, 1985.

An Army veteran, Faroni said he decided on a military career after graduation from Shelton High School in Shelton, Conn.

Faroni's grandmother, Jennie Faroni, in an telephone interview from Newtown, Conn., said Richard graduated from high school with honors.

"He was always such a studious kid," Jennie Faroni said. "He always did things on his own and he's a real go-getter.

"When he was leaving for the Army, he was only 18, and I was saying to his father that he was so young - too young to be alone. But he's just like his father, he always manages things."

During four years in the Army, Faroni said that he was stationed at several bases and in Augsburg, West Germany, where he worked as an Army communications security specialist.

"He had a wonderful record from the service," said Jennie Faroni. "He served in Ft. Benning, Ga., in the same place as his father and his grandfather."

After leaving the Army, Faroni said that he had a difficult time finding work in Connecticut, so he headed West.

"I was living there with my Mom," Faroni said. "I had been out for about a year and I was disappointed with the jobs there. I was having trouble getting a job at the telephone company in Connecticut."

Faroni said he worked at first in Los Angeles as a security guard.

"He knew a lot about computers," said Bruce Bardfield, a dispatcher at United Security Industries in Westchester where Faroni worked temporarily.

"At that time we had two buildings which were putting their security systems on computers and he worked to train the other guards on that," he said. "He used to do some troubleshooting on the computers."

Acquaintances said the most striking similarity between Makuch and Faroni - besides their intelligence - is their technical ability.

"Both of them were very intelligent and good students," said Rick Thompson, Antelope Valley College photography instructo, who taught Faroni and Makuch two years ago. "They were somewhat pranksters, but personally I don't think they could do this."

Robert McMahan, head of the college's photo department, said Faroni and Makuch frequently boasted about their stunts.

"They had a weird sense of humor, but they never did anything dangerous or derogatory," McMahan said. "They were always together and sort of joked between themselves. They were always very visible in class, and we could be talking about a formula and they could give you the chemical breakdown of what was in what we were talking about."

Kilmer Jackson III, who supervised the pair at Rockwell, said Faroni and Makuch used to tell off-the-wall stories to confuse people they considered gullible.

"Richard would play dumb jokes on them, but not anything that was harmful or stupid, and he never let it get out of hand," Jackson said.

Stephen Wood, 28, a former supervisor of Makuch's at Rockwell, remembered a story Makuch told about going for a joy ride in an Air Force fighter plane.

"Moose claimed to have taken off in an A-10 aircraft while he was in the Marine Corps," Wood said. "He said he stole it and went for an unauthorized flight. He said he evaded the security police and wasn't caught."

Goins said Faroni once told him about a way to get even with a possible enemy using the mails.

"He called that his box of rocks," Goins said. "Richard said if there was ever anybody you wanted to get even with, you could go to the post office and fill out a change of address card on them. Then, you send them a box of rocks, which would be returned to an address in New York. Then, you have the address changed back, and they would be notified about the package.

"The person would be so curious about the package floating around the U.S., they would pay a fortune to get it back, and it would end up being only a box of rocks," Goins said.

"Richard was always coming up with pranks to get people back without doing them any direct harm," Goins said. "And Roman was always very cocky. He was never wrong. That's why it was so hard to believe him - he was always an expert on things he could never have been associated with."

Bardfield said Faroni had figured out a way to evade paying for telephone calls when he worked at the security company.

"He had some gimmick rigged up so he could use telephones without paying - I think he used an electronic dial tone," Bardfield said. "When he worked here, he was always very responsible. But he was defrauding the telephone company, so maybe that says something.

"Richard was always sort of a smart aleck about his knowledge of computers and electronic things," said Bardfield. "I could see him doing something like this as a prank. If it was really an attempt to get the money, I don't think so. But as a prank he would - just to prove he could do it."

Woods said Faroni and Makuch's stories about their exploits led to their ostracism by other Rockwell employees.

"We were all grown people, and there was a limit to what you will believe," Woods said.

Goins said the two stayed mostly together and said he doesn't ever remember the two getting involved in social events.

"I don't know if Richard had a social life with anybody except Moose," Goins said.

After the two men were laid off - Makuch on July 10, 1987 and Faroni on Feb. 12, 1988 - they worked part-time jobs, and Faroni tried to start an engraving business which did not prove to be successful.

Both men received unemployment compensation for about six months after they left their jobs, Faroni said.

When Faroni began having problems paying the mortgage on his house in the 1000 block of Newgrove Street in Lancaster during the summer, he moved in with Makuch, who owns a house in the 800 block of Avenue J-12.

The two men shared the house until they packed up a U-Haul van on Oct. 12 and headed to Las Vegas.

Faroni and Makuch had been volunteer electricians with the Sheriff's Department media resources unit in Whittier for the past year.

Makuch had also applied for a position as a sheriff's deputy sometime this year, but withdrew his name from consideration for an unknown reason, said Lt. Jack Scully of the Sheriff's Department.

Faroni said he and Makuch worked on photography projects for the Sheriff's Department.

Faroni said they chose Las Vegas because they believed they could get jobs in casinos as dealers. He said they had made arrangements to borrow a car from a man Roman knew from the Marines.

"The first night we stayed at the Marina (Hotel) - we paid cash," he said. "We rented a car from the Hacienda (Hotel) and one night we stayed up all night at Circus Circus (Hotel and Casino) - we were eating. We got a special deal at the Hacienda for Sunday through Friday, so we stayed there."

Faroni said that he and Makuch applied for Nevada driver's licenses that first week because they needed them to get jobs.

Antelope Valley sheriff's detectives traced the two men to Las Vegas on Thanksgiving week through their applications for driver's licenses, officials said.

"People always seems to come to Las Vegas to try to hide," said Las Vegas police Detective Ted Veach, who was assigned to the Faroni-Makuch case.

"It seems that everybody that is coming or leaving is trying to hide when they are apprehended," he said. "It's hard to hide here. Each hotel has its own security system, and most of the security people are former police officers."

On Oct. 26, Faroni said, they flew to Newtown, Conn., where they visited his family until Nov. 6, when they flew back to Las Vegas with plane fares paid for by his father.

"We tried to get them to stay longer, but they said they wanted to get back to try to get jobs in some (Las Vegas) casinos, and they said something about an apartment," Jennie Faroni said.

"When Richard was packing he said, 'Gram, we should have bought you a ticket so you could come and cook for us.' The next thing we hear, they are in jail," she recalled.

Richard Faroni said the two returned to Las Vegas on Nov. 7 and found an apartment in the 2000 block of Tam Street, but they moved out after less than a week. They rented a second apartment in the same complex - where investigators kicked in the door on Thanksgiving Day and arrested them.

During the phone interviews from jail, Faroni insisted they would be vindicated.

"I figure I am going to make a lot of money on speaking fees on talk shows when I get out of here," he said.
Caption: 2 photos
(1) FARONI (2) MAKUCH

Edition: Valley
Section: News
Page: N1
Index Terms: AV ; EXTORTION ; MAIL ; MATTHEW FARONI ; STEPHAN MAKUCH ; PROFILE ; BIOGRAPHY ; MAJOR STORY
Dateline: LANCASTER
Record Number: 8802190047
Copyright (c) 1988 Daily News of Los Angeles

REFERENCES IN LETTERS UPSET EXTORTION VICTIMS
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - December 12, 1988
Author: AVIS THOMAS-LESTER Daily News Staff Writer

When Patrick Hunt was sharing a Little League dugout with Roman Stephan Makuch and Richard Matthew Faroni last spring, he never suspected the two might target him in an extortion plot.

Makuch, 27, and Faroni, 26, who were arrested in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving, are scheduled to be arraigned today in Antelope Municipal Court in Lancaster . The two are suspected of conspiring to extort money from 265 prominent Antelope Valley residents, including Hunt.

Makuch goes by the nickname "Moose" and coached Hunt's 11-year-old son's Little League team.

"I knew both of them," said Hunt, 32, who works in his father's real estate company.

"Rich started coming to the games about halfway through the season. He used to hang out in the dugout. They even came into my real estate office after the season was over. I used to play ice hockey and Moose used to play back east, so we had something in common. Richard had a house he wanted to sell. They both liked to talk about real estate."

Faroni and Makuch - former Sheriff's Department civilian volunteers and electricians on the B-1 bomber at Palmdale's Rockwell International plant - are known to friends as "Rocky" and "Bullwinkle" after the television cartoon characters.

They are charged with 10 counts each of attempted extortion , 10 counts of sending letters with the intent to commit extortion , and one count of conspiracy, according to court records.

Lancaster supervising Deputy District Attorney Stephen L. Cooley - who is prosecuting the case - said the law limits the number of charges that could be filed, so prosecutors selected letters received by 10 victims who represent a cross section of the recipients.

In interviews with the Daily News, Faroni has denied his and Makuch's involvement and said the extortion plot was carried out by a Los Angeles businessman who made it appear that they were responsible because of a disagreement over a land deal.

But Cooley said in a news conference Thursday while others could be involved in the pay-or-die plot, Faroni and Makuch are central figures in the case.

Cooley said evidence has determined that some of the writing in the letters was consistent with patterns found in the verbal style or writing style of the suspects.

The letter sent to Hunt - the only one of the 10 victims named in the complaint who knows the suspects - demands that he pay $100,000 "or we contact your old man."

Hunt's father, William James Hunt, is owner of Hunt Realty Inc. of Palmdale. Hunt said the suspects met his father on several trips they made to his office after the Little League season.

"They came in probably four or five times - the last time was in mid- October," Hunt said.

Hunt, said he was not frightened by the extortion letter.

"But my wife is pregnant and she took it really hard," he said. "She ended up in the hospital for eight days because of this. She was scared to death."

Lancaster restaurateur William Lim, owner of the Phoenix Inn, said the letter sent to him made his whole family uneasy.

"It was kind of weird because I have worked with the public here for so many years," said Lim, 38. "I was nervous about it because I know so many people and people are coming into the restaurant all the time. It would be easy for somebody to get information on me."

Lim's letter, which arrived Nov. 2 - the first day the letters were reported to Antelope Valley sheriff's deputies - named his wife Sandy and her children Waylin and Darrin.

"The organization has watched this area over a year and we know what you can pay," the computer-generated mailing said. "Phoenix Inn we will kill you there maybe. We are tired of hearing that the Chinese Mafia is in our territory."

The letter sent to Lim, who is Chinese, contained racial slurs.

A letter to businessman Robert Stockbroger, who refused to be interviewed, made a racial reference to his gardener, who is black.

A racial reference was also made to Dr. Irene Gleason, a local pathologist of Korean descent.

"It was unnerving to think they knew something about me because even though I use the name Gleason, they know I am Asiatic," Gleason said.

All the letters made references to family members, although sometimes the specific names were not used. Certified public accountant Gary Cox, who could not be reached for comment, was ordered to pay $250,000 or the extortionists would kill him "then contact your wife Lynn . . . Our sources say she is pregnant again," the letter said.

"If it was me and I had received one of the letters, I would have probably been more afraid for my children," said Lt. Thomas Ewens, who is overseeing the investigation into the case.

"I would be most resentful for the children, because they had nothing to do with anything."

Dr. William Copeland, 38, received a letter which contained a reference to his wife, who works in his office. Lancaster attorney Frank Jackson's letter - which demanded $500,000 - contained a reference to his children.

"Our sources tell us your kids are very special to you," the letter said. "Do as you are told or we will rip their little hearts out."

The letter received by Dr. John Ebel, who refused to be interviewed, referred to his license plate number.

Former Lancaster City Manager James Gilley, who now works for Mid-Valley Real Estate, referred to his trip to Korea for the 1988 Olympics.

Gilley said only a few close acquaintances knew he made the trip.
Caption: photo
William Lim Family members were named

Edition: Valley
Section: News
Page: N4
Index Terms: NAMELIST; AV ; EXTORTION ; MAIL ; PROBE ; NAMELIST
Dateline: LANCASTER
Record Number: 8802200318
Copyright (c) 1988 Daily News of Los Angeles

PAY-OR-DIE DEFENDANTS WON'T DEAL - 2 FOUND GUILTY SAY THEY KNOW NOTHING
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - January 31, 1990
Author: BRAD SMITH Daily News Staff Writer

The attorney representing one of two former aerospace workers convicted with mailing "pay or die" extortion letters to prominent local residents said Tuesday his client is not willing to make a deal to avoid a long jail term.

William Clark, the court-appointed attorney who represented Richard Faroni, said Tuesday that his client and Roman Makuch have nothing to tell investigators about who mailed the more than 260 letters in October 1988. "We approached them about that Tuesday and they both said they have nothing to tell," Clark said. "It's not defiance, they just don't know anything about the case, and I still believe them."

Deputy District Attorney Stephen Cooley said no specific deal has been offered Faroni and Makuch, nicknamed "Rocky" and "Bullwinkle" because of their contrasting statures, but any information they supply "would be considered at sentencing."

He said he still hopes the pair will talk to investigators to clear up some of the remaining questions in the case.

"I'd be happy if we can get some of the questions resolved," Cooley said. "Right now we don't have any additional leads to pursue, but there are quite a few things we're still curious about."

Faroni, 27, and Makuch, 28, were found guilty Monday of 21 counts each of conspiracy, attempted extortion and mailing threatening letters. They face a maximum of eight years in state prison when sentenced Feb. 21, authorities said.

Foremost among the unanswered questions is who mailed the letters, since it is uncontested that both men were in Connecticut when the letters were mailed.

"We're hoping that something will emerge to clear that up," Cooley said. "Finding out how the plot was played out and who that third person was is what we'd really like to know."

More than 260 letters were sent to prominent Antelope Valley residents, investigators said. The letters were computer-printed diatribes full of spelling errors and obscenities punctuating the extortionists' demands for thousands of dollars in cash, and many of the letters were personalized with names of recipients' children or spouses.

Clark said that both men have consistently maintained their innocence and turned down deals offered to them in the past.
Caption: photo: (1) Richard Faroni Turned down deals in the past (2) Roman Makuch DA still hoping he'll talk

Edition: AV
Section: NEWS
Page: AV1
Index Terms: EXTORTION ; RICHARD FARONI ; ROMAN MAKUCH ; AV ; TRIAL
Dateline: LANCASTER
Record Number: 9001060538
Copyright (c) 1990 Daily News of Los Angeles

TWO POISON-PEN CONVICTS DUE FOR PAROLE IN APRIL
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - March 23, 1991
Author: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Two Lancaster men, imprisoned for sending numerous "pay-or-die" letters to prominent Antelope Valley residents, are scheduled for parole early next month, state officials said Friday.

Roman Makuch , 29, will be paroled April 6, and Richard Faroni, 28, will be paroled April 10 after serving 27 months of a four-year sentence. The pair has been in county and state jails since their arrest on Thanksgiving 1988, officials said. "I believe in the system," said Gary Fisher, owner of the Desert Inn and one of the letter's recipients. "The system tried and convicted them. Now the system says it's time for them to get out."

The 6-foot-7-inch Makuch and 5-foot Faroni - known to friends as Rocky and Bullwinkle - were convicted Jan. 29, 1990, of 21 counts each of conspiracy, attempted extortion and mailing threatening letters.

The pair maintained their innocence throughout the trial.

Authorities said the men sent extortion letters to 270 people, including doctors, lawyers and other high-paid professionals in the Antelope Valley in October 1988.

The men spent most of their time in custody in county jail before and during their trial. On March 30, 1990, Makuch began a prison term at Corcoran State Prison, while Faroni was sentenced to Folsom.

The letters threatened death to the recipients or their families if demands for thousands of dollars in cash were not met, officials said.

No money was ever collected, officials said.

Authorities said they believe the pair had at least one accomplice but a third person never was charged.

Some people who received letters left the area temporarily, while others installed home-security systems, officials said. At least two people were so frightened they became ill and had to be hospitalized, authorities said.

"I don't know whether it taught them a lesson," Fisher said. "If you're asking if I'm worried about them (being released), the answer is no."

Sheriff's deputies arrested Makuch and Faroni in Las Vegas after receiving an anonymous tip. During the investigation, authorities seized computer equipment and a story written by Makuch that authorities said had a writing style similar to that in some of the extortion letters.

Makuch and Faroni, mechanics laid off from the Rockwell B-1B bomber program in Palmdale, were described during their trial as eccentrics who were fascinated with guns and espionage.
Caption: photo
photo: Richard Faroni, left, and Roman Makuch will start paroles
April 10. Roger W. Vargo/Daily News

Edition: AV
Section: NEWS
Page: AV1
Index Terms: LANCASTER ; AV ; PAROLE ; ROMAN MAKUCH ; RICHARD FARONI
Dateline: LANCASTER
Record Number: 9101130679
Copyright (c) 1991 Daily News of Los Angeles

Furroni dude gave a presentation in October 2007 in Burgaw, NC on his B1 development. See page 2

http://www.eaa297.org/Newsletters/newsletteroct07.pdf