‘Last Call’ Is About a Murrer—and, More Importantly, His Gay Victims | Vany Fair

Contents:

• STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED
• 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 POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORDINSI ALL OF US STRANGERS, ANDREW STT AND PL ML’S METAPHYSIL LOVE STORYBY DAVID CANFIELDOUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALL“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 FAIRHOW FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE REALYEXCLIVE NEW DETAILS ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE’S WEDDG DRSWHY THE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKGHERE’S WHAT WE NEED SEASON 3 OF AND JT LIKE THAT…THE BRIEF DEATH (AND SHORT REBIRTH) OF LIL TAYINSI ANDREW STT AND PL ML’S METAPHYSIL LOVE STORYFROM THE ARCHIVE: A FATHER’S ACUNT OF THE TRIAL OF HIS DGHTER’S KILLEREND-OF-SUMMER SALE! TAKE 25% OFF AT THE VF SHOPEVE BATEY
• ‘RIGHTEO ANGER WAS A PART OF ’: THE SHOCKG STORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY BAR KILLER

STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED

It turns out that the last place anyone saw Mulhy was an Upper East Si gay bar named The Townhoe, where olr, sophistited men met each other, or met younger men attracted to their type.

Through extensive archival footage and terviews wh people who participated the AVP particular and New York’s gay scene general, we are remd of jt how dangero was for people who were jt beg themselv, ually via vlence perpetrated by people who ma a practice out of queer-bashg. But the realy is brought home by the members of AVP and Edgar Rodriguez, a former NYPD sergeant and a member of the Gay Officers Actn League, who discsed the rampant and open homophobia the partment, which was so severe that Rodriguez knew was unsafe for him to e out while he was a p.

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 POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORDINSI ALL OF US STRANGERS, ANDREW STT AND PL ML’S METAPHYSIL LOVE STORYBY DAVID CANFIELDOUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALL“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 FAIRHOW FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE REALYEXCLIVE NEW DETAILS ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE’S WEDDG DRSWHY THE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKGHERE’S WHAT WE NEED SEASON 3 OF AND JT LIKE THAT…THE BRIEF DEATH (AND SHORT REBIRTH) OF LIL TAYINSI ANDREW STT AND PL ML’S METAPHYSIL LOVE STORYFROM THE ARCHIVE: A FATHER’S ACUNT OF THE TRIAL OF HIS DGHTER’S KILLEREND-OF-SUMMER SALE! TAKE 25% OFF AT THE VF SHOPEVE BATEY

This is illtrated a really tellg scene durg the terview wh the two Pennsylvania State Police, when the director asks them if he missed anythg durg the terview and one of them potedly says, “Why is the emphasis [of the terview] on the gay part? ” To them, the fact that Anrson was gay was irrelevant, but ’s important for a lot of reasons that they jt n’t wrap their mds around. Rogers, who would e to be known as the Last Call Killer, is a serial killer who primarily targeted gay and bisexual men New York Cy the 1990s.

All the victims were gay or bisexual men their 40s and 50s, and all were eher stabbed or beaten to ath. All except Marrero were last seen at gay bars Manhattan. In the HBO seri, “Last Call, ” the stori of the murred men are told poignant, tenr tail, unrsrg the strength of the gay muny of the era, and the btaly and vastatn bore for so many years.

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. “And of urse, didn't help [that] the victims were prumed to be gay. 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.

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

“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. Acrdg to Caronna, Rogers himself was motivated by anti-gay sentiments, even though 's wily believed that Rogers was gay.