VICTOR LICATA A RUSH TO JUDGEMENT: Chapter 11

[Official Police Report - Photo Doctored for quick download time]

CITY OF TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT
October 17th, 1933:
Occurrence about midnight.

AX MURDER (LICATA FAMILY). 1707 5th AVENUE.

Call received at Police Station by Officer Tom Rigdon at 11:45 A.M. that none of the members of the family that lived at 1707 5th Avenue had been seen to come out of the house all morning.  This call was received from 1709 5th Avenue and the caller stated that they had heard a peculiar noise about midnight.

Officer Bell and myself answered the call in the Police Call Car.   Upon arriving there we asked the neighbors at 1709 what the trouble was.   They related to us about the noise they heard about midnight, but did not realize what it was.   We then went to the side of the house, 1707 and called for Victor Licata and there was no answer.   Then we tried to go in the back door, which was latched from the inside.   The screen window to the right of the door was unfastened and the window was up.   I climbed thru the window by using a ladder, nearby – unlatched the door and Officer Bell came in with me.   We then went into the bath-room by opening door to same and found Victor Licata sitting in the chair with his hands to his head.   We then asked him ‘what was the matter,’ and he did not answer.   I went into the hall after the sister of Mrs. Licata had screamed and discovered there had been murder.   I saw then in the rear bed-room, Mrs. Licata dead and her son, Phillip, 18, at her side in bed, still alive.   I examined Mrs. Licata and found that she had been killed with some sharp instrument.   Then I went into the center bed-room and found the daughter, Providence age 22 and the little son, Joe age 8 lying in bed apparently had been killed with the same instrument.   Then I proceeded to examine the front bed-room and found Mike Licata, the father lying there dead on the floor, who had fallen off the bed also killed with the same instrument.   I instructed one of the relatives to call the Ambulance to send Phillip to hospital.   Bell – during this time had the prisoner in his custody.   Deputy sheriff Ben Watkins assisted Bell and they took the prisoner, Victor Licata to the county Jail.

F.T. Blounte ambulance picked up Phillip and carried him to the Municipal hospital, while J. L. Reeds with the assistance of B. Marion Reeds carried the 4 bodies to J.L. Reeds morgue.

The following officers investigated:   Sheriff’s Officer, City Officers, Bush, McMorris, Blanton, Mansfield, Dunn, Story, Beasley, Latture, Haskins, Vance & Yates.

(signed)
=================

AX MURDER (LICATA FAMILY). 1707 5th AVENUE.
Call received at Police Station by Officer Tom Rigdon at 11:45 A.M. that none of the members of the family that lived at 1707 5th Avenue had been seen to come out of the house all morning.   This call was received from 1709 5th Avenue and the caller stated that they had heard a peculiar noise about midnight.

Officer Bell and myself answered the call in the Police Call Car.   Upon arriving there we asked the neighbors at 1709 what the trouble was.   They related to us about the noise they heard about midnight, but did not realize what it was.   We then went to the side of the house, 1707 and called for Victor Licata and there was no answer.

Then we tried to go in the back door, which was latched from the inside.   The screen window to the right of the door was unfastened and the window was up.   I climbed through the window by using a ladder, nearby – unlatched the door and Officer Bell came in with me.

We then went into the bath-room by opening door to same and found Victor Licata sitting in the chair with his hands to his head. We then asked him ‘what was the matter,’ and he did not answer.   I went into the hall after the sister of Mrs. Licata had screamed and discovered there had been murder.

I saw then in the rear bed-room, Mrs. Licata dead and her son, Phillip, 18, at her side in bed, still alive.   I examined Mrs. Licata and found that she had been killed with some sharp instrument.   Then I went into the center bed-room and found the daughter, Providence age 22 and the little son, Joe age 8 lying in bed apparently had been killed with the same instrument.

• Mrs. Licata + Phillip in the rear bedroom.
  
  
• Providence and Jose in the center bedroom
  
  
• Mike Licata in the front bedroom

Then I proceeded to examine the front bedroom and found Mike Licata the father, lying there dead on the floor, who had fallen off the bed also killed with the same instrument.

I instructed one of the relatives to call the Ambulance to send Phillip to hospital.   Bell – during this time had the prisoner in his custody.   Deputy sheriff Ben Watkins assisted Bell and they took the prisoner, Victor Licata, to the county Jail.

F.T. Blounte ambulance picked up Phillip and carried him to the Municipal hospital, while J. L. Reeds with the assistance of B. Marion Reeds carried the 4 bodies to J.L. Reeds morgue.

The following officers investigated: Sheriff’s Officer, City Officers, Bush, McMorris, Blanton, Mansfield, Dunn, Story, Beasley, Latture, Haskins, Vance & Bates.

Nothing about a family dog of any kind.
Nothing about breaking-in the front door.
Nothing about unlocked doors (in fact, it states that ALL DOORS were locked).
Nothing about Marihuana in the house.
Nothing about a gun being found under the fathers mattress.
Nothing about blood on Victor's cloths or underwear.
Nothing about the axe or fingerprints etc.
Nothing about blood under Victor's fingernails.

Death of Donald P. Scott Early on the morning of October 2, 1992, 31 officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol, National Guard and Park Service entered the Scott's 200-acre ranch.   They planned to arrest Scott for allegedly running a 4,000-plant marijuana plantation.   When deputies broke down the door to Scott's house, Scott's wife would later tell reporters, she screamed, "Don't shoot me. Don't kill me."   That brought Scott staggering out of the bedroom, blurry-eyed from a cataract operation—holding a .38 caliber Colt snub-nosed revolver over his head.   When he emerged at the top of the stairs (note: this was a single-story residence), holding his gun over his head, the officers told him to lower the gun. As he did, they shot him to death. According to the official report, the gun was pointed at the officers when they shot him. . . . Despite a subsequent search of Scott's ranch using helicopters, dogs, searchers on foot, and a high-tech Jet Propulsion Laboratory device for detecting trace amounts of sinsemilla, no marijuana—or any other illegal drug—was found.

Michael D. Bradbury, the District Attorney of Ventura County conducted an investigation into the raid and the aftermath, issuing a report on the events leading up to and on October 2, 1992.   He concluded that asset forfeiture was a motive for the raid.

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VICTOR LICATA MAIN INDEX

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