Accused Racketeer Nash May Be Freed on Bail

Federal prosecutors Thursday lost what may be their last chance to keep accused racketeer Eddie Nash from being freed on a $1.5-million cash bond.

U.S. District Judge Carlos R. Moreno refused to reconsider the decision he announced Monday to release Nash after six months in solitary confinement.

Moreno also turned down a prosecution bid to hike Nash’s bail to $10 million.

Barring a last-minute hitch, the former Hollywood strip joint operator is expected to be freed early next week.

Nash, 71, was arrested last May on federal racketeering charges accusing him of an assortment of crimes, including ordering the brutal murders of four people in a Laurel Canyon drug den in 1981.

Investigators theorize that the killings were reprisals for a home invasion robbery at Nash’s residence several days earlier in which the intruders escaped with more than $1 million in drugs and jewelry.

Nash, whose true name is Adel Nasrallah, was tried twice in state court. A jury deadlocked 11-1 for conviction in the first trial. Prosecutors now say the holdout juror was bribed. Nash was acquitted in the second trial.

Moreno’s original order declaring Nash eligible for release is scheduled to take effect Monday. Prosecutors had asked for the delay so they could consider challenging Moreno’s decision before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Saunders conceded in court Thursday that such an appeal is unlikely to succeed. To prevail, prosecutors must prove that Moreno abused his judicial discretion. Instead, Saunders asked Moreno to reconsider his ruling.

“A very serious and very dangerous mistake is being made here,” the prosecutor told Moreno. He warned that “lives are potentially at stake.”

The prosecution said many of its witnesses fear retribution by Nash if he is freed from custody. It said one witness was warned by a stranger not to testify against Nash.

An independent assessment by a federal pretrial services officer also recommended that Nash be denied bail. But Moreno said the stringent terms established for Nash’s release are more than adequate to address the prosecution’s concerns.

Under the judge’s ruling, Nash will be confined to his San Fernando Valley home and must wear an electronic monitoring device at all times.

The FBI will be able to search his house at random, eavesdrop on his telephone conversations and examine his mail, except for any correspondence with his lawyers.

Nash, who lists his net worth at $35 million, will also foot the bill for the posting of a private security guard outside his home 24 hours a day. The government will select a security firm to provide the service, which is likely to cost Nash $36,000 a month.

Visitations will be limited to family members, his lawyers and physicians. Nash suffers from emphysema and coronary artery disease.

Donald Re, one of his defense lawyers, told Moreno that Nash’s medical condition has worsened since he has been confined at the federal detention facility in downtown Los Angeles.

Nash’s lawyers said they will have no trouble coming up with the $1.5-million cash bond.

The only possible wrinkle is a prosecution demand--to which Moreno acceded Thursday--that Nash prove the $1.5 million was obtained legally.

“That’s not going to be a problem,” Re said afterward. Nash is said to own considerable property in Hollywood and elsewhere.

If the government disputes Nash’s claim, it can ask the judge to keep him behind bars, pending an evidentiary hearing.

A trial date for the 16-count racketeering case has not been set.