Adult industry journeyman Ken DeLucia is now living a dream with Ona Zee Productions. Ona, who was heading for Spain and the Barcelona show when we caught up with her, was asked whether it was true that she was employing Godfather-style tactics in doing business. Story making the net-rounds is that she sent Jimmy Marzullo and Ruby Gottesman a dead fish and that she had hired thugs to work Marzullo over.
"I will neither confirm nor deny the story," Ona said. "Let's just said I factored the account." In other words, if it happened, somebody else likely did it.
Ona said she really shouldn't comment on the story but proceeded to do so, anyway. "I sold the debt," she said. "I did try to collect it legitimately. I sued them many times. They owe me a great deal of money." Zee claims it all came about when she "got fucked" in the European market with her Canadian client and decided to do something about it.
"I sold some titles for Jimmy and Ruby. It was a deal for 22 titles. I paid them upfront. What happened was Jimmy came and collected the money from me, and I watched him drive away with the cash. I did it out of a very nice spirit. I was hoping to get paid back from the three or four thousand that he had owed me before for three or four years, plus I'd make a little bit of money and help him because I knew he was hurting.
"He [Jimmy] said he'd come back on a Friday and have the titles to me. I never saw him again." Zee said one of her people drove by Xcitement several days later only to find the place closed. "They still had the equipment in the building," she remembers. "Three days later the equipment was gone. I paged him [Marzullo]. I called him. We were looking all over the Valley for him. He pulled up stakes and he vanished. The next thing I knew he was completely gone, and I lost my Canadian client who was not only a dear friend and a good client, but I was dealing a lot of product for him.
"I really got fucked," Ona reemphasized. Ona said in order to come up with the money to pay Marzullo, a "friend of a friend," helped her out by taking a payment via a Visa card from the Canadian client so that she could pay Marzullo. "When the product wasn't delivered three months later, there was a charge-back on this guy's small business," Zee continued. "Now, not only am I out the money they owe, but I'm out another $2500 on this guy's Visa. And I've been paying him off, and I've got to come up with a payment today. Having been beaten up so much by people telling me I owe them money, I have paid. And whenever I haven't paid, I've had a judgment against me. I have not gone underground. I have done everything I can to pay everybody I owe money too."
Zee said she was put in touch by a mutual friend with a guy who "factors accounts".
"I told him these dudes owe me in the thousands of dollars, and I'm looking to collect," she continued. "Did he actually do that? I don't know. I don't have any part of that." Ona said that if certain parties were really smart, that might consider getting in touch with Bill or Ken at her office. "That bill needs to be paid this week. They had a time limit."
After that, Ona said whatever happens, happens. "People have tried to scare me. They've threatened me. I want the world to know I've made official police reports. I will do whatever needs to be done from any motherfucker out there. You want to beat me up? Great. I can't make payments to other people until I start getting paid off.
"Jimmy's driving around in a motherfuckin' Mercedes Benz with the tiffany diamonds on the ring," Ona went on to say. "You know what? I'm working out of my house. What's that about? I'm sick of being called a deadbeat when I'm the one that's paying. And these guys are getting their asses kissed?"
G. Ross: "I'm glad I don't owe you any money. So what about the fish? Was it deep fried or broiled?"
Ona: "I think it was a COLD slab. I think it had just come out of the deep freeze and somebody chopped the body off and delivered the head."
Ona said she's got paper work to back up all her money claims. "I keep seeing Jimmy taking that cash and telling me how he had to have money to buy his wife a piece of jewelry for Christmas. He spent $10,000 on Dodger tickets."
On a cheerier, Zee said she's got product coming out and will be moving her offices in February after the CES show. "We have a new line coming out after the first of the year called Angels With Attitudes. We're real excited about it. It's Ken's idea and I'm going to produce and direct it. I still have Ona Zee Pictures, but I'm going to be distributing under Ona Zee Presents. I'm taking reality-based product and I'm going to be distributing it from all over the world. I'm buying their product. Angels With Attitudes will be an ancillary line. It's Ken's line but Ona Zee Presents will be putting it out. We're excited about what's happening. We'll start with four titles in January. By March or April we should have eight titles a month. It was worth hanging in for."
[Marzullo is currently out of the business and is selling software for 800 business lines.]
