The Billionaire Boys Club was the popular nickname for BBC, an investment and social club organized by Joseph Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt", in southern California in 1983. The club recruited the sons of wealthy families from the Harvard School for Boys (now Harvard-Westlake School) in the Los Angeles area with the promise of quick success in business life. Harvard-Westlake School is an independent Co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California
The organization was run initially as a Ponzi scheme, and money contributed by investors was spent on supporting lavish lifestyles for young members of the club. A Ponzi scheme is a Fraudulent Investment operation that involves promising or paying abnormally high returns (" Profits quot to investors out of the 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. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries
When authorities began investigating 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 murdering Ron Levin, a con artist who had allegedly swindled the BBC out of over $4 million. A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, scam, scheme Hunt, Pittman, club member Arben Dosti, and Reza Eslaminia were charged with murdering 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 himself killed Eslaminia. The result was a hung jury, 8-4 in favor of Hunt's acquittal. A hung jury is a Jury that cannot agree upon a Verdict after an extended period of Deliberation and is deadlocked with irreconcilable differences of Joe Hunt is the only person in California legal history to represent himself in a capital case and not receive the death penalty. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. The convictions of Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were later overturned. Hunt remains behind bars for the Levin murder and maintains his innocence.
In 1987 NBC aired a miniseries based on the story of the Billionaire Boys Club, starring Judd Nelson as Joe Hunt, Brian McNamara as Dean Karny, and Ron Silver as Ron Levin. A miniseries (also mini-series) in a serial Storytelling medium is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes Judd Asher Nelson (born November 28 1959 is an American Actor. Brian McNamara (born November 21 1960) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Dean Karny in the TV Movie "Billionaire Boys Ronald Silver (born July 2 1946) is an American Actor, director, and producer. This movie inspired Lyle and Erik Menendez to murder their own parents for money a few years later. Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10 1968 and brother Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27 1971 were convicted in a highly publicized trial for the shotgun murders in 1989
Hunt was the basis for Philip Swann, the defendant in the Law & Order Season 4 episode "American Dream. Law & Order is an American Police procedural and Legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf. " 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. Big Black was a Noise rock band founded in Chicago Illinois, United States that was active between 1982 and 1987.
References
- Horton, Sue. The Billionaire Boys Club. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1990.
- Sullivan, Randall. The Price of Experience: Money, Power, Image, and Murder in Los Angeles. New York: Atlantic Montly Press, 1996.
External links
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