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Michael Alig

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Michael Alig
File:Michael Alig.jpg
StatusIn jail at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility DIN 97A6595
Occupation90s New York Party Promoter
ParentElke Alig
Conviction(s)Manslaughter 1st degree (Cat B) October 24th 1997
Criminal chargeMurder of Angel Melendez
PenaltyPleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison[1]
File:Clubkidsjames.jpg
James St. James and Michael Alig

Michael Alig (born South Bend, Indiana, April 29 1966) was the founding member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996 Alig was convicted of the murder of Andre "Angel" Melendez[2] in a confrontation over a drug debt.[1]

Underground club scene

Alig came to New York and started out at as a busboy at Danceteria in 1983. A natural at throwing parties with little or no resources he soon began to rise in New York's party scene.[1] Alig was mentored by socialite James St. James and club owner Peter Gatien while rising in popularity and prominence in the national underground club scene. Alig was also influential in the early promotion of his then boyfriend DJ Keoki[3] who studied under DJ Brian Telfair, top DJ at the time in Alig's and Gatien's clubs, most notably the New York club The Limelight, owned by Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat.[4] In Sept 1995 the Limelight was closed by the police on suspicion of drug trafficking[5], but subsequently reopened several times during the 1990s.[6] In September 2003, it reopened under the name "Avalon."

Alig's Party Kids

Alig's other protegés included Gitsie, Jennytalia, Robert "Freez" Riggs, Richie Rich, RuPaul, Amanda Lepore, and many other Club Kid personalities. The Club Kids' outrageousness resulted in their appearing on the news and the television talk show circuit--they appeared on the Geraldo Rivera show five times.

Murder of Angel Melendez

"Angel" Melendez worked at the Limelight, and after the bar's closure by federal agents, Angel was fired. With no job he moved into Alig's apartment.[5] Increasingly affected by substance abuse, Alig and his friend Robert "Freez" Riggs murdered Angel after an argument over many things including a long-standing drug debt.[7] Alig has stated many times that he was so high on drugs that the events are quite cloudy. On Dec 09, 1996 Robert "Freez" Riggs confessed to police that on March 17, 1996[5]:

On a Sunday in March of 1996 I was at home ... and Michael Alig and Angel Melendez were loudly arguing ... and getting louder. I opened the room and started towards the other bedroom ... at which point Michael Alig was yelling, "Help me!" "Get him off of me" [Angel] started shaking him violently and banging him against the wall. He was yelling "You better get my money or I'll break your neck" ... I grabbed the hammer ... and hit Angel over the head...

— Robert "Freez" Riggs [7]

Then according to Freez he hit Melendez a total of three times on the head. Then Alig grabbed a pillow and tried to smother him.[7] When Melendez was unconscious Freez went to the other room and when he came back he noticed a broken syringe on the floor and Alig pouring something chemical down Melendez's throat.[7] After a few days, the body began to smell. Alig injected himself with heroin, cut the legs off the corpse, and stuffed him in a box and afterward threw the corpse into the Hudson River.[7]

Investigation of the disappearance

Michael Alig went around telling people he was in fact the killer, but there was so much drug use being done that no one believed it; even if they did, nobody wanted to be the one to turn him in. Soon the claims, along with the "disappearance" of Meléndez just became rumors. While Alig was in rehab, those rumors were reported on in the Village Voice by Michael Musto. Although no names were used, it stated the details of the murder. Over the coming weeks, the Village Voice continued to report and make accusations about the murder of "Angel" Melendez, however the police department was not that concerned about the disappearance of a Colombian drug dealer.[8]


Through September the police had still not questioned Alig about the murder; they were focused on his business partner Peter Gatien[citation needed], wanting Alig to testify against him.[citation needed] Since several months had passed many people believed Alig would get away with it, until a dismembered torso was pulled from the Hudson River at Staten Island.[9] James St James recounts how Angel's brother was baffled by the callousness and indifference both of the police and of the scenesters Angel had considered friends.[8]


In the fall of 1996, to escape the scrutiny of the media, Michael fled New York. He and some of his close friends took a road trip to Denver, Colorado, stopping in Chicago and his hometown, South Bend. While in South Bend he saw his mother for the first time in three years.[5] Once in Denver he missed New York too much and moved back into the city, trying to make a comeback with his new club night, Honey Trap.[5]

In November 1996, the coroner reported the body had been identified as that of known drug dealer "Angel" Meléndez.[citation needed] Every rumor was confirmed by the appearance of Angel's body, and the police could not ignore it. Alig fled NY, staying in a hotel in New Jersey with his new boyfriend, Brian McCauly, before the police surrounded the location.[5] Alig went quietly and gave a full confession, but pleaded not guilty to the charge of first degree murder because he felt he was attacked and only fought back in self-defense.[citation needed] However, his lawyers felt because of his strong drug use and the dismemberment of the body he would be found guilty.[citation needed] In December 1997, Alig and his accomplice Robert Riggs pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for Meléndez's death.

While in prison, Michael Alig told Michael Musto, who had first reported that Alig had committed the 1996 murder of drug dealer Angel Meléndez:

I know why I blabbed. I must have wanted to stop me. I was spinning out of control. It's like the old saying 'What do you have to do to get attention around here - kill somebody?'

— Michael Alig [10]

Prison

While incarcerated, Alig is prisoner #97A-6595[11] [1]. While in the New York prison system, Alig has been moved around from prison to prison, including time in the mental ward at Rikers Island.[12]

Parole

Alig became eligible for parole in 2006. His first parole request, in October 2006, was denied after the parole officer watched the movie Party Monster, starring Macaulay Culkin[1]. He was again denied parole in July 2008, and will not be eligible again until his conditional release date in March 2010.[13] He is currently at work on an autobiography entitled Alig-ula.[1]

The events of Michael Alig's years as a club promoter up to his arrest were portrayed in:

Prison CD

In June 2001, David M. Lambert of the British artists collective, the satori group, visited Alig at Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. He made recordings that were used in the creation of a terrible beauty featuring Michael Alig, a nine track music CD using samples from the documentary Party Monster, original lyrics and Alig's vocals, among other content.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Jonathan Van Meter (November 20, 2006). "Party Boy in a Cage" (HTML). New York Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  2. ^ JOHN SULLIVAN (September 11, 1997). "2 Men Plead Guilty in Killing of Club Denizen" (HTML). New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23. Mr. Alig, who pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to one count of first degree manslaughter, admitted that he and a friend smothered Andre Melendez, known as Angel, chopped up his body and threw it into the Hudson River.
  3. ^ Michael Musto (March 26th, 2002 12:00 AM). "NYC Life" (HTML). villagevoice. Retrieved 2008-03-22. Alig and his then boyfriend, Keoki, {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Ari Bahat, Architect, 48" (HTML). New York Times. August 25, 1989. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; (1998) Format:Documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary
    Party Monster (1998) at IMDb
  6. ^ ANDREW JACOBS (November 22, 1998). "A Fallen Club King Tries a Comeback" (HTML). New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-22. The born-again Limelight, he predicts, will usher in a new era of clubbing ...Although the club has operated sporadically since last summer, it is still a work in progress. Mr. Gatien says he has spent $1 million so far renovating the church interior -- a reinvention, as he calls it -- but much remains to be done.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Robert "Freez" Riggs written confession" (HTML). The Smoking Gun. 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  8. ^ a b Michelle Goldberg (August 16, 1999). "Clubland Horrorcoaster" (HTML). metroactive. Retrieved 2008-03-22. One of the most poignant scenes in this story occurs when Angel's brother appears on the scene and is baffled by the callousness and indifference both of the police and of the scenesters Angel considered friends.
  9. ^ BARBARA ROSS (Thursday, September 11th 1997, 2:03AM). "NIGHTCLUB PALS OWN UP TO '96 KILLING" (HTML). New York Daily News. Retrieved 2008-03-23. They left the body in a bathtub for a week, then cut the legs off and dumped the pieces into the Hudson River. The torso washed up on Staten Island. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "CELEB ANTICS A MUSTO READ" (HTML). New York Post. December 25, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 'Club Kid' Michael Alig told Musto, who first reported that Alig had committed the 1996 murder of drug dealer Angel Melendez, "I know why I blabbed. I must have wanted to stop me. I was spinning out of control. It's like the old saying 'What do you have to do to get attention around here - kill somebody?'
  11. ^ Michael Alig and James St. James (August 5, 2004). "Phone Call from a Felon, or Fabulous but True Tales from Inside the Big House" (HTML). pub. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  12. ^ Michael Alig and James St James (October 21, 2004). "Phone Call from a Felon - Part 11" (HTML). WOW. Retrieved 2008-03-23. You know, James, you don't know any of this: When I first got to Rikers Island, do you know that they put me in the mental ward?
  13. ^ "Inmate Information - Michael Alig" (HTML). New York City. 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2008-05-22. Parole Hearing Date:07/2008
  14. ^ James St. James. Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland (August 11, 1999 ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 2222. ISBN 0684857642.
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