June 12, 2000 05:42pm
New Charges In Canyon Murders
Source: AP
(LOS ANGELES, CA) -- Former nightclub owner Eddie Nash, acquitted of four 1981 murders that put a spotlight on drugs and pornography in Hollywood, pleaded innocent Monday to federal charges that he orchestrated the killings.
Prosecutors said Nash, whose real name is Adel Gharib Nasrallah, has run a racketeering enterprise for 25 years and used murder and mayhem to protect his heroin and cocaine dealers.
Nash is accused of ordering the killing of two men and two women in Laurel Canyon in 1981 and of bribing the lone juror who voted against convicting him in 1990. He was acquitted of the killings in a second trial in 1991.
If convicted this time, Nash, 71, could be sentenced to life in prison. His attorneys say he is too ill with emphysema to stand trial again.
Nash attorney Bradley Brunon also accused the government of relying on the statements of unsavory people ``who have gotten themselves into trouble and are trying to get a lighter sentence.''
The government has identified five unindicted ``co-racketeers,'' including Nash's late bodyguard, Gregory DeWitt Diles, and the late porn star John Holmes. Diles and Holmes were also acquitted of murder charges.
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