You can't make this stuff up. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the mind-blowing facts of the legendary true crime saga of the Menendez brothers that Netflix’s 2024 miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” got right.
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00:00Hey, OJ? OJ?
00:04Yeah, who is that?
00:05I'm... I'm Eric. Eric Menendez.
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at mind-blowing facts
00:12of the legendary true crime saga of the Menendez brothers
00:15that Netflix's 2024 miniseries Monsters, The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story got right.
00:21Given the disturbing nature of the case, viewer discretion is advised.
00:26You are the hypocrite, huh? What about this?
00:29Oh!
00:34Oh, oh, oh, ay, ay, ay.
00:39Eric and Lyle's crime was initially thought to be a mafia job.
00:42Eric, Eric, did the mafia kill your parents?
00:46No, I'm Lyle. I don't know. It certainly appears as such,
00:49but that's what we gotta find out.
00:50Are you afraid the mafia could come after you?
00:53Yeah. Hey, where's your camera?
00:54At first, the sheer brutality surrounding Jose and Kitty Menendez's deaths
00:59led to speculation that,
01:00due to the former's involvement in the entertainment industry,
01:03he had been engaged in a shady deal that had gone wrong,
01:06leading to an old-school mob hit.
01:08Hey, mafia, after what we've been through, I'd like to see you try.
01:10Okay. Is that a threat?
01:11Hey, come on.
01:13You're targets, okay? We're getting you full-time security, 24-7, okay?
01:18However, as noted later, there were a number of factors
01:22that didn't align with the mafia explanation.
01:24Some of these included the fact that shell casings had been collected,
01:28that such hits aren't usually executed at the victim's home,
01:31and, crucially, that Jose's wife had also been slain.
01:34Eventually, it became clear that the couple's sons were responsible,
01:37explaining the anomalies.
01:39I came here so that you'd tell me I'm not a bad person.
01:44Tell me I'm not a bad person.
01:46You killed your mom and dad, Eric.
01:47Lyle was suspended from Princeton.
01:50You know how you get all this, all this?
01:53Lie, cheat, steal, but win.
02:00Jose Menendez is portrayed as a cold, cruel, calculating abuser
02:05who describes his contempt for his sons as stemming from their entitlement,
02:08having been raised with countless advantages.
02:11Menendez reportedly wanted Lyle to attend Princeton
02:14in a sort of fulfillment of the American dream.
02:16Well, Lyle was caught plagiarizing a partner's psychology lab assignment,
02:20and that's indirect.
02:22Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me. Psychology lab? What is that?
02:25I've never even heard of that.
02:27However, these dreams were squashed once it was unearthed
02:30that Lyle had, in his first semester, cheated in a psychology class.
02:34The younger Menendez was dealt a one-year suspension,
02:37and the punishment stuck, despite his father's attempts to intervene.
02:41This suspension, and Lyle's inability to hold a job that Jose had secured for him,
02:45reportedly led to Jose's decision to consider editing his sons out of the will.
02:50My son didn't cheat on something important.
02:55Well, unfortunately, we just don't see it that way.
02:57Okay, look, he cheated. I will beat the hell out of him for it.
03:01Two family members testified on Eric and Lyle's behalf.
03:04This is done. This is done. You understand? No more between you two.
03:09And you are never, never to touch him. Not ever.
03:14Monsters reveals that the Menendez brothers' alleged abuse
03:17by their mother and father wasn't exactly a secret.
03:20This is true, and backed up by court testimony.
03:23Their cousin, Diane Vandermolen, testified that in 1976,
03:26Lyle had confided in her about the inhumane treatment
03:29that his father had subjected them to.
03:31I mean, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, Lyle.
03:33Because finally, you are doing something. Great! That's my boy! Good!
03:39Eric made his choice.
03:41Per Vandermolen's testimony,
03:43she attempted to bring this up with Lyle's mother Kitty,
03:45who brushed her off and denied that such a thing could take place.
03:48Andy Kano, another cousin,
03:50also testified that Eric had once made a similar revelation.
03:54Well, it kind of seems like it was always happening,
03:56because, you know, I was always afraid of him.
03:58Your dad or Lyle?
03:59My dad. I was never afraid of Lyle.
04:02I always felt like Lyle was my, uh, my protector.
04:06Eric's therapist's mistress went to the authorities.
04:09He kept telling me that Eric was coming after me.
04:14And I kept having nightmares.
04:16At the time of the murders,
04:17Eric had been seeing Dr. L. Jerome Ozil, a therapist.
04:20In fact, it was to Ozil that Eric first confessed to the murders,
04:24as we see early on in the first episode of Monsters.
04:27Indeed, Ozil recorded their sessions,
04:29and his tapes were admitted as evidence
04:31after the doctor stated that Eric and Lyle had made threats against him,
04:35which violated their confidentiality agreement.
04:37I know that it's very last minute, but, um,
04:40is there any way that I could see you today?
04:42It's blocked.
04:44Uh, looks like I have a two o'clock if that works for you.
04:48Ozil was engaged in an extramarital affair with one Judilon Smith,
04:52who had been made privy to the recordings,
04:54and revealed their existence to police
04:56after Ozil refused to leave his wife for her.
04:59He said my mom was a witch who was going to poison me.
05:03He used the word thorns to hypnotize me.
05:07So whenever he would say thorns, my mind would just go blank.
05:10Craig Signorelli wore a wire to lunch with Eric.
05:13If you want to help, um, Eric and help us with our investigation,
05:18there is something you can do.
05:20Signorelli was high school friends with Eric Menendez,
05:23and the two even wrote a screenplay called Friends,
05:25which, as we'll get into a little later,
05:27played a significant role in the brothers' case.
05:30Eric reportedly confessed to Craig 12 days after his parents' deaths,
05:33with the latter claiming that after the admission,
05:36the two, quote,
05:37just went on with the conversation after that.
05:39Sounds like you're doing good.
05:40Yeah, I am.
05:44I don't think my dad would want me to mope around.
05:47You know, I think he'd want me to live.
05:51Upon learning he was a suspect,
05:52Signorelli repeated Eric's confession to them,
05:55and signaled his willingness to cooperate by wearing a wire to Gladstones,
05:59a popular local fish restaurant.
06:01Ultimately, as depicted on Monsters,
06:03Craig was unable to get Eric to repeat his earlier statements.
06:06I think with a few quick rewrites,
06:08we could totally sell it.
06:10Yeah, maybe.
06:12And now, you know, we could make it more believable, you know?
06:16The Brothers Alibi
06:18Are you having trouble hearing me?
06:20The 950 screening of Batman.
06:22Yeah, but it's 1040 now.
06:24I know, but that's the one that we want to see.
06:26Can you help me out here?
06:27My girlfriend is in there.
06:28Tell her the last half is the best.
06:30An early scene from Monsters depicts Lyle and Eric
06:33becoming increasingly frustrated as they try to procure tickets
06:36to see Tim Burton's 1989 superhero film Batman.
06:40This aligns with the real-life alibi the two concocted
06:42in order to avoid arousing suspicion,
06:44as well as any speculation that they could have been involved
06:47with their parents' deaths.
06:48So I am enjoying some fine wine and some fine cheese,
06:51and I'm making sure that people see us.
06:54We've been here, what, four hours now?
06:58You know what they say, time flies when you're at the taste.
07:00Their story at the time was that they had gone to see the Burton film again
07:04after being unable to get into the James Bond film License to Kill.
07:07It was also reported that they had bought tickets
07:09for the Taste of L.A. festival,
07:11held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium,
07:13as further quote-unquote proof that they couldn't be responsible.
07:17Slower, please.
07:21Thanks.
07:22Enjoy the show.
07:24The infamous post-crime spending spree.
07:26And as far as transportation goes?
07:28Well, you have the limousine.
07:30Right, but for both of us.
07:33You're asking for a second limousine?
07:35Yeah, that'd be great.
07:36In Netflix's Monsters, veteran journalist and filmmaker Dominic Dunn,
07:40as portrayed by Nathan Lane,
07:42is shown to be a passionate advocate for justice and murder victims.
07:45And his 1990 article, Nightmare on Elm Drive,
07:48formed the basis of the public's understanding of the Menendez case.
07:52I do think Lyle was a genius on the witness stand.
07:58Maybe an evil genius.
08:00But I can't say the same about Eric.
08:03One crucial element was Eric and Lyle's extravagant spending,
08:07which is depicted on the show.
08:08The two traveled, dined, and spent extensively,
08:11buying luxury cars, watches, properties,
08:14and even investing in a Buffalo Wing restaurant.
08:17The brothers reportedly spent, between the two of them,
08:20over $700,000 prior to being arrested.
08:23Look, another TCBY.
08:26It's a freaking goldmine.
08:28You see, this is exactly what I want to do with Mr. Buffalo.
08:31Everywhere that there's a TCBY,
08:32there should be a Mr. Buffalo across the street.
08:35Lyle was going bald.
08:36You are the hypocrite, huh?
08:38What about this?
08:39Oh.
08:44Oh, oh, oh, ay, ay, ay, ay.
08:48One of the most shocking Monsters moments has nothing to do
08:50with the sordid details of the Menendez's upbringing,
08:53or what happened to the brothers' parents.
08:55Rather, it's the out-of-left-field reveal
08:57that Lyle regularly wears a hairpiece,
08:59which is violently torn off by Kitty Menendez
09:02during an argument with her son.
09:04How long have you had that?
09:08Like, uh, three years ago?
09:12Four?
09:12Jose Menendez made the decision for his son,
09:15claiming that, quote,
09:16to be successful, Lyle would need a thick head of hair.
09:19As noted by Robert Rand in his book,
09:21The Menendez Murders,
09:23Lyle's toupee was glued to his scalp.
09:25And having it removed in such a way
09:27would have been extremely painful for him.
09:29You wanna be a killer, right?
09:32Yeah.
09:32Right?
09:33Yeah.
09:33You wanna succeed in business?
09:36Yes, sir.
09:36You wanna go into politics?
09:39Then you gotta have a good head of hair, right?
09:41Lyle and Eric became friendly with O.J. Simpson.
09:44Cleaning out a cell block today.
09:47Why?
09:50We got a VIP coming in.
09:52In what seems like an impossible coincidence,
09:54one Monsters episode ends with O.J. Simpson
09:57being moved into the jail cell next to Eric Menendez's,
10:00following the former's 1994 apprehension
10:02for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
10:15Eric attempts to console an unseen O.J.
10:18and gives him legal advice.
10:19Although it's easy to dismiss the scene as a dream sequence
10:22or a fantastical Hollywood fabrication,
10:24this actually happened.
10:25Beyond that, Lyle also developed a rapport
10:28with the disgraced former NFL player
10:30and even wrote him a letter imploring Simpson
10:32to plead guilty for ending Brown Simpson and Goldman's lives.
10:36Hey, O.J.?
10:40O.J.?
10:41Yeah, who is that?
10:42I'm Eric.
10:44Eric Menendez.
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11:01Eric's Revealing Screenplay
11:03It's not a shitty screenplay, it's actually really good.
11:06I'd like us to stay focused.
11:07Friends is something that Craig and me put a lot of work into,
11:10and you haven't even read it.
11:11Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.
11:14In a moment that seems like it was written
11:16for a Netflix true crime drama,
11:18it's revealed that Eric Menendez,
11:20along with the aforementioned Craig Signorelli,
11:22wrote a film script in which Hamilton Cromwell, the protagonist,
11:26takes his parents' lives in order to claim an exorbitant inheritance.
11:30It was kind of inspired by that movie The Billionaire Boys Club.
11:34My father was not a man to show his emotions.
11:39Sometimes he would tell me that I was not worthy to be his son.
11:42While the 66-page script was deemed inadmissible as evidence,
11:46its resemblance to the events of the Menendez case is striking.
11:50As Signorelli later explained,
11:52the deaths of his and Menendez's fictional main character's parents
11:55was a means of getting from point A to point B,
11:58so that Cromwell can come into a significant sum of money
12:01and exact an evil scheme.
12:03That is the dumbest f***ing title I've ever heard.
12:05No wonder it never sold.
12:06And you didn't tell Craig what we did, did you?
12:08Which Monsters moment shocked you the most?
12:10Let us know in the comments.