1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Hollywood Land 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Gianni 4 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: Versace are insane. He was a runway iconoclast who outfitted 5 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: the likes of Madonna, Demi Moore, Prince Sylvester Stallone, and 6 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: Don Johnson. He lived like Louis the fourteenth and counted 7 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: Princess Die and Elton john among his friends. He was 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: plagued by rumors of mafia tie and a secret health diagnosis, 9 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: rumors that persisted long after his death. He was gunned 10 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: down by a jigglo serial killer who'd been on the 11 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: lamb for two months after murdering four other men in 12 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: three states. And Gianni VERSACEI made great fashion that was 13 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: featured in great films, unlike that clip I played for 14 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: you at the top of the show that wasn't from 15 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: a great film. That was a fair use. Sample from 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: the Library of Congress of the Frisco Jazz Band performing 17 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: Nighttime in Little Italy in nineteen nineteen. I played you 18 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: that clip because I can't afford the rights to a 19 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,119 Speaker 1: clip from Barry Sonenfeld's Men in black and why would 20 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of balchini and cheese? 21 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 22 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: movie in America on July fifteenth, nineteen ninety seven, And 23 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: that was the day that one of America's most wanted 24 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: assassinated Gianni Versacei in broad daylight on his own front 25 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: steps in Miami's South Beach. On this episode hate Kuture 26 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: in trash Culture, Mafia Ties, a jigglo serial killer in 27 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: Gianni Versacei, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Hollywood Land. 28 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stallone was playing golf when the FEDS told him 29 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: his life was in danger. This wasn't one of his 30 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: many on screen action hero lives. Not the life of 31 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: mythical vet John Rambo, who barrowed through the jungle in 32 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: a bullet bandolier and a headband on the run from 33 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: Vietnamese soldiers, nor the life of maryon Cobra Cobretti, member 34 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: of LAPD's elite zombie squad, who took down a cabal 35 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: of New World terror with the aid of his badass 36 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: ray bands. This was Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone's real life, 37 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: the life that saw a young man with partial face 38 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: paralysis catapult to a global sex symbol during the Hairsprayed 39 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: Heyday of the nineteen eighties. The Rags to Rocky life 40 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: that brought a hungry Italian Stallion from sleeping at New 41 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: York City's Port Authority bus terminal to living large on 42 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: an eleven acre villa with nine bathrooms in an Olympic 43 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: sized pool here in Miami, and according to the FBI, 44 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: the real life of Sylvester Stallone was under threat. It 45 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: was summer nineteen ninety seven, and Stallone was at an 46 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: inflection point in his career. After five Rockies, three Rambos 47 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: in an arsenal of other American gladiator roles, the fifty 48 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: one year old wanted to be more than a hired 49 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: muscle knot. Sylvester Stallone wanted to be appreciated as an actor. 50 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: He hoped his newest movie, Copland, would do the trick. 51 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: It was a proper film, not as typical Shoot Him 52 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: Up Fare, A novelistic, neo noir thriller. In Copland, Stallone 53 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: played a subdued small town sheriff, beaten down by fates 54 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: and justices and dirty cock corruption. He'd gained forty pounds 55 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: for the role and worked for scale. He held his 56 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: own against ace tough guys Robert de Niro, Harvey Kaitel, 57 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,839 Speaker 1: and Ray Viota. He was brooding, he was great. Early 58 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: buzz suggested that the critics noticed. But just as Stallone 59 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: was deliberately moving away from ultra violence, ultraviolence was moving 60 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: toward him. On the golf course, Stallone noticed six helicopters 61 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 1: hovering about four hundred yards away. The distant buzz was unnerving, 62 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: and for good reason. All around him, one of the 63 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: largest manhunts in FBI history was unfolding, a dragnet on 64 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: the scale of the legendary search for nineteen thirties gangster 65 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: John Herbert Dillinger. More than two weeks earlier, one of 66 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: the FBI's ten most wanted was spotted in West Palm Beach. 67 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: That was more than seventy miles north from where Stallone was. 68 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: But Miamipde now had very good reason to believe the 69 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: armed and very dangerous fugitive was in their midst. Officials 70 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: identified the suspect as twenty seven year old Andrew Philip 71 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: Cunan and sometime alias Andrew D. Silva. White male, dark 72 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: brown hair, brown eyes, known to pretend he's rich, and 73 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: sometimes he was, but always with other people's money. According 74 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: to the fugitives own mother, her son got by as 75 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: quote a high class homosexual prostitute. DOJ posters said Cunanan 76 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: was wanted for second degree murder and questioning in four 77 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: other deaths. What flyers didn't reveal was the sheer, sadistic 78 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: brutality of these killings. The first victim was found in 79 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: a Minneapolis loft, a twenty eight year old ex navyman 80 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: rolled up in a rug, head bludgeoned with a claw 81 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 1: hammer odd tops. He revealed he was struck not once 82 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: or twice, but twenty seven times. The second, a thirty 83 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: three year old architect, was also in Minnesota, sixty miles north, 84 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: shot once in the head, left near a lake. The 85 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: third victim, Holy Shit, a seventy two year old real 86 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: estate tycoon, discovered bound, gagged and dead on the floor 87 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: of his Chicago garage, his chest stabbed numerous times with 88 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: either a screwdriver or a pruning pole, it was hard 89 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: to tell, and both were turned up in the investigation. 90 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: His neck was cut with a sob blade, wound so 91 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: deep he was nearly decapitated. The man's of ribs were 92 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: all broken, apparently crushed by the two cement bags left 93 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: beside his corpse. His head was also wrapped in masking 94 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: tape like a mummy. Again only shit and the rich 95 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: man's green lexus was also missing, until it wasn't. A 96 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: few days later, police located the vehicle on a Pennsylvania cemetery, 97 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: parked near the body of a forty five year old 98 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: caretaker who'd been shot execution style in the back of 99 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: the head. And the execute demand's red Chevy pickup was gone. 100 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: And now the FEDS had intel that someone fitting this 101 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: lunatic's description had been asking around Florida about Stallone. There 102 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: was no secret sly lived in Miami Beach. Locals called 103 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: his extravagant bayside villa Casa Rocky. The actors sometimes had 104 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: trouble with nosy boaters anchoring behind his state to see 105 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: what they could see. Stallone even made local headlines when 106 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: he tried to block a public path near his property 107 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: with an eight foot security fence. Rollerbladers were pist off, 108 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: so when a customer a Planet Hollywood's recent opening in 109 00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Key West started asking where Stallone was bartenders didn't much 110 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: about it. Everybody knew that Stallone was one of the 111 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: chain's five celebrity investors who was part of the attraction. 112 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: Just seemed like the chit chat of a starstaruk Roube 113 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: aimed for some sign memorabilia in an overpriced drink. But 114 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: that changed on July fifteenth, when a gunman who looked 115 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: like that customer at Planet Hollywood, who in turn looked 116 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: like the psycho from America's Most Wanted, executed someone else 117 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: in broad daylight in front of witnesses. And this nutjob 118 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: had assassinated a celebrity, and not just any celebrity. One 119 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: of Sly Stallone's friends, another Italian signor, Gianni Versachi Versacei, 120 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: the runway genius who lived like a Medici prince. Versacei, 121 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: the household name partly responsible for Miami Vice's pastel suited style. 122 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: Stallone knew Versachi from the early nineties, when the actor 123 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: was dating supermodel Janis Dickinson. Versace corded him with truckloads 124 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: of expensive gifts, full pantries of fine china, rooms of 125 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: luxe fabric, trunks of clothes. Versacchi, as was his way 126 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: with celebrities, spared no expense. Stallone reciprocated by helping launch 127 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: a VERSACEI Housewar's line in nineteen ninety five. In a 128 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: provocative ad, he posed nude with Claudia Schiffer. In an 129 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: Adam and the homage Porcelain VERSACEI plates covered their X 130 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: rated bits. Stallone was a guest at Versace's lavish lakeside 131 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: house in Italy. They hit the gym together. He even 132 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: shows VERSACEI to design his costume for his nineteen ninety 133 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,199 Speaker 1: five film Judge Dredd, who cares that critics panned the 134 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: movie is one of Stallone's worst. He looked badass and 135 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: that gilded future cop get up was unmistakably Versace. Chunky, 136 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: golden epaulettes, black cat suit, eurotrash, wet dream. It even 137 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: had a cod piece. And now VERSACEI was dead, it 138 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: could have been Stallone. It could still be Stallone. The 139 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: murder was so brazen it seemed like a mob style 140 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: a hit. Before nine am, Versace was outside his Ocean 141 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: Drive mansion, fumbling with his keys when a gunman walked up, 142 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: shot him point blank in the head twice, and then 143 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: coolly walked away, and the shooter was still on the loose. 144 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: It had to be Andrew kunan Within the hour, police 145 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: found the stolen red Chevy from Cunanin's alleged fourth victim 146 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: in a parking garage near the Versace mansion. Beside the 147 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: truck was a heap of freshly sweaty clothes. But what's more, 148 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: the vehicle had been parked there since June twelve, and 149 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: that was more than a month ago. Stallone still couldn't 150 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: believe it. This guy had been in town for weeks 151 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: and weeks and locals were only on high alert now 152 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: after he'd murdered a celebrity in broad daylight. And the 153 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: more Stallone learned, the more infuriated he became. Miami Beach 154 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: was what ten blocks long? Why hadn't cops plastered South 155 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: Florida with his photo? And the guy was known as 156 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: a gay hustler and there were only like ten gay 157 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 1: clubs in the city, But why hadn't the police dispatched 158 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: under covers in each one. Stallone knew a few things 159 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: about cops. Shit, he just played one in Copland, and 160 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: he knew that it sounded like they hadn't been doing 161 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 1: their jobs. And maybe if the Miamipe had been less 162 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: worried about Stallone's game, taking a break from interviewing every 163 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: stupid rollerblader outside his house, maybe his friend would still 164 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: be alive, and maybe he wouldn't be having this conversation 165 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: with black suits on the green, and maybe those helicopters 166 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: wouldn't still be hovering, standing there, surrounded by the manicured 167 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 1: grass and the ocean and the sky. Stallone had to admit, though, 168 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: you know, if it had to happen, then this wouldn't 169 00:11:44,640 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: be such a bad place to go. It was the 170 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,679 Speaker 1: fourth of July weekend in nineteen ninety five, and Madonna 171 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: was having trouble falling asleep. Maybe it was all the 172 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: naked men around the house, naked dead men sculpted an 173 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: alabaster and marble artifacts of past centuries. Madonna kept wanting 174 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: to press her face against their cool, hard bodies. Gianni 175 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: Versacei is Lavish villa at northern Italy's Lake Como, where 176 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: Madonna was vacationing for the American Holiday. Was a four 177 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: story monument of flamboyant distractions, opulent bedrooms, three acres of 178 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,719 Speaker 1: fairytale gardens, a museum worthy collection of oil paintings in 179 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:52,199 Speaker 1: nineteenth century furniture, a tennis court, a private dock, and 180 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: an impressive array of naked dead men. It was all 181 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: very versace. Bruce Springsteen honeymooned at the Lake Como Retreat 182 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five, and Versacei's good friend Elton John 183 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,560 Speaker 1: was a frequent guest over the years as were staying, 184 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:13,599 Speaker 1: and his wife Trudy Prince had been there too. VERSACEI 185 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: found Prince strange. It took the little guy three days 186 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,559 Speaker 1: to notice he'd been staying on a lake and now 187 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: the Italian designer had generously invited Madonna to unwind here 188 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: after wrapping her second Versace campaign, a minimal and sophisticated 189 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,200 Speaker 1: evening gown shoot that would help class up her image. 190 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: After last year's Late Show fiasco when she said the 191 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 1: word fuck fourteen times and asked David Letterman to smell 192 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: her panties, Madonna's image needed some serious scrubbing. In six months, 193 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: she would be shooting her dream role as Eva Peronne, 194 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: the Argentine first Lady in the Oscar Bait movie version 195 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: of Andrew Lloyd Webber's nineteen seventy eight musical. Madonna needed 196 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: to be convincingly elegant Versace's lake Como Villa was the 197 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: perfect place to practice. Madonna felt like a spoiled princess. 198 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: She brought an entourage and Sri Lankan servants, and white 199 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: gloves tended to every whim of Madonna and her guests. 200 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: New Versace gallons appeared daily. Fresh bullinis arrived every sunset, 201 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: which they drank under a giant magnolia tree beside the 202 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: crystal clear lake. A speedboat captain was on standby if 203 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: they wanted to swim. Gorgeous Italian bodyguards even took Madonna's dog, Jaquita, 204 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: on long, doting walks. Lucky little bitch, Madonna pinched herself 205 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Now. This wasn't an 206 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: impressionable nineteen eighties era Madonna, fresh from watching Basquiach shoot 207 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: up on a mattress. This was that eighty million records 208 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: sold Madonna. Madonna, who'd done Dick Tracy and co star 209 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: a Warren Baby business moocha, Madonna, who'd been on the 210 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: cover of Forbes in nineteen ninety and secured a wopping 211 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: s sixty million dollar advance for a multimedia joint venture 212 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: with Time Warner in nineteen ninety two. This madonna also 213 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: had her own Miami Beach mansion right near Stallone's Cassaraki. 214 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: This madonna knew massive, massive wealth, and to this madonna, 215 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: the world's most celebrated material girl, the ruthless extravagance of 216 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: Versacei's lifestyle was daunting. Maybe that's why she couldn't sleep. 217 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: They called Gianni Versacei the son King of Fashion for 218 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: good reason. At Lake Como, one of his four opulent residences, 219 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: he cultivated his own personal Versi. Versacei's mansion in Miami 220 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: South Beach was equally unreal when he purchased it in 221 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: the early nineteen nineties. Versacei invested thirty three million to 222 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: renovate the former apartment complex and next door hotelity to 223 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: a palatial estate of sixteen bedrooms, two kitchens, a fifty 224 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: four foot mosaic swimming pool flecked with twenty four carrot 225 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: gold in a shower reportedly big enough for ten people 226 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: to share simultaneously, you know, as one does. There was 227 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: also at least one toilet made of onyx, and ever 228 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: since he opened his own fashion house in nineteen seventy 229 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: eight with his older brother Santo's help. Versace had been 230 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: spitting in the eye of so called good taste. He 231 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,720 Speaker 1: turned the delicate craft of haukuture into an erotic spectacle. 232 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: He made men's silk shirts with ornately tacky prints into 233 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: luxury goods. He put socialites in bondage gear. He put 234 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,479 Speaker 1: Princess Diana in gold studs. He posed Supermodeled into Evangelista 235 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: in a sea through top, grabbing her crotch and touching 236 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: her breast. In the New Yorker's erudite pages. He took 237 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: high fashion from its precious, self contained patelier and yanked 238 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: it out onto the street. And VERSACEI created cultural moments, 239 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: Hollywood moments, huge red carpet moments. It was the nineteen 240 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: ninety one Oscars when Cindy Crawford turned up with Richard Gear, 241 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: still smoldering from Pretty Woman's success, and a spectacular red 242 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: Versace gown with a plunging neck and elegant backslid. That 243 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,120 Speaker 1: couple those red carpet photos, that red hot dress. That 244 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: was a moment. It was a moment in nineteen ninety 245 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: four when actress Elizabeth Hurley went from Hugh Grant arm 246 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: candy to household name, which he wore an astounding black 247 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: versace gown held seductively together with giant gold safety pins 248 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: to the premiere of four Weddings in a funeral in 249 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 1: twenty seven years later. The dress has its own Wikipedia 250 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: entry in j Loo's emerald green naval cleavage Wauser from 251 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: the two thousand Grammys. That was a moment's moment, and 252 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: they weren't creating fabulous cultural moments. Back in Versace's hometown, 253 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: born Giovanni Maria Versacei and Reggio, Calabria, a southern city 254 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: riddled with earthquakes, bandits in Malaria, versas mother was a 255 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,680 Speaker 1: successful dressmaker. His family was firmly boucheois, but one of 256 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: twenty somethings, Versacei moved to Milan to pursue contracts with 257 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 1: the country's established fashion houses. He found that Northern Italians 258 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: generally regarded as Southern ilk as peasants and wastrels, yellow 259 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: toothed brutes from a cursed region to northerners. Versacei's native 260 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: Calabria was the stinky foot in their fine leather Italian boom. 261 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:32,479 Speaker 1: But Versacei assimilated. He was ambitious. He lost his Southern 262 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: accent cut ties with friends from home. Did the cosmopolitan 263 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: things a young, upwardly mobile man does to air kiss 264 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: asses in a European city and build a network. But 265 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: the more Versacei ascended Milan's upper echelons, the more he 266 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 1: found them uptight stagy, an intentional draft in the narrower 267 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: he found the guardrails of this polite society. The more 268 00:18:55,119 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: liberally he experimented in his work. Versacei experiment by mixing 269 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: elements of fashion that would supposedly clash, leather and silk, 270 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: swayed and linen, denim and satin. He experimented by sending 271 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: women down the runway and bikini bras and tailored pantsuits. 272 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: Way back in nineteen eighty, he experimented with the metal 273 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: used in Butcher's gloves and invented an entirely new material 274 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: for evening wear, a metal mesh fabric called orotone. He 275 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: experimented with fetishware tropes and scandalized the fashion world when 276 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: his Fall nineteen ninety two collection Miss S and m 277 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: showcased a bevy of leggy models in variously edgy displays 278 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: of leather studs, dog collars and harnesses, and the more 279 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: successful Versace became with these experiments, the more the old 280 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: money bores turned up their noses, resorted to their tribalist conditioning, 281 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: and complained about another Southern interloper trampling their sacred tenet 282 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:56,159 Speaker 1: of good taste. So Versace called bullshit on quote unquote 283 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: good taste, because what was good taste anyway? A highly 284 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 1: subjective code dictated by sexless biddies and heavy fur coats, 285 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: a charade to keep blue blooded bloodlines intact, a way 286 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: to keep out new ideas from new people. Good taste 287 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: was polite oppression. Good taste was arbitrary restraint. Into Versace, 288 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,200 Speaker 1: the point of wealth or luxury was freedom. Freedom to 289 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: VERSACEI meant treating his much younger sister Donatella like an 290 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: adult from a young age, coming out to her early on, 291 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: bringing her to nightclubs when she was still a child. 292 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,640 Speaker 1: Freedom meant nurturing Donatella's utree instincts and molding her into 293 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: a platinum blonde camp queen who people would liken to 294 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: a chain smoking Janics from the Muppets. Freedom meant being 295 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: in a long term relationship with his partner Antonio, but 296 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,920 Speaker 1: also procuring well vetted male escorts to join them periodically. 297 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: Freedom meant knowing money was made to be spent and 298 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,480 Speaker 1: they would always be more to make. Freedom was knowing 299 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: that good taste was a ruse. When the weapon of 300 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,719 Speaker 1: good taste failed to start for Sacchi, Northern Italy's polite 301 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: society tried to discredit him in another way, and they 302 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: said the secret to Versace's success must be the so 303 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: called Kalabrian Mafia aka Trinagita aka, one of the most 304 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: feared organized crime groups in the world dating back to 305 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century. It was the Calabria mafia who kidnapped 306 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: John Paul Getty the Third, the teenage grandson of oil 307 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: bajillionaire J. Paul Getty, in nineteen seventy three, and what 308 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: a feet of fuckuppery that was. See this kidnapping was 309 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: so poorly executed the demand for ransom seemed like a hoax. 310 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: So when notorious titwad Grandpa Getty boked at their nearly 311 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: seventeen million dollar demand, these Southern Italian savages sliced off 312 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: young Getty's year, stuffed it into a plastic envelope, and 313 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: mailed it to a Rome newspaper to do some quick convincing, 314 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: but there was one problem they'd forgotten about Italy's national 315 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: postal strike, and the severed years sat in transit for 316 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,400 Speaker 1: three weeks while their cash cot all almost died from infection. 317 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: And those were the geniuses they said were responsible for 318 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:10,920 Speaker 1: Versace's independent success. What Versace came to understand was that 319 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: the old money elites weren't upset because he designed loud 320 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:18,199 Speaker 1: clothes that looked like overpriced pawnshot fantasies. They were upset 321 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: because they felt threatened because Versace represented something they couldn't 322 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:28,360 Speaker 1: control new Wealth, and new Wealth's only master was freedom. 323 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're were were. Ronnie 324 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,120 Speaker 1: knew a hustler when he saw one, and the dark 325 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: haired guy in the baseball hat and sunglasses was definitely 326 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: on the take. Ronnie saw the guy around the hotel 327 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: at odd hours, late nights, early mornings, always alone, always 328 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 1: with a backpack, and never saying a word, always shooting 329 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: Ronnie furtive, searching lances, but darting his eyes before they 330 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: made contact. Finally, one day, Ronnie dispensed with the subtlety 331 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,680 Speaker 1: and made a show of cruising him hard. The guy 332 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: finally spoke, see something he'd like. Ronnie told him he 333 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,680 Speaker 1: had a cute ass and he could make some money 334 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: off of it. Then Ronnie asked how big he was, 335 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,959 Speaker 1: and the guy came up to Ronnie's room to show him. 336 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: The guy said to call him Andy. Ronnie made some 337 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: calls for Andy to help make him some cash, set 338 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: him up with some old rich guys and they used 339 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: Ronnie's room and Ronnie took his cut that way, a 340 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: small fee for a neutral location. Ronnie was a gay, 341 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: HIV positive, often barefoot, forty three year old who'd been 342 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: living at Miami's Normandy Plaza hotel for months when one 343 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 1: of America's most wanted rolled up and introduced himself as 344 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: Andy in May nineteen ninety seven. With its constant churn 345 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: of transience and tourists, Miami was a good town to 346 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: hide in plain sight, especially someone like Annie aka Andrew Cronanin, 347 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,640 Speaker 1: a twenty seven year old whose half Filipino half Italian 348 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: features could scan Cuban. The Normandy Plaza was especially ideal, 349 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:21,440 Speaker 1: a single occupancy hotel located in Miami's lacklustered North Beach neighborhood. 350 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,479 Speaker 1: The place was cash only, right on the water. Rooms 351 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:29,439 Speaker 1: started at twenty nine bucks. A night phone service was extra, 352 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:33,680 Speaker 1: staff didn't look too closely at your id, Maids weren't 353 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: concerned when he wouldn't let them in, and there was 354 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: even a spot out front to park you're stolen truck. 355 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,640 Speaker 1: At nine pm, the Normandy plaza opened its back gate 356 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: onto the beach, so you could come and go discreetly 357 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: without passing of the guests or the front desk. And 358 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: as long as your room bill was paid up, nobody 359 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: asked questions. Q Noning kept the lowest possible profile, borrowed 360 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: in like a nightcrawler, by day, eating in his room, recovering, 361 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: or getting high with Ronnie, who introduced him to a 362 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: crack dealer who sold ten dollars, forty dollars and one 363 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: hundred dollars rocks, the price variation depending on weight. After dark, 364 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,440 Speaker 1: Kenana would pull his baseball hat down low and head 365 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: out into the salty air. He'd grab fast food or 366 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 1: cheap takeout, cheap vodka from the liquor store, would visit 367 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 1: a nearby adult superstore to buy porn bags with names 368 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,639 Speaker 1: like Inches and Jock, drive to plan at Hollywood to 369 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: do some reconnaissance. He'd go to gay clubs and loiter 370 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: looking for rough trade. He'd get water from the bar, 371 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: brom a cigarette and wait. Qunonin found this existence tolerable 372 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: for a while, but after two months q Ninon was 373 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: sick of it all, sick of anonymity, sick of pretending 374 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: he was no one special because Andrew Kunonin was special. 375 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: He was smart, genius level smart. He read the whole 376 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: Bible by age seven. In the third grade, as IQ 377 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: tested at one forty seven, q Nanon was superior. Made 378 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,199 Speaker 1: the gifted program in junior high went to a prestigious 379 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: private high school in Mahall of California with diplomat's children 380 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: voted most likely to be remembered in the senior yearbook. 381 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: He'd be remembered all right. He read Vogue, GQ, and 382 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: Vanity Fair religiously. Those were his people. Qu Nana was spoiled, 383 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: the last of four kids. He was his parents' favorite. 384 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: His siblings called him the Prince. One time, the Prince 385 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,399 Speaker 1: got sick and missed the high school field trip, and 386 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: his father bought him a brand new Nissan three hundred 387 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: ZX Turbo to make him feel better. Sure his father 388 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: had since fled the Philippines to evade prosecution for selling 389 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: fake stocks. But keunon And took his dad's point to heart. 390 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,879 Speaker 1: He deserved the finest things, and for a while he 391 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,119 Speaker 1: had them. He'd been a kept man, lived with a 392 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: retired million, had a thirty three thousand dollars infinity in 393 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: an allowance of twenty five hundred dollars a month, flew 394 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 1: around the country on the sugar Daddy's styme. But that 395 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: arrangement fell apart after Qunon had met David, the waspy 396 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: looking architect he'd fallen for and then left dead by 397 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: the Minnesota Lake. Sure Qunon had fibbed along the way 398 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: to get what he deserved. Said he went to Yale 399 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,400 Speaker 1: or show, Said he was in the Israeli Army even 400 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: though he wasn't Jewish. Said he had a daughter from 401 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: a failed marriage. Said his parents were rich but cut 402 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: him off from his inheritance when they learned he was gay. 403 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: Neglected to mention his father's exile, or that his mother 404 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: had gone completely batshit. Sometimes qunan And had a hard 405 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: time keeping his story straight, but he only embellished, so 406 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 1: he didn't waste time proving he was worthy. Why should 407 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: he have to prove he was special when he clearly was. 408 00:27:53,800 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: He just skipped a step. Gianni versace knew Andrew Kunonin 409 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: was special. In nineteen ninety, at a San Francisco gay club, 410 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 1: the Italian fashion king mistook cunon And for someone he 411 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: knew and briefly chatted him up. Qunan And went along 412 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 1: with it, of course, and then told everyone for years 413 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: that he knew Versacei because Andrew Cunanin would know Versacei 414 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,719 Speaker 1: in a way no one else ever would. Qunanin slipped 415 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: up one night at the South Beach club Twist. He 416 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: was grinding on the dance floor with a hairdresser from 417 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: West Palm Beach who asked what he did for a living. 418 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,959 Speaker 1: I'm a serial killer, he admitted keunon and couldn't help himself. 419 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: For once, the truth was more impressive than the lie. 420 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: But then he laughed, said he was an investment baking 421 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: and took off, which was a shame because Twist was 422 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: where he needed to be. His old friend, Gianni Versacei 423 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: lived down the street. What Keunonin didn't know was that 424 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: Gianni Versaci had been quietly preparing for his own death. 425 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: In August nineteen ninety four, Barsacchi noticed hearing loss an 426 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: extreme swelling on his head's right side. His doctor's diagnosis, 427 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 1: a rare form of inner ear cancer. Surgery came with 428 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: the high risk of disfiguring Versace's face. A businessman of esthetics, 429 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: Bversaci instead opted for chemotherapy, but administered at a low 430 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: enough dose that the treatment wouldn't leave him bald or listless. 431 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: Versacei worked throughout the chemotherapy running the fashion house from 432 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: his Milan apartment above the company's headquarters, with nurses visiting 433 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: him periodically to administer his treatment. He kept his diagnosis secret, 434 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: but people could see something was wrong. Signor Versacei must 435 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: have aids, they said, and there were other problems. Donatella, 436 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: who had long been her brother's thickest these mused and sidekick, 437 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,959 Speaker 1: had assumed more prominence during Versacei's illness as his cancer 438 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: went into remission. The shift drove a deep rift between 439 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: the two, and by late nineteen ninety six, Donatello was 440 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: hoovering up cocaine like a human dirt devil in the 441 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: relationship had become acrimonious. Meanwhile, his brother Santo tried to 442 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: tamp down on Versace's spending after his recovery, so in 443 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: September nineteen ninety six, VERSACEI mostly erased both siblings from 444 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: his will, leaving the majority of his fortune to his 445 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: ten year old niece Celegra. Then in early nineteen ninety seven, 446 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: Versace had an embarrassing public flap with Crown Jewels celebrity 447 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: Conquest Princess Diana. She had agreed to write the foreword 448 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: for Versace's newest coffee table book, Rock and Royalty, since 449 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: proceeds would benefit the AIDS Foundation of their mutual friend, 450 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: Elton John, but when Versace sent a finished copy, the 451 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: Princess of Wales was horrified to discover a family portrait 452 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: with her two young sons, William and Harry, pages away 453 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: from nearly nude men. She publicly demanded the forward be 454 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: excise and bowed out of the highly publicized launch event. 455 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: But by the morning of July fifteenth, nineteen ninety seven, 456 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: things were again looking up for the fifty year old 457 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: Versacei's cancer was officially in the clear, a development he 458 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: toasted six months ago with glasses of champagne. He had 459 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: reconciled with Princess Stay and was already designing the world's 460 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:28,280 Speaker 1: most famous new divorcee some new threads, and earlier in 461 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: the month he had signed with Wall Street firm Morgan 462 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: Stanley to take his eight hundred million dollar fashion dynasty public. 463 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: Gianni Versaci would soon be the first Italian designer with 464 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 1: his name on both the Borsa Italiana and the New 465 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:49,040 Speaker 1: York Stock Exchange. It was around eight forty a m. 466 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: When Versacei returned to his South Beach mansion after buying 467 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,440 Speaker 1: five magazines from a cafe. He worked for a second 468 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: to decipher which key opened up his front door, and 469 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,959 Speaker 1: as he did so, versace smiled at a passing neighbor, 470 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: and then within seconds, Gianni Versacei was brain dead. Qunanin's 471 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: first bullet hit the base of Versacei's brain, tore the 472 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: top of his spinal cord, and exited from his neck. 473 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: A second bullet tore through the right side of Versachi's face, 474 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: cracked the top of his skull, and then stuck in 475 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,480 Speaker 1: his head. Versace slumped on the steps. Keunanin walked off, 476 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: leaving behind a shocked eye witness and a gory tableau. 477 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: And there was so much blood the front steps looked 478 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: vandalized with thick crimson pain, so much blood, in fact, 479 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: that the blood still remains right where Versachi's body lay 480 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 1: on that day, his sunglasses, sandals, and a dead bird. 481 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: In a freakish coincidence, a piece of the first bullet 482 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: and exited Versacei's neck, hit the front gate and then 483 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: killed a bird. It wasn't just any bird that died 484 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: by Versacei's side, it was a dove, specifically mourning doth 485 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: mourning with a U. After its mournful coup, the sun 486 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: king was dead and nature wept. Kurt damars in Room 487 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: three twenty two said he'd be down to pay his 488 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: bill in ten minutes. Thirty minutes went by. The Normandy 489 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 1: Plaza hotel clerk went upstairs to find room three two 490 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:42,600 Speaker 1: two empty. On Saturday July twelfth, nineteen ninety seven, Kurt 491 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:47,040 Speaker 1: Damars Aka Andrew Kunanen skipped out on his last bill 492 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: and then re emerged three days later to carry out 493 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: his favorite murder. Six days later, there'd still be no 494 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: trace of the serial killer. Even though twelve arms of 495 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: the law were devoted to cunan in to capture the 496 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 1: killer was still out there. Somewhere. When Versacei's memorial service 497 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 1: took place on Tuesday, July twenty second, exactly one week 498 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: after his death, a crowd of more than two thousand 499 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: gathered at the lawns Duomo, the city's exquisite Gothic cathedral, 500 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: along with a bevy of supermodels, Sting and a sobbing 501 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: Elton John, who was comforted by Princess Diana. The following day, 502 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: at about three forty five in the afternoon, Fernando Careria, 503 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: a seventy one year old property caretaker and twenty year 504 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: resident of Florida, was making a routine check in on 505 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: a houseboat forty one blocks north of Versace's mansion. Corea's 506 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: wife was with him when he noticed the front door's 507 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: busted top lock. The bottom lock was already unlatched. Somebody's 508 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,800 Speaker 1: been in here, he told his wife. Korea pushed the 509 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: door open. Inside, all the lights were on and the 510 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,760 Speaker 1: curtains were closed. Korea headed to the living room. Sofa 511 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: cushions were on the floor with a blanket. An overturned 512 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: chair was positioned like a ma shift barricade. Then Corea 513 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,799 Speaker 1: saw a pair of sandals. Somebody is in here now, 514 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: he told his wife Miami had crimes, so Corea kept 515 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:13,320 Speaker 1: a handgun in his waistband for moments just like this. 516 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: As he went to grab it, a loud, startling bang 517 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: rang out from upstairs. Korea and his wife both ran outside. Terrified. 518 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: Corea thought the intruder had shot him and missed. He 519 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:27,400 Speaker 1: didn't want to be a sitting duck, so he and 520 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: his wife hid in the bushes. Cops came quickly with 521 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,080 Speaker 1: the ongoing man hunt. They'd been on high alert for 522 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 1: suspicious local activity and immediately approached the scene as if 523 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:42,240 Speaker 1: the intruder could be Versachi's killer. Over the next five hours, 524 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: a fusillade of special Forces helicopters, boats, dogs, and grenades 525 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: laid siege to the houseboat. They'd been waiting for this 526 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: opportunity for days. After the tear gas cleared, two sergeants 527 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: ventured inside and they found q Nane in an upstairs bedroom. 528 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,320 Speaker 1: His eyes were open, blood covered his ears, eyes, and lips. 529 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:07,800 Speaker 1: He was dead. qNaN And had shot himself in the 530 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,360 Speaker 1: mouth with the same gun he'd used to kill Versace, 531 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: and the sergeants who'd id'd his body high fived for 532 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,320 Speaker 1: eight frantic days. Andrew Philip qu Nana and loomed large 533 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 1: in the national consciousness. But here, in a stained bed 534 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 1: propped up by bloody pillows, he looked like any other 535 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:31,839 Speaker 1: self beach clubs, scum, small, pathetic, nothing unique at all, 536 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:36,760 Speaker 1: scoffed one of the high fivers. The Miami Herald dubbed 537 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,880 Speaker 1: the crime scene in a houseboat of horrors, but inside 538 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,800 Speaker 1: scanned more yep be tweaker in in set of binocular 539 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: sat on the kitchen counter. The broken front door lock 540 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,840 Speaker 1: was in the fridge. Butter tray, pill bottles, rubbing alcohol 541 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: and a bloody bandage littered a coffee table, And there 542 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 1: were fast food wrappers and used cotton balls in the bathtub, 543 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: And in a pile of magazines was a freshly thumbed 544 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:03,040 Speaker 1: copy of Vogue. It was a Mary Andrew touch eerily. 545 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: The house bow was about four hundred yards away from 546 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,160 Speaker 1: the golf course where Sylvester Stallone learned about q nanin 547 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 1: The whole ordeal shook Stallone to the core. He put 548 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,280 Speaker 1: his Miami Beach villa on the market in August nineteen 549 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: ninety seven, right after Cobbland was released, six weeks after 550 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 1: Versace's murder, Princess Diana died in the limousine ride that 551 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: claimed her life. She wore black Versace satin shoes. In 552 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,280 Speaker 1: two thousand, Donatella sold Gianni's South Beach mansion for nineteen 553 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,960 Speaker 1: million dollars to a telecom bigwig who remodeled it into 554 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 1: a luxury hotel in events space. In twenty thirteen, the 555 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,200 Speaker 1: former Versace mansion was resold at auction for forty one 556 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,760 Speaker 1: point five million dollars. The winning bidder was a scion 557 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 1: of Geordie Ashdenham. The second highest bid came from another 558 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: famous con man prone to hyperbolic flourishes in vulgar wealth, 559 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: but Donald Trump came up half million short. The property 560 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: remains a luxury hotel. Its primary selling point is its 561 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:11,160 Speaker 1: Versace Mansion past. The hotel's gold flecked pool is a 562 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: popular backdrop for Instagram influencers, who can also take selfies 563 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,120 Speaker 1: in front of the gate where VERSACEI once lay dead. 564 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 1: Two out of town men were recently found dead in 565 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 1: one of the mansion suites, an apparent murder suicide, and 566 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: they were found on the afternoon of July fourteenth, twenty 567 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: twenty one, the day before the twenty fourth anniversary of 568 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: Versace's murder, and in the annals of American true crime, 569 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,800 Speaker 1: the assassination of Gianni Versace has become a turn of 570 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:45,240 Speaker 1: the millennium classic, up there with the OJ Simpson Trial. 571 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: It has everything, glamour, sex, celebrity, lurid crime scenes, a 572 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: serial killer, and a Donald Trump PostScript. It's the kind 573 00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:02,000 Speaker 1: of thing that ought to be in pictures. I'm Jake 574 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,319 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is hollywood Land. 575 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,240 Speaker 2: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced 576 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 2: in partnership with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate and review 577 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,400 Speaker 2: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts and get in 578 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,799 Speaker 2: touch with us on social media at double Elvis. If 579 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 2: you like hollywood Land, check out my other show, the 580 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 2: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music 581 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:36,919 Speaker 2: through the lens of true crime. 582 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,880 Speaker 1: Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get your podcasts. 583 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:46,759 Speaker 1: Good God, Al