Eddie Nash (April 3, 1929 – August 9, 2014) was an American nightclub owner and restaurateur in Los Angeles, as well as a convicted money launderer and drug dealer. Nash was allegedly the mastermind behind the Wonderland murders, but was never convicted, despite multiple arrests and trials.
Early life
Nash was born Adel Gharib Nasrallah in Mandatory Palestine. His family were Orthodox Christian Palestinians from the city of Ramallah, just outside Jerusalem. Before the creation of Israel in 1948, Nash's family owned 48 hotels. In the early 1950s, Nash immigrated to the United States with only $7. He briefly found work as an actor and stuntman, and was an expert horseman. In 1952, he appeared in a small role as a character named "Nash" in an episode of the Western series The Cisco Kid.
In the 1960s, Nash opened a hot dog stand called Beef's Chuck on Hollywood Boulevard. By the 1970s, Nash owned several nightclubs and restaurants in Los Angeles, such as the P.J.'s club (shortly afterward renamed Starwood) in West Hollywood, the Soul'd Out club in Hollywood, the Odyssey disco, the Paradise Ballroom, the Seven Seas, Ali Baba's, and The Kit Kat strip club. Nash's clubs attracted diverse groups, as he operated clubs marketed towards gays, heterosexuals, teenagers, African Americans, and other target audiences.
Wonderland murders
Nash was allegedly involved in the quadruple Wonderland Murders in 1981; the suspected motive was as a retaliation for the robbery of Nash's home perpetrated two days earlier by three to five men. A key player in the incident, adult film performer John C. Holmes, was later acquitted of the murders. Nash and Holmes were well acquainted with each other; Nash enjoyed introducing his countless houseguests to Holmes, who was infamous for playing the X-rated movie character "Johnny Wadd."
However, by 1981, Holmes had become desperately addicted to freebasing cocaine, and as a result, his career had declined due to chronic impotence. In order to settle a substantial debt to drug kingpin Ron Launius, leader of the widely feared Wonderland Gang which dominated the Los Angeles cocaine trade, Holmes helped the group plan the invasion. Holmes went to Nash's home on the morning of the attack to leave a sliding door unlocked so the Gang could enter the home. On June 29, 1981, the Wonderland Gang entered into Nash's home via the unlocked sliding door, held Nash and his bodyguard at gunpoint, and stole Nash's drugs, jewelry and money. At one point, one of the Wonderland Gang's member's guns went off, grazing Nash's bodyguard's face. Nash was then made to beg for life on his knees, an act that he found humiliating. Nash quickly suspected John Holmes was involved in the robbery as he had been at Nash's home the morning of the robbery. The following day, a friend of Nash's confirmed his suspicions after telling him he had seen Holmes wearing some of his stolen jewelry.
On July 1, two days after Nash was robbed, Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Joy Audrey Gold Miller, and Barbara Richardson were found bludgeoned to death at their home at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. Susan Launius, Ron's wife, was critically injured but survived. Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) remarked that the Wonderland Murders were particularly brutal, noting that the crime scene was bloodier than the Tate-LaBianca murders.
Nash was believed to have planned the murders that were committed by three of his henchmen. Nash planned to kill John Holmes but later decided to spare Holmes' life and use the Wonderland murders to "teach Holmes a lesson". Holmes later told his first wife, Sharon, he was forced to accompany three gunmen to the Wonderland Avenue home. He claimed he was then held at gunpoint and forced to watch the quadruple murders. While police believe Holmes likely took part in the murders, Holmes would maintain that he never killed anyone.
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 due to Nash's poor health. An associate of Nash later admitted that they had bribed the judge with about $100,000.
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.