Eddie Nash, born Adel Nasrallah in Palestine, arrived in Los Angeles in the 1950s and quickly grew from selling hot dogs on Hollywood Boulevard to owning several businesses, including restaurants, strip bars and clubs, according to Rolling Stone. Police alleged he was also a major drug trafficker, among other nefarious activities like pimping, arson and fencing stolen property. A 1974 LAPD report called it “Hood of the Month”, according to LA Weekly.
Prosecutors believe Nash ordered the murder of residents of the Wonderland Avenue home in retaliation for robbing it at gunpoint of more than $1,000,000 in cash, drugs and jewelry days earlier at his mansion, according to the Northern Nevada Business Weekly. John Holmes – in connection with one of the flat’s residents, a drug dealer named Ronald Launius – had helped plan the armed robbery of Nash, Holmes’ friend and drug dealer, although he did not participate in the actual crime, according to Crime Library.