Police Seeking Car Seen Near Scene of Menendez Killings

Police are investigating whether a vehicle observed near the Beverly Hills home of slain entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife was the same as one seen near the spot where a San Fernando Valley pornography dealer was murdered last month, The Times learned Friday.

In a separate development, an informed source said detectives are interested in talking to actor Sylvester Stallone as they explore a variety of leads in the slayings.

Not a Suspect

Stallone is not a suspect, the source said. The actor is a director of Carolco Pictures Inc., a film company that owns almost half the stock in the company of which Menendez was chief executive, Live Entertainment Inc. of Van Nuys, a video and music distributor.

Menendez, 45, and his wife, Kitty, 44, were shot to death Aug. 20 in the library of their residence on North Elm Drive. Law enforcement sources have said that the couple apparently were slain by two men firing 12-gauge shotguns at close range.

Beverly Hills police have declined to discuss their investigation.

But informed law enforcement sources outside the department said a “white hatchback” automobile was seen near their home about the time of the slayings. It was not known if law enforcement officers know the make and year of the vehicle or its license plate number.

Observed at Scene

A “white hatchback” was also observed in Northridge on Aug. 1 near the street where Theodore Snyder, 47, a producer of X-rated videos, was shot to death.

Court affidavits show that Snyder’s company, Video Cassette Recordings Inc., did business with and owed money to a firm allegedly controlled by Martin Taccetta, a man linked by federal prosecutors to the Lucchese crime family.

Snyder’s homicide is under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, which has not commented on the progress of its inquiry.

The investigation by Beverly Hills detectives has taken off in a number of directions, apparently reflecting the complexity of the case and the large number of transactions in which Menendez’s firm was involved.

In this framework, detectives want to talk to Stallone in their search for information about some of these business associations. Stallone, a knowledgeable source said, has not yet been contacted.

Stallone is the star of the macho Rambo movies, which have been huge financial successes for the West Hollywood-based Carolco. Carolco owns 49% of Live Entertainment.

Formed in Merger

Live Entertainment was formed earlier this year with the merger of International Video Entertainment, a video distributor, and Lieberman Enterprises, a Minneapolis-based music and video company.

Menendez was also a director and executive vice president of Carolco, where Stallone is a member of the board of directors.

Additionally, Stallone had about a 10% interest in International Video Entertainment until it was merged with the Lieberman firm in 1988.

On Thursday, Live Entertainment announced that it had retained the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an internal inquiry into the Menendez slaying.

The law firm is the same one that represented New York record executive Morris Levy, who was convicted in May, 1988, of conspiring to extort payments from a record wholesaler.

Levy, according to law enforcement officials and court records, has been a business associate of Vincent (The Chin) Gigante, said by federal authorities to be the boss of the Genovese crime family. Levy has denied any association with organized crime.

Last January, Live Entertainment purchased Strawberries Records, Tapes and CDS, a New England retail chain, from Levy.

“Given Mr. Levy’s previous history, the due diligence process for the purchase of Strawberries was unusually careful and exhaustive,” Live Entertainment said in its statement on the selection of the Paul, Weiss firm.

Richard Borisoff, an attorney for Paul, Weiss, said Friday that the firm no longer represents Levy.

Carolco’s chief executive, Peter M. Hoffman, who with the loss of Menendez has become acting chairman of Live Entertainment, said in a telephone interview that “we were, of course, aware that (Paul, Weiss) represented Morris Levy. We don’t consider it a conflict because that representation has been terminated.”

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Correction

Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez was 47 when she died, not 44.

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