Michael Alig

Parties and roles

• Michael Alig was the offender.
• “Angel” Melendez was the victim.

Background

Michael Alig (born South Bend, Indiana, April 29, 1966) was the founding member of the Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Alig was mentored by socialite James St. James and club owner Peter Gatien. Alig was influential in the early promotion of Superstar DJ Keoki, whom he dated on and off. Other protégés included Gitsie, Jennytalia, Robert “Freeze” Riggs, Richie Rich, RuPaul, and many other Club Kid personalities. The Club Kids’ outrageousness resulted in their appearing on the news and the television talk show circuit. Alig’s most notorious parties were held at The Limelight, owned by Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat; The Limelight was closed by the police for supposedly drug trafficking, then reopened several times during the 1990s, reopening in September 2003 under the name “Avalon.”

Alig’s time with the underground club scene was accompanied by notorious drug use. He was known to do several hard drugs at once.

The offence

Alig was convicted of the murder of “Angel” Melendez in a confrontation over a long-standing drug debt.

In a hotel elevator, Melendez became angry at Alig and began to strangle him. They got into a scuffle and punches were thrown. Alig grabbed a pillow and tried to “restrain” Melendez, then they beat him with a hammer, then they injected Drano into his veins, killing him. They then put the body in the bath tub so the fluids could drain. A few days later, it started to smell, so they dismembered the body and put it in a cork lined box. A few days later, Alig called his mother crying hysterically, saying he should be dead and he was going to kill himself, but she brushed the conversation off because he was so high on drugs. A couple of days later, they put the body in a cardboard box and threw it into the Hudson River.

Alig went around telling people he was the killer. Due to the amount of drug use being done, no one believed it, and people did not want to be the one to turn on Alig. The claims and the disappearance of Melendez became rumors.

Investigation

While Alig was in rehab, 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; the police were not concerned about the disappearance of a Colombian drug dealer.

Through September, the police had still not questioned Alig about the murder. They were concerned about nailing his partner Peter Gatien and wanted Alig to testify against him. As time passed, many people believed Alig would get away with it.

A dismembered body was pulled from the Hudson River. In November 1996, the coroner reported the body was that of known drug dealer “Angel” Melendez.

Arrest

Alig fled New York. He held up in a hotel in New Jersey with a former boyfriend before the cops surrounded the hotel. Alig went quietly and gave a full confession.

Trial

Alig pled Not Guilty to the charge of 1st degree murder because he felt he was attacked and only fought back in self-defense. His lawyers felt that due to his strong drug use and the dismemberment of the body he would be found guilty.

Sentencing

In December 1997, Alig and his accomplice Robert Riggs pled guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for Melendez’s murder.

Alig became eligible for parole in 2006. His first parole request in October 2006 was denied, and he would be up for parole again in September 2008.

Outcome

Alig was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for Melendez’s murder.

Aftermath

While in prison, Michael Alig told Michael 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?’”

Media portrayals

The events of Alig’s years as a club promoter up to his arrest were portrayed in the 1998 documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary and recreated in a film simply called Party Monster. The film starred Macaulay Culkin as Alig and Seth Green as St. James. The events were also covered in St. James’ memoir, Disco Bloodbath.

Visits and recordings

In June 2001, David M. Lambert of the British artists collective the satori group visited Alig at Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. Lambert made recordings 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.

Other details

Conflicting details about how Drano was administered

The circumstances of the murder were described with disputed elements:

• One account stated that “Freeze” grabbed a hammer from the closet and hit Melendez over the head, then “they injected Drano into his veins,” killing him.
• Another part stated that the rest of “Angel’s” murder “is debated,” because Alig claimed he was injected with Drano, while “Freeze” claimed it was the act of pouring Drano into Melendez’s mouth while his mouth was duct taped shut.

Quoted material from Michael Alig (post-sentencing narrative)

Alig described drug counseling and therapy progress at Elmira: “I just finished today. My therapy is going to continue, but the actual drug part of it is finished.”

Alig described his experience with the drug program counselor: “The counselor, she is an angel sent from God. What she has to put up with in here, you have abso-fucking-lutely no idea. You know those movies about the principal who has to come to the disruptive high school in the Bronx and the kids are setting things on fire and hanging teachers from the ceiling? That’s what our drug program is like.”

Alig described touching a visitor during conversation: “I’m sorry I keep touching you,” he says. “I’m a very touchy person.”

Alig described parole denial and a remark attributed to his parole officer: “He did not seem like the fabulous type. And he did not understand the fabulous type. And he told me that I am a little bit too fabulous. He didn’t use those words. He said, ‘Tell me, why was there so much publicity surrounding your case?’ I said, ‘Well, have you seen the movie?’ Four days later, he made a special trip to my cell, came right up to my bars, and yelled at me like a drill sergeant. ‘I saw the movie you were so interested in having me see! And you can be sure that other members of the parole board will see this movie and will know exactly what your lifestyle was!’ ”

Alig described a concern about relationships: “When I ever get out of here,” he says, “I will never find a boyfriend.”

Alig described a “knot in my stomach”: “Listen, since the second after it happened, I have had a knot in my stomach that has never gone away. I think that’s what they mean when they say, ‘When you kill someone, a little part of yourself dies.’ That must be what makes humans different from animals. I’m still trying to figure it out. The time that the knot subsides a little bit is when I offer someone in here a little assistance. So what will happen when I get out, I hope, is that I will be able to convince some of these people who think that what I’ve done is cool not to go down the same path.”

Alig said: “This is not cool. This is not fabulous.”

Alig said: “Maybe if I would have died during that struggle. Maybe that would have been cool.”

Alig described role models and his belief about his ability: “But I know in my heart and soul that I have the ability to become a Larry Tee or a RuPaul, one of the successful ones who is able to lead a creative, artistic, even edgy lifestyle. You can be edgy without being self-destructive. I know that I’m smart enough to do it. I’m smart enough to do anything.”

Alig described parole as home-thinking: “I’m thinking parole. I’m thinking home.”

Alig described parole denial: “Naturally, Alig was denied parole. He’ll get another chance to go before the board in two years.”

Alig described worries about dying alone: “My focus is on, I’m going to die alone,” he says. “I’m never going to have a boyfriend, nobody is going to love me, I’m ugly. I don’t have any reason for anyone to ever have a relationship with me.”

Alig described feeling misunderstood: “People think that I don’t care. The truth is that I care so much that I have to pretend that I don’t. I have to mask it with this flippant, pretentious persona.”

Alig described being lucky: “Because I didn’t get life in prison. I have another chance. I’m lucky because I see people in here who have done less than what I’ve done who have gotten life and they don’t have friends coming to visit them who buy them $500 Prada glasses. The other day, somebody sent me a case of tangerines from Florida. Just the smell! I hadn’t had a tangerine in ten years. People don’t get those things in here. And I have a support system of so many smart people who have continued to have faith in me despite the drug use and the havoc I’ve wreaked in people’s lives.”

Alig described the statement by the shrink about touching: “Michael,” the shrink has to tell him, “you are not allowed to touch the therapist.”

Health details

Alig had a pinched nerve in his back that had gone untreated by prison doctors for the past seven years and caused numbness from his groin area down to his right foot. He said this loss of feeling caused loss of muscle reflexes in his bladder and sphincter, leading to incontinence. Alig’s mother sent new underwear, and he regularly washed soiled sheets in the toilet in his cell. The condition was called Cauda Equina Syndrome, which, if left untreated, could result in a permanent loss of sensation.