Arminda Del Riviero
To ancient me, that she is dead is a surprise, but maybe not.
When you see a photo of her, her facial expression reveals that she was open, friendly and adventurous. I don’t remember when I first met her, but it was not long after she was out of high school. She was nervous about having photos taken at that time, but quickly warmed up to the idea.
I recall another FBB telling me (scandalously) that Arminda was a “dancer”. Not surprising and I didn’t care as that particular FBB had two sisters who also were “dancers”.
Arminda was always surprising, though. She told me that she had had bit parts in several television program episodes. Usually as a “dancer”. She later was a stand-in for Robin Givens in a TV movie. I believed that she would have been better served heading in this direction, rather than try to pump herself up to be a heavyweight FBB. Ocean Bloom, for example, became a stunt woman and had plenty of work in that area.
At one time she became interested in Numerology and accordingly changed her name. She told me that she had done it legally, but I suspect not. She said her new name was Latia LaPre. Her family, whom I did meet, were devout Catholics from the Phillipines.
The dark side of Arminda was her association with people involved in organized crime. Mostly Hell’s Angels. I recall “Pete the Greek” telling me that the local Hell’s Angels Treasurer bought his gym (Olympic Gym where Carla Temple originated) for $600,000 cash in a briefcase. The MC owned several local gyms and perhaps that’s how Arminda connected with them.
One time she invited me to a dinner in a restaurant with some Wannabes present. Amazing stories of violence, jail, etc. I suspect that Arminda did some work for the Hell’s Angels, or perhaps associated criminal gangs. She was often away – Holland, France, NYC, Mexico, etc. She never told me what she did on these trips, but did brag about speaking several languages. She also had some friends who were in jail and whom she visited regularly.
On one occasion when she returned from NYC, she brought back a good-looking big erstwhile BB. Italian. 6’ 2”, 240 pounds. Right out of “The Godfather”. He told me that his uncle was “made” and controlled truck traffic to and from LaGuardia Airport. He had done something “bad” and he was going to stay in Vancouver until things cooled down. He stayed with her for about a year, then returned to NYC.
Another boyfriend was a giant 265-pound BB whose father was a University professor. He himself had musical ability, a level 10 on the piano. However he was busted for steroid trafficking. Shortly afterwards, while out on bail, he was found dead in a park, having apparently shot himself in the head. Arminda never believed that. She thought that there were people who were afraid that this person was going to rat on them and put out a contract on him.
She told me that the person who controlled drug trafficking in this area (a big area – northwest USA and western Canada) was a “Mexican”. She said that when he visited Vancouver she had to go out with him. She never said what his name was.
Periodically she said her life was “too exciting” and she sought out someone who had a mundane job so that she could relax for a year or two.
When Fitness started up in the NPC, I told her she should get into that area, but she wouldn’t entertain the idea, even though her greatest on stage strength was her movement and posing. She wanted to get BIG. Like Colette Guimond who had beaten her out for the Canadian Championships in the Lightweight class. Ditto WRT Laura Binetti, who beat her out in another year. The last time I saw her she said she weighed about 145, but still wanted to get BIGGER. She would phone me occasionally, but I didn’t return her enthusiasm. I felt that she had made too many wrong choices and that she could have been much better off in other areas of entertainment.
In one of her last phone calls, she said she was going to write an autobiography. Considering what I knew of her, what I suspected and likely the many things of which I was in the dark, it could have been an interesting tome. Hopefully not too exciting. Not heartstopping, as it were.
PS. I have many photos of her, but none is on a link website. I do have several thousand photos posted on Flickr in another field of interest (speak many tongues, do I), but no FBB ones. This website doesn’t permit direct uploads, only links. So I’ve never posted any photos here – although others have done so with old scans I did many years ago.