What Did It Mean to Be a 'Club Kid'?
Beginning in the late 1980s, the Club Kids “were the freaks,” Michael explains. “We were the queer, drag, trans, gay, straight, bisexual, non-binary people of New York that would go out and celebrate like it was Halloween every night.”
Before social media, they were the influencers of the generation, in full glam, sporting avant-garde outfits and promoting sexual and gender inclusivity at New York City’s hottest nightclubs.
“It was about being as outlandish as you can be,” he says. “You weren’t conforming to society's idea of what beauty and sexuality were.”
Alig was the most popular nightclub promoter at the time and dubbed the king of the Club Kids, organizing the most extravagant parties riddled with rampant drug use. Riggs was also a prominent figure on the scene. However, Melendez was different. Although he made a living by selling drugs in Club Kids circles, it didn’t define him, Michael says.
Who Was Andre 'Angel' Melendez?
Melendez, who was a Colombian immigrant known lovingly as “Angel,” was iconic for sporting his flamboyant, feathered wings.
“Angel was one of the most beautiful men I had ever met,” Michael gushes. Michael describes his late friends as a “super sweet guy” with “very good energy.”
But Melendez struggled to find a job.
“It was just hard for someone who was Latino—who also had a footlong mohawk—to find work,” he says. “There was a lot of discrimination, a lot of homophobia that went down.”
So, Melendez turned to selling drugs and was a frequent fixture at Club Kids parties.
“He was offered an opportunity to sell cocaine, and that's how Michael and Angel knew each other. It was more of a business relationship than anything,” Michael explains.
Still, Melendez didn’t want to push drugs forever. He eventually wanted out.
“Angel wanted to open a shelter for queer youth because he was like, ‘I don't want to sell drugs for the rest of my life. I want to see people thrive—my community thrive—and I'm doing what I have to do for now. But I don't like this and I'm not happy about it,’” Michael recalls. “On his days off, he didn't carry drugs on him. Angel would raise money for AIDS walks and walk by himself in wings and platform shoes.”
Who Were Michael Alig and Robert 'Freeze' Riggs?
Alig was an infamous promoter known for organizing wild soirees at downtown spots like The Limelight, Tunnel and other popular New York City nightclubs that attracted thousands of revelers.
“He was highly intelligent, highly witty and just fun,” one of Alig’s best friends and former Club Kid “Screamin’ Rachael” Cain tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Michael was great in letting people—the misfits—feel accepted.”
However, his spiraling drug addiction coupled with his craving for celebrity and his reign over the Club Kids marked the beginning of his downfall.
“I could see that Michael was getting out of control,” Cain recalls. "He wasn't accepting the fact that he was getting too high, he was getting too wasted.”
As for Riggs, Alig’s roommate and close member of his inner circle, “He sort of looked satanic to me, and I just had a bad feeling about him,” she says.
'I Got Rid of Angel'
Two weeks after Melendez was last seen, his brother reported him missing. By then, Alig was openly bragging about killing him to several people, but seemingly no one believed him.
“He said, ‘I got rid of Angel, I killed him,’” Michael claims. “And, and at first, it was like, ‘You’re crazy. The drugs are really hitting you hard,’ but then everyone was like, ‘This b---- is getting dark.’”
In April 1996, Melendez’s mangled remains washed ashore on Staten Island, N.Y., but it wasn’t until November that they were formally identified. That December, Alig and Riggs were arrested for his murder, according to the Times.
As part of a plea deal, the co-conspirators each pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter because Alig was reportedly expected to testify on behalf of the state in a separate drug case against his former boss, prominent club owner Peter Gatien, per the Washington Post. He subsequently did not.
In October 1997, Alig and Riggs were both sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Riggs was incarcerated for 13 years before he was released in 2010, while Alig served 17 years and was freed in 2014, according to Reuters.
Cain maintained her friendship with Alig.
“He lived with a tremendous amount of guilt,” she alleges.
It’s unclear what Riggs is currently up to, but Alig attempted to revive his career on the club scene following his release from prison. Speaking with 1010 WINS in 2015, Alig said he blamed Melendez for his drug addiction.
"I saw somebody getting rich off my addiction, and me sinking deeper and deeper into addiction, and him getting richer and richer, and it's easy to understand how you could resent something like that," he said, per CBS News.
Alig died from a heroin overdose on Christmas Day 2020, Rolling Stone reported. He was 54.
“That son of a b---- killed my friend. I'll never let that go," Michael confesses of Alig. “He was a monster. Let him burn in hell.”
The End of an Era
When Alig and Riggs killed Melendez, they killed the Club Kids, too.
“It destroyed a scene that started off as something very beautiful and wonderful,” Cain says.
The murder prompted its followers to swiftly abandon the crusade.
“The music, the way people dressed, gay activism and gay rights—so many good things came out of this movement,” she admits. “It’s unfortunate that this has left such a big black mark.”
