King of the ’90s club kids, Michael Alig is set to be released from prison after 17 years next month for a murder that rocked the city’s nightlife scene in 1996.
Alig, now 47, murdered drug dealer and fellow club kid Andre “Angel” Melendez after a scuffle over drug money; Alig and an accomplice hit Melendez over the head with a hammer and poured Drano down his throat. Alig then dismembered the body and disposed of it in the Hudson River.
The story of Melendez’ gruesome murder started as a whisper among members of the downtown nightlife scene, and evolved into a sensational story covered by media outlets nationwide. It later became subject of the 2003 film “Party Monster,” staring Macaulay Culkin as Alig.
After he’s released from Midstate Correctional Facility in upstate New York on May 5, Alig will be “staying with a close friend, and has been recruited for creative jobs,” said his friend and nightlife impresario Steve Lewis on his nightlife blog “Black Book.”
As for his resurgence into nightlife? “There is no chance that he will return to clubs as a way of life,” Lewis wrote.
However this seems to contradict what Alig told The Daily Beast in February. Alig wonders at the possibility of throwing a party on the Williamsburg Bridge, stating plans to “sneakily get a permit and not tell anybody, just make everybody think it’s illegal.”
Alig rose to prominence in New York City from the colorful, drug-filled parties he would throw at various venues — most notably at The Limelight, a former Gothic Revival church-turned-club on 6th avenue at 20th Street that is now an upscale clothing store.
Alig has been using Twitter as a means of communiqué with the world outside his cell. While he doesn’t have access to technology, the editor of a memoir he is working on (set to be called “Aligula,” according his Twitter bio) has been posting on his behalf.
The former club-kid’s new online presence hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Twitterverse; hundreds of people have tweeted words of encouragement after the news broke about his release. Notably among them, former lover and club kid “Superstar DJ Keoki,” tweeted at him earlier this week: “How do I really know its you tell me something only you would know.”
Alig responded with an anecdote shared between the two, proving his identity, and continuing a correspondence that implies that Keoki will be visiting Alig upon his return to Manhattan.
Club kid reunion?
