Two detained in killing of American lawyer Art Tarlow

posted on: Jun 28 2010 19:5 by getthis. Viewed 1472 times.


As family and friends shared stories at Art Tarlow's memorial service Friday afternoon in Portland, police in the Dominican Republic awaited analysis of two guns recovered this week as part of the investigation into the lawyer's slaying.

Tarlow, a prominent Portland business and construction lawyer, was shot to death June 10 inside his winter home in Sosua, a small town on the Caribbean country's north coast. He was 68.

(Original article at http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/06/dominicans_seize_guns_detain_t.html)

Police have been investigating whether the death was connected to a legal battle waged by Tarlow and a group of investors against a Sosua businessman after a failed attempt to build a luxury casino. Tarlow's group, Mocarello, had recently won a $3.9 million lawsuit that would force the sale of a hotel that the investment group's documents said served as collateral.

Sosua police executed a search warrant Thursday and confiscated a pistol and a revolver, said Eddie Bueno Disla, the lead investigator on Tarlow's killing. Bueno said he had detained two people -- the driver and security guard of Sosua businessman Armando Casciati.

The investigator did not release the names of those detained or say where the search warrants were served.

Casciati, the Italian owner of the company that Tarlow's group faced off with in court, has been told that he cannot leave the country, Bueno said.

Police sent the pistol and the revolver to the country's crime lab on Wednesday to see if they matched with the gun used in the shooting.

"There's a lot of things I can't say over the phone," Bueno said Friday.

Initial investors in the casino deal put in $1.8 million, with Tarlow providing $100,000 in May 2004, according to Mocarello documents. The $3.9 million was to cover the initial $1.8 million investment as well as damages, legal fees and a separate $750,000 lien on the property.

In an e-mail earlier this week, Casciati told The Oregonian that he believed Mocarello's investors were all Dominican and that a decision on the sale of the hotel remained in legal limbo.

"I never met Mr. Tarlow -- I did not even know of his existence," Casciati wrote. "All the shareholders of Mocarello are Dominicans and I have no clue of other people having interests in this company."

Original article at http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/06/dominicans_seize_guns_detain_t.html

Further story at http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/06/tarlows_slaying_raises_questio.html
http://www.koinlocal6.com/mostpopular/story/Portland-attorney-gunned-down-in-the-Dominican/VC_W855UGEiU6enMprETcQ.cspx

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