‘Repossessed’ Plus ‘Auction’ Plus ‘Beverly Hills’ Proves Powerful Lure : Home featured in ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ was seized by U.S. Most bargain hunters go away empty-handed.

Bargain hunters thronged Beverly Hills on Thursday as hundreds of people joined in a bidding frenzy for a palatial Beverly Hills mansion, racks of gem-encrusted jewelry and dozens of paintings seized by the federal government from an accused money launderer.

The multitude of goods, placed on the auction block by the U.S. Customs Service, drew about 1,000 people from all over the Southland to a packed Beverly Hilton Hotel ballroom.

In several hours of fast-paced bidding, homemakers vied with attorneys and brokers beat out psychologists--waving their bidder’s numbers and competing for the four-bedroom, two-story Walden Drive house and its opulent contents.

Adding to the attraction and Thursday’s crowds was the house’s colorful history as a film location, customs officials said. Portraying Detroit police Detective Axle Foley, actor Eddie Murphy conned his way into making the mansion his temporary residence in the action-packed film “Beverly Hills Cop II.”

The white colonial-style mansion had belonged to Japanese businessman Ken Mizuno, who was accused of operating one of the largest international money-laundering rings in U.S. history. Mizuno Co. officials admitted to having sold nonexistent memberships to a Japanese country club to the tune of $800 million, and funneling $250 million of that into buying the house and other items in the United States. The house and other property was seized by the Customs Service in 1992, to be auctioned off to raise money for the government and Mizuno’s creditors.

“People hear the words ‘government repossessed’ and ‘auction’ and it has a psychological effect, especially to a crowd looking for a bargain,” said Fatima Darwish, a Beverly Hills real estate agent who came to watch.

About 80 potential home buyers turned up armed with $50,000 cashiers checks, but only about a dozen joined in the bidding fray as the $1-million opening bid was quickly overridden. After about five minutes of furious bidding, the house was sold for $1.8 million to bidder number 831, an elderly woman who asked not to be identified and who would not comment on her purchase.

The same woman also bought most of the home’s furnishings for $110,000. Customs officials predict that the government will make well over $2 million from the auction from the sale of the jewelry and other items.

More than 2,000 people tramped through the house during the five-day auction preview, leaving dirty footprints on the white carpet and examining 500 sets of golf clubs, the Louis XV style furnishings, and lingering over such items as an 18-carat, diamond-studded Cartier necklace.

And almost all the browsers were looking to get a deal.

“We came to find bargains,” said Louis Campos, an actor from West Covina. Flanked by his wife Cindy and 3-year-old daughter Belladonna, the family took a pre-auction tour through the mansion, pausing in the master suite and huge marble bathroom with its multi-person shower and sunken tub.

Although the couple said they were impressed with the mansion, they had their eyes on a more humble item--a nine-piece patio set. “Maybe we can get that at a good price,” Campos said hopefully.

Campos ultimately left without his patio furniture, which the elderly woman bought with the other furniture. Bel-Air resident Sylvia Hakim bid for and won a pair of hand-colored steel plate engravings for $200.

Hakim said most of the buyers were paying too much.

“The woman who bought all those furnishings for $110,000 got a good deal though--there were three very nice Persian carpets included,” said Hakim.

She added: “That’s a pretty good deal if you can get a house and a lot of furniture for under $2 million.”