American Notes CRIME

To Joe Hunt, the engaging founder of the Billionaire Boys Club, a high-living confederation of some 30 youths from rich families in the Los Angeles area, Ronald Levin was a con man who bilked him in a phony investment scheme before disappearing in June 1984. To the authorities, Levin was the victim of a revenge murder that Hunt planned and carried out with such thoroughness that the body has never been found. Last week a Santa Monica Superior Court jury agreed with the prosecutors, convicting Hunt of robbery and murder.

Although defense witnesses maintained they had seen Levin alive in Arizona since his disappearance, the jurors were convinced by damaging testimony from Hunt's associates, as well as a seven-page recipe for murder in Hunt's hand. Titled "at Levin's TO DO," the gruesome job sheet listed tasks such as "tape mouth, handcuff, put gloves on, explain situation, kill dog." Hunt, 27, faces the death penalty or life imprisonment. Said he: "My only responsibility now is to keep my chin up. That's what I do best."