Sheriff's detectives arrested two Bakersfield businessmen on murder and conspiracy charges Thursday night in connection with a deadly home invasion this month.
Investigators believe Francis Giangrossi, owner of Coast Roofing, and his step-brother, Jim Skiba, hired the four men accused of attempting to firebomb and murder a Rosedale resident.
Skiba, 41, was arrested Thursday afternoon at the roofing company.
The 62-year-old Giangrossi was taken into custody at about 8 p.m. at the Sheriff's Norris Road headquarters.
Each was booked on charges of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.
Thursday's arrests were the latest development in a bizarre string of crimes that came to a head Nov. 5 when 19-year-old Ulises Aaron Espino broke into the Westdale Drive home of Steven Stewart in what deputies say was a botched murder-for-hire plot.
Stewart, 44, told 17's Melissa Knievel there had been an earlier attempt on his life. He said he knew there would be another attack, so he was ready.
When Espino climbed through a window, Stewart blasted him twice with a gun, killing him.
Botched plotEspino was just one of four men who went to Stewart's house that night, investigators said.
Eighteen-year-old Alberto Torres told 17's Kiyoshi Tomono in a jailhouse interview on Nov. 7 that he drove Espino to Stewart's house; Detectives say 23-year old Cesar Montoya and 29-year old Jesus Delgado Estrada also were there and were part of the attempted murder.
Montoya and Estrada are brothers and Espino is their cousin.
Steven Stewart towers at 6-foot-7 inches tall. He says someone crept to the back window of his house a month earlier, leveled a gun at him in the darkness and shot him.
He was only slightly wounded, he said, but knew the attackers would return.
He rigged his house with a series of alarms and cameras.
The alarms went off as Espino approached his front gate, hopped over and broke out his front window about a month later, Stewart said.
He waited as Espino crept through the broken window with a fire bomb in one hand, and a gun in the other, Stewart told 17's Knievel and Tomono.
Stewart fired just as he and Espino exchanged their first glance, he said.
"I just said 'Oops'," Stewart recalled about the moment. "It was what I thought he was thinking when he saw me."
Espino jumped back out the window, and Stewart fired again, telling detectives he feared Espino would lob the Molotov cocktail into his home.
Alberto Torres said he heard the gunshots as he waited in a car outside.
He thought it was Stewart who had been shot, but then realized it was his friend.
He started to drive Espino to Kern Medical Center but, realizing how seriously wounded his friend was, stopped on Rosedale Highway and called an ambulance.
Espino died of his injuries, and Torres, Montoya and Estrada were arrested. They since have pleaded not guilty to a number of charges, including the attempted murder of Stewart and attempted arson.
And, because someone died in the course of the attempted murder, all three were charged with murder for the death of their crime partner, Espino.
Investigators say Giangrossi shot himself in a suicide attempt a few days after the botched murder plot, but survived his injuries.
Motive UnfoldsSenior Deputy Vince Martinez said the motive for the botched murder plot was a woman.
"There was some sort of issue that sparked Francis to decide some sort of harm needed to be done to Steven Stewart, his brother Jim Skiba became involved in the plot," said Martinez.
Giangrossi is now married to Stewart's ex-girlfriend.
"We're not exactly sure what the specific issue was, but there was some sort of alleged contact beween Steven Stewart and Francis Giangrossi's wife," Martinez said.
''I don't have her now," said Stewart. "He does. So if he wanted to look at it like he was a winner, if he considers her a prize, he had it, not me.''
Estrada works at Coast Roofing and told detectives his boss ordered the hit. Detectives say Espino 'told me his boss, whom he identified only as JIM, asked him to "beat up" this guy, and promised to keep him employed for 8 hours a day."
Investigators found thousands of dollars at his apartment.
We have several Sheriff's reports from interviews. We will post there here on Website later this morning. What do you think about this development?
