Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.
Two people pleaded guilty this morning in the murder for hire of a slot machine company's computer programmer, who had admitted he rigged the devices for his bosses.
Soni Beckman, 57, and Vito Bruno, 40, agreed to the deals that will give them a chance at probation rather than stand trial on murder charges that could have put them in prison for the rest of their lives.
The admitted killer, David Lemons, had named the pair as those who hired him and helped him murder Larry Volk, the star witness in a slot-fixing case against the American Coin Company owners.
Beckman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
She did so under a legal provision that does not require her to admit actual responsibility.
Her attorney, Patricia Erickson, conceded there was a possibility "the state could present evidence and a jury could convict her of murder charges."
Bruno pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder, admitting that he hired Lemons for $5,000 to commit the Oct. 1, 1990, slaying and provided a weapon and a vehicle to facilitate the execution.
Bruno, who is Beckman's nephew, faces the possibility of up to 16 years in prison when he and Beckman are sentenced on Nov. 24 by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.
Deputy District Attorney Eric Jorgenson said he intends to seek prison time for Bruno, who he said has a criminal record. Despite that, the judge reduced Bruno's bail to $25,000.
Erickson said there is no provision in the plea bargain for cooperation by the defendants in any criminal pursuit of American Coin owners Rudolph and Rudy M. LaVecchia, who prosecutors have said were close friends of Beckman.
Lemons was tried on murder charges in 1993 but was acquitted by a jury and legally cannot face another trial despite his prison confession.
After Lemons found religion during a prison stay in 1998, he came forward and admitted that he was the one who fired a bullet into Volk's head as he worked on his car in front of his home.
In his confession, Lemons told authorities that Beckman and Bruno were the ones who funneled $5,000 to him for the murder.
Volk apparently became a target after informing gaming authorities that the operators of American Coin had instructed him to alter the computer chips in video poker machines to prevent the largest payoff.
After Volk revealed the computer chip scam, the company was closed and the gaming licenses of the owners -- the LaVecchias and Frank Romano -- were surrendered in a deal that required them to pay $1 million fine to the state in February 1990.
American Coin at the time was the state's fourth largest slot route operator with more than 1,000 machines in various Las Vegas locations. It was alleged that 300 machines had been altered.
Although Romano's license was revoked, it was not alleged that he was part of the computer chip scam.
archive
