In September 2002, two young men were found executed in a burning Mercedes SUV in an upscale California neighborhood. What initially looked like a drug or gang-related murder, turned out to be something entirely different, but the crime scene left little forensic evidence to investigate. “48 Hours" Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 9/1/2012. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened on Labor Day weekend 2002?
Yagala had big dreams, and Sandy quickly became a part of them when he was introduced to her by another Playboy model. I stole her from Hugh Hefner, the ultimate heterosexual icon. And was Hef happy with that? No, he was not. I am persona non grata at the Playboy mansion.
Head over heels, Yagala began buying his Playboy bunny spectacular world-class jewelry, like an exact copy of the ruby and diamond necklace and earrings that Richard Gere gave Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman. It was her favorite movie. And how much did that cost you? A quarter of a million.
A quarter of a million dollars?
adding insult to betrayal. We've had major fundraisers here. Heff didn't know during this interview that Sandy was wearing Yagala's diamonds, a $150,000 necklace and earring set. But this was just the tip of the diamond iceberg. When Sandy wanted bling, Mark couldn't say no. Two Rolexes, diamond rings. There's about a million dollars right there. You bought a watch worth half a million dollars?
Yes. Are you nuts? I just wanted to make her happy. And material things made her happy? Very, very happy. Yagala even spent about $3 million buying and redecorating this house for Sandy in Las Vegas. You were in love. Yes, I was.
Or crazy.
I think both.
Mark Yagala has showered Sandy Bentley with millions of dollars worth of gifts, fur, car, jewelry. And it's that jewelry that becomes key to this case.
Why? Because after Yagala and Sandy broke up, she took that jewelry into her relationship with her new boyfriend. Michael Tardio, one of the two men murdered in that SUV. Every day I feel like a fool. You know, my greed and then, you know, her greed, you know, resulted in the murders of two innocent people.
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Chapter 2: Who were the victims in the burning SUV?
As I was making money, it started with prostitutes. By his own reckoning, he paid for thousands of them. Sometimes three, four different girls a day. In fact, Mark Ugalis says he became totally addicted to sex. I was just out of control. in a strip club, in a bathroom, whatever I had to do to get sex.
It was a compulsion.
Brian Bieber is Yagala's lawyer.
Mark Yagala's conduct makes what Tiger Woods did now look like a junior high school student going through puberty.
Mark had a huge appetite for women. I mean, he would have a girl every day of the week if he could.
Yagala's insatiable appetite led him to this striking woman, Michelle Braun, who's known as the sex queen of LA.
And I was arguably the most successful madam in the history of the world.
She was the first person to really use the internet to offer prostitutes. Ron ran this website, nickisgirls.com.
I only worked with famous women, penthouse pets, playboy playmates, porn stars, actresses, models.
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Chapter 3: What was the connection between the jewelry and the murders?
Anywhere from $5,000 a night to $50,000 a night. So the geek in high school who couldn't get a date was now buying some of the most exotic women on planet Earth. Any woman I wanted, yes.
Were you also lavishing them with gifts? Yes. Yagala says he couldn't help himself. He bought many of his escorts expensive cars, furs, jewelry, even houses, costing him millions. But it was only when another woman introduced Mark to Sandy Bentley, who he began dating, that his spending really went into orbit. All the other girls were gold diggers, but I'd say Sandy was an educated gold digger.
They were together for 13 months. Was Mark in love with Sandy?
Madly in love.
Was Sandy in love with him?
Madly in love with his money.
Yes. The most expensive girl I've ever met in my life. How much did you spend on her? About six to seven million dollars. Six to seven million bucks? Yes. So how did Mark Yagala manage to pay for all of this? I was taking client money and there was no boundaries. You were scamming your clients? Yes.
Instead of investing their money in stocks, He used it to pay for his incredibly expensive sexcapades. He was running one big Ponzi scheme. He just was the definition of greed. Mike Degnan is a special agent with the FBI.
He just took whatever he could get and used it for his own personal use without any remorse for the people he was stealing it from. But Marc Ugella's world began to crumble. He owed a brokerage firm over $7 million, and they were asking for their money.
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Chapter 4: How did the investigation unfold over the years?
Bill Cox and other investigators believe Sandy hatched a plan with Michael Tardio to sell some of Yagala's gifts under the table to raise some fast cash. Oh, I'm a sucker. Sandy was a total manipulator.
Mark Yagala is bitter and angry. But is he capable of murder? Did you have anything to do with the murder of Michael Tardio and Chris Monson? Just like in the good book, all roads in this case seem to lead to the Garden of Eden nightclub. Almost all the players in our mystery met and partied here. Mark Yagala, Hef and the Bentley twins.
It catered to celebrities and big money people in Los Angeles.
It's where Michael Tardio, working the door, became involved with Sandy Bentley. Michael Tardio and Sandy Bentley's relationship, what was that? Was this an affair? Were they lovers?
It looked like that Sandy was the smitten one here, much more so than Michael. Happy New Year!
Sandy may have played the gold digger in her past affairs, but this relationship seemed different.
She did care a lot about Michael Tardio. Sandy definitely did.
And Michael and Sandy became a hot item in the hottest club in Hollywood.
You're really rubbing elbows with the creme de la creme and you're in the fast lane.
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