Jesse James Hollywood

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Jesse James Hollywood Booking Photo
Jesse James Hollywood Booking Photo

Jesse James Hollywood (born January 28, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) was at times a very wealthy teen, drug dealer and fugitive. At the age of 20 he became one of the youngest people to appear on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

The illegal activity allowed him to acquire a small fortune with which he bought a $200,000 property in the San Fernando Valley area of Southern California and numerous exotic sports cars. He is currently awaiting trial in California. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

Contents

[edit] Murder

Benjamin Markowitz worked as a drug dealer for Hollywood and had accumulated a debt to Hollywood of around $1,200.[1] Markowitz also had threatened to reveal a $36,000 insurance scam involving Hollywood, who had sold a sports car for parts and then reported it stolen in an attempt to obtain insurance benefits.

On August 6, 2000, Hollywood and some friends planned to confront Benjamin Markowitz, but before reaching his house saw Benjamin's younger half-brother, Nicholas Markowitz, and decided to abduct him.[1] Nicholas was unaware of the danger and spent a couple of days socializing and partying with his captors. Hollywood consulted his family attorney and according to grand jury testimony the attorney told him that kidnapping for ransom had a penalty of life in prison. Hollywood then decided he couldn't release Nicholas.[2] On August 8, 2000, in the mountains north of Goleta, California, Nicholas was shot and killed and placed in a shallow grave by men working for Hollywood. Nicholas' body was discovered by hikers on August 12.[3] Hollywood eluded capture and left the United States, but the other people involved in the plot were captured and convicted.

[edit] Capture

Jesse James Hollywood was detained in Saquarerma, Brazil on Tuesday, March 8th, 2005, by the Brazilian Federal Police based on information from American authorities that Hollywood was going to meet his cousin at an outdoor mall.[4] According to the FBI, Hollywood, who was using false identification, was arrested by Brazilian authorities based on a violation of the Brazilian immigration policy and deported. Hollywood was turned over to the custody of Agents of the FBI and deputies with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and brought back to Los Angeles on the morning of March 10.[5] The police suspected Hollywood's father, Jack Hollywood, of funneling $1,200 each month to fund his son's expenses on the run.

[edit] Alpha Dog

Main article: Alpha Dog

In January 2007, the movie Alpha Dog, based on Jesse Hollywood and the kidnap and murder of Nicholas Markowitz, premiered at the Sundance Film festival. The film stars Emile Hirsch (as Hollywood, under the name Johnny Truelove), Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Ben Foster and Harry Dean Stanton. Universal Studios originally set a release date in May 2006, but the film was pushed back to and released on January 12, 2007.

During filming, Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ronald J. Zonen provided copies of virtually every document in his file and served as an unpaid consultant to the film, citing his desire to have Hollywood captured. Zonen prosecuted Hollywood’s co-defendants and was poised to prosecute Hollywood. This alleged conflict of interest led to the decision by the California Court of Appeal for the Second District, who ruled on October 5, 2006 that, based on Zonen's disclosure of the files—which included confidential information and service as consultant to the film—he should be recused from further involvement in prosecuting Hollywood.[6][7]

On December 20, 2006, the California Supreme Court granted review on Hollywood and a factually-unrelated case, Haraguchi v. Superior Court, involving the recusal of another prosecutor from Zonen's office, thus effectively staying the order to recuse Zonen. [1] It is unclear how long it will take for the California Supreme Court to decide whether Zonen or his colleague will remain on their respective cases.

NBC's Dateline and Fox Network's America's Most Wanted have been covering this story extensively.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rowlands, Ted. "'Hollywood' faces murder charge", CNN, April 19, 2006. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.
  2. ^ 'Hollywood' faces murder charge. CNN, Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Accessed on 2/8/2007.
  3. ^ http://losangeles.fbi.gov/pressrel/2005/la031005.htm
  4. ^ Marquez, Jereiah. "Longtime fugitive Jesse James Hollywood captured in Brazil", San Francisco Gate, March 11, 2005. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.
  5. ^ http://losangeles.fbi.gov/pressrel/2005/la031005.htm
  6. ^ "Deputy DA removed from Jesse James Hollywood murder case", USA Today, October 5, 2006. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.
  7. ^ "Jesse James Hollywood v Superior Court of Santa Barbara County", California Court of Appeal, October 5, 2006. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.
  8. ^ Uehlinger, Tim. "The long hunt for Jesse James Hollywood", NBC Dateline, April 12, 2006. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.

[edit] External links

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