The Acid King
In July of 1984, a story originating from Long Island, New York began to make waves throughout the world. While the story would fade from the headlines, its legacy would live on, becoming an omen of the Satanic Panic craze yet to come later that decade...
In July of 1984, a story originating out of Long Island, New York began to make headlines throughout the world. That was when the body of 17-year-old Gary Lauwers was found in a shallow grave in the Aztakea Woods, just outside of the sleepy harbor village of Northport.
Lauwers' body, which had been covered with sticks and leaves, had been badly mutilated beyond what was typically seen in suburban murder cases. He had been stabbed dozens of times, with his eyes gouged out of his head, and had been left to decompose for several weeks. Police only discovered the body after being informed by a local tipster - a teenager that had heard rumors about Gary Lauwers' murder - and quickly began to narrow in on those responsible.
As you just heard in clip from NBC News, the supposed culprit of this murder scheme was another teenager: 17-year-old Ricky Kasso, who was arrested alongside Jimmy Troiano, another teen that had been with him at the time of the murder. All three had been under the influence of illicit substances at the time of the murder - as had Albert Quinones, another teenager that would become a witness for the prosecution - but for that reason, their collective judgment and recollection of events would come into question.
Regardless, just two days after his arrest - on July 7th, 1984 - 17-year-old Ricky Kasso would commit suicide by hanging himself in the Suffolk County jail he was detained in. Jimmy Troiano would later be charged as an accomplice in the crime, but was ultimately acquitted in April of 1985... resulting in this story reaching a nonconclusive ending less than a year after it made such a splash in the press.
While the story would fade from the headlines, its legacy would live on. A Rolling Stone article published in November of 1984 - just months after the murder and Ricky's suicide - would do a deep dive into this controversial story, but had a hard time separating the rumors and innuendo (particularly, of Ricky and his alleged accomplices being a part of a Satanic cult) from the reality of Northport, Long Island. This would be followed by an exploitative book in 1987, titled "Say You Love Satan," which did more of the same; plagiarizing large portions of the Rolling Stone article and cementing to the public that this was, indeed, a murder committing by drug-dealing-and-addicted Satanists. The story would be featured on numerous daytime talk shows (such as Geraldo Rivera's program in 1988) and has inspired countless independent filmmakers and metal musicians in the decades since.
But in the nearly forty years since the body of Gary Lauwers was found in the Aztakea Woods, few have bothered to question this narrative: that Ricky Kasso had been a part of a secretive cult, who not only dealt drugs throughout the area, but had killed Gary Lauwers amidst a drug-crazed Satanic ritual. This was the narrative put forth by local law enforcement at the time of Kasso's arrest, when they took statements he made during his confession - made the same day as his arrest, when he was reportedly high on mescaline - at face value. Speaking to the press in July of 1984, Assistant District Attorney William Keahon would blame drugs, Satanism, and heavy metal music for the murder, telling reporters that Kasso and his friends:
"... took a living, breathing 17-year-old boy as a sacrificial animal. They mutilated him and they acted out satanic rites."
The most heartbreaking part of Kasso's confession was the revelation that while stabbing 17-year-old Gary Lauwers to death, he had commanded him to "say you love Satan" (hence the name of David St. Clair's book from 1987). As he died, Lauwers reportedly told Ricky that he loved his mother; a detail that law enforcement was quick to share with the press. The press was quick to glob onto this as part of their narrative, cementing Ricky Kasso as the clear-cut bad guy and Gary Lauwers as the unwitting victim; ignoring the fact that both were drug-addicted high school dropouts that had known each other since grade school, and had a long history together that included bouts of substance abuse, homelessness, and even the trappings of petty teenage drama. But in the rush to tell this story, all of that was forgotten by the broad strokes of "drug-addicted Satanic cult that listened to heavy metal music," which - amidst the Satanic Panic craze of the mid-1980s - overpowered the other elements of the case.
In the years since this explosive story made headlines, the town of Northport has struggled to shake this reputation of being the town known for Gary Lauwers and Ricky Kasso. What was an incredibly personal story - touching upon several issues many of us face in our day-to-day lives - instead became exaggerated because of unfounded rumors and fearmongering gossip.
It wasn't until 2018, with the publication of his book "The Acid King," that author Jesse Pollack began to return some semblance of normalcy (or sanity) to this story. Looking past the buzzword-laden headlines, he spoke to dozens of people at the heart of this case, and was able to tell a story that was... human, for lack of a better word. After writing the book, he would go on to create a documentary of the same name with his friend, Dan Jones, who serves as Jesse's co-director on "The Acid King." During their research, they would begin speaking to Anthony Zenkus, a professor of social work at Columbia University, who grew up in the region of Northport at the time of the murder and knew several of the individuals involved (ultimately becoming a producer for the documentary).
Recently, I had the chance to sit down and chat with these three about the true story of what happened to Gary Lauwers, and what inspired Ricky Kasso - the self-proclaimed "Acid King" - to commit such a brutal crime against someone he once considered a friend.
Here's Jesse explaining what he learned from his research, as well as some insights from Anthony:
It wasn't until an anonymous tipster heard about the kids being shown Gary Lauwers' body that authorities were finally made aware of his murder. At that point, no missing persons report had been filed for the missing teen - since he, like Ricky, had dropped out of high school and had a troubled relationship with his own family, having been living on the streets for weeks, if not months.
The more that I learn about this case, the more that I realize this wasn't a case of Satanic ritual sacrifice or anything like that. This is the story of a handful of broken children, raised in an era during which we had little understanding of mental illness or other behavioral issues that might had led to them having issues at school or with their family. And - as Jesse points out to me in our interview - this happened in the "tough love" era of American suburbia. When faced with adversity - or children that were lashing out in unexplained ways - parents would often cast them out and force them to find their own way. That's exactly what happened in the case of the three young men at the center of this story: Ricky Kasso, Gary Lauwers, and Jimmy Troiano.
This part of the story never really got explored by any of the original reporting, which was quick to label the individuals in this story as part of a drug-peddling, crazed, devil-worshipping cult, but didn't really attempt to dig into any of the reasons why these teenagers ended up living on the streets, dealing in illegal narcotics just to get by.
On that, here's Anthony and Jesse.
As I touched on at the beginning of the episode, "Say You Love Satan" was a book published by David St. Clair in 1987, which ended up being the definitive word on this story for the better part of three decades. Despite the book being pulled from production - amidst allegations that St. Clair had plagiarized a large part of the book and then fictionalized the rest - it has played a large part in propagating many of the myths that are forever linked to this case.
One of those myths is that Ricky Kasso and Gary Lauwers were linked to a group of distempered youths in the region that called themselves the "Knights of the Black Circle." In some tellings, this group was described as a group of young adults that dabbled in drug dealing; in others, they were a bonafide Satanic cult that regularly sacrificed animals in the region in bizarre rituals. But most reports would split the difference between the two, settling somewhere in the middle. As we'll learn, even this was a gross exaggeration.
Unfortunately, this very human element of the story was lost in the noise surrounding the jailhouse suicide of Ricky Kasso and the allegations of human sacrifice. As was the actual cause of the murder, which many continue to believe was tied into Ricky's visions of Satanic sacrifice.
While it is true that Ricky Kasso was interested in the occult, that was likely not the main motivation for him to have killed Gary Lauwers. As has been reported over the past 35 years, Gary had stolen approximately $50 of PCP from Ricky while he was sleeping after a party, but even that wasn't the cause. As we'll hear, the root of the issue might have been much more impulsive and tied into Ricky's tragic personal life.
The documentary film that Jesse and Dan co-directed (and which Anthony produced) - "The Acid King" is in the final stages of editing, and should be released in the months to come. As was the case with Jesse's book of the same name, the independent documentary is a great telling of the story, which does a great job of - excuse my language - cutting through the bullshit in order to tell this really human story.
Dan and Jesse have allowed me to watch an early cut of the film, which should be released on DVD, BluRay, and streaming services early next year, and I can promise you that it is very much worth your time. Make sure to be on the lookout for that in the first half of 2021, but I'll be sure to update you all with the pending release as I learn more.
I'll be releasing my entire conversation with Jesse, Dan, and Anthony on the Unresolved Patreon page. They were kind enough to spend a couple of hours talking to me about The Acid King, their experience working on the film (as well as Anthony's experience living through the events it depicts), and so much more. It was a great chat, so check it on the podcast Patreon if you're interested.
Sadly, this story remains in the same static positioning it was in back in 1984, following the suicide of Ricky Kasso. Because he killed himself - and the other chief players in the case were too inebriated on illicit substances at the time for their testimony to hold any merit - the events surrounding Gary Lauwers' death are still surrounded in mystery. For that reason, I still consider this story very much unresolved.
Episode Information
Episode Information
Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan
Special thanks to Jesse Pollack, Dan Jones, and Anthony Zenkus for speaking with me. Jesse and Dan are co-directors on the upcoming documentary film The Acid King, which Anthony not only helped produce but experienced firsthand. I'm so glad that they were able to speak to me, and I owe a huge thanks to Jesse and Dan for not only being good friends, but for putting together such a good flick (and for contributing so much to this episode).
Published on on December 13th, 2020
Producers: Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Gabriella Bromley, Peggy Belarde, Quil Carter, Laura Hannan, Travis Scsepko, Damion Moore, Brittany Norris, Amy Hampton, Steven Wilson, Scott Meesey, Marie Vanglund, Kevin McCracken, Scott Patzold, Bryan Hall, Astrid Kneier, Aimee McGregor, Sydney Scotton, Sara Moscaritolo, Sue Kirk, Jo Wong, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Patrick Laakso, Meadow Landry, Tatum Bautista, Teunia Elzinga, Michele Watson, Ryan Green, Stephanie Joyner, Dawn Kellar, Jacinda B., Elissa Hampton-Dutro, Sharon Manetta, Ruth Durbin, Cherish Brady, and Jennifer Henshaw
Music Credits
Music courtesy of Jesse Pollack ("The Acid King")
Sources and other reading
“The Acid King” by Jesse Pollack