All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s01e05_English

♪

We had scheduled a bout
with Gino Hernandez.

However, we have
reached a milestone,

a sad moment, in World Class
Championship Wrestling.

Gino Hernandez is dead.

On February the 4th, 1986,

the professional wrestling
world was in shock.

28-year-old wrestler
Gino Hernandez was dead.

The popular wrestling star's
badly decomposed body was

discovered late last night
at his home in Highland Park.

He had apparently been
dead for several days.

So a lot of people,
when Gino died,

they know exactly
what happened.

I'm listening to the person
telling the story that's

not even close to true...
'cause I lived the story.

Dallas police say Hernandez
might have been murdered.

The rumor grows,
the story grows,

and it gets more
grandiose as it grows.

At the time of Gino's death,
Gino was already a major talent.

He was caught up in
a very fast life,

and as a result of that,
he paid.

And he paid... with his life.

Well, in all respect
to Gino Hernandez,

I think the Gino Hernandez
you saw in the ring was

very much like the Gino
Hernandez outside the ring,

and he was one who typically
did everything his way.

As a mother, I got a lot
of questions that

nobody has ever...
ever answered me.

Many believe that Gino's
death was a tragic accident,

but for over 30 years,
family members and wrestlers

have believed it to be murder.

Well, I think there are a
lot of rumors in wrestling,

and it just comes from us being
able to tell a story, man.

We're trying to figure out
the inside scoop on everything.

The only people that know
what really happened to Gino...

was whoever was there.

A lot has been
taken away from me,

and God has blessed me to
let me stay here this long

and say this, finally...

I think my son was murdered.

I don't think it...
I almost know it.

In this episode, we put
to rest decades of rumors,

and investigate one of
wrestling's darkest mysteries.

♪

Beautiful pictures,
beautiful memories

with our beautiful family.

Aw.

He had a wonderful
personality. He...

He was a good son.
He was a good father.

And I want everybody to
remember him as a good man.

I think the hardest thing
for me was when he became a

bad guy, and as a child
at the wrestling matches,

like, people throwing
pennies at us,

all these girls coming
up to the ring saying,

"Sign it," and he'd
like rip it and throw it.

And I was like a little girl.
I was like, "Oh no!"

He's such a bad guy.
[laughs]

As I say, in the ring,
Gino was evil.

Don't attempt to adjust
your sets. What you see is real,

the most gorgeous human
being on this earth.

He had it.
He was special.

He was the type of guy that
could've fit right in with the

Randy "Macho Man" Savage
or some of those guys,

so who knows where
Gino would 'a went.

You can't buy it;
you can't steal it;

you can't borrow it.

You either got
it or you don't,

and that's called charisma,
and he had charisma, man.

Yeah, tag matches. Yeah.

Who's the wrestler
that you hate the most?

- Gino!
- Gino!

And Gino was a cocky, arrogant,
good looking, talented.

If you were to see Gino,
you would 'a thought he was

connected or he was a
celebrity of some type.

He always just
looked like money.

He was all about
the finest suits,

the finest
custom-made shirts,

the rings and the watches.
You name it, that was Gino.

And it wasn't a gimmick;
that was him.

If he wanted to, he could
take that room and have

everybody in that room
hating his guts and

wanting to kill him,
in real life.

I overcome any
obstacle in my life,

and especially some
hormone-imbalanced female

that tries to stick her
nose in a man's business!

And he could talk.

And it's easy to hate
somebody who's good looking,

got money, or whatever.

Got the pretty girl
on the side and...

must be nice.

Full head of hair. He's got
all that shit, you know.

I'd like to show you and the
people pictures, no other.

PATRICE: Farrah Fawcett,
I think they had a few dates.

GINO: Who does she
choose to be with?

If my wife was on the front row
when he said some of the things

he would say to 'em,
I don't know that

I wouldn't be waiting
outside to knock him out.

It almost came
natural for him.

One night, Gino had said
something and he insulted

to the point, this big
cowboy guy was getting up

and he was
headed to the ring.

And the police stopped him.

Well, Gino starts saying,
"Let him go, let him go,

let him come in here,"
to the point

he convinced the
police to let him go.

And then Gino's telling me,
"Stop him, stop him!"

He's whispering in
the back of my ear,

but I told him in the
dressing room, I said,

"You bit that off,
you chew it."

David Manning.

I was the referee
and promoter,

and booker for World Class
Championship Wrestling

from '77, '78 'til around '89.

♪

Probably, I'd been in
the business for about

3, 4 years, 5 years,
when Gino started coming in.

At that time, I was a referee
and he was a wrestler.

The greatest thing about
Gino being a heel was,

one, the microphone.

Gino's one of the few
pieces of talent -

I'd actually put Gino in the
category of a Ric Flair,

a Jim Cornette,
a Michael Hayes,

the people that you just
hand 'em a mic

and they can do it.

Tonight's the night!

I told ya, I brought
out the $60,000 limo.

Tonight, the World Junior
Heavyweight champion!

Not bad for a kid
from Spring Branch High, huh?

You know, he was real close with
the promoter Paul Boesch,

in Houston, where Gino got
his big, big break was Houston.

"Gorgeous" Gino.

I remember meeting Gino
when he had to be

17, 18 years old.

Good looking guy, you know,
good body and everything,

and had chicks all over him.

Full of himself, conceited.

I was just a kid, so he,
he treated me like a kid...

[laughs]
... at the time.

I was a professional
model at one time.

Most of the time I just took
care of my daughter and

my son, Gino.
I was a single parent.

PRODUCER: Do you prefer to call
him Charles, or Gino, or...?

- Mm-mm. Gino.
- Gino?

Well, if you were a wrestler,
would you rather use

the name Charles or Gino?

'Cause Gino always referred
to himself as "Gorgeous" Gino.

"Gorgeous" Gino Hernandez!

[cheering]

GG with a, two G's on
the back of his jacket.

I had Luis's name.

Gino sometimes would
kind of prance around,

brag that his dad was
Luis Hernandez, you know.

Lord, yes.
[laughs]

- Can you talk about it?
- From morning to night.

[laughs]

Well, I've always been a fan
of wrestling all my life,

and my father was a
wrestler and he died

when I was 12 years old.

And, I began to start
training for wrestling

from the time I was
in high school,

and I turned professional
at the age of 17,

right out of high school.

When he got into the ring,

it was like he had been
wrestling for years.

He was flying off the
rope and I'm going,

"Where did he
learn that from?"

He said, "My dad
did it for me.

I was wearing his shoes."

He said, "He did everything
for me," and of course,

I had to cry when
he told me that.

We were married very young.
We were both 18.

And we had our first child,
so that started our family.

I'm Janice Gillespie,
and I grew up in Houston, Texas,

and that is where I
met Charles Wolfe,

who you might know
as Gino Hernandez.

After we were married,
he kept his life very separate,

so he had his
professional life.

And, he'd work out
in the mornings,

and then he'd have a workout
in the afternoon and

it really consumed
most of his day.

And then he had his family.

There was really very little
mixing outside of just family.

There was the
soft side of him.

He was really a pushover.

He loved his children
very, very much.

Everybody knows I'm
the man of the hour,

the man with the power,
too sweet to be sour.

You know, going back and
like watching the footage,

and, and hearing him talk...

227 pounds of twisted
steel and sex appeal.

It's like a voice
I always knew.

Really, everywhere we went,
people knew he was Gino.

He would get into his
persona, his character,

especially when
he became a heel.

He would really be very,
very intimidating and

made me very uncomfortable
to be around him when,

when you would
see him like that.

PRODUCER:
Has there been times in your,

in your life where your
wrestling persona

has bled into your real life?

Jake Roberts never had a
fucking problem in his life.

He's a bad motherfucker that
don't give a fuck about anybody

and he's gonna do
what he pleases,

and he's gonna
go on with life.

Don't fuck with him.
He will fuck you up.

Aurelian Smith,
on the other hand,

is a human being, man.
He cares about other people.

He's made some mistakes.

He's a recovering
alcoholic, addict.

So, yeah,
that guy has problems.

Jake "The Snake" doesn't.

For people to get mad at me
for when I get on TV and say

I'm the latest and
I'm the greatest,

and I'm so fine
that I'm divine...

For people to
say I'm conceited,

I don't understand it.

He lived his gimmick in the ring
and he lived it out of the ring.

We're into sports cars,
we're into fast cars.

Faster women, and fast life.

He lived it, he ate it,
and he slept it.

He loved every minute and

he could bring that
on just like that.

And I, I used to tell him,
"You can drop that now.

I know who you are."
[laughs]

I know that he and Chris had
a very successful tag team,

the Dynamic Duo.

Chris Adams was, ah...

He was a good guy.

He could be a good friend as
long as alcohol wasn't involved.

They were a great team.

We got the looks!
We got the ability!

And we got the money,
we got the women,

we got the build.

And from now on,
we are number one!

- We're bad, we're real bad.
- Let's go, let's go.

We're bad to the bone.

Alright.
They're bad to the bone.

Well,
there they go,

Chris Adams and
Gino Hernandez.

See you, guys!

Gino's social life and his life
outside of wrestling,

was just as flamboyant as

inside the coliseum when
Gino came to perform.

Matter of fact, one of
the highlighted matches,

one of the biggest draws we
ever had was at the Cotton Bowl.

It's all come down to the
Cotton Bowl tomorrow at 3 pm.

And it was Gino and Chris Adams

against Kevin and Kerry.
A hair match.

Chris and Gino both had just
gorgeous hair, down,

you know, the whole thing.
The sculptured look.

And the Von Erichs
both had long hair.

So, people weren't sure
what was gonna happen here.

And he would get in that ring
and he just owned the crowd.

He knew exactly
what he was doing.

I've seen a lot of
wrestlers in my life,

and I've seen a lot of guys
try to do what Gino did,

and he was such an artist.

And, sure enough,
Gino and Chris lost.

I remember they would hold
'em in those seats and

they brought the razors out.

The crowd was going crazy.
They were cheering.

They were so happy these guys
were fixin' to lose their hair.

And they had the
perfect reaction, you know,

and it just
elevated the feud.

♪

There was a nightclub in
Houston called Judges that

Gino frequented quite a bit;
that was the place to go

on a Friday night
after the matches.

And, party all night long.

My name is Jeanie Williams.

In 1985, Chris asked me
to move to Dallas.

And he said, "You live next door
to my friend Gino Hernandez,"

so Gino and I
were neighbors.

Gino was front
and center, man.

It wasn't like it was a
secret that Gino did drugs,

from smoking dope,
to cocaine,

and uppers and downers.

It was the 70s and
80s and we all did.

I never saw Gino out
of control on drugs.

But Gino liked to party
and have a good time.

Gino comes
knocking on the door.

His eyes are huge
and he's like,

"Touch my head.
Oh my God, my hair,"

'cause they'd just had
their hair shaved.

And so, we all decided
we'd go to a night club.

We get in the car and he's
going about 100 miles an hour

and he, he has this
tiny piece of paper

and he says, "Just take this."

♪

We get to the club and
then everybody's just,

everything's going
all strange and...

Gino is laughing.

I want to go to the bathroom,
and as I was walking,

it was like my feet were
going into clouds and I,

I'd come to find out
afterwards that

Gino had given me some acid.

♪

I was in Las Vegas
one time, and...

Gino had a friend with him.

This particular gentleman was--
had a plane.

They had rented the whole top
suite floor of the hotel there,

just partying for
like 3 days.

But I knew a lot of
those guys were--

I don't know if they were
furnishing it all to him, but...

From that time on,
after Las Vegas,

it was just a slowly,
progression.

Gino just, he ran with a...

pretty tough
crowd in Houston.

You know, if you
hang around trouble,

you're gonna get trouble.

It's like I always say,
getting into the wrestling

is like getting into the mob.
Once you're in, you're in.

It can go the
other way, too.

So, you gotta watch
who you hang out with.

♪

Unknown to his family,
Gino had been running with

a fast and dangerous crowd,

but the party wouldn't
last much longer.

I just heard it was like...

Nah, I don't know.
I'm not gonna say.

I don't know.
I don't know, man...

Ah... That's, that's--
What I said is what it was.

I heard that it was people
that you didn't mess with

that had power in the
city of Houston and Dallas,

and there are certainly
those kind of people out there.

Well, when our children
were young, we divorced.

I just didn't feel so safe
about some of the people

he might hang out with,
things I was hearing.

These were strong powerful
people within the city that

might not have liked
certain things getting out.

There was just a side of him
and people he ran with that,

they were, I felt,
dangerous.

♪

By 1986, there was a shift
in the Dynamic Duo's story line,

which saw Chris and Gino
turn against each other,

igniting a vicious rivalry.

I m gonna kill him!

That s what I m gonna do, I m
gonna kill him!

Yeah, one of Gino's last
matches was he and Chris.

We did a gimmick where...

I think it's Nair,
it was like, you know -

girls,
to get rid of hair -

Gino sprayed it in
Chris's eyes and for weeks,

Chris wore this thing.
He couldn't see, and...

and stuff like this, and...

Whatever the
gimmick was in the ring,

that was the
gimmick out of the ring.

And so,
even around in the public,

Chris would, you know,
like he couldn't hardly see.

And, his wife, Toni,
would lead him around and

bumping into chairs and...

that's what I really
liked about it.

Whatever happened,
you took it with you.

Super Bowl Sunday, 1986.

He was in a hurry,
always in a hurry.

♪

Mhm...

Mhm.

He was very fidgety and
nervous when he came in.

Say what you
gotta say, and leave.

She knew something was going
on because he had come home

to her home, and he had
something and he put it

somewhere in her home.
And...

He was acting...

nervous and antsy,
and felt like...

something might
happen to him.

And who it was,
I don't think she knew

who he was afraid of,
or who he was worried about.

PRODUCER: Do you know
what he hid in her house,

that you're referring to?

No.

Was he nervous?
Yeah, real nervous.

And Gino wasn't
afraid of anything,

but there's certain things
you can't dodge.

If somebody wants to get you,
they'll get you.

♪

He came to the
matches one night,

and he came
running in my office,

and he was
telling me this story.

And he said,
"You wouldn't believe it, Dave.

You wouldn't believe it."

He said, "I'm driving and
I look in the back and

I can see someone
sitting in the back."

And he said, "I didn't know
what to do," and he said,

"So I'm watching to see if
they're gonna try to stab me

or whatever," and he says,
"So all of a sudden,

I just slammed on the brakes
and then they jumped out

the back and they ran off."

And he said, "I think
they were gonna kill me."

He's like, "I need a gun."

I could just tell,
he was scared to death.

And so, I said, "No, I don't
have a gun with me, Gino."

I said, "But I think
you're okay. I think, you know,

maybe you just
saw something."

And he was like, "No, no, no.
They're following me.

I'm afraid something's
gonna happen to me,

you know, I gotta get a gun.
I gotta get a gun."

He was adamant someone
was sitting in the

backseat of his car,
and he got a glimpse of him

through his rearview mirror.

Maybe Gino was telling me
the truth all these times

that someone was
either stalking him,

or someone was after him, or
someone was going to kill him.

That night was the
last night I saw Gino.

The last time I saw
Gino alive, and he said,

"Hey, kiddo, look what I
got here," and he had

a white box and he said
it was a peach pie.

And he said he
was going out,

but if I wanted to
stop by the next day,

"Come and have a slice,
it's delicious."

On my birthday
February the 5th, 1986...

Walter called me.
He was Gino's manager.

He did a lot of Gino's
bookings and he said,

"Patrice, have you
heard from Gino?"

I said, "No. Why?"

He said, "Well, I need to,
I need to talk to him."

"I haven't heard from him,
but today's my birthday and

I know he'll be calling me.

I'll tell him to
give you a call."

The next day, I saw
Gino's car parked.

I noticed the car was
sort of out of alignment,

the wheels were strange,
like he parked it really quick.

He missed a show
up in Oklahoma,

and that wasn't like him, but I
didn't think anything about it.

And then we
couldn't reach him.

We tried to, we tried
to get a hold of Gino.

We couldn't reach him.

The next day, the car was
still the same position.

I'm gonna go and
check on him, and, and...

knocking on his door, and I
can't really get a good vision,

but I did see a pie,
the pie.

And then I heard that,
you know,

he didn't show up
in Houston,

which was
definitely unusual.

When I went to the office
on Monday and

I hadn't heard from Gino...

I said, "We got a problem."

One of the guys
that worked referee,

of course, was named
Rick Hazzard.

And I said, "Rick, why don't
you go over to Gino's apartment,

see if his car's there."

And so, he called me,
and he said,

"Well, the car's here, but no
one's answering the door."

And I said, "Why don't you
see if you can get

over the wall and just peek in."

And sure enough,
Rick got over the wall.

The way the bed was
laying, at first,

he couldn't see anything.

He just happened
to glance down...

and where the bed ended,

he could see part of the
body hanging out.

At that point,
they called the police.

The cops said he had
been laying there,

they had estimated about...

4 to 5 days.

Walter took some wrestler
and went to the condo.

They got in 'cause Walter was
the only one that had the key.

There was a gun
on the scene,

so I don't know
where Gino got the gun,

but there was a gun on the
scene when they found him.

I was standing outside
Chris's apartment,

actually, and they're
bringing out his body in,

in a body bag.
It was just like...

something you're,
you're in denial.

Probably about, I'd say,
very short span of time,

Walter calls me again.

And he said...
"Patrice, this-- it's Walter."

And I said, "Do you--
Did Gino get in touch with you?"

I said, "He hasn't called me,
but have you found him?"

He said...

"Yeah... I'm standing
here in his condo."

I said, "Well, is he okay?"
He said, "He's dead."

And he hung up.

♪

And I just
started screaming.

♪

Death came to
Gino Hernandez.

Wrestling fans were shocked
at the sudden end to

one of the brightest
careers in the game.

His friends were saddened
by an irreplaceable loss

of a vibrant young spirit.

To his mother and sister,

it was a tragedy of
indescribable magnitude.

Police arrived at the home
of wrestler Gino Hernandez

in February of 1986, and
discovered his dead body.

It was so decomposed that
the exact cause of death

could not be determined.

A loaded pistol was found
next to his right hand,

and police found no
sign of drugs or

paraphernalia in the condo.

Yeah, I was grieving.
Mica and I was grieving.

And, he just knocked on
the door and he said,

"I would like to come in
and discuss the funeral."

Well, of course,
I let him in.

Gino knew him. He was--
Gino went places with him.

♪

But I really
didn't know him.

We were both sitting
facing each other,

sitting on the floor, and...

If I can recollect,
he says to me...

"Gino owed me a
lot of money,

but just don't you
worry about it

'cause I'm gonna pay
for his funeral."

I was sitting there
and I know how I felt,

looking at him.

I was scared to death.

Yeah.

Well, it's just the tone of
voice and the way somebody

looks at you when they stick
their finger in your--

and they lean in to you like,
"Do you hear me?"

No remorse.
No empathy.

Nothing... nothing.

I'm an intelligent woman,
and I can read a person

pretty dog gone well.

Eye to eye contact;
that tells you a lot.

♪

You know, I remember
walking into...

to the funeral.

Went up, paid our respects.

There was a platinum casket.

And... it was closed casket.

So many people.

I dressed the finest
I could dress, like a...

movie star because I knew that
Gino wanted me to look that way.

♪

There were a lot of
people that were hurting,

his mom, and his sister.
Oh my gosh,

and that was just painful
to know they were hurting.

There was a group of men,
and Patrice would probably

know who they were
more than I would,

that took care of all the
finances of that funeral

and it was a...

very expensive funeral.

They, they...

do the service at
the grave site,

and then they had
bottle of champagne,

they had glasses, and people
were pouring champagne.

And, "To you, Gino!"
Drinking the champagne,

then breaking the
champagne glasses,

you know, on the casket,
and toasting Gino.

When you were
looking at all of this,

it just was surreal,
to a point.

Almost like an out of body
experience, a little bit.

There was a gentleman
there that did a eulogy,

that talked about Gino
getting on planes and

going to Vegas, and...

beating up a guy and putting
him in a headlock, and...

It was just weird.
It was tonally off,

and it was almost like
people going,

"Who the
fuck is this guy?"

And, to some of us that
hadn't been around for a while,

we just thought it was,
you know,

a new friend or whatever.
We had no clue.

At his funeral, there was
a lot of rich people.

You might assume drug
dealing is going on.

And people made
comments like,

"Do you know who that is?"
And I had no clue who it is.

If you were putting me
on the line today,

I wouldn't know who it is.

But people talking about,
"Oh, well, he's, he's...

He's wanted by the
authorities, you know."

I don't know who
the hell he is.

Who was the guy
that gave the eulogy?

That's John Royal.

I just heard that he,
he was a drug dealer.

I mean, I didn't know anything
about the man, period.

As far as I know,
right now he's in prison.

I would've done just pretty
much anything then

just to make sure my
daughter was safe,

and I was too.

And that's the way it's
been all these years.

I hadn't talked to anybody
until I talked to you guys.

♪

As the Hernandez family
mourned Gino's mysterious death,

many questions
remained unanswered.

Rumors began to fly
throughout the

wrestling community and beyond.

So, a lot of people,
when Gino died,

were immediately
telling the story,

"Here's what happened."

Andre the Giant told us that
he knew for a fact that

Gino had been shot in the head.

And that was not the case.

I heard from somebody that
he was close with that

he used to take trips down to
Houston, Southwest Airlines,

several times a week to
go down to Houston.

For what, I don't know.

The rumor mill was that
he had gambled and that

he owed some money
on a football game.

And so, you got all
these different rumors,

and with Chris
and with Gino,

you had the
conflict going on.

Police have received
several telephone calls

from concerned fans,

who say Hernandez might
have been murdered.

[indistinct shouts]

And immediately it's like,
well, Chris did it.

Why? The guy blinded him.

PRODUCER: Had you ever heard
that all the World Class fans

called the police saying it
must have been Chris?

I did hear that, and I think
the police actually did...

contact Chris about
the murder of Gino.

That goes to show just
how believable

World Class Championship
Wrestling was,

that somebody would
go to the depth to think,

Jesus, he killed that guy
because that guy

took his eyesight.

This is a case that we're
talking 30 years ago...

and there's been a lot
of rumors like this.

None of the family members were
ever allowed to see him.

His corpse, his body
was just so guarded.

Um, I think Walter.

It would just be too shocking
because he had been

dead for so long that they
didn't want anybody to see him.

Now, I'm pretty meticulous
about saving everything.

This is the suitcase that
I put everything in after

I had collected stuff,
after he had passed away,

anything that I could get
my hands on 'cause

I never got to go in
his apartment.

As a mother, got a lot of
questions that nobody

has ever...
ever answered me.

I said, well,
I tell you what,

I'll just do my
own investigating.

And if, if I can find out
the right person to contact,

I'll contact that person and
take care of it myself...

worry about the
consequences later,

and that's
exactly what I did.

I think there was foul play
in Gino's death only because,

one,
he was super paranoid.

When he walked
into his apartment,

he locked the doors.

And he had a deadbolt
on the inside, so,

the deadbolt was not locked from
the inside of the apartment.

It never made
any sense to me.

The deadbolt wasn't on,
and he always locked it.

So, somebody was
there with him.

Well, who was
there with him?

And left him alone?

If it would 'a been me,
and I would 'a said,

"You need to do an autopsy
'cause someone murdered him."

The autopsy report?

When they found him
and he was,

had been dead for a while.
I asked what happened.

I believe they said that it
might be a drug overdose.

I remember talking to the
coroner and he said that

Gino had cocaine
in his system,

but he had 5 times
the amount.

I believe I was told he
had enough that

could've killed an elephant.

He had more than just
enough to overdose;

he had 3 or 4 or 5 times
in his body that

it would take to overdose.

The medical examiner had
said that he didn't understand

how that much cocaine
could get in someone,

you know,
be ingested...

Makes you question,
you know,

what the hell happened?

Autopsy report said
he was morbidly obese.

It said that he
was Hispanic.

She asked me,
she said, "Now,

I'm pretty sure about
this because, you know,

I did give birth to him.
Was Gino circumcised?"

I said, "Well, he was."

Well, the autopsy report said
it was an uncircumcised male.

Well, first of all,
is that even really him?

If it's not him...
I wondered sometimes,

could he have, would he
have faked his own death?

When we were married,
there was a comedy, sitcom,

I don't remember
the name of it.

The main character had
faked his own death.

He was some sort of trouble,
whether it was tax evasion

or he was trying to hide
from somebody after him.

He had left a,
a wife and a child,

and came back
like 7 years later.

Gino had said,
"I'm gonna do that someday.

That's what I would do."

Well, I wished that it
wasn't him in there.

But, I know in my heart
that if he is alive,

I'd 'a heard
from him by now.

She was wanting to
push for answers and

really push for answers.

And as a mother,
I felt for her, and I just...

We had the discussion
then, well,

if we start
stirring the pot,

what's gonna keep them
from doing something to,

you know, our children?

It feels like he was
probably killed,

that somebody murdered him.
It feels that way to me.

♪

That's what the rumblings
were at the time,

that he had been murdered.

And I could certainly see that
happening with Gino, you know.

Some of the people he hung
with were powerful people.

He may have
pissed somebody off.

If he were in some way
involved with a drug ring...

Maybe he knew something.

And...

Maybe they were
worried he would talk.

Conspiracy theories about
Gino's death lingered on,

but it would take over 30 years

before answers
began to surface.

♪

In the days leading up to
Gino's mysterious death,

those closest to him
noticed that he seemed

fearful of something, or...
someone.

Of course, you know, this is,

this is hearsay, you know.

But, it seems to be that
general consensus that he,

weeks leading up,
or prior to his death,

he felt like he, somebody
was going to kill him.

To hear multiple people
saying that they got that

from him as well, maybe this
was a very real possibility.

You know,
maybe this is what happened.

♪

I was going to my car
and he was coming in, and,

and he says, "Hey,
why don't you come along,

have a couple drinks?"
So, I said, "Okay."

We actually walked
to his apartment.

He walked into the kitchen and
he had a cabinet above his sink.

He took out a cereal bowl and
the bowl was full of cocaine.

There was a lot of
cocaine in there.

And he put that
on the counter,

and he started
using the cocaine.

♪

It wasn't very long,
maybe... [sighs]

30 minutes,
40 minutes later,

he stopped speaking and
when I talked he said, "Sh!"

He wasn't being
angry to me, but he was,

"Sh, don't speak."

He kept going to the back
and looking out the window.

He had a,
quite intense paranoia.

He puts a
plug in the sink, and...

turns on the water.

The water started
coming over the top,

dripping onto the floor.

I go to pull the plug out
of the sink and

he stops me,
pulls me back.

He was like, "Sh!"

The water was still
falling on the floor.

I turned,
just around a little bit,

and he had a
gun in his hand.

My heart started to
beat kind of fast,

and he was holding me, telling
me to be really quiet, and...

Could hear
nothing but the water.

And he seemed to be
comforted that

it was covering up
sound of some kind,

just the sound of
the water seemed,

for whatever reason,
he found that comforting.

He would go to the windows
and he would just

stare outside into the darkness,
over and over again,

just looking outside
into the darkness.

You can see he was afraid,
it seemed, of the dark...

in his mind.

♪

Yeah, 'cause I was
doing them with him.

[laughs] Duh.

You know,
I was no saint, man.

I know that Gino was doing
coke and I don't know

how much he was doing,
but the night I was there

he damn sure had some,
quite a bit there, you know.

Wasn't no 8-ball,
that's for damn sure.

I was surprised that there
was not any cocaine

found by the police.

But I did hear rumors
that it was cleaned up.

I would just say a good
source told me that

Rick was kind of enough
to immediately--

there was a bowl.

He said it was crazy, it was
almost like a sugar bowl.

And he said, "I've never seen
that much blow in my life.

It was full of coke."

Just out of reaction, he just
took it and dumped it.

I don't think anyone else that
was even there knew that.

I don't know who he thought
maybe he was protecting,

but you know...

I think he just did
it out of instinct.

Some of the wrestlers,
including Chris,

said there might
be more to it.

Where was he getting
so much cocaine from?

[sighs] I was afraid then,
very afraid,

'cause I haven't talked
about it all these years...

'cause I, I got tired of
looking over my shoulder

every time I walked
out the apartment,

and I been living
like that ever since.

Nobody should have
to live like that.

Took a lot of my
life away from me.

And now, you know, 77,
where do I go from here?

♪

It's too much secrecy,
too much lying.

Too much deceit.

I truly believe he's not
here today because of the

people he chose
to be around.

I have nothing to lose 'cause
I've already lost part of it.

You know, you can't take
any more away from me

than you already have.

All we really want
is just an answer.

Shortly after Gino's
family told their story,

producers contacted
John Royal by phone.

He had recently served a
30-year prison term

for trafficking cocaine.

What follows is their
recorded conversation.

PRODUCER: We're doing a
documentary about Gino and

we've been talking a lot
with his family,

and your name has come up a
couple of times 'cause

you were close
friends with Gino.

Gino's mother had
told us a story,

a time when you approached
her and had told her

that you were gonna
pay for the funeral,

is that true?

I think you had also
said that Gino had

owed you a lot of money.

Is that something that you
had said to her as well?

PRODUCER: Right.

Well, that's really
good to know.

♪

PRODUCER: Had you ever heard
any rumors about, you know,

Gino's death not being something
that was accidental? Like...

JOHN: No.

PRODUCER: Right.

In addition to
John Royal's story,

a former drug trafficker who
asked to remain anonymous

has come forward with
his version of events.

[distorted] Yeah, I really want
to remain anonymous.

This was 30 years ago
and I'm not really here

to sugarcoat anything.
I wanted to tell the truth.

You know, I would like to
set the record straight for

the people who are concerned
about Gino's demise.

PRODUCER: I wanted you to hear
first what he had to say

about... about him and
about, and about everything.

Thank you very much.
I'm sorry.

It's okay. I know this is--

When you wait this long,
32 years...

♪

And yes, I miss him.
I pray for him every day.

I talk to him.
She knows that.

I get up at 4 o'clock
every morning.

- She was up this morning.
- Yeah, never miss a day.

- She prayed for two hours.
- Yeah, I do that.

Okay, let me know
when you're ready.

- Okay. I'm ready.
- Okay.

ANONYMOUS: There's nothing
I can gain from this.

I'm only doing this because
I don't want Gino's family

to worry one more minute.

If they've been worried for
30 years, they worried,

you know, 29 years and
364 days too long.

I met Gino through some
of the other people in the group

and we got
to be good friends.

This was the 80s and
disco was popular,

and the cocaine and drugs were
all just a part of that culture,

and we kind of saw the
opportunity to get

involved in selling drugs.

And, one of the guys
in the group had...

cultivated a connection.

He would bring it in and
he would give us each

a certain amount of it,
and not many people know

that Gino was involved in this.

He was a
professional wrestler,

and he saw us starting
to make some money and

he thought it'd be a good
opportunity for him.

He didn't make a lot of money
as a wrestler and it was

basically just a way for some
young guys to make some money,

and it was just something
that everybody was

kind of doing in
that period of time.

Do you remember giving a
eulogy at Gino's funeral?

Do you remember
what you said?

I know it was a
long time ago.

It's a great line...

ANONYMOUS: Unfortunately,
I felt like Gino started off

recreationally using the drugs,

and I think the drugs
got hold of him.

And, of course,
we were all, you know,

super concerned because
we were in a business that

we knew could get us in a
lot trouble even though

we weren't gangsters, or...

At the same time, I don't
think we saw a cop behind

every bush like Gino seemed to
do in the last part of his life.

Just knowing Gino, I would
imagine that he probably

went to a club and probably
drank a lot of alcohol,

and he probably came
back to his apartment,

overdosed on drugs,
and died of a

combination of
drugs and alcohol.

I don't know Gino's family,
but I would speak to them

directly and say, do not
be concerned about anything

that happened to Gino.
It was, basically,

just a situation of his
own doing, unfortunately.

I know that's hard to hear
because I know you loved him

and I loved him, too, but...

If you're concerned
about anything,

you should put that at rest
because you've worried for

30 years and I can
absolutely tell you

there's nothing to worry about.

♪

I can't take
those years back.

But I still have
my daughter. And...

it's just nice to know
that we don't have

anything to worry about.

Not anymore.

And I thank you
very much for this.

[sniffles]

I want to believe that
it was a tragic accident.

I want to believe that...
[sighs]

Somehow, some way...

Um... he made a mistake.

That's what I
want to believe.

I'm the type of person,
I can forgive anybody.

You know?
Yes, I forgive John Royal.

I forgive anybody that I
thought the wrong way,

but I didn't
know any different.

Had nobody tell me,
outright.

Watching my grandma,
she, she's lived a sad life.

I mean, she's gone through
things and lived through things

that no mother
should ever have to.

And sometimes you look
at her and you think, wow,

you know, you can't believe that
she walked that walk and

that she's
still smiling today.

But she is, you know,
and that's I think

the piece of life that goes on.

But now I know,
there's nothing to be afraid of.

Nothing.
I feel so good.

I could even
have a margarita.

LANA: All right!
PRODUCER: [laughs]

The legacy of Gino Hernandez,
unfortunately,

he wasn't around long
enough to create one of those.

I would like to see 'em put
Gino into the Hall of Fame.

I think Gino was that good.

I want him to be remembered
for the person that he was.

♪

And he made me,
as his mother, very, very proud.

I hear a lot that I
look like my dad.

My mom used to say,
"You look like your dad.

You talk like your dad."

It's smooth sailing
from here on out!

I have 5 children.
I have 2 girls and 3 boys.

And you see little pieces of
each of them in him

through those videos;
that's what's cool to watch.

With you guys
here and doing this, it's,

it's kind of like I finally get
my, my peace at heart.

And I thank you for that.

♪