The real story behind 'Alpha Dog'

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

WEST HILLS, CALIF. - In Los Angeles, it’s a story that caused bewilderment disbelief and has now inspired a new movie, “Alpha Dog.”  It has provocative new roles for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars like Justin Timberlake and Sharon Stone.

In fact, it’s a story set not far from Hollywood itself.

In the West Hills section, there are million dollar homes. But amidst the swimming pools and tidy lawns of this well-kept neighborhood, a devoted mother got the worst possible news. 

Susan Markowitz, Nick Markowitz’s mother: When I was paging him, and he wasn’t answering I knew something was definitely wrong.

Like the stream of expensive cars cruising down the Boulevard, a dark undercurrent had been flowing beneath West Hills’ glossy views. A group of seemingly nice kids had become caught up in a lifestyle where life itself was cheap.  An entire city was shocked when these same kids stood accused of an unspeakable crime. 

But the accused ring leader got away for six years. But Susan Markowitz never gave up on bringing him to justice.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: This has, in many ways, been a mother’s quest.

Susan Markowitz: Right.

Hansen: Is the quest over now?

Susan Markowitz: It’ll never be over.

Her quest for justice began in West Hills. But eventually, authorities came to the hills of Brazil, half a world away. There are latest twists and turns in this story of a fugitive’s odyssey—including the birth of a child, and the release of a controversial new film based on the case. The fugitive himself even sounds like he was created by a screenwriter: His name is “Jesse James Hollywood.”         

Jesse Katz, Los Angeles Magazine senior writer: This is like one of those bad true crime tales come to life.  

Los Angeles Magazine senior writer Jesse Katz wrote an in-depth cover story about the tragedy that began here amidst the expensive homes.

Katz: It would be almost comical, or absurd, if it wasn’t so tragic. It’s a story about a very well-to-do part of Los Angeles that lost its way.

Susan and Jeff Markowitz’s lives will never be the same. They have since moved, but back in the 1990s they were living the good life.  Jeff’s family company produced aviation components. Susan was a homemaker. West Hills was a great place to bring up their kids— a daughter and son from Jeff’s former marriage, and their own 15-year-old son Nick.   

Hansen: How would you describe Nick to someone who never met him?

Susan Markowitz: The funniest person on earth. He just had so much energy. I don’t know what was going on in his head but he would do anything to make us laugh.

His parents say Nick, who liked sports and theatre, was a typical, fun-loving 15-year-old. But that wasn’t the case with his older half-brother, Ben.

Hansen: Ben was a troublemaker.

Jeff Markowitz: No, not really a troublemaker; but he was always there when there was trouble.  And, the things escalated from there a lot of times. 

Hansen: Was he a tough kid to have around?

Susan Markowitz: Definitely—and I think, as a parent, I made some very poor choices. 

The Markowitzes say they tried everything to help Ben.  Ben worked with his dad for a time, but he continued to get into trouble at home and into scrapes with the law. Susan was frightened that Nick, who idolized his older half-brother, would soon be led into trouble too.

Hansen: And how difficult was it for you to try to insulate Nick from all of this?

Susan Markowitz: It was doing double time.

Jeff eventually gave Ben an ultimatum: obey the rules or move out.  It’s a decision he regrets to this day. 

Jeff Markowitz: If I would have held onto Ben and kept him in my household, he wouldn’t have been on the street.  He wouldn’t have been involved in, maybe, some of the other things that he got involved in.

Hansen: Perhaps wouldn’t have met Jesse James Hollywood?

Jeff Markowitz: He probably wouldn’t have met Jesse James Hollywood.

Jesse James Hollywood: It’s his real name listed on his birth certificate.  Hollywood lived a few blocks away from the Markowitz family, and soon Ben and Jesse became friends. 

Years earlier, Jesse James Hollywood and his friends seemed like all American kids. They grew up playing Little League together, coached by Jesse’s dad, Jack Hollywood, on the ball fields of West Hills.

Katz: Jack was savvy enough that he knew how to blend into the L.A. suburbia.  He was a Little League coach, he was well-spoken, he took care of his family, he wasn’t a flashy guy calling attention to himself.

Hansen: But he was long suspected of being a major marijuana dealer. 

Katz: He was.

No matter what his father did, as a kid, Jesse James Hollywood did not seem destined for trouble.  He was a good athlete, and attended El Camino Real High School, considered one of California’s best public schools. 

But by 10^th grade, Hollywood was expelled. He transferred to a nearby school two years later and graduated. But a young life that seemed so full of promise had begun to take a very different path.

Unlike so many of his classmates, Jesse Hollywood didn’t go to college.  Instead,  police say,  he eventually went into business for himself. Hollywood had his own house. He had bought it with a big cash down payment the year before, when he was just 19. 

How does someone this young afford his own house? According to police, the 5’4 former star Little Leaguer had become a marijuana dealer—and he brought a few long-time friends into the business.

The group eventually included Ben Markowitz. 

Hansen: What was the relationship between Jesse James Hollywood and Ben Markowitz?

Katz: That was a really complex relationship.  Jesse James Hollywood, he was probably a wannabe bad boy.  Ben Markowitz was a real bad boy. 

At Hollywood’s West Hills home, it was one big party regularly videotaped by Jesse James Hollywood and his friends as they drank beer, smoked pot, and goofed around.

Katz:  It was a real scene.  Cars, girls, music, booze.  I mean they were living this extended spring break.

Yet when it came to business, Hollywood reportedly was dead serious.

Hansen: Take me inside the Jesse James Hollywood posse.

Katz:  He would give them a certain amount of pot to sell.  And they used whatever neighborhood connections they had to sell it. And some of them would bring back the money that they earned. And some would come up short.  And the ones that came up short became almost like indentured servants to Jesse James Hollywood.

Over time, authorities say, young Jesse Hollywood, a smart, friendly, fun-loving Little Leaguer, had turned into a tough guy pot dealer.

Hollywood allegedly ruled with an iron hand and ordered those in his debt to clean up after his dogs and pick up empty beer cans around his house.

Hansen: They were the servants.

Katz: They were.  And he was like the center of the universe.

In one videotape, Hollywood is seen apparently demanding payment on a debt from one of his childhood friends, by now a posse member.

Katz: Jesse James Hollywood was a businessman. He was running a dope-dealing crew. The people around him were basically lost souls. These were kids without were smoking a lot of pot and drinking a lot of beer. Jesse James was kind of the center of their universe. And these kids were smoking so much of his dope that they almost all fell into debt to him. 

According to police, Ben Markowitz owed Jesse James Hollywood money too. Around $1,200 dollars at one point.

But Ben Markowitz’s relationship with Jesse James Hollywood was different.  Some observers say as tough as Jesse James Hollywood supposedly was, he was actually fearful of Ben Markowitz and saw him as a threat.

Katz: Ben was dangerous to Jesse James Hollywood. None of the other kids would stand up to him.  None of them wanted to fall out of Jesse James Hollywood’s favor.  Ben Markowitz just didn’t seem to care. And he was probably the only member of that crew that didn’t cow tow to Jesse James Hollywood.  Jesse James Hollywood would tell him, “You owe me money.”  Ben Markowitz says, “Screw you.”

As Hollywood allegedly grew angrier about Ben’s debt, there was a teenager in West Hills who had no idea he was about to become a pawn in the feud.

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