Howard Bloomgarden’s 1996 plea in federal court

In 1996, Howard Bloomgarden, then 28, con­fessed to or­der­ing the killings of Peter Ko­vach and Ted Gould as part of a fed­er­al plea agree­ment. Rack­et­eer­ing and oth­er charges were filed against mem­bers of a drug ring that Bloomgarden al­legedly led. When the fed­er­al cases and ap­peals ended, Los Angeles pro­sec­utors pur­sued cases against those in­volved in the deaths of Ko­vach, 26, and Gould, 29. Bloomgarden’s plea would later be ruled in­ad­miss­ible in the state’s case against him.

Sources: Court file