“Club Kid Killer” Michael Alig – the famous extravagant party promoter who ended up in jail for murder – was found dead on Thursday at his New York home after an apparent drug overdose, officials said.
The 54-year-old former convict was discovered by an ex-boyfriend shortly before midnight in his Washington Heights apartment, officials said.
Alig’s ex “was there and saw him unconscious and called 911,” said a police source. “[Alig] was on his side. “
Detectives recovered several zip-lock plastic bags from the home, apparently containing heroin, as well as drug paraphernalia, officials said.
Alig’s death was the final chapter in a sordid, sensational – and decidedly preventive – story about the effort to become famous in the Big Apple and ultimately succumb to its excesses.
He was known in his heyday as the self-proclaimed “King of the Club’s Children”, a group of drastically dressed and drug-driven hedonists who organized the most sought-after evening parties in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Alig told The Post in an exclusive article in 2014 how he grew up as a gay person in South Bend, Indiana, using Izod – and felt like he finally came home after arriving in New York in 1984.
He moved to the city to study at Fordham University – and quickly met a colleague named Ludovic, who changed the course of his life.
The young man, the boyfriend of the famous pop artist Keith Haring, took Alig to a party that her boyfriend was having at the now defunct Area Club on Hudson Street.
Ludovic wore panties and white body paint when passing the two through the doorman.
Once inside, Alig said he was hooked.
“[I was] a misfit from the Midwest who came to New York City in search of acceptance, opportunity and lots of fun, ”Alig reminded The Post.
“As a gay teenager coming to terms with my sexuality, I was overwhelmed and excited. It was liberating, ” he wrote of the wild scene, which included androgyny icon Grace Jones partying among some 300 other people.
“Talk about being in the right place at the time,” said Alig. “While the rest of the country was rooted in the depressing Reaganomics and [the anti-drug campaign] ‘Just say no’, the nightlife of downtown New York was having a moment. “
What a moment it was.
“Fabulous” was the word of the day. The wilder and more eccentric the makeup, the hair and the costumes, the better – and no one was more esteemed in the hierarchy of alien-looking club-hoppers than a distorted gendered man with an entourage.
Alig dropped out of school and joined the circuit, wearing his own version of extravagant makeup and strange clothes to host parties at Tunnel, Limelight and other nightclubs.
He became part of the exclusive and trend-setting group known as “Club Kids ”, which was” paid just to show up and bring a little fabulousness to the mix, “recalls Alig.
But with the excess of fame and fortune came dangerous traps too, including drugs.
Alig started taking heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine with the best of them, in addition to getting heavily drunk.
In March 1996, Alig and another friend, Robert “Freeze” Riggs, got into a fight with a small drug dealer, Angel Melendez, while they were all taking ketamine. Alig reminded The Post of how he and Riggs beat Melendez to death, then dismembered his body and threw the parts into the Hudson River.
The murderers were finally caught and found guilty of manslaughter.
Alig spent 14 years behind bars before being released in 2014. Riggs was released in 2010.
Alig’s life was literally made for Hollywood, with his saga turned into a film in 2003. Former child actor Macaulay Culkin portrayed him.
The fallen prosecutor tried to go straight to prison, continuing to hone a skill he acquired behind bars – painting.
But he continued to fight his seemingly ever-present demons, being arrested for possession of crystal methamphetamine near Yankee Stadium in 2017.
Alig was also homeless from time to time – admitting in 2018 that he turned to gay dating site Grindr at one point when he ran out of money “just to have a place to sleep” and at least once found himself camping under a bridge.
When he confessed his continuing problems and was asked why it took so long to admit them, he said, “I really didn’t want to divulge too much because I didn’t want it to end on Page Six.
“It would be embarrassing.”
The ex-convict moved into the Upper Manhattan apartment about six months ago, neighbors said – and there have been apparent problems since almost the beginning.
“I used to hear a lot of drama coming from his house – lots of people screaming, ” neighbor Elvis Miller, 27, told The Post on Friday.” Guys waiting eight hours outside his door, asking for him, asking to, ‘Michael.’
“He was always, like, acting out of his mind a little bit, like his nervous system wasn’t feeling right, ” said Miller, who moved into the building four months ago.” He was stumbling, always running, always anxious.
“The last time I saw him, a guy was knocking and asking for him. Recently.”
Miller, when he said that Alig was dead, replied, “Oh my God! Did he die?
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan