Vic Weiss
Vic Weiss was a sports promoter, agent and businessman. He became prominent in sports circles beginning in 1973 when he bought the contract of welterweight boxing contender Armando Muniz.
Weiss first became successful in real estate and insurance ventures and was later known as a part-owner in Ford and Rolls-Royce dealerships in Van Nuys, California.
Death
On June 13, 1979, Weiss met with Jack Kent Cooke and Jerry Buss at the Beverly Comstock Hotel about bringing UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian (a longtime friend) to Los Angeles to lead the Lakers, the team Cooke was selling to Buss.
Afterwards, the 51-year-old Weiss hopped into his Rolls-Royce and headed to his house in Encino, California. But Weiss never made it home.
Weiss was to go to dinner with his wife, but first, police say, he planned to call Tarkanian, who was waiting at a Long Beach hotel for word on the negotiations. Tarkanian never got the call, and the talks would never go further. The Lakers eventually hired another coach.
Weiss was reported missing by his wife, but there was no sign of him until several days later when a security guard spotted his Rolls in the garage of the Sheraton Universal hotel. Police opened the trunk and found Weiss' body, hands tied behind his back. He had been killed with two gunshots to the head.
Nobody was ever arrested for the murder, but police suspected Weiss was killed by mobsters because he ran up huge debts on sports betting and skimmed off the top of laundered money.