Dave, if there was a scintilla of truth to that copies would have surfaced in vg-- condition by now, being traded as "plays well" and "OK for DJing"...some of the LA dudes would have found the odd butchered copy, but they haven't. It's pretty clear that it wasn't distributed at all....
The Fortiers actually live in San Bernardino, rather than South L.A. Of course that doesn't mean they lived there in the 70's, but food for thought....Seem to recall Ree Flores was also from somewhere like San Bernadino (did you encounter him in the 60s or 70s?) - greater LA but certainly not the central or ghetto areas... which is odd since the The Phoenix label address was North Hollywood, but I believe that was Calvin Wade's label, rather than Fortiers, though the two were obviously business associates for a while....
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And Dave H. I am sorry but this is a proven rarity, has been known about and sought after since the 80s, certainly on 60's collectors wants lists if not every Tom Dick & Harry in the chasing pack, as is now the case....it's not a discovery of the last ten years that suddenly appeared out of the blue like the Four Vandals or Vaneicia Wilson....I am still 100% convinced it is a very rare record (probably early 70s).
All the wild guesswork and speculation from Ian and others hasn't changed that.