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

Contents:

• ‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS

The four-part seri vtigat the stori surroundg a serial killer who targeted gay men a seri of btal murrs and dismemberments the 1990s. "Like his victims, who were bisexual and gay, Rogers is a gay man, per his trial ’s book go over some of his bgraphil tails: Rogers was the elst of five children born to a fay Plymouth, had had n-s wh the law before for siarly morbid allegatns. A total of four murrs were brought up at his trial, but he was only charged Thomas Mulhy and Anthony Marrero’s four victims were middle-aged, gay or bisexual men, last seen at gay bars Manhattan.

In July 1993, Michael Sakara, a gay man his 50s, left Five Oaks Piano Bar, where he was a regular, wh Rogers and was never seen aga. 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.

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. “Aids took what was, at bt, a level of difference towards gay people and turned to revulsn, ” said Green. 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.

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

’ Photograph: Wonwoo Lee/Getty Imag/Image SourceI n speak to the equency of vlence the gay muny back then. 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. Back that benighted era, gay bars were often “the one refuge om the perils of everyday life”, said Green.