The Cotton Club Murder | Interview with Lanie's Defense Attorney | 7

Summary

Hollywood & Crime: The Cotton Club Murder | Interview with Lanie's Defense Attorney | Episode 7

Release Date: January 8, 2025

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Overview

In Episode 7 of Wondery's gripping series Hollywood & Crime, titled "The Cotton Club Murder: Interview with Lanie's Defense Attorney," listeners are taken deep into the notorious case surrounding the mysterious death of Roy Raiden. This episode features an exclusive interview with Ed Shohat, the esteemed criminal defense attorney who represented Lanie Jacobs (later known as Lanie Greenberger) during her high-stakes murder trial. Through Shohat's firsthand accounts, the episode unravels the complexities of the case, the strategies employed in defense, and the tumultuous journey that led to Lainey's conviction.

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Background of the Cotton Club Murder

On June 10th, 1983, the lifeless body of Roy Raiden, a successful variety show producer, was discovered in a secluded canyon near Los Angeles. Raiden had vanished after a meeting with Lanie Jacobs, a woman whose ambition to break into Hollywood alongside Raiden set the stage for a dramatic and deadly turn of events.

Lanie and Roy were entangled in a web of greed, ambition, and substance abuse, culminating in a billion-dollar cocaine and cash heist that ultimately led to Raiden's murder. The ensuing investigation exposed connections to Hollywood elites, including former producer Robert Evans, but the case went cold until persistent efforts by the L.A. Sheriff’s Department and pivotal testimonies reopened the investigation.

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Introduction to Ed Shohat and His Involvement

The episode opens with Tracy Patton introducing Ed Shohat, a seasoned criminal defense attorney from Miami, Florida, known for his defense of high-profile clients, including Carlos Lehder of the Medellín Cartel fame. Despite being geographically distant from California, Shohat was summoned to represent Lanie Greenberger, marking the beginning of a challenging legal battle.

Notable Quote:

"She knew my reputation as a criminal defense lawyer. She knew that I was selected from all the lawyers on the planet to defend Carlos Lehder... She wanted me to defend her."
— Ed Shohat [07:24]

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Lainey Jacobs: From Law Firm to Murder Accusation

Shohat recounts his initial meeting with Lainey Jacobs, a professional and articulate legal secretary who briefly worked at his Miami law firm. Their relationship was cordial until Lainey's sudden arrest for the murder of her husband, Larry Greenberger, and the disappearance of Roy Raiden.

Notable Quote:

"Lainey was adamant that she wanted me to represent her. I wanted to represent her, and I did."
— Ed Shohat [06:25]

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Navigating the Californian Legal System

Transitioning from Miami's legal landscape to California's stringent judicial procedures posed a significant challenge for Shohat. California's open-file discovery system provided the defense with unrestricted access to the prosecution's evidence, allowing Shohat and his co-counsel, Marcia Morrissey, to meticulously prepare for the preliminary hearings.

Notable Quote:

"Open file discovery... I had available to me the people of California's entire evidence book and was able to use it to prepare for what first would be a preliminary hearing."
— Ed Shohat [09:15]

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The Role of Robert Evans and Witnesses

Central to the case was former producer Robert Evans, whose connections to the murder added layers of intrigue. However, Evans neither testified nor was called as a witness, largely due to his request for immunity, which the prosecution ultimately did not grant.

Simultaneously, the prosecution introduced damning tape recordings of Mentzer and Lowe discussing the case with key witness Bill Ryder, undermining the defense's stance and complicating Lainey's position.

Notable Quote:

"They were devastating for Laney because... they implicated Laney and they weren't helpful."
— Ed Shohat [17:19]

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Strategizing the Defense

Despite the uphill battle, Shohat remained steadfast in his belief in Lainey's innocence regarding intentional involvement in Raiden's murder. The defense faced the dilemma of whether to call Lainey as a witness—a move Shohat typically deemed desperate.

Notable Quote:

"Putting a defendant accused of a crime on the witness stand is an act of utter desperation."
— Ed Shohat [22:27]

Ultimately, Shohat decided to have Lainey testify, believing that her personal account was crucial for the jury's understanding, despite the strategy being out of the ordinary and fraught with risks.

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Challenges During the Trial

The trial was marred by intense cross-examinations and strategic maneuvers from the prosecution, who portrayed Lainey not just as a potential murderer but also as a drug dealer with a questionable moral standing.

Notable Quote:

"They bloodied her up as a drug dealer who was keeping a stash house with her... they implicated them in the murder."
— Ed Shohat [24:58]

These tactics led to a tense courtroom atmosphere, with both defense and prosecution scrambling to manage the narrative and juror perceptions.

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Verdict and Aftermath

After a grueling trial, the jury convicted Lainey Jacobs of second-degree murder, suggesting she played a role in the murder without premeditated intent. While the primary hitmen were found guilty of first-degree murder, Lainey's life was irrevocably changed, sentenced to life without parole.

Notable Quote:

"I wish she would get her sentence commuted after all these years in prison and she would get released and be able to return to her son... and live out her days in freedom."
— Ed Shohat [34:29]

Despite an appeal, the conviction stood firm, leaving many questions unanswered and the case somewhat open-ended.

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Reflections and Final Thoughts

In concluding the interview, Shohat expresses a mix of professional respect and personal sympathy for Lainey, highlighting the complexities of legal defense in high-profile cases intertwined with Hollywood's glitzy yet perilous underbelly. He also touches upon the unresolved elements of the case, such as the mysterious death of Larry Greenberger and the elusive Milano Bellachas, pondering why certain key figures were never charged despite substantial evidence.

Notable Quote:

"The whole case was in some ways, a bit of a circus in so many different ways that we don't see here in South Florida... but I guess that goes with the territory."
— Ed Shohat [35:56]

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Conclusion

Episode 7 of Hollywood & Crime offers a compelling dive into one of Hollywood's murkiest true crime stories. Through Ed Shohat's insightful narration, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the legal strategies, courtroom drama, and personal battles that define the Cotton Club Murder case. This episode not only sheds light on the events leading to Roy Raiden's death but also explores the broader implications of ambition and desperation within the glitzy confines of Hollywood.

For those enthralled by true crime and the intricate dance of justice, this episode serves as a masterclass in legal defense and the human stories behind headline-making cases.

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Listen to "The Cotton Club Murder: Interview with Lanie's Defense Attorney" exclusively on the Wondery app or any major podcast platform to immerse yourself in this riveting tale of Hollywood's dark side.

Transcript

[Tracy Patton]

Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of.

[Narrator]

Hollywood and the Cotton Club Murder early and ad free. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or.

[Tracy Patton]

On Apple Podcasts.

[Narrator]

From Wondery.

[Tracy Patton]

I'm Tracy Patton and this is the.

[Narrator]

Cotton Club Murder by Hollywood in Crime.

[Tracy Patton]

Over the last six episodes, we've been.

[Narrator]

Telling the story of Roy Raiden, Laney Jacobs, and Bob Evans. They all shared a Hollywood dream that ended in Roy's death with Lainey being convicted of second degree murder. It's a fascinating story of how greed, ambition, and cocaine played such a huge role in their lives.

[Tracy Patton]

In this episode, we're talking to someone.

[Narrator]

Who had the daunting task of defending Lainey Jacobs at her murder trial. You might recognize his name because he was in our series. Ed Shohat is a criminal defense attorney. He still practices in Miami, Florida.

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[Tracy Patton]

It's great to have you here, Tracy.

[Ed Shohat]

Thanks for having me.

[Tracy Patton]

Yes, we've got a lot to talk about. What a wild story. Well, let's actually start at the beginning in Miami, Florida, back in the late 1970s. How did you meet Lainey?

[Ed Shohat]

Well, Lainey was a legal secretary in my law firm that's how I met her. Lainey was a. Was a very nice person, a sweet young lady. She dressed very, very well, and she held herself very well. As I recall. She was quite professional in the way she worked for my law firm. She didn't work for the firm for very long. And I remember her telling me she lived above a garage in somebody's house, in a small apartment above a garage. And as I recall it, and this is going back a lot of years, Lainey liked to party at night. And at times we would have conversations about the partying that she did at night. But then she left. She left the firm. And as they say, she went on to bigger, but not necessarily better things.

[Tracy Patton]

Okay. Which brings to mind Miami in the late 70s and the early 80s was quite a wild place. Can you describe the mood, the vibe?

[Ed Shohat]

Well, there was a lot of drug money moving through the city. A lot of it was being invested in real estate. And in other ways, Miami, because of its geographic location at the tip of South Florida, close to the Caribbean, close to South America and Central America. Miami was a mecca for financial transactions. It was quite an exciting place. I graduated law school at the University of Miami in 1972, which was right at the beginning of the war on drugs. And Miami was the epicenter of the war on drugs. What can I tell you? Business was booming. And by the way, it was also a very young city with a lot of young people. And the nightlife here was tremendous. The melding of the two languages, English and Spanish. And then the Haitians started to come with the Creole. All of that made Miami kind of a very, very international city. But there was a lot of drug violence here. And there were a lot of drug dealers here. And the drug trade attracted a lot of people for easy, quick money.

[Tracy Patton]

So let's jump ahead to 1988. You hadn't kept in touch with Laney, but you had run into her and her husband, Larry Greenberger, at one point. And then out of the blue, you get a call with bombshell news that she had been arrested. When you were asked to represent her, how did you feel about that? And did you know about the murder, the Roy Raiden murder, at the time when you were asked to represent.

[Ed Shohat]

I knew absolutely nothing. I never heard the name Roy Radin. I didn't hear the name Roy Raiden until I became involved in the case. So, needless to say, receiving that phone call from a lawyer out of Denver who was in Orlando at the time when Laney was arrested with Laney, she had just completed What I understood was her interview with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which was investigating the death of Larry Greenberger, her husband. I didn't even know that Larry had died. I learned it in the same conversation. And I was asked to come up to Orlando that Lainey had been arrested. And I went up there and met with Lainey. And Lainey was adamant that she wanted me to represent her. I wanted to represent her, and I did.

[Tracy Patton]

So, Ed, why do you think that Lainey really wanted you, specifically you, to handle her case?

[Ed Shohat]

She knew me, so I was not coming to the situation as a stranger. She knew my reputation as a criminal defense lawyer. She knew that I was selected from all the lawyers on the planet to defend Carlos Lehder, the only member of the Medellin cartel ever brought to trial for cartel crimes in the United States. Still to this day, the Medellin cartel was by reputation responsible for 85 to 90% of of the cocaine that came into the United States. The most famous member of the Medellin cartel was Pablo Escobar. Medellin is a town in Colombia where the group supposedly was headquartered. She knew those things, and she wanted me to defend her.

[Tracy Patton]

And were you surprised to see this woman who was a legal secretary, you hadn't seen her in years, and now she's being charged with murder.

[Ed Shohat]

Surprise doesn't express it. It was shock. How could this happen? Who did Lainey become and what did she do or didn't do? And yeah, it was a shock to my system. I was very, very surprised.

[Tracy Patton]

Did she seem different from when you had seen her before all those years ago?

[Ed Shohat]

I don't remember thinking that she seemed different. Lainey was always very nice to me and very articulate, dealt with things in a straight up way. And I concluded early on that she would be a good client to represent. She wouldn't be a problem or a difficult client, which isn't always the case. And that proved to be the case. And she had the wherewithal to finance a top line defense. And the prosecutor, David Kahn in Los Angeles, made it very clear to me on my very first conversation that they were going to try to have the death penalty imposed for Lainey Greenberger. And so the case had enormous stakes in it. So it was important to me that the finances were there to do a first rate capital murder defense.

[Tracy Patton]

Were you confident that you were going to win the case? Did you feel confident about that?

[Ed Shohat]

No. You're never confident that you're going to win the case. I became over time, in my investigation of the case in my learning about the case, confident that a very viable defense could be raised for Lainey.

[Tracy Patton]

So let's get into the pre trial. Let's talk about the prosecution's evidence. As you started to assemble the trial, what happened there?

[Ed Shohat]

Well, there are some unique aspects to the way California works. The most significant overall is that they have what is known as open file discovery. In other words, the defense gets absolutely everything that's in the prosecutor's file. David Kahn told me he would send me what they call the murder book. The murder book is literally a notebook or a series of notebooks that contains every piece of evidence the prosecutors have in the case. So early on in the case, I had available to me the people of California's entire evidence book and was able to use it to prepare for what first would be a preliminary hearing. You had to have a preliminary hearing in order for a lower court judge to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to bind it over to the higher court, the Superior Court of Los Angeles, for trial. And so we actually had a mini trial in Los Angeles in 1989, which was the preliminary hearing in the case. So in addition to having the murder book, you get your first shot at cross examining their witnesses. I lived in Los Angeles for six weeks in a Hollywood Hills home belonging to a friend of mine. And I spent that six weeks driving downtown every day to the Superior Court building to have the preliminary hearing.

[Tracy Patton]

Ed, let's talk about Robert Evans at the pretrial.

[Ed Shohat]

Robert Evans didn't testify either at the pretrial or at the trial, and then was never called as a witness.

[Tracy Patton]

And because he wanted immunity, he wouldn't testify unless he had full immunity and they didn't give it to him.

[Ed Shohat]

Well, I can't say that Evans ever offered to testify as a prosecution witness if he got immunity. I cannot back that up because I don't know. My impression was that Shapiro did everything he could to steer Evans away from the case and that once Evans refused to testify at the preliminary hearing, the matter was a dead letter because the prosecution went throughout the entire case until the middle of the trial believing that perhaps Evans was involved in putting Laney up to the murder.

[Tracy Patton]

And of course, Laney later testified that Evans wasn't involved in the murder at all. So during this whole process, as an attorney from Florida, did you feel that you were at a disadvantage here in California?

[Ed Shohat]

Of course. But I cut that disadvantage down to its knees, as they say, by bringing on a woman by the name of Marcia Morrissey as my co counsel. Marcia Morrissey was a Los Angeles based criminal defense lawyer whose entire practice was court appointed murder cases. Back in 1989, Los Angeles was way ahead of the curve in handling capital cases. They passed a law in California that every defendant who was indicted for a capital crime was entitled to not one, but two criminal defense lawyers. And if the defendant could only afford one, the state would appoint a second one. And we had the state appoint Marcia Morrissey to co counsel the case with me. Marcia was, and is today, I'm sure, a sensational lawyer. And if it wasn't for Marcia, I might not have survived the case. Marsha knew the rules in California inside and out. She knew the courts and the judges inside and out. And so the answer to your question is yes. It was daunting being over 3,000 miles away and in a strange legal system with unique procedures, different in many, many ways from what we experience or I had experienced in the state courts and federal courts here in South Florida. So Marsha was my savior in the.

[Tracy Patton]

Case and Ed in the pretrial. Were you surprised by the outcome?

[Ed Shohat]

I certainly came away from the preliminary hearing believing that there was more than sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that a crime had been committed and that Laney was involved in committing it along with the other defendants who were charged with her and there was sufficient evidence to bind her over for trial. I didn't harbor any illusion that that process would end the case by any stretch of the imagination.

[Tracy Patton]

So let's get to the trial. So there are four defendants. Just to reiterate that this is in California with four people involved in the crime. They all are in the trial together, Correct?

[Ed Shohat]

They're all on trial together.

[Tracy Patton]

So was she at a severe disadvantage in this situation?

[Ed Shohat]

Yes. We had moved for a severance of the defendants before the trial to get Laney a separate trial from the three hitmen who carried out the murder on the theory that they were going to be presenting antagonistic defenses. We had a hearing and we argued that pretrial and the judge denied that motion.

[Tracy Patton]

And of course, during the trial, the prosecution played tapes of Mentzer and Lowe each talking to their key witness, Bill Ryder. What did you think of those tape recordings?

[Ed Shohat]

They were devastating.

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[Narrator]

Where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Raiden was found dead in a Canyon near LA in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, the Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and the Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of the Cotton Club Murder early and ad free right now by joining Wondery. Plus.

[Tracy Patton]

What did you think of those tape recordings?

[Ed Shohat]

They were devastating. And they were also devastating for Laney because over my objection, the judge allowed portions of the tape to be played which made reference to Laney. They implicated Laney and they weren't helpful. They didn't have recordings of Laney. So what Bill Ryder did is he went to the Los Angeles County Police and he said, these guys have been bragging about this murder. And they wired him up and he went to each one individually and got very damning statements from them implicating themselves in the murder. And that's devastating evidence. As we say, you cannot cross examine a tape recording.

[Tracy Patton]

So that must have been a big challenge for you.

[Ed Shohat]

It was a huge challenge. We litigated very heavily to get the recordings redacted to eliminate references to Laney under what we thought were solid constitutional principles. But Judge Rappe disagreed and he allowed those tapes to be played. And when the appeal went up, the Court of Appeals affirmed it.

[Tracy Patton]

So when it came time to present your key witness, there's quite a story to that. Tell us about Tim Whitehead.

[Ed Shohat]

Tim Whitehead was a longtime acquaintance of Laney Greenberger, who drove truckloads of cocaine and returned with cash from the sale of that cocaine. Cocaine was stored in the home that Laney had in Sherman Oaks, the quote, unquote, stash house. And he ended up being a central figure in the case. Because the information that we developed in investigating the case was that he was present when the murder of Roy Radin was ordered in Milano, Bellachess, Cocoplum home.

[Tracy Patton]

You had to search for him. Tell us about that.

[Ed Shohat]

We had a team of private investigators looking for him for a very long time. And that finally worked. Whitehead was found months into the trial. And I had to take a day off from the trial, leave Marsha back and drive 40 miles or whatever it was east of LA to a truck stop to meet with him and with my investigator, interview him and then convince him to come to court and testify. I had to impress upon him that if he didn't come and testify, Lenny might end up on death row, that he was the linchpin. Reluctantly, he agreed to do it. And he did. And he was an excellent witness. Tim Whitehead, I believe, established that the idea was not to involve Lainey in the murder, but simply to use her and abuse her to get Raydin out of his hotel room. Which is, in my view, what happened. Without telling her that there was gonna be anything done to him other than to try to get him to confess and get the drugs and the money back. Which made consummate sense from what would have been a drug dealer's standpoint.

[Tracy Patton]

Any theories on why he didn't wanna be found initially?

[Ed Shohat]

Who in the world would wanna get involved in this mess? Yeah, why would you want to get involved? And remember, it involved him admitting that he drove truckloads of cocaine. We got on the witness stand and admitted it. Now, the statute of limitations had long run on any of it. But who in the world wants to come into a courtroom in the glare of the cameras and the press and everything, and admit that you're driving hundreds of kilos of coke on a regular basis? That was huge.

[Tracy Patton]

Ed, after you had Whitehead on the stand, why did you still bring Laney on the witness stand?

[Ed Shohat]

That's a very good question. And the answer to it implicates attorney client privilege. Conversations with Ms. Greenberger that I'm not going to go into, I will point out in my opening statement. I said to the jury, and it's the only time I ever did this, and it will be the only time I ever do it. And I did it because we didn't have Whitehead. We didn't have a witness to exonerate Laney. I said to the jury I knew what the evidence was going to show. I said that the jury had to keep an open mind, that this was going to be a long trial, it was going to last many months, and that they could not decide this case until they heard Lainey's testimony. And Lainey needed to explain what she did that night and why she did it, and that she didn't know or intend for Roy Radin to be hurt in any way. But my view was that because we found the missing witness, Tim Whitehead, it was no longer necessary for Laney to testify, but she did.

[Tracy Patton]

That's a very unusual thing to do, right, for an attorney to put their client on the stand.

[Ed Shohat]

Different defense attorneys have different philosophies about clients testifying. There are some defense attorneys who believe that you can't win a serious case without the defendant telling the jury his or her version of events in an exculpatory way. I am amongst what I believe is the large majority of lawyers who believe that putting a defendant accused of a crime on the witness stand is an act of utter desperation.

[Tracy Patton]

And, Ed, after she testified, how did you feel? Well, how did you feel during the time when she was on. On the stand? What was your take?

[Ed Shohat]

I felt like I was having every one of my teeth pulled one at a time in seriatim without anesthesia. And it wasn't so much that Lainey was a bad witness. Lainey was a good witness. But you have to understand some of the dynamics that were at work and that were at play at that point of time. Everything at that point forward depends on whether the jury believes your client. And that question can turn on so many factors other than whether your client is a good witness and telling the truth, that it is a daunting task to move a client through testifying in her own defense. The jury has heard a tremendous amount of evidence from prosecution witnesses. They've heard from the key witness for the defense, and then she takes the witness stand. We had, at that point, almost a completely female jury. I thought it would be best if Marcia Marcy, who was a fine lawyer and she did a fine job, did the direct and redirect of Lainey. The direct lasted about a day and a half. One thing you need to understand is that while Laney denied her own knowledge in the murder or involvement in the murder, she implicated the other three defendants on the witness stand. This created an incredible dynamic in the courtroom where some extremely unusual Things occurred, things that I had never seen before and have never seen since in a trial.

[Tracy Patton]

What were some unusual things?

[Ed Shohat]

Well, the first thing that happened was that when Marsha tendered Lanny for cross, there was a stampede to the sidebar and the prosecutor and all three defense teams begged for a recess of the trial so they could prepare to cross examine her. Now that might sound like not a particularly unusual thing, but I gotta tell you, it's an extraordinarily unusual thing, particularly due to the fact that in my opening statement, I said to the jury that I would be putting Lainey on the stand. Now you have everybody begging. They were asking for a week and a half to two weeks off to prepare for a cross examination that they were told they would have to do months earlier. So the judge granted it and we had a week or a week and a half recess in the trial so that the prosecution and the other lawyers could prepare for cross. That was number one. Number two was that she was on a cross examination for nine and a half days, nine and a half days of cross examination where she was first attacked by the prosecutors mainly as a drug dealer, which she admitted she didn't hide from that. They bloodied her up as a drug dealer who was keeping a stash house with her. What was he, three, four year old son living in the stash house. So they blooded her up that way. But it went on and on and on and any effort that I made or that Marsha made to cut them off was rejected. And then one at a time, one of the two defense lawyers. Remember, in a capital case, every defendant has two lawyers. One of the two got up and did their own multi day cross examination of Lainey, who had implicated because of the fact that she clearly implicated them in the murder of Roy Radin. They were all royally angry at her and they cross examined her accordingly. And that was like, you know, it was difficult to take at that point.

[Tracy Patton]

So how did you end Lainey's defense?

[Ed Shohat]

I closed on a somewhat contradictory theory because I felt it was necessary to do so.

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[Ed Shohat]

I told the jury that the evidence failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Laney was guilty of any crime other than stupidity. But I also told the jury that if any crime had been committed, it was manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter. And that's the most that they should convict Laney of the highest crime.

[Tracy Patton]

And why was that?

[Ed Shohat]

I did that because I didn't see much of a chance of an outright acquittal at that point. But I still, to this day, don't believe there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Laney was involved intentionally in that murder. My view was, and remains today, that there literally was no link other than potential anger on Laney's part between what happened with respect to the Cotton Club, the film the Cotton Club, and the death of Roy Raiden. These guys, Alex Marti and Bill Mentzer and maybe to a lesser degree, Robert Lowe, the driver of the limousine that night, were out of control. I'll just put it that way.

[Tracy Patton]

So let's go to you waiting for the verdict. So the trial's done. How are you feeling? How's Lainey feeling as you await the verdict?

[Ed Shohat]

She was very nervous. I recall her being nervous. How would anybody be waiting to determine whether she would ultimately end up executed? I mean, that's an enormous weight on anybody.

[Tracy Patton]

What was that like the day the verdict came in for you and for Lainey?

[Ed Shohat]

It was difficult for both of us. You never want to have a verdict against you. I was realistic. I felt there was a good chance that we would get the manslaughter verdict. But we didn't. And at the end of the day, that jury convicted the hitmen who carried out the murder of Roy Raiden of first degree murder with special circumstances. But they convicted Laney of second degree murder, which suggests strongly that they did not believe that Lainey was involved in the planning of the murder, only in the carrying out of it on the night that it Occurred because she did get Rayden out of that hotel room. And she was in the car that drove along Hollywood Boulevard and turned off up into the hills when she was thrown out of the car when Mentzer and Marty jumped in and then took Raydin off to the high desert north of LA and murdered him. We did an appeal and we had what we thought were tremendous issues, but the Court of Appeals didn't agree and Laney was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

[Tracy Patton]

And have you been in touch at all with Laney?

[Ed Shohat]

Not in recent years. In the early years and for some years after the case, Lainey would send me a jail made Christmas card every year and write a nice note. That hasn't happened for countless years. I talked recently with Terry Squillanti, who raised her son, Dax. He's graduated college and working, I don't know exactly where. He's fine.

[Tracy Patton]

So Squillanti's been in his life the whole time?

[Ed Shohat]

Absolutely. Terry did a hero thing, taking on that child under those circumstances.

[Tracy Patton]

Well, I'm glad he's doing well now. Let me ask you about Larry Greenberger.

[Ed Shohat]

Lainey was married to him. He died of a gunshot wound to the temple. And it was originally determined by the coroner that it was a suicide. There were two adults in the house when Larry died. Lainey Greenberger and Terry Squillanti.

[Tracy Patton]

Just to remind our listeners, initially they thought it was a suicide, and then they ruled it a homicide. And then it remained a cold case until recently. Did you know that it's been reopened?

[Ed Shohat]

I've heard it.

[Tracy Patton]

What do you think about that?

[Ed Shohat]

Good luck.

[Tracy Patton]

Any ideas of what happened? Any theories?

[Ed Shohat]

No, I really don't know. Because to answer the question would involve privileged information that I got from Lainey Greenberger, and I'm not going to do that. And Lainey was, and probably to this day remains a prime suspect in that death. And the police, for years, they would call me up and they would want me to bring Lainey in for another interview. And I respectfully declined to advise her to do that. They haven't contacted, you know, I've heard the case has been reopened, but they haven't contacted me.

[Tracy Patton]

And, Ed, what do you know about Milano Bellachas?

[Ed Shohat]

I know very little. He was in prison at the time, I think doing a very significant drug sentence. What is only my opinion is that for some reason the prosecutors never sought to bring him into the case when the evidence was so clear that he ordered the hit. There's no statute of limitations on capital murder. I couldn't understand why Los Angeles County District Attorney's office didn't turn around and charge Bella Chessis with that murder. Maybe there's something I'm missing. It's entirely possible, but. And I'm only commenting here on the evidence as I understood it to be, and maybe there's something else out there that I don't know, but they just ended the case with the conviction of the four people in the trial in 1991.

[Tracy Patton]

Do you have any final thoughts, Ed, on the case and Laney and the verdict and her being in life in prison?

[Ed Shohat]

I wish she would get her sentence commuted after all these years in prison and she would get released and be able to return to her son and whatever family he has and live out her days in freedom. I wish that would happen for her. And if she would ask me, I'd be happy to help her with that.

[Tracy Patton]

Well, her story is fascinating. Ed, when are you writing your book?

[Ed Shohat]

You're not the only person that has asked me that question. And if I could, I'm a little bit different from some other lawyers. If I could figure out a way to do it right without violating my client confidences, I might try to do that.

[Tracy Patton]

Well, you have to do a fictionalized version then.

[Ed Shohat]

I also think that's somewhat of a myth, because it may be fictionalized, but if you're fictionalizing it to make it seem like a case and you're violating client privileges, it's still the same problem as far as I'm concerned. Well, thank you for saying that. Trust me, we're only scratching the surface here.

[Tracy Patton]

And one last quick question. When you just look back on the Cotton Club murder, the trial, Hollywood, that world compared to your world as an attorney in Miami, just what would you say?

[Ed Shohat]

The whole case was in some ways, a bit of a circus in so many different ways that we don't see here in South Florida, but I guess that goes with the territory.

[Tracy Patton]

So you're staying in Miami and continuing to practice law there?

[Ed Shohat]

I'm 77 years old, and as long as they ask me to do it, I'll do it.

[Tracy Patton]

You're still young. Okay, well, thank you so much for all of the fascinating stories and for shining a spotlight on the Cotton Club murder trial.

[Ed Shohat]

Thank you for having me.

[Narrator]

Follow Hollywood and Crime the Cotton Club.

[Tracy Patton]

Murder on the Wondery App, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator]

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[Tracy Patton]

Before you go, tell us about yourself.

[Narrator]

By completing a short [e-mail] survey this.

[Tracy Patton]

Is our final episode of the Cotton.

[Narrator]

Club murder from Hollywood and Crime.

[Tracy Patton]

Our show was produced by Tracy Patton, Rebecca Reynolds and Jim Carpenter.

[Narrator]

For Hollywood and Crime.

[Tracy Patton]

Our managing producer is Sophia Martins and our coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffin. Research by Adam Melian. Sound design is by Kyle Randall. Our audio engineer is Dan Pascina. Audio assembly by Daniel Gonzalez. Additional audio assistance from Adrian Tapia. For Wondery, our senior producer is Laura Donna Palovoda and our producer is Yasmin Ward. Executive producers are Erin O'Flaherty, Marshall Louie and Jen Sargent.

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