It has been seventeen years since Michael Alig was sent to New York state prison for the murder and dismemberment of Angel Melendez. Alig one of the original club kids in Manhattan during the 1090's was famous (of a sort) for being outrageous and on the edge of what was happening. He was one of the people who said what was happening. What was happening was coming out of his drug addled mind and it didn't turn out well. His story can be found in the book "Disco Bloodbath" (later renamed "Party Monster") written by James St James.
Alig was a friend/client/business partner to Melendez who was staying at his home in 1996. Alig apparently owed Melendez money and along with his boyfriend Freeze Riggs bludgeoned, smothered, poisoned and dismembered him. Melendez's body was found of the shore of Staten Island. There was an investigation and in the end Riggs and Alig plead guilty.
Michael Alig was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Gave up drugs and has done his time. There was one previous patrol hearing that was turned down because of the movie version of St James' book starring Macaulay Culkin. This week Alig's parole was granted and he is now a free man.
It was 19 years ago that OJ Simpson took us all for a slow ride. He got in his white Bronco and took to the LA freeway leading helicopters and TV viewers on a chase for the ages. OJ was accused of murdering his lovely wife and her "Waiter" and the LAPD were onto him.
I saw the chase on a TV in a pizza joint on Valencia St in San Francisco's Mission District. We all ate our slices in silence. This was the man who jumped over luggage in airports and now he was a murderer? Where were you? It's like the Kennedy assassination you know where you were when you heard about OJ!
Ramon Novarro was a heart throb in the 1920's and 1930's. He became a star after the release of the film "Scaramouche" in 1923. He was Valentino's biggest competitor. Through out the silent and early sound period he was a major Hollywood star. Novarro had one problem in the eyes of the moguls though, he was gay. MGM's Louis B. Mayer went as far as suggesting a "lavender" marriage to keep his secret a secret. Novarro turned him down! During Hollywood's hey day there were many gay stars who bowed to the pressure to marry for their careers but Novarro was not one of them. He lived his life as openly as he could but was still internally tortured; he was a devote Catholic and homosexual. This problem along with the intense pressure of his career along with the aging process turned him to alcohol. By the end of the 1940's his drinking had taken a toll on his professional and personal lives. His roles were smaller and further in between. Novarro tried his hand at television and had moderate success but still didn't give him the success he once had. Novarro in the height of his career owned a grand home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright but in the 1960's it was sold and Novarro moved to a smaller home on Lauren Canyon Blvd. Here he tried to keep his career together as well as his life. He spent much of his time drinking and ordering liquor delivered to his home. He also had the number of a pimp who would send young men to his home. One of the young men he had delivered was a man named Paul Ferguson. He had been a semi-regular visitor to Novarro's home.
On October 30, 1968 Novarro's assistant entered the home to find there was a mess and empty liquor bottles and full ash trays. Novarro didn't smoke. He looked around and wasn't able to locate Novarro until he entered a second floor bedroom. There he discovered Novarro's body.
Ramon Novarro was not only dead but the evidence showed that he had also been tortured. It was a brutal torture. Because of the police investigation Paul Ferguson (age 22) and his younger brother Tom Ferguson (age19) were arrested for the torture and murder of Ramon Novarro. They went there for a sexual tryst and believed that Novarro had a large amount of cash in his home. He did not. Ramon Novarro was nearly broke. Both brothers were eventually found guilty of their crimes and sentenced to long prison terms.
Ramon Novarro's long kept secret was out.
Andrew Luster the heir to the Max Factor fortune has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for 20 counts of drug induced rape. Luster was released on awaiting trail when in 2003 he left the country and was declared a fugitive from justice. Luster was then tried in absentia and was convicted. While on the lam Luster lived under the name David Carrera in Puerto Vallarta. On June 18, 2003 Dog The Bounty Hunter tracked him down and Luster was arrested and sent back to the US from Mexico.
Luster grew up in Malibu and was supported by a $3.1 trust fund as he was the heir to the Max Factor Cosmetics founder Max Factor's fortune.
Max Factor started his cosmetics company as made to order wig company in Los Angeles in 1904. The company was sold to Proctor and Gamble in 1973 for $500 million.
The American crow is one bad ass bird! If you are a crow you do what you please and if you decide you want to you just fly. Crows have attitude they don't walk on the ground they strut. They also belong to a gang. A group of crows isn't called a murder for no reason. Don't mess with a crow, they'll cut ya! Crows will also eat anything bugs, birds, fruit, vegetables and garbage if it is delicious. They are also rowdy birds. If they feel like putting up a stink or starting a fight they will. One on one they're fine but they generally like to hang out in a group. If they decide they want to hang out on your wall or fence tough luck. Crows can be shooed but but not driven away. Equally at home on a tree top or standing in the middle of a quiet street crows are survivors. Where they nest is anybody's guess. They mate for life and the members of their murder are family. A crow's iridescent black feathers and larger wind span allow them to soar. This is when they are vunerable to their only true predators. Hawks, eagles and large owls are the only things crows are afraid of. Crows are the rock'n'rollinest birds there are.
Like Charles Dickens' Haversham mansion in "Great Expectations" there is an empty house in the hills of Los Feliz looking down upon the city of Los Angeles. Unoffically known as the Los Feliz Murder Mansion, 2475 Glendower Place is the site of a murder that took place on December 6, 1959. The house at the time was occupied by a Dr. Harold Perelson and his family. On that night Dr. Perelson beat his wife to death with a hammer. In the house were his three children. The eldest Perelson daughter escaped the house and ran to a neighbor's home for help. The younger children awoke but were convinced by their father that it was just a bad dream. Dr. Perelson then commited suicide by drinking a glass of acid.
Standing empty today the house has been unoccupied since the time of the murder. The Perelson family sold the house a year later to Emily and Julian Enriquez who never spent a night in the house. Neighbors reported seeing them bring boxes in and out of the house but never spend time there. The house is fabled to have been left in the state it was the night of the murder. The rumour has it the family christmas tree is still in place but it has never been proved or disproved as no one is allowed in. In 1994 Rudy Enriquez inherited the house from his parents and has follwed in their footsteps by not living there. He has been seen by neighbors feeding cats.
The Los Feliz Mansion still sits behind its walls slowly decomposing still uninhabited surrounded by multi-million dollar mansions and celebrites. Dark and ominous in the LA sunshine the Los Feliz Murder Mansion is a real life Scooby-doo mystery!
