KIDNAP, MURDER PLOTS UNRAVEL 5 BODIES PULLED FROM LAKE; 1 MISSING.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer Two San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. businessmen were kidnapped for ransom as part of a string of extortion-murder cases that the FBI and local police agencies have investigated under a shroud of secrecy for at least six months, the Daily News learned Tuesday. Days after his abduction Abduction Balfour, David expecting inheritance, kidnapped by uncle. [Br. Lit.: Kidnapped] Bertram, Henry kidnapped at age five; taken from Scotland. [Br. Lit. last October, the body of real estate developer Meyer Muscatel mus·ca·tel n. 1. A rich sweet wine made from muscat grapes. 2. A muscat grape or raisin. [Middle English muscadelle, partly from Medieval Latin , 58, of Sherman Oaks, was found floating with a plastic bag over his head in a mountain reservoir in Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern , according to death reports that were recently obtained. A second Valley victim, North Hollywood businessman Alex Umansky was kidnapped two months later, according to his family, which holds out hope that he will be found alive. Details of abductions have only begun to emerge in recent days as the FBI oversees a search of New Melones Reservoir New Melones Reservoir is a reservoir on the Stanislaus River in the California Central Valley, about 60 miles upstream from the river's confluence with the San Joaquin River and forming part of the border between Calaveras County and Tuolumne County. in California's Mother Lode region about 40 miles east of Stockton. Divers using submersible submersible, small, mobile undersea research vessel capable of functioning in the ocean depths. Development of a great variety of submersibles during the later 1950s and 1960s came about as a result of improved technology and in response to a demonstrated need for equipment have pulled four more bodies from the reservoir where Muscatel was found, including that of a woman recovered from the lake Tuesday night. Neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged with investigating all violations of federal laws except those assigned to some other federal agency. nor Los Angeles police will discuss the disappearances, saying the lives of other victims could be jeopardized and the case compromised. ``All we can say is this search is being done as a result of organized crime activity,'' said Investigator Matthew McLaughlin of the Los Angeles FBI office. Further discussion of the abduction cases, he said, ``may compromise getting back all potential victims alive.'' McLaughlin and other FBI officials said Tuesday that they are investigating a possible link between the recovery of Muscatel's body Oct. 18 and other bodies recovered this week. The FBI is also probing Umansky's disappearance, and wouldn't dismiss whether the two kidnappings were connected. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where he is, so that possibility could exist,'' McLaughlin said. Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . detectives and officials of other police agencies involved in the investigation referred all calls concerning the highly secret organized crime investigation to the FBI. Families of the victims have been told by authorities to avoid discussing the cases, but Umansky's father acknowledged that ransom was paid to try to get his son released. ``These people are allowed to get away,'' said Rubin Umansky, the victim's father, a native of Russia. Though he wouldn't discuss his son's kidnapping, he acknowledged paying what he believes to be Russian mobsters Mobsters is a 1991 crime drama detailing the creation of the National Crime Syndicate/The Commission. Set in New York City during the Prohibition era, it's a somewhat fictionalized account of rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" a considerable sum to get him back alive. ``What I want is to get my hands on them and to cut them into tiny pieces,'' he said. Nancy Shapiro-Muscatel said her husband's disappearance was not taken seriously by investigators and that his body was only identified and returned for burial at Mount Sinai Cemetery last week, nearly five months after it was recovered from the reservoir. ``No one took it seriously that my husband was in trouble,'' she said. ``It's just unacceptable - my husband was lying for 5 1/2 months. He was a John Doe John Doe formerly, any plaintiff; now just anybody. [Am. Pop. Usage: Brewer Dictionary, 329] See : Everyman .'' On Tuesday, divers from the FBI and Calaveras and Tuolumne county sheriff's departments recovered the woman's body from the murky 38-degree water. On Monday, divers using submersible equipment recovered a body below Parrotts Ferry Bridge, about a quarter mile south of where a boater spotted the body of Muscatel. Two more badly decomposed de·com·pose v. de·com·posed, de·com·pos·ing, de·com·pos·es v.tr. 1. To separate into components or basic elements. 2. To cause to rot. v.intr. 1. bodies were recovered Sunday afternoon. Autopsies have not yet revealed the sexes or identities of the victims, FBI officials said. The search was launched by an unidentified FBI field office. A death certificate obtained from the Calaveras County Clerk/Recorder's Office by The Record of Stockton last week reported that Muscatel died of asphyxia asphyxia (ăsfĭk`sēə), deficiency of oxygen and excess of carbon dioxide in the blood and body tissues. Asphyxia, often referred to as suffocation, usually results from an interruption of breathing due to mechanical blockage of the by smothering smothering death by asphyxiation. Occurs where poultry are carelessly herded into a corner where they cannot escape and where they are piled four or five birds deep; they will die of asphyxia very quickly. See also crowding. . ``The victim was smothered smoth·er v. smoth·ered, smoth·er·ing, smoth·ers v.tr. 1. a. To suffocate (another). b. To deprive (a fire) of the oxygen necessary for combustion. 2. by the hands of another,'' the death certificate states. The certificate also states that he sustained a severe crush injury to the thoracic cavity thoracic cavity or chest cavity Second largest hollow space of the body, enclosed by the ribs, vertebral column, and breastbone and separated from the abdominal cavity by the diaphragm. and lower facial skeleton, but that could have occurred from hitting the water. Muscatel, a native of New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. raised in Seattle, owned Best Avnet, a Sherman Oaks development firm. He had lived in Los Angeles for 35 years. He was deeply religious, kept kosher, founded a charity for children and attended prayers twice a day for his late mother. The night he disappeared, he had told one of his twin daughters that he planned to stop for a business meeting en route to a chess game. The next day, police discovered his Ford Explorer parked at Gelson's Market in Sherman Oaks. Just after 9 a.m., Muscatel left messages with an office assistant and bank officials, saying ``he was in trouble and needed money,'' Shapiro-Muscatel said. He was never heard from again. ``It's just heartbreaking,'' Shapiro-Muscatel said. ``We've gone through so much, it's just hell ... It's so important that all of these people be caught.'' Lt. Don Hooper of the LAPD's Organized Crime and Vice Division said there are large communities of Eastern Europeans in Los Angeles - and an Eastern European crime presence. But Russian, Armenian and other organized crime groups are not nearly as organized or hierarchal as their Italian counterparts, he said. ``It's flat; it encourages friends and extended family. It's ambiguous; it's hard to figure out who might be in charge of it,'' he said. This did little to console the distraught Umansky, who awaits every word of the body recoveries from Hard Wired, his son's North Hollywood shop. The shop installs stereos, TVs, DVDs and other electronic gizmos into the luxury cars of dealers and celebrities. Since the abduction, the gray-haired father said he even tried contacting the mob to learn of his son's whereabouts. A few blocks away, weeds have grown tall around the house of Alex Umansky and his two children, where the only bright note is a cherry tree blooming along the curb. A boat, ``Mustang Sally,'' sits tarped in a side driveway. ``There are quite a few figures kidnapped,'' the older Umansky said. ``I know a lot but cannot say. I don't want to jeopardize the investigation. I don't want these people to get away.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos, map Photo: (1 -- color) Alex Umansky was kidnapped in December, his family paid a ransom, but he has not been heard from since. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer (2 -- color) Meyer Muscatel was kidnapped in October, and his body found in a Northern California lake along with four others. David Sprague/Staff Photographer (3 -- color) Sheriff's divers move a body they recovered in New Melones Reservoir on Sunday to a transport boat. Tuesday, divers were trying to recover a third body. Adrian Mendoza/The Modesto Bee Map: New Melones Reservoir |
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