Arrest made in 1996 slaying of Tucson developer Triano

Two things eventually got her motivated again.

One was her son, Gary Triano, visiting her in her sleep.

"He took ahold of my hand and said 'You have to let me go,' " Ferrara, 83, recalled Friday in a phone conversation from her California home.

The other was a psychic who told her the people responsible for blowing up his car in a Catalina Foothills parking lot in 1996 would be caught.

The psychic said one suspect would be found in Florida.

On Friday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik announced detectives have arrested one suspect in Triano's killing and are actively searching for the other.

Ronald Young, 66, was arrested without incident in Yorba Linda, Calif., after he was indicted by a Pima County grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder in Triano's death.

Detectives are looking for Triano's former wife Pamela Phillips, 51, and she will face charges identical to Young's when she is found, Dupnik announced during a news conference Friday.

Detectives believe Phillips paid Young $400,000 to kill Triano, 52, a Tucson businessman, in anticipation of receiving a $2 million life insurance policy, Dupnik said.

The sheriff said authorities believe Phillips, who lives in Aspen, Colo., flew to London and caught a flight to Milan, Italy on Sept. 26. They had asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify them if she left the country, but the agency did not.

While Dupnik said authorities are in touch with Phillips' attorneys, bureau chief Rick Kastigar said federal authorities are also working with Interpol in the hopes of tracking her down.

But defense attorneys said Friday afternoon that Phillips is in Switzerland visiting a daughter and the insinuation that she is in flight or must be tracked down is wrong.

Attorney Walter Nash of Tucson said he and Denver-based defense attorney Joseph Saint-Veltri have been working with law enforcement and the County Attorney's Office for more than a year and had offered to bring Phillips into the case whenever necessary to defend her. Detectives knew she makes visits to a daughter being schooled in Switzerland, Nash said.

"It came as a bit of a surprise to learn that Ms. Phillips was being charged through the newspaper this morning," Nash said yesterday.

On Friday, Phillips' attorneys again contacted county authorities and offered to make her available without any agreement as to the amount of bond. He said he expects the details to be worked out and Phillips to appear in 10 to 14 days.

Phillips will plead not guilty and mount a vigorous defense, Nash said.

The flamboyant Triano was a real estate broker and developer who made millions investing in Indian bingo halls and slot-machine parlors here and in California before Congress authorized tribes to open full-blown casinos. He hosted Donald Trump to a University of Arizona football game, rode in luxury cars, gave money to charity and briefly ran for the City Council. Once he sued Pan American World Airways because his $4,410 airline seat didn't satisfy him as he jetted overseas.

After the real estate market declined and the Tohono O'odham Nation kicked him and other managers and investors out of their gaming hall, Triano went broke. In 1994 bankruptcy filings, he listed assets of $1.3 million and debts of nearly $26.8 million.

Triano died Nov. 1, 1996, when his borrowed Lincoln Town Car exploded as he was leaving La Paloma Country Club.

He had just finished playing golf and was headed to a birthday celebration.

Someone within "line of sight" of Triano remotely detonated a pipe bomb that was 17 inches long, 3 inches in diameter and filled with one pound of gunpowder, Dupnik said.

The bomb was stuffed into a canvas bag that had been placed on Triano's passenger seat, Dupnik said.

Detectives believe Triano hadn't locked the car and probably assumed the bag contained a birthday present, Kastigar said.

Triano and Phillips, who had two children together, were married for seven years and divorced in 1993.

As soon as she heard her son had been slain, Ferrara said, she suspected Phillips.

"The nanny told me that Pam had a boyfriend and that Pam had said, 'If this SOB was dead I'd have $3 million,' " Ferrara said.

Young had dated Phillips. Before the slaying, investigators found Young's rental car in Los Angeles with a sawed-off shotgun, divorce papers pertaining to Triano and Phillips, and a map of Tucson.

Asked to describe what the last 12 years have been like for her, Ferrara replied, "Hell. A living hell."

Phillips and Young were identified as potential suspects within months of Triano's death, but local and federal authorities couldn't find Young for nine years.

Sheriff's Lt. Michael O'Connor said Young used aliases and was living solely on the cash Phillips provided him.

"He was off the grid," O'Connor said.

The big break in the case came in November 2005, Dupnik said.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked the TV show "America's Most Wanted" to profile Young.

A tip led to Young's arrest two days later — in Florida, as the psychic had told Ferrara.

A search of Young's belongings turned up a "treasure trove" of evidence linking Young and Phillips to the slaying, including tape-recorded conversations between the two, O'Connor said.

According to court documents and Dupnik, detectives have compiled 150 boxes of evidence, which includes hundreds of taped and transcribed interviews, 80 storage boxes from Triano's office, 300 separate items collected from the blast scene, Triano's vehicle, items seized from Young's and Phillips' homes and 10 computers.

Without the assistance of the ATF, FBI and "America's Most Wanted," Dupnik said, the Sheriff's Department would probably be investigating the case still.

The ATF made a bomb similar to the one used to kill Triano for the "America's Most Wanted" show and linked Young to the purchase of the gunpowder used in the pipe bomb. Agents also determined the electronics used for the remote control were purchased at a Radio Shack.

The FBI was crucial in analyzing money transfers from Phillips to Young, Dupnik said.

The bureau was able to determine Phillips made periodic payments of between $1,500 and $2,000 to Young between January 1997 and May 2004, O'Connor said.

"I've never been involved in a case as complex and difficult as this particular case," said Dupnik, the seven-term sheriff.

In addition to investigating Phillips and Young, detectives had to look into Triano's finances and business. He owed a significant sum to casinos in Las Vegas and had business dealings with groups in China and Mexico.

The investigative process was not only bogged down by the amount of evidence that needed to be sifted through, but because it all has to be shared with the suspects' criminal and civil attorneys, Dupnik said.

Three of Triano's children, Heather Klindworth, Brian Triano and Malissa Elliott Gardner, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Phillips and Young last November.

The children's attorney, Elliot Glicksman, said they were thrilled to learn of the criminal charges, especially since the case was so complicated.

"I know the family is very, very appreciative of the efforts of both the County Attorney's Office and the sheriff's office. They just never gave up," Glicksman said.

It was Young's cleverness that enabled him to avoid detection for so long, but it was also his cleverness that ultimately led to his arrest, Dupnik said, referring to the taped conversations Young kept.

According to court documents obtained last year by the Arizona Daily Star, Young was recorded telling Phillips: "I helped you out on something that was beyond what anybody else in the world would probably do, especially somebody you can trust, and I think that deserves some consideration, since you are living off the benefits of it, you know."

In another conversation, "Ron Young stated that if he ever found out that she compromised him for her benefit that would really be unfortunate for her because there's plenty of stuff that he could dig, literally dig out of the ground, and she's a fried duck," sheriff's Detective James Gamber has said.

In another undated call that Young recorded on his voice recorder, Young was upset at not receiving money and said: "Well I'll ... you, you're gonna be very serious when ... you sit in a women's prison for murder."

The sheriff described Young as part businessman, part con man, and Phillips as a "gold digger."

Most of the people who knew Triano liked him, but he had made some enemies because he didn't pay his bills, Dupnik said.

La Paloma was getting ready to cancel his membership for non-payment, he no longer had a car of his own and he owed dozens of casinos money, Dupnik said.

"I think he kind of had two sides," Dupnik said. "I'm told that when he had money he was the most generous person around."

Ferrara said that the day before he died her son asked her to meet him in Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday.

"My son was a good man. I don't give a damn what the newspapers out there said about him," Ferrara said. "He would do anything for anybody."

Dupnik said detectives had been watching Young for the past week and conducting surveillance on Phillips' house for the same amount of time.

Young was arrested after leaving his parents' house, where he has been staying, Dupnik said. He was on his way to work at a sandwich shop.

The location of Phillips' home makes it difficult to monitor so detectives didn't realize she wasn't home, O'Connor said. Someone was inside the residence throughout the week and her car was also there.

Phillips' return flight, which she clearly missed, had been booked for the middle of the week, Dupnik said.

Young invoked his right to remain silent when he was arrested, Dupnik said.

Young will be returned to Arizona once extradition proceedings are held in California.

Ferrara said she hopes Phillips and Young are punished harshly.

"Look at all of the years she's gotten to live and he's been gone," Ferrara said.

On StarNet: Find more about the Gary Triano murder and Tucson's other notorious slayings at www.azstarnet.com/special/trianoslaying.