All language subtitles for The.Wonderland.Massacre.and.The.Secret.History.of.Hollywood.S01E04.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta

♪♪

[Connelly] Los Angeles,

a city infamous
for its music and movies...

[director] Action!

...is also defined
by its murders.

[gunshot fires, man screams]

It seems to set
the City of Angels apart,

capturing
the world's attention.

The randomness of murder
plays out beneath

the bright lights
of Hollywood,

the boulevard
of broken dreams,

and seeps into the veins
of the American zeitgeist.

I'm Michael Connelly, and I
came here nearly 40 years ago,

drawn by the movies, the music,
and, yes, the murders.

This dark pantheon includes
the Black Dahlia,

the Hillside Strangler,
the Manson case,

the OJ Simpson case,
the slaying of Biggie Smalls,

just to name a few.

But perhaps no other case

symbolizes
an era in Los Angeles

more than
the Wonderland massacre.

Okay, cameras rolling.

[reporter] Four murder victims
were found today

in a posh
Hollywood Hills home.

Police said all four had been
beaten to death in a struggle

that splattered the interior
of the house with blood--

a Manson-like mass murder.

[Connelly]
The tentacles of the case

would ensnare a porn star,
a corrupt judge,

and drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Multiple celebrities
would be swept into the story

by Liberace's boy toy,
enigma Scott Thorson.

♪♪

To this day, no one has been
held directly accountable.

For many, including me,

it has been
a decades-long obsession.

♪♪

♪♪

[Thorson] I was sitting
in this building,

surrounded with federal agents
and FBI agents and U.S. marshals

and district attorneys
and judges,

and they were trying
to figure out

where they could put me
to keep me alive,

because there had been
a contract placed on my life.

♪♪

Here they put
this bright orange jumpsuit.

[inmates chattering
indistinctly]

They seized all of my wealth
and all of my riches.

And as those doors
were slamming shut,

I thought my life
was passing me by.

[Connelly]
After nearly a decade,

Scott Thorson was now

at the center
of the Wonderland case,

and his testimony would be key
to linking Eddie Nash

and his bodyguard, Greg Diles,
to the four gruesome murders.

I was in fear of my life.

I was scared to death that
Eddie Nash is gonna kill me.

So, that's when you were put
into witness protection?

Yeah, I was put
into witness protection

before the trial started.

[Thorson] I was a witness
for the state of California

and the United States
federal government

on seven counts
of first degree murder,

two counts
of attempted murder.

[McClain] We put him
in the protection program

right up front.

We were concerned that
Ed Nash and his people

might try to kill him

because he's going to
be testifying against them.

You actually delivered him
to federal marshals.

-Right. Mm-hmm.
-And how did that go?

It was like something
out of--out of a movie.

♪♪

We had to actually
go under like a tunnel

under the federal courthouse.

So, I bring Scott down.

You had to knock on the door.
You had to punch in a code.

And I told them
who I was

and who I was
delivering to 'em,

and they goes, "You are not
to have any contact with him

ever again
unless you go through us."

I said bye to Scott.
We shook hands.

But I do remember
they emphasized,

"Do not try to make contact
with him."

♪♪

[Thorson] In prison,

they told me what to do
and what not to do.

It was hard.
I couldn't see any friends.

And I was scared.

♪♪

[Connelly] With Scott Thorson
hidden away

in an undisclosed prison,

D.A. Carol Najera
was preparing her case

to hold Nash and Diles
responsible

for the murders
on Wonderland Avenue.

Did you do your own vetting
of Scott Thorson?

I did a lot of talking
to the witnesses,

and Scott Thorson, of course,
was one of them.

He was someone
that I think was credible

and could shed light
on what really happened there.

The murders took place
at the time

that he was clearly a part
of that world.

And he had so many details,

and it all just added up
and made sense.

♪♪

[Najera] They robbed
the defendant, Eddie Nash,

in the presence
of his bodyguard,

of a lot of money
and a lot of drugs.

Eddie Nash had a string
of nightclubs

where he used to
distribute drugs

throughout
Southern California.

Southern California is
not really known

for organized crime.

The closest thing we ever
got to that was Eddie Nash.

He was pretty much

organized crime
in Southern California.

He sent his thugs over there
like a terrorist raid,

and they went into that house,

and, ladies and gentlemen,
they proceeded to bludgeon

and bash in the brains
of every individual

who was in that house.

[Lange on video] A hammer is
noted on the corner of the bed.

The floors are extremely
bloodstained around the body.

I was used to a level
of brutality,

but when you look at the crime
scenes at Wonderland...

♪♪

...I'd say this was
the worst I had ever seen

and I probably
ever will see.

♪♪

There was so much
violence involved

that this was clearly driven
by passions, not by reason.

The mindset of Eddie Nash
at the time appeared to be,

"I will kill you
and everyone you've ever loved."

[Connelly]
But the defense argued

that the male victims
of Wonderland

were violent criminals
themselves,

with copious enemies.

They'd rob other robbers.
They'd rob dope dealers.

They'd rob people
that possess narcotics.

Ed Nash was a businessman
in Los Angeles.

He owned nightclubs.
He was a good target.

In the 1990 trial,

the prosecution relied on
their new star witness,

Scott Thorson.

[Connelly]
Scott Thorson.

Did you have
any expectations

that you might have
a really good witness here?

Our problem was that,
much like John Holmes,

he does, in fact, talk out
of both sides of his mouth.

What side are you gonna
be talking out of

when you're on the stand?

[Connelly]
What is it like

when your star witness
goes on the stand?

As much
as you believed his story,

you knew he was vulnerable
to challenge, right?

Yes.

But you want them to get up
there and tell the truth.

When you lie on the stand,
I think that it comes through.

It's better to just tell the
world, "Look, this is who I am."

Cocaine was
not that easy to find,

and--and especially
in some of these cities

where I didn't have
any connections.

So, a lot of times I would sneak
away, and I'd lease a Learjet.

Scott Thorson was
a drug addict

and he was,
by his own admission,

dealing drugs and totally
immersed in that world.

[man] When you arrived
at Mr. Nash's house that time,

the day that Holmes
was brought in,

did you learn there was
some problem

with the drug deal
you'd set up?

I-I learnt
that Mr. Nash had been robbed,

and he was extremely angry.

I heard Mr. Nash
threatening Mr. Holmes,

telling Mr. Holmes

that he would have every member
in his family killed.

And, uh, John was, um,
begging for his life.

I heard furniture being,

uh, like a body
being knocked around on walls.

Did you hear
Mr. Nash order Mr. Diles

to do something else
at that time?

Yes, he ordered Mr. Diles
to take Mr. Holmes up the street

to Wonderland Avenue
to get back his drugs and money.

I had to stop 'em.

I stuck to my guns.

Just like when Liberace,
what he did to me.

Wasn't fair.

And I fought back.

Your client murdered
those people,

had those people murdered.

I heard it, I saw it.

I saw Mr. Diles
and Mr. Holmes.

And there isn't anything
you can do

and say that I'm lying now.

That man is a murderer.

When he said that,
I just thought...

almost a righteous
moment of, "Yes.

I think justice is being done
in this court."

And that's
a very powerful feeling.

That man is a murderer
right there.

I looked him right in the eye
and I says,

"You know you're a killer."

I says,
"You killed those people.

You gave the order."
I looked right at him.

And how did he react?

He looked at me,
and he put his head down.

[Connelly]
You have a strong case.

You must be thinking, "Eight,
nine years into this case,

we finally have Nash."

When it gets to the jury,
you must be feeling pretty good.

Feeling very good
when it gets to the jury.

[Lange] The jury was back
in fairly short order.

Couple days.

And they said, "We're 11 to 1.
We have a holdout."

We were both
just beside ourselves.

I said,
"This is total bullshit.

What the hell
is going on?"

[Connelly] How surprising was it
to see that one holdout?

[Najera] It was a shock.
It was a complete shock.

I was completely befuddled.
I thought we had that jury.

And honestly
I think Tom Lange,

right out the door, thought
something was suspicious.

At the time it happened,
did you and Tom

try to look into
what could have happened?

I think that Tom and I
tried to look into it.

We couldn't find anything.

[Jackson] That jury heard
Scott Thorson as a witness

and pretty much
unanimously decided

he was telling the truth.

11 jurors felt he had
credibility enough to

be ready
to convict Eddie Nash.

[Connelly] So, the judge
gave you 30 days

to decide
whether to retry,

and you announce the next day,
"We're retrying."

There was no discussion.

Everyone agreed
it was gonna happen.

♪♪

[Connelly] The retrial
of Eddie Nash and Greg Diles

was scheduled to begin
in November 1990.

[Lange] We had Thorson
under lock and key, basically.

We had people staying with him
in a hotel in Little Tokyo,

just a couple blocks
from the courthouse.

I got a call in the middle of
the night from the security.

He'd split.
Nobody knew where he was.

On the eve
of your testifying again,

you kind of bailed out.

I know.

They were asleep
in the other room.

Had adjoined rooms.

And that's when I took off.
'Cause I was scared to death.

What were you scared of?

I thought,
we're not gonna win.

So, I got scared,
and I took off.

[jazz beat playing]

[McClain] He was supposed
to have been testifying

either that day
or the next day.

So, we got people
out looking for him.

♪♪

[Lange]
He was an important witness

in the middle of this case.

Did somebody nail him?
You know?

Which is highly possible.
We didn't know.

But we knew that just a few
blocks south is a skid row area

where he could have scored
at any time.

♪♪

Then he shows up.

Wait--Wait a minute.
Where did he show up?

He ends up coming back
to the hotel about 6:00,

I believe it was,
in the morning,

uh, none the worse for wear.

Why'd you come back?

I wanted Eddie to go down
for these murders.

So, I came back
and I did the right thing.

That's why I came back.

[dramatic music playing]

Came back home.

But the damage was done.

The prosecutors--

the last thing they would want
the defense to know

is what happened that night,

because you now have
an unreliable witness.

Why was it best
not to use the guy

who was so powerful
in the first trial?

Because we weren't sure
what was going on with him,

and we just felt
that it opened us up

to tainting our case,

which we didn't
wanna do.

And we just felt that,
ethically speaking,

it wouldn't
be appropriate.

The evil that men do
lives after them.

In the second trial,
the evidence

was not resonating
with the jury.

It just came through,
and you could feel it

in the courtroom.

[Connelly]
I talked to Carol Najera.

And she said,

in the time
between the trials,

Nash was held in jail.

She felt that the jury
was looking at a guy,

and they didn't believe he
could have been this puppeteer.

Did you get a sense
of that at all?

[Lange] Somewhat,
but there was another reason.

Nash had some
pretty sharp lawyers.

I'm gonna give you the name

of the man who went
into that house and did this.

[Lange] The defense had
a suspect, Paul Kelly.

They brought Paul Kelly in
in chains. He was in prison.

"This is the real killer,"
is what they said.

There was evidence to tie him
to the Wonderland group

because he'd
dealt with them before.

But the police already
knew about Kelly,

and there's no evidence to tie
Paul Kelly to the murders,

not even
anything circumstantial.

♪♪

[Jackson]
12 jurors said "not guilty,"

a complete reversal of 12

"not guilty" verdicts
coming back from the jurors.

That's almost unheard of.

[Connelly] And that's
a pretty steep slide

to go from 11 to 1
to zero and 12, right?

-Right.
-What was that like?

It was disheartening,
but I still thought that

the evidence
was the evidence,

and it showed that--
that beyond a reasonable doubt

that Eddie Nash and Greg Diles
had committed the crime.

♪♪

I think if we had
had Scott Thorson there

for that second jury,

I really think it would
have made a difference.

Because you got to
keep in mind

we only opened it up
because of him.

[roaring]

[Connelly] Having met
his obligation to testify,

Scott Thorson was released
into witness protection

with a new identity--
Jess Marlow.

My name was Jess Marlow.

It was my United States
government name

that the U.S. government
gave me.

[Connelly] Where did the name
Jess Marlow come from?

I heard of the name,
and I liked it.

I liked Jess Marlow.

[McClain]
I get a call from Tom.

He goes, "His name
is now Jess Marlow."

I go, "What?
The news reporter?"

[announcer] This is the KNBC
News Service with Jess Marlow.

[theme music playing]

Good evening.

I was aware
that he changed his name,

when he went into
federal witness protection,

to Jess Marlow,

which was
a bad choice of name

for a guy
named Jess Marlow

who was a news anchor here

in Southern California
for years.

♪♪

And he, from what
I was told, was pissed.

Here's this guy that
testifies against Eddie Nash.

His life's on the line.
People wanna kill him.

You know, it just opens up all
kinds of potentials in his mind

for him to get whacked.

♪♪

[Connelly] Jess Marlow proved
to be a handful

to the U.S. marshals assigned
to protect him.

What was your life like?

I needed to make money.

And, uh, I was used
to living good.

So, I started
selling drugs again.

♪♪

And I started using again.

I was clean.
I started using again.

So, that's always been
your Achilles' heel.

-The using.
-Because you know why?

Escape from reality.
I forget things.

You know, it takes me away
from the world.

And I would smuggle
the drugs

through the U.S. marshals' trunk
of their car,

in my luggage.

Why? Because I didn't
have to go through security.

And I wasn't checked.

[chuckles] So, I was smuggling
the drugs through that.

♪♪

[coin clatters]

[McClain] So, we get a call
from Scott.

He's down in Alabama,
and he gets

picked up by the police.
-[line rings]

And he tells them he's in
the witness protection program,

and they don't believe him.

[clanking]

But we need to come
and get him out of jail.

And so when we get there,
Tom and I contact the marshals.

The marshal goes,
"You know,

if he does something
one more time, that's it.

We're not gonna keep
dealing with it."

They were gonna kick him
out of the program.

Mac McClain said that?

He said, like,
you went to Alabama once

because you had
been arrested.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

'Cause I carried the gun
without a license.

It was just a gun.

And so the marshals came in,
and they dismissed it.

["Spirit in the Sky" playing]

♪♪

Next thing I know,
I get a call from Tom.

He goes, "Scott Thorson
is at it again."

♪ Going up to the spirit
In the sky ♪

♪ Spirit in the sky ♪

♪ It's where I'm gonna go
When I die ♪

Well, welcome to The 700 Club,
from Tallahassee, Florida,

Jess Marlow.

Jess, we're glad
to have you with us.

-[applause]
-Come in and have a seat.

It's a pleasure
to be here.

You actually went into
a witness protection program

with a change of name.

That's right. Um...

I was placed under
witness protection plan, Pat,

but I had a tremendous
cocaine habit still.

Mm-hmm.

They didn't know
how to handle me,

so they were
gonna terminate me.

And they heard of a rescue
mission in Tallahassee.

Wait, wait. Terminate means
they kill you.

-Is that what you...
-[laughing] No.

[laughter]

-They didn't mean that.
-No, no, no.

They were terminate me
from their program.

Oh, from their program.

[laughter]

So--So, you were going
out of the program,

and what happened?

My inspector
that was in charge of me

was a born-again Christian.
-Yes.

And he told me about the
rescue mission in Tallahassee.

[ethereal music playing]

And that week, I was saved.

And by the grace of God,
I'm here today.

-Yes.
-I'm living proof that, um,

when God does exist
in your life,

He can produce
wonderful miracles.

♪♪

[Connelly] Did you ever happen
to be watching TV,

and there he is
as a televangelist?

Oh, yeah. We would watch
every TV show that he was on

to see what stupid thing
he may say.

In the rescue mission,
you must have seen many people

who came in as hopeless
as you were.

Oh, yeah. Look at me.
I'm a living miracle.

I recall four years ago,
Sheila, where I was.

The only God I knew
was cocaine.

No man or no doctor

could take the desire
of drugs away from me

until the Lord Christ
came in

and took
and set me free from it.

John 8:36 says,

"If the Son therefore
shall make you free,

ye shall be free indeed."

And that's exactly what
Christ did for me.

He set me free.

Were you a true believer
when you were an evangelist?

I was very excited.
I really believed in it.

And I was very serious
with it.

I-I helped a lot of kids.

So, there was
something altruistic.

Oh, yeah, I was very sincere.
I was very sincere.

I wanted to help kids
and tell my story,

expose the evil
of Hollywood. [chuckles]

♪♪

[Thorson] I see so many
wonderful results.

I'm so proud of the boys
at the mission.

Just bring tears
to your eyes,

and, uh, I want to say hi
to 'em all, and I love them.

[Walsh] Hi, boys.

-Hi, guys.
-[laughs]

I hope they're watching.

[Connelly] But you were
telling your story,

and you're supposed to be
in witness protection.

You got another name
and everything.

[chuckles] Oh, yeah.
They were very angry.

-But--
-Who was angry?

Oh, the marshals.
I was a handful for 'em.

[laughs]

I went against
the marshals' orders.

I was on national TV
with the evangelists.

People recognized me.
What do you want me to do?

Then they kicked you
out of witness protection?

Yes.

So, you traded the protection
of the U.S. marshals

for the protection of Christ.
-Right.

You know,
and I found out

it was nothing
but a moneymaker.

It discouraged me,
so I walked away from it.

I stopped.

[mysterious music playing]

That's when I got shot.

[gunshots]

I was shot five times.

I was shot
through the chest,

through the hand, head.

And the bullet went through my
hand and probably saved my life.

Took three bullets
through the abdomen.

And I know
that it was Nash.

So, what makes you think--
or know--

that it was
that guy was sent by Nash?

Because I got a phone call.

Nash was on the line.
They were asking me questions.

They said,
"We know where you are."

Shortly after that,
I was shot.

These men
are cold-blooded killers.

My involvement was
that I knew about the murders,

and I was a witness.

[Connelly] He tells
some grand stories

that can't be disproved.

When he got shot
in Jacksonville,

did you hear about that?

I did hear about it,
and I've talked

to the detectives since then
that handled that case.

They have no doubt it was just
a random person that did it.

It was drug-related.

That was evidence
of drug use in the motel

that he was staying in
when he was shot.

In Jacksonville,
after you got shot,

they actually arrested
the guy.

But, at least
the police said, publicly,

that it was a drug rip-off,
not a hit man.

Well, of course they did, uh,

because the marshals didn't want
any publicity on this.

They knew what was involved.
They still do.

It makes them look bad.

Just stop and think about it,
Michael.

♪♪

[Connelly] While Scott recovered
from his wounds,

he received a strange visitor
from Maine.

[Thorson]
This, uh, lady snuck in,

and she prayed for me.

So, she visited you
in the hospital

in Jacksonville
after you were shot?

Yes.

The stranger
comes from a state

thousand miles away and--

She saw me on the Pat Robertson
show, The 700 Club,

and she says, "I wanna
nurse you back to health,"

'cause I had a long road
ahead of me.

She really believed
that God had His hands on me.

[Connelly] In an interview
with The New York Times,

the woman stated...

[Thorson] So, I went to Maine,
and that's where I lived.

I lived with her
for a long time.

14 years
I stayed with her.

We were gonna get married
and all that.

And then I decided, uh,
I didn't want to get married.

According to the woman,
the couple had sex once.

"'That was enough,'
she said with a giggle."

It was horrible.

She tried
to control everything.

She didn't like me
listening to music.

It had to be
Christian-only music.

[choir] ♪ In the cross of Christ
I glory ♪

I would wake up,
and there would be

a cross on my forehead.
[chuckles]

-That she put on there?
-Yeah.

♪♪

I got post-traumatic stress
disorder over the shootings.

I became bipolar.

I was put in mental hospitals
quite a bit.

I would break down.

♪♪

[Connelly]
During his years in Maine,

Scott Thorson had become
a ghost to law enforcement.

But Rick Jackson,

while working on a murder case
unrelated to Wonderland,

once again stumbled
upon the name Scott Thorson.

[Jackson] I became aware
that he was living in Maine.

Might have been through
Tom Lange that I found that out.

I was still looking
at maybe

trying to
put a case together

that Scott had
some information on.

So, we drove up to Maine

and just knocked on the door
unannounced.

This woman
comes to the door,

and I tell her
I need to talk to Scott.

I identify who I am.

And Scott
kind of wanders over.

You can tell right away
he's messed up

on meds or drugs
of some kind.

And, uh, he looks at me,
like, with a blank stare.

There's no doubt he knew
who I was.

And he was, "Oh, ah,
it's so good to see you."

And he's slurring his words,
and he's a mess.

♪♪

[Connelly]
When you were in Maine,

how were
you scoring drugs?

-I stopped for 14 years.
-You were never on drugs there?

-No.
-What about the time that

Jackson visited you there,
and you couldn't recognize him

or weren't coherent?

Well, I was drinking a lot.

But I didn't do drugs.

But at least you were
safe there until what?

You got a phone call
that you think came from Nash?

Got a phone call through
the attorneys,

and he found me.

So, I'll say this much.

The reason
why I'm alive today

is because of the crime family
that I was involved in.

[tape rewinding sound]

[upbeat jazz music playing]

Las Vegas was controlled
by the mob.

Liberace was
the golden-haired boy.

He brought in
the high rollers.

And, uh, they loved him.

♪♪

So, I was surrounded
with the Mob.

So, this is Jerry Angiulo?

Yeah.

I don't think we should
mention his name on camera.

I think we already did
in the podcast.

Oh, we did?
[laughs] Great.

I don't think
he's around anymore, but...

Oh, if I disappear,
you'll know why.

But that relationship,
you told me the story about

you being kind to an associate
of his' daughter.

-Yeah.
-At a Liberace show.

Well, one of
his soldiers, uh,

he had a daughter
that had cerebral palsy.

And Jerry Angiulo
just loved her,

like his own daughter.

And she just loved Liberace
because of all the costumes.

♪♪

You know something?
It's no fun to dance alone.

I'm gonna find me somebody
to dance with.

Yes, I am.

I took her down
to the stage,

and Liberace took her on stage
and danced with her.

♪♪

Jerry just loved it
and thought it was

the greatest thing
that ever happened to her.

So, we became very close.

And he's the one
that went to Eddie Nash

and had a conversation
with him.

And he told Eddie Nash,

"If one hair is harmed
on his head," he says,

"you'll be through."

And that's the reason
why I'm alive today.

♪♪

[Connelly]
Jerry Angiulo was an underboss

in the Patriarca crime family
of New England.

At the time Scott says
he reached out to him,

Angiulo was serving
a 45-year prison sentence

for racketeering.

Scott tells a story where
he contacts a friend of his

that is a Mob boss in Boston
named Jerry, um...

-Angiulo.
-Angiulo.

-Okay, so you know that name.
-Yeah.

And then he intervenes
with Nash, saying,

"Lay off
of my buddy Scott Thorson."

It almost
sounds preposterous,

but it's also something
you can't check, you know?

The fact that some Mob guy
ended up meeting Scott Thorson

because of his love
for Liberace,

it doesn't surprise me
at all.

Scott's stories sometimes seem
over-the-top and bizarre,

but a lot of them,
I've learned, have been true.

Is it another Scott Thorson
tale not to be trusted or...

[Lange] I don't know.

There's a little truth
in every lie.

That's what's so attractive
about a lot of these stories.

"I'm gonna tell you
some truths,

but I'm gonna make up
the rest."

I question anything he says.

I question
anything anybody else says,

unless it can be disproven
or proven one way or the other.

What was the old Reagan...
Reagan--it's "trust but verify."

That's true of any--
any--any witness.

[Connelly] While Scott was
allegedly being protected

by a Boston mobster,

on the opposite coast,

another bizarre twist developed
in the Wonderland case.

[crew] Federal task force
investigators Chris Robbins

and Jeff Redman. Marker.

You guys almost
unintentionally became

the last best hope of
the, uh, Wonderland case.

When I started this,
I started out

working traditional
organized crime,

and then we started a Armenian
organized crime unit.

Jeff Redman and Chris Robbins

were part of
a special task force

investigating
a gasoline tax-fraud scheme

orchestrated
by the Armenian Mafia.

Talk about when suddenly
the Wonderland case came

into this completely differently
focused investigation.

Well, I guess
that would be

when Joe Mikaelian
came on board.

And who is that?

Joe Mikaelian is
a self-described

king of the Armenian Mafia

in Glendale,
Burbank, North Hollywood.

He is the godfather

of the Armenian
organized crime group.

So, was he a target
of this investigation?

He became a target.

Did this involve wiretaps where
you had undercover people?

So, we have
an undercover FBI agent.

He set up a storefront so that
whenever anybody came in,

we had it monitored.

And from there, we were able
to pick up, uh, wiretaps.

♪♪

[Connelly] What Joe Mikaelian
was caught saying on the wiretap

confirmed Tom Lange's
long-held suspicion

about the juror in the first
Eddie Nash murder trial.

When he went and met
with our undercover,

he goes, "Do you remember
the, uh, Wonderland murders?"

And our undercover,
playing dumb, goes,

"No, I have no idea."
He goes, "I'm the one

who bribed the juror
in the Eddie Nash case

that got him off."

And Chris and I were
monitoring the wires,

and we go, "Okay, that's--
that's a twist

we did not see coming."

So, Chris goes,
"We got to find that juror."

Okay, so what do you do?

Okay, so Chris put
this box together

with "indictment" on the side,
her name on the side,

walked up,
and knocked on the door.

She comes to the door.

And you had this box
under your arm?

-[Robbins] Mm-hmm.
-Set it right down.

-We put it on the table.
-And this was a prop?

-Yes.
-[laughs]

I think it might have even
had a Chinese menu in it.

I'm not positive,
but, uh...

And she kept looking at it.

Then she says,
"Is that all about me?"

And I think all of us
in unison said, "Yes, it is."

♪♪

She opened up at that point.

And so what exactly
did she tell you happened?

She told us
that she was paid.

Supposed to get 50,000.

And her brother collected
the money initially

but was killed because he held
back some money for himself.

Was he in a gang
or something?

Yes, and was killed
by someone else

that was a member
of that group

who had orchestrated
the actual bribery.

And what became of her?

She must have been
pretty scared.

She--She was very scared.

In fact, it became commonplace
on my cellphone

to stay in contact, because
every time a car would drive by,

"Jeff, you got to get over here.
Get somebody over here."

[Connelly] Talk about
when you found out

what happened
with that juror.

I mean, that was
almost ten years later.

I felt vindicated.

If you take away
that element, the bribery,

I believe it would
have been a conviction.

♪♪

[Connelly] As a fiction writer,

I might be inclined
to come up with a storyline

that includes a bribed juror,

but in reality
this is virtually unheard of.

You ever heard of another case
where a juror was bought off?

Not before, not since.

[Connelly]
So, what were you thinking

when Jeff Redman comes in
and says,

he knew what happened
on that case way back

ten years earlier?

The first thing I said to him,

"Yeah, we knew that.
We just couldn't prove it."

♪♪

[Connelly] Were you excited,
like, "Wow, maybe,

just maybe, we can end up
getting something on this"?

It would be July of 1999
I get a call from Jeff Redman.

He says, "I got to talk to you
about the Nash case."

I said, "Well, he's been
acquitted. You can't retry him."

He said, "No, we're not going
after him for murder."

[Connelly] Now you have what
looks like a chargeable offense

against Eddie Nash,

the guy who slipped through
the fingers of law enforcement

for almost 20 years.

What do you do?

The strategy was to develop
a RICO indictment against him

with the murders being included
as one of the charges.

RICO is Racketeer Influenced
Corrupt Organization.

♪♪

[Connelly]
To charge a RICO case,

prosecutors need at least
two acts of racketeering.

The acts can include arson,
bribery,

distribution
of a controlled substance,

witness tampering,
and homicide.

It looked like you had him
on bribing a juror.

-Right.
-Eddie Nash.

What other parts of the case
were you trying to build?

So, we had the bribe.

But with RICO, you need
more for a prosecution.

And this case took,
I would say,

well over
a hundred interviews.

Traveled all over
the United States.

What we found
the most difficult

when interviewing
witnesses--

they were scared to death
of Eddie.

They knew what he had done.

They knew what
he was capable of.

"This guy will kill me
if he finds me."

♪♪

[Connelly] Redman and Robbins
wanted to prove

that Eddie Nash was engaged

in the distribution
of a controlled substance.

They unearthed photos
of the cocaine packages seized

in one of those early 1980s
raids of Nash's house.

The writing on the package

indicated the origin
of the cocaine.

Did you guys connect
the markings on...

-We did, yeah.
-What was that story?

Uh, from one
of the arrests,

they had the packaging
still in custody.

And so I think we went
and got that and looked at it,

and it had markings
of Colombia, which is cartel.

See, that's like a little thing
about Scott Thorson --

as I call him,
the unreliable narrator.

Like, he was saying,

he was getting it
from Colombian cartels.

Then that adds up.
Did you talk to Scott?

-We did.
-We did.

And how did you find him?

He was in a rehab facility
in Palm Springs.

He didn't use his true name,
though.

Right.

He used a famous
L.A. newscaster name.

So, you were looking
for Jess Marlow...

-Jess Marlow.
-...not--not Scott Thorson.

Right.

And how'd it go?

Well, comes out shuffling,

and he's got his slippers on
and a bathrobe

and proceeds to start
to open up.

He had so many different things
to bring up and talk about.

We were trying to narrow him
down as much as we could.

Through the years
of drug abuse,

sometimes you believe
what you're saying,

but in reality you're
fabricating a lot of that.

And we both came
to the same conclusion.

We'd get laughed out if we put
him in front of a grand jury.

What is the next move?

We knew that
Gregory Diles' shirt

had been
recovered as evidence.

[Redman]
We're looking for Greg,

and Chris was able to locate him
at a residence on Crenshaw.

And we go
and knock on the door.

Great big guy
comes to the door.

I go, "Greg. Jeff Redman,
Chris Robbins.

Uh, we're here
to interview you."

He looks at me,
and he goes,

"You guys aren't
very good detectives."

He goes, "Let me
introduce you to Greg."

Walk inside.

There's an urn
up on the fireplace.

He goes, "That's Greg.
Died two years ago."

Not one of our finer moments
in the investigation.

But, uh, hey, you hit
roadblocks all the time.

[Connelly] The lead to Diles
was literally a dead end.

But Redman and Robbins'
investigation

led to another mystery
in the case being solved.

[tape rewinding sound]

Now, ladies and gentlemen
of the jury...

[Lange] At Nash's trial
for possession of drugs,

Judge Ricks sentenced Nash
to eight years in prison.

He didn't serve but two years,
and Ricks let him out.

What the hell is all this about?
Well, we found out.

Are you the ones who figured out
the judge was bribed?

Yeah, we did.

And how did you get that?

We interviewed
the girlfriend of the judge,

and she told us that he had
developed a cocaine problem.

[Lange] Find out later

that Judge Ricks
had a cocaine problem,

and he was paid off,
I believe...

$100,000, I think.

-Ah, I think it was $75,000.
-Was it?

So, they got to a judge,
just like they got to cops,

just like they got to lawyers,

just like they get to
politicians, business owners.

And that's part
of this big scheme,

and they throw up all
these little blocks.

And in the end,
what is it all for?

It's to try to cover Nash,
who's been paying them all off.

He was insulated
by all of them.

It was just unbelievable.

[Connelly]
The bribery indictment,

combined with distribution
of a controlled substance,

gave Redman and Robbins
enough to bring the RICO case.

After four years
of investigating,

they finally got the call
they were waiting for.

[Redman] We were out in the
field still knocking on doors,

and we get a call from
the U.S. attorney going,

"Indictment's handed down.
Go get him."

[reporter] The quiet
of this residential neighborhood

in Tarzana was shattered today
when authorities descended

on the condominium complex
where Eddie Nash lives.

♪♪

[Redman] We drop everything,

go straight to Eddie's
Tarzana condo, scoop him up,

put the handcuffs
on him.

He's very friendly.

He's, you know,
making small talk.

And all of a sudden,
out of nowhere, he goes,

"What kind of car do you like?"
I go, "I like Porsches.

I've always wanted a Porsche,"
I said, "but never had one."

He goes,
"What color would you like?"

I said, "Eddie, you're in
enough trouble right now.

Let's stop it right there."
I'd like to think I'm worth

more than a Porsche,
but I don't know.

[laughs]

♪♪

[Lange] Comes down to
September 10th of 2001.

Nash is due in federal court

to answer charges on
this 16-count RICO indictment.

And he goes in
and he pleads guilty.

[reporter] Defense lawyers say
that Nash's poor health

was the reason
for the plea bargain.

Also today Eddie Nash admitted
to bribing a juror

in his 1990 murder trial.

Now, this juror was
a lone holdout in a jury

that was prepared to send
Eddie Nash

to the electric chair.

He's given 36 months for all
of these federal charges,

including conspiracy
to commit the murders

of these four victims of ours.

He should have
been doing life...

[chuckles]
in my opinion.

[Robbins] The time frame,
37 months.

You look at that and you go,
God, this guy should be

spending the rest of his life
in prison.

But we've been
in law enforcement long enough

to realize that, you know,
it's not a perfect world.

Sometimes you have to take
what you can get.

[Souza] It might be
a rationalization, but, uh,

I think it destroyed
his life.

It would have been nice
to see him

be prosecuted
for murder.

But on the other hand,
he was a broken man.

That gives me
some satisfaction.

I was shocked
at the sentence.

He pled guilty for
conspiracy to commit murder.

Four counts
and one attempted.

Money laundering.

That was enough
to put him away for life.

They gave him three years.
Made me sick to my stomach.

He got away with it again.

♪♪

[Connelly] The day
after he pleads guilty,

what happened?

[Redman] I walk in
central facilities

and everyone's gathered
around these TVs,

and it's dead silent.

And it was 9/11.

[reporter]
Oh, my God, another plane

has just hit another building.

Flew right
into the middle of it.

[Connelly] And was it
a twist of the knife

that next day is 9/11,

and he's gone from the--
the media zeitgeist like that?

Done.

And from that point on, both
Jeff and I got switched over

to working terrorism, basically.

-Yeah.
-I know we really didn't have

a chance to enjoy the work
that we had done on that case.

Right. The best statement
was made

by an old detective.

"'Fair' is in Pomona, kid.
That's not in police work."

-Right.
-So...

♪♪

[Connelly] This case,
even though it was

an unbelievably brutal murder
of multiple people,

it actually transcends crime

to be symptomatic
of that time.

It was all about drugs,
rock and roll, and sex.

That's all it was.

-And murder.
-And murder.

♪♪

What made you guys decide
to write a book

about this--
Malice in Wonderland?

[Souza] We wanted to set
the record straight

because there had been
so many TV shows.

They did a real bad movie,
Wonderland.

-[telephone rings]
-Cruz. Robbery-Homicide.

-[lighter clicks]
-Right.

It was like a glamorized
John Holmes story

is what it was.

I think it was
for that reason,

we wanna tell
the real story.

We're the guys
that worked the case.

Let's tell everybody
what really happened.

♪♪

[Connelly]
At the end of the day,

is there a way
to make a case now,

or did people get away
with murder?

[Lange]
It's been a lot of years.

You're talking, uh,
what, 42, 43 years?

District attorney is
not going to file a case

they're not about 90% sure
that they're gonna win.

They're not gonna win it
with circumstantial evidence.

They're gonna need
direct evidence.

It appears from the evidence
that there were definitely

more than two people went in
there to bludgeon everybody,

and there were
other names named,

but I don't want to name them
because they weren't charged.

I think there's
suspects out there

that were never arrested
or even brought to trial.

Might be one or two.

There is probably at least one
that is still out there.

And still alive?

Um...

-We think so.
-We think so.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

They know
there's other killers.

I know
there's other killers.

♪♪

[Connelly] Do you think it's
worth opening it again?

You got advances
in forensics and technology,

and Lange and Souza
say there are many lifts

made in the crime scene.
-[Jackson] Yeah.

And they didn't have a national
big-time database in 1981?

No. Uh, no. No.

The national database
first started

in the late '80s, early '90s,

where millions
of people's prints

from all over the country
all integrated into one system.

LAPD had
an internal database,

but it was mostly
local prints,

stay in the latent
print section with LAPD.

They're there.

I have pretty much no doubt
they're there.

[Roberts]
I know there's a lot of prints

that were recovered
in the house and stuff,

but this is a house that had a
lot of people going in and out.

And how do you connect
those prints

to an actual suspect?

Prints are one thing,

but as technology
gets better for us,

I would be excited to find
an unknown suspect's DNA

on some of the evidence.

I mean, what are the chances
that, like...

-Yeah.
-...a hit man's DNA

is in the Department of Justice
databank?

[exhales deeply]
We screened so many cases,

thousands of cases
in the cold case unit,

and we're sitting
on DNA profiles of suspects

that aren't in the database.

Those cases are the ones
that now we're looking at

to see if we can use
this brand-new technology

that detectives are solving
cases with.

And why do you think it is
that the Wonderland case

is still active
in the public imagination?

I think a lot of it is just
Hollywood keeps it alive.

Who knows if it would be
such a big story

if it happened
in Pascagoula, Mississippi?

Maybe not.

Now, Jack,
I wanna talk to you

about doing some surgery
on Scott here.

-What?
-Fine.

What would you like me
to do with Scott?

I want you to make Scott
look like this.

[Connelly] In 2013,

more than three decades
after the murders,

director Steven Soderbergh
adapted Thorson's biography,

Behind the Candelabra,
into a feature film for HBO.

The film focused
on the relationship

between Liberace
and Scott Thorson.

Steven Soderbergh
and Jerry Weintraub

asked me questions,
you know?

I told them, "Please keep it
real to the book

and go by the truth
of the book."

-And did they?
-And they did.

Oh, I think they did
a wonderful job.

What about, uh,
Matt Damon's performance?

I thought Matt Damon did
a hell of a job.

It was nominated
for 15 Emmys, won 11,

won the Golden Globe Award.

[classical piano music playing]

The New York Times,
when that movie came out,

called you
the "Zelig of Awful."

-Did you read that?
-Yeah.

How did you feel
about that?

Critic. You know,
I look at it as a critic.

So, you get good reviews,
some you get bad, you know?

Liberace said there's
no such thing as bad publicity.

Take it with a grain of salt.
Big deal. Who cares?

I've been called worse.

And now you're writing
a sequel.

I'm writing the sequel,
Beyond the Candelabra:

How I Survived
the Wonderland Murders.

And I would love for you
to do the screenplay.

Okay, we can talk
about that.

Yeah. [laughs]

♪♪

In more recent years,

you were in and out
of incarceration

all because of drugs.

I went to prison.

I spent six years
and seven months.

I'll never forget
what the D.A. called me.

He says,
"He's not a celebrity.

He's just a faggot boyfriend
of Liberace."

They hated the fact
because of all the publicity.

-The movie just came out.
-What was the charge?

The original charge
was credit card.

Credit card fraud?

Yeah, something very minor.
Very minor.

[Jackson] He was
in custody in Reno

for an array of
fraudulent checks

and forgeries
and identity theft.

When things would
go sideways for Scott,

I would get a call
from his defense attorney.

Little did I know
that that would be

a side point in my life--

Scott Thorson being
a side point in my life

for the next,
you know, 30 years.

You kind of became
the Thorson whisperer?

[chuckles] Yeah.

Rick Jackson, to this day,
30 years later--

I never thought I'd be a friend
of Rick Jackson. [laughs]

The one that arrested me.

But Rick
was very concerned.

He says, "Your problem
were the drugs."

All his problems arise
from addiction to drugs.

All of 'em.

But he's out of prison now.
What's motivating him now?

Do you think he feels any
remorse for anything he's done?

Is he looking
for redemption?

Being involved
in the drug trade,

you might not
see firsthand

that you're ruining
people's lives,

but there are gonna be
people that overdose.

There are gonna be people

that are separated
from their families

because of drug issues.

And so, Scott, who can be
pretty reflective at times,

probably knows that
there are people out there

whose lives he's ruined.

At this point
in your life,

are you looking for
some kind of redemption?

I understand your motivations
and how you were victimized,

but do you ever have
any remorse for people that

you were involved
in victimizing through drugs?

Absolutely I have regret.
I have regret.

I've done some things that
I'm not proud of, but I did it.

I had to do it
to stay alive.

And I apologize
to the people of Los Angeles

that I was involved
with such horrible people.

♪♪

[Connelly] With virtually
everyone involved

in the Wonderland case
now dead,

if the case
were to be reopened,

Scott Thorson could once
again emerge as a key witness.

The last man standing.

[Roberts] I could listen
to Scott Thorson all day,

but I still don't know
if I believe everything

that comes out of his...

I have listened to him all day
for a lot of years.

Yeah. I mean, he--
Rick told me stories about him

before I even knew
who he was.

-So, um, I don't know that...
-Yeah.

...you could base a case
off of what he's saying.

Not anymore.

He was so powerful
in that first case, obviously.

You know,
for not the one juror...

-Yeah.
-...that got bought off,

Nash and Diles
would have been convicted.

-Without a doubt.
-Yeah. I agree.

If you're admitting
that you bribed the juror

to find you not guilty,

in a way,
in a roundabout way,

I think that's confessing
to murder.

As a longtime
homicide detective,

does that get you, like,
"I got to look at this"?

Yeah, in this case,

I remember speaking to you
after the podcast,

and you mentioned

that there may still be
some outstanding suspects.

So, I decided to pull
the case at that point

and kind of look through it

to see what could
be done with it.

This is, uh, portions
of the actual murder book.

There's a lineup,
a large lineup.

A lot of history
just in those two binders.

This is all the players--

David Lind, Tracy McCourt.
Launius.

And there's Holmes.

Search warrants.

This is the guy the, uh,
the defense used

as the straw man--
Paul Kelly.

There are so many more
probative cases

that have a better chance
of success.

Even though we want
to get all of them,

you have to go for the ones
that look the most solvable.

It seems to happen
in these big cases

that were ingrained in--
in L.A. history,

Hollywood history,
that when they go unsolved,

they just become this mystery
that just lives on,

and people wanna solve it.

But I feel like,

for the most part,
this case is solved.

We know what happened there.

We might not know
all the players,

but we know why it happened.
We know who ordered it.

You know, at LAPD,
we never close --

we never close cases.

Short of somebody
walking in and saying,

you know,
"I know something."

-Yeah.
-Or the new Scott Thorson.

You never know.

Media, like, you know,
a documentary --

-Maybe after this, yeah.
-You know, people come forward.

So, when you starting?

Right now.
We're working on it.

[laughter]

♪♪

[Connelly]
It's been over four decades

since the massacre
on Wonderland Avenue,

yet the story, with its many
unexpected twists and turns,

still fascinates.

In many ways, it's a case
of justice unrequited.

♪♪

And at the center of it all

is a man who has lived many
lives and told many stories.

[Connelly]
What's the future look like

for Jess Marlow-
Scott Thorson?

Sobriety is my number one
priority right now.

I've calmed down.
I live a good life now.

I had a good life
with Liberace.

♪♪

I've dined with kings, queens,
presidents, inmates.

You know,
I'm getting old now.

[chuckles]
I'm going to be turning 65.

My legal name
is Jess Marlow,

and I'm gonna be
changed back to Scott Thorson.

I'm gonna take my birth name
and get rid of Jess Marlow.

That life's over.

Leave Jess Marlow
in the dust?

Leave him in the dust.
[laughs]

♪♪

Thanks.

Thank you, Mike.

Buddy.

[whispers] It's a wrap.

♪♪

♪♪