The Billionaire Boy's Club: Winner Take All

In 1980, in Los Angels, California, a group of men in their 20's, led by a con man named Joseph Henry Gamsky, set out on a get rich quick scheme that turned deadly.

Joe Hunt was born Joseph Henry Gamsky. He was a charismatic and very ambitious guy. He was raised in a family with not a lot of money, and he went to one of the most affluent private schools in Los Angels. He was a very bright kid and a very good student. He got into Harvard School For Boys through a scholarship. He was said to be a sore loser as a debating star for the school in the 1970's. 

Joe changed his last name to Hunt because he wanted people to think he was related to the Hunt brothers, the most notorious billionaires in the country at the time. Joe spent a little time at USC and then went of to Chicago to try and make it as a commodities trader. He did poorly at his job and got suspended from trading.

He then met up with a former classmate, Dean Karny, and other affluent friends from Harvard. His friends got their parents and the friends of their parents to invest in Joe's visionary plan for a new kind of company--an organization that would combine business and pleasure, run by men who shared ideas, profits and even living quarters. 

It would be governed by something Joe called “paradox philosophy,” in which good and evil are interchangeable realities depending on the circumstances and one’s perspective, and people are classified as either “shadings” or “normies.”

The resulting company took its initials from the Bombay Bicycle Club in Chicago, a bar frequented by Joe and his friends, but its members jokingly referred to it as the Billionaire Boys Club. Over time, about 30 young men joined the group.

The business operated in the offices on 3rd Street in West Hollywood. The business was struggling and had spent hundreds of thousands of investor money without showing any returns. This is when Joe thought that maybe Ron Levin could help him.

Ron Levin was brillant. You could ask him about anything. He seemed to know everything and have unlimited wealth. He had a lot of nervous energy. He talked and worked fast. Levin was a scrupulous conman with a great sense of humor. He managed to scam camera and editing equipment from Panasonic, Thomson CSF, and even a remote news van from ENG Corporation claiming that he was producing a movie about “stringers.” He also had done time for mail fraud.

Eventually Levin decided to invest $5 million in a trading company and Joe was to be the manager of that money. He told Joe that he could invest the money however he saw fit and that Levin would split the profits with Joe. In a few months Joe made a $9 million profit or so he thought. You see, it turns out that Levin had went to the trading company and told them that he was making a film about commodities trading. Levin then told them that "Joe Hunt, he is going to trade this account that we're going to say has $5 million in it, and Joe can't know that there's really not $5 million in there." Levin told the company that if Joe knew that the money wasn't real, he wouldn't be as motivated. The company went along with Levin. 

After the fake money made that $9 million profit, Levin told Joe to stop trading because he wanted to liquidate it. Joe kept bugging Levin for his share of the profits. Then one day Joe happened to go into the trading company. One of the traders went up to him and asked, "So when did you know that the money was not real?"

When confronted by Joe about the fake money, Levin told him that he took the fake profit statement to another broker and used it as leverage to secure a $1 million line of credit, which he promised to share with Joe.

Then, on June 7th, 1984, at 6:45 a.m., Levin's friends 19 year old Dean Factor, great grandson of cosmetics icon Max Factor, along with mutual friend Michael Brodeur, went to Levin's Beverley Hills Duplex to catch a flight for a weekend of partying.When Factor and Brodeur knocked, there was no answer at the door. That is when they noticed that the burglar alarm, that Levin always had set before he went to bed, was disabled. More of Levin's friends, Mark Geller and his wife, showed up to Levin's house soon after. Factor was sitting on the steps. They called the housekeeper and at 7:15 a.m., she let everyone inside. Levin wasn't there, but all of his clothes, except for his grey jogging suit and his grey robe. The black bag he always took with him on trips was still there as well. However, his big white comforter that he always had on his bed and the one that his housekeeper had put on his bed the night before was missing and in it's place was a blanket reserved for guests. The remote to his TV was also missing. In the kitchen there was two unfinished salads.

Levin's father was frantic. Now way would Levin leave without telling him or contacting him in some way. Levin was very close to his mother as well and the two would talk to each other everyday. She hadn't heard from Levin either.

At 9 a.m., Levin's mother called the police to report him missing, but they told her she had to wait two days before he can be reported missing. 

At 11 p.m., a man checked into the Plaza Hotel in New York City under the name "Ron Levin." By the morning of June 9th, that man ran out of hotel credit and the hotel staff  tried to contact him to no avail. The hotel staff then went to the room and inside they found a metallic attache case, but no Levin. They then put a double lock was put on the room that he was staying in so he would have to come to the front desk if he wanted to get inside. By that evening, the hotel security supervisor went up the back staircase just as a unknown man was coming down carrying a Metallic attache case. The supervisor identified himself and asked the man what he was doing on the staircase. The man told him that the elevators were out of order. The supervisor then asked the man if he was staying at the hotel. The man told him yes, but that he couldn't stop because he had a limo waiting. The supervisor radioed for back up and the man was surrounded by hotel staff. The man then dropped the case and stood in a karate stance and yelled. The guy then said, "OK, i don't want any trouble." He then agreed to go with them to talk to the manager. As he was walking with the staff, the guy ran through the revolving glass door with the staff chasing him. In the process the glass door was broken. The manager was outside the hotel and asked Levin how he got the case out of the room. Levin said that he kicked the door down. 

The manager then called the police and had Levin arrested. Some time later the the hotel attorney called the manager and told him that that man wasn't Levin after all, his name was James Pittman. The New York police thought that Pittman was Levin as well.

On the morning of June 12th, lawyer Robert Ferraro was standing outside criminal court when he was approached by a tall young man claiming that his friend was incarcerated and a agent for Michael Jackson. The man then payed Ferraro to bail out Pittman. It turned out that that man was Joe Hunt and that Pittman was the BBC's bodyguard.

On June 22nd, a missing person's report was filed for Levin. The next day, Detective Les Zoeller called Levin's parents who said that they would contact Levin's lawyer to get permission for the police to search his house. Levin's lawyer said no, so nothing really happened with Levin's case for awhile. 

Not until an attorney for Tom and Dave May contacted Zoeller two months after Levin disappeared saying that they had information about his disappearance.

Tom and Dave where two of the initial investors of the BBC and their father was a department store heir. They were beginning to fear what Joe.

Zoeller and his partner when over to the attorney's office and sat down with the May brothers. They told Zoeller that they had a meeting at the Wilshire Manning in Los Angeles that was called by Joe. At the meeting Joe allegedly told the brothers that with Pitman's help "knocked off" Levin. Joe had known that Levin had a trip planned for June 7th and so he wanted to do "it" the night before. Joe said that he had went over to Levin's house at 9 p.m. on June 6th and ate a salad with him. A half an hour later or so, there was a knock on Levin's door. When Levin opened the door, Pittman was on the other side. Joe told Levin that Pittman was ok, he was his friend, so Levin let Pittman in. Pittman came in and pretended to be an enforcer for the Mafia wanting money from Joe. Joe then pointed the finger at Levin saying that he owed him money and that is why he couldn't pay. Pittman then allegedly pointed a gun at Levin and had him sign papers, including a check for $1.5 million. Then Pittman and Joe allegedly made Levin lay on his bed face down while Pittman held a gun to Levin. Joe then allegedly gave Pittman the go a head to kill Levin, so Pittman pulled the trigger and shot Levin in the head. Joe and Pittman then wrapped Levin's body in his comforter, took him out the back door and put him in the trunk of a BMW they had parked outside. They then took his body up to Soledad Canyon and shot the body up with shotgun shells in attempts to make him unidentifiable. It had allegedly had amused Joe at his recollection of the sight of Levin's brain popping out of his head and onto his chest. Joe said that they then buried him "way up on the top."

Zoeller contacted Levin's father, who this time was able to get Levin's attorney the permission to search his missing son's place. Levin's father assisted in the search, who found a handwritten, seven page "to do list." 

In the margin of one of the pages had Joe Hunt's signature.

It turns out that on June 8th, Joe deposited the the $1 million check that he and Pitman allegedly forced Levin to sign. The check bounced because there was only $40 in Levin's account.

On July 7th, BBC member, Ben Dosti brought his friend, Reza Eslaminia to a BBC party. Reza bragged to Joe about his father's $30 million fortune from being a high ranking official under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammed Riza Pahlevi.

Hedayat Eslaminia had been living in exile in the San Francisco Bay area, since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme leader of Iran. Mr. Eslaminia was allegedly working from the United States to overthrow Khomeini and often flew to Washington D.C.  at the expense of the state department. 

Reza hated his father and wanted money that he was allegedly hiding from him. He wanted the BBC's help to get it. Allegedly, Joe, Dosti, Dean Kearny, Reza and Jim Pittman  came up with a plan to kidnap Mr. Eslaminia and torture him into signing over his assets and then kill him.

On July 30th,1984, Joe and Dosti dressed up as UPS men and lugged a big blue trunk up to the front door of Mr. Eslaminia's condominium. When Mr. Eslaminia in, they jumped him. Joe chloroformed Mr. Eslaminia and then with Pittman's help, put him in the trunk and carried it back out to the truck that Kearny was driving. Reza was in a Mercedes across the street watching everything unfold.

As Joe, Dosti and Kearny were traveling, Mr. Eslaminia woke up and was freaking out and screaming. After a while he went quiet. This when the group realized that Mr Eslaminia was probably suffocating to death, so Kearny poked holes in the trunk with a screw driver. Mr. Eslaminia woke up and began screaming again. Kearny was afraid that people would hear the cries for help so he put tape over the air holes. By the time the group got to the Bel-Air house where they were going to torture Mr, Eslaminia, he had already been dead a while. They then drove up Soledad Canyon to dump the body.

The death of Mr. Eslaminia didn't detour Joe, and he decided to try to get a conservatorship for Reza so he could get the money that way.

A conservatorship is where guardian or a protector is appointed by a judge to manage the financial affairs and/or daily life of another due to physical or mental limitations, or old age. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Eslaminia reported him as missing. When Reza went to talk to the girlfriend, during the conversation he said, "I know my father loved you."  She replied, "Loved?" Then she asked Reza if Mr. Eslaminia was dead. This is when she became suspicious of Reza. Before she was thinking that maybe it was Khomeini that had kidnapped him. The girlfriend then told her encounter with Reza to the police who told the FBI. The FBI still thought that it was probably Khomeini behind Mr. Eslaminia's disappearance, but they started looking into Reza and the BBC to cover all their bases. Then Pittman told the BBC lawyer that, "We knocked off Eslaminia." After hearing this, the lawyer called the FBI.

Ultimately Reza was denied conservativeship, which wouldn't have mattered any way because Mr. Eslaminia's fortune didn't exist. He lost everything when he was exiled 5 years earlier.

On September 28th, 1984, Joe Hunt, Jim Pittman and Dean Kearny for conspiracy, robbery and first degree murder of Ron Levin and for conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of Mr. Eslaminia. Later, Ben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were also arrested and charged for conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of Mr. Eslaminia. Kearny ended up striking a deal. He was given full immunity in exchange for his testimony, and entered the Witness Protection Program. One of the things that Kearny did was show the authorities where he had help dump Mr. Eslaminia's body. And in November of 1984 his skeletal remains were found and identified. Kearny also told them that when they were dumping Mr. Eslaminia's body Joe made a comment about being where he and Pittman had dumped Levin's body.

On February 3rd, 1987, Joe stood trial for Levin's murder and the members of the BBC testified against him. Joe's defense attorney claimed that there was no proof that Levin was dead, especially without a body, And that it was a "last hoax" by Levin to frame Joe for his murder. Carmen Canchola and Jesus Lopez, who testified that they saw Levin after his alleged murder, in September, 1986 at a gas station in Tucson, Arizona. Canchola and Lopez identified pictures of Levin from multiple photographic lineups as the same man they had seen at the gas station. This didn't sway the jury and Joe was found guilty of Levin's murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Pittman was also tried for Levin's murder. He couldn't make bail, so he was stuck in jail throughout his trial, which resulted in a hung jury. In October of 1987 he was retried and that ended in a hung jury again, but both Pittman was close to being acquitted both times. In 1988, before a third trial, prosecutors offered Pittman a deal, whereby he pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact and possession of a concealed weapon, and was sentenced to time served, being the 3 1/2 years he was incarcerated since his 1984 arrest.

In the trial for the murder of Hedayat Eslaminia, Joe decided to represent himself. His trial began on April 14th, 1992. He was almost acquitted, but the jury was deadlocked. The prosecution decided to dismiss the charges against Joe. He did such a great job, that the charges against Pittman were dropped also. However, Ben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were both convicted of kidnapping and murder of Hedayat Eslaminia and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After serving ten years, their convictions were overturned when it was discovered that the jury accidentally heard a prejudicial tape recording that had never been admitted into evidence. They could not be retried, because key witness Dean Kearny was still in the witness protection program and didn't want to reveal his new identity. Kearny is allegedly an attorney now.

On May 20th, 1993, a married and free Jim Pittman gave a television interview he bragged about what he had done to Levin. He confessed that one Joe's orders he shot Levin in the back of the head and help bury him up Soledad Cayon. He said that Joe wanted Levin dead because he had made him look foolish to the BBC. Pittman tried to help the police find Levin's body but they searched to no avail.

In 1997, Pittman died of kidney failure in Los Angeles.

#WinnerTakesAll

Snitches Get Stitches: The Murder Of Jam Master Jay: UPDATED ON 8/17/2020 Arrests Made!

UPDATE:Ronald “Tinard” Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. were charged with murdering Jam Mastery Jay during a drug deal at the studio that ended with the turntable wizard being shot at point-blank range. 

Court papers said Washington and Jordan were involved in “a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine,” and “did knowingly and intentionally kill” Jay.

Washington was convicted in 2007 in a string of armed robberies in New York City and on Long Island and is currently serving a more than 17-year prison sentence. He was due to be released in April 2021.

Jordan is charged with being the trigger man and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court Monday afternoon. Washington is set to be arraigned later in the week.

"Back in the day, if someone said that hip hop and rap was a fad, that was a joke to me because they just didn't know what they were talking about."-Jason Mizell

He was the kind of guy that would help friends and strangers alike if they were in need. He single-handedly helped to commercialize rap music.

Jam Master Jay was born as Jason William Mizell on January 21st, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York to  Jesse Mizell and a school teacher named Connie Thompson Mizell. He was the youngest of three siblings. He  always loved music and would often make music out of ordinary objects. At age 3, Jason began playing trumpet. He learned to play bass, guitar, and drums. He performed at his church and in various bands. After he and his family moved to Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1975 at the age of 10, he discovered the turntables.

Hollis was a lower middle class neighborhood. People had moved there from the hoods to seek a better life. All the kids that hung out on Hollis Avenue were called the "Hollis Crew". Jason, Randy Allen and Darren Jordan aka "Big D", who lived across the street from Jason and DJ Hurricane, were some members of the Hollis Crew. The Hollis Crew protected the neighborhood from outsiders who would come around and try to cause trouble. Jason was the peacekeeper of the neighborhood and people always felt safe when he was around.

At 13 years old Jason felt like he was good enough to play in front of people. He attended Andrew Jackson High School and started calling himself Jazzy Jase. Jason started playing in parks, local parties and bars. He became a DJ because he just wanted to be a part of the band. He played bass and drums in several garage bands. In 1982, he joined Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels just after they graduated from high school and agreed to DJ for them. Run And D.M.C. also adopted Jason's wardrobe.

Around 1984 Howard "Happy" Mason and Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nicolas formed and ran a drug smuggling gang called the Bebos.  They began selling drugs in Hollis and netted as much as $200,000 per month in profit.

On Run-D.M.C's album Raising Hell, they covered rock band Aerosmith's song  "Walk this way." Jason also played keyboards, bass, and live drums in addition to his turntable work. After the release of this album, Run-D.M.C was rocketed to superstardom.

Jason made a lot of money and he would share his wealth. He wanted everyone to do well and would help those out that he could. During Christmas time he'd give out gifts in his neighborhood. That is what Run-DMC's song "Christmas at Hollis" is about. 

The Hollis Crew would would travel with Jason and Run-DMC and work for them as security. Jason tremendously helped Randy Allen and Big D and their families.

In 1989, the popularity of Run-D.M.C. started to fade and Jason established Jam Master Jay Records. The label is most known for signing 50 Cent and Onyx. During this time, gangster rap was introduced to the music scene and the world as Jason knew it became more violent. On consecutive Christmas holidays, he survived a car accident and a gunshot wound to the leg, respectively.He also had been receiving threatening, anonymous phone calls. Jason started carrying a gun for protection.

On October 30th, 2002, Bonita, had a funny feeling as the cold rain poured down. 

Bonita's brother, Jason, was in his recording studio five minutes from where he grew up. It was about 7:30 p.m. and Jason's group "Rusty Waters" was in the studio with him preparing to go on tour. Rusty Waters consisted of Jason's nephew Rodney Jones and Randy Allen. 

Rodney Jones wasn't there at the time, but Mike B., Urieco Rincon and an aspiring female artist were in the studio. Mike B. was a rapper and Rincon was a car sitter. There was a buzz at the door. Receptionist and Randy Allen's sister, Lydia Hyde, let two people in brandishing guns as Jason and Rincon were playing video games. Hyde ran for the door as the first gunman entered, but was stopped by the second gunman and told to get on her hands and knees on the floor. Jason couldn't reach for his gun fast enough and was shot once in the head, execution style, and killed. Rincon, was sitting right next to Jason and claims he was reaching for his phone and was shot in the ankle but survived.

As Rodney came out of the barber shop that was close by, Mike B. ran up to him and told him that there was shooting in the studio. When Rodney got inside the studio, Hyde was on the floor screaming and Jason was also on the floor with his feet to the door. He wasn't moving so Rodney nudged him with his foot, trying to wake him up. Rodney then turned around and went back out of the studio and down the stairs. That is when the police showed up.

There had been surveillance cameras in the studio at the time of the shooting, but someone had stolen the tape. There was also a police station right across the street..

Jason's business partner, Randy Allen was a suspect. Allegedly on that fateful day, Allen saw what happened, ran out and may have fired his gun at the fleeing perpetrators. It turned out that Allen had a big life insurance policy out on Jason. Allegedly, Jason had previously told a friend that Allen was stealing money from him. Allen denied having anything to do with Jason's murder or stealing money from him.

Curtis Scoon was another person that was looked into. Allegedly, Scoon and Jason had beef with each other over a drug deal gone bad. Many people think that this is ridiculous because Jason never sold drugs. But, investigating this hypothesis, authorities found out that Jason was terribly in debt. He had been trying to take care of so many people for so long. And that he in fact tried to purchase some cocaine, but the deal went bad. Some say that Scoon did blame him for losing a whole lot of money. Allegedly, Randy Allen had told some people that Scoon was the one who killed Jason and that his is the one who told him that it was Scoon who pulled the trigger.

Executive at Def Jam Records,"Big D." Jordan and his son knew Jason from the neighborhood and became suspects in his murder. Jason introduced Big D's son to the rap game, by using his connections at Rush Management to get a job in the office.  There was a theory that Jason owed a debt that he couldn't pay and that is why he was killed. Big D and his son deny any involvement with Jason's murder. Big D also said that, "Everybody in the studio that day is a culprit and should be arrested or buried."

In 2003, Kenneth McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of Murder Inc. founders Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo and his older brother Christopher, were investigated for targeting Jason because the DJ defied an industry blacklist of rapper 50 Cent that was imposed because of "Ghetto Qu'ran", a song 50 Cent wrote about McGriff's drug history. 50 Cent was seen as a snitch. 50 Cent had also been picking on Ja Rule who was a "henchman" for Murder Inc.

In April 2007, federal prosecutors named Ronald Washington as an accomplice in Jason's murder. According to court papers filed by the prosecution, Washington "pointed his gun at those present in the studio, ordered them to get on the ground and provided cover for his associate to shoot and kill Jason Mizell."

Washington was a guy from the neighborhood and was allegedly staying with Jason's mother back in October of 2002. He claimed that on the night of Jason's murder, Jason had given Washington his gun and $200 and told him to go buy some bullets. Washington said that Jason was scared and wanted protection. Washington also claimed that he saw Big D and his son run into Jason's studio around the time of the murder. Washington had been a suspect from the beginning and police originally thought that he was a possible lookout. He also is a suspect in the 1995 murder of Randy "Stretch" Walker, a former close associate of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. 

Jason's case is still open and unsolved.

The Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan was founded in 2002, the year of his death. The academy was created to "provide unparalleled education and access to the art form of the DJ and producer."

Jason was the father of three sons: Jason Mizell Jr., Jesse Mizell, and T.J. Mizell who are all DJ's. He also had a daughter, Tyra Myricks. 

#SnitchesGetStitches

Was Rebecca Zahau Murdered At Spreckles Mansion?

32-year-old Rebecca Mawii Zahau lived at the Spreckles Mansion. 

The mansion had a beautiful view of the beach and fresh sea air. It is located on the sleepy Coronodo Island in the San Diego County of California. 

Rebecca shared the mansion with her boyfriend, pharmaceutical multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai.

On July 13th, 2011, Rebecca was found hanging from a balcony overlooking the courtyard. She was nude, her wrists and ankles were bound, her mouth gagged with a shirt.

In the bedroom, a cryptic message was scrawled in black paint: "She saved him, can you save her?"

Rebecca's name means spring time beauty. 

She was kind and had warm personality that would just light up a room. She could make you laugh even on your worst day. And she would take the clothes off her back if she thought you needed it. Rebecca would be there if you needed her. She was funny, upbeat and very intelligent. She spoke English, Nepali, and Hindi. She loved to work and had an amazing worth ethic. 

Rebecca was committed to her family, and helped provide for her parents financially on a regular basis. It was important to her that her parents were able to live comfortable. She didn't want them to be worried about their meal for the next day. 

She also hated the cold and was quite disciplined when it came to eating healthy. Rebecca didn't drink alcohol, didn't smoke, never did drugs and never ate fast food. 

Rebecca was athletic and could run like a gazelle. She ran the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon without even training for it. 

Her religion was also important to her, but she stopped going to church because Jonah didn’t go. Her family was raised Christian and that’s how Rebecca identified as an adult. Before her death she was thinking about finding a new place to worship.

Rebecca wanted to be an ophthalmology technician because she enjoyed correcting visions and the end result.

Rebecca was born March 15th, 1979 in Falam, Chin State, a town in the Chin Hills in northwestern Burma, to her father Khua Hnin Thang and mother Zung Tin Par. Her grandfather was chief of the Zahau tribe. Both her grandfather and her father, now known as Robert Zahau, were freedom fighters, opposed to the military regime's systematic ethnic cleansing through forced labor, forced migration, rape, and religious persecution. Her father was a political prisoner and absent for six years.

Rebecca's parents wanted to give their kids a better future, so when she was three years old the family moved to Katmandu, Nepal.  Their father was granted political asylum in Germany, and the family moved to a town about two hours from Frankfurt. Rebecca graduated from high school in Germany and attended Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe, in Millstatt, Austria. There, she met Neil Nalepa, an American from New York. Their engagement enabled her to immigrate to the U.S., and they were married in Nalepa's uncle's garden on Long Island.

Rebecca trained for and became a licensed eye technician, able to assist in cataract and Lasik surgery. The couple moved briefly to Colorado Springs. Around 2007, after a stop in Temecula, Calif., near San Diego, where Nalepa was working as a carpenter, they settled in Phoenix, where he went to nursing school. But the marriage started to fall apart and they separated.

In early 2009, Rebecca left a local Macy's with $1,000 worth of jewelry in several different shopping bags. She claimed that she had been distracted by a shocking phone call. She got off with a slap on the wrist, paying nearly $500 in court costs and attending a shoplifting-diversion course. 

Rebecca then began dating Jonah Shacknai. They met at the eye clinic where she worked when he went in for an eye checkup.

Jonah was born in 1957. He earned his BS from Colgate University and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center. From 1977 until the end of 1982 John worked as the Chief Aide to the committee on health policy in the US House of Representatives. He also served on the Commission on the Federal Drug Approval Process and the National Council on Drugs.

Jonah served on two federal cabinet-appointed positions; he was a member of the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Advisory Council and on the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission.

He was a senior partner at the law firm Royer, Jonah and Mehle from 1982 until 1988. The firm represented multinational pharmaceutical companies, medical device makers and four major industry trade associations.

Jonah founded Medicis Pharmaceuticals in 1988 which is known for its acne products and cosmetic injectables. His position at Medicis made him the ninth-highest-paid CEO in Arizona, earning $6.4 million in 2010. 

He had two previous marriages. His first marriage to Kimberly James resulted in a divorce and a three-year custody fight over the couple's two children. 

He had a son, Maxfield Aaron "Max" Shacknai.

Max born on June 7th, 2005 to psychologist, Dina Romano in Paradise Valley, Maricopa County, Arizona. He was born with a smile on his face. His Hebrew name is "Mattan", the gift. Max was loving kind and had a vibrant spirit. He was a very unique little boy.

In 2007 Dina, Jonah and Max moved into the 10 bedroom Spreckles mansion that they had purchased for close to $13,000.

Jonah and Dina's relationship had been a turbulent one. There was at least three visits to the Shacknai home for domestic disputes: Dina claimed Jonah's German shepherd had attacked her repeatedly and that Jonah had elbowed her in the breast; Jonah claimed he'd been assaulted several times by Dina and that she had once tried to choke him.

Jonah told his friends that he was dating an Asian princess and that his relationship with Rebecca was the most tranquil he had ever known.

Rebecca quit her job an ophthalmic technician in December 2010. She put her life on hold to move to Coronado to be with Jonah and be a part of his life.

Jonah’s two teenage kids resented Rebecca, and it got to the point that Rebecca was considering ending their relationship or putting it on hold.

Even though two of Jonah's kids didn't seem to like Rebecca, Max loved her. The two were very close. Rebecca was often responsible for Max's care. She also often took him to and from soccer practice. He wanted her to read books, he wanted her to be the one that fixed his breakfast or his lunch. She actually took the time to play with him.

By early 2011, Rebecca had lost weight, seemed stressed, was not sleeping well and was not exercising. She expressed her concerns about her relationship with Jonah to a friend.

This brings us to July 11th, 2011. Max along with his father, sister Gabby and another sibling, stayed at the Speckles mansion for the summer. Rebecca, Max, and Rebecca's teenage sister were all home together. 

At some point during that day, Max fell face-first over a second-floor banister, suffering injuries to his spinal cord and facial bones, the former of which affected his heart rate and breathing. Rebecca said she was in the bathroom at the time; she found Max moments later, and Xena called 9-1-1. You can hear Rebecca frantically sobbing and talking in the background.

911: "911 Emergency. What are you reporting."
Xena: "Hello? My sister is trying to... resuscitate him." 
911: "Resuscitate who?"
Xena: "He fell down the stairs."
911: "He fell down the stairs?"

When police arrived, they found Max laying on the floor with  pieces of the chandelier around him and his scooter resting on his right shin. The chandelier was to his right shoulder and a soccer ball was to the far right corner. Rebecca was on her hands and knees hysterically crying Max's name over and over. Max was not breathing and unresponsive. Jonah arrived home and asked to go with Max as they loaded him into the ambulance. Max was taken to Rady Children's Hospital and put in a medically induced coma.

On July 12th, 2011, Rebecca dropped off Xena at the airport for her flight back to Missouri, and then picked up Jonah's brother, Adam, who had just arrived on a flight from Memphis, Tennessee.  Rebecca, Jonah, and Adam ate dinner with a friend named Howard that evening; Rebecca and Adam returned to the Spreckels Mansion, while Jonah reportedly kept a vigil at Max's bedside with his mother Dina Romano; he would leave the hospital to recuperate at a nearby Ronald McDonald House. There were reports of loud music coming from the Spreckels Mansion later that night.

Rebecca's sister Mary, who was in Missouri, talked to Rebecca on the phone at 9:50 p.m. Rebecca was upset and anxious because they were waiting for results of Max's CT scan the next day. Mary claimed that Rebecca didn't seem out of control and was going about her normal routine. She had two detailed plans for the next day: to take things for Jonah to the hospital, where he was tending to Max, to fix something for him to eat. She told her sister to tell their mom that she would call her on her way to the hospital in the morning. Rebecca also told her sister that she  was going to text her throughout the day. She even talked about where the family would do Thanksgiving that year.

Three hours later, on July 13th, at 12:50 a.m., Rebecca retrieved a voicemail message. Jonah said that he is the one that left the voicemail, informing her that Max's condition was worsening and that he wasn't likely to recover. Dina claimed that they had no bad news about Max's condition then.

Sometime around 6:45 a.m., Adam made a call to 9-1-1 that went something like this...

911: "911 emergency what are you reporting?"
Adam: "Ya...uh...i got a girl..hung herself...in the guest house...of uh...it's on Ocean Boulevard across from the hotel. Same place you cam and got the kid yesterday."
911: " Ok sir, is she still alive? Sir are you there?"
Adam: "Gasps, shudders. Are you alive? Doing CPR right now."
911: "Ok, let me get some fire department.. Sir hang on. Let me get the fire department on the phone to help you. Hang on just a minute."
Fire: "Ok, what's wrong?"
Adam: "She hung herself man! I just woke up."
Fire "What's the address?"
Adam: "1043 Ocean Boulevard."
Fire :"When as the last time you saw her?"
Adam: "Last night."
Fire:"Ok. Is she beyond help?"
Adam: " i'm doing... i'm compressing her chest right now."
Fire:"OK, hold on. What's your name?"
Adam: "Adam Shackani."
Fire: "Ok sir, is she still alive?"
Adam: "I don't know".
Fire: "Listen to me. Help is coming right now. Did you cut her down?"
Adam: "Yes i did."

Adam stated that he found Rebecca's nude body hanging from the balcony, with her wrists and ankles bound and her hands behind her back. He ran to her from the guest house and cut her body down before the police arrived. He also had sent Jonah, who was at the hospital, a text message to inform him what had happened. 

Jonah looked at the text from his brother and then stared at his son for a few minutes. He then got up to leave. Dina asked him what was so important. Jonah told her that Rebecca committed suicide. When Dina asked him why, Jonah said, "Asian honor." Jonah then ran out the door at about 7 a.m.

When police arrived at the mansion at 9:20 a.m. they found Rebecca lying on the ground in the courtyard with the shirt that covered her mouth still wrapped around her neck. She had no other significant visible injuries.

Police then entered the mansion and looked for evidence to help them find out what exactly happened. The rope that was thrown over the balcony, was tied to the leg of the bed. They found the cryptic message painted on the inside of the bedroom door. On the floor of the bedroom, there were two paint brushes, a tube of black paint and two knives. A third knife was on the ground outside.

Police also checked Rebecca's phone. The voicemail that Jonah had allegedly sent her had already been deleted and so no one but Rebecca ever heard it.

When Mary found out that Rebecca had died, she called Jonah and asked him what happened. Jonah said that it was his brother Adam who was the one home with Rebecca when she committed suicide. Mary then asked to speak to Adam. 

Mary told Adam "I need you to tell me exactly what happened."  

Adam replied, "It's not a good idea. i don't want to push somebody else over the edge."

On July 16th at 11:30 a.m., little more than a month after his 6th birthday, Max was declared dead. His sister, Gabby, had already posted the news on Facebook: "RIP Maxie. We'll miss your sweet smile and kind heart more than you'll ever know. I'll love you forever."

Three days after Max's funeral, Rebecca was laid to rest. Jonah was invited to sit with her family. 

On September 26th, 2011, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation on the deaths of Max and Rebecca. Max's death was ruled as an accident and Rebecca's was ruled as a suicide. 

Investigators believed that Max was riding his scooter on the second floor landing and maybe of tripped over the soccer ball or his dog. They theorized that he grabbed the chandelier on the way down.

Max's mom, Dina, hired private investigator Tara Schneider to investigate Max's death.

Officials said that Rebecca went to the only bedroom in the house with a balcony. They said that she tied a rope around her hands and feet and hung herself from the balcony. They said that they found her footprints on her balcony and her DNA on the rope and knife.

They also said that she was the one that wrote that message in black paint indicated by the black paint found on her hands and rope and the paint and paint brush in her room. 

The circumstances of Rebecca’s death led her family to adamantly claim foul play was involved. Rebecca's ex-husband Nalepa expressed similar doubts and claimed that that killing herself was something out of character for her to do. Friends and family went so far as to say they had never even heard her mention suicide in her entire life. Even Dina didn't think that Rebecca killed herself.

It is very rare, but there have been a few suicide deaths in which someone's hands were bound, but never with such complex and elaborate rope tying or hanging where a gag was involved in anyway. And people that attempt suicide or complete suicide don't bind their feet. Woman usually don't pick hanging to commit a suicide. In the United States, individuals from Asian decent have some of the lowest rates. Also, suicide is typically a very private and personal act. Rebecca did not die inside her home, she was also nude. The people that usually commit suicide while they are naked are those with severe mental disorders or are under the influence of very powerful drugs. Rebecca wasn't suffering from a mental disorder and she wasn't under the influence of anything. Toxicology reports showed that she had nothing in her system at the time of her death.

Suicide notes are not usually written in the third person like the one found at the scene of Rebecca's death. On the black tube of paint there was no DNA. There was a thumb print found on the lid of the tube, which belonged to Rebecca. The paint brush had no DNA and no fingerprints either. The both sides of the door that the note was written on had no DNA on that either.

Rebecca's prints that were found on one of the knives was on the blade, not the handle. It was as if someone had taken her hand and planted her fingerprints on it.

Rebecca's autopsy results revealed four instances of head trauma.  Experts theorized that she may have hit her head on the way down. However, forensic consultant Dr. Maurice Godwin expressed doubt, stating, "The chances of bumping into the railing, going over the balcony and hitting your head four times is highly unlikely."

The dirt on the balcony was not consistent with the garden dirt found on Rebecca's feet. Also, the footprints on the balcony were heel impressions by the doorway and right toe impressions by the railing. There was a sizable gab in between. There was also no DNA or fingerprints on the rail of the balcony. There was some male DNA found on one of the balcony doors, but it was such a low level that a profile could not be made.

Mark Rudoy was an attorney hired by Rebecca's family in the initial investigation into her death. He claimed that there is no way that Rebecca could have propelled herself over the balcony. He thinks that someone stronger than Rebecca over powered her and trapped her in that room. Rudoy believes that Rebecca then was manually strangled and then possibly already had her on the ground and then hoisted her up with a noose they tied around her neck.

A news station reenacted Rebecca's fall and found that the bed that Rebecca was tied to should have moved way more than it did. The bed at the crime scene moved mere inches and the bed at the reenactment moved 3 feet. During their reenactment they even used a heavier bed than the one that Rebecca had been tied to. 

Rebecca's family was frustrated and hired private investigator Paul Ciolino to take a look into Rebecca's death and into Jonah's brother Adam.

There was no DNA found on the knife that Adam said he used to cut Rebecca down with. Adams DNA was not found on the rope either. So if Adam did cut Rebecca down, how come there was none of his DNA found on either? There was a pair of black gardening gloves found at the mansion. The gloves were tested, but there was no identifiable DNA found. Also, the lawn furniture Adam had to stand on in order to reach Rebecca to cut her down only had three legs and hard to balance on. The ski ropes have metal fibers inside, so they are not really easy to severe. The ropes were tied in seafaring knots and Adam was a long time tugboat captain.

Adam allegedly never visited Max at the hospital. He also told authorities that he was watching porn when Rebecca killed herself. There was searches of Anime porn found on a computer in the mansion.

Police did perform a polygraph on Adam, but they said that the results were inconclusive.

Ciolino said that he went and talked to neighbors and some of them heard a woman scream and cry for help on the morning that Rebecca died. Some of the neighbors said that the police never interviewed them and some of them said that there interviews were discounted. One of those neighbors even called 9-1-1, but it wasn't investigated.

Rebecca's family decided to file a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against Jonah Shacknai's brother Adam. Rebecca's family attorney brought in handwriting expert, Mike Wakshull, to find out if the writing on the door matched Rebecca or someone else. Wakshull determined that the writing on the door matched Adam's handwriting. 

There is a police video showing how someone could have tied their own knots, but expert, Lindsay Philpot, was brought in by the family lawyer deemed that not to be the same knots that had been used on Rebecca. The expert said that the particular knot used to bind Rebecca's wrists was a Clove Hitch. That is a very complicated knot that someone can't just accidentally make. Also, even if Rebecca knew how to make that knot, it would have been pretty much impossible for her to make behind her back.

A second autopsy for Rebecca was ordered and she was exhumed. Dr. Cyril Wecht was hired by Rebecca's family to look at the original autopsy and then to reexamine her body. His finding were death to to asphyxiation. There were fractures of her hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage and the cricoid cartilage. Most of the time in suicidal hangings no fractures occur, the person usually loses consciousness too fast and doesn't have much motion to incur damage like that. The person usually dies from the pressure on the neck cutting off the blood supply. Fractures of the cricoid cartilage are usually found in manual strangulation.

In the original autopsy, there was adhesive material found on both of Rebecca's calves, indicative that tape had been applied. No tape was ever found.

Rebecca had four separate bruises on her scalp. Wecht said that there is no way she could have got those from propelling herself over the balcony. Wecht also said that this, along with the fractures, Rebecca being naked that she was murdered.

After the month long civil trial, the jury found Adam responsible for Rebecca's death and granted her family a $5 million judgment for loss of love and companionship as well as an additional $167,000 for the loss of financial support Rebecca would have provided her mother and siblings. 

In February 2019 Adam appealed the judgment with the defense arguing procedural errors and juror misconduct. Prior to final arguments being presented to the judge, Adam's insurance company and Rebecca's family reached a settlement of $600,000 resulting in the civil case being dismissed with prejudice, and vacating the original $5 million judgment.

Back in 2018, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department announced that they would "undertake a fresh review" of Rebecca's case.

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