Like countless other dreamers, Johnny Ray Gasca came to Hollywood with a screenplay to pitch and a list of moguls to schmooze.
Unlike most of the others, he quickly grabbed the movie industry's attention -- but maybe not quite the way he had in mind.
Gasca, a Bronx native and convicted felon, is believed to be the first person charged in federal court with violating copyright laws by videotaping movies at pre-release screenings. Earlier this month, just days before his trial was to start, he bolted from the custody of his lawyer at a Long's drugstore in West Los Angeles and is now a fugitive.
His escape is the latest twist in a "Get Shorty"-style saga of an ex-con trying to break into the movies while playing cat-and-mouse with authorities hoping to crack down on the industry's piracy problem.
Gasca's personal diary, which prosecutors view as a key piece of evidence in their case, describes in colorful detail how Gasca sought to get close to industry bigwigs while developing a lucrative sideline illicitly taping films.
But there's a kicker. In an interview before he fled, Gasca, 35, said that his "diary" was a work of imagination. He wanted to turn it into a movie.
*
Gasca's journey from Hollywood wannabe to Hollywood's most wanted began in August 2002, when he arrived in Los Angeles and took a room at the Mark Twain Hotel on Wilcox Avenue near Hollywood Boulevard.
At first, times were hard. He wrote in his diary that he was living "dollar to dollar."
On the other hand, hardship is a relative thing. Back in New York, Gasca had been convicted in 1986 of grand larceny and possession of stolen property, as well as a string of other gambling-related misdemeanor convictions in the early 1990s. In 1992, he was sent to Rikers Island state prison for attempted murder. According to the court file, Gasca and a friend were arguing about money when Gasca shot his friend in the face with a .38 Special.
In Hollywood, he tried a more subtle approach. He said he had read nearly 50 how-to books on the art of schmoozing.
By early September 2002, he appeared to be getting into a steady stream of screenings, which studios use to gauge audience reaction and build word-of-mouth for films weeks or months ahead of official release. In some cases, Gasca simply hung around theaters where marketing research groups were known to sign up audience members.
