So many times in my life there has been cross roads and interactions with people that I gave no thought to, it was just another day in the life of John J. Nazarian. My encounter with the corpse of Cass Elliott at Groman’s Mortuary back in the day. Then years later I would meet and become friends with Michele Phillips. Or my dealings with the Manson Klan and then years later meeting and working with Vincent Bugliosi, the man who put that “Klan” in prison for life.
There would be a time when I got signed by Telepictures for a 12 show deal, and one of them was the O.J. Simpson story, that still airs in different markets across the world today. Vincent had written a book titled OUTRAGE and we were lucky to have Vincent Bugliosi involved as a consultant on the show. Talk about an opportunity, the man himself was going to meet with me and discuss his thoughts.
I drove out to his home with the film crew and it was where I took a photo of my Bentley! When I told him that I had dealt with the Manson Girls as well as Charlee he was really surprised. Again, what are the chances of such a meeting, other than in the life of John J. Nazarian? The house was a small comfortable home on the outskirts of Los Angeles which he shared with his lovely wife.
Meeting one of the top prosecutors of my time was a great experience, I can still hear his voice, it sounded the same as what I recalled listening to on the news during the trial back when I was a young man. And here I was sitting in the kitchen of Vincent Bugliosi -he and I were having a conversation about O.J. Simpson and Vincent’s thoughts on that slap on the face of every law abiding citizen in America. It was a big payback from the black community to the rest of America.
Vincent Bugliosi died June 6, 2015 in the city that he loved. There will never, ever be another like him.