Fred Sexton Maltese Falcon Prop to Headline TCM/BONHAM, "What Dreams Are Made Of" Auction in NY, November 25, 2013 – Matt Weinstock-Fred Sexton: A Tequila Sunrise

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Fred Sexton
designed “Maltese Falcon”

Los
Angeles, California

There
has been a flurry of Fred Sexton related activities in the past few months that
got me questioning -What’s going on?  

First
to appear was a lengthy Fred
Sexton biography on Wikipedia. It lists his career, and artistic
achievements, however, no references are made to his “dark-side.” Absent were
any mentions of his connections to George Hodel and to his being a star prosecution
witness in the 1949 Hodel incest trial.

Nor,
were there any references to Sexton’s own alleged sexual misconduct, which
ultimately caused him, (like his lifelong friend George Hodel) to flee the country to Mexico for the
remainder of his life.

A
month later I was contacted by a representative of Hank
Risan,
a businessman and art collector, who expressed an interest in documenting
provenance on Sexton as the creator of the Maltese Falcon Prop and possibly buying a Sexton painting, which I
had recently purchased from a seller in Europe. I had featured the painting on
my website blog.  (See
link to Sexton modern.)

After
an exchange of e-mails, we reached an
agreement, and I sold the Sexton painting to Risan in June, 2013.

This
week, the reason WHY all of the sudden interest in Fred Sexton became apparent.

It
is because Sexton’s “Black Bird” statuette will be the headline piece in the TCM/BONHAM auction
to be held this upcoming November in New York City. (The items will be on
display for special viewing here in Los Angeles from October 22-27.) .

Six
years ago, (2007) I published a timeline biography on my father’s close friend,
Fred Sexton, whose crimes (some suspected, some known) are documented in my
first book, Black Dahlia Avenger.

Fred,
like George Hodel, was forced to flee the United States after molesting his
11-year-old stepdaughter in the late 1960s. (Daughter of his second wife.) 

For
those interested in knowing the full biographical details (both Good and Bad)
of Fred Sexton click on the below link to my original Fred Sexton Biography.

The Stuff That  Dreams and Nightmares Are Made Of

FRED RAFAEL
SEXTON   1907-1995 (PDF bio)

FAQ 47 Sexton update 2013 – Copy.pdf

Maltese
Falcon statuette to star in Turner Classic Movies auction

In the “Synchronicity Happens” Department

 In 1986, immediately after my retirement from LAPD I obtained my P.I. license and opened up “Hodel Investigations.”  I designed a logo and had an artist, draw it up and have used it for my business cards and letterheads for the past twenty-seven years. Ironically, with no clue of what was to come some fifteen years into the future, I had the artist place “The Black Bird” on my office desk. Synchronicity Happens! See original logo on my current business card below:

December 16, 2013 UPDATE:   For clarification purposes the lead Maltese Falcon sold at Bonham’s auction for over 4 Million.  The Hank Risan Sexton statue was offered at a separate auction, but buyers did not meet the minimum bid price. See story here.

Matt Weinstock Fred Sexton Anecdote 1968

Here is a rather amusing anecdote about Fred Sexton that appeared in famed Los Angeles Times columnist Matt Weinstock’s column in July, 1968.  (In the “Small World Department” both Matt Weinstock and my uncle Eugene Harvey (my mother’s brother) were Editors of the UCLA Bruin newspaper in the 1920s.)