Posted date: 6/30/2009
Tapes Put Other Torres' Convictions in Question

By ALEXA HYLAND
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Defense attorneys for George Torres on Monday sought dismissal of additional convictions against the former Numero Uno supermarket owner during a Los Angeles federal court hearing in which jailhouse recordings were played to argue even more testimony had been tainted.

Torres' attorneys contend the recently disclosed tapes further demonstrate that evidence given during the trial that convicted Torres on 55 felony accounts was corrupted.

The tapes include conversations between Raul Del Real, a convicted drug trafficker and ex-Torres confidante, and his brother. On the tapes, Del Real is heard discussing how his testimony at Torres’ trial would support other evidence in the case.

Prosecutors had used Del Real’s testimony in an effort to prove that Torres controlled his Numero Uno grocery chain through a criminal enterprise, making millions by hiring illegal workers, failing to pay taxes, bribing a public official and arranging to have people killed.

The recordings, which were taken while Del Real was housed in a Santa Ana jail, were handed over to the defense six weeks after Torres was found guilty in April of racketeering and other felonies. Those included bribing a city commissioner, wire fraud, conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and tax-related charges.

Defense attorneys have argued that Torres was a hard-working businessman targeted by an overzealous Los Angeles Police Department detective, Greg Kading, who promised Del Real and Derrick Smith, another convicted drug trafficker and prosecution witness, money and early release from prison in exchange for testimony.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson threw out all racketeering-related charges earlier this month after prosecutors moved to have them dismissed after discovering the additional Del Real recordings after the trial.

However, Torres’ defense team asked Wilson during Monday’s hearing to dismiss the tax and immigration related conviction as well. They argued that Kading interviewed witnesses on those crimes and as a result that evidence also was tainted. Wilson scheduled a July 28 hearing to further discuss the case.

Torres, who is free on bond, sold his Numero Uno chain for an undisclosed sum just 12 days after he was convicted. The buyer was a partnership of Nogales Investors LLC, a L.A. private equity firm, and Breco Holdings Inc., a Houston investment firm.

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