WASHINGTON -- Three former Synanon Foundation members, granted immunity to serve as government witnesses, have revealed a 'hit list' of Synanon enemies marked for death or serious serious injury, Justice Department court documents say.
The hit list was disclosed Monday in court papers asking U.S. District Judge Charles Richey to order Synanon to turn over all information about destroyed or hidden materials detailing alleged criminal activities, or to dismiss Synanon's lawsuit seeking to recover its tax-exempt status.
The government is trying to prove that Synanon, which lost its federal tax-exempt status last year, should pay taxes and was a 'violent and militaristic cult dedicated to attacking and hurting its perceived enemies and ... to enriching ... (founder Charles) Dederich,' the federal documents said.
The three former members, Naya Arbiter, Bette Fleishman and Rodney Mullen, claimed Synanon officials attempted to hire a professional hit man with 'orders to have attorney Paul Morantz assassinated' and develop an enemies list of those who were to be attacked.
Phil Ritter, a former Synanon member who was on the list, had his face injured in a beating.
'Until today, the vicious attack on Phil Ritter has been an unsolved crime,' the documents said.
On a tape recording confiscated by Los Angeles police in 1978, Synanon founder Dederich said of his 'new religious posture,' 'Don't mess with us. You can get killed dead. Physically dead,'' the documents said.
'He (Dederich) said that if someone sued Synanon, that Synanon would go right after their lawyer,' the papers said.
Subpoenaed evidence was destroyed during the same period the IRS was auditing Synanon's activities to determine whether its federal tax exemption should be revoked, the Justice Department said.
The government said Synanon's 'Imperial Marines' prepared a hit list of its enemies, and gave it to Walter Lewbel, Dederich's executive secretary, for approval.
Among those on the list was Morantz, who was engaged in a lawsuit against Synanon; Mike Garrett, former head of Synanon security who was cooperating with California authorities investigating Synanon, and former Synanon residents Phil Ritter, Jack Hurst, Bill Crawford, Jack Tolchin, Dan Ross and Bobby Kohl.
Lewbel took Hurst and Garrett off the enemies list.
The documents said Dederich gave orders in August and September of 1978 for Morantz to be 'taken care of.'
On Oct. 10, 1978, Morantz reached into the mailbox at his Los Angeles home and was bitten by a four-foot rattlesnake whose rattles had been cut off. He was seriously injured.
Ritter's face was smashed in a beating Sept. 21, 1978, at his home in Berkeley, Calif., with wooden mallets.
Imperial Marines Alan Hubbard and Joseph Musico 'viciously beat Phil Ritter with wooden mallets,' and fled when a crowd gathered, according to the documents.
