The Mistress of Hollywood: June Cassandra Mincher
An Idle Boast
Bill Rider was brother-in-law to Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, and had become head of his security force. Rider had friends, who worked out at Gold's Gym, whom he often hired for jobs on the Flynt estate in Bel Air. Among them was William Mentzer, a bodybuilder who often worked as security guard — and more. He could also be hired to intimidate people into paying their debts. Rider also hired Alex Marti and Bob Lowe. They all struck him as pretty tough. Marti, only 22, seemed especially dangerous.
In a 1997 court document, the story is fully spelled out. Rider said that Alex Marti, Bob Lowe, and Bill Mentzer had all made statements to him in 1983 that implicated them in the murder of Roy Radin. He was alone with Mentzer one day at the Flynt estate when Mentzer mentioned he'd recently done "a hit" and had dumped the body in an area known to them both, Caswell Canyon. They'd used it for target practice. Mentzer apparently bragged that he'd committed the perfect murder because it had happened four months earlier and he'd not been caught.
Subsequently, Rider was alone with Marti at this same estate when Marti, too, admitted to participating in the hit. He even said that he'd taken the first shot at "Rodan" while Mentzer shot second, and only after he'd had a "pint of wine" to prepare himself. Marti thought Mentzer had been "chickenshit" about the job. Marti, apparently, had enjoyed it; he reportedly went a little crazy and just kept shooting well beyond what was needed to kill the man. (They had been ordered to destroy his face so he could not be identified, if found.)
Mentzer and Marti together showed Rider the newspaper article about the discovery of Radin's body, and news reports that Mentzer had recorded (apparently enjoying the infamy). It was indeed near the site where they had gone shooting targets. Marti even offered to sell to Rider Radin's Rolex watch and a ring he'd taken from the dead man's hand.
Mentzer believed the job was untraceable because he'd used hollow point bullets, which, because of the hollow cavity in the nose, expand when they enter a body and obtain a caliber greater than their actual size. They also break into pieces. However, he apparently did not realize that such bullets can still be traced to a specific firearm via the shells.