Photo Courtesy of MSNBC

Things Begin to Change for Jesse

Since Ben was involved heavily at that time in martial arts and Jesse amassed a clientele of marijuana smokers to whom he could deliver between 25 to 50 pounds a week, he needed some serious back up. At the time of this crime the net worth of that would have been somewhat lower than today, but anyone caught with 50 pounds of  dope would have had harsh consequences in a court of law. Investigators have speculated at that time that Jesse was also selling heroin, speed, crystal methamphetamine. Jesse bragged that he got the dope from his father, Jack but his father has denied all involvement with his son’s drug dealing activities, and he has never changed that statement.

Jesse had a crew of shiftless losers, kind of a spoiled brat rat pack who bought and smoked his dope. Jesse Rugge,William Skidmore,Ryan Hoyt, and Graham Pressley were Jesse’s main earners and friends and they had been friends since  Ryan and he played Little League with Ben. It was Ben that Jesse went to when he had a client who didn’t or wouldn’t pay. Jeff Markowitz has been quoted in a 2002 story in L.A. Magazine as saying,” Ben was an urban legend in our town.“  Ben had run away from home for a small stretch and came back covered with tattoos. Ben was definitely the one to strong arm the people who owed Jesse money, and he showed a knack for dealing. Pot always sold in the West Hills section of Los Angeles,, which has been described many times as affluent. The homes there now would sell for half a million dollars and Jesse managed his business so well he bought himself one down the block from his parents home, paying cash. Now there was definitely  cocaine and methamphetamine as well as marijuana and it showed in the way he tricked out the Honda Accord his father had given him with 20k worth of customized leather seats and detailing. Ben and Jesse were on good terms when Ben went to work for his father making parts for the aerospace industry. But  the more time Ben spent away from Jesse working, the more the friendship drifted apart.

The Markowitz family had a good life. Jeff Markowitz and his wife Susan lived with their son Ben in West Hills. Jeff had his business and Susan was devoted to her family, most especially to Nick. During this time, there has been some issues with Nick’s experimental use of pot, and valium. He’d been caught with pot and had allegedly started ditching his stash in his yard before going in the house. Jeff and Susan worried that Nick was trying to impress his brother and pretty much by all accounts worshipped him, it didn’t matter that they had different mothers. Everything Ben was, it seemed was cool and many of the people I interviewed who had a hard time opening up about the crime, the one thing they were not shy or hesitant to say was  that Nick loved and looked up to his big brother very much and Ben himself worried about Nick emulating his behavior. All Nick’s friends smoked pot but that was something Susan and Jeff didn’t know. They thought Nick’s drug use was a bad influence from Ben. At that point it really had not gotten out of control beyond getting help and stopping the horrific events coming in the very near future. Ben continued to work for his father and still sell drugs for Jesse, more and more sporadically. The next deal he would do for Jesse would be his last, and it would unintentionally cost his little brother his life.

Jesse had charged Ben with the duty of collecting on a debt from a kid who owed him $2000. Ben went down to San Diego to have a conversation about the money he owed Jesse for drugs. The kid didn’t have the money; there have been conflicting stories about why. But Ben made the decision to assume the kid’s debt in exchange for 200 ecstasy pills that he was planning to unload at $20 dollars a pill. After having sold about 30 pills he realized they weren’t ecstasy-and they weren’t going to get anybody high and that was a problem. He’d only made $600 to give Jesse and all he had to throw in was another $200. He gave it to him and left him $1200 in the hole. Jesse was not amused and in his estimation, Ben now owed him that money and this was the breaking point. For weeks, Ben and Jesse wouldn’t talk to each other. But with every passing day, both of them and the people they were surrounding themselves with knew this was just going to get worse. Jesse’s reputation for being the local hot shot in their peer group wouldn’t stand for getting ripped off for $1200 by anyone, especially Ben Markowitz.

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Ben didn’t seem to care. He was pretty much over Jesse James Hollywood, and definitely over being anybody’s henchman. They spent those few weeks harassing each other. Jesse and his buddies went to the restaurant where Ben’s girlfriend worked and ran up a huge tab, writing on the bill at the end of the night, “Put this on Ben’s tab.” Ben and a few of his friends went over to Jesse’s and retaliated by smashing out the picture window in front of Jesse’s house and a few side windows as well. There had also been the matter of Hollywood’s car: Ben knew he was running a scam on the insurance for it and threatened to expose him for falsely reporting a $35,000 car stolen. The escalating feud was by now well known, and one night very soon after the window incident, Jesse came home to find that one of his dogs was hanging by his collar, dead. Neighbors described it as an accident, but Jesse obviously did not feel comfortable or safe in that estimation, and on the spot decided he was moving out of that house.