Alleged Plot Stuns Victim : Crime: Ex-Marine was ‘absolutely shocked’ when police told him of love motive for attack linked to businessman.

SANTA ANA — A man who survived a vicious mob-style murder attempt that authorities say was financed by a wealthy Orange County businessman said Tuesday that he had no idea why three thugs beat him with bats, shot him in the back of the head and left him for dead.

Former Marine Wilbur Constable, 25, said he was “absolutely shocked” when he learned months later from police that the men were ordered to make him “disappear” because his fiancee’s boss wanted him out of the way so he could pursue his love affair with her.

“He went off the shallow end of the pool,” Constable said. “On the outside looking in, you could probably laugh about it. It’s like a bad movie.”

Constable’s fiancee, Cynthia Asher, 24, said she, too, was “stunned” by the motive behind Constable’s brush with death, adding that she resisted her boss’ overtures. “Otherwise,” she said, “I’d be driving his Mercedes around right now.”

According to court documents, her boss, Julius Frederick Schill, had offered to buy her expensive cars, a condominium and a horse ranch in exchange for her companionship and sexual favors.

Asher said she told Schill: “I got a guy and I’m quite happy.”

Schill, 57, the owner of the Tustin-based Auto Photo Systems Inc., was arraigned Monday on a federal charge that he conspired with Richard Marion Dota, 55, a Las Vegas limousine driver with alleged ties to the Genovese crime family, to murder Constable. Schill and Dota were being held without bail.

At a press conference Tuesday, Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi announced that in addition to Schill and Dota, three other men have been arrested in the case.

According to Capizzi and FBI Agent Thomas R. Parker, Schill called Dota in Las Vegas last summer to request that Dota figure out a way to kill Constable.

“Investigation by our joint federal/local task force developed information that Schill had allegedly become romantically interested in a young lady who was dating the victim . . . and had contacted Mr. Dota in Las Vegas to arrange for the murder of Constable,” Parker said.

Capizzi said Schill paid nearly $50,000 to Dota to have Constable killed.

Constable, in an interview with the Times Orange County Edition, said he was lured to the site last Oct. 11 by three men in a secluded area behind an office building in Irvine.

“This guy pointed a gun in my face and told me to get out of the car,” Constable recalled, his voice trembling slightly. “I didn’t have much time to think about it. They were very deliberate. . . . I was hit from behind and then the lights went out.”

Constable said he doesn’t remember what happened next, but police told him later that he apparently got up twice after the men splintered two baseball bats over his body. One of them then shot him in the back of the head with a .38-caliber handgun.

“I can just remember being beat with a bat, and I remember hearing a gunshot,” he said.

Constable was found about 10 hours later in an open field by workers.

During six hours of surgery, doctors were able to remove the bullet lodged in his brain. He was in a coma for several days, but has since recovered. He said he only suffers from diminished eyesight and has a scar above the right eye.

“It’s a miracle. . . . It’s just a miracle,” he said.

Irvine Police Lt. Vic Thies said investigators immediately suspected that the attack on Constable was a professional “hit” attempt because of the manner in which it was carried out.

Ironically, Constable said, police at first suspected that he might be involved in some sort of criminal activity.

Even Asher had her doubts.

“I trusted Will,” she said. “But stuff like this doesn’t happen without a reason.”

Asher, according to court documents, would later help investigators piece together the case against Schill by locating key documents linking her boss to Dota. The documents show more than $40,000 in payments to Dota and his associates. She also held conversations with Schill while wearing a hidden tape recorder, court documents said.

Asher was there Monday when police and FBI agents arrested Schill at work. Constable was outside the gray stucco building at 2722 Walnut Ave., taking photographs as Schill was being led away in handcuffs.

Investigators said that others arrested and charged with attempted murder included Blake Tek Yoon, 27, of San Rafael, Calif., the suspected triggerman; John Caravaggio, 28, of Morristown, N.J.; and Scott Douglas Smith, 23, of Denville, N.J. They were being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail each.

According to court documents, after Schill talked to Dota about the proposed murder, Dota came to Los Angeles in July and met with Yoon, the hit-team leader. Dota gave him $3,000 in an envelope and Constable’s description, home address and place of work, court documents said.

They talked about putting Constable’s body in an old car and having it “disappear” in a junkyard car crusher, according to court documents.

In an odd twist in the case, Yoon was arrested on suspicion of prowling 12 days before the attack on Constable as he was casing the intended victim’s house in Mission Viejo. He was released the next day.

In November, Yoon and his two alleged accomplices were arrested in connection with the attack. Yoon has cooperated with investigators as they pieced together the case, making tape-recorded telephone calls to Dota, according to court documents.

Dota, who has a lengthy criminal record, is a reputed member of the Michael Genovese crime family in New York, considered one of the “most violent, old-line mob families in the country,” Parker said.

In the course of the three-month investigation, the FBI said, information about other crimes was uncovered, including a number of armed robberies, loan-sharking activities in Ohio and Las Vegas and a kidnaping in Houston.

Investigators also developed information on the unrelated murder of Scorgeoni Platerno in Victorville, and arrested Peter Carassone, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., on murder charges. Capizzi said Carassone was a member of Yoon’s “hit team” but did not participate in the Constable attack.

Times staff writers Rose Kim and Davan Maharaj contributed to this report.

Portrait of an Alleged Murder Plot

On the night of Oct. 11, three men lured Wilbur Constable, 26, of Mission Viejo to an isolated area in Irvine, where they beat and shot him. Miraculously, Constable survived the attack. Local and federal investigators say the three men were hired by a Tustin businessman to make Constable “disappear.” Below are the alleged players in the failed plot and what roles federal investigators say they played.

Julius Frederick Schill

Age: 57

Hometown: San Juan Capistrano

Background: Schill, owner of a photo vending machine repair company in Tustin, is infatuated with Cynthia Asher, a secretary in his office. After failing to woo Asher away from her boyfriend, Constable, Schill allegedly hires a Las Vegas man sometime over the summer to kill Constable. Schill is arrested Monday.

Richard Marion Dota

Age: 55

Hometown: Las Vegas

Background: Dota, who authorities say has ties to the Genovese crime family in New York, is allegedly hired by Schill to kill Constable. Dota, in turn, meets with a man in Los Angeles who, according to federal authorities, is to head up the “hit team.” Dota, who allegedly was paid about $50,000, is arrested in Las Vegas on Monday.

Blake Tek Yoon

Age: 27

Hometown: San Rafael

Background: Yoon, the so-called “head of the hit team,” meets several times with Dota. During one meeting, he is given $3,000 and told to make Constable “disappear.” On Oct. 11, Yoon and two associates lure Constable to an isolated area in Irvine, where he is beaten with baseball bats and shot in the back of the head. Yoon is arrested in November.

John Caravaggio

Age: 28

Hometown: Morristown, N.J.

Background: Caravaggio is allegedly part of the “hit team.” He is arrested in November after meeting with Yoon at a Hollywood hotel.

Scott Douglas Smith

Age: 23

Hometown: Denville, N.J.

Background: Smith, who also goes by the name of Tony Smith, allegedly is the third member of the “hit team.” He is also arrested in November after the Yoon meeting at the hotel.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation