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

Contents:

• THE SERIAL KILLER WHO PREYED UPON GAY NEW YORKERS
• NYPD IS VTIGATG A STRG OF ASSLTS POTENTIALLY LKED TO ATHS OF 2 GAY MEN
• WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
• 2ND MAN TURNS HIMSELF INTO POLICE DEADLY NYC GAY BAR DGGGS
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''
• SPECT WT VILLAGE ANTI-GAY MURR LGHED WHILE NFSG

THE SERIAL KILLER WHO PREYED UPON GAY NEW YORKERS

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. 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

—was also a gay man. 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.

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

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.

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. C., who was dgged, robbed, and murred after a night out visg gay bars Hell's Kchen this past May. 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.

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

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.

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.

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

"They target their victims leavg bars, offerg dgs some s, then eher through force or when the victim pass out, they remove jewelry, money, high-end watch and phon om their victims, " Jam Essig, NYPD chief of tectiv, said at a prs briefg announcg the was officially charged wh two unts of send-gree murr, three unts of first-gree robbery, two unts of third-gree crimal posssn of a ntrolled substance, two unts of send-gree robbery, and two unts of send-gree unsolved murrs of two gay men spected of fallg prey to the same crew ma headl last month when the mother of one of the victims, Lda Clary, acced Manhattan district attorney Alv Bragg of draggg his feet brgg the murrers of her son, John Umberger, to jtice. Word needs to get out, pecially the gay muny, that they are targetg gay men, " Clary told the NY Post last month, later addg, "This same group of killers have dgged, robbed, and murred untls young gay men New York. C., was dgged, robbed, and killed after a night visg gay bars Hell's Kchen on May 28.

Another gay man, Brooklyn social worker Jul Ramirez, 25, was found ad the back of a taxi after he was dgged and robbed the area on April 21. While at least two of the victims were gay, Essig said Allen and his alleged nspirators were opportunistic and did not target gay men bee of their sexual inti. "We don't particularly thk that they're targetg gay members, " Essig said at the prs briefg.

Rogers was given that moniker bee his victims were gay men he picked up om bars. 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. 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.

SPECT WT VILLAGE ANTI-GAY MURR LGHED WHILE NFSG

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. C., both of whom were robbed and killed after leavg Hell's Kchen gay bars, were termed by the medil examer to be homicis. 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.