Could you and your friends get so famous from partying that you wind up on TV shows, outshine celebrities in clubs, and have Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green portray your lives in a movie? Unlikely. The Club Kids were the original influencers of the late 80s into the 90s. There’s tons of partiers that could claim membership, but for the sake of time we’ll really only be talking about four today. Founder Michael Alig, Robert “Freeze” Riggs, James St. James, and Andre “Angel” Melendez.
Michael Alig had a bit of a stereotypical arc coming from Indiana to New York. Small town middle America boy comes to the Big City for college and gets his whole life dumped on it’s head. But after that there’s nothing classic about this tale. Alig was originally shunned by the underground NYC party community. Until he met a kindred spirit in James St. James.
When Alig showed a knack for party promoting with a gender fluid, costume wearing, sometimes drag, army of partiers, St. James welcomed him back in. The two helped to create the Club Kids. They were loud and drunk and high and you couldn’t miss them. Seriously.
They often drank and danced through the night wearing these “throw away” costumes. It was basically arts and crafts for the club. Look at that guy on the left, he’s the best. Can’t you just picture him? All tuned up, sweating his ass off on the dance looking like fucking Bowser all night. Phenomenal.
The Club Kids freedom of expression, often through sexual fluidity, struck a chord in New York’s youth. It didn’t matter if you were a boy, girl, dressed up drag, or in clown makeup, photographer Walt Cassidy’s pictures suggested that everyone was screwin at the end of the night. Soon, wherever Alig and the Club Kids went, the rest of the City followed.
They were a massive hit. They sang on stage with Bjork, held a 200 person pop up party in a Mcdoanld’s, had one of the most bizzare interviews on Geraldo, were featured in magazines, and influenced fashion and art. Their home base was The Limelight and they were untouchable. Were.
The Limelight was Michael Alig’s club where he made the rules. It was also his main source of income. It was owned by a shady character named Peter Gaiten. The Limelight was a restored church that was known for it’s multiple themed rooms for dancing, foam parties, or whatever else The Club Kid’s could think up. It was here that Alig got Angel Melendez on the payroll.
The character that Angel created for his Club Kid’s persona was well, an angel. He often wore some kind of wings with his outfits which turned out to be quite fitting. Angel was a drug dealer and although it wasn’t in his job description for Limelight, that’s exactly what he did at the club. Drugs were running rapid through the Club Kids. Go figure. The obvious addiction from their leader, Alig, was creating tension amongst the higher members. Instead of being known as the colorful party characters, the Club Kids were getting the reputation of the drug kids.
Well that’s all the ammo Giuliani needed during his Quality of Life campaign. The Club Kid’s came right into the new mayor’s crosshairs. They were the embodiment of New York at the time, lawless and terrifyingly majestic. Giuliani closed down The Limelight and that’s when things really spiral.
After the closing of the club, Alig, Riggs, and Melendez all moved in together. One drug infused night, Melendez was murdered over a drug debt dispute with Alig. There’s multiple accounts of what happened that night but with all the heroin going around who knows if we will ever really know.
Robert Riggs claims that he came in to Angel roughing Alig up for not paying for all the drugs he’d been using. Things escalated and Alig called to Riggs for help. Riggs seeing that the confrontation turned violent, hit Angel three times in the head with hammer. Alig then smothered him with a pillow. Riggs also said that Alig poured chemicals down his mouth and taped it shut but that’s been disputed by Alig. Because if a hammer to the head and suffocation didn’t work, Drano should do the trick. One things for sure though, they murdered the shit out of Angel that night.
Not knowing what to do with the body, the roommates left it on ice in the bathtub for a couple of days. They knew they had to confront their problem when the body began to smell. Eventually Alig was able to convince Riggs to dismember the body for ten bags of heroin. I mean, who says no? He cut up Angel and they dumped him in the Hudson River.
After that, Michael Alig was telling pretty much every person he partied with that he murdered Angel Melendez. Loose lips. People didn’t know if he was joking or not. Rumor has it that he talked about killing him so much that it got annoying. Word got to Angel’s brother who told the police but he said he was shocked by the lack of hustle on the investigation.
Angel’s body was found by a bunch of kids playing and still not much was done. Apparently Alig was supposed to testify against the club owner of The Limelight, Peter Gaiten. Side note: same Gaiten that produced De Niro and Palminteri’s, The Bronx Tale. It’s speculation of course but I imagine Giuliani had a hard on for Gaiten who owned multiple clubs and was allowing, if not encouraging, drugs to be sold in his business. Gaiten was eventually found guilty and deported back to Canada.
The Village Voice eventually did an article about the rumors around Melendez’ death. With a paper trail and a secret that everyone was in on, Alig and Riggs were picked up for the murder. For their help in convicting Gaiten, the two were given lesser sentences for manslaughter.
Michael Alig was out of prison after serving only 17 years for the death of Angel Melendez. He died not long after from a heroin overdose.
The most curious character in the Club Kid’s is Michael Musto. He was known for reporting the ins and outs of the New York underground. Musto never was considered a Club Kid but he was good friends with James St. James and was on stage speaking for the Geraldo interview. Although Alig created the group, it was Musto who coined the term Club Kids. The most known quote on the Club Kids was written by Musto. It really helped spread their notoriety when he said, “They are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers.” It was also Musto who wrote the piece on Angel’s death. I’m not saying he should’ve kept a murder hush hush, obviously. But Musto was along for the whole ride. Media lurking in the background of the life of these “influencers”, so ready for the rapid rise and the long, long, fall from grace. Ain’t shit changed.
The character that Angel created for his Club Kid’s persona was well, an angel. He often wore some kind of wings with his outfits which turned out to be quite fitting. Angel was a drug dealer and although it wasn’t in his job description for Limelight, that’s exactly what he did at the club. Drugs were running rapid through the Club Kids. Go figure. The obvious addiction from their leader, Alig, was creating tension amongst the higher members. Instead of being known as the colorful party characters, the Club Kids were getting the reputation of the drug kids.
Well that’s all the ammo Giuliani needed during his Quality of Life campaign. The Club Kid’s came right into the new mayor’s crosshairs. They were the embodiment of New York at the time, lawless and terrifyingly majestic. Giuliani closed down The Limelight and that’s when things really spiral.
After the closing of the club, Alig, Riggs, and Melendez all moved in together. One drug infused night, Melendez was murdered over a drug debt dispute with Alig. There’s multiple accounts of what happened that night but with all the heroin going around who knows if we will ever really know.
Robert Riggs claims that he came in to Angel roughing Alig up for not paying for all the drugs he’d been using. Things escalated and Alig called to Riggs for help. Riggs seeing that the confrontation turned violent, hit Angel three times in the head with hammer. Alig then smothered him with a pillow. Riggs also said that Alig poured chemicals down his mouth and taped it shut but that’s been disputed by Alig. Because if a hammer to the head and suffocation didn’t work, Drano should do the trick. One things for sure though, they murdered the shit out of Angel that night.
Not knowing what to do with the body, the roommates left it on ice in the bathtub for a couple of days. They knew they had to confront their problem when the body began to smell. Eventually Alig was able to convince Riggs to dismember the body for ten bags of heroin. I mean, who says no? He cut up Angel and they dumped him in the Hudson River.
After that, Michael Alig was telling pretty much every person he partied with that he murdered Angel Melendez. Loose lips. People didn’t know if he was joking or not. Rumor has it that he talked about killing him so much that it got annoying. Word got to Angel’s brother who told the police but he said he was shocked by the lack of hustle on the investigation.
Angel’s body was found by a bunch of kids playing and still not much was done. Apparently Alig was supposed to testify against the club owner of The Limelight, Peter Gaiten. Side note: same Gaiten that produced De Niro and Palminteri’s, The Bronx Tale. It’s speculation of course but I imagine Giuliani had a hard on for Gaiten who owned multiple clubs and was allowing, if not encouraging, drugs to be sold in his business. Gaiten was eventually found guilty and deported back to Canada.
The Village Voice eventually did an article about the rumors around Melendez’ death. With a paper trail and a secret that everyone was in on, Alig and Riggs were picked up for the murder. For their help in convicting Gaiten, the two were given lesser sentences for manslaughter.
Michael Alig was out of prison after serving only 17 years for the death of Angel Melendez. He died not long after from a heroin overdose.
The most curious character in the Club Kid’s is Michael Musto. He was known for reporting the ins and outs of the New York underground. Musto never was considered a Club Kid but he was good friends with James St. James and was on stage speaking for the Geraldo interview. Although Alig created the group, it was Musto who coined the term Club Kids. The most known quote on the Club Kids was written by Musto. It really helped spread their notoriety when he said, “They are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers.” It was also Musto who wrote the piece on Angel’s death. I’m not saying he should’ve kept a murder hush hush, obviously. But Musto was along for the whole ride. Media lurking in the background of the life of these “influencers”, so ready for the rapid rise and the long, long, fall from grace. Ain’t shit changed.
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