Justice in Wonderland

 Finished watching an interview with retired LAPD homicide cop, Tom Lange, about the "Wonderland Murders". I had recently re-watched "Boogie Nights" which was based on John Holmes life and the early mainstreaming of porn and gave a wink and a nod to Holmes's participation in the Wonderland incident. Boogie Nights is a very good film. It's funny in the right parts and highlights the downfall of a young man whose blessing was a curse. As I understand it, it is a pretty good telling of John Holmes life, though somewhat sanitized for Hollywood. For an excellent depiction of the murders is "Wonderland", a 2003 film starring Val Kilmer as Holmes, and Lisa Kudrow as his wife, is a good choice. That story is murder specific, and his penis does not make an appearance. Not a big part of the plotline, pun fully intended. I haven't seen it in several years, but I recall liking it a lot.

(Wait a minute! I just reread that! I wasn't intending my Freudian slip to show and must quickly clarify that I haven't seen THE MOVIE in years, but liked it- the movie, a lot, NOT his penis. Jeez, writing is hard sometimes. You really have to pay attention. I'm gonna leave that in though because it's kinda funny)

Anyway, it is an extremely complicated story, but the gist of it is that Holmes- a junkie at the point in his life- was hanging out with a bad crowd of low-level, junkie dealers in LA on Wonderland Avenue. Because of his notoriety and drug dependency, Holmes was friendly with a very powerful, LA criminal called "Eddie Nash". Nash was a Palestinian with Israeli mob connections, which kind of highlights how religion goes out the window when there is money to be made in crime. Nash was also a despicable human being and a guy who got high on his own supply. By despicable, I mean that, though quite wealthy from his night clubs and drug dealing, his luxurious home had no toilet paper in supply. This was because he had two coke whores on hand who were more than willing to clean up anyone after using the facilities. Yeah. I read that in Rolling Stone years ago. True story. Yes, despicable. Like Rick James said, "Cocaine is a helluva drug". 

Holmes comes off as a nice, likeable dumbass in Boogie Nights, as well as in interviews I've seen of him over the years. He probably was, but many of us know what drugs can do to a person; how whatever the drug, from alcohol to heroin, can totally transform literally anyone into a monster. At the very least, you are not going to think clearly while drunk or high. You will not make good choices.

Because of his familiarity with Nash, Holmes easily convinced his drug pals that they could rob Nash of drugs, money and guns. I have to believe they were all quite aware of what a dangerous man Eddie Nash was, but in their lust to get high, they would care about that later. Right now, get high. 

The plan was that Holmes would visit his dealer friend Nash, and while in the house leave a door open for later when the gang would return to rob Nash. That worked. They slipped in, shot the 300-pound henchman who was the bodyguard, and roughed up Nash. They got away with drugs, cash and some antique guns. No one was seriously hurt. Feelings were hurt though. Eddie Nash was incensed that anyone would do that to him. I gather he quickly connected that Holmes had set him up and he roughed him up to get him to betray his partners. Probably gave him some drugs too. Holmes agreed to leave a gate unlocked at Wonderland so Nash's thugs could have easy access. Same trick as before. It worked again.

What happened next was awful. The three men and two women in the house were beaten with pipes. Heads were bashed in, one so badly that it kept her from bleeding out like the others because of the way her skull was crushed. Imagine that luck. Holmes was evidently forced to watch but wasn't an active participant until they demanded he beat the already dead body of the main victim. Interesting note to this was that Holmes was extremely afraid of that particular guy and was not only still afraid to hit his dead 'buddy' but had been forbidden to enter the guy's room. To hit him he would have to do just that. In maneuvering around the bed to take his swings, Holmes left a palm print on the headboard, placing him at the scene of the crime. 

From Detective Lange we learned that closing the case was a circus involving a tainted jury, a bribed judge and an accusation against him and his partner of being 'mobbed up' by a federal agent who himself was mobbed up. A ridiculous, amazing story. Holmes, I think only did minimal time in jail for obstruction in the case and was acquitted for his part, He died of AID's, probably contracted from his intravenous drug use. Or his gay porn involvement at the end of his career. Eddie Nash copped a plea under multiple RICO indictments and was sentenced to 4 years in prison (technically) which actually turned out to be "time served". He copped to sending thugs over to Wonderland to retrieve items stolen from him, but not to any intent or knowledge to murder. 

Well, that's justice, I reckon. If there's a moral to this, it must be, "Stay away from drugs, kids". Seems kinda Nancy Reagan-ish, but one thing does lead to another when you get off on the wrong foot.