The Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) was an investment-and-social club organized by Joseph Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt", in southern California in 1983. The club enticed with get-rich-quick schemes the sons of wealthy families from the Harvard School for Boys (now Harvard-Westlake School) in the Los Angeles area.
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The organization was run as a Ponzi scheme,[1][2][3][4][5] and money contributed by investors was spent on supporting lavish lifestyles for young members of the club. When funds ran short in 1984, Hunt and other club members turned to murder, and at least two people were killed as Hunt tried to raise more money.
When authorities began to investigate the murders, Dean Karny, the club's second-in-command and Hunt's best friend, turned state's evidence in return for immunity from prosecution. Hunt and club-security director Jim Pittman were charged with the murder of Ron Levin, a con artist who had allegedly swindled the BBC out of over $4 million. Hunt, Pittman, club member Arben Dosti, and Reza Eslaminia were charged with the murder of Hedayat Eslaminia, Reza's father, allegedly to acquire his fortune which was reputed to be $35 million.
In 1987, Hunt was found guilty of the 1984 murder of Ron Levin and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Pittman had two trials, and both ended in hung juries. He later pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were later convicted of murdering Hedayat Eslaminia and sentenced to life without parole. Hunt acted as his own attorney during his trial for the Eslaminia murder and contended that star witness Karny had killed Eslaminia. The result was a hung jury, 8-4, in favor of Hunt's acquittal. Joe Hunt is the only person in California's legal history to represent himself in a capital case and not receive the death penalty. The convictions of Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were later overturned. Hunt remains behind bars for the Levin murder but maintains his innocence.
Several witnesses testified that they saw Ron Levin in 1986 and 1987 in Greece, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles.[6] On the basis of the witnesses' statements, Hunt sought to have his murder conviction overturned and get a new trial. His appeal was denied on July 12, 1996[7]
In 1987, NBC aired a miniseries based on the story of the BBC, starring Judd Nelson as Joe Hunt, Brian McNamara as Dean Karny, and Ron Silver as Ron Levin. This movie inspired Lyle and Erik Menendez to murder their own parents for money a few years later. [8] Hunt was the basis for Philip Swann, a character in the Law & Order Season 4 episode "American Dream," which was subsequently adapted into the Law & Order: UK episode, "Unsafe". The Billionaire Boys Club is also the topic of two books: The Billionaire Boys Club by Sue Horton and The Price of Experience by Randall Sullivan. The murders are also the subject of the song "Things to Do Today" by Chicago band Big Black.
On July 17, 2002, TruTV aired an episode of "Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege and Justice" entitled "Billionaire Boys Club", which summarized the events surrounding the "club" and the kidnapping, murders, and trials.