Porn “star” John Holmes was a coke addict and had gotten himself involved with the "Wonderland Gang", a group of small time drug dealers, including David Lind, Ron and Susan Launius, Billy Deverell, and Joy Miller, all living at 8763 Wonderland Ave in Los Angeles.
Holmes was also friends with Eddie Nash, drug dealer and wealthy owner of several night clubs. The Wonderland Gang carried out a robbery of Nash's house (helped by Holmes' leaving a door open). Nash had Holmes brought to his house and beaten until he gave up the people behind the robbery. This was overseen by Scott Thorson, Liberace's lover, who was picking up drugs at Nash's house.
The retaliation for the robbery was swift and fatal. On July 1st, 1981, a group of Nash's henchmen (including Holmes) led by Greg Diles gained access to the apartment at Wonderland Avenue. Ron Launius, Deverell, Richardson (in the wrong place at the wrong time) and Miller were all brutally beaten to death with lead pipes. Susan Launius was also beaten, but was not killed. She survived and was questioned by police in her hospital bed. She told them (in a near comatose state), she did not remember anything -- only shadows. David Lind survived only because he wasn't present at the time of the attacks.
Police searched Nash's home shortly after the murders; large amounts of cocaine were found and Nash spent two years in prison.
Holmes was then charged with the murders. His lawyer, Earl Hanson, attempted to present Holmes as one of the victims, and Holmes was acquitted on June 16, 1982. He refused to testify and cooperate with authorities and spent some time in jail for contempt of court.
Nash was charged with having planned the murders in 1986. Thorson testified against him, but the first trial ended with an 11–1 hung jury and his second ended in acquittal.
Holmes died in 1988 of AIDS. After his death, his estranged wife came forward, saying that he had come to her on the morning after the killings with blood all over his clothes.
In 2000, already in his seventies and suffering from tuberculosis, Nash was indicted on federal charges under the RICO act for running a drug dealing and money laundering operation, conspiring to carry out the Wonderland Murders, and bribing one of the jurors of his first trial. As part of a plea bargain agreement, he plead guilty to all charges and received a four and a half year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
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4 comments:
Great post. Needs editing!
wow interesting. how was Holmes able to play both sides of the fence? first aiding in the robbery and then being involved in the retaliation of said robbery? oh what a tangled web. I'm surprised they could still charge Nash 20yrs after the crime, 4.5 yrs is nothing for all those charges though.
nash was friends with holmes primarily because he loved the idea that infamous john holmes was part of his circle...holmes hung out with nash because nash always had coke around. by this point holmes was into the freebase, his habit several thousand dollars a day strong...he needed someone who would front, but it still wasn't enough.
yeah nash knew holmes tipped off the wonderland gang to where the money and drugs were, and he beat the info from him. but apparently his affection for holmes was enough to both convince him that he didnt plan the robbery and to stay an execution.
since holmes kept his mouth basically shut about the whole affair until his sordid death and the murders werent officially "solved" until two decades later, it seems al the haziness surrounding the details will never be truly answered.
there is a great account of all of this in "The Other Hollywood" by McNeil and Osborne. An oral history of early porn, lots of great talkback from players who were on the scene at the time.
as far as nash goes, they caught him on other charges: money laundering and dealing dope...they gave him a light sentence if he would cop to the wonderland murders...basically so the could close the books on it. cops dont like cases sitting on their desks for twenty years, makes them look bad. he copped to it, they gave him a slap on the wrist for doing so. once again, what really happened is really open to speculation.
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