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Longtime Pornographer Mickey Fine (Herbert Feinberg) Died Of Pneumonia In Fall Of 2005

Mickey called me from prison a couple of times in the summer of 2001 to condemn Kevin Beechum.

Kevin and Mickey fell out over an attempted bombing in Chicago in 1993.

Kenny Gallo writes on Hollywood Mafia:

Mickey Fine who was an associate of Reuben Sturman came to Kevin for help in forcing some bookstore owners to pay Rubin. Kevin hired some of his biker friends to carry out the bombing. There is plenty online about this. A man was killed on the way to the bookstore when a bomb went off. Kevin made a deal with the Feds and Mickey Fine would now die in prison.

From my July 12, 2001 archive:

Herbert Feinberg vs Kevin Beechum

I interviewed Kevin Beechum Wednesday afternoon [July 11, 2001]. First, some background.

Los Angeles Daily News 4/18/92

The two men riding in a car that exploded this week on the North Side, killing one of them, were bomb makers from a California motorcycle club who had flown to Chicago that day to blow up several adult bookstores, federal authorities alleged Friday.

Donald Mares, 28, who died in the blast, and fellow Vagos Motorcycle Club member Jay Brissette, both of Palmdale, were paid $6,000 for the job, according to a federal complaint.

Brissette, who authorities say was riding with Mares in the car and escaped, is listed as a fugitive, and was charged late Friday with plotting to transport explosives to Chicago. The purpose of the alleged plot, the complaint said, was to "intimidate individuals and unlawfully damage and destroy buildings."

Sources familiar with the case said likely suspects include West Coast pornography distributors who hope to forge new outlets and organized-crime figures seeking to extort money. Brissette is believed to have been at the wheel when the rental car, a blue Chevrolet Corsica, exploded in front of 43 W. Division St. about 8 p.m. Thursday.

That bomb, among several explosive devices found in the wreckage, detonated prematurely, officials said, probably as Mares fidgeted in the front seat with a remote-control device. The device might have been intended to trigger the Old Town bomb, authorities said.

Passers-by in the popular night-life area told police both occupants jumped from the car as the blast shattered windows. Mares staggered a few feet and collapsed. The car, moving on, hit a curb 140 feet away and burst into flames. The second passenger, dazed and bleeding, fled on foot. His clothing and hair were scorched, witnesses said.

Mares and Brissette flew to Chicago from Milwaukee on Wednesday after catching a flight there from California on Monday. They rented a car in northwest suburban Des Plaines and drove into the city, bringing bombs with them. Five bombs were accounted for, including the one that killed Mares. The fifth was found in the Chevrolet's wreckage Friday and was detonated.

"Essentially, all the devices are homemade pipe bombs (with) remote control detonation devices (and) were made by the same individual," the affidavit said.

A confidential informant described as a woman told authorities that Mares and Brissette had been paid $6,000 to bomb adult bookstores here.

On Thursday, federal agents in California searched the home and garage of Mares in Palmdale, and reported finding gunpowder, small radio-controlled devices and other explosives paraphernalia. Organized crime has used pipe bombs and motorcycle gang members to enforce demands on operators of adult bookstores and other businesses to pay extortion.

Testimony in the recent trial of Ernest Rocco Infelice, a suburban mob boss, showed how his street crew employed threats of violence and actual beatings to enforce extortion demands. Witnesses said pipe bombs were sometimes detonated as a "final warning to pay or die."

Chicago Tribune 3/31/93:

Peep shows in Arizona were the first target. Next, eight adult bookstores in Chicago faced bombings. And, if necessary, similar businesses dealing in sexually explicit films would be hit in Cleveland.

An outrageous Hollywood movie scenario or the storyline of a Mafia bestseller? Not according to federal authorities.

In documents detailing an alleged true-life conspiracy of intimidation and violence, government court filings cite a bungled plot by convicted pornographer Reuben Sturman to get the attention-and money-of several national distributors of adult-oriented material.

On a chilly April night in Chicago last year, the scheme literally exploded in the faces of two alleged conspirators, killing one and igniting a nationwide investigation. Now, Sturman and companion Herbert Feinberg face trial April 26 in Chicago on charges arising from the alleged shakedown plot and its grim residue-the fatal car bombing April 15 outside 43 W. Division St.

On file in federal court here, the documents outline the prosecution's case against Sturman, charging he directed the violence against former business colleagues to enforce extortion demands for money. Among the identified victims were Paula Lawrence and her husband, Roy May, whose Chicago-based firms Capitol News Agency Co., General Video Midwest Inc., and Wednesday Co. Inc. distribute adult films and operate peep shows in the Midwest.

The couple paid tribute to Sturman, in payments up to $200,000 at a time, out of fear of economic harm or violence, the documents explained. The documents contend Sturman wouldn't take no for an answer to his extortion demands, and he made those demands because he had a huge tax bill.

Until 1991, when Sturman faced the certain prospect of prison for violating federal obscenity laws and income tax fraud, he had routinely received money from Lawrence, May and a porn dealer in Phoenix, Tamara Green, who operated Book-Cellar Inc. But the cash flow dried up as Sturman's legal appeals to avoid prison failed, and he was hit with a $4.66 million tax bill by the Internal Revenue Service.

That is when an indictment in the case said Sturman devised the extortion scheme and turned for help to Feinberg, getting him to hire muscle-recruit and pay people to create violence for a price, until he got his way. Sturman, 68, formerly of Cleveland, and Feinberg, 62, of Los Angeles, both veteran distributors of adult films, were indicted on charges of extortion and conspiracy.

According to court documents, Sturman's and Feinberg's implication in the case is based largely on testimony given to a grand jury in Chicago by Sturman's former wife, Naomi Delgado, and several California men who claim Feinberg paid them $20,000 to bomb eight Chicago adult bookstores. Another California man, Donald Mares, 28, died in the Division Street car bombing.

A pipe bomb detonated prematurely as Mares and his companion, Paul Mahn, traveled between bookstore bombings on the Near North Side. Three other conspirators were elsewhere in Chicago at the time, trying to bomb another bookstore. All were businesses owned by Lawrence and May.

According to court documents, Mahn, Mares and a third man began the violence in Phoenix. The trio used hammers to extensively damage peep show booths in a Tamara Green-owned bookstore on Dec. 22, 1991.

From Chicago, the indictment said, the violence was to move to Cleveland and several adult bookstores whose owner refused to meet Sturman's alleged demands for money.

Mickey Fine aka Herbert Feinberg phoned me from prison Tuesday afternoon (July 10, 2001). Seventy years old and in poor health, he's serving 40 years for arranging a bombing gone awry of a Chicago porn shop in 1992.

Herbert: "I got the conversation you had with Kevin [Beechum]. I've still got appeals pending and my lawyer is even against what I'm going to tell you now. But I can only tell you so much and you can repeat this to Kevin. You're a f---ing lying bastard. I never spoke to nobody, never. You were the one. I came up to see you in your office, you were wired up. I asked you at the end of the conversation. 'Kevin, I don't like the way you're talking. Are you wired up? Let me see. Open your shirt.'

"He wouldn't do it. I called him a prick and I walked out of his office. And that didn't come out on the tapes. That was deleted from the tapes.

"[Biker bomber] Jay Brisette is a little piece of s---. He ratted out not only me but his codefendants. How do you think they caught [Joseph] Martinez? They didn't know no Martinez. He told them. How do you think they caught [Paul] Mahn? He told them. Jay did it. They even ratted on a poor Chinaman who drove them to the airport and he got three years. They're lowlife scum.

"Never did I speak to an FBI agent or any agent? They came to my home from Chicago..."

Feinberg stumbles and swallows his breath. "Excuse me, I'm so angry. An FBI agent from Chicago, an alcohol and tobacco agent came from Chicago, and the prosecutor that tried me, Mark Prosperi. He came and sat outside in the car with the other agent, Gariola. The prosecutor came in wired up. They told me they wanted to play tapes for me. Those were the tapes that I spoke to Kevin. And he gave it to them."

Luke: "Kevin says he only did this because you wouldn't pick up the legal fees for him and Jay."

Herbert: "As far as the legal fees go. Jay called me up and said that he was broke and in a hotel. It was just to get me on the phone because he was in the hotel with the FBI agent. But still, I sent over $500 to him. Then I sent over $6000 to their lawyer. Five thousand dollars to the lawyer to retain him and $1000 to give to Jay Brisette's wife. Jay Brisette's wife never saw $1000 all at once since the day she knew that pimp.

"Next. I didn't get no money because Reuben Sturman f---ed me. As far as being a smart guy, I'm the biggest schmuck you could meet. How I got wrapped up in this. This was a complete lie. I was never told that these people [Roy and Paula May, Tamara Green] were told by Uncle Sam not to give money to Sturman no more. He didn't tell me that. He told me that they don't want to pay. And he offered me a deal that I don't want to talk about, that you can't refuse. And I did not get no money from him. That $6500 that I gave them was out of my pocket.

"Jay Brisette got $20,000 [from Sturman through Feinberg] and gave me back $1500. Jay kept most of the money. And I also gave him $10,000 for the job he did in Arizona [money from Sturman]. And he lied there. I told him just to break the video machine that goes to the peep shows. Just take a hammer and break it and walk out. That's all. Even on the testimony he says, 'Why would I want to use bombs? If you use bombs, you blow up the store. Even if you don't blow up the store, who's going to go into the store after it was bombed? So how are you going to get your money. So why use bombs? That's number one.

"Number two. If I told him to use bombs, why in the same breath did he say in court, 'Feinberg said, don't touch the registers and don't touch the employees.' But bomb the joint? Does that make sense to you? How could you bomb the joint and not hurt the employees? It's impossible. They're lying. The guy that was killed [Donald Mares]. He was the one that took over everything.

"He mentioned bomb. I said, 'Why do you want to use a bomb? Use a smoke bomb if you need it. This way you can get out and nobody will run after you. They'll be scared. Or a stink bomb.

"Jay knew that. He's full of s---. But they took the job away from him. They went to do two and they done four [bombings?]. He's a little f---ing fag.

"And Kevin is the one who set up this whole freaking thing about the law. He went to his lawyer. He held Jay for five days at his mother-in-law's house until the lawyer [Jim Henderson] flew back to Chicago and made a deal. He was a big shot lawyer from Chicago at the time. He made a deal with his buddies [in the FBI agency Henderson used to run]. And the deal was simple.

"He'll give everybody up, just cut Kevin free. Give Kevin immunity from prosecution and Kevin will go to the Grand Jury and Kevin will take the stand at the trial. That's the bottom line. And if he says otherwise, he's a f---ing liar.

"Kevin was my friend. I knew him. I never trusted him. He was always a sneaky f---. He cheated his own f---ing friends. Tell him that too. The Zane brothers. He was getting his boxes from somebody he knew that worked there. Kevin had a friend who worked for Zane who backdoored him boxes. And the Zane brothers were his friends. He used to go out and eat with them.

"Frank Barbarino is a nice man. I like him. I respect his word. I'm only sorry that there was a balance left between us two. And if you see him, just explain to him that there was nothing I could do. I've been laying in jail for eight years."

Luke: "How's your health?"

Herbert: "I'm 70 years old. I've got a bad heart. I had two open heart surgeries already. I had a tumor taken off my brain, off my pituitary gland. What am I going to do? Who lives to be 70 and don't have trouble?

"But when I read that f---ing thing [interview with Kevin Beech]. Somebody sent it to me, all 16 pages. And that got into me. Believe me, I never went to a cop. I told them to leave my house. And if you want proof of that, you can call up Roger Diamond, the attorney.

"Because I called Roger Diamond from my home. I told Roger Diamond, 'They're here. I don't want them here.' He said, 'Put them on the phone.' He told them to get out and if they want to talk, talk to him. To no longer talk to me. He was my lawyer but he couldn't stay on my case because they were going to use him as an unindicted co-conspirator. Because it was his wife that brought the money to their lawyer [Jim Henderson].

"It was Kevin's lawyer. Kevin used him to make sure that Brisette didn't get clammed and put him in.

"When I went back to Jay Brisette for the second trip, for the trip to Chicago, it was done in Kevin's office. He was sitting right there [as the plan to damage porn shops in Chicago was hashed out]. He's full of s---. And I remember the exact words he used. 'Alright, how many times are you going to tell him how to do it? I got work to do. Get out of here.' And I walked out and I took them to eat."

Luke: "Kevin says he didn't know anything about the Chicago..."

Herbert: "He's full of s---. He was right there when it took place. It was Jay Brisette, Kevin and me.

"And if I told them to use bombs, why didn't they use bombs in Arizona? Why did they just go to break the machine. If I would've known that he went [to Arizona] with a baseball bat, I would never have given him the second job to do. If you're going to break a f---ing machine, why do you need a baseball bat? What did these jerkoffs think they were doing? They thought they were attacking Guadacanal?

"These f---ing morons. And Kevin even told me that his friend [Jay Brisette] was telling everybody after the second time he got in trouble [in Chicago]. I said to Kevin, 'You told me this guy is a helluva man. A good man. You know him from Bay City, Michigan. You've known him all your life. And Kevin said, 'Yeah, he's got a one-year old kid. What do you expect him to do?' Because he's got a one-year old kid, what do I expect him to do? I would love to see him die."

Luke: "Jay Brisette or Kevin?"

Herbert: "Both of them."

Luke: "Whose idea was it to use bombs?"

Herbert: "The guy [Donald Mares] who was killed in the car. He was a bomb expert. They all should've blown up in the f---ing car. Jay gave up Martinez and Mahn. How else would they have known them? They all came back together [from Chicago]. They didn't get busted. And Kevin said he had nothing to do with the second shot. He picked them up in a goddam mall and he held them for five days. You call that not knowing anything?

"Kevin's lawyer Jim Henderson went to Chicago, made a deal to cut Kevin free, and gave them up."

Luke: "And what about Russell Hampshire?"

Herbert: "Russell Hampshire was the poor bastard who was put in the middle. Reuben's wife Naomi put him in the middle."

Luke: "You know she just married Ron Braverman?"

Herbert: "Yeah, I know she just married Ron Braverman. I may be 2000 miles from there but I know everything that goes on out there. How do you think I knew about you? And she [Naomi] went to the grand jury against me too. Because I told her to tell Reuben that I can't go to see him but he shouldn't worry. Just let him take care of the legals and I will not say a word.

"And I even told the FBI, Reuben don't know nothing about bombs. It's the truth. Reuben died in the place where I am here. It's too bad that he can't come back to life again so I could watch him die again.

"One day when this is all taken care of, everything I say to you I will prove in testimonies from the courts. And Kevin and Jay know that. Be good now. I can't keep taking up the phone from these people."

I spoke to Kevin Beechum Wednesday afternoon.

Kevin: "I don't want you to print no more after you print this."

Luke: "Ok."

Kevin: "I like what this f---ing weasel is trying to weasel out on and say. Yeah right, he's got an appeal pending worth s---. He's a f---ing liar.

"It came down to us nailing him, like I told you. I called him from the house, Jay didn't call. That's how whacked this f---er is. Tell him he's getting Old Timer's Disease. I called him from my f---ing house with Jay [to ask Herbert to pay for their legal defense] and he told me he'd get back to me. And f---ing said, he wanted me to put up my house and the money for the f---ing bail and the lawyers and I said, I had nothing to do with this f---ing thing. You gave me your word you would do it [take care of everything].

"After Jay came back from Chicago and we called him. What are we going to do? We need lawyers. We need money. He gave us $5000. Think of this? Guys just got popped for a murder and a bombing case and he's saying he's sending over $5000. The case cost me out of my own pocket $150,000. My lawyer wouldn't even touch it without $50,000 down. He flat out told me there is no money, I can't get the money. You put your own house up and get the money.

"I told him to get f---ed. That's not the deal. If you're going to tell me that you're not getting it, we're f---ing you back. And that's when we f---ed him. And for him to call Jay and these guys a piece of s---, he's a big man sitting behind a f---ing jail. That's where he f---ing belongs.

"And he says I ripped off my buddy Chuck Zane. That shows how much of a bulls---ter he is. Chuck Zane will verify to you that I caught the guys stealing out of Chuck Zane's place. And he fired both of them. They were actually buddies of mine but Chuck was a bigger buddy of mine. So I f---ing told him they were back-dooring him and he fired them. They almost got killed.

"Mickey's going back so far because he's trying to cover his ass. He got money from Reuben and gave it to his wife so she could survive. I heard he got a bundle of money from Reuben. And Mickey's known for that. You can call anybody in this business and ask about Mickey Fine's name and there ain't nine out of ten who wouldn't beat his ass. Or he wasn't allowed in their buildings. He could only go into a few of us. That's because he never ripped us off. He never ripped me off. He never ripped Russ Hampshire off. He never ripped off guys he knew he'd get his ass beat by.

"But he ripped off 90% of the guys in this business by either knocking their boxes off or robbing them for money and not paying for product he'd get."

Luke: "What was his job in the industry?"

Kevin: "He was a f---ing con artist. He went around smoothing everybody and taking them for what he could. Then he'd come to guys like me for protection. He pisses me off now. He opened a f---ing can of worms. He better stay in there. Jay would love to get his hands on him for this. I'm going to print this for Jay.

"Nobody in the business trusts Mickey. If he was so trusted and liked, he'd be living like a king in that prison. Ain't nobody who will send him any money except for a couple of dudes, and they feel sorry for him because he never ripped them off. Everybody else in this business he took to the cleaners.

"I like how he writes that he never trusted me. I was the only f---ing guy he did trust and come to when he needed help."

Luke: "What sort of help did he need?"

Kevin: "When guys were after him... Somebody always wanted to beat his ass.

"When we said, f--- it, we're busting him, we went to the cops and they wired my office. We wanted to beat him but we couldn't because the feds would've gotten us. We would've killed the f---er."

Luke: "Mickey's been around a long time."

Kevin: "He's been around since the New York days with all the old timers. He used to run with Jimmy the Weasel [Fratianno]. He used to be Mickey the Weasel.

"They didn't give me nothing. They didn't give me immunity. I wasn't charged with anything. The only thing they were going to charge me on was the Arizona case but I made restitution with her [Tamara Green] so they didn't do it. I went on the stand and roasted Mickey's ass but when they asked me anything about Reuben Sturman, I knew nothing about Reuben.

"I didn't have immunity for anything. Wait, I shouldn't say that. We must've had something written for me to cooperate in setting his ass up. For me doing what I did, which was unheard of, I did it for Jay. I put myself in the middle of it.

"Mickey and I bulls---ted in my office. He buried himself. I got him to say that I had nothing to do with it. That's what got me off.

"Mickey's been playing heart problems since he was out here. He's too chicken s--- to go to a real prison.

"Mickey would kiss my ass if I pulled my pants down. He was a suck ass. If I looked wrong, he'd run. He's just a little old man. I used to like him because he was such a little hustler weasel. And he f---ed everybody.

"I liked him because he always came up with good deals from s---. But to everyone else, the way he got those deals, he just f---ed them, never paid them.

"He's such a f---ing liar. This guy's good.

"When the ATS raided and got Joe, then they came to my house looking for Jay. That was when we got out of my house, when we heard they raided Joe's house, and we went and hid at my mother-in-law's house for Easter weekend."

Luke: "What happened when Jay came back from the Chicago bombing?"

Kevin: "They called me up. All three of them were on the plane. I picked them up at Hughes Market in Chatsworth. The guy who drove them to the airport, the so-called Chinaman, was supposed to go to Chicago but he backed out at the airport. And Little Joe went in his place.

"This 'Chinaman' was at the Hughes Market when I got there in my truck. And he picked up Paul [Mahn]. Paul was hid up in the mountains, they couldn't catch him, for a couple of weeks.

"After I picked them up at Hughes, we called Mickey and said things had gone bad. And you've got me in the middle. You need to go to the source and get some money. He went to Reuben and got some money. When Jim [Henderson] told me how much it would cost, I told Mickey. Mickey came back to me and told me to put my house up. I told him, I'm not putting nothing up. Either you get the money or you get f---ed.

"Finally he came back to me and said, you've got to do what you've got to do, because I can't get it. We were downtown in my buddy's Jewely mart, sweating bullets, waiting for him to give us the answer. When he said do what you have to do, I said, ok, you're getting f---ed.

"When my buddy Jay called me from Hughes, what was I going to do? f--- you. I ain't gonna pick you up? I had to go f---ing get him. I got the phone call at 4AM from Jay's wife saying that Donny was blown up and dead and where was Jay?

"He says that Reuben's wife put Russ in the middle of it. Mickey went to Russ.

"When he says he can't keep taking up the phone, well, he must have no pull in there. I have five of my guys in prison. They don't get told to get off the phone. He must have no f---ing pull, the little sissy.

"Mickey gets all his info from his good buddies like Michael Warner [Great Western Litho]. Of course he knows about Ron Braverman getting married. They're all Mickey's buddies.

"We got a few phone calls on this story. Some people told Jeff [Steward], we knew Kevin was crazy but we didn't know he bombed people.

"A lot of people like Russ [Hampshire] are going to be pissed that you brought all this stuff back up. They wanted this squashed. We never even talked for a long time. I didn't snitch on Mickey, I f---ed him. There's a difference between snitching and f---ing.

"Mickey snowballed Michael and Ron and Russ, trying to play like we did this to him. Russ knew that Mickey got money [from Sturman]."

Luke: "Why didn't Reuben spring for everyone's defense?"

Kevin: "I think Reuben paid Mick a set amount to do the job. Mickey was supposed to pay. He never paid all the money in the first place and then went to get more money from Reuben.

"Mickey says Jay got $20,000 [from Sturman] and gave him back $1500. Mickey made both ends. Reuben paid him $10,000 for the job and then Mickey made Jay feel bad and give him some money. Mickey was known for making money on both ends.

"Mickey's problem was that on this, he bit off more than he could chew. He thought he could weasel out but it didn't work because he f---ed with us.

"At the end [of the story] say, I'm putting this to rest. I'm done playing bulls--- games with a weasel."

Lynne writes:

Old Timers Disease. I've got it too, I'm afraid. This brings back memories. Bruce knew Mickey Fine, always spoke to him at CES. Yesterday was the anniversary of Bruce's death...two years. Oh, the stories he would have told you. Did Mickey give you an address or way to contact him?

Mrs. Bruce Walker sends her regards to Mickey Fine. Bruce, who passed away two years ago this week, often spoke of you, Mickey, and the adventures in the good old days before everyone and his third cousin bought a video camera at the Wal-Mart and became a pornographer. So much has changed -- Sturman's gone, Wisner's gone. I retired from the business myself now, and I'm sad to hear that your retirement home doesn't include a decent deli and a golf course. Maybe we can get Luke to say some prayers for your health.