By Heidi Simmons
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“Palm Springs True Crime”
by Eric Meeks
Non-fiction
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No matter where you reside in the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs has an undeniable allure with its rich history and Hollywood glamour. The city has served as an anchor lending its good reputation and influence across the valley to other desert communities.
In Eric Meeks’ Palm Springs True Crime (Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe, 346 pages), some of that reputation is not all warm poolside sunshine. There are dark secrets that chill the bones and crimes that extend beyond Palm Springs city limits into the wider valley.
Author Meeks has lived in the CV since the mid 1970s. His family moved to Palm Springs when he was a boy. This love and knowledge of the region makes his latest book most compelling – he’s written over ten, many about local lore. Palm Springs True Crime is a fascinating read as Meeks recounts many of the most lurid tales. Gleaned not only from valid sources, but also from first hand information, personal experience and private memories.
“Homicide” is the first chapter. Be prepared! Once you dive in, you’ll find yourself swimming through all nine sections that include: “Organized Crime,” “Arson,” “Fraud and Other Scams,” “Narcotics,” “Vice,” “Missing Persons,” and “Politics.” He even includes valley crime statistics. The chapters are mostly short and quick reads.
What’s especially great about this book, is that author Meeks names names and gives the exact addresses where the crimes took place, the villains were apprehended or the perpetrator hid out. Careful, you may recognize your street or neighborhood. Meeks does not hold back on the gruesome nature of the murders or details of the horrible, vicious or despicable events.
In each crime, Meeks delivers a short narrative and background of those involved. He sets the history and politics of the time putting events in context to the CV. Knowingly or not, Meeks shows the reader how these crimes and events have changed or shaped our valley and impacted our wider desert community.
Meeks includes celebrity crimes and murders (even exploring if Sonny Bono was murdered). These accounts are certainly entertaining, but all seems dwarfed by his story: “Tribal Casino Origins, The Octopus and Indian Head Nichols.”
He begins this section by writing in a special forward that if anything happens to him or his loved ones, Meeks says: “I would ask that police start with this story first as a source of the crime.”
With that introduction, how can you not read on! Meeks delivers a very earnest and intense chapter of CV history about the beginning of Indian gaming, which includes multiple unsolved murders, the FBI, the CIA, Iran-Contra, Saudis and the Reagan administration.
The detailed story, cast of characters and explicit information is so extreme, it’s stuff of spy-thrillers. And it happened here! I had to shake it off, wash my hands and find some comedy to watch in order to get the sordid ugliness of it all out of my head. What’s incredible is that it is recent history that, if you have lived in the CV long enough, you will recognize places, names and events.
Besides that insane chapter, I found the story of current Palm Springs City council member Ginny Foat to be riveting. I, like most, had heard rumors about Foat but never took the time to find out what was true and what might be false. Meeks tells her story, from childhood to her recent campaign for Mayor. And it’s a whopper of a story. In fact, it’s shocking, disturbing and lurid. Read it for yourself and be the judge. It’s crazy!
Palm Springs True Crime is certainly a dark and compelling book. As entertaining as it is, it is a very serious book.
This may be Meeks most important and relevant publication so far. His approach is straightforward, journalistic and dignified. He notes his sources after each story and admits when he lacks information. But his narrative is taut, thoughtful and credible. He is not angry or condemning. Although, I do get there is more than a tad of moral outrage at these criminals. Meeks is sharing the truth about the dark history of the city, valley and community he loves so dearly. If you live in the CV, these stories are more than a guilty pleasure or a poolside diversion – they have shaped our community.
