LOCAL : Ex-Convict Acquitted in Slaying of Sarno Outside Loz Feliz Home

An ex-convict was acquitted today of charges he ordered an accomplice to kill restaurateur Alberto Sarno to silence him during an aborted holdup at his Loz Feliz home in 1987.

Ralph Mora, 34, yelled “Hallelujah!” and hugged his defense attorneys as a clerk announced that a Superior Court jury had found him not guilty of first-degree murder and attempted robbery.

Members of Mora’s family broke into tears and hugged one another as the acquittals were read. If convicted, Mora could have faced a death sentence.

The trial was Mora’s second on the charges. His first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked 8 to 4 to convict him of the charges.

Mora was charged with ordering an accomplice to shoot Sarno to death to silence him during an aborted holdup outside his gated home Oct. 20, 1987.

Sarno, 59, was the owner of the Caffe Dell’Opera restaurant on North Vermont Avenue.

The reputed triggerman, although identified by authorities, has never been charged because of insufficient evidence.