The Chillg Confsns of a Cop Turned Serial Killer of Gay Men

gay killer

In 2022, the fatal dggg and robbg of Jul Ramirez and John Umberger outsi New York gay bars put the cy's LGBTQ muny on edge.

Contents:

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

In a new book, journalist Elon Green explor the unr-reported stori of gay men btally murred by a killer who evad jtice for a * gay 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. 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.

SERIAL KILLER WHO PREYED ON GAY MEN, WAS DUBBED 'I-95 KILLER' IS EXECUTED FLORIDA

Gary Ray Bowl, a serial killer who murred six olr gay men an eight-month spree, was executed Florida on Thursday. * gay killer *

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.

LAST CALL IS ABOUT A MURRER—AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, HIS GAY VICTIMS“IT WAS IMPORTANT TO LET QUEER PEOPLE TELL THIS STORY,” SAYS THE DIRECTOR OF HBO’S LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK.BY EVE BATEYJULY 6, 2023COURTY OF HBO.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVE“I WASN'T TERTED DOG TE CRIME,” SAYS ANTHONY CARONNA, DIRECTOR OF THE HBO DOCERI LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK. “I WAS VERY, VERY AAID OF REVICTIMIZG THE MUNY. SO I PASSED ON .”ABOUT A YEAR LATER, CARONNA WARMED UP TO THE IA OF ADAPTG ELON GREEN’S 2021 BOOK—THE SIARLY TLED LAST CALL: A TE STORY OF LOVE, LT, AND MURR QUEER NEW YORK. HE CREDS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER HOWARD GERTLER FOR CHANGG HIS MD.“HOWARD SAID THAT WHEN HE READ , HE FELT LIKE THERE WAS A REAL OPPORTUNY TO TELL A SOCIAL JTICE STORY AND E TE CRIME AS THIS TROJAN HORSE TO BRG PEOPLE —PEOPLE LOVE TE CRIME—AND THEN TELL A MUCH BIGGER STORY ABOUT THE ANTI-QUEER VLENCE MOVEMENT.”ACRDG TO GREEN, WHO IS ALSO AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ON THE SHOW, THE RULT IS A FOUR-PART SERI (THE FIRST EPISO AIRS AND STREAMS ON SUNDAY, JULY 9) THAT BUILDS SIGNIFINTLY ON HIS BOOK ABOUT THE CRIM OF RICHARD ROGERS, WHO WAS NVICTED 2005 OF KILLG AND DISMEMBERG TWO MEN BETWEEN 1992 AND 1993, AND SPECTED OF KILLG AT LEAST FIVE OTHERS. GREEN SAYS THAT THE SHOW TOOK WHAT WAS SENTIALLY A HISTORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY SCENE THE EARLY 1990S AND MA RELEVANT TO TODAY. “IT'S NOT JT A VIEW OF THE PAST,” GREEN SAYS, “BUT 'S ALSO SO OF THE MOMENT.”IT’S ALSO THE STORY OF A SE THAT, OTHER THAN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE HERE OR THERE, WAS LARGELY IGNORED UNTIL GREEN WROTE HIS BOOK. “IT'S THE KD OF THG WHERE IF YOU SQUT, YOU N SEE EXACTLY WHY THIS DIDN'T GENERATE ANY PRS,” GREEN SAYS, CG THE AIDS EPIMIC AND NEW YORK’S HIGH CRIME RATE AT THE TIME. “AND OF URSE, DIDN'T HELP [THAT] THE VICTIMS WERE PRUMED TO BE GAY. IF YOU WERE GOG TO HAVE YOUR MURR WRTEN ABOUT THOSE YEARS, YOU HAD TO BE STRAIGHT AND WHE, AND YOU'D HAVE TO BE KILLED CENTRAL PARK.”COURTY OF HBO.ANOTHER THG THAT SETS LAST CALL APART IS WHO SPEAKS MOST LOUDLY ACROSS THE SERI. TE CRIME MEDIA OFTEN CENTERS ON THE VOICE OF THE KILLER—PARTICULARLY WHEN THAT KILLER’S TARGETS ARE MEMBERS OF A STIGMATIZED OR MARGALIZED MUNY. THIS MAK SENSE AS A PRACTIL MATTER; THE VICTIMS, AFTER ALL, N’T SPEAK FOR THEMSELV. BUT ’S ALSO WHY THE TE CRIME GENRE HAS A REPUTATN FOR BEG EXPLOATIVE, OR GLORIFYG SOCIETY’S WORST ACTORS.IN LAST CALL, THOUGH, THE MAJORY OF OUR TIME IS SPENT WH THE IENDS AND FAY OF THE SLA, AS WELL AS MEMBERS OF THE CY’S GAY MUNY THE EARLY 1990S, WHEN THE AIDS CRISIS FLAMED HOMOPHOBIC FEARS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WAS NFOUND BY—OR OPENLY HOSTILE TO—LGBTQ+ PEOPLE.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHRED, WHE & ROYAL BLUE MAY BE “THE MOST EXPENSIVE B OF FAN FICTN EVER”BY SAVANNAH WALSHHOLLYWOOD ELE RH TO GET PLASTIC SURGERY BEFORE THE STRIKE ENDSBY MARIE LODI“OFTENTIM, TE CRIME, WE LET THE POLICE AND THE PERPETRATORS N THE SHOW,” CARONNA SAYS. “IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HOWARD AND ME TO LET QUEER PEOPLE TELL THIS STORY,” PECIALLY SCE SYSTEMIC HOMOPHOBIA AND THE ANTIPATHY BETWEEN THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AND THE POLICE APPARENTLY HELPED ROGERS M HIS CRIM WHOUT FEAR OF NSEQUENCE.THAT SAID, POLICE OFFICERS AND SE VTIGATORS ALSO APPEAR PROMENTLY LAST CALL, THOUGH THE SERI PULLS FEW PUNCH WHEN TO PICTG WHAT GERTLER LITELY REFERS TO AS “AWARENS GAPS THE CULTURAL PETENCY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.”ONE SUCH MOMENT LATER THE SERI, WHEN AN VTIGATG OFFICER VERBALLY STUMBL AND FALLS SILENT WHEN SCRIBG WHAT A LLECTN OF GOLN GIRLS VIO TAP MIGHT SAY ABOUT S OWNER. “I FEEL LIKE EVERY TIME WE SAT DOWN WH AN VTIGATOR, I DIDN'T HAVE THE TENT TO MAKE THEM LOOK BAD, OR HAVE A GOTCHA MOMENT,” CARONNA SAYS. “BUT I AM LOOKG TO JT UNRSTAND, EVEN JT FOR MYSELF, WHERE THE CULTURAL BLD SPOTS LIE THIS VTIGATN.”FROM SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAG FOR HBO.USG A VAST AMOUNT OF ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE—CLUDG 1950S-ERA STRANGER-DANGER FILMS OM LOL POLICE PARTMENTS, 1990S TALK SHOW TERVIEWS WH ANTI-GAY FIGUR, AND POLIL SPEECH OM THE TIM—LAST CALL ILLTRAT HOW HOMOPHOBIA WASN’T ONLY RPONSIBLE FOR THE VTIGATN’S FAILGS. ACRDG TO CARONNA, ROGERS HIMSELF WAS MOTIVATED BY ANTI-GAY SENTIMENTS, EVEN THOUGH 'S WILY BELIEVED THAT ROGERS WAS GAY.“THERE'S NO QUTN THAT THIS WAS THAT THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ANTI-GAY VLENCE,” CARONNA SAYS. “RICHARD GREW UP HEARG ALL OF THOSE THGS THAT THE GAY BASHER EPISO ONE HEARD, THAT ANA BRYANT HEARD, THAT WE'VE ALL HEARD GROWG UP AMERI.”IT’S A TRICKY THG, 2023, TO TELL A STORY ABOUT A REPORTEDLY GAY SERIAL KILLER WHOUT ADVERTENTLY VALIDATG THE CREASGLY HOMOPHOBIC FAR RIGHT. THAT CHALLENGE ISN’T LOST ON CARONNA, WHO SAYS THE PORTN OF THE SERI THAT DISCS ROGERS’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN “WENT THROUGH PROBABLY MORE ERATNS AND ANY OTHER SECTN THE SHOW,” AS THEY KNEW HOW MIGHT BE RECEIVED BY THOSE LOOKG FOR EVEN MORE REASONS TO MARGALIZE THE LGBTQ+ MUNY. “I KNEW THIS WAS A VERY DIFFICULT STORY TO TELL, WHICH IS WHY I WAS AAID TO TELL THE FIRST PLACE,” HE SAYS.THOSE FEARS WENT AWAY, CARONNA SAYS, AS HE STARTED REARCHG THE SE, AND VISUALIZG HOW A SERI MIGHT LOOK. “YEAH, IS MSY. BUT STILL, I THK 'S WAY MORE IMPORTANT TO TELL THIS STORY THAN TO BE AAID THAT WE'RE GONNA FFLE SOME FEATHERS.”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR“IT’S RAG TEENS” AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?THE BT TV SHOWS OF 2023, SO FARSEX TOYS, FANCIAL CRIM, AND THE ORIG OF BARBIETHAT SOUND YOU HEAR IS DONALD TMP SCREAMG, CRYG, AND THROWG UP A MAR-A-LAGO BATHROOMIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMERINSI THE ACTORS STRIKE PRS APOLYPSE: “THE CELEBRY FACTORY HAS SHUT DOWN”IS ALL THIS AMATR THERAPY-SPEAK JT MAKG US LONELIER?FROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)EVE BATEY

The HBO doceri Last Call digs to the hunt for a serial killer who targeted gay men New York the early '90s—and why the victims were almost lost to history. * gay killer *

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.

KGOV'S LIST OF GAY MASS MURRERS

San Francis police have doubled the reward for rmatn leadg to the arrt of a spected serial killer known as “The Doodler” who targeted members of the cy’s gay muny the 1970s – cludg a possible sixth victim publicly intified Thursday. * gay killer *

— Gary Ray Bowl, a serial killer who preyed on olr gay men durg an eight-month spree that left six ad, was executed by lethal jectn Thursday at Florida State sentence was rried out at 10:58 p. But ’s also why the te crime genre has a reputatn for beg exploative, or glorifyg society’s worst Last Call, though, the majory of our time is spent wh the iends and fay of the sla, as well as members of the cy’s gay muny the early 1990s, when the AIDS crisis flamed homophobic fears and law enforcement was nfound by—or openly hostile to—LGBTQ+ people. “It was important to Howard and me to let queer people tell this story, ” pecially sce systemic homophobia and the antipathy between the LGBTQ+ muny and the police apparently helped Rogers m his crim whout fear of said, police officers and se vtigators also appear promently Last Call, though the seri pulls few punch when to pictg what Gertler litely refers to as “awarens gaps the cultural petency of law enforcement.

”From Slaven Vlasic/Getty Imag for a vast amount of archival footage—cludg 1950s-era stranger-danger films om lol police partments, 1990s talk show terviews wh anti-gay figur, and polil speech om the tim—Last Call illtrat how homophobia wasn’t only rponsible for the vtigatn’s failgs. Jt 22 years after clash wh police outsi the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village opened a promisg new ont the ongog fight for LGBTQ+ rights, AIDS was cimatg the queer muny and hate crim were on the rise, no small part due to the tragilly wispread misperceptn of the vis as a gay disease and lack of unrstandg about how was transmted.

Last Call: When a Killer Stalked Queer New York, a four-part HBO seri premierg July 9, lv to the grisly murrs and a not-so-distant past when blatant homophobia was still the norm and queer bars, as one activist puts the show, "were one of the few plac the muny where we uld e and feel safe. "And even then, adds Bea Hanson, who served as a liaison between the NYC Gay & Lbian Anti-Vlence Project and police, "There was always this sort of 'you've got to watch your back at the same time too' sort of feelg.

THE CHILLG CONFSNS OF A COP TURNED SERIAL KILLER OF GAY MEN

* gay killer *

Tony Brooks, a 26-year-old ndidate for cy uncil at the time, told police he and Anrson had gone to Manhattan together the night of May 3 to attend a fundraiser at the Central Park Wt home of Robert Browne, a proment gay rights activist. "Sometim he went for male pannship, " rells former New Jersey State Police Detective Nick Theodos, who not the seri that Mulhy's murr was the first se that brought him to close ntact wh the gay muny.

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

HBO doceri 'Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York' follows a strg of murrs targetg gay men the 1990s. * gay killer *

Directed by Anthony Caronna and executive produced by Howard Gertler om Elon Green’s 2021 nonfictn book, “Last Call” pulls back the curta on the killg spree of Richard Rogers, a male nurse who, as far back as the 1980s and until 2001 when he was eventually ught by thori, targeted gay men New York and New Jersey. Beneath the grislier aspects tailed the seri — Rogers’ mod operandi volved dismemberment and strewg body parts around the Tri-State Area — is also an evotive snapshot of gay New York the early 1990s. In the harrowg send episo of “Last Call, ” which is primarily foced on Marrero and the fallout wh the unrground gay muny of his murr, one of Rogers’ alleged attempted victims speaks anonymoly about his bsh wh someone whose MO sounds closely like the killer’s.

The NYPD’s often futile pursu of him across the years turns the seri to a documentary thriller s fal stag — futile also bee of the police’s own seemgly homophobic refal to take the murrs more serly. In a timely harkeng to recent ntroversi surroundg The New York Tim’ verage of trans people, “Last Call” touch on the bias at the Tim and other New York media outlets that emed Rogers (before his inty was known) as the “gay-slay” killer obvly bee had a tchy, if--bleeds--leads rhyme to .

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

In the doceri Last Call, the story of a killer stalkg the cy’s gay bars be an dictment of a system that let him get away wh * gay killer *

San Francis police have doubled the reward for rmatn leadg to the arrt of a spected serial killer known as “The Doodler” who targeted members of the cy’s gay muny the 1970s – cludg a possible sixth victim publicly intified Thursday. Sadly, a far longer list, of more than 34, 400 terrorist killgs sce 9/11 mted by adherents to the relign of peace the name of Allah, is available over at and a shockg number of the high-profile crim that helped to tear Ameri apart were mted by potheads as documented at But here we prent KGOV's list of homosexual mass murrers. Gay Jefey Dahmer: raped, murred, and ate 17 young men and Adam Lanza: murred 28 cludg 20 Sandy Hook Elementary School Luis Garavo: rapist, torturer, and murrer of more than 147 of Columbia's young Omar Mateen: murred 49 Orlando wh terrible llateral John Wayne Gacy: Chigo, killed 33 boys and buried them his hoe and yard.

He was charged wh six aths but is believed to have murred 60 Charl Manson: a prostute's illegimate son, spent most of his early life stutns for offenc cludg theft, pimpg, multiple homosexual offens while rcerated, and homosexual rape. Serial Killers, who molted and murred 27 young men and boys Nathaniel Bar-Jonah: homosexual nnibal Bar-Jonah sexually molted boys Massachetts and Montana and butchered at least one, a ten year old Great Falls named Zachary Corll, Henley & Brooks: Dean Arnold Corll's sex rg wh Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks murred and tortured 29 men and boys Juan Corona: murred 25 migrant workers and even molted their Richard Speck: murred 8 nursg stunts, bragged about on viotape showg him havg sex wh an mate and braggg about the many mat he had sodomized. Acrdg to transvte Ottis Toole, they were homosexual partners, as reported by Amerin Jtice, "Myth of a Serial killer: The Henry Lee Lus Story", episo Ottis Toole: a transvte acrdg to Amerin Jtice (episo 150) and he was a partner of Henry Lee Lus, and bragged about murrs terviews.

" Of urse, homosexual men reproduce by moltg Stephen Port killed at least four young men rapg them as they were dyg and sexually asslted at least seven other Jürgen Bartsch: this German homosexual murred four boys between ag 8 and 13 and tried to kill Gary Ray Bowl: preyed on olr men and murred six, homosexuals like himself, and was executed Florida Robert Berlla: kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murred at least six men Kansas Cy, Randy Kraft: raped, tortured, mutilated and murred at least 16 young men, mostly Dennis Nilsen: Sttish serial killer and necrophiliac who murred at least 12 young men London, Stephen Port: Grdr homosexual app serial killer dgged and murred four young men Ronald Domique: raped and murred at least 23 men, many of whom he found Louisiana's "gay" Larry Eyler: murred 22 young men and boys cludg a 15-year-old whom he then Arthur Bishop: this child molter and nsumer of child pornography (the distributn of which the ACLU has supported) murred five young Daniel Conahan: this serial killer was nvicted of one and lked to more than a dozen murrs of homosexual Herb Bmeister: murred at least 20 men wh 11 of their rps found buried on his Indiana Joseph Dunn: nvicted of murrg five, nfsed to two others and to rapg many young Vghn Greenwood: this homosexual serial killer, known as the Skid Row Slasher, murred 11 William MacDonald: As Atralia's first serial killer and yet only one of the lns of homosexual Stockholm Syndrome sufferers who were kidnapped and raped to the liftyle, MacDonald murred five Michael Lupo: the sadistic Italian homosexual murred four men London and mutilated their David Villarreal: btally murred five men Texas om ag 18 to Carl Panzram: serial rapist executed at Leavenworth nfsed to sodomizg and murrg many boys and Aileen Wuornos: the prostute who murred seven Black Doodler: murred five and possibly 11 more, homosexuals he picked up San Francis John Joubert: former Boy Sut lear said he enjoyed the "power and domatn" of killg. That rearch-driven book provis extensive, refully documented evince om many primary sourc and mastream sendary historil sourc that many of those nng Nazi Germany, cludg Hler, were homosexuals. Instead, even though the German Natnal Socialists tried to take Christ out of Christmas, unbelievers who reject the Darwist and homosexual fluence on the NAZIs stead sist that they were Christians.

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

“Last Call,” by Elon Green, retrac the murrs of four men by a serial killer the 1990s, at a time when gay men felt prsured to hi their sexualy and were often the victims of homophobia. * gay killer *

- Gay Aaron McKney was beg pimped alongsi Matthew Shephard, wh whom he ocsnally had unnatural physil relatns, before he and Rsell Henrson murred Shepherd over dgs, a crime that was not the homophobic attack that McKney played as and was then recklsly promoted worldwi by the media. " As naturally as uld be, this verse om the time of the begng of creatn very naturally affirms the two sex (male and female, father and mother) ditg that a man has both a mother and father, not two fathers or two mothers, providg the natural, healthy ntext for the Scripture's future disgt wh and nmnatn of homosexualy.

This rmatn, as well as the fact that Nilsen was gay and often preyed upon homosexual men, beme prime fodr for the media, and BBC rrponnt Bill Haton is one of multiple terviewe to state, Memori of a Murrer: The Nilsen Tap, that he got a sensatnalistic thrill out of learng about Nilsen’s horrific don’t really discs the particulars of his gome pastime; his thoughts on that subject are nveyed by director Harte via transcribed mentary, and police and urt rerds prented as typewrer text. Through terviews wh vtigators, journalists, fay members of his victims and one man, Martyn, who narrowly ped his clutch, explas how Nilsen exploed 1980s London’s rampant homophobia orr to get away wh his heo crim. Regnizg that no one would miss his youthful down-and-out targets, and that homosexual men particular would be apt to stay silent out of fear of public reprisals for their sexual orientatn, Nilsen liberately went after society’s most helpls and margalized, and his abily to rema untected for as long as he did is a powerful dictment of the climate of the era.

THE SERIAL KILLER WHO PREYED UPON GAY NEW YORKERSMONSTROUSHBO’S DOCERI “LAST CALL” TELLS THE CHILLG STORY OF A STRG OF ANTI-LGBT MURRS ’90S NYC—AND MANAG TO HONOR THE VICTIMS THE PROCS.NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED JUL. 08, 2023 3:16AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 07, 2023 8:30PM EDT COURTY OF HBOLAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK IS YET ANOTHER DISTURBG TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A FIEND PREYG UPON A MARGALIZED MUNY. HOWEVER, THE PELLG HOOK OF ANTHONY CARONNA AND HOWARD GERTLER’S FOUR-PART HBO VTIGATN (JULY 9) IS THAT ’S BOTH A WHODUN AND A SOCLOGIL CRIQUE OF THE ERA AND ENVIRONMENT WHICH S TALE TOOK PLACE: EARLY 1990S NEW YORK CY, WHOSE CLIMATE OF HOMOPHOBIA FACILATED S VILLA’S HOMICIS. WH ANTI-GAY AND TRANS LEGISLATN CURRENTLY SWEEPG THE NATN, ’S AN ALL-TOO-RELEVANT STORY ABOUT PERSECUTN AND VLENCE, AND THE WAY WHICH PUBLIC RHETORIC—AND ACTN—FOSTERS FURTHER HATE.DIRECTOR CARONNA’S SERI BEGS WH THE 1992 DISVERY BY MATENANCE WORKERS OF A DISMEMBERED BODY BURLGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. CUT TO SEVEN PIEC, EACH OF THEM WRAPPED NEWSPAPER (AND A SHOWER CURTA) AND PACKED TO DIFFERENT TRASH BAGS, THIS DIVIDUAL WAS—VIA HIS BRIEFSE AND PERSONAL BELONGGS—SWIFTLY INTIFIED AS THOMAS MULHY, A 57-YEAR-OLD HBAND AND FATHER WHO WAS THE AREA FOR A BS MEETG. DETECTIV ALSO FOUND LATEX GLOV, A PASS SAW, AND A LEN SHEET THE PLASTIC BAGS, ONE OF WHICH WAS EVENTUALLY TRACED BACK TO STATEN ISLAND’S LONE CVS. OTHERWISE, HOWEVER, THERE WAS LTLE EFUL PHYSIL EVINCE PROCURED OM THE EMS, SO PS SHIFTED THEIR ATTENTN TO MULHY’S MOVEMENTS THE DAYS AND HOURS LEADG UP TO HIS MURR. AS THEY SOON LEARNED, MULHY HAD LAST BEEN SEEN ON JULY 8, 1992, AT MIDTOWN MANHATTAN’S TOWNHOE BAR, AN UPSLE GAY WATERG HOLE WHERE OLR WELL-TO-DO GENTLEMEN OFTEN MET YOUNGER SUORS. DOUGLAS GIBSON REMEMBERS TALKG TO MULHY THAT EVENG AND SPYG AN UNKNOWN MAN HIS VICY, BUT HE DIDN’T GET A GOOD ENOUGH LOOK AT THIS STRANGER TO PROVI AN ACTUAL SCRIPTN. COPS, MEANWHILE, FOUND DIFFICULT TO NVCE PEOPLE AND AROUND THIS TABLISHMENT TO TALK TO THEM, SCE 1992, THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN THE POLICE AND THE GAY MUNY WAS FED BY DISTST, IF NOT OUTRIGHT ANTIPATHY, MUCH OF BORN OM THE FORMER’S HISTORY OF PREJUDICED HARASSMENT AND HOSTILY. IF THAT PROVED A SIGNIFINT HURDLE THE SE, SO TOO WAS LAW ENFORCEMENT’S STILL-LACKG TERPARTMENTAL MUNITNS, AND WAS THIS FAILURE THAT LAYED THEIR REALIZATN THAT MULHY’S MURR WAS PART OF A GHASTLY PATTERN.A YEAR EARLIER LANSTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, THE SIARLY DISMEMBERED BODY OF PETER ANRSON HAD BEEN FOUND. LIKE MULHY, ANRSON WAS A CLOSETED GAY MAN, AND ON THE NIGHT OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE ON MAY 5, 1991, HE TOO HAD VISED THE TOWNHOE. WHEN VTIGATORS TO MULHY’S SLAYG HEARD ABOUT THIS, THEY KNEW THE TWO MURRS WERE LKED. WORSE, THEY WERE FOLLOWED BY THE NEARLY INTIL MURRS OF 44-YEAR-OLD PROSTUTE ANTHONY MARRERO ( MAY 1993) AND OF 55-YEAR-OLD GREENWICH VILLAGE RINT MICHAEL SAKARA ( JULY 1993), THE LATTER OF WHOM WAS A REGULAR AND WELL-KNOWN STAPLE AT THE FIVE OAKS BAR. CLEARLY, SOMEONE WAS KILLG GAY MEN AFTER MEETG THEM AT CLUBS, AND BEE OF HIS MOD OPERANDI, THE ASSAILANT WAS DUBBED BY THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS AS THE “LAST CALL KILLER.” STILL OM LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORKHBO LAST CALL IS, ON THE ONE HAND, A TRADNAL SPENSEFUL MYSTERY, WH VAR POLICE OFFICERS DISCSG THEIR EFFORTS TO PIECE TOGETHER CLU AND UNRSTAND THEIR VICTIMS’ BACKSTORI ORR TO LOTE A SPECT. JT AS PTIVATG, THOUGH, ’S A VIVID SNAPSHOT OF S PARTICULAR MOMENT, NARRATED LARGE PART BY TWO DIVIDUALS WHO WERE ON THE ONTL OF THE FIGHT FOR EQUAL LGTBQ+ RIGHTS: THE NEW YORK GAY & LBIAN ANTI-VLENCE PROJECT’S BEA HANSON AND MATT FOREMAN. RELLG A TIME WHEN GAY AMERINS WERE BOTH EMERGG OM THE SHADOWS FORCE (PECIALLY NYC) AND FACG CREASED ANTAGONISM AND THREATS (CLUDG OM THE RAGG AIDS EPIMIC), HANSON AND FOREMAN OFFER TIMATE AND PASSNATE FIRST-HAND ACUNTS OF THE CULTURAL AND POLIL ATMOSPHERE OF THE EARLY ’90S. IN DOG SO, THEY HELP NTEXTUALIZE THE MURRS AS AN OUTGROWTH OF THE LONG-STANDG BTALY THAT GAY (AND TRANS) MEN AND WOMEN FACED ON A DAILY BASIS. EMPLOYG PLENTIFUL ARCHIVAL MATERIAL, LAST CALL IS A SIMULTANEOLY VIBRANT AND SORROWFUL LOOK BACKWARDS, S NOSTALGIA FOR THE BURGEONG GAY MOVEMENT LORED BY THE FEAR THAT SO MANY FELT BEE OF HOMOPHOBIA AND THE MORTAL DANGER POSED—AS WELL AS THE ANGER THAT WAS A DIRECT BYPRODUCT OF BEG IGNORED, SLANRED, AND OPPRSED. DIRECTOR CARONNA’S SERI HONTLY AND PASSNATELY REVISS THE PAST, PUTTG A NUANCED FACE ON PEOPLE WHO WERE SO OFTEN DISMISSED, DISRD, AND RCED TO UNFLATTERG STEREOTYP, CLUDG MULHY, ANRSON, MARRERO, AND SAKARA. FEATURG TERVIEWS WH IENDS, LOVERS, AND RELATIV OF THE FOUR MEN WHOSE LIV WERE HORRIFILLY CUT SHORT BY A MADMAN, REMEMBERS—AND CELEBRAT—THEM NOT AS STATISTICS, BUT AS FLH-AND-BLOOD DIVIDUALS. STILL OM LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORKHBO IN SEPARATE TERVIEWS WH DIFFERENT TECTIV, LAST CALL HIGHLIGHTS POLICE OFFICERS’ IGNORANCE ABOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THEIR RETICENCE TO RELATE TO THE MURRS. SUCH BLDNS, WHETHER WILLFUL OR NOT, FEELS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT NNECTED TO THE SERI’ OWN LIBERATE DISMISSAL OF THE FACT THAT THE KILLER—WHO, THROUGH MORN FGERPRT ANALYSIS, WAS INTIFIED AS MOUNT SAI NURSE RICHARD ROGERS JR.—WAS ALSO A GAY MAN. THERE’S A PERSISTENT SENSE, OM ALL ANGL, THAT TOLERANCE (AND FEAR OF VILIFITN) HAS REPEATEDLY TRATED ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE, AND PREHEND, THIS TRAGEDY, AND THE FACT THAT ROGERS NEVER OPENED UP ABOUT HIS MOTIVATNS ONLY FURTHER LEAV THGS FEELG PRSGLY MURKY.WHAT REMAS CLEAR, THOUGH, IS ROGERS’ GUILT. HAVG BEEN PREVLY ACQUTED OF KILLG HIS LLEGE ROOMMATE AND, YEARS LATER, OF ASSLTG ANOTHER MAN, THE QUIET AND SOFT-SPOKEN MEDIL PROFSNAL WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THE SERIAL CULPR THORI HAD SOUGHT. NO MATTER THE QUTNS ABOUT JURISDICTN THAT AROSE AT TRIAL, HE WAS JTLY SENTENCED TO TWO NSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENC, ENDG A REIGN OF TERROR THAT—DUE TO HIS HAB OF TAKG ROUTE TRIPS AROUND THE UNTRY—MAY HAVE CLUD MANY MORE UNKNOWN VICTIMS. HE WAS, BY ALL ACUNTS, A MONSTER SEEMGLY WHOUT REMORSE, AND LAST CALL IS SHARPT WHEN POSS HIM AS THE RULT OF A SOCIETY THAT MONIZ WH MALIC TENT (BE ANA BRYANT THE ’70S OR RON DESANTIS TODAY) AND, THE PROCS, SPIR EVABLE CELTY. NICK SCHAGER

All the targets — Peter Anrson, Thomas Mulhy, Anthony Marrero, Michael Sakara — were gay men picked up Manhattan one eveng only to turn up hours or days later as severed body parts roadsi trash ns outsi the cy. But I also spect ’s no surprise that tak the ps an furiatgly long time to get there — nor that the eply graed homophobia of law enforcement specifilly and Amerin society more broadly is what slows them down.

QUEER CRIME: HOW HOMOPHOBIA HELPED 4 GAY SERIAL KILLERS CONTUE TO KILL

Archival footage lays out on one hand the vilent celty of Ana Bryant’s anti-gay speech and the unabashed homophobia of law enforcement lears sneerg that sodomy is a crime, and the rage of AIDS protts and the pleasur of queer nightlife on the other.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY KILLER

KGOV's List of Gay Mass Murrers | .

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