Board to Reconsider Parole for Arsonist in Death of Firefighter

The parole board voted Tuesday to reexamine whether to recommend parole for a man convicted in the arson murder of a 34-year-old firefighter who died battling a blaze at a North Hollywood eatery nearly a quarter-century ago.

In March, two members of the board recommended parole for Mario Catanio, 63, of Van Nuys, who was convicted in 1983 of setting the fire at Cugee’s Cafe that killed Thomas G. Taylor and injured seven other firefighters.

Barring objections, the recommendation would have gone to the full board for review and then to the governor’s office for final approval.

But after hearing complaints from Los Angeles authorities on Tuesday, eight members of the Board of Prison Terms, meeting in Sacramento, rescinded the earlier recommendation and voted to schedule a new hearing on whether to recommend that the governor grant Catanio parole.

As dozens of firefighters watched, a county prosecutor and Los Angeles fire officials, including Chief William Bamattre, argued that Los Angeles authorities had not been given proper notification that Catanio might be paroled.

The Fire Department never received a notice saying Catanio’s case was before the parole board, officials said. Instead, Los Angeles officials said, Soledad state prison sent a notice on Catanio’s case to a police substation in Van Nuys. Moreover, the notice was addressed to county, not city, officials.

The parole board agreed that, as a result, local authorities were not allowed time to mount a case against parole.

“The board felt that the notice for the previous hearing was defective, and that there should be a rehearing,” said Tip Kindel, a parole board spokesman.

A new suitability hearing for parole will be scheduled most likely in the next few months, Kindel said.

Catanio’s attorney, Steve Defilippis, said the decision was purely political. “This is a decision made entirely on political pressures and not on what the law is,” Defilippis said. “In the face of no legal authority, they scheduled a new hearing and set their earlier decision aside based on the political pressure of 50 to 70 firefighters showing up.”

The blaze at the financially ailing Cugee’s Cafe was started because the owners, Henry Martinez and Arlene Boyle, wanted to cash in on an insurance policy. They paid Catanio $2,500 to set the early-morning fire. Martinez and Boyle served 10 years after pleading guilty in federal court to arson homicide charges.

Taylor was one of four firefighters who climbed on the roof of the restaurant to punch ventilation holes. Within minutes, the north side of the roof collapsed, causing Taylor to plunge into the flames.