The Leno LaBianca Estate... and how it got that way.

Ok, let’s deal with Leno first as his estate is pretty much straightforward:

Leno was broke.  Nothing more to it.  This should come as no surprise to any of us.  When all of his assets were sold off it wasn’t enough to cover all his obligations.  His business – his family’s business – subsequently failed.

Let’s begin with what Alice LaBianca has to say in No More Tomorrows which she calls “A Biographical Novel” (whatever that means).  Also, in the author’s note, she says the story is how she remembers it, “mostly fact, some fiction.”  Oh boy.  Caveat noted.

Leno’s business, Gateway, had been started by his father and mother.  Leno’s father expanded it to include a second wholesale business which was eventually sold off once market conditions made it the smart move.  They were somewhat closed corporations… there were shareholders but there were two types of shares, voting and non-voting, and all the shareholders were mostly family involved in the business anyway.  

Anthony, Leno’s father, manipulated the shares in such a way that he controlled the most votes and so he was basically able to appoint whomever he wanted to positions of power.  This is how Leno eventually came to be in charge.  Anthony’s brother, Sam, owned only 19% of the stock and it wasn’t enough for him to keep his position as vice-president once Anthony decided Leno should replace him.  

So in 1950 Leno was first appointed to the board and then the board appointed him VP of both Gateway and the Wholesale Corporations.  According to Alice LaBianca, Sam didn’t speak to them for more than a year.  Also, Leno’s sisters were upset by it too, as their husbands the Petes (Smaldino and DeSantis) were passed-over as well.  Leno’s older sister (Smaldino) was particularly miffed her husband wasn’t made VP.

In 1951, Anthony died and so at 26 Leno became the President of both corporations.  He inherited 3301 Waverly Drive too, known by the LaBianca family as Oak Terrace and moved in.  Leno’s mom moved into an apartment on the property in the back of the garage, like she was Fonzie or something.  Leno and Alice sold their house in Alhambra and bought a beach house which was for them to live in the future, but had to be rented out upon purchase, to afford it.  Leno owned the exact same amount of stock as his sisters, but he was solely responsible for the success of the business.  The pressure is building.

Leno and Alice begin to have marital problems, and in 1954 they both move out of Waverly and into separate apartments... Alice with the children.  Leno’s mother moves back into the house and she eventually buys it back from Leno.  By the time Alice has their third child, Leno is growing very distant.  He bought Alice a new house and they sold their beach house.  After a couple of half-hearted reconciliation attempts, they knew their marriage was over in 1956 and Alice begins to feel a sense of foreboding about the house on Waverly.  It’s isolated, separated from the house on one side by the large wall, and by over 200 feet on the other side.

By 1957 Leno had sold-off the Wholesale business and had expanded Gateway.  Alice remarried and in 1959, Leno had met and fallen in love with Rosemary, complaining that he always falls for women who want careers.

Early 60s and Leno’s brother-in-law Peter Smaldino wants out.  This is notable because in the Second Homicide Report it’s noted that Ray Norwood, the company treasurer, tells the police that Leno and Smaldino didn’t get along and Leno thought Smaldino was always watching him.  Alice claims that Smaldino objected to being second fiddle to Leno and also that Leno was expanding the business too fast and borrowing too much money and that he didn’t want to stand by while Leno “loses it all”.

Norwood told the police that in 1964, Gateway sold some of their stores and received $400,000... but because of the sale, they were making less income and were still paying three executive salaries, and one of those executive salaries had to be cut.  According to Norwood, Smaldino volunteered, if his terms were met.

What Norwood and Alice both agree on, is that Smaldino wanted his stock to be redeemed in cash.  Norwood says Leno unwisely agreed to pay Smaldino $250,000 (in cash) to get rid of him, so he would be free to do as he pleased.  According to Alice, Leno’s attorney advised against it, suggesting Leno only pay him 25% of his shares in cash, and take a note for the rest.  In that case, Smaldino would still be on the board.  Leno said it was his mother’s decision.  According to Leno, she suggested to him, it was best to make peace with the family... pay them their cash... and let them go.  So they did, and the Smaldinos opened-up their own liquor store business.  Alice says, this is the beginning of the end for Gateway.

Now, remember that Smaldino is the one who suggests to the police that the murders may be mafia-related because of Leno’s gambling debts.  But the other Pete, Pete DeSantis, who is the head of the Sons of Italy, doubts it.  DeSantis is Leno’s other brother-in-law who remained at Gateway, and Norwood describes him as allowing Leno to do whatever he pleased, because he was always so distracted by his duties with the Sons of Italy.

Alice writes of Rosemary opening a boutique in an old Gateway truck and then opening up a dress shop with a partner in Beverly Hills.   They bought the Disney house and then sold it quickly for a nice profit because it was more trouble than it was worth... and then of course, bought the Waverly house back from his mother for $18,000... and eventually (as we shall see documented), takes out a second mortgage on the place for $44,000.

Sometime in 1968 Alice writes, that Leno called her and stated he was trying to get out of the grocery business for good... and asked her to lend him enough money, to buy out Pete DeSantis’ shares... and then he could have control and sell the company off for good.  Alice says she could have lent him $20,000, but that was all... and it wasn’t enough.  1968?  Begs the question: If Rosemary is so successful, why can't she front him the money?  Why go to your ex-wife when your current wife is lying right next to you? 

Alice also writes, that around this time, is when the neighborhood started to turn with hippies and pot parties and such.  Remember also, that it is about this time, that Harold True and his folks are living next door, and that the Waverly house has apparently been broken-into more than once.

April 1969 Leno and Alice’s daughter Cory turns 21.  This allows her to be appointed administratrix for Leno’s estate in a couple of more months.  Leno comes to visit her... and Alice and Cory notice something a bit strange about him, describing him as “preoccupied and upset”.

On April 9^th Leno writes Cory a letter which updates her on all of his horses, most notably ‘The Kildare Lady.’  Leno refers to these horses as “our” horses.  Whose?  He and Rosemary’s?  It’s never clear, but there are pictures (as well) of two of them... one with one of Alice’s daughter riding... and one which Alice named "Leno’s Lady", once she bought them after Leno’s death.  Alice wasn’t able to hold onto the two horses for long either, but she writes of Leno’s plans to buy a ranch and raise these horses full-time.  Alice never says it is any secret, so I can only assume that Rosemary must have known about them as well.  Why they remained a secret from the LaBianca side can only be surmised, but I bet we can surmise on that in a bit.  This is the letter also, where Leno complains of two “pot parties” being broken up by the cops right next door on Waverly.

Alice writes that Leno was trying to make a final agreement to leave Gateway (because the jig was up and everyone knew about Leno's misdeeds with the company's bucks - editorial comment), which he only could accomplish, if someone bought-out his shares... and that Leno’s attorney wrote-up a proposal that Pete DeSantis would buy them all, over a period of ten years.  DeSantis was skeptical of this arrangement and objected.  Leno went to his mother, but she told him they would just have to weather these troubles as well. 

The Second Homicide Report has DeSantis learning after Leno’s death, that Leno planned to buy a ranch in Vista, California for $127,000, but that he had no idea where he could possibly get the money, because by this time, they all knew... (both Petes and Leno’s mother)... that Leno had been misappropriating lots of money from the business for quite some time, and restitution was to be made.

Alice has it that ostensibly on August 8^th; Pete called Leno and told him that after talking with Leno’s mother, that they could work something out as a birthday present.  But in the Homicide Report, DeSantis claims no such thing, and further goes on to state that he thought Leno’s exit proposal was “absurd”, because it wouldn’t even come close to covering what Leno had taken from the company.   He thought it to be only a bargaining point and that he never got to discuss it with Leno because the meeting on August 9^th never happened.  DeSantis also admitted he thought Leno’s mother would have been generous to Leno, even though he didn’t deserve it.

Alice writes of her interrogation by the LAPD, and that she was incredulous about what they were insinuating about Leno's lifestyle and gambling addiction, as well as drug dealing and mafia connections.  Drug dealing?  The police insinuated this?  Why, pray tell?  This is the first solid connection even hinted at that the police may have been concerned about a drug connection.

Alice writes that she returned to Waverly in September to collect things for her children.  The house was sold almost immediately (if October 1970 is immediately, as we shall see) and that Leno had a will naming her as trustee, but that he never signed it, which is why the court appointed their daughter Cory as administratrix.

Leno’s interest in Gateway was a minority one, so it wasn’t appraised, but everything had to be sold because the liabilities far outweighed the assets.  She could have bought Leno’s minority share for $10,000 and claims that it was worth much more, but because Pete DeSantis told her she would never have any say in the business she declined, and it was bought by the creditors.  Within one year after that, the family business was no more.  Six years after Leno’s death, his mother died and the estate was finally settled.

Some thoughts:  

Ray Norwood, the Gateway Treasurer, in the second homicide report tells the police that Gateway was a successful and stable company which always operated at a profit until 1962, which was the time that Leno began taking “advances” from the company in excess of his own salary and expenses.  This was after his marriage to Rosemary.

Alice’s description of Rosemary is pretty good.  She says she kept her distance from Alice and that they were polite, but that Rosemary was good to Alice's children and was particularly close with Cory, and that she always participated in the LaBianca family’s activities.  No hint of any marital trouble with Leno is made at all.

LaBianca Family Statements at the parole hearings also bear out the state of financial affairs described by Alice and borne out by the records.  In 1998 Alice herself said at Leslie Van Houten’s hearing, “Make no mistake about it, the entire LaBianca family has suffered untold deprivation, frustration, anxiety and financial ruin because of these murders. Leno's mother died of a broken heart just six years after her son's murder, losing the business to merciless creditors - the family business that Leno was managing and she and Leno's father had founded in the late 1920's. We emphatically oppose the release of any of the Manson ménage...We also want to say that Suzanne LaBerge, daughter of Rosemary, the murdered wife of Leno at the time, does not represent the LaBianca family. She certainly did not represent us at that May 4, 1990 parole hearing for Tex Watson, when she made that pathetic appeal for his release because she "forgave" him. As Ms. Van Houten continues her incarceration, let her continue to remember that what she did that fateful night was forever. The Manson family mark on this society is deep. As deep as the stab wounds to their helpless victims."

The Smaldino family has also made statements from time to time at LVH Parole hearings.  As late as 2010 and 2013 Louis Smaldino, Pete’s son, spoke of the financial ruin their family faced as a result of the once successful family business being lost.

What Leno’s Estate Documents Tell Us:

The house at Waverly Drive was sold and closed in October of 1970.  Leno’s daughter Cory was named administratrix.  It sold for $55,750.  The buyers assumed the $41,997.25 unpaid balance of the mortgage and paid cash for the rest as the property was in “breach’.  The legal sale document reads, “Said sale was made for the advantage, benefit and best interest of the estate of Leno A. LaBianca, deceased, in that said property is the residence in which said decedent was murdered and has been difficult to sell; that said sale is required to generate cash for the purpose of paying legal and other taxes; that there is little or no cash in said estate to pay the debts thereof, and that it is necessary to sell substantially all of the property therein to meet said obligations.”  It further goes on to state that the sale price was at least 90% of the appraised value of the property.  Also in this document, it states that Cory has secured a probate bond of $91,400 and that after the sale of this property that “the value of the personal property and of the probable annual income from the remaining real property belonging to the estate will not be in excess of $91,400.

A probate bond is a monetary amount rendered in order to insure that estate proceedings are processed legally and fairly, as well as honestly.  Some states require the executor of an estate to post a probate bond when the estate holder dies as part of the distribution process.  It protects beneficiaries basically.  But the amount also indicates what the estate is probably worth.  In this case, less than $100,000 which is what the police estimated may have been Leno’s total worth in shares at Gateway, income, etc.

Next in January, 1971 we have Ray Norwood’s declaration as the Controller-Accountant of the State Wholesale Grocery Company, which was a claim of $119,128.14 made against both Leno and Rosemary’s estates because of community property provisions, broken down as follows:  $25,057.00 as balance due on principal and interest on a note from October 15, 1964.  Personal advances to Leno in the amount of $77,171.14 which were made at his direction dating back to May, 1960 and continuing until August of 1969.  Details of how these advances were made can be found in the homicide report, as well as noting that Leno did make payments back to the company twice, $15 grand in ’68 and $30 grand in ’69.

Advances to MA Findley of $10,200.  This is Alice LaBianca herself, in 1965, ’67 and ’68 and may have been child support payments.  Mr. Norwood also suspected payments made to the Almour Corporation were child support payments made directly to Alice as a dummy corporation.  The homicide report says the police will continue to thoroughly examine this aspect of the finances, but if they did we don’t know, and Alice hasn’t told us.  Probably after the arrests the police stopped looking.

Advances were also made to C. Chatham, a personal friend of Leno’s.  $6000.00 outstanding.  Who is C. Chatham and why does she have $6000 of Gateway's money?

Leno also from time to time would cash his own personal checks at his various stores.  Sometimes the checks would bounce, and Mr. Norwood claims an unpaid balance of $700.00 for these.

Let’s remember that Leno also had trouble at least once because he skimmed the money from the Money Order part of his business at the stores, and had to secure a personal loan to pay it back.  This reminds me of how sometimes storeowners cheat the lottery for a while until they get over their head and lose it.  In fact, why didn’t this guy ever get indicted?  These certainly are prosecutorial offenses.  But I digress.

In November, 1966 Leno and Peter DeSantis secured a $400,000 note with two deeds of trusts as collateral.  In October of 1969 this had an unpaid balance of $369,596.04 and the Summit Finance Corporation sued Rosemary’s estate for that amount plus interest and attorney’s fees in the belief that “Claimant is informed and believes that property subject to administration in decedent’s estate (Rosemary’s) is liable for satisfaction…”  Before that, back in February of 1966 Summit Finance had also loaned Leno $25,000 and so they also sued Rosemary’s estate for the unpaid balance of $16,350.00 plus interest and attorney’s fees.  I haven’t seen the documents, but I can only assume that just like Mr. Norwood’s Gateway claim, that these are duplicates of claims made against Leno’s estate as well, and may be borne out by the fact that the final document I reviewed specifically referring to Leno’s estate is from March of 1975 when Leno’s son Anthony, now as the administrator of Leno’s estate, basically sued the Summit Finance Corporation to question them for embezzling and concealing the property of the estate.  In other words, my non-lawyerly mind tells me, Anthony wished to sue to either regain some or all of the property which the court conveyed to Summit as restitution, or to be compensated fairly for it.  As if it was done in error.  I have no idea, but would love to know how that all turned out.

Combine all this, with the fact that we know Leno also had an outstanding personal loan of $30,000, as well as a loan for the boat, and we can know for certain that Leno was a very desperate man in August of 1969.  Again, as Lynyrd has pointed out, most gamblers have debts that are both on and off the books, so who knows what all else Leno may have had going on?  I know it myself, because although I have paid most of it off, I still owe my sister $200 from a little trouble I got in (not gambling) back in 2009-2010.  I also know from a good friend’s family issues with gambling, and substantial on-the-books legal debts that, once a person dies, if you have a good lawyer, the spouse of the person may not necessarily be on the hook for debts in the other spouse’s name.   At least now.  In New York in 2014.  What the deal was in California in 1969 I do not know.

So, as for Rosemary LaBianca?  More to come….