1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Hollywoodland is 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about sal Mineo 4 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: are insane. He was the leader of a street gang 5 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: in the Bronx at the age of ten, when he 6 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: traded in gang life for theater life. He was hunted 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: and attacked by older kids throughout the subways of New 8 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: York City for not being manly enough. He attempted to 9 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: communicate with his dead co star James Dean by using 10 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: a Ouiji board in a pint glass. He was targeted 11 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: by swastika wearing white supremacist when his role as a 12 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: Jewish Man received an Oscar nomination, and at the age 13 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: of thirty seven, he was murdered. Month homicide investigation would 14 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: expose how deep intolerance ran in the United States circa 15 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, even in liberal Hollywood. In Salminio made 16 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: great films. Unlike that clip I played for you at 17 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: the top of the show, that wasn't a clip from 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: a great film. That was a fair use. Sample from 19 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: the Library of Congress of the Peerless Orchestra performing in 20 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: a Monastery garden from nineteen twenty one. I played you 21 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: that clip because I can't afford the rights to a 22 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 1: clip from Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. And why would I 23 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of Organized Cheese? Could I 24 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one movie in 25 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: America on February twelfth, nineteen seventy six, And that was 26 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: the day that Salminio was stabbed to death outside his 27 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: West Hollywood apartment. On this episode, Street Gangs, Ouiji Boards, Murder, 28 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: Organized Cheese, and sal Mini. I'm Jake Brennan and this 29 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:38,399 Speaker 1: is Hollywood Land. The man was screaming, oh no, oh, 30 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: my god. No. Monica Marrin was only nine years old, 31 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: but she knew what she heard. The man's screams were 32 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: coming from the car port right outside her bedroom window 33 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: at the Park Wellington Towers, living in an apartment complex 34 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,119 Speaker 1: in West Hollywood, within spitting distance of the Strip met. 35 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: You got used to noises all the time, even at 36 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: nine years old. You got used to ignoring them, blocking 37 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: them out. But sometimes you heard something that wasn't run 38 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: of the mill, big city commotion. Sometimes you heard something 39 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: you couldn't ignore. And at this moment, Monica Marim was 40 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: hearing one of those things. Help me, please, please, help me. 41 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: The voice was urgent and helpless. Monica looked out her window. 42 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: She was supposed to be sleeping. It was after nine pm, 43 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: the sun had long since set. Still in the darkness, 44 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: she thought she saw a man with long hair running away, 45 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: and then she heard a car engine start. Tires squealed 46 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: in the distance. Roy Evans, another resident of the apartment 47 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: complex at eight five sixty seven Holloway Drive, also heard 48 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: the screams and ran to help. He found a man 49 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: on the ground in the car port. The man was 50 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: on his side in the fetal position. He was wearing 51 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: blue jeans and a blue shirt with red and white flowers. 52 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: Roy Evans rolled him onto his back, and the red 53 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: and white flower pattern wasn't visible on the front of 54 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: the shirt. There was too much blood. It was everywhere. 55 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: It trickled from the man's body and ran through the 56 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: cracks in the asphalt. The man wasn't breathing. Roy tried 57 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: in vain to administer CPR. Detectives and deputies from the 58 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: La County Sheriff's Department arrived minutes later, and they discovered 59 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: a single stab wound to the man's upper chest. Paramedics 60 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: attempted to resuscitate. He was declared dead at nine to 61 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 1: fifty five pm Pacific time, February twelfth, nineteen seventy six, 62 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: a Thursday. The detectives found his wallet still on him. 63 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: Cards inside the wallet ide'd the man as Salvatore of 64 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: Mineo Junior, better known as the actor sal Minio, even 65 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: though it had been six years since his last appearance 66 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: in a Hollywood film. He was thirty seven years old. 67 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: Sal's body had been found near his car, and the 68 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: car was still warm, and so was his body. Twenty 69 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: one dollars in the left pocket of his jacket. His 70 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: sunglasses were on the ground next to his body, and 71 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: the keys to his car in a red address book, 72 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: a brown paper bag with a cupcake. When the paramedics 73 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: put his body on a stretcher, they discovered loose change 74 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: on the pavement beneath him. The first thing the detectives 75 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,359 Speaker 1: did was cross robbery off the list. No way sal 76 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: was simply held up. If it was a robbery, then 77 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: why did he still have his wallet, the twenty one 78 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: dollars and the loose change. But the dismissal of a 79 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: robbery angle wasn't simply because Sal's wallet and money were 80 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,039 Speaker 1: found on him. The detectives knew all about sal Mineow. 81 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 1: Sal didn't hide the fact that he enjoyed the company 82 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: of both women and men. These days, it was mostly men. 83 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: They'd heard the story, they knew the places hung out, 84 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: and they knew what turned him on. When the detective 85 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: searched Sal's apartment, they doubled down on their theory that 86 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: sALS death wasn't the result of a botched robbery, but 87 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: rather a tawdry piece of rough trade. Just look at 88 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: the place, the walls, for one, pictures of naked men everywhere, 89 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: and did you see the reading material in the bedroom. 90 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: From the cops perspective, those neudy bags were queerer than 91 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: a three dollars bill. Add into the mix that red 92 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: address book, the one they'd found on his body. It 93 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: was full of men's names and numbers and locations of 94 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: known gay clubs in LA hookup spots, skin flip theaters. 95 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: And the cops stood inside sal Mineo's West Hollywood apartment 96 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: with their standard issued crew cuts and their short seat 97 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: of Oxford's, with soft packs of Paul Mall's crushed in 98 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: the breast pocket, and they made the immediate assumption that 99 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: the murder was due to Salles quote unquote alternative lifestyle, 100 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: because even though it was nineteen seventy six, and even 101 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: though this was Los Angeles, and not only Los Angelest 102 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,600 Speaker 1: but West Hollywood, where struggling actors found the rent cheap 103 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: in the growing gay community established a foundation for what 104 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: would later be proudly known as gay Camelot. Even though 105 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: LA was one of the most progressive cities in the 106 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: United States, it still was far from idyllic. If you 107 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: were gay, to be out in nineteen seventy six meant 108 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: that you were making yourself a target. You were stereotyped, harassed, harangued, 109 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: You were pigeonholed and belittled. You couldn't even die without 110 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department thinking that you had been 111 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: involved in the same sex crime of passion. The cops 112 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: had no prints from the crime scene. The only lead 113 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: they had to go on were a few witnesses who 114 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: described the person who fled the scene as a white 115 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: man of average build with long hair. The cops pounded 116 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: the pavement around town. They worked the dirty money for 117 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: dirty sex angle. Did sl have other known homosexuals over 118 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: to his place often. Was he in the habit of 119 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: bringing strangers home? And what about prostitute? Did he have 120 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: any disgruntled ex lovers? But what about drugs? To cops 121 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: on the beat, one vice begets another. But first, just 122 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: the facts. Sal was an actor. The cops knew that 123 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: he wasn't just good, he was great, and the cops 124 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: knew that too. And they also knew that he'd appeared 125 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: alongside James Dean in both Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. 126 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: He starred opposite Paul Newman in Exodus, which earned him 127 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: as second Oscar nomination after Rebel Grugio. Marx thought Sal 128 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: was so deserving of the Oscar for Exodus that he 129 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: took out an ad in variety of the lobby for him. 130 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: Sal played drummer Gene Krupa and a biopic, The Great 131 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: Acclaim Such Great Acclaim that even Mickey Cohen, the notorious 132 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: Los Angeles gangster, wanted Sal to play him should a 133 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: movie ever be made about his life. But that was 134 00:08:54,720 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: fifteen twenty years ago. Sal's career had seen better days. 135 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: As Sal matured and became comfortable with his bisexuality, he 136 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: chose to live his life out loud, unlike other Hollywood 137 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: stars like Rock Hudson and Tony Perkins, who kept their 138 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: private lives on the down low, and that meant that 139 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: as Sal grew older or more confident in his own sexuality, 140 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: the film roles dried up. In the late sixties, it 141 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: was Dustin Hoffman, a straight man, who played ratso Rizzo 142 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: in Midnight Cowboy, not Sal Minihow Sal couldn't even get 143 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: an audition, and then in the early seventies, Al Pacino 144 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: landed the role of Michael Corleoni and The Godfather over Sal, 145 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: even though Sal's background as the actual son of a 146 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: Sicilian immigrant made him an obvious choice. According to Sal, 147 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: the reason he didn't get a fair shot was because 148 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: one of the other actors and the Godfather allegedly said 149 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: he refused to act opposite and openly gay man. And 150 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: that isn't to say that there weren't other successful gay 151 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: act actors in Hollywood in the nineteen sixties and nineteen 152 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: seventies because their most certainly were, but unlike Sal, they 153 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: kept their lifestyles outside of the limeway, and thus their 154 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: careers flourished. The detectives also learned that as Sal's career 155 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: cooled off, he continued to spend money as if he 156 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: was still hot. Years back, he'd gone broke quarter of 157 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: a million in back taxes, had to sell everything, including 158 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: the house in New York he'd bought for his folks. 159 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: As he struggled to find work, he rediscovered that the 160 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: theater where he'd gotten his start welcomed him with open 161 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: arms when Hollywood's arms folded. At the time of his death, 162 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: he was playing the role of a bisexual burglar in 163 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: ps Your Cat Is Dead, only a few minutes drive 164 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: from his apartment at the Westwood Playhouse. And that was 165 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: all well and good. But the cops wanted the stuff 166 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: they didn't know about, the stuff that their hunches were 167 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: made of, And they called the numbers of the men 168 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: in Sal's little red book. They loitered at the gay 169 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 1: friendly spots that the address book laid bare, and they 170 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: wanted to know how often Sal's homosexual encounters traveled from 171 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: the bar back to his pad at the Wellington Towers. 172 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: And they wanted to know more about the drugs. Some 173 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: told the cops that Sal dabbled in reefer and coke. 174 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: Others said LSD was his bag. Others still said that 175 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: sal did more than dabble, that he sold drugs on 176 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: the side to make the ends meet. In the autopsy 177 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: made an argument that sal didn't do drugs at all. 178 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: Salad died of a massive hemorrhage. Then the single stab 179 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: wound went straight through his heart. He had been shived 180 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: with extreme force and precision, but there were no drugs 181 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: in his system. To the detectives, it wasn't adding up. 182 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: They continued to dig for gossip, chased down rumors. Some 183 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: of the rumors were truly outrageous, like the one that 184 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: Sal once had a liaison with Boston mob boss Whitey 185 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: Bulger at a selfie dinner club. Look it up the 186 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: way that the cops saw vice begets vice, and surely 187 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: this whole thing led to a scandalous expose, no matter 188 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: how tricky the math how to be to get there, 189 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,440 Speaker 1: and the whole time, the simplest explanation was staring them 190 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 1: right in the face. The NYPD came in, swinging nightsticks, 191 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: cut through the air. They pushed through the packed crowd 192 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: inside the stone wall in hands, grabbed shirt collars to 193 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: the sound of the Fifth Dimensions Aquarius coming from the 194 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: house stereo. The cops didn't give a shit at the 195 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: moon was in the seventh house. They were in the 196 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,239 Speaker 1: house right now, I was. And though they were outnumbered 197 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: something like two hundred to ten, the NYPD were officially 198 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 1: shutting down the Stone Wall in. It was just after midnight, 199 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: June twenty eighth, nineteen sixty nine. Night stick swung and 200 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: caught flesh. The cops didn't care who they snared, bartenders, 201 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: taxi drivers, drag queens, legal assistants, homeless youth could be 202 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,679 Speaker 1: fucking congressmen. This was a homosexual establishment, and in the 203 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: cops size, they were all perverted, all immoral, all indecent. 204 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,199 Speaker 1: The cops were sworn to protect public morals and decency, 205 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: so they dialed their prejudice up to eleven and began 206 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: to sweep long hairs and short hair as alike towards 207 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: the paddy wagons and patrol cars outside. Whoever didn't get 208 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,959 Speaker 1: pinched were welcome to runaway screaming. But the crowd of 209 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 1: hundreds inside the Greenwich Village gay bar didn't do what 210 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: crowds usually did in this situation. They weren't scared. They 211 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,959 Speaker 1: didn't scatter like cockroaches down Christopher street. They fought back. 212 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: Patrons and employees at the Stone Wall Inn began to 213 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: yell at the police officers. This was fucking unfair. It 214 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: was harassment. The pigs weren't there because the music was 215 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: too loud, or because there were some underage kids smashing 216 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: pints of schlitz. They were there because some guys were 217 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: dancing with other guys, and that offended the cops. Missionary sex, 218 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: having meat and potatoes, eating gun smoke, watching sensibilities, fucking pigs. 219 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: All the crowd mobilized. Maybe it was something in the 220 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: air that night. Maybe it was the funeral of gay 221 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: icon Judy Garland earlier that day. Maybe it was just 222 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: goddamn time the society the New York Police Department included 223 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: except people for who they were, no matter who the 224 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: fuck they danced with. The crowd cheered on those who 225 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: were getting ruffed up by the cops, which in turn 226 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: inspired those in the NYPD's clutches to put up with 227 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: struggle and dramatically escape. Punches flew, legs kicked, blood spilled, 228 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: The conflicts spilled out onto the sidewalk, and soon random 229 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: passers by and neighbors joined the fray. Bottles and bricks 230 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: were thrown the NYPD officers, who are now losing serious ground, 231 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: and the crowd continued to yell, continued to fight back. 232 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: They did not back down, and before long they had 233 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: the cops hiding inside the bar. They had the cops 234 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 1: hiding inside the bar, radioing for backup. The next day, 235 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 1: the New York Daily News headline read, Homo nest rated 236 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: queen bees are stinging mad and that should tell you 237 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: all you need to know about life as a gay 238 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: man or woman in New York City. Circle nineteen sixty nine. 239 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: We like to think of the end of the nineteen 240 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: sixties as a particularly enlightened time of free love and 241 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: free will, but this was the reality. Simply being gay 242 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: in public in New York City, of all places, put 243 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: your life in real danger. If a man was caught 244 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: dancing with another man in one of New York's gay 245 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: bars that just happened to be mafia owned, as many 246 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: of them were. Even if a man touched another man, 247 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: some stooge on a stool would shine a flashlight in 248 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: their direction. One flaph was a warning, a second flash 249 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: was a threat, and three times well that's when the 250 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: stooge got on the horn. To the NYPD, who had 251 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: a hush hush deal with the mafia to bust up 252 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: overtly gay behavior every time it got out of control. 253 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: A decade earlier, the US State Department had purged gay 254 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: and lesbian employees from their ranks over concerns that they 255 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: compromised national security. Anti sonomy laws criminalized homosexual behavior for 256 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: more than a century in most states, and in nineteen 257 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: sixty eight, the American Psychiatric Association categorized homosexuality as a 258 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: mental disorder, admitting that you had romantic feelings for someone 259 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: of the same sex could earn you a few rounds 260 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: of shock therapy, just ask Lou Reed. The riot at 261 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: the Stonewall then in June nineteen sixty nine, however, which 262 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: came to be known as the Stonewall Rebellion, was a 263 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: major turning point in America's gay rights movement. Some even 264 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: say it launched the gay rights movement. Even though it 265 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: would take decades for real change to happen at the 266 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: state in federal levels, the Stonewall Rebellion did have some 267 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: positive immediate impacts, and it was at this time that 268 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: Salminio was making his directorial debut at New York stage 269 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 1: seventy three. The play was called Fortune in Men's Eyes. 270 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: Set in a prison, it was one of a handful 271 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: of trailblazing productions at the time that offered frank depictions 272 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: of homosexuality, but Fortune in Men's Eyes was more controversial 273 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: than most due to a three minute rape scene. It 274 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: polarized early audiences. It was in the aftermath of the 275 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: Stonewall Rebellion that the New York Times theater critic Clive 276 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: Barnes offered up a dismissive review of Fortune in Men's Eyes, 277 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: in which he wrote, I suggest that if this is 278 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: the play you would like, you need a psychiatrist a 279 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: lot more than you need a theater ticket. He called 280 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: Sal's direction mere sexual titillation, and after dismissing sal already 281 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: a two time Academy Award nom and he as a 282 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: minor Hollywood player, he surmised that I am perfectly certain 283 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: what reputation mister Mineo deserves. New York City's gay community, 284 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: still empowered and inspired by the forward momentum of the rebellion, 285 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: saw the review as another attack. This time it just 286 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: happened to be newsprint instead of night sticks, So they 287 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: fought back with their dollars at the box office and 288 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: made sure that the plague got the attention it deserved. 289 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,520 Speaker 1: Attention was something that sal Minio was used to, but 290 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: often not for the reasons he wanted. Sao grew up 291 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: in the Bronx, the son of Sicilian immigrants. His father 292 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: was a casket maker, a profession which got the family 293 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,360 Speaker 1: through the Great Depression, but it didn't earn Sal any friends. 294 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: He found acceptance in a street game, which Sao was 295 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: running with at ten years old. He used his father's 296 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: caskets to stash the gang's stolen goods, like sports gear 297 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: they lifted from the school's locker room, and that's when 298 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: the unwonted attention began. When Sal's gang was busted for theft, 299 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: a judge threatened to send him to a correctional institution 300 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: unless he was able to find a more productive outlet 301 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: for his boredom. So he took dance lessons and found 302 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: the transition from pilfering to plie's to be a natural one. 303 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: He just wasn't cut out to be a switchblade kid. 304 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty one, he was twelve years old and 305 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,400 Speaker 1: appearing on stage in a production of the Tennessee Williams 306 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 1: play The Rose Tattoo. He had one line every night, 307 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: and even though it was just one line, the New 308 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: York theater scene paid attention to Sal, but not as 309 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 1: much attention as he received riding the subway back and 310 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,680 Speaker 1: forth between the Bronx and Manhattan every day. A delicate 311 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: theater kid with a makeup bag in his hand, Sal 312 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: was an easy target. Some days it felt like the 313 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: subway car were just full of skeezy older men. They 314 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: proposition Sal each time he strode by. At least they 315 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: didn't give chase. The street thugs they were a different story. 316 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,080 Speaker 1: The gangs chased him relentlessly. Sal would switch trains, try 317 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: to throw them off the scent, go out of his 318 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: way to escape the very real threat of violence. Sometimes 319 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,359 Speaker 1: he'd get lucky and simply arrive at the Martin Beeck 320 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,439 Speaker 1: Theater sweaty, out of breath, and a little late. On 321 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:28,959 Speaker 1: the days that he wasn't so lucky, he'd show up 322 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: with his nose bloodied, his shirt torn, his nerves shot. 323 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: The superficial stuff was easy to take care of, nothing 324 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,639 Speaker 1: that his bag of stage makeup couldn't fix, but the 325 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: terror stuck with him. What had he done to provoke 326 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: the attacks? So he liked to dance, he liked theater, 327 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: he'd liked to look nice. Were people threatened by him? 328 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: Sal Mineow, the skinny kid from the Bronx, How could 329 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: it be? He didn't have a mean bone in his body, 330 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 1: But that didn't mean that some wouldn't try to break 331 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 1: them all. Sal Mineo had just closed the door of 332 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: his car when he saw them in the rear view mirror. 333 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,920 Speaker 1: A half dozen guys more blockhead than Beefcake. They all 334 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: jumped from a pickup truck that had just pulled into 335 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: the garage directly behind where SO was parked. It looked 336 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,400 Speaker 1: like college GRIDIRN types, with one distinct difference. They all 337 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: had Swastika armbands on their biceps. It was nineteen sixty 338 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: one Hollywood, a hotel apartment complex off Sunset Boulevard. SO 339 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,200 Speaker 1: was in town to promote Exodus, the auto premature epic 340 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: based on Leon Euris's novel about the founding of the 341 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: state of Israel. For his role as Dove Landau, Sal 342 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: was up for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. 343 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 1: It wasn't unusual for Sal to be cast in roles 344 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: that weren't stricly Italian American, and this was a time 345 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: in Hollywood when representation was close to nil, although it 346 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: definitely didn't improve during Sal's lifetime. Remember that bit about 347 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: Dustin Hoffman playing the gay dude while the gay actor 348 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: can't even get the audition ironic, and Sal's all of 349 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: complexion landed him rolls as a Mexican or Native American, 350 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: But his portrayal of a Jewish character, though lauded in 351 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: print by Groucho Marx, had summoned the sort of unwanted 352 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: attention he hoped he'd left behind in New York City 353 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: a decade earlier. Sal kept his eyes locked on the 354 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: rear view mirror. The men were coming in hot, all 355 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: six of them. Sal couldn't see if they were brandishing 356 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: any weapons. He turned the ignition. The sound of the 357 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: car rumbling to life echoed through the underground garage. Fist 358 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: came down on the back of the car. Sal put 359 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: it in reverse and began to back up. The pounding 360 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: on the back of the car continued, it got louder, 361 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: the sound of knuckles on aluminum. Sal knocked one of 362 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:47,680 Speaker 1: the guys down as he backed the car up. Farther. 363 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: A few others moved out of the way to avoid 364 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: getting run over. Now somewhere on the sides of the car, 365 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,360 Speaker 1: grabbing at the door handles, banging on the windows, Sal 366 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: put it in first gear, hit the gas pedal, and 367 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: sped away before the racist jocks to do real damage. 368 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: He made a clean escape. He'd staved off violence for now. 369 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're, we're, we're on 370 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 1: February twelfth, nineteen seventy seven, Sal Minio had been dead 371 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: for a year. The investigation into Sal's murder had followed leeds, 372 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 1: tips and hunches through alleyways, into the back rooms of bars, 373 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: and down dead end rabbit holes. The cops set up 374 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,360 Speaker 1: a hotline for people to call with information, but Sal's 375 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,639 Speaker 1: case was as cold as the winter air back in 376 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: the Bronx. Witness testimony remained conflicted. Some said they saw 377 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: a youth with long blonde hair flee the scene of 378 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: the crime. Others said it was a white man in 379 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: his twenties with wavy or curly brown or black hair. 380 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 1: A yellow car was noted speeding away that night, and 381 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,199 Speaker 1: maybe a Toyota, and the investigation it dragged on and 382 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: traveled beyond California to Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and New York. 383 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: Through it all, detectives refused to believe that sal could 384 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: have simply been killed during a botched robbery. To that end, 385 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: they shook down every known gay man in the greater 386 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,439 Speaker 1: Los Angeles area, and it got them nowhere, and they 387 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 1: shifted the case to the back burner. One year after 388 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: Salminio had been found dead in the carport behind his 389 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: apartment building in West Hollywood, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's 390 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: Department was no closer to finding a killer than they 391 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: had been on day one, and it would be a 392 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: while longer still before they finally talked with someone who 393 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: would break the whole thing open. Salminio wanted to talk 394 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: to Jimmy Dean. Jimmy was his idol, had been ever 395 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: since nineteen fifty five, when sal was sixteen years old 396 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: and played John Plato. Crawford and Rebeled out a Cause. 397 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: Plato was an outcast who found his people in Jim 398 00:24:55,520 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: and Judy, played by James Dean and Natalie Wood respectively. 399 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: Plato died at the end of the film. Symbolically, he 400 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: died in Jim's Arms. Rebel Without a Cause was famous 401 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,199 Speaker 1: for being one of the first Hollywood studio movies to 402 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: pay serious attention to the lives of teenagers. Sao would 403 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: later boast that as Plato, he portrayed the first gay 404 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: teenager ever in movies. Plato and Jim's love for each 405 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: other is palpable in the film, even if it's Judy 406 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: and Jim who share the on screen kiss. It's rumored 407 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: that the script initially called for a kiss between Plato 408 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,359 Speaker 1: and Jim, but it being the time of the Hayes 409 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: Code and all the scene was cut. The Motion Picture 410 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: Production Code Office did send a memo to Warner Brothers 411 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: instructing Jack Warner himself in no uncertain terms that there 412 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: should be no quote inference of a questionable or homosexual 413 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: relationship between Plato and Jim. Sal Mineo realized now years 414 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: later that he loved Jimmy Dean like Plato loved Jim, 415 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: and he thought that Jimmy had loved him back. Right now. 416 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: He just wanted to talk to him, but talking with 417 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,359 Speaker 1: Jimmy was going to be impossible because James Dean was 418 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: dead had been ever since his Porsche five to fifty 419 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: Spider ran into the side of a Ford Tutor at 420 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: the junction of Roote four sixty six and Highway forty 421 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: one back in September of nineteen fifty five. Sal took 422 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: Jimmy's death hard. He grieved hard. In Jimmy's absence, Sal 423 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: wanted to feel closer to him than he ever had before. 424 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:33,120 Speaker 1: Sal worked on becoming James Dean. Jimmy played the drums, 425 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: so Sal bought a drum set. Jimmy was into bullfighting, 426 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: so Sal took Matador lessons before the cursed Porsche five 427 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: to fifty Spider. Jimmy owned an MG. Sal ditched his 428 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine Mercury and bought an MG just like Jimmy's. 429 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: He took the MG on wide open roads and let 430 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: it brit He shifted to a higher gear higher. He 431 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: drove fast. He didn't chicken, just like Jimmy had driven 432 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: Sal and Natalie fast while they made Rebel. The wind 433 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,120 Speaker 1: fucked up his neatly combed black hair, and he didn't care. 434 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: The faster Sal drove, the more we thought of Jimmy. 435 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: Sal kept driving fast until the City of New York 436 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: made him stop. He was fined for speeding in three 437 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,960 Speaker 1: separate incidents in an eighteen month period, twice within the 438 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: span of ten minutes on the Henry Hudson Parkway, and 439 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: then another time in the Bronx when he appeared in 440 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: traffic court the judge revoked his license. Fuck. If only 441 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,160 Speaker 1: Jimmy were here, he would know what to do. He'd 442 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,400 Speaker 1: have the right thing to say. He could make Sal 443 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,399 Speaker 1: feel comfortable and unafraid in a way that few people could. 444 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: But Jimmy was gone, so Sal got creative. The Ouiji 445 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: board was spread out in front of him on a table, 446 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: shaker pint glass upside down on top, lights, dimmed candles lit. 447 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: Sal didn't know if he believed in any of this 448 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: hocus pocus stuff, but what the hell, you gotta do something. 449 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: He placed his hands delicately on top of the glass 450 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 1: and asked for Jimmy, Jimmy, are you there. It's me Sal. 451 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: The glass rattled lightly on the table. Jimmy, I miss you, 452 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: We all miss you. Are you there, Jimmy, are you 453 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: receiving me? The glass moved slowly to the S on 454 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: the Ouija board, and then up and to the left 455 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: to the letter A, and then it quickly shot over 456 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: to the right side of the board and stopped on 457 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 1: l Jimmy, is it really you? If you're there, Jimmy, 458 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: gimme a sign. sALS suddenly felt the temperature in the 459 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: room get warmer. The thermostat on the wall had been 460 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: turned up ten degrees, but there was no one else 461 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: in the room. No one else at sal could see. Jimmy, Jimmy, 462 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: have you come back? Suddenly, sALS transistor radio clicked on loud. 463 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: At first it was all static, and then Leslie Gore 464 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: as It's my party rang out and all it's defiant glory. 465 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: The lights in the room flickered. Sal wondered if he 466 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: finally had a breakthrough. In May nineteen seventy seven, fifteen 467 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: months after sal Mineo's murder, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's 468 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: Department caught a break. Someone had new information about the murder, 469 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: and they were ready to squawk to whoever was ready 470 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: to listen. Depending on the source, her name was either 471 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: Teresa Williams or Teresa Collins. She was nineteen, and also 472 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: depending on the source, she either showed up on the 473 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: cops doorstep with a conscience so heavy she just had 474 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: to unload it, or she had been arrested for solicitation 475 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: and used the information as leverage to get the charges 476 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: dropped either way. What she had to say was huge. 477 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: She knew who he killed sal Mineo. She said it 478 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: was her husband, Lionel Williams. The night of Sal's murder, 479 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: Lionel had come home covered in blood. He told Teresa 480 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: he had stabbed someone. He had bought a knife for 481 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: five bucks earlier that day and then used that knife 482 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: to commit a string of robberies on LA's west side. 483 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: One of the robberies went sideways. The guy had just 484 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: parked his car in the car port, and he screamed 485 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: when Lionel jumped out from behind some trash cans. Lionel panicked, 486 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: plunged the knife deep into the man's chest, and then 487 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: ran off without taking any money. At home that night, 488 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: the local TV news reported Salminio's death. Lionel's jaw dropped. 489 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: He pointed at the TV screen. The face on the 490 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: screen was the same face of the man he had stabbed. 491 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: La cops knew Lionel Williams. He'd been arrested back in 492 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, just weeks after Sal's murder for a 493 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: smash and grab job with a hammer and a tire iron, 494 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: and then again just a month later for some outstanding 495 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: traffic warrants. They even knew where Lionel Williams was. There 496 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:05,040 Speaker 1: were three problems. First, Lionel Williams was a black man 497 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: and therefore didn't match the numerous descriptions of white men 498 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 1: given by eyewitnesses. The second problem was that he wasn't 499 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,240 Speaker 1: currently in La He wasn't even in California. He was 500 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: sitting in a jail cell for writing bad checks in Michigan. 501 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: In the third problem, well, that wasn't a problem technically, 502 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: but it was just the damnedest thing all the same. 503 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: Lionel Williams had already been cleared as a suspect in 504 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: Salmonio's murder at this point. Over a year ago, back 505 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six, when Lionel Williams was released from 506 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: an LA County jail after serving time for the smash 507 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: and grab job with the hammer and the tire iron, 508 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: he asked to speak to a deputy on his way out. 509 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: He said he had information about the sal Minio murder. 510 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: He said that while he was serving his time on 511 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: the inside, he overheard a conversation between two inmates blood dudes, 512 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: he called them. He claimed they were talking about having 513 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: killed Salminio over a drug deal that had gone south again. 514 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: This was early in nineteen seventy six, shortly after sALS murder. 515 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 1: It was all anyone in Los Angeles talked about, both 516 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: in and out of the pen. Hollywood was gripped in 517 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: fear in a way that it hadn't been since the 518 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: Tate LaBianca murder some seven years earlier. Mere months before 519 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: sALS murder, John Kiernan and Barbara Colby, the daughter in 520 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: law of ethel Merman, both actors, were shot to death 521 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: in the parking lot of their West Los Angeles acting school. 522 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: In January of nineteen seventy six, film public sist Robert 523 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: Jaeger was shot in the head and killed when he 524 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: opened the front door of his Los Angeles home. In 525 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: surprise three would be burglars, and just two days before 526 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: salz murder, Vincent Donahue, an assistant executive secretary of Actors' Equity, 527 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 1: was stabbed to death in his New York City hotel room. 528 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: All of the murders seemed completely random, but they were 529 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: all directed to people associated with the entertainment industry. LA 530 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: was on edge. Actors locked their doors, they slept with 531 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: baseball bats. Every time the phone rang, they went into 532 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 1: shock all over again. Meanwhile, the La County Sheriff's Department 533 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,840 Speaker 1: was skeptical about Lionel Williams's story Blood dudes in a 534 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: bad drug deal didn't line up with the quote unquote 535 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: alternative lifestyle narrative they were peddling. But still it seemed odd. 536 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: Why would Williams randomly snitch on some quote unquote blood dudes? 537 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: Almost be more believable that the reason Williams was offering 538 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: up this information was because he had been involved in 539 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,799 Speaker 1: Salmonio's murder, and thus his story was a calculated diversion 540 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: should he ever become a suspect. So La County Sheriff's 541 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: detectives came knocking on Williams's door. They grilled him on 542 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: his whereabouts the night of February twelfth. His mother was 543 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: his alibi. He was with her that evening. It seemed 544 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: here tight. The cops officially crossed the line on Williams 545 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: off their list, and now over a year later, the 546 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: detectives who had backburned the investigation into the death of 547 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:40,240 Speaker 1: Salminio and followed lead after bogus lead, hoping to break 548 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: open some drug field, gay orgy murder scandal. Couldn't believe 549 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: the name they were hearing once again, Lionel Williams. Williams 550 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,080 Speaker 1: was doing ten months in Michigan for writing bad checks, 551 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: and while he was doing time, he couldn't help but 552 00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: talk about himself, the things he had done to earn 553 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: ah mis day and the joint, the things he had 554 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: done that had gone undiscovered and therefore unpunished. Williams wasn't 555 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 1: unlike other guys serving time on the inside. They all 556 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: talked on the inside. They couldn't fucking help themselves. Jailhouse 557 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: talk is what made Williams' story about the blood Dude 558 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,839 Speaker 1: so believable in the first place. LA County detectives discovered 559 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: that Williams had bragged in several instances while incarcerated in 560 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: Michigan about murdering Salminio, once to a fellow inmate and 561 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 1: again to a deputy sheriff. They got a cord order 562 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: to bug his cell when Williams talked some more and 563 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: they got it on tape. They did some old fashioned 564 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: police work back in LA and discovered that Williams was 565 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,920 Speaker 1: tied to numerous robberies from before and after Sal's murder. 566 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: The cops were confident that they had their man, even 567 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,839 Speaker 1: if he didn't fit the physical description, and even if 568 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: it had simply been a robbery going awry, the very 569 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: opposite motive than they had pursued for a year and 570 00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:59,839 Speaker 1: a half. Lionel Williams waived his right to resist ex 571 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: tradition to California. He was up from murder one l 572 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: A law enforcement patted itself on the back. The sheriff's 573 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: bulldogs had done it again, the sheriff glibly told reporters 574 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 1: in January of nineteen seventy eight, when Williams was hauled 575 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 1: halfway across the country to face charges. However, it was 576 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: one of the lead detectives on the case who summed 577 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: it up even better. In retrospect. He said, I think, 578 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: why didn't I pursue the robbery angle Moore? We might 579 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: have solved it a lot sooner. But what about the witnesses, 580 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: the ones at the park Wellington Towers on the night 581 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: of February twelfth, nineteen seventy six, Like Roy Evans, a 582 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,359 Speaker 1: nine year old Monica Marram, who said they saw a 583 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 1: white male with long hair running away. Turns out that 584 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: the man the witnesses I did that night was someone 585 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 1: else entirely, another man who was chasing after Lionel Williams. 586 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 1: And that was the story anyway, because by the time 587 00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: the trial began, Lionel Williams had changed in tune. He 588 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: said he wasn't there the night sal had a knife 589 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 1: plunged into his chest. He pled innocent throughout the entire trial, 590 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: all the way to the day he was found guilty 591 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: of second degree murder in ten robberies and put away 592 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: for a minimum of fifty one years. Salminio died mired 593 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: in debt. His estate was valued at a little over 594 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: fourteen thousand dollars. Creditors claims totaled closer to fifty grand. 595 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 1: The murder was the most attention Salminio had received in years, 596 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: but it was the wrong kind of attention, the kind 597 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,760 Speaker 1: that had followed him around most of his life, lurking 598 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:42,280 Speaker 1: in subway cars and parking garages. More ink was spilled 599 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: in more papers coast to coast, and had ever been 600 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 1: spilled when sal starred alongside James Dean and Paul Newman 601 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: for a long time, it overshadowed all he had accomplished 602 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:57,400 Speaker 1: as an actor. The attention he longed for remained unsummoned 603 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 1: by a Ouiji board, or was simply unattainable, stuck behind 604 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,200 Speaker 1: the locked doors of Hollywood gatekeepers who were only interested 605 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: in telling a straight story. Decades later, when the gay 606 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: community began to finally break those doors down and gained 607 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: some real representation in Hollywood and beyond, that was able 608 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,400 Speaker 1: to happen because of the small but mighty paths people 609 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:25,520 Speaker 1: like Salminio had blazed years before. The path wasn't straight, 610 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:29,440 Speaker 1: and neither were the stories. But the stories of Salminio, 611 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,279 Speaker 1: the Stonewall Rebellion, these were the stories that ought to 612 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:42,080 Speaker 1: be in pictures. I'm Jake Brennan in this this hollywood Land. 613 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 2: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced 614 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 2: in partnership with the Elvis. Follow like, rate and review 615 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:05,160 Speaker 2: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts, and get in 616 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 2: touch with us on social. 617 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:07,760 Speaker 1: Media at double Elvis. 618 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 2: If you like Hollywoodland, check out my other show, the 619 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 2: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music 620 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,000 Speaker 2: through the lens of true crime. Just search for Disgraceland 621 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:18,239 Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts. 622 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: Good. That's a lab.