Whatever the outcome of the current proceedings, Nash has already earned a certain immortality. Those unfamiliar with his name and his alleged links to the Los Angeles underworld will doubtless recall Alfred Molina's brilliant characterization of him in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997, polyester-bound tour de force "Boogie Nights."

In his audio commentary on the New Line DVD release of his film, Anderson admits that Molina's Rahad Jackson is as much Eddie Nash as Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler is John Holmes. Anderson cites as a major influence reporter Mike Sager's article in the June 15, 1989, Rolling Stone, "The Devil and John Holmes."

"There was this great Rolling Stone article, and I remember the description of this guy Eddie Nash in Speedos and the sheen of sweat on his body," says Anderson on the DVD. "But a lot of details I'd forgotten. So I was kind of making it up as I go along, getting Dirk into a similar situation that I'd read about with John Holmes."

In the scene, Dirk and friends are witness to Rahad's freebase-inspired ravings as he dances before them like some demented olive-skinned leprechaun to the tune of Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" and Night Ranger's "Sister Christian."

The jovial Rahad, dressed in a silver bathrobe, slippers and the de rigeur Speedo, entertains his guests between freebase hits by singing along with his "Awesome Mix Tape" and playing Russian roulette while a young Asian boy sets off firecrackers in the background. The occasion is a drug deal gone bad, and though the events differ from Wonderland, Anderson's mise-en-schne is so frighteningly iconic that Nash and Molina's Rahad may forever be confused in popular memory.

"I like how the story sort of naturally progresses," says Anderson. "That much cocaine and that much porno is going to lead to a scene like this."

What were Holmes and Nash to each other? What did the porn legend with the 13-and-a-half-inch penis, the man who had starred in over 2,500 adult films and had sex with thousands of women (even if his own count of 14,000 is unlikely) need from the nightclub owner?

"There was an interest on Holmes' part toward Nash for the drug culture, and an interest from Nash toward Holmes for the adult-entertainment, fast-lane lifestyle," explains Bill Margold, a porn industry insider who knew both men. "Nash was about as mysterious as the King, and I think that mutual mystery attracted them to each other."

By the late '70s, according to Holmes' "autobiography" "Porn King," which his widow Laurie Holmes supposedly cobbled together from notes and tapes, Holmes had a $1,500-a-day coke habit. During the filming of the porn-industry panegyric to him titled "Exhausted," Holmes says he was barely present: "In the middle of a scene, I would disappear for long stretches, but my co-workers knew where to find me: in the bathroom doing freebase. I became the butt of jokes, which traveled around like wildfire. 'To get Holmes to work,' they said, 'you have to leave a trail of freebase from the bathroom to the bedroom.'"

Holmes, who had been a titanic presence in the porn industry virtually since its inception, found himself blackballed by producers and directors because of his unreliability. To make money, he became a thief -- breaking into cars, stealing luggage from the baggage claim at LAX, whatever it took to feed his habit.

That's about the time he hooked up with the Wonderland Gang, a motley assortment of dopers and criminals. He began running drugs for them -- at some point becoming the liaison between Wonderland, where Holmes was living, and his friend Nash.

Holmes, the story goes, set up Nash to be robbed, and took part of the loot. But soon Nash caught up with him, supposedly threatening both Holmes and his family with retaliation. That's why many believe Holmes either took part in the Wonderland murders or was forced to watch.

When prosecutors tried to nail Holmes for Wonderland in 1982, his lawyers argued that he was just another victim and that the real killers weren't on trial. The jury agreed and acquitted Holmes, but the stench of Wonderland stuck to the porn giant like bad aftershave. He went on to appear in several more porn flicks, even after discovering he was HIV-positive. But the age of giants was over. Holmes was just a sideshow freak to be exhibited for shits and giggles. As Anderson points out in his "Boogie Nights" commentary, "The '80s were the downfall of everyone." That was certainly true of the man they called "Johnny Wadd."

"Did Holmes participate in the Wonderland murders?" asks Cass Paley, the director-producer of the documentary "Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes," named best documentary feature at Austin's South by Southwest film festival last year. "My personal take on it was that he had to for his own survival. Otherwise, why let him live? They were out there bashing heads. Why wouldn't they just have bashed his head and left him there?"

Paley says he's in negotiations for the theatrical release of his exhaustive, engrossing film bio of Holmes, and that he had been in phone contact with Nash before his recent arrest in the hopes of doing a smaller documentary on the alleged drug kingpin.

"Whether he's a good guy or a bad guy, he's got an incredible story," Paley says of Nash. "If he'd agree to be interviewed, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

With Nash and Wonderland back in the news, interest is running high in Holmes and his involvement with the killings. On June 18, E! television plans to air the two-hour-long special "John Holmes and the Wonderland Murders: The E! True Hollywood Story." And if Nash ever makes it to trial, perhaps the extent of Holmes' participation in the mass murder will finally be clarified.

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