Southern California Woman Struggles for Custody with Ex-Husband Linked to Sammy "the Bull" Gravano
Christie Black's ex-husband helped put away a notorious criminal, but that, and his abuse to his family, played little role in their custody.
Despite a history of violence by her ex-husband, a Southern California woman has struggled to maintain custody of the couple’s three children.
In 2017, already three years into their divorce, Christie Black got a bizarre call.
An individual named Dave Melnyck with the Orange County DA’s Office called Black to ask if she was safe.
“I had no idea what he meant,” Black said.
Her ex-husband had filed for divorce under the name Maximillan Black, but years earlier, he was known as Dustin Bryant Zanck.
Zanck had gotten into business with Sammy “The Bull” Gravano in an ecstasy ring Gravano had orchestrated from Arizona.
Gravano is the notorious former Mafioso who once ratted out John Gotti and admitted to his role in nineteen murders, including his brother-in-law.
Gravano was sentenced to twenty years in jail in 2001 and was being released early.
Black’s ex-husband was a reason that Gravano wound up in jail; here is part of news article from the time.
Salvatore (Sammy) "the Bull" Gravano was sentenced to 19 years in state prison by the Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday for running an Ecstasy drug ring in Arizona in 1999.
Two and a half years after being arrested, the former Mafia hit man who was living in the Valley under the Witness Protection Program, faces a total of 39 years in prison — time including a 20-year sentence delegated from a federal court that he is already serving.
The drug ring under Gravano involved, at its peak, 45 people, including former ASU students Michael Papa, Brent Tally and Dustin Zanck. The drug ring allegedly sold upward of 30,000 pills per week, yielding more than $300,000 a week.
Another more detailed article on the ring is found here.
Law enforcement was worried that Gravano might seek revenge and Black’s life was in danger.
Her ex-husband’s role in this ring was hidden from Christie Black, she told me.
Her ex-husband did not leave violence behind, Black says. According to a spreadsheet she made, he had numerous incidents of violence toward her and their three children.
Once incident from 2013 is described as follows.
One evening in December 2013, Mother, Ms. Black was playing upstairs with the (3) children. Mr. Black, Father, came upstairs, and kicked Ms. Black who was sitting on the floor of the children’s room. Ms. Black was frightened and so were the children. As she got up and tried to escape and protect the children, Mr. Black accosted her, and as she exited the room, to the upstairs landing atop the stairs, in front of the children, Mr. Black grabbed her, and attempted to throw her down the stairs. Ms. Black grabbed onto the top post of the banister as she avoided being pushed down the flight of stairs. The children attempted to fight Mr. Black off. The youngest son bit the buttocks of Mr. Black, and daughter went for her phone shouting that she was dialing 9-1-1. At that point, the intoxicated Mr. Black left the residence. The children cried and Mother locked all of the interior locks of the door. Mr. Black did not return for a few weeks over the Christmas break. Police were not called because Mother didn’t want to traumatize the children further. The youngest son reported this to his school teacher. {Their youngest son} told his teacher, Pleasance Conrady, that he was afraid for his Mother and wanted to go home to protect her. The elementary school, Oso Grande Elementary called the Mother regarding this incident as Ms. Pleasance Conrady was concerned.
Another police report painted a similar picture.
When Black’s daughter was interview for another police report, her daughter described her father as “awful” and continued, “He likes to make sure I don’t think of myself as a human being.”
The police report continued, “{Black’s daughter} states that Maximilan locks her and her brothers out of their bedrooms and makes them stay in the living room where he records them.”
Despite this abusive history- or possibly because of it- Maximilan employed a common strategy, accusing Christie of parental alienation.
This strategy was spearheaded by his long time attorney, Keith Dolnick, who telegraphed it on his initial correspondence, “This letter is a demand that Ms. Black immediately cease interfering with Mr. Black’s custody time. There is a court order for Mr. Black to have the children and Ms. Black is creating a situation where their eldest daughter is being alienated from him.”
Dolnick did not respond to a voicemail at his office.
Dolnick’s parental alienation strategy was put into motion, Christie told me, by the appointment of two court actors: Carolyn Cater Nishimoto and Miriam Galindo.
Cater was appointed to do a 730 evaluation or a custody evaluation.
The judge also ordered that Cater was given authority to decide if Christy’s daughter kept her therapist or choose one for her.
Cater chose Miriam Galindo. Christy said the judge’s order violated California law.
Galindo’s behavior was bizarre throughout. According to a timeline provided, Galindo attempted to convince the children their feelings toward their father were unwarranted.
During 7/7/19 session, Galindo forced children into her room, told them to explain to Mr. Black why they don’t want to be with him. {Black’s son} cried that Miriam Galindo stated {Black’s son} has a “dark side” and what happened to the “nice boy she knew?” and when {Black’s son} laughs, Miriam Galindo “knows he is lying.” {Black’s son} was distraught and troubled by Miriam Galindo’s psychological abuse and manipulation of {Black’s son}.
Galindo is a notorious figure in the Southern California psychology world. She was sued by the family of a boy, Ethan Cook, who committed suicide while in his father’s care.
Galindo had recommended that his father have custody.
The case was dismissed against Galindo, with the court stating.
Ethan’s suicide appears to have been over a year after he interacted with nearly every defendant, and it is unclear that the narrow exceptions to suicide being an intervening cause apply to any defendant. Accordingly, it appears that the connection between Ethan’s suicide and the named Defendants is too attenuated to support causation as a matter of law, even assuming the truth of Plaintiffs’ allegations.
I left a voicemail with Galindo’s office but also received no response.
Black also said that Dolnick often employed a strategy of filing ex-parte motions. She described one in her timeline.
On December 21, 2018 Mr. Dolnick called for an ex parte motion to remove the children from Ms. Black’s custody. The request was denied.
On December 22, 2018,The FOLLOWING MORNING, Mr. Black appeared at the residence of Ms. Black and the children with (2) Sheriff patrol cars. Mr. Black presented the OUTDATED June 17, 2016 Stipulated Judgement and asked the officers to take the children for his trip to Arizona. Mr. Black knew these orders were invalid, and knowingly made a false report and attempted a custodial kidnapping, enlisting the OCSD. The children were distraught and the sheriffs entered the home to interview the children. Luckily, I had the denied request and presented it to the Sheriffs, who asked why would Mr. Black present old orders to take the kids when I was just in Court the day prior.
This strategy is common in Orange County and the surrounding areas, as I described in the story about Marieke “Marika” Randoy.
Black said that in 2019 Dolnick’s strategy finally paid off. Here is more from her timeline.
On October 23, 2019 Mr. Black and Mr Dolnick file an ex parte motion, with misrepresented information to once again DECEIVE the Court. Mr. Black and Mr. Dolnick BOTH allege immediate danger. The ex parte filed on October 28, 2019 by Mr. Baron on behalf of Ms. Black attempts to correct these lies, but let me repeat, the unsubstantiated text message submitted by Mr. Black could not possibly have occurred within the past two years!
This ex-parte motion did eventually lead to a change in custody.
Christie said that she was only saved because her ex-husband left the State of California for Texas without getting prior approval first in 2020.
Only after her attorneys filed based on this move did she get her kids back.
Their docket is nearly twenty eight pages long just from 2014-2020; it can be found here.
It is what courts would refer to as “high conflict”, but it’s another example of what happens when courts cater to abusive personalities.
Post Script
Find the previous articles on Orange County here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Check out the fundraiser which goes along with this investigative series here.
Update:
Mr. Zanck’s attorneys hit me with a cease and desist letter in December 2024. I am producing the letter below. The audience can compare what the letter claims I said to what I wrote: as I see it is not the same.
