Chapter 1: What led to the murder in the Napa Valley wine scene?
911, where's your emergency?
He calls 911, and he's yelling into the phone, help me, help me, he shot me. This is the actual transcript from the 911 call. Yes.
So he's running through the vineyard. He is running through the vineyard, and the shooter is in the truck coming after him, shooting out the window.
This is crazy. Crazy. Who are these guys? These guys were a couple of rich, ambitious wine lovers who wanted to be in the business and own their own vineyards. Look, I have pictures. Here's Imad, Imad Tofilis. He's a smart guy from Silicon Valley who loved Hollywood. He even financed a movie. And here's the other guy, Robert Dahl, an operator who people said could make money grow on trees.
In this case, vines.
Take one, A-mark.
My name is Jonathan Kesselman. I'm a filmmaker.
Jimmy Vestforth is a terrorist!
I was directing a film, and Emad was the principal investor in the film.
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Chapter 2: Who were Robert Dahl and Emad Tawfilis?
So it seemed like a good guy to partner up with. Absolutely. One time, I don't know how I ended up on the back of his motorcycle, and he looked out and he pointed at this mansion. And he said, you know what? Greg and I are going to make so much money that he's going to be able to buy a house like this for you someday. Everything seemed to be going great. Oh, it was awesome. Yeah, perfect.
Until it all went wrong. Yes. And this is over money. This is over money. $800,000 in a gym bag? Broken dreams. Broken dreams. Who lives? Who dies? It's an incredible tale of wine, money, and murder.
We have a male saying, help me, help me. We advised the subject saying that he has been shot again twice now.
It was a showdown between two millionaires, Robert Dahl and Imad Tofilis.
While the tales of a shocking murder in the Napa Valley, a bitter money dispute ends in an execution-style shooting. This all started at Dahl Vineyards on Solano Avenue. The victim...
I mean, just look at this place, Napa Valley. Who wouldn't want a piece of this? That's what these two men wanted. And they went for it, but it ended in murder. So we came here to figure out what happened. And what we discovered is really interesting.
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Chapter 3: What was the nature of their business partnership?
It turns out that no less than four people thought that they could have ended up targets of the killer, too.
Could have been me running through the vineyard and ducking from flying bullets.
I was probably number one on his list to kill. My first thought was that could have very easily been Greg. What do you think would have happened if you were there?
I think you would have killed me.
Hold on, let's just slow down for a second. How do you get from two ambitious guys trying to make it in the wine business to a murder mystery with four or five other potential victims? Well, we found a guy who can explain it all. Because his family has worked in these valleys for generations. And he says he could have been a victim that day, too.
So is it customary if we visit to open a bottle of wine?
It's the only way that you can visit. Sure. Get to have some wine. So cheers.
Cheers. Meet Dominic Fopoli, pretty close to royalty around here.
Me and my brother and two sisters, we're the fourth generation in our family to be involved. I mean, our great-grandfather started doing this with grapes and making some wine in the early 1900s.
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Chapter 4: How did financial disputes escalate to violence?
Was he a good salesman?
Oh, great salesman. Great salesman. Oh, he could sell anyone.
So the wine didn't even have to really be that good. He could sell it.
Well, it never was really that good.
And he talked a good game.
He talked a great game.
And you knew enough to know that he didn't know a lot.
I knew that he had a good line of BS, which is fine, and it made him funnier.
It was part of his charm that he could BS?
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Chapter 5: What evidence links Robert Dahl to the murder?
Oh, completely. There was not, I didn't doubt for a second.
But almost as soon as the vineyard deal with Fipoli was closed, Dahl was looking for the next big thing. Sharing ownership in a vineyard wasn't good enough. He wanted to be the boss. To do that, he needed new partners. And then he found just the man he was looking for. A man with connections to the bright lights of Hollywood. With a gym bag full of money.
I directed a film called Jimmy Vestford, American Hero. It's a comedy. It's a comedy, starring a comic named Mazra Brani. I'm Jimmy. Jimmy Vestford. Like Clint Eastwood, but Vestford. Very funny film. Hello, Mr. Carr.
Director and screenwriter Jonathan Kesselman was shooting the film's wedding scene when one of the extras struck up a conversation.
While we're sort of in between setups, we started talking. And he said, hi, I'm Imad. I'm the investor in the film. And just a really nice guy. We chatted.
Imad Tafilis was a young businessman from Silicon Valley. What kind of actor was he? Um...
He was a better humanitarian than an actor. He was a good extra.
He was very good. He hit his marks. Emad was principal investor in the film. He put up about $200,000, and Kesselman became friendly with him.
He was like a business person in tech, and I think he was excited to be not a corporate guy anymore. He had sort of made a lot of money, and he was tired of it and wanted to sort of explore other things in his life, things that he had passion for.
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Chapter 6: How did the 911 call reveal the chaos of the situation?
Remember, Dahl had already started a vineyard business with Dominic Fopoli, but that wasn't enough for him. Shortly after Dahl's partnership with Fopoli began, it ended. There'd been problems. Now Dahl wanted his own thing. He wanted his name on the bottle. Emad was going to make that happen. His investment. which now totaled $1.2 million, would help launch Dahl Vineyards.
Emod was finally a player, and Dahl was center stage.
Welcome to Dahl Vineyards in lovely Yonkers, California. He's a salesman. It's a show.
Did people seem like they were having a good time?
Oh, yeah, always. He pours good wine, and he pours it well. Generously? Generously, and it was a nice product. He did a nice job on that winery.
And the business prospered, so much that Dahl was soon able to repay Imad part of his investment. And that's the thing. Everything that Robert Dahl touched seemed to be turning out golden. And it was happening so fast. Now, armed with Imad Tafilis's money, Dahl was on his way to being everything he wanted to be, the big man in Napa. Did he exude confidence? He exuded confidence. Oh my gosh.
Like nobody I've ever met before in my life. That same year, Dahl started up another brand new business with that Napa couple, Francine and Greg Knittel. This is just an abstract vineyard scene. They'd been pursuing their passions in Napa for years. Francine did her art. So Napa clearly inspires you. Yes, definitely. And Greg's construction business.
This is one of our custom remodels.
Oh, this is beautiful. Built some of the area's nicest homes and tasting rooms. Oh, look at the ceiling. It's like the Sistine Chapel. Some of this stuff I feel like we can't show on television, but... Life was good. Every time we come home, we just say to each other, look at where we live. We're so blessed. And there was no hesitation when the new guy, Robert Dahl, came into their lives.
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Chapter 7: What were the legal consequences following the murder?
Our restaurant was booming. The brewery was brewing. I mean, like within like three or four months, like it was incredible. It was incredible. Francine and Greg even became close friends with Dahl and his wife, Janelle. We did everything together for a year. And it was like it was going really well, like really, really well.
He liked to live well. He couldn't live in a 3,000 square foot house. It had to be a 5,000 square foot house.
It was all about looks.
He didn't have to have one brand new motorcycle. He had to have two brand new motorcycles. I'm sure you'll play the video of him after the Napa earthquake.
In fact, I have that video right here. This was taken after the 2014 earthquake in Napa.
If an East Coaster's thinking about coming to Napa for harvest season to have some nice wine and have a few dinners, is it time to call that vacation off?
Oh, absolutely not. Everything is back going in wine country. It's a great time to visit wine country, see some grapes being crushed, taste some fresh juice, and really take in the wine lifestyle.
Man, listening to him, it almost sounds like he could be the mayor of Napa. But things aren't always exactly as they appear to be. Remember Dominic Fopoli, Dahl's former partner? Dominic had been running the winery, and Dahl was running the books.
We're selling a bunch of wine. I mean, the winery was a hit, but there wasn't enough money to keep paying our bills, which I didn't understand. I didn't get.
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Chapter 8: What lessons can be learned from this tragic story?
Steve Birch knows he's a winemaker who worked for Dahl. Back when Dahl looked like he was the golden boy of wine country, Birch introduced him to celebrities. For the comic and TV personality Adam Carolla, he bottled a sangria called Mangria.
He made money on it. But I know that there was a significant amount of payment for that that Adam never received.
And there was the rapper E-40. You a loser? He had Dahl package some wines for his label, Earl Stevens Wines.
We started his product and it went really well, but I know he wasn't paid either.
And there was Birch himself.
I left with him owing me a lot of money.
Can you give me a ballpark?
Yeah, we'll say it was well over $10,000.
The same thing happened to Dahl's friend, electrician Miles Davis. Dahl owed him $15,000. Did you ever see that money? No. But you were friends with him again?
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