Accused racketeer Eddie Nash may be freed on bail

LOS ANGELES - Eddie Nash, the former Hollywood nightclub owner accused of racketeering in connection with four 1981 killings in Laurel Canyon, may be freed as early as Monday.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Moreno refused Thursday to reconsider the decision he made earlier this week to release Nash after six months of solitary confinement. The order declaring Nash, whose real name is Adel Nasrallah, eligible for release is scheduled to take effect Monday.

Moreno also rejected a request by federal prosecutors to increase Nash's bail to $10 million, instead of its current $1.5 million. The judge, however, agreed with prosecutors who want Nash to prove the $1.5 million was obtained legally.

''That's not going to be a problem,'' said Donald Re, one of Nash's defense attorneys.

Nash, who lists his net worth at $35 million, is said to own considerable property in Hollywood and elsewhere.

Nash, 71, was arrested in May and later indicted on 16 counts, accusing him of running a racketeering enterprise for 25 years that used murder and mayhem to protect its heroin and cocaine dealers.

If convicted, he could face life in prison.

It's the third time that Nash has faced charges related to the 1981 murders of two men and two women on Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon.

A jury deadlocked in one trial and acquitted him of the killings at a second trial in 1991.

Prosecutors believe 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.

The theft was fictionalized in the movie ''Boogie Nights'' starring Burt Reynolds.

If released, Nash will be confined to his San Fernando Valley home and must wear an electric 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.

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