Eddie Nash
Encyclopedia
Eddie Nash is a former nightclub
and restaurant
manager
in Los Angeles
, as well as a convicted gangster
and drug dealer; he is best known as the alleged mastermind of the Wonderland Murders
.
, Nash left the country after soldiers gunned down his brother-in-law in the street for unknown reasons and narrowly missed him. His family are Orthodox Christian Palestinians from the city of Ramallah
, just outside Jerusalem.
In the nonfiction book by John Gilmore
, "L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times," Gilmore states that Nash told his lawyer that he had dreams filled with muzzle flashes and bullets soaring over his head. Nash said he owned several hotels until 1948 at age 19. He emigrated to the United States
in the early 1950s and developed a limp. Nash acted in the television series The Cisco Kid
, in 1952 in "The Quarter Horse" episode as the character "Nash." He went on to own several nightclubs in Los Angeles, such as the Starwood Club
in West Hollywood
, the Soul'd Out club in Hollywood, the Odyssey disco
in Beverly Hills
, Paradise Ballroom, the Seven Seas, Ali Baba’s and The Kit Kat strip club. Nash's clubs attracted many groups, as he operated clubs marketed towards gays, straights, blacks, whites and others.
For several decades, Adel Nasrallah was the wealthiest and most dangerous drug dealer/gangster operating on the West Coast (MacDonell 2003).
in 1981, the possible retaliation from a robbery of Nash's home perpetrated two days earlier by three to five men. A key player in the incident was porn
performer John C. Holmes
, who was later acquitted of the murders. Nash and Holmes were close friends; Nash enjoyed introducing his countless houseguests to Holmes, who was infamous for playing the X-rated movie character "Johnny Wadd."
However, by 1981, Holmes' career had declined due to chronic impotency and he became desperately addicted to freebasing cocaine. In order to settle a substantial debt to drug kingpin Ron Launius, leader of the widely feared Wonderland Gang
which dominated the LA cocaine
trade in 1981, he conspired to invade Nash's home and commit a robbery in which Nash and his bodyguard were brutalized and humiliated. Two days later Launius and three other people were found bludgeoned to death at their home at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon. Holmes was spared.
Murdered in the incident were Lanius, Billy Deverell, Joy Audrey Gold Miller, and Barbara Richardson. Critically injured was Susan Launius, Ron's wife. Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) remarked that the scene was bloodier than the Tate/LaBianca murders
.
A police search of Nash's home days after the murders revealed a large amount of cocaine. Nash was sentenced to eight years in prison, but a judge released him after just two, purportedly for health reasons. An associate of Nash's later admitted that they had bribed the judge with about $100,000 (Goldsmith 2001).
In 1990, Nash was tried in state court for having planned the murders; the trial resulted in an 11-1 hung jury; Nash would later admit that he had bribed the lone holdout, a young woman, with $50,000. The retrial ended in an acquittal.
According to John C. Holmes
' second wife Laurie (aka Misty Dawn
) in a Playboy
magazine interview : "He [Eddie Nash] was an awful man... John told me he used to leave the bathrooms without toilet paper, then offer the young women cocaine if they'd lick his ass clean." He required his dancers at the Kit Kat Club to fellate him, to screen for undercover police officers.
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." In 1995, in a broad series of raids targeting alleged organized crime figures, federal agents armed with search warrants raided his house and confiscated what was thought to be a cache of methamphetamine
. To the chagrin of law enforcement, the "meth" turned out to be a cache of mothballs and no charges were filed against Nash.
In 2000, after a four-year joint investigation involving local and federal authorities, Nash was arrested and indicted on federal charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO) for running a drug trafficking and money laundering
operation, conspiring to carry out the Wonderland Murders
, and bribing one of the jurors of his first trial. Nash, already 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
. 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 took place. He also agreed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. He received a four-and-a-half year prison sentence (including the time already served) and a $250,000 fine. (LAPD 2002)
biker
Robert Frederick Garceau was convicted of these murders and sentenced to death. Newspaper accounts of the crime mentioned that Telesforo was actually a son of Nash.
Garceau was turned in to the police after he murdered Greg Rambo, who had helped him dispose of the bodies of the Bautistas. Rambo's wife had knowledge of the Bautista murders and talked to the police (under an agreement of immunity). Garceau was convicted of all three murders.
At trial, evidence was presented that Garceau murdered Ms. Bautista because she threatened to expose Garceau's drug operations to Nash. Her son was murdered because he was a witness to her murder. A lengthy court appeal was launched to vacate Garceau's death penalty, but in 1993 the California Supreme Court upheld the legality of what became known as "The Nash testimony". Garceau died in prison of natural causes in 2005.
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
and restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, as well as a convicted gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
and drug dealer; he is best known as the alleged mastermind of the Wonderland Murders
Wonderland Murders
The Wonderland murders, also known as Four on the Floor or Laurel Canyon Murders, occurred in Los Angeles in 1981, when four people were killed in a drug-related scenario involving porn star John Holmes and was allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash.-Robbery...
.
Early life
Born Adel Gharib Nasrallah in PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Nash left the country after soldiers gunned down his brother-in-law in the street for unknown reasons and narrowly missed him. His family are Orthodox Christian Palestinians from the city of Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, just outside Jerusalem.
In the nonfiction book by John Gilmore
John Gilmore (writer)
John "Jonathan" Gilmore is an American author and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction. A motion picture, television and stage actor in Los Angeles and New York in the 1950s, his friends including James Dean and Marilyn Monroe...
, "L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times," Gilmore states that Nash told his lawyer that he had dreams filled with muzzle flashes and bullets soaring over his head. Nash said he owned several hotels until 1948 at age 19. He emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the early 1950s and developed a limp. Nash acted in the television series The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid refers to a character found in numerous film, radio, television and comic book series based on the fictional Western character created by O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way", published in the collection Heart of the West...
, in 1952 in "The Quarter Horse" episode as the character "Nash." He went on to own several nightclubs in Los Angeles, such as the Starwood Club
Starwood Club
The Starwood Night Club was a popular club in West Hollywood, California from early in 1972 to late 1981. Many punk bands and heavy metal bands started their careers playing at the Starwood....
in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
, the Soul'd Out club in Hollywood, the Odyssey disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
, Paradise Ballroom, the Seven Seas, Ali Baba’s and The Kit Kat strip club. Nash's clubs attracted many groups, as he operated clubs marketed towards gays, straights, blacks, whites and others.
For several decades, Adel Nasrallah was the wealthiest and most dangerous drug dealer/gangster operating on the West Coast (MacDonell 2003).
Wonderland murders
Nash is most notorious for his alleged involvement in the quadruple Wonderland MurdersWonderland Murders
The Wonderland murders, also known as Four on the Floor or Laurel Canyon Murders, occurred in Los Angeles in 1981, when four people were killed in a drug-related scenario involving porn star John Holmes and was allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash.-Robbery...
in 1981, the possible retaliation from a robbery of Nash's home perpetrated two days earlier by three to five men. A key player in the incident was porn
PORN
Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...
performer John C. Holmes
John Holmes (actor)
John Curtis Holmes better known as John C. Holmes or Johnny Wadd , was one of the most prolific male porn stars of all time, appearing in about 2,500 adult loops, stag films, and pornographic feature movies in the 1970s and 1980s...
, who was later acquitted of the murders. Nash and Holmes were close friends; Nash enjoyed introducing his countless houseguests to Holmes, who was infamous for playing the X-rated movie character "Johnny Wadd."
However, by 1981, Holmes' career had declined due to chronic impotency and he became desperately addicted to freebasing cocaine. In order to settle a substantial debt to drug kingpin Ron Launius, leader of the widely feared Wonderland Gang
Wonderland Gang
The Wonderland Gang was a group of drug dealers involved in the Los Angeles cocaine trade during the late 1970s and early 1980s; their homebase was located on Wonderland Avenue in the Laurel Canyon area. On July 1, 1981 four members of the gang died in the Wonderland murders...
which dominated the LA cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
trade in 1981, he conspired to invade Nash's home and commit a robbery in which Nash and his bodyguard were brutalized and humiliated. Two days later Launius and three other people were found bludgeoned to death at their home at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon. Holmes was spared.
Murdered in the incident were Lanius, Billy Deverell, Joy Audrey Gold Miller, and Barbara Richardson. Critically injured was Susan Launius, Ron's wife. Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
(LAPD) remarked that the scene was bloodier than the Tate/LaBianca murders
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
.
A police search of Nash's home days after the murders revealed a large amount of cocaine. Nash was sentenced to eight years in prison, but a judge released him after just two, purportedly for health reasons. An associate of Nash's later admitted that they had bribed the judge with about $100,000 (Goldsmith 2001).
In 1990, Nash was tried in state court for having planned the murders; the trial resulted in an 11-1 hung jury; Nash would later admit that he had bribed the lone holdout, a young woman, with $50,000. The retrial ended in an acquittal.
According to John C. Holmes
John Holmes (actor)
John Curtis Holmes better known as John C. Holmes or Johnny Wadd , was one of the most prolific male porn stars of all time, appearing in about 2,500 adult loops, stag films, and pornographic feature movies in the 1970s and 1980s...
' second wife Laurie (aka Misty Dawn
Misty Dawn
Misty Dawn is the pseudonym of adult film actress Laurie Rose.She was married to the late adult film actor John Holmes from 1987 until his death from complications from AIDS on March 13, 1988. In addition to Misty Dawn, she also used the name Laurie Diamond...
) in a Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine interview : "He [Eddie Nash] was an awful man... John told me he used to leave the bathrooms without toilet paper, then offer the young women cocaine if they'd lick his ass clean." He required his dancers at the Kit Kat Club to fellate him, to screen for undercover police officers.
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." In 1995, in a broad series of raids targeting alleged organized crime figures, federal agents armed with search warrants raided his house and confiscated what was thought to be a cache of methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
. To the chagrin of law enforcement, the "meth" turned out to be a cache of mothballs and no charges were filed against Nash.
In 2000, after a four-year joint investigation involving local and federal authorities, Nash was arrested and indicted on federal charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO) for running a drug trafficking and money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
operation, conspiring to carry out the Wonderland Murders
Wonderland Murders
The Wonderland murders, also known as Four on the Floor or Laurel Canyon Murders, occurred in Los Angeles in 1981, when four people were killed in a drug-related scenario involving porn star John Holmes and was allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash.-Robbery...
, and bribing one of the jurors of his first trial. Nash, already in his seventies and suffering from emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
and several other ailments, agreed to a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
agreement in September 2001, pleading guilty to RICO charges and to money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
. He also admitted to jury tampering (for which the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
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 took place. He also agreed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. He received a four-and-a-half year prison sentence (including the time already served) and a $250,000 fine. (LAPD 2002)
Bautista murders
On September 6 or 7, 1984, a personal tragedy struck Nash. A former lover of his, Maureen Bautista, and her son Telesforo were stabbed to death. Hells AngelsHells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
biker
Motorcycling
Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. A variety of subcultures and lifestyles have been built up around motorcycling.-Benefits:Robert M. Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a paean celebrating motorcycling...
Robert Frederick Garceau was convicted of these murders and sentenced to death. Newspaper accounts of the crime mentioned that Telesforo was actually a son of Nash.
Garceau was turned in to the police after he murdered Greg Rambo, who had helped him dispose of the bodies of the Bautistas. Rambo's wife had knowledge of the Bautista murders and talked to the police (under an agreement of immunity). Garceau was convicted of all three murders.
At trial, evidence was presented that Garceau murdered Ms. Bautista because she threatened to expose Garceau's drug operations to Nash. Her son was murdered because he was a witness to her murder. A lengthy court appeal was launched to vacate Garceau's death penalty, but in 1993 the California Supreme Court upheld the legality of what became known as "The Nash testimony". Garceau died in prison of natural causes in 2005.
Movies and books
- The character Rahad Jackson (played by Alfred MolinaAlfred MolinaAlfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
) in the 1997 movie Boogie NightsBoogie NightsBoogie Nights is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the script focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, and chronicles his rise and fall from the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s...
is loosely based on Eddie Nash. - The 2003 movie Wonderland in which Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
played Nash, revolves around the previously mentioned events. - The 2003 book "Scary Monsters and Super Freaks" (ISBN 1560255633) by Mike Sager contains "The Devil and John Holmes," a chapter about Nash and the Wonderland MurdersWonderland MurdersThe Wonderland murders, also known as Four on the Floor or Laurel Canyon Murders, occurred in Los Angeles in 1981, when four people were killed in a drug-related scenario involving porn star John Holmes and was allegedly masterminded by Los Angeles businessman and drug dealer Eddie Nash.-Robbery...
. - The 2005 book "Long Time Money and Lots of Cocaine" by Rodger JacobsRodger JacobsRodger Jacobs is an American journalist, writer, author, film producer, columnist, playwright, editor and screenwriter.Jacobs has been a journalist for publications such as Eye Magazine, Hustler and PopMatters...
contains a transcript of Holmes' preliminary hearing in criminal court, regarding the Wonderland murder case. - Nash is featured prominently in the 2006 nonfiction book "Underworld Secrets" (ISBN 0932438474) written by Jerry Van Hoorelbeke, an associate of Nash in the late 1970s.
- "Bad Eddie & Other No Good People" is the nonfiction centerpiece of "L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times" (ISBN 1878923161) by John Gilmore, spotlighting Nash, Holmes, L.A.'s drug dealing and the pornPORNPorn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...
business.
External links
- Return to Wonderland, Salon.com, 9 June 2000
- Susan Goldsmith: "A Really Good Deal Ex-nightclub owner may serve only 37 months in Wonderland murders." New Times Los Angeles, 20 September 2001
- Joan Osterwalder: "Ex-Nightclub Owner Sentenced to Three Years in Prison", City News Service, 12 October 2001
- California Supreme Court Decision about the brutal murders of Maureen Bautista and Mr. Nash's reputed son. 18 November 1993
- Press release by the LAPDLos Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
News about Nash's federal conviction, 13 February 2002 - Allan MacDonell: In Too Deep. LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
, 2 October 2003