Accused killer denies charges in one of Fresno's oldest slayings

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- An out-of-state man pleaded innocent Monday to a 30-year-old killing that inspired a book by the victim's son.

Thomas Ezerkis was arraigned in the Fresno County Jail during a brief hearing that was broadcast on a television monitor in Fresno Superior Court.

Ezerkis, 54, originally from Detroit, faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Ara Arax on Jan. 2, 1972, in what police said was a robbery gone awry.

The killing of Arax, 40, a Pop Warner coach and father of three, was one of the city's most talked about crimes, but investigators didn't have a break in the case until last year when a tip put police on the trail of Ezerkis and another man.

Court documents said the getaway driver identified Ezerkis as one of two gunmen who tried to rob Arax's bar. Fingerprints on a beer glass and billiard ball linked Ezerkis and the other suspect, Charles Silvani, to the killing.

Silvani killed himself in San Diego in 1982.

Prosecutor James Oppliger said charges could be filed against others in the case, including the driver, who has not been publicly named.

Ezerkis was in a Pennsylvania jail serving a federal sentence for a bank robbery parole violation when police picked him up last week.

The killing was the subject of the book "In My Father's Name," written by Mark Arax, a Los Angeles Times reporter.