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00:01We had scheduled a bout with Gino Hernandez. However, we've reached a
00:05milestone, a sad moment in world-class championship wrestling. Gino Hernandez
00:10is dead. On February the 4th, 1986, the professional wrestling world was in shock.
00:1828 year old wrestler Gino Hernandez was dead. The popular wrestling star's badly decomposed body was
00:25discovered late last night at his home in Highland Park. He had apparently been
00:28dead for several days. So a lot of people when Gino died, they know exactly what
00:34happened. Now listen to the person telling the story, it's not even close to true
00:37because I live the story. Dallas police say it's Hernandez might have been murdered.
00:41The rumor grows, the story grows, and it gets more grandiose as it grows. At the time of Gino's death,
00:48Gino was already a major talent. He was caught up in a very fast life and as a result of
00:54that,
00:54he paid. And he paid with his life. Well, in all respect to Gino Hernandez, I think the Gino Hernandez
01:01you saw in the ring was very much like the Gino Hernandez outside the ring. And he was one who
01:07typically did everything his way. As a mother, I got a lot of questions that nobody has ever,
01:14ever answered me. Many believe that Gino's death was a tragic accident. But for over 30 years,
01:22family members and wrestlers have believed it to be murder. Well, I think there are a lot of rumors
01:27in wrestling and it just comes from us being able to tell a story, man. We're trying to figure out
01:32the
01:33inside scoop on everything. The only people that know what really happened to Gino was whoever was there.
01:41A lot has been taken away from me, and God has blessed me to let me stay here this long
01:45and say this finally. I think my son was murdered. I don't think it. I almost know it.
01:56In this episode, we put to rest decades of rumors and investigate one of wrestling's darkest mysteries.
02:11Beautiful pictures, beautiful memories with our beautiful family. He had a wonderful personality.
02:18He was a good son. He was a good father. And I want everybody to remember him as a good
02:27man.
02:27I think the hardest thing for me was when he became a bad guy. And as a child at the
02:32wrestling matches,
02:35like, people throwing pennies at us, all these girls coming up to the ring saying,
02:39sign it. And he'd like rip it and throw it. And I was like a little girl. I was like,
02:42oh, no. You know, that's a bad guy.
02:46As I say, in the ring, Gino was evil.
02:49Don't attempt to adjust your sensor. What you see is real. The most gorgeous human being on this earth.
02:53He had it. He was special.
02:57He was the type of guy that could have fit right in with a Randy Macho Man Savage or some
03:00of those guys.
03:01So who knows where Gino would have went?
03:03You can't buy it. You can't steal it. You can't borrow it. You either got it or you don't.
03:09It's called charisma. And he had charisma around it.
03:11You guys worked some matches here?
03:13Yeah, tag matches. Yeah.
03:15Who's the wrestler that you hate the most?
03:17Gino! Gino!
03:18And Gino was cocky, arrogant, good-looking, talented.
03:22If you were to see Gino, you would have thought he was connected or he was a celebrity of some
03:27type.
03:28He always just looked like money.
03:30It was all about the finest suits, the finest custom-made shirts, the rings and the watches.
03:37You name it, that was Gino. And it wasn't a gimmick. That was him.
03:42If he wanted to, he could take that room and have everybody in that room hating his guts and wanting
03:47to kill him in real life.
03:50I overcome any obstacle in my life, and especially some hormone-embodged female that tries to stick her nose in
03:57a man's business.
03:59And he can talk.
04:01And it's easy to hate somebody who's good-looking, got money or whatever, got the pretty girl on the side,
04:08and must be nice.
04:10Full head of hair, got all that shit, you know?
04:13I'd like to show you and the people pictures, no other.
04:17Farrah Fawcett, I think they had a few dates.
04:19Who does she choose to be with?
04:22My wife was on the front row, and he said some of the things he would say to him.
04:25I don't know that I wouldn't be waiting outside to knock him out.
04:27It almost came natural for him.
04:28One night, Geno had said something, and he insulted to the point this big cowboy guy was getting up.
04:34He was headed to the ring.
04:35And the police stopped him.
04:36Well, Geno starts saying, let him go, let him go, let him come in here, to the point he convinced
04:41the police, let him go.
04:42And then Geno's telling me, stop him, stop him.
04:45He's whispering in the back of my ear.
04:46But I told him in the dressing room, I said, you bit that off, you chew it.
04:50David Manning, I was the referee and promoter and booker for World Class Championship Wrestling.
04:57From 77, 78, till around 89.
05:02Probably I'd been in the business for about three, four years, five years, when Geno started coming in.
05:06At that time, I was a referee, and he was a wrestler.
05:09The greatest thing about Geno being a heel was, one, the microphone.
05:12Geno's one of the few pieces of talent.
05:14I'd actually put Geno in the category of a Ric Flair, a Jim Cornette, a Michael Hayes.
05:19The people that you just hand them a mic, and they can do it.
05:23Tonight's the night, I told you, I brought out the $60,000 limo.
05:28Tonight, the World Junior Airways Champion.
05:31Not bad for a kid from Spring Ranch High, huh?
05:34You know, he was real close with the promoter, Paul Bosch, in Houston.
05:38Where Geno got his big, big break was Houston.
05:41Gorgeous Geno.
05:43I remember meeting Geno when he had to be 17, 18 years old.
05:47Good-looking guy, you know, good body and everything, and had chicks all over him.
05:52Full of himself, conceited.
05:54I was just a kid, so he treated me like a kid at the time.
06:00I was a professional model at one time.
06:04Most of the time, I just took care of my daughter and my son, Geno.
06:08I was a single parent.
06:09Do you prefer to call him Charles or Geno or...
06:12Mm-mm, Geno.
06:13Geno?
06:13Well, if you were a wrestler, would you rather use the name Charles or Geno?
06:18Because Geno always referred to himself as Gorgeous Geno.
06:22Gorgeous Geno Hernandez.
06:25Gigi with two Gs on the back of his jacket.
06:29He had Louis' name.
06:31Geno sometimes would kind of prance around, brag that his dad was Louis Hernandez, you know.
06:38Did they play wrestle at all in the house and stuff?
06:41Lord, yes.
06:43From morning to night.
06:46Well, I've always been a fan of wrestling all my life, and my father was a wrestler, and
06:51he died when I was 12 years old.
06:54And I began to start training for wrestling from the time I was in high school, and I turned
06:59professional at the age of 17, right out of high school.
07:02When he got into the ring, it was like he'd been wrestling for years.
07:08He was flying off the rope, and I'm going, where did he learn that from?
07:12He said, my dad did it for me.
07:14I was wearing his shoes.
07:16He said he did everything for me.
07:19And of course, I had to cry when he told me that.
07:22We were married very young.
07:23We were both 18, and we had our first child, so that started our family.
07:29I'm Janice Gillespie, and I grew up in Houston, Texas, and that is where I met Charles Wolfe,
07:35who you might know as Geno Hernandez.
07:38After we were married, he kept his life very separate, so he had his professional life.
07:43And he'd work out in the mornings, and then he'd have to work out in the afternoon, and
07:46it really consumed most of his day, and then he had his family.
07:52There was really very little mixing outside of just family.
07:56There was the soft side of him.
07:59It was really a pushover.
08:01He loved his children very, very much.
08:04Everybody knows I'm the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour.
08:08You know, going back and watching the footage and hearing him talk.
08:13227 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal.
08:17It's like a voice I always knew.
08:19Really, everywhere we went, people knew he was Geno.
08:24He would get into his persona, his character, especially when he became a heel.
08:29He would really be very, very intimidating.
08:32It made me very uncomfortable to be around him when you would stand like that.
08:37Has there been times in your life where your wrestling persona has bled into your real life?
08:43Jake Roberts never had a fucking problem in his life.
08:46He's a bad motherfucker that don't give a fuck about anybody, and he's going to do what he pleases,
08:50and he's going to go on with life.
08:51Don't fuck with him.
08:52He will fuck you up.
08:54Aurelian Smith, on the other hand, is a human being, man, that cares about other people.
08:59He's made some mistakes.
09:01He's a recovering alcoholic addict.
09:03So, yeah, that guy has problems.
09:06Jake Slade doesn't.
09:07For people to get mad at me for when I get on TV and say I'm the latest and I'm
09:11the greatest
09:11and I'm so fine that I'm divine, for people to say I'm conceited, I don't understand it.
09:15He lived his gimmick in the ring, and he lived it out of the ring.
09:18We're into sports cars.
09:19We're into fast cars, faster women, and fast life.
09:22He lived it, he ate it, and he slept it.
09:25He loved every minute, and he could bring that on just like that.
09:28And I used to tell him, you can drop that now, I know who you are.
09:34I know that he and Chris had a very successful tag team, the dynamic duo.
09:38Chris Adams was, he was a good guy.
09:41He could be a good friend as long as alcohol wasn't involved.
09:44They were a great team.
09:45We got the looks, we got the ability, we got the money, we got the women, we got the belt.
09:52And from now on, we are number one.
09:55We're bad, we're real bad.
09:57We're bad to the bone.
09:59All right.
10:00They're bad to the bone.
10:01Well, there they go.
10:02Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez.
10:04See you guys.
10:06Gino's social life and his life outside of wrestling was just as flamboyant as inside the Coliseum when Gino came
10:17to perform.
10:18Matter of fact, one of the highlighted matches at one of the biggest draws we ever had was at the
10:22Cotton Bowl.
10:23It's all come down to the Cotton Bowl tomorrow at 3 p.m.
10:27And it was Gino and Chris Adams against Kevin and Kerry, a hair match.
10:34Chris and Gino both had just gorgeous hair down, you know, the whole thing, the sculptured look.
10:40And the Bonnericks both had long hair, so people weren't sure what was going to happen here.
10:44And he would get in that ring and he just owned the crowd.
10:46He knew exactly what he was doing.
10:48I've seen a lot of wrestlers in my life, and I've seen a lot of guys try to do what
10:52Gino did.
10:53And he was such an artist.
10:56And sure enough, Gino and Chris lost.
10:59And I remember they were holding them in those seats, and they brought the razors out.
11:02The crowd was going crazy.
11:04They were cheering.
11:04They were so happy these guys were fixing to lose their hair.
11:06And they had the perfect reaction, you know.
11:08And it just elevated the feud.
11:13There was a nightclub in Houston called Judges that Gino frequented quite a bit.
11:19That was the place to go on Friday night after the matches and party all night long.
11:24My name is Gino Williams.
11:26In 1985, Chris asked me to move to Dallas.
11:30And he said, you live next door to my friend Gino Hernandez.
11:34So Gino and I were neighbors.
11:37Gino was front and center, man.
11:38It wasn't like it was a secret that Gino did drugs.
11:41From smoking dope to cocaine and uppers and downers.
11:45It was the 70s and 80s, and we all did.
11:47I never saw Gino out of control on drugs.
11:52But Gino liked to party and have a good time.
11:54Gino comes knocking on the door.
11:55His eyes are huge.
11:57And he's like, touch my head.
11:59Oh, my God, my hair.
12:00Because I just had the hair shaved.
12:02And so we all decided we'd go to a nightclub.
12:05We get in the car, and he's going about 100 miles an hour.
12:09And he has this tiny piece of paper.
12:12And he says, just take this.
12:16We get to the club.
12:18And then everybody's just, everything's going all strange.
12:23And Gino is laughing.
12:25I want to go to the bathroom.
12:26And as I was walking, it was like my feet were going in clouds.
12:30And I come to find out afterwards that Gino had given me some acid.
12:39I was in Las Vegas one time, and Gino had a friend with him.
12:44This particular gentleman had a plane.
12:46They had rented the whole top suite floor of the hotel there,
12:51just partying for like three days.
12:54But I knew a lot of those guys were,
12:55I don't know if they were furnishing it all to him.
12:57But from that time on, after Las Vegas, it was just a slowly progression.
13:03Gino just, he ran with a pretty tough crowd in Houston.
13:06You know, if you hang around trouble, you're going to get trouble.
13:10It's like I always say, getting into the wrestling is like getting into the mob.
13:13Once you're in, you're in.
13:14It can go the other way, too.
13:16So you've got to watch who you hang out with.
13:23Unknown to his family, Gino had been running with a fast and dangerous crowd.
13:28But the party wouldn't last much longer.
13:30Do you know or have you heard about some of those people that he was hanging around?
13:34Those heavier folks?
13:36I just heard it was like, no, I don't know.
13:39I don't know.
13:40I don't know.
13:41I don't know, man.
13:44That's, that's, what I said is what it was.
13:47I heard that it was people that she didn't mess with that had power in the city of Houston
13:53and Dallas.
13:55And there's certainly those kind of people out there.
13:57Well, when our children were young, we divorced.
14:00I just didn't feel so safe about some of the people he might be hanging out with, things
14:04I was hearing.
14:05These were strong, powerful people within the city that might not have liked certain
14:11things getting out.
14:12There was just a side of, of him and people he ran with that they were, I felt dangerous.
14:21By 1986, there was a shift in the dynamic duo's storyline, which saw Chris and Gino turn
14:28against each other, igniting a vicious rivalry.
14:37Yeah, one of Gino's last matches was he and Chris, we did a gimmick where, uh, I think
14:43it's narrow.
14:43It was like, you know, girls get it to get rid of hair.
14:47Gino sprayed it in Chris's eyes.
14:49And for weeks, Chris wore this thing he couldn't see and, and stuff like this.
14:52He said, whatever the gimmick was in the ring, that was the gimmick out of the ring.
14:57And so even around in the public, Chris would, you know, like he couldn't hardly see.
15:01And, uh, uh, his wife, Tony would lead him around and bumping into chairs.
15:05And, uh, that's what I really liked about the end.
15:07And whatever happened, you took it with you.
15:10Do you remember the last time you saw him to me and told me about that?
15:12Super Bowl Sunday, 1986.
15:17He was in a hurry, always in a hurry.
15:22Did he seem like he was worried about anything to you at that time?
15:25Mm-hmm.
15:25Can you talk about that?
15:26Mm-hmm.
15:28He was very fidgety and nervous when he came in.
15:34Say what you gotta say and leave.
15:37She knew something was going on because he had come home to her home.
15:41And he had something and he put it somewhere in her home.
15:45And he, uh, was acting nervous and antsy and felt like something might happen to him.
15:52And who it was, I don't think she knew who he was afraid of or who he was worried about.
15:58Do you know what he hid in her house?
16:01You're afraid to.
16:01No.
16:02Was he nervous?
16:03Yeah.
16:04Real nervous.
16:06And Gina wasn't afraid of anything.
16:08But there's certain things you can't dodge.
16:11If somebody wants to get you, they'll get you.
16:15He came to the matches one night and he came running in my office and he was telling me this
16:20story.
16:21And he said, you wouldn't believe it, Dave.
16:23You wouldn't believe it.
16:23And he said, I'm driving and I look in the back and I can see someone sitting in the back.
16:27And he said, I didn't know what to do.
16:28And he said, so I'm watching to see if they're going to try to stab me or whatever.
16:31And he says, so all of a sudden I just slammed on the brakes.
16:33And then they jumped out the back and they ran off.
16:36And he said, I think they were going to kill me.
16:38He's like, I need a gun.
16:41I could just tell.
16:41He was scared to death.
16:43And so I said, no, I don't have a gun with me, Gino.
16:46I said, but I think you're okay.
16:47I think, you know, maybe you just saw something.
16:49And he was like, no, no, no.
16:51They're following me.
16:52I'm afraid something's going to happen to me.
16:54You know, I got to get a gun.
16:55I got to get a gun.
16:56He was adamant someone was sitting in the back seat of his car.
17:00And he got a glimpse of him through his rearview mirror.
17:04Maybe Gino was telling me the truth all these times that someone was either stalking him or someone was after
17:09him or someone was going to kill him.
17:11And that night was the last night I saw Gino.
17:15The last time I saw Gino live, he said, hey, kiddo, look what I got here.
17:19And he had a white box and he said it was a peach pie.
17:23And he said he was going out, but if I wanted to stop by the next day, come and have
17:29a slice.
17:30It's delicious.
17:32On my birthday, February the 5th, 1986, Walter called me.
17:38He was Gino's manager.
17:40He did a lot of Gino's bookings.
17:43And he said, Patrice, have you heard from Gino?
17:47I said, no, but why?
17:49He said, well, I need to talk to him.
17:52I haven't heard from him, but today's my birthday and I know he'll be calling me.
17:56I'll tell him to give you a call.
17:58The next day, I saw Gino's car parked.
18:02I noticed the car was sort of out of alignment.
18:05The wheels were strange.
18:08Like he parked it really quick.
18:10He missed a show up in Oklahoma.
18:13And it wasn't like him.
18:14But I didn't think anything about it.
18:16And then we couldn't reach him.
18:17We tried to get a hold of Gino.
18:19We couldn't reach him.
18:20The next day, the car was still the same position.
18:26I'm going to go and check on him and knocking on his door.
18:30And I can't really get a good vision, but I did see a pie.
18:36The pie.
18:39And then I heard that, you know, he didn't show up in Houston, which was definitely unusual.
18:43When I went to the office on Monday and I hadn't heard from Gino, I said, we got a problem.
18:49One of the guys that were refereed for us was named Rick Hazard.
18:52And I said, Rick, why don't you go over to Gino's apartment and see if his car is there?
18:56And so he called me and he said, well, the car is here, but no one's answering the door.
19:00And I said, why don't you see if you can get over the wall and just peek in?
19:05And sure enough, Rick got over the wall.
19:07The way the bed was laying at first, he couldn't see anything.
19:10He just happened to glance down.
19:12And where the bed ended, he could see part of the body hanging out.
19:16At that point, they called the police.
19:19The cops said he had been laying there.
19:21They had estimated about four to five days.
19:25Walter took some rest, sir, and went to the condo.
19:29They got in because Walter was the only one they had to keep.
19:32There was a gun on the scene.
19:33So I don't know where Gino got the gun, but there was a gun on the scene when they found
19:37him.
19:38I'm standing outside Chris's apartment, actually, and bringing out his body.
19:43And in a body bag, it was just like something you're in denial.
19:50Probably about, I'd say, a very short span of time, Walter calls me again.
19:57And he said, Patrice, it's Walter.
20:03And I said, did Gino get in touch with you?
20:06I said, he hadn't called me, but have you found him?
20:09He said, yeah.
20:13I'm standing here in his condo.
20:16I said, well, is he okay?
20:18He said, he's dead.
20:22And he hung up.
20:26And I just started screaming.
20:36Death came to Gino Hernandez.
20:39Wrestling fans were shocked at the sudden end to one of the brightest careers in the game.
20:45His friends were saddened by an irreplaceable loss of a vibrant young spirit.
20:51To his mother and sister, it was a tragedy of indescribable magnitude.
20:57Police arrived at the home of wrestler Gino Hernandez in February of 1986 and discovered his dead body.
21:05It was so decomposed that the exact cause of death could not be determined.
21:10A loaded pistol was found next to his right hand, and police found no sign of drugs or paraphernalia in
21:16the condo.
21:19Can you walk us through?
21:20You were just home, and you heard a knock on the door.
21:24Yeah, I was grieving.
21:26Mika and I was grieving.
21:28And he just knocked on the door, and he said, I would like to come in and discuss the funeral.
21:34Well, of course I let him in.
21:36Gino knew him.
21:38Gino went places with him.
21:41But I really didn't know him.
21:44We're both sitting facing each other, sitting on the floor.
21:47And if I can recollect, he says to me,
21:54Gino owed me a lot of money.
21:57But just don't you worry about it.
22:01Because I'm going to pay for his funeral.
22:03I was sitting there, and I know how I felt looking at him.
22:07I was scared to death.
22:10Did what he said at the time feel like it was a threat?
22:14Yeah.
22:15Well, it's just the tone of voice and the way somebody looks at you when they stick their finger in
22:19you,
22:19and they lean in to you like, do you hear me?
22:23No remorse.
22:25No empathy.
22:27Nothing.
22:28Nothing.
22:30I'm an intelligent woman.
22:33And I can read a person pretty doggone well, eye-to-eye contact.
22:38That tells you a lot.
22:42You know, I remember walking into the funeral.
22:49Went up.
22:52Paid our respects.
22:54There was a platinum casket.
22:59And it was a closed casket.
23:01So many people.
23:05I dressed the finest I could dress.
23:09Like a movie star.
23:13Because I knew that Gina wanted me to look that way.
23:20There were a lot of people that were hurting his mom and his sister.
23:23Oh, my gosh.
23:24And that was just painful to know they were hurting.
23:27There was a group of men, and Patrice would probably know who they were more than I would, that took
23:32care of all the finances of that funeral, and it was a very expensive funeral.
23:37And then, you know, they do the service at the gravesite, and then they had a bottle of champagne, and
23:45they had glasses, and people were pouring champagnes, and to you, Gino, drinking the champagne, and breaking champagne glasses, you
23:51know, into the casket and toasting Gino.
23:54When you were looking at all of this, it just was surreal to a point, almost like an out-of
24:00-body experience.
24:02There was a gentleman there that did a eulogy that talked about Gino getting on planes and going to Vegas,
24:10and beating up a guy and putting him in a headlock, and it was just weird.
24:17It was totally off.
24:19And it was almost like people going, who the fuck is this guy?
24:24And to some of us that hadn't been around for a while, we just thought it was, you know, a
24:28new friend or whatever.
24:30We had no clue.
24:32His funeral, there was a lot of rich people.
24:36You might assume drug dealing is going on.
24:40And people made comments like, do you know who that is?
24:44And I had no clue who it is.
24:46If you were to put him in a lineup today, I wouldn't know who it is.
24:49But people talking about, oh, well, he's, he's, uh, he's wanted by the authority show.
24:55I don't know who the hell he is.
24:57Who was the guy that gave the eulogy?
25:01It was John Royal.
25:05So did you know any of the activities that John Royal was involved in at all?
25:09I just heard that he was a drug dealer.
25:13I mean, I didn't know anything about the man.
25:16Period.
25:18As far as I know right now, he's in prison.
25:22I would have done just pretty much anything then, just to make sure my daughter was safe.
25:26And I was too.
25:29And that's the way it's been all these years.
25:32I hadn't talked to anybody until I talked to you guys.
25:41As the Hernandez family mourned Gino's mysterious death, many questions remained unanswered.
25:48Rumors began to fly throughout the wrestling community and beyond.
25:53So a lot of people, when Gino died, were immediately telling the story, here's what happened.
25:59Andre the Giant told us that he knew for a fact that Gino had been shot in the head.
26:04And that was not the case.
26:05I heard from somebody that he was close with that he used to take trips down to Houston.
26:12Southwest Airlines several times a week to go down to Houston for what I don't know.
26:16The rumor mill was that he had gambled and that he owed some money on a football game.
26:22And so you got all these different rumors.
26:24And with Chris and with Gino, you had the conflict going on.
26:27Police have received several telephone calls from concerned fans who say Hernandez might have been murdered.
26:34And immediately it's like, well, Chris did it.
26:36Why?
26:36The guy blinded him.
26:38Had you ever heard that all the world-class fans called the police saying it must have been Chris?
26:42I did hear that.
26:43And I think the police actually did contact Chris about the murder of Gino.
26:50That goes to show just how believable world-class championship wrestling was.
26:55That somebody would go to the death to think, Jesus, he killed that guy because that guy took his eyesight.
26:59This is a case that we're talking 30 years ago.
27:03And there's been a lot of rumors like this.
27:06None of the family members were ever allowed to see him.
27:08His corpse, his body was just so guarded.
27:13Who was telling you guys now?
27:16I think Walter.
27:17Walter, it would just be too shocking because he had been dead for so long that they didn't want anybody
27:22to see him.
27:24I'm pretty meticulous about saving everything.
27:27This is the suitcase that I put everything in after I had collected stuff, after he had passed away.
27:33Anything that I could get my hands on because I never got to go in his apartment.
27:36As a mother, I've got a lot of questions that nobody has ever, ever answered me.
27:43Then I said, well, I'll tell you what, I'll just do my own investigating.
27:47And if I can find out the right person to contact, I'll contact that person and take care of it
27:53myself.
27:54Worry about the consequences later.
27:56And that's exactly what I did.
27:59I think there was foul play in Gino's death only because, one, he was super paranoid.
28:04When he walked into his apartment, he locked the doors.
28:07And he had a deadbolt on the inside.
28:09So the deadbolt was not locked from the inside of the apartment.
28:14It never made any sense to me.
28:15The deadbolt wasn't on.
28:17And he always locked up.
28:18So somebody was there with him.
28:21Well, who was there with him?
28:24And left him alone.
28:26If it would have been me and I would have said, you need to do an autopsy because someone murdered
28:29him.
28:30The autopsy report, when they found him and he had been dead for a while, I asked what happened.
28:36I believe they said that it might be a drug overdose.
28:40I remember talking to the coroner and he said that Gino had cocaine in his system, but he had five
28:47times the amount.
28:48I believe I was told he had enough that could have killed an elephant.
28:51He had more than just enough to overdose.
28:54He had three or four or five times in his body that it would take to overdose.
28:58The medical examiner had said that he didn't understand how that much cocaine could get in someone, you know, be
29:04ingested.
29:06It makes you question, you know, what the hell happened?
29:09Autopsy reports said he was morbidly obese.
29:12It said that he was Hispanic.
29:14She asked me, she said, now, I'm pretty sure about this because, you know, I did give birth to him.
29:19Was Gino circumcised?
29:22I said, well, he was.
29:23Well, the autopsy report said it was an uncircumcised male.
29:27How did that make you feel?
29:28Well, first of all, is that even really him?
29:31If it's not him, I wondered sometimes, could he have, would he have faked his own death?
29:39When we were married, there was a comedy sitcom, I don't remember the name of it.
29:44The main character had faked his own death.
29:47He was in some sort of trouble, whether it was tax evasion or he was trying to hide from somebody
29:51after him.
29:51He had left a wife and a child and came back like seven years later.
29:57Gino had said, I'm going to do that someday.
30:00That's what I would do.
30:01Well, I wished that it wasn't him in there.
30:05But I know in my heart that if he was alive, I'd have heard from him by now.
30:10She was wanting to push for answers and really push for answers.
30:13And as a mother, I felt for her.
30:16And I just, we had the discussion that, well, if we start stirring the pot, what's going
30:22to keep them from doing something to, you know, our children?
30:26At this point, it's sort of your working theory of what happened.
30:29It feels like he was probably killed, that somebody murdered him.
30:32It feels that way to me.
30:36That's what the rumblings were at the time, that he had been murdered.
30:41And I could certainly see that happening with Gino, you know.
30:43Some of the people he hung with were powerful people.
30:46He may have pissed somebody off.
30:49If he were in some way involved with a drug ring, maybe he knew something.
30:57And, um, maybe they were worried he would talk.
31:05Conspiracy theories about Gino's death lingered on, but it would take over 30 years
31:10before answers began to surface.
31:18In the days leading up to Gino's mysterious death, those closest to him noticed that he
31:24seemed fearful of something or someone.
31:30Of course, you know, this is, this is hearsay, you know, but it seems to be that general consensus
31:37that he, weeks leading up, or prior to his death, he felt like he, somebody was going to kill him.
31:44To hear multiple people saying that they got that from him as well, maybe this was a very real possibility.
31:52You know, maybe this is what happened.
31:56I was going to kill him as well.
31:58I was going to my car and he was coming in and, and he says, hey, I want you to
32:02come along, have a couple drinks.
32:03So I said, okay.
32:05We actually walked to his apartment.
32:08He walked into the kitchen and he had a cabinet above his sink.
32:14He took out a cereal bowl and the bowl was full of cocaine.
32:19There was a lot of cocaine in there.
32:21And he put that on the counter and he started using the cocaine.
32:27It wasn't very long, maybe 30 minutes, 40 minutes later, he stopped speaking.
32:36And when I talked, he said, shh.
32:39He wasn't being angry to me, but he was, shh, don't speak.
32:43He kept going into the back and looking out the window.
32:47He had a quite intense paranoia.
32:50He puts a plug in the sink and turns on the water.
32:56The water started coming over the top, dripping onto the floor.
33:02I go to pull the plug out of the sink and it stops me, pulls me back.
33:08He was like, shh.
33:10The water was still falling on the floor.
33:14I turned just around a little bit.
33:17He had a gun in his head.
33:19My heart was stoked to beat at first.
33:24And he was holding me, telling me to be really quiet and could hear nothing but the water.
33:33And he seemed to be comforted that it was covering up sound of some kind, just the sound of the
33:40water.
33:41The water seemed, for whatever reason, he found that comforting.
33:46He would go to the windows and he would just stare outside into the darkness.
33:53Over and over again, just looking outside into the darkness, because he was afraid, it seemed, of the dark, in
34:03his mind.
34:06Did you know or come to know at any point that Gino had sort of issues with drugs?
34:12Yeah, because I was doing them with him.
34:15Duh.
34:16I mean, I was no saint, man.
34:18I know that Gino was doing coke, and I don't know how much he was doing, but the night I
34:25was there, he damn sure had something quite a bit there.
34:28You know, it wasn't no eight ball, for damn sure.
34:31I was surprised that there was not any cocaine found by the police, but I did hear rumors that it
34:38was cleaned up.
34:39I would just say a good source told me that Rick was kind enough to immediately, there was a bowl.
34:45He said it was crazy, it was almost like a sugar bowl.
34:47And he said, I've never seen that much blow in my life.
34:50It was full of coke.
34:52Just out of reaction, he just took it and dumped it.
34:55I don't think anyone else that was even there knew that.
34:57I don't know who he thought, maybe he was protecting, but, you know, I think he just did it out
35:02of instinct.
35:03Some of the wrestlers, including Chris, said there might be more to it.
35:08Where was he getting so much cocaine from?
35:15I was afraid then, very afraid, because I haven't talked about it all these years.
35:19Because I got tired of looking over my shoulder every time I walked out the apartment, and I've been living
35:24like that ever since.
35:26Nobody should have to live like that.
35:29It took a lot of my life away from me.
35:32And now, you know, 77, where do I go from here?
35:37It's too much secrecy, too much lying, too much deceit.
35:42I truly believe he's not here today because of the people he chose to be around.
35:48I have nothing to lose, because I've already lost part of it.
35:52You know, you can't take any more away from me than you already have.
35:57All we really want is just an answer.
36:00Shortly after Gino's family told their story, producers contacted John Royal by phone.
36:06He had recently served a 30-year prison term for trafficking cocaine.
36:11What follows is their recorded conversation.
36:15We're doing a documentary about Gino, and we've been talking a lot with his family.
36:20And your name has come up a couple of times because you were close friends with Gino.
36:24Gino's mother had told us a story.
36:26It's a time when you approached her and had told her that you were going to pay for the funeral.
36:33Is that true?
36:34Yeah.
36:35I think you had also said that Gino had owed you a lot of money.
36:39Is that something that you had said to her as well?
36:41No, Gino didn't owe me any money.
36:44I mean, I paid for the funeral.
36:46Right.
36:46But Gino didn't owe me any money.
36:48Well, that's really good to know.
36:50What did she think?
36:51Did he owe me some money?
36:52Did I do something to him?
36:59Had you ever heard any rumors about, you know, Gino's death not being something that was accidental?
37:08Like, no.
37:10I was with him till, like, one o'clock in the morning the night he died.
37:15Right.
37:17We were at a club, and he was in a good mood, and he was buying drinks, and he was
37:22drinking a lot.
37:24I assumed that he was doing some drugs.
37:28Then Gino left with these airline services.
37:31And that's the last time I saw him alive.
37:35And then, so, presumably, that was the night that he died.
37:43In addition to John Royal's story, a former drug trafficker who asked to remain anonymous has come forward with his
37:50version of events.
37:52Yeah, I really want to remain anonymous.
37:54This was 30 years ago, and I'm not really here to sugarcoat anything.
37:58I wanted to tell the truth.
37:59You know, I'd like to set the record straight for the people who are concerned about Gino's demise.
38:05I wanted you to hear first what he had to say about, um, about him and about everything.
38:11Thank you very much.
38:12Yeah.
38:12I'm sorry.
38:13It's okay.
38:15I know, I know the truth.
38:16When you wait this long, 32 years.
38:23And yes, I miss him.
38:25I pray for him every day.
38:26I talk to him.
38:27She knows that.
38:28I get up at 4 o'clock every morning.
38:30She was up this morning.
38:32Yeah.
38:33Never miss again.
38:33Pray for two hours.
38:35Yeah, I do that.
38:37Okay, let me know when you're ready.
38:38Okay.
38:39I'm ready.
38:40Okay.
38:41There's nothing I can gain from this.
38:42I'm only doing this because I don't want Gino's family to worry one more minute.
38:46If they've been worried for 30 years, they worried, you know, 29 years and 364 days too long.
38:53I met Gino through some of the other people in the group, and we got to be good friends.
38:58This was the 80s, and disco was popular, and the cocaine and drugs were all just part of that culture.
39:05And we kind of saw the opportunity to get involved in selling drugs.
39:09And one of the guys in the group had cultivated a connection.
39:13He would bring it in, and he would give us each a certain amount of it.
39:17And not many people know that Gino was involved in this.
39:20He was a professional wrestler, and he saw us starting to make some money, and he thought it'd be a
39:25good opportunity for him.
39:26He didn't make a lot of money as a wrestler, and it was basically just a way for some young
39:30guys to make some money.
39:31And it was just something that everybody was kind of doing in that period of time.
39:35Do you remember giving a eulogy at Gino's funeral?
39:39Absolutely.
39:40Do you remember what you said?
39:42I know it was a long time ago.
39:44Well, I mean, I said something like, you know, in wrestling, there's good guys and bad guys.
39:48Gino was a bad guy, but in life, Gino was a good guy.
39:51You know, that's kind of what I opened up with.
39:54I remember there was no foul play with me.
40:00And this is something you don't know either.
40:02I had a trial.
40:04See, I was selling drugs at the time.
40:06They basically said that I gave Gino the drugs that he died on.
40:13You know, basically, you know, they're talking bad, don't bad.
40:15You know, it was just fabricated.
40:17And what do you think the circumstances were of his death?
40:20Unfortunately, I felt like Gino started off recreationally using the drugs, and I think the drugs got hold of him.
40:27And, of course, we were all, you know, super concerned because we were in a business that we knew could
40:32get us in a lot of trouble, even though we weren't gangsters.
40:35And at the same time, I don't think we saw a cop behind every bush like Gino seemed to do
40:40in the last part of his life.
40:43Just knowing Gino, I would imagine that he probably went to a club and probably drank a lot of alcohol,
40:47and he probably came back to his apartment, overdosed on drugs, and died of accommodation of drugs and alcohol.
40:53I have misgivings because Gino had this problem with the drugs, and that I should have recognized it and did
41:02an intervention with him and saved him.
41:06I don't know Gino's family, but I would speak to them directly and say, do not be concerned about anything
41:12that happened to Gino.
41:13Gino, it was basically just a situation of his own doing, unfortunately.
41:18I know that's hard to hear because I know you loved him, and I loved him too, but if you're
41:22concerned about anything, you should put that at rest because you've worried for 30 years, and I can absolutely tell
41:28you there's nothing to worry about.
41:34I can't take those years back, but I still have my daughter, and it's just nice to know that we
41:46don't have anything to worry about anymore, and I thank you very much for this.
41:59I want to believe that it was a tragic accident.
42:03I want to believe that somehow, some way, he made a mistake.
42:14That's what I want to believe.
42:16I'm the type of person, I can forgive anybody, you know?
42:21Yes, I forgive John Lyle.
42:25I forgive anybody that I thought the wrong way, but I didn't know any different.
42:31I had nobody tell me outright.
42:35Watching my grandma, she's lived a sad life.
42:38I mean, she's gone through things and lived through things that no mother should ever have to.
42:43And sometimes you look at her and you think, wow, you know, you can't believe that she walked that walk
42:48and that she's still smiling today.
42:50But she is, you know, and that's, I think, the peace of life that goes on.
42:55But now I know there's nothing to be afraid of, nothing.
43:00I feel so good.
43:02I could even have a margarita and a rock.
43:07The legacy of Gino Hornandis, unfortunately, he wasn't around long enough to create one of those.
43:12I would like to see him put Gino into the Hall of Fame.
43:16I think Gino was that good.
43:19I want him to be remembered for the person that he was.
43:24And he made me, as his mother, very, very proud.
43:28I hear a lot that I look like my dad.
43:31I mean, my mom used to say, you look like your dad.
43:33You talk like your dad.
43:35It's smooth sailing from here on out.
43:37I have five children.
43:39I have two girls and three boys.
43:40And you see little pieces of each of them in him through those videos.
43:45That's what's cool to watch.
43:46With you guys here and doing this, it's kind of like I finally get my peace at heart.
43:55And I thank you for that.
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