The Other Hollywood

by Legs McNeil

  And I says, “You gotta be kidding? I got a big-time pornographer that was killed.” We started talking, and this guy had been picked up for receiving stolen property. It was interesting because it fit in with what I was thinking already.

  And this snitch Fitzgerald had was talking about another guy in Simi Valley, who was on federal probation for violation of the firearms act. He had manufactured some fully automatic weapons.

  TOM BYRON: Paul Thomas told me about Teddy before I read it in the news. “Hey, did you hear about Ted Snyder? He got whacked.”

  I said, “Really? Well, that, you know, kind of makes sense, given the circles that he reputedly ran with.”

  Paul said, “Yeah, you know, they think it might have been his wife.”

  I said, “Really. Well, that sort of makes sense, too.”

  “Yeah, the guy, you know, he’s kind of an asshole sometimes, you know, I mean he, you know, he threatened me with a gun a couple of times.”

  I said, “Oh, I heard that, too.”

  FRED LINCOLN: When Teddy was doing coke he wasn’t logical no more—making Sharon fuck guys he brought over and he would videotape it. She was gorgeous! But Teddy never said for me to fuck her—I mean, I’d have kept her, you know? Everybody knew that about me in those days.

  TOM BYRON: That was happening a lot in the early 1980s, you know? A lot of people turning up dead or missing. I mean, certain people ran this business back then—people that probably had a rap sheet or two; it wasn’t the corporate, legitimate machine that it is now.

  LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS, JANUARY 28, 1990: RAID LED BACK TO SLAIN MAN’S WIFE, UNRELATED CASE SPURRED THE ARREST OF SPOUSE, FRIEND IN PORN MAKER’S KILLING: “When Theodore Snyder was shot and killed on a Northridge street last August, police said it looked like a mob killing out of the ‘Untouchables’—he was hit nine times in a barrage from a machine gun.”

  PHIL VANNATTER: That snitch was a hanger-on with the Hell’s Angels. He had long hair, was all buffed up from being in jail, and was wired on speed all the time. The sheriffs up there knew him well. They actually had a barricade situation with him, where they had to go in and get him out of this house with the SWAT team. You know, that kind of guy.

  This firearm that Teddy was killed with—that snitch made the gun.

  TIM CONNELLY: I only met Sharon Snyder once. She was probably good-looking in her heyday, which was probably in the mid to late seventies. And she was pretty strong; I think she really ran a lot of what was going on in Teddy’s life, more than most people knew.

  FRED LINCOLN: Sharon had been with Teddy for ten or fifteen years. Then she finally married him, and after like nine or ten months she got a divorce—because she wanted to get half the money.

  Well, she goes to court and the judge notifies her that they’d be willing to give her, like, three years, so she’s not entitled to anything. Oh God, she was devastated!

  This girl was fucking pissed!

  LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS, JANUARY 28, 1990: RAID LED BACK TO SLAIN MAN’S WIFE: “In the end, the five-month probe led detectives right back to where they started—to Snyder’s Woodland Hills home and his wife, Sharon.

  “Last week, Sharon Snyder, 39, and an acquaintance, 47-year-old Victor Diaz of Reseda, were charged with the killing of Theodore Snyder in a plot to take over Snyder’s estate.”

  PHIL VANNATTER: The snitch had told us that he had given Victor Diaz the gun, and had fired some shots into the floor of his house with it. So, with his permission, we went out to the house, recovered the ballistics evidence, and had it compared with the ballistics evidence from the murder. It was the same gun.

  Apparently Diaz and this snitch were dealing dope together. That’s how the guy met Sharon. In fact, he ended up with her mink coat as a trade for the gun. There wasn’t one good person in this whole thing, including the victim. They all were a bunch of dirtbags.

  FRED LINCOLN: Sharon gave Teddy’s killer, Victor Diaz, a ten-thousand-dollar bill.

  PHIL VANNATTER: That’s where I started to put the whole thing together, when the snitch told me he had supplied the gun to Victor Diaz and that Diaz had told him that Sharon paid him with a ten-thousand-dollar bill.

  So I asked Bobby Genova, “Did Teddy have a ten-thousand-dollar bill?”

  He said, “Yeah, he had it framed and hanging on his den wall.”

  Sharon was not a rocket scientist.

  LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS, JANUARY 28, 1990: RAID LED BACK TO SLAIN MAN’S WIFE: “Sharon Snyder promised Diaz $20,000 to kill her husband, and later gave Diaz a $10,000 bill from her husband’s rare money collection as a down payment…. Diaz tried unsuccessfully to exchange the rare bill for smaller bills at a Ventura County bank, and it came to the attention of authorities, police said.

  “The complaint also charges that Diaz bought a .38 caliber Mac II machine gun…on or about August 1, the day Theodore Snyder was killed. Police believe Diaz used the gun to kill Snyder.

  “Snyder and Diaz are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and special circumstances allegations that could mean the death penalty if they are convicted.”

  PHIL VANNATTER: Victor Diaz went to a preliminary hearing; then, when he went to superior court, he just pled guilty. And they worked out a deal for him to testify against Sharon.

  I always felt Diaz was a real dirtbag—but I also felt that he’d been manipulated by Sharon. So I always thought she was more culpable in the murder. Because Victor Diaz would have never killed Teddy Snyder if it hadn’t been for Sharon. The thought wouldn’t have even crossed his mind.

  FRED LINCOLN: Sharon Snyder got beat up real bad in jail by the other inmates. Why? I dunno, maybe they came on to her, and she said no. Was it payback for Teddy? Could’ve been. I mean, there’s no question Teddy was connected.

  The funny part is, Diaz got a letter in jail, supposedly from Sharon, telling him how sorry she was—she just felt so bad and if there was some way she could take it back, she would. Diaz wrote to his lawyer about it. But Sharon was a very tough woman—she might have had somebody else write the letter and put her name on it. But his lawyer brought the letter to court, like, “Ha! We got her!”

  PHIL VANNATTER: Victor Diaz was horribly in love with Sharon. She had seduced him and told him that once Teddy was gone, they would be together all the time. Diaz was flattered because he’s a big, fat, ugly Hispanic man, and when Sharon was cleaned up, she was halfway attractive. But otherwise, she was horrible looking, you know?

  LOS ANGELES TIMES, AUGUST 17, 1991: INCRIMINATING LETTER IS NOT DEFEN DANT’S, WITNESS SAYS: “A handwriting expert testified Friday that a Woodland Hills woman on trial for murder did not write a letter in which she purportedly admitted her role in the machine gun slaying of her pornographer husband.

  “The letter was studied by Los Angeles police handwriting expert Phora Graigh, who testified that she compared samples of both Snyder and Victor Diaz, the confessed triggerman, and determined that neither of them wrote the letter.

  ‘The letter was contrived by Diaz,’ Alex R. Kessel, Snyder’s attorney said. ‘The bottom line is that he had someone do it. He had it prepared.’

  FRED LINCOLN: They didn’t get her.

  LOS ANGELES TIMES, AUGUST 31, 1991: JURY ACQUITS WIFE IN 1989 SLAYING OF SEX-VIDEO MAKER: “The witness, Victor Diaz, 47, who admitted killing flamboyant sex-video producer Theodore J. Snyder, testified that he did it at Sharon Snyder’s behest because he was in love with her, and she had promised to share the inheritance with him.

  “In return for his testimony, Diaz, an admitted cocaine dealer, was allowed to plead no contest to second degree murder and has been promised a maximum sentence of seventeen years to life.

  “Had she been convicted, Sharon Snyder could have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

  “After the verdict was read, Sharon Snyder smiled broadly for several minutes, then quickly left with bailiffs.

  “Jurors said that Diaz’s credibility plummeted when he said that Sn
yder had sent him a letter from jail implicating herself in the Aug. 1, 1989 slaying and pleading with him to ‘take the whole rap for me.’”

  PHIL VANNATTER: When Diaz got on the stand, he said, “Yes, I killed him because Sharon wanted me to. Yes, Sharon gave me a ten-thousand-dollar bill.” But he wasn’t real convincing with it. He actually said, “I still love her. I loved her then, and I love her now.”

  FRED LINCOLN: That’s why it was thrown out.

  PHIL VANNATTER: I asked the jury foreman, “How in the world could you not find this woman guilty with the evidence we put forward?”

  And his only response was, “We hated Victor Diaz so much we didn’t want to believe him. Yes, she’s done some horrible things, but if we can’t believe Victor Diaz, then we can’t convict her.” That was their whole feeling.

  Sharon was going for sympathy. She was up-front: “Victor Diaz did this. I didn’t have any hand in it.” Even though we were able to show the connection with the payoff, the jury didn’t buy it. I still don’t know why.

  I hated losing that case more than I did the O. J. Simpson case.

  Sharon Snyder’s attorney told me afterward, laughing, “You know, Sharon wants me to sue you.”

  And I said, “Well, let’s get it on. I want to get all the evidence out again.”

  And he said, “Oh, no! I told her, let’s let sleeping dogs lie.”

  Sharon wanted to sue me for false arrest because I arrested her, and she was found not guilty.

  Everyone in this case was a space cadet.

  SHARON MITCHELL: Sharon Snyder may have gotten out of jail, but she didn’t get off. She lost half her face in state prison.

  Part 11:

  FAME AND MISFORTUNE

  Rock and Roll High School

  LOS ANGELES

  1990–1992

  MICHAEL ALAGO (FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, ELEKTRA RECORDS): I had already signed Metallica to Elektra, and around 1990 I signed White Zombie to Geffen. I was hiring tons of escorts, and since I’m gay, all of the escorts were men from the porn industry. But I was with a buddy of mine at the Sunset Marquee, and we were all coked up, and somebody gave me Savannah’s number. It was like a dare, almost. He said, “You’re not gonna fucking call her and get her to do this?”

  I said, “Man, I do this all the time with men. Let’s just fuckin’ do it.”

  So at midnight, we were all fucked up, and I called her, told her who I was, and this is what I did. I knew she was escorting, so could she come by?

  BILL MARGOLD: Savannah was a somewhat attractive little blond marshmallow who came into the business in the early 1990s.

  SAVANNAH: I started my career as a nude model. I’ve shot for a lot of magazines, Hustler and Penthouse, and most of the others. At first, I didn’t know if I’d be taking my clothes off for a photographer, but after I did it, I thought it was really hot. It’s kind of a sexual thing between the model and photographer; you make love to the camera. You know, the long lenses and the clicking, and I’m there moving around in different positions, showing him my pussy and tits, trying to turn him on.

  Have I ever fucked a photographer after a session? I’m not saying.

  MARC CARRIERE: With Savannah, I think we felt she was going to be big. I knew Savannah very well. I knew a lot about her problems; I knew her lifestyle. She was a pretty wild one.

  MICHAEL ALAGO: I wish I could remember who I was with, but he was eating Savannah out while we were fucking her. You know, we just both took turns. We were surprised and amazed that we could get it up—because we were so coked up and drunk.

  And, you know, I never fuck women. But Savannah was just fucking genius, you know? We bowed down to her, the way you bow down to certain people in life.

  TOM BYRON: Savannah—Savannahhhh! Savannah was a very, very pretty girl—enjoyed cocaine immensely. People said she was a cold fuck. I didn’t agree. I was one of the few people she would work with because I don’t buy into that whole cold fish thing. To me it was a challenge to get some real emotion out of her. We played this game—I’d be fuckin’ her, and I’d say, “Oh, that feels good.”

  And she’d say “No, it doesn’t.” Ha, ha, ha!

  SAVANNAH: It’s been said that when I’m having sex on camera, sometimes I look detached, almost as if I don’t want to be there. That’s just the way I am. I’m not a screamer or someone who likes to bounce and jump around a lot. I like to relax and feel it.

  VERONICA HART: Savannah was gorgeous, but I don’t think anybody would say that her sexual scenes were the hottest, or you know, she was the most into it.

  SAVANNAH: I’m not into women. Yeah, I enjoy sucking cock, but it doesn’t get me off or anything. Do I like guys coming on my face? YUCK! I don’t see what’s so hot about that—getting all that gooky stuff all over me. I don’t mind so much on my tits or my stomach or my ass, but on the face, it makes me feel like I just blew my nose all over myself. That’s not sexy. For me, anyway.

  HENRI PACHARD: I suspected most of the women were in the business because they were really more frigid than they would let on. They weren’t really capable of having an orgasm, and what better way to hide that than to become a porno star? You know, to act like you’re really turned on and hot? I think the reason they don’t have a good sex life is because they were abused as children, psychologically or sexually—probably sexually.

  SAVANNAH: My boob job was a business decision. My manager at the time thought that I would be worth more money, and he paid for them, so why not? I think guys out there have this thing for big tits. It really helps. I almost doubled my daily fee after the operation. I like the attention. I like the way men flaunt all over me. I’m a natural show-off.

  RON JEREMY: Savannah would laugh at girls less pretty than she was and make girls feel really bad. Then it occurred to me what I learned at school—that if you don’t really love yourself, you’re not gonna love other people, either. You have a hard time understanding emotion when your parents screwed you from ground zero.

  But Savannah’s dad was a lot smarter. He didn’t try to blame the porn business because there was supposedly some abuse in the family before she got into porn.

  MIKE WILSEY (SAVANNAH’S FATHER): When she was two years old, or less than two, her mom and I would play music on the stereo, and she’d just start dancing, you know, doing this cute little Indian dance. We’d just play our song over and over, just to watch her dance.

  RON JEREMY: She never told me, but I know Savannah had a lot of problems with her father because it came out from friends of hers I knew. Her best friend and agent was Nancy Pera.

  NANCY PERA: Savannah was signed as a contract girl about six months after I started working at Vivid. I directed her in quite a few movies—most of them were for Video Exclusives, Leisure Time—but the first ones I directed her in were for Vivid Video. Savannah and I got along; I was sort of her babysitter.

  And anything that Savannah would do, [Vivid Video founder] Steve Hirsch would yell at me for. I always got in trouble because I was always with Savannah when anything was happening. And a lot of things happened.

  PAM LONGORIA (SAVANNAH’S MOTHER): Everything I’m reading so far is just destroying me because there’s so many lies being printed about her. In the Los Angeles Times it said she had an unhappy childhood and that she was molested as a child, which is not true. I always told her I loved her no matter what she was doing for a living. We never shunned her or nothing because of what she was—I mean, what her occupation was. I mean, we loved her unconditionally. And she knew it.

  MIKE WILSEY: Me and her original mother had a lot of serious problems. I had a lot of remorse because of that—being angry with her mother—and Savannah suffered the consequences of my own selfishness. A man should love a child no matter what. I did, but reservedly. I wasn’t here for her during most of her young years. I left her alone, and I think she grew up with a hole in her heart.

  SAVANNAH [LETTER TO HER FATHER]: “You do not care about me and you never have. If you�
�re ‘there for me’ then where were you 23 years ago? Where were you when I bounced from ‘relative’ to ‘relative’ because NO ONE WANTED ME? Where were you when I was 17, going out with Gregg [Allman], a 42-year-old man? (Looking for the father I never had.) You are so fake and I will NEVER FORGIVE YOU.

  “YOU THINK ‘God’ has—but if there is a God he sees the torture & pain I have been through since I was born and couldn’t possibly forgive you! You will die knowing that YOUR 1ST BORN CHILD HOPES YOU ROT IN HELL WITH ALL THE PAIN I HAVE INSIDE—BECAUSE OF YOU!”

  NANCY PERA: Savannah was in Texas visiting her family, and she had an autograph party scheduled in New Jersey at IBD—Frank Koretsky’s store. I was going there to babysit her and make sure she showed up.

  I met Savannah at the airport, and she came out and said, “I’m really sick.”

  I was motherly. “We’ll get you some chicken soup. You’re probably coming down with the flu or something.”

  Savannah said, “No, it’s not that. It’s drugs.”

  I asked, “What kind of drugs?” And finally she told me it was heroin.

  BILL MARGOLD: I think a lot of Savannah’s problems had nothing to do with the X-rated industry—they were more economically driven. Her childhood was not all that stable. And Savannah came to the industry with an awful lot of baggage, but for a while we gave her first-class trunks.