Last Call: behd the terrifyg untold story of New York's gay bar killer | Books | The Guardian

Contents:

• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• WHAT REALLY HAPPENED WH THE 'LAST CALL' KILLER WHO TERRORIZED NYC'S GAY NIGHTSPOTS 1980S AND '90S?
• WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
• ‘RIGHTEO ANGER WAS A PART OF ’: THE SHOCKG STORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY BAR KILLER
• THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.
• HOW RICHARD ROGERS, A MILD-MANNERED STATEN ISLAND NURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE A SERIAL KILLER WHO DISMEMBERED GAY MEN
• SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE
• FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''
• ‘I GOT AN UMBRELLA AND AMBN’: INDICTMENT REVEALS ALLEGED CONSPIRACY BEHD GAY BAR DEATHS

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

In fact, the people who were most at risk – this se, gay men who met for hook-ups at New York Cy bars that served the muny – were given no staed or amplified warngs by eher the thori or the media, creatg a safe space for the murrer to ntue to wreak havoc. In fact, the se got so ltle attentn relative to s horror that today few remember , even wh the gay, three s after the murrs, journalist Elon Green has wrten a book tled Last Call: A Te Story of Love, Lt, and Murr Queer New York that go beyond the facts of the story to reveal the larger issu that surround them.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED WH THE 'LAST CALL' KILLER WHO TERRORIZED NYC'S GAY NIGHTSPOTS 1980S AND '90S?

Worse, that perd reprented the height of ignorance and fear about Aids, as well as the peak ath toll the gay muny the wt, greatly impactg how the muny was viewed. Between 1987 and 1994 the cy saw a greater number of killgs than any other stretch more than half a that benighted era, gay bars were often ‘the one refuge om the perils of everyday life’, says Green.

In that same time ame, a close iend was gay-bashed to unnscns by a gang of young men, g a days-long stay the hospal, and I was punched so hard the stomach outsi a gay dance club I thought the guy mt have ed a hammer.

Several years later, on a sunny day on Christopher Street (then the center of New York’s gay life), a man g an anti-gay ephet smashed my bt iend the head wh a rock. ”Meanwhile, the officer did story at the re of Last Call ptur a time the cy, and the liv of gay men, that seem far removed om the current one.

WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN

At the same time, was a particular type of gay man equentg a specific kd of bar, who tend to be the victim this se. As to why he elud jtice the s, Green said, “most likely the jury believed that this was a gay man attackg another gay man and they didn’t re about the circumstanc.

Given a chance to acqu, they took ” the same time, Green said that he “ultimately realized that the killer (who was himself gay) was laborg unr the same societal nstrats his victims were.

While Green believed homophobia played a major part that, he also said “cisns that law enforcement ma ntributed to the long lay. The Last Call Killer preyed on gay men New York Cy the Eighti — and he seems to be an spiratn for Ryan Murphy's latt season of the horror show.

‘RIGHTEO ANGER WAS A PART OF ’: THE SHOCKG STORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY BAR KILLER

Eher way, the MO of the latter killer seems le wh the Last Call Killer, who, acrdg to Elon Green’s Last Call: A Te Story of Love, Lt, and Murr Queer New York, preyed on gay men New York Cy the Eighti and Neti.

Here seems even more real-life issu (and perhaps another killer) e to play, as The Native is a real paper that famoly reported on the AIDS crisis when mastream media ignored , and Go’s abductn mirrors the murr of film-dtry journalist Addison Verrill by radgrapher Pl Baton, famoly wrten up the Village Voice 1977 unr the headle “There’s Nothg Gay About Murr. Article Details:What Really Happened Wh the 'Last Call' Killer Who Terrorized NYC's Gay Nightspots 1980s and '90s?

Richard Rogers preyed on gay men New York Cy durg the 1980s and ’90s, dismemberg them and leavg body parts trash bags strewn alongsi roads three stat.

THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.

And the same is te for Rockland County… I should say that I went to the book assumg that one of the reasons the se wasn’t solved for so long was pure difference and negligence bee the victims were gay. I knew I uld tell the story of an overlooked generatn [of gay men] who were jt on the cp of beg able to live the liv they wanted. A dismembered body belongg to puter salman Thomas Mulhy, who was seen at the Townhoe Bar, an upsle tablishment equented by gay men, set off the vtigatn.

This list is tend for reference purpos only and do not imply a al relatnship between homosexualy and serial killg. Although the proportn of serial killers who are known to have had homosexual experience is high (over 43%), the total number of serial killers is too small to make statistilly relevant statements about whether homosexuals are over- or unr-reprented among serial killers.

Also, should be noted that many of the homosexual serial killers on this list were not active members of the Gay & Lbian cultural muny. ) were homosexuals, but they beme wily known due to the nature of their crim or the inti of their victims, not bee they any way reprent serial killers generally. Given that ls than 2% of adults are homosexuals (pl 1 to 2% who are bisexual), there would not need to be very many homosexuals among the total number of serial killers for them to be over-reprented.

HOW RICHARD ROGERS, A MILD-MANNERED STATEN ISLAND NURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE A SERIAL KILLER WHO DISMEMBERED GAY MEN

But wh such small overall numbers, and wh no universally agreed upon fn of a homosexual, would be impossible to terme the relative equency of homosexuals among serial killers. Their actual inty would then be argued about by var blogists, gay wrers, and others, who would classify their stat as a variant of homosexualy, a distct classifitn, or reprsed homosexuals.

SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

Suffice say, all of the dividuals listed here as “homosexual serial killers” n be classified as homosexual as the term is generally ed. Homosexual serial killers have most equently chosen young boys or gay men as their victims, although some have victimized femal as well. Most of the killers have raped their victims eher before or after killg them, although some s they have killed after nsensual homosexual sex.

But more importantly, none of the serial killers listed here reprent typil homosexuals, who, like the general populatn, are almost never volved vlent crime. Legally, all or nearly all of the homosexual serial killers on this list would be nsired sexual viants bee of the extreme and vlent nature of their acts — not simply bee of their homosexual orientatn. He is unual among gay serial killers, that his victims were all girls, who he kidnapped and tortured before killg.

Although homosexual murrers of sgle victims are too numero to list here, a number of particularly famo on clu: Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (the wealthy and amilly bright gay Chigo uple who murred a boy 1924 jt for fun; their story beme one of the natn’s most famo murr s, and was the basis for many movi, cludg Hchck’s film “Rope”); Arm Meiw (the sexually viant German nnibal known as “Der Metzgermeister” – The Master Butcher, who met a victim over the Inter who he ate and killed); John E.

FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''

Du Pont (the gay member of the wealthy du Pont fa who shot Olympic wrtler David Schultz to ath); Gary Hirte (Wpa, WI high school senr who admted to killg 37-year-old substute teacher Glenn Kopske); Karla Homolka (Canadian lbian who murred her own sister).

‘I GOT AN UMBRELLA AND AMBN’: INDICTMENT REVEALS ALLEGED CONSPIRACY BEHD GAY BAR DEATHS

Other notable gay vlent crimals clu Kenh Parnell (paid $500 to “purchase” a young black boy named Steven Stayner, who he then raped and kidnapped); John Wojtowicz (whose bank robbery spired the movie Dog Day Afternoon). ”It’s a grim picture by self but that era also saw another threat enter the ame, quietly and gomely pickg off gay men already livg on a knife’s Last Call killer, as the media me to ll him, mostly found his victims the one place his victims ed as safe refuge: gay bars.

“The gay thg wasn’t really relevant to the vtigatn, apart om who might have killed him and where he hung out, ” one says, straight-faced.

” Photograph: HBOWhile the thori dragged their feet, missg important leads and claimg ignorance over how to handle the se (“I don’t know about where all the gay bars are New York Cy, ” one says, a sense of rigid mascule pri unrlyg) and the media chose to eher ignore or salacly explo, was left up to the same activists who had helped the muny through the early stag of the HIV epimic and ntued to protect them om other forc to do the work.

“We’re hearg the same thgs over and over aga by Ron DeSantis, ” Caronna says, parg the rhetoric of now to that of before, phed by the hateful sger turned vol homophobe Ana Bryant, clud the seri.