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
• DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE
• THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.
• TWO GAY MEN WERE DGGED, ROBBED & KILLED NYC. NOW ONE OF THEIR MOTHERS IS SPEAKG OUT.
• MAN ARRTED KILLGS THAT TERRORIZED MANHATTAN GAY BARS
• NYPD IS VTIGATG A STRG OF ASSLTS POTENTIALLY LKED TO ATHS OF 2 GAY MEN
• ALV BRAGG SILENT AS GANG OF KILLERS PREYS ON GAY MEN, LEAVG 2 AD AND A DOZEN ROBBED
• 2ND MAN TURNS HIMSELF INTO POLICE DEADLY NYC GAY BAR DGGGS
• 3RD SPECT ARRTED NYC GAY BAR DGGGS, MURRS
• 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
• TWO BTAL MURRS OF GAY MEN NEW YORK CY NCERNS LGBT MUNY
• FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''
• WHAT REALLY HAPPENED WH THE 'LAST CALL' KILLER WHO TERRORIZED NYC'S GAY NIGHTSPOTS 1980S AND '90S?
• GAY MAN GUNNED DOWN NYC STREET, DI

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. 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.

DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE

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.

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.

THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR 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. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAt first, the men’s aths were treated as overdos, until tens of thoands of dollars were found draed om their bank Umberger was seen leavg the Q nightclub Manhattan, his mother Moon for The New York TimJul Ramirez died the back seat of a taxi April after he left a popular gay bar Manhattan wh a group of men. They stole his wallet, phone and ID before they abandoned his body the r wh a distrsed month later, John Umberger was found ad an Upper East Si townhoe after he and a group of men left another popular gay bar jt three blocks om the last place Mr.

Muny at first regard the aths as isolated dg overdos: men who partied too hard, quotidian tragedi a gay nightlife scene that has roared back to life as the ronavis panmic has the men’s fai soon disvered somethg more sister: Cred rds the men’s nam were maxed out and their bank acunts draed of tens of thoands of dollars.

Muny, which emerged om the panmic to the jaws of a monkeypox outbreak, a landspe of stgglg and sometim shuttered bars and an creasgly hostile natnal polil have also spread fear and mor, while startg a broar nversatn about siar attacks that have quietly plagued the cy’s gay nightlife for years.

TWO GAY MEN WERE DGGED, ROBBED & KILLED NYC. NOW ONE OF THEIR MOTHERS IS SPEAKG OUT.

Umberger were targeted bee they were gay, and they have not said if they believe the men’s aths and other nonfatal attacks are men who said they were dgged have stggled to nvce the police they were the victims of a crime and not jt irrponsible partygoers who took someone home and blacked Alarn, 33, said he was dgged at the Rz March 2020. Umberger, The Tim has spoken to five men who said they were dgged at gay bars the cy — cludg the Eagle, the Boiler Room and the 9th Avenue Saloon — and then robbed. It is also ed recreatnally by some the gay Burt, 27, was robbed of more than $25, 000 after he was dgged at the Boiler Room the East Village last December.

ImageCouncilman Erik Bottcher reprents much of the cy’s gay heartland Hell’s Kchen, Chelsea and the Wt Moon for The New York TimGay bars hold a special place L. Councilman Erik Bottcher — who reprents much of the cy’s gay heartland Hell’s Kchen, Chelsea and the Wt Village — lled “a goln age of nightlife. Bar Colorado addn, many gay bars are or near Midtown Manhattan, which has been transformed by panmic-era enomic llapse and acts of high-profile street crime.

MAN ARRTED KILLGS THAT TERRORIZED MANHATTAN GAY BARS

More about Liam StackA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 16 of the New York edn wh the headle: Dgggs, Deaths and Robberi Put Cy’s Gay Communy on Edge. The mother of a gay man robbed and killed unr spic circumstanc New York Cy earlier this year broke her silence this week, llg out Manhattan's new district attorney for refg to prosecute her son's alleged murrers, a gang spected of preyg on young gay men Hell's Clary told The New York Post District Attorney Alv Bragg is draggg his feet on brgg charg agast the spected killers of her son, John Umberger, 33, of Washgton D.

The same gang of men is believed rponsible for the April ath of Brooklyn social worker Jul Ramirez, 25, who also died unr spic circumstanc after beg dgged and robbed the area, and at least dozen more gay men who were also dgged and robbed.

Word needs to get out, pecially the gay muny, that they are targetg gay men, " Lda Clary told the Post, later addg, "This same group of killers have dgged, robbed, and murred untls young gay men New York. Like Umberger, he had earlier vised gay bars the Hell's Kchen area, and postmortem toxilogy reports showed that while both men died of dg overdos, their blood also suggted they had been victims of spiked drks also known as beg "roofied. Both victims — olr, whe-llar profsnal men, wh the heterosexual vtments of marriag and children — had last been seen at an upsle Midtown Manhattan gay piano bar lled the begs Elon Green’s terrific, harrowg, te-crime acunt of an elive serial killer who preyed upon gay men the 1990s, perfidly turng the safe havens of gay bars to huntg grounds, and semi-anonymo late-night hookups to an opportuny to kill wh impuny.

NYPD IS VTIGATG A STRG OF ASSLTS POTENTIALLY LKED TO ATHS OF 2 GAY MEN

The most prolific serial killers explo the vulnerabili of the social orr; the “Last Call Killer” took advantage of gay men’s need for discretn and the enmic homophobia of law enforcement.

ALV BRAGG SILENT AS GANG OF KILLERS PREYS ON GAY MEN, LEAVG 2 AD AND A DOZEN ROBBED

Gay men prsured to hi their sexualy at the height of the AIDS epimic are particularly sceptible to all-nsumg tragic seems to anticipate this journalistic nundm.

Wh great passn, he wins his spe to explore the social value of gay bars to the queer muny and the val work of grass-roots groups like the New York Cy Anti-Vlence Project, which fought for fair treatment for gay crime victims durg a perd when they were often treated like reer crimals. Clary, who recently rerd a vio urgg New Yorkers to vote for Republin Lee Zeld last week’s gubernatorial electn, believ the siari between Ramirez and Umberger’s aths, along wh other cints unr vtigatn, pot to a “system” that is targetg young gay men. “My office has been ntact wh the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and the NYPD regardg s of two gay men who were dgged, robbed, and found ad earlier this year after leavg LGBTQ nightclubs wh strangers, as well as s of others who were dgged and robbed, ” New York Cy Council member Erik Bottcher, whose district clus Hell’s Kchen, wrote an Instagram post over the weekend.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIt was the fifth arrt nnected to a seri of dgggs and robberi that killed two men last Q bar Hell’s Kchen was one of the bars where victims were targeted the Moon for The New York TimA man whom the Police Department scribed as a lear of a gang that perpetrated a seri of robberi and killgs at Manhattan gay bars has been arrted, law enforcement officials said on man, Jayqwan Haton, 35, of Brooklyn, was arrted on Monday and charged wh murr, grand larceny and other crim nnectn wh the killgs of Jul Ramirez and John Umberger, two men who were dgged at bars Manhattan, robbed g facial regnn technology on their phon and later found ad of enforcement said the motive for the killgs was fancial, but the murrs neverthels terrorized the cy’s L. Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker om Queens, was dgged at the Rz, a gay bar Hell’s Kchen, and left wh a group of men who abandoned his body the back of a taxi on the Lower East Si roughly one hour later, his fay month later, Mr. Umberger, a 33-year-old polil nsultant, was dgged at the Q, a gay bar near the Rz, and was found ad five days later, his fay fai of both men disvered that money had been taken om their acunts after they died.

2ND MAN TURNS HIMSELF INTO POLICE DEADLY NYC GAY BAR DGGGS

The documents said the assailants appeared to be motivated by money and not bias, and that attacks took place at tablishments that tered to both gay and straight patrons. Several gay men who told The Tim they had been dgged said the police did not take their claims asked on Tuday if the police rponse had been fluenced by bias, Commissner Keechant L. The New York Cy Police Department nfirmed Monday that is vtigatg a strg of robberi and asslts that may be nnected to the aths of two gay men earlier this year shortly after they left gay bars Manhattan's Hell's Kchen neighborhood.

His fay prevly told NBC News that approximately $20, 000 had been draed om his bank acunts and that they believed he was Umberger and Jul Ramirez were dgged and killed separate cints followg viss to New York Cy gay Clary / Fay photoAbout a month later, Umberger, a 33-year-old polil nsultant, was found ad after he and two unintified men left another popular Hell's Kchen gay bar, the Q. A gang that preys on gay men at Hell’s Kchen nightclubs is spected of killg at least two victims and of dggg and robbg more than a dozen other men — but Manhattan District Attorney Alv Bragg’s office is impedg the vtigatn, law enforcement sourc say.

Saturday, May 28, at The Q NYC, a multistory gay nightclub at 795 Eighth Ave., where he had gone alone after a late dner wh iends at Tao Downtown Chelsea. Five weeks earlier, siar circumstanc, Brooklyn social worker Jul Ramirez, 25, was ptured by a secury mera leavg the Rz Bar and Lounge, a gay club on Wt 46th Street, two blocks om The Q NYC, wh three unintified men around 3:17 a. Earlier that night, Ramirez and a iend had vised two other Hell’s Kchen gay bars wh a half-e of The Q NYC and the Rz: Mickey Spillane’s and Rise Bar, both on Nth Avenue.

3RD SPECT ARRTED NYC GAY BAR DGGGS, MURRS

An NYPD spokperson did not answer The Post’s qutns about the serial killgs of gay men, other than to say: “The vtigatns rema ongog, [and] the medil examer will terme the of ath. C., were found ad separate cints after leavg gay bars Hell's Kchen 2022, both had thoands of dollars stolen om their acuntsThey died of a toxic dg batn, their topsi found; July, an acclaimed fashn signer was found ad her Manhattan apartment of another toxic nartic bo -- those three aths may be lked to two separate ongog overdose robbery patterns, law enforcement officials saySix spects have been dicted the first pattern; law enforcement officials say that crew is thought to be behd 17 robberi and the aths of Jul Ramirez and John Umberger; the send is thought to be rponsible for 26, cludg the ath of Kathryn Gallagher.

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

The send of three murr spects publicly intified by the NYPD last weekend has turned himself to police nnectn to the overdose aths of two men targeted at Manhattan gay bars last year. Related verage MORE: Gay men targeted dggg and robbery attacks, 2 aths possibly lked MORE: Victims dgged, robbed durg strg of cints at Manhattan gay bars MORE: Arrts ma adly NYC gay bar dgggs, 1 spect still at large Two other alleged acplic, Jab Barroso, 30, and Robert Dema, 34, were arraigned earlier this month on siar charg.

TWO BTAL MURRS OF GAY MEN NEW YORK CY NCERNS LGBT 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. 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 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.

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

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. 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. 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. 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.

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. In the late 1970s, one man was arrted his Downtown Manhattan apartment for crim that shocked the LGBTQ+, the early 1990s, as the HIV/AIDS crisis was ragg on, another killer was strikg fear among gay men New York.

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

”The level of fort gay people New York had wh beg open about their sexualy was entirely across the cy the forms of bars, nightclubs and f that were found by and for the LGBTQ+ afford a fort to some gay New Yorkers. But vlent homophobia was still rampant New York the time, gay men walkg near gay bars or unrground clubs areas like Chelsea or Meatpackg were often the targets of teenagers, some of whom wouldn’t hate to asslt those they thought were part of the LGBTQ+ muny, New York State’s first openly gay Senator Tom Duane told Insi Edn Digal.

GAY MAN GUNNED DOWN NYC STREET, DI

”And then, between 1977 and 1979, the remas of six dismembered men who ps said they believed were gay turned up the Hudson River bags that reportedly displayed the signia of NYU Medil Center’s nropsychiatric un. ”And was Bell who noticed somethg sister the September 1977 murr of Variety film reporter Addison Verill, who was found stabbed and beaten to ath his Greenwich Village first, police thought was a robbery gone wrong as the apartment looked to be trashed, but was Bell who poted out the Village Voice article, “There is Nothg Gay About Murr, ” that nothg was wrote that tectiv said the spect was lookg for sh but to Bell, that didn’t s right. Verrill had brought his assailant home or allowed him to the apartment, ” Bell equented the after hours and unrground gay clubs Chelsea and the Meatpackg districts, cludg Roadhoe, Ty’s, The Anvil and Me Shaft.

”Bell wrote that for Verill, wasn’t the fetish self that was the draw, but stead, beg part of the “” Bell Outsi the Village Voice Offic - Getty ImagPolice believed Verill eher picked someone up at the Me Shaft where he was supposedly last seen or on his way home and they mataed he was robbed by that person, acrdg to the Village Voice but Bell ed his power as a member of the media to get the killer’s like Jimmy Brl, who ed his lumn at the New York Daily News to wre to New York Cy serial killer “Son of Sam, ” Bell did somethg siar his story “There is Nothg Gay About Murr.