'Noir' author Scott Huver explores darker side of Ryder, Sinatra crimes

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Scott Huver, author of true crime book Beverly Hills Noir , available Tuesday, said writing about cases involving celebrities like Winona Ryder and Frank Sinatra revealed darker factors than contemporary media coverage.

Ryder's 2001 shoplifting case was fodder for late-night talk shows and celebrity outlets. Ryder even mocked herself when hosting Saturday Night Live that year, declaring "stealing is wrong" in a sketch.

However, when Saks Fifth Avenue security found items with anti-theft sensors cut off and the scissors in Ryder's belongings, they also found prescription medications including Endocet and Percodan, prescribed to the alias Emily Thompson.

"She was self-medicating after a physical injury and doctor shopping," Huver told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

Ryder had broken her arm during the filming of Mr. Deeds . Huver said he covered her trial as a reporter for the Beverly Hills Courier and empathized with the pressure Ryder was under.

"She was struggling emotionally," Huver said. "The weight of fame was pretty heavy on her at that time. Relationships had gone awry. She was having imposter syndrome."

Ryder's 2002 conviction and the revelations of addiction resulted in a period during which film productions had trouble securing insurance for her. Drug charges were dropped and felony conviction r educed to misdemeanor in 2004 .

She did return in the 2006 films, A Scanner Darkly and Sex and Death 101 , after focusing on healing out of the spotlight.

Huver said he has been impressed with Ryder's work since the trial, including a supporting role in Black Swan , the Netflix series Stranger Things and this year's hit, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

"She's done good work, too," Huver said. "Nothing suffered in her skill set."

An earlier crime involving Frank Sinatra also appeared more frivolous on the surface. In 1966, Sinatra assaulted Frederick Weisman at the Polo Lounge.

Though Sinatra had been involved in many documented brawls, this one was more than just a roughhousing anecdote. Weisman had reportedly called Sinatra and Dean Martin Italian slurs, provoking the attack.

"I also didn't want to lose sight of the fact that a guy spent quite a while in a coma as a result of that brawl," Huver said. "Sinatra was certainly concerned that his whole career might come to an end [with a] gigantic, spectacular crash in the wake of it."

Beverly Hills Noir contains seven chapters that cover a wide range of crimes. It begins with the apparent murder-suicide of Ned Doheny by Hugh Plunkett and continues with the story of elusive jewel thief Gerry Dennis, who stole from Loretta Young, among his heists.

"I wanted to have a different tone to every chapter," Huver said. "I really wanted that mix of crimes and tones so that it wasn't all murder and it wasn't all bleak and dark."

One of the most tragic crimes involved United Press International. In 1986, Steven Livaditis robbed the Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store and took hostages when police arrived before he could escape.

UPI reporter Michael Collins was the first reporter to discover a phone line the police had failed to cut off and spoke with Livaditis during the standoff. Livaditis requested media coverage, and news crews soon arrived on the scene.

"The press was essentially doing their job, but there's a reason why the police shut down communications with people who are barricaded with hostages," Huver said. "It didn't help the situation at all."

Livaditis had killed the store's security guard before the call and killed another hostage. Police accidentally shot another during Livaditis's attempted escape.

"I've talked to police who worked on that situation, and it's clear that it still haunts them," Huver said. "It was a bad day."

Livaditis remains alive on death row awaiting execution.

"From what I've read, he has sort of accepted his fate and he has found religion," Huver said. "[He] is trying to make his own peace with himself and is no longer trying to get out of prison."

After working the Beverly Hills crime beat, Huver transitioned into an entertainment journalist. The Dennis case was a historic one he read about during his news days and led to his exploring other cases for Beverly Hills Noir.

"I found Gerry Dennisin a handful of paragraphs in a memoir written by the police chief of Beverly Hills, Clinton Anderson," Huver said. "I really lost him after the trial and he went to jail."

Huver ultimately located and contacted Dennis' daughter, who was born the year he died, but nevertheless was able to provide more details than archival news reports.

Huver said he has already completed six additional chapters he had to leave out of the first book, including the George Michael's 1998 arrest for soliciting an undercover cop , furrier Al Teitelbaum's insurance fraud and a mugger who escaped into Miramax's Oscar night party for Pulp Fiction.

"Book two is ready," Huver said. "I've got four or five books probably worth of stories that I would love to do, so I hope I get a chance to keep digging into the vaults."