In late 2021, the internet was abuzz with the leaked audio of one amazing phone call. The caller was a man named Richie Albertini, who phoned Child Protective Services in California and told a riveting tale that began in his teenage years in 1980s Los Angeles and covered the decades that followed as he worked at some of Hollywood’s hottest clubs and became involved with the mob.
Listen to the audio of the phone call (90 minutes in length).
The call drags on for the first 20 minutes as the CPS worker at first disbelieves Albertini’s story and the two argue back and forth. Once they realize they used to hang out in the same circles and know many of the same people, the CPS worker realizes it’s no hoax and the call really takes off.
The topics discussed range from River Phoenix’s death to actor Peter Greene killing a man to family members of politicians like Nancy Pelosi hiring Albertini to intimidate their enemies.
Albertini’s business card and tattoo
A bulk of the phone call involves child trafficking, something that Albertini describes as horrifically prevalent in 1980s Los Angeles. And he claims that one of the main hubs for the trafficking was a nightclub named The Odyssey, which they discuss extensively on the call.
There is a LOT to unpack with The Odyssey.
It was a West Hollywood nightclub for teenagers that was open until 5 am…which is a concept that is so utterly bizarre and incredible to me that I will type that description again just so it doesn’t get ignored: It was a West Hollywood nightclub for teenagers that was open until 5 am.
Eventually, the Odyssey became a go-to club for the gay population, too, which meant the place was filled every night with an oddball mix of underage kids, the LBGTQ crowd, celebrities…and drugs. Massive amounts of drugs were everywhere, according to Albertini.
Albertini claims there was even more than that going on at The Odyssey. He claims the club was a front for child trafficking; he basically describes the place as a horror show of underage kids being sold for sex in the club’s offices and backrooms and parking lots.
You really have to really wonder about the place, when the Odyssey was being described like this in newspapers:
A totally normal way to describe a club
“THE MOST EVIL MAN I’VE EVER MET”
It gets creepier. The Odyssey was owned by one Eddie Nash, a cocaine kingpin who was known as one of the most powerful and ruthless gangsters on the West Coast. He owned countless nightclubs throughout Los Angeles in the 1980s, many of which were teen nightclubs geared towards the underage crowd.
Eddie Nash
Albertini also claims that Nash’s co-owner of The Odyssey was world-famous 80s pornstar John Holmes. Though evidence of this is hard to find , it’s a proven fact that John Holmes and Nash were closely linked with one other.
The two men became connected after Holmes developed a cocaine addiction and Nash became one of the main suppliers for his $1,500 a day habit. Later, both Nash and Holmes were involved in the Wonderland Murders, one of the most notorious murder cases in the history of Los Angeles, in which 4 members of the Wonderland gang were gruesomely bludgeoned to death with hammers and metal pipes.
The Wonderland Murders are WHOLE other topic; there’s plenty of articles out there like this Rolling Stone one from 1989 if you want to read more.
At his trial for the Wonderland Murders, Holmes described Nash as “the most evil man I’ve ever met,” which is the exact description you love to see of someone who owns a bunch of nightclubs for teenagers.
John Holmes
LARRY BENJAMIN: KINDA CREEPY
Another claim Albertini makes on the phone call is that a third owner of Odyssey was a man named Larry Benjamin, a supposedly rampant child abuser who Albertini says was eventually murdered by a 14-year-old kid he was molesting.
Benjamin’s murder isn’t some rumor or theory. It actually happened, and there’s a lot of weird shit surrounding it.
An LA Times article from Jan. 20, 1984, describes Larry Benjamin’s murder. Benjamin, a 42-year-old man who was described as a “regular” at Odyssey, was found dead by his 16-year-old roommate on the early morning of January 8, 1984. A 14-year-old boy (name withheld), who Benjamin met at Odyssey and was a frequent guest at his condo, was arrested for the murder.
The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 20, 1984
Wait…what? Pardon my French, but…WHAT. IN. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK. Seriously. A 42-year-old guy who’s a “regular” at a teenage nightclub is creepy. Actually, it’s beyond creepy. If that same guy has a 16-year-old roommate…I repeat, a 16-year-old roommate…and hangs out “frequently” with a 14-year-old boy he met at the club, who he was alone with in the middle of the night when the boy shot him dead…I mean, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to discern that there’s something seriously disturbing about that situation.
The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 20, 1984
The article that describes Benjamin’s murder is a prime example of how the media can change the entire makeup of a story by skewering language and underreporting certain facts. Benjamin was a “benefactor” according to the article’s headline, not an abuser, who was “helping” his 14-year-old “friend.” If one were to simply read the article and take its interpretation as gospel, you’d get the impression that Benjamin was a great guy who was murdered in cold blood by a teenager he was trying to help.
So to recap, we have an all-night teen nightclub/gay bar which was owned by the most notorious drug kingpin/gangster on the West Coast, potentially also owned by a world-famous male pornstar who was horribly addicted to cocaine, both of whom were suspected of being involved in the slaughter of 4 people in an infamous murder case while the nightclub was at the height of its popularity. Oh, and there was also a third guy who was a rumored owner (even if he wasn’t, he was definitely a regular at Odyssey) — he was 42 years old and had a 16-year-old “roommate,” and was killed by a 14-year-old “friend” when they were alone in his condo late one night.
Does it seem too far-fetched that child trafficking could happen at a place like that?
With so many warm and fuzzy characters involved, the saga of The Odyssey undoubtedly had a happy ending, right? Not quite. The nightclub burnt to the ground in 1985 in a blazing fire that most suspected was an intentional arson job orchestrated by Nash for insurance money.
THE REST OF THE CALL
The Odyssey is only a portion of the call; the rest of the call is just as explosive. Some of the topics discussed:
Albertini worked at The Viper Room throughout the 1980s and 90s, co-owned by Johnny Depp, one of the hottest nightclubs in LA during that time. He details some of the wild things he witnessed and heard during that time, including his claim that actor River Phoenix was killed by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a ritual sacrifice.
Albertini claims Nancy Pelosi and her family have hired him to intimidate their enemies, most notably Karena “Apple” Feng, who was a business partner and girlfriend of Paul Pelosi, Nancy’s son. As this article details, Pelosi and Feng were definitely business partners in a number of questionable real estate ventures, including a decrepit residential hotel known simply as “The Pit.”
Albertini was childhood friends with actor Robert Arquette (of the Arquette acting family; brother of David, Alexis, and Patricia), who Albertini claims was extensively abused by older men as a teenager. Robert Arquette later transitioned into Alexis Arquette.
Albertini tells the story about meeting actor Peter Greene through Alcoholics Anonymous, and then receiving a call from Greene at 3:00 in the morning one night: Greene had just killed a man and needed Albertini to help him dispose of the body.
Lastly, here’s one final strange twist that is totally unprovable but is nonetheless a hell of a tale. A random commentor on a site devoted to Eddie Nash and the Wonderland murders claimed that Nash was no less than the man behind the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968. Nash, originally born Adel Gharib Nasrallah in Palestine, had connections to Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of the murder.
The reason for RFK’s death? RFK promised to end the Vietnam War, which would have cut off Nash’s primary source of the heroin he sold.
It's a heck of an accusation and a pretty good read. Though it’s pretty much impossible to prove, whoever posted it is clearly knowledgeable about the situation.
