Murder of Chuck Gold by former Playboy Bunny Carole Gold investigated on Snapped

Snapped is examining the murder of Charles “Chuck” Gold, who was gunned down by a hitman at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. The ringleader in planning his murder was deemed to be his wife, the famous Playboy Bunny Carole Gold.

Gold was one of the original Playboy bunnies who helped open the Chicago Playboy Club in the 1950s. She met Chuck, a Wild West actor, at a Playboy event, and the pair soon married and moved to Arizona.

However, on October 20, 1992, Carole supposedly found the remains of her 51-year-old husband lying on their kitchen floor. He had been shot eight times with a .22 caliber handgun.

Chuck was well known for playing the role of “Black Bart,” a gunslinging cowboy from the Wild West. Chuck was often dressed in his character’s trademark all-black cowboy outfit, and when he was shot, he was even wearing a holstered firearm, but unfortunately, he was too slow on the draw.

The police later uncovered a complex scheme involving Carole, her son, 20-year-old Kenneth Cottini, Cottini’s drug dealer and a hitman.

The relationship between Cottini and Chuck had already soured. The younger man was a drug addict, and Chuck had insisted that he move out after he caught him using drugs on the property.

Cops say Carole Gold had husband Chuck Gold killed for money

However, the police believe the actual motive for the killing was money and that Carole hoped to pocket up to $160,000 in life insurance money. The prosecutors later argued that Carole and Cottini had already tried to kill Chuck using rat poison.

Cottini offered his drug dealer, Robert Pryor, $9,000 to kill Chuck. Pryor then hired Danny Jay Goddard as the hitman.

Goddard reportedly received some form of immunity from the police after agreeing to testify against his co-conspirators.

Pryor also took a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Carole and Cottini. He received a 20-year prison sentence.

Carole Gold and Kenneth Cottini given lengthy sentences for Chuck Gold murder

Cottini pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 18 years. He was released in 2011 after serving just 14 years.

Carole Gold was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Arizona abolished parole in 1994, switching to a form of “community supervision,” which can be enabled only after serving 85 percent of a sentence. However, because Chuck’s murder occurred in 1992, Carole was eligible for parole after serving just two-thirds of her sentence. In 2023, she was released, aged 84.

Snapped airs Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.