Return to Wonderland | Salon.com Notably, they say his handprint, which police found at the crime scene, could have been left there during one of the many times he visited or stayed overnight there before the killings. Susan Launius, Ron's wife, was critically injured but survived. But they arent nearly as well known as some of L.A.s other notorious crimes like the Manson family murders, which they resemble in kind a house full of people brutally slain overnight. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The theory is that Nash had the Wonderland gang killed because they, with the help of John Holmes, had robbed Nash and his bodyguard, Gregory DeWitt Niles, a 300-pound martial-arts specialist, of a small fortune in heroin, cocaine, jewels and cash. "My personal take on it was that he had to for his own survival. [Police] would have to investigate it, but I think theres a couple people still alive.. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. 's club (shortly afterward renamed Starwood) in West Hollywood, the Soul'd Out club in Hollywood, the Odyssey disco,[8] the Paradise Ballroom, the Seven Seas, Ali Baba's, and The Kit Kat strip club. But the new accounts cast doubt on the story Holmes told a biographer before his death March 13. He said he was told he would be killed and people in the book would be killed if (Holmes) didnt do what (Nash) wanted. Add family and friends whose lives he impacted. Fellow porn legend and former magazine publisher Gloria Leonard takes a dimmer view of Holmes. True Hollywood Story." When they met, Holmes had already been exiled from the porn industry for his daily $1,500 cocaine habit, and he had thus began working for the eponymous group of drug dealers on Wonderland Avenue. There was not much use of social media in his time period. In Nash's case, police and prosecutors tried three times. That's the equivalent of spending $4.5 million per year today, or $12.3K per day on drugs, for six years. [6] "You say 'John Holmes' to people who've never even seen an adult film, and they know who he is. It doesn't just happen in porno. Meet Big Nose Kate, The Tough-As-Nails Lover Of Wild West Outlaw Doc Holliday, The Harrowing True Story Of The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images. Nash, by this point in his seventies, and suffering from emphysema and several other ailments, agreed to a plea bargain agreement in September 2001, pleading guilty to RICO charges and to money laundering. A sign on the box, written in blue marker, said, For Distribution at Box Office. From reuniting Lost & Found or 'orphan' photos with their families, seeing faces of relatives for the first time, to the many connections made with family & friends, and the profound discoveries about our loved ones and ancestors. During Holmes murder trial in 1982, then Deputy Dist. He told me that he had set up the robbery. Holmes slept fitfully for a few hours, Sharon Holmes said, and moaned about blood and pain. At one point, one of the Wonderland Gang's member's guns went off, grazing Nash's bodyguard's face. But Nash was also a cocaine trafficker, which introduced him to the adult entertainment scene of 1970s Los Angeles and notorious pornstar and drug runner John Holmes. He would also trade stolen goods for cocaine with Nash, and they became good friends. The company no longer exists and the domain name was sold 25 years later. Seeing is believing - take a look at some of these "cures" and where they were sold! Sharon Holmes said she is convinced that her former husband was at least present when the murders took place. Indeed, there's something of a Dostoyevskian dilemma in Holmes' tabloid narrative leading to his downfall and to the killings at Wonderland Avenue -- the one that posits that unhappiness results from a multiplicity of options. Wonderland Murders Witness Scott Thorson Is Out of Prison - Rolling Stone He reigned supreme for many years in this industry.". But Israels creation in 1948 saw his family displaced to a refugee camp and his brother-in-law killed by Israeli soldiers. Nash had a feeling Holmes was in on the plan, so he had the strung-out adult film star brought to his house to question him. I flew in from I believe I was in Tahoe with Liberace, he says. He was the first male adult film superstar, whose physical size became legend. Thorson remembers hearing the news of Nashs sentencing in October 2001. "He was just a guy with a big dick who was in the right place at the right time," Leonard remarks. He lives in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon became the headquarters for the titular gang of drug dealers whom Nash would soon come to know and regularly hosted John Holmes. "It's basically the [story of] a young man with a dream who gets that dream, and it spirals out of control," Anderson concludes in an interview for Paley's "Wadd" documentary. An LAPD report from 1974 labeled him "Hood of the Month," according to LA Weekly. . According to Salon , Nash was the kind of guy who had $1 million in cocaine stashed in his house, which he eventually went to prison for. Help paint a picture of Eddie so that he is always remembered. Afterwards they took John Holmes out by the scruff of the neck, and they made him take [Diles] up to the Wonderland address where they then did the beatings and the killings. Because of the abuse, Nash was missing part of his sinus cavity, one of his lungs had been removed, and he had a steel plate in his head. Stephen Lemons is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to Salon. The wild details Thorson shares strain credulity. Paley says he's in negotiations for the theatrical release of his exhaustive, engrossing film bio of Holmes, and that he had been in phone contact with Nash before his recent arrest in the hopes of doing a smaller documentary on the alleged drug kingpin. "[14], Throughout the 1990s, law enforcement figures continued to hound Nash, who had been referred to in various print media as "the one who got away". A key player in the incident, adult film performer John C. Holmes, was later acquitted of the murders. The Devil and John Holmes - Rolling Stone [7], In the 1960s, Nash opened a hot dog stand called Beef's Chuck on Hollywood Boulevard. "He's in bad shape," says Nash's lawyer, Bradley Brunon. "He was the King, and his transgressions off-screen have nothing to do with the legend he laid, literally, at the feet of a nation which gobbled him up in glee.". Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesNightclub owner Eddie Nash was arrested in 1981 . In the 1970s, Holmes was often called the "king" of adult movies. By the mid-seventies, Ed Nasrallah changed his name to Eddie Nash and made a small fortune. Nash was then ordered to open his safe and ordered to beg for his life. He also admitted to jury tampering (for which the statute of limitations had run out) and to having ordered his associates to retrieve stolen property from the Wonderland house, which might have resulted in violence including murder, but he denied having planned the murders that occurred. Police believed the brutality of the killings suggested a crime of rage and revenge. No one but Holmes has ever been charged in the murder case. Copyright 1999-2023 AncientFaces, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Submit a correction suggestion and help us fix it! Holmes would die of AIDS-related complications in 1988, but not before calling Eddie Nash the most evil man Ive ever known. Indeed, come 1990, Nash was charged with the Wonderland Murders too, but he escaped justice by bribing a juror into a hung 11-1 jury. Eddie Nash embodied the American Dream. Wonderland was payback for the home invasion and robbery, claimed prosecutors. No, they don't want to discuss the murders, the man says. And so in the summer of 1981, the notorious Wonderland Murders occurred. The jury agreed and acquitted Holmes, but the stench of Wonderland stuck to the porn giant like bad aftershave. To this day, the Wonderland case remains unresolved. We want to hear it. . Nash didn't start off as a feared drug dealer. The 43-year-old actor died as a result of complications arising from his infection with the AIDS virus. They had been beaten to death with lead pipes, and a fifth victim was barely clinging to life, per Crime Library. As you participate in the AncientFaces community, we invite you to familiarize yourself with our Community Standards. He has some bad press. They've got him in horrible, almost medieval conditions. Years later, in 1995, federal agents armed with search warrants raided Nash's house and confiscated what was thought to be a cache of methamphetamine. Nash worked tirelessly, cooking, waiting tables, and running the show. Greg Diles | Historica Wiki | Fandom "There just wasn't enough evidence to convict them," one of the jurors, Bobbi Scoville, told theLos Angeles Times after the trial. Those unfamiliar with his name and his alleged links to the Los Angeles underworld will doubtless recall Alfred Molina's brilliant characterization of him in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997, polyester-bound tour de force "Boogie Nights. Or is this just another lurid Hollywood story sans moral? They were probably considered dirtbags and drug dealers and Who cares? he says. Eddie Nash lived We'll connect you with others who know the person you follow. He did not testify at his trial, and his later secret testimony before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury remains sealed. Nash had allegedly planned to have Holmes killed as well, but he instead decided to use the Wonderland murders to "teach Holmes a lesson" by having him witness and allegedly partake in the event. [10] . During that decade, Los Angeles police averaged twenty-five drug busts a month at the Starwood. . A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. On 29 June 1981, he was grazed by shotgun fire from David Lind's gun during an armed robbery of Nash's home by the Wonderland Gang; Lind accidentally shot Diles when Ron Launius bumped into him. I get the chance to remember them all this time later." The police alleged he was also a major drug dealer, among other nefarious activities like pimping, arson, and fencing stolen goods. She flew over 2,000 miles in just under 15 hours. People Are Making Content Off His Viral Death. John Holmes being arrested for the Wonderland Murders. His family owned several hotels in what was called Palestine at the time of his birth in 1929 but today would be called Israel. Today, Thorson is the last person alive with firsthand knowledge of the notorious massacre, at least among those who are willing to admit to it. He was dangerous, but his most brutal act occurred in the summer of 1981 at his property in Laurel Canyon. That's why many believe Holmes either took part in the Wonderland murders or was forced to watch. That was certainly true of the man they called "Johnny Wadd. According to court testimony, Nash had a thing for young girls, whips, and Russian roulette. Police, however, believe that Holmes actually took part in the fatal beatings. Eddie Nash, born Adel Nasrallah in Palestine, arrived in Los Angeles in the 1950s and quickly went from selling hot dogs on Hollywood Boulevard to owning multiple businesses, including restaurants, strip bars, and clubs, per Rolling Stone. Nine days later, Holmes was picked up in a Sherman Oaks motel in the company of Jeanna Sellers, a 20-year-old neighbor. He Was Lost At Sea. Thom Mrozek, the flack for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, agreed that Nash's health is an issue. Death. She was later unable to identify her attackers. Nash passed away on August 9, 2014, at the age of 85. ", In the scene, Dirk and friends are witness to Rahad's freebase-inspired ravings as he dances before them like some demented olive-skinned leprechaun to the tune of Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" and Night Ranger's "Sister Christian.". Holmes' Confession in Bathtub: Told Wife of Role in 4 Murders I was scared to death. [10][11], A police search of Nash's home days after the murders revealed a large amount of cocaine. Then, learn about nine famous deaths that shocked old Hollywood. The shooter was tried, convicted, and hung in November 1949. I was scared, he says. In 1932, in the year that Eddie Nash was born, five years to the day after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart flew solo from Newfoundland to Ireland, the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo and the first to replicate Lindbergh's feat. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. He was very distraught, Thorson says. One time, he thought hed caught Thorson lying about smoking crack with Richard Pryor. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Your IP: Nash consequently fled to the U.S. in the 1950s with only $7 to his name. Their association ended in one of the most brutal mass murders in the history of Los Angeles By Mike Sager. So Im here to defend Matt Damon., If you ask Thorson now nine years sober all of his troubles can be traced to his time with Liberace, or Lee, as he sometimes calls him. In those early days in Los Angeles he even tried his hand at acting, but his hopes of becoming the next Warren Beatty or Paul Newman were short-lived. The Wonderland murders have been the subject of movies, books, and, of course, podcasts. Nash could not be tied to the Wonderland murders. An associate of Nash later admitted that they had bribed the judge with about $100,000. the average Nash family member and you'll be alerted when others do the same. Someone had bludgeoned each resident of this notorious drug den repeatedly with a steel pipe. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7de5440a2f7dabd4 Drug overdose deaths in the US are estimated to have been around 59,000 in 2016 and addiction is on the rise. He began running drugs for them -- at some point becoming the liaison between Wonderland, where Holmes was living, and his friend Nash. Garceau was turned in to the police after he murdered Greg Rambo, who had helped him dispose of the Bautistas' bodies. Theres somebody out there who wants to kill me, Holmes told Sharon, his wife of 16 years. Hes seen some things. He said hed have them all on their knees, teach them a lesson, and that theyd never steal from him again, Thorson said on the stand. Anderson cites as a major influence reporter Mike Sager's article in the June 15, 1989, Rolling Stone, "The Devil and John Holmes. Gregory Diles would die in 1997. "The indictment describes Nash's involvement in an ongoing criminal enterprise. Others associated with the Wonderland home were also later deceased. Holmes, who died in 1988 from AIDS-related complications, is mentioned as a co-conspirator in a 16-count federal indictment alleging that his old buddy Eddie Nash led a racketeering enterprise for a quarter century and participated in the Wonderland murders. in the family tree section to add relatives, or press the "X" Word is, he was based directly on Eddie Nash. Three hours later, Holmes drove to Nash's again to make sure the sliding door was still unlocked. In the still unpublished official version of his life, Holmes is quoted as saying that he was held at gunpoint at another house while the killers, whose names he did not know, went to the home on Wonderland Avenue. A second trial was held in 1991 and it ended in an acquittal. Why rehash these charges 19 years after the Wonderland Murders, with Nash infirm? Special moments like these are why it's important we share. Holmes was just a sideshow freak to be exhibited for shits and giggles. He said, They stuck a gun to my head and they made me go back in (to the Wonderland Avenue house) and open the door. Thats what he told me. Kevin P. Casey/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesThe gangs hideaway at 8763 Wonderland Avenue. It had everything - black cats in the graveyard, bats, a screech owl, howling dogs, dancing skeletons (and a bouncing skull) . The Devil and John Holmes John Holmes was a porn star. Gregory Dewitt "Greg" Diles (7 August 1948-16 January 1997) was one of Eddie Nash's henchmen and one of the perpetrators of the 1981 Wonderland murders. The primary suspects in what would become known as the Wonderland murders were Eddie Nash, a drug dealer who owned a string of LA clubs, and the adult film star John Holmes. Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Eddie's lifetime. Through Collaborative Biographies we connect with others who know the person, and discover more together. (But) we have a certain set of rules to follow that the people who go out and perpetrate crimes dont.. I dont know why they couldnt give him a longer prison term but they should have. Nash died in 2014. 2023 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved. The Biography section is collaborative, where we work together to present the facts. Finally, he replied: The murders . Hed been robbed at gunpoint two days before. The indictment, which also alleges bribery, narcotics trafficking and money laundering on the part of Nash and his associates, was made public on May 19 when Nash, 71, was arrested at his townhouse in Tarzana, Calif. David Lind died of a heroin overdose in 1995 while Tracy McCourt died of unknown causes in 2006. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Nash ordered his men to beat Holmes, but spared his life when Holmes identified the Wonderland gang as the thieves. At AncientFaces, we believe in the power of remembering together. He died immediately. The first trial in 1990 ended in a deadlocked jury thanks to the $50,000 Nash paid one of the jurors, per theLos Angeles Times. On June 29, several days before the Wonderland murders, four members of the Wonderland gang robbed the home of notorious club owner and gang leader Eddie Nash.. Launius and DeVerell, disguised as police officers, led fellow gang members David Lind and Tracy McCourt into the rival leader's home, where they handcuffed Nash and his bodyguard, Gregory Diles.
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