Woman Receives Life Sentence in 1983 ‘Cotton Club’ Murder
A former cocaine dealer was sentenced Friday to life in prison for masterminding the 1983 murder of producer Roy Radin in a dispute over financing of the movie “The Cotton Club.”
Karen DeLayne (Lanie) Greenberger, 43, was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court last July of second-degree murder and a kidnaping count that automatically requires a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Greenberger hired hit men Alex Marti, 30, William Mentzer, 42, and Robert Ulmer Lowe, 44, who were convicted of first-degree murder, kidnaping and six special-circumstance allegations.
Marti was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The other two could be sentenced to die in California’s gas chamber.
Radin’s bullet-riddled body was found in a canyon in Gorman, north of Los Angeles, by a beekeeper in June, 1983, about a month after the 33-year-old former New York theatrical producer disappeared.
Greenberger’s attorney, Edward Shohat, argued for a term of 16 years to life in prison, but the judge refused, saying Greenberger knew the kidnaping for the purpose of extortion was likely to end in Radin’s death.
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