Exotic dancer is charged in plot to kill another Jealousy rears its ugly head, police say.

SAN FRANCISCO -- An erotic entertainer is in the San Francisco jail on charges of attempted murder after police claimed she tried to hire a man to go to Hawaii and murder a rival dancer named Bambi, one of the stars of the city's notorious Exotic-Erotic Ball.

The motive, they said, was jealousy and love.

The plot came unglued when the supposed hit man went to the police after allegedly being offered $5,000 and a classic 1968 Mustang to kill the other woman.

The dancer who was arrested is Diana Manetti, 26, one of the "Century Girls" at the New Century Theater.

The victim was to be Joyce Massagli, 25, whose stage name is Bambi after the deer in the Walt Disney movie. Bambi, described by her co-workers as "a very sweet girl, a doll" and "gorgeous," was a star at the Mitchell Brothers adult theater and the poster girl for the 1987 Exotic-Erotic Ball.

She is currently dancing in Honolulu.

Police inspector Ken King said Manetti and Bambi quarreled over a man and things got worse after that.

Louis Abolafia, who runs the Exotic-Erotic Ball, said he was "horrified and mystified" that someone would want to kill Bambi.

He said, "Young women with that romantic temperament should love each other because they have enough of a rough time in the sex business."

Instead of following the sex impresario's advice, police said Manetti went to a man, whose identity the police would not disclose, and asked what it would take to do in Bambi. Police said she bought the man a plane ticket to Hawaii, gave him a $1,000 down payment, a diamond earring and the title to her Mustang.

Police arrested Manetti Monday, the day the supposed killer was ticketed to fly to Hawaii.