Gary Lee Triano (November 6, 1943 – November 1, 1996) was a longtime Tucson, Arizona resident and real estate developer. A graduate of Rincon High School, he earned an accounting degree from the University of Arizona and also attended its law school. He was previously married to Mary Cram, with whom he had two children, Heather and Brian. In 1978 he served as executive producer of the film *The Mafu Cage*. On October 4, 1986, he married his second wife, Pamela Phillips, a former model and real estate agent, in San Diego, California. The couple had two children, Trevor and Lois, before divorcing in 1993. At the time of the divorce, Triano filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing $40 million in debt tied to failed business dealings involving Indian casinos. Phillips subsequently moved to Aspen, Colorado with the couple's children and continued a career in commercial real estate.
On November 1, 1996, Triano was killed when a pipe bomb exploded in his car at the La Paloma Country Club in Catalina Foothills, Arizona. Within weeks, investigators focused on Phillips, who was still living in Aspen. Investigators found that she had taken out a $2 million life insurance policy on Triano shortly before his death, naming their two children as beneficiaries; the policy was paid out to Phillips in 1997. Evidence also linked Phillips to Ronald Young, described as a small-time criminal with whom she had developed a relationship while in Aspen. Shortly before the bombing, a van rented by Young was found abandoned in Yorba Linda, California, containing documents related to the Phillips-Triano divorce, a map of Tucson, and a sawed-off shotgun.
Nine years later, on November 19, 2005, an episode of *America's Most Wanted* profiled Young, then wanted for forgery and embezzlement, and noted his suspected involvement in Triano's death. Two days later, he was apprehended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He served a 10-month federal sentence for weapon possession before being extradited to Aspen, where investigators recovered phone and email records between Young and Phillips concerning the murder.
In 2008, Young was charged with Triano's murder. On December 3, 2009, Phillips was arrested in Vienna, Austria, after fleeing following her October 2008 indictment; she was later returned to the United States to stand trial.
Young was tried in 2010. Prosecutors presented evidence that Phillips had agreed to pay him $400,000 to kill her ex-husband, along with recordings detailing the conspiracy. Young was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to two life terms.
Phillips was held on a $5 million bond at the Pima County Jail. In December 2011 she was ruled mentally incompetent for trial, but in October 2012, after treatment, she was found competent to stand trial. Her trial began in 2014 and lasted seven weeks. Prosecutors used similar evidence to that presented against Young. Phillips was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and, like Young, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She is incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Perryville and has stated that she believes Triano's death was a mob revenge killing.
Tucson real estate developer Gary Triano was killed by a pipe bomb placed in his car in 1996. Nearly 18 years later, his ex-wife Pamela Phillips and hit man Ronald Young were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with his death.
Where did the murder happen?
La Paloma Country Club, Catalina Foothills, Arizona.
Who was convicted?
Pamela Anne Phillips (Ex-wife of Gary Triano; convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for orchestrating his killing, sentenced to life in prison.) and Ronald Young (Hired by Pamela Phillips as a hit man; convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, sentenced to two life terms.).
