Recall: Michael Alig

What better time than Halloween, the holiday of tricks and treats, to drop in on incorrigible trickster and club kid-cum-convicted killer Michael Alig. Radar recently visited the party monster at his current place of residence, the Elmira Correctional Facility.

In case you're not familiar with Alig, he was the notoriously naughty party promoter who hacked drug dealer Angel Melendez to death. The sensational crime eventually led to his being immortalized on the silver screen by Macaulay Culkin in Party Monster (based on James St. James memoir of the same name).

In the interview, Alig discusses the grisly murder, his former BFF James St. James, and his affair with the Matias Reyes, the infamous Central Park jogger rapist (Only in prison in New York, kids. Only in prison in New York).


What exactly drove you to kill [Angel]?

The argument we were in with Angel that morning was a really stupid, minor one. We were arguing over an outfit, nothing major. But Angel was a drug dealer and we were drug addicts, and though we were friendly on the surface—and we did like him—we were resentful because he was profiting from our addiction. He was taking all of our money, and it created animosity. All the other drug dealers were friends first and dealers second. So, on this day, the animosity came out, and we let it go too far. We didn't restrain ourselves the way we should have. That, and we were high.

In Party Monster, your friend James St. James characterized you as a spoiled sociopath. Are the two of you still friends?
James doesn't come up to visit. He says he doesn't have any money. I guess he spent all the money he made raking over my life story. He claims he didn't make any money from that though ... he claims they took advantage of him. Poor James was taken advantage of selling my story.

Have you had lots of relationships in prison?
I fell in love when I first was in lock-up at Downstate, but he went home two years ago. He was arrested right away, and I have to tell you, I was sort of glad because I didn't like the idea of him being out there without me. He was caught stealing a car and led his parole officer on a high-speed chase. He crashed the car into a building, got out, and ran onto a golf course. The police found him up in a tree and had to shoot him with a stun gun—it was all in the news. He's a really good example of someone I shouldn't have in my life—the kind of guy who needs fixing. I have such a skewed view of what relationships should be.

That's not surprising, you're in prison.
When I was in Clinton, I was interested in this guy. I wouldn't say we dated, but I thought he was the nicest person—really sweet and interesting. A couple months later I was watching the news and they were talking about the Central Park jogger rapist, and I was like, "That was my boyfriend!" And it was him—his name was Reyes.

How do you pass the hours in prison?
I've been painting a lot. Sometimes I look at the stuff that I paint, and I can't believe I painted it. Right now I'm doing a series of drug ads with kids doing innocent things like making cookies or hugging teddy bears—except the kids are zombies. [Party Monster coproducer] Fenton Bailey looked through the paintings and is going to make a coffee table book to sell. I'm going to donate the proceeds to some charity.

Read the full interview here.

At Home With Michael Alig [Radar]


Michael Alig ;Party Monster ;Prison ;Club Kids