It’s cold in south Alabama this morning. I’m still recovering from yesterday’s bout with a stomach issue brought on, I think, from bad yogurt or some vile bug one of the kids brought home from school. Sitting in my chair I turned on the tube and caught an issue of American Justice. This episode was about the 1990’s “Club Kid” turned murderer, Michael Alig. Sentenced to 10 – 20 years, Alig was due to come up for parole this year.
When the show was over, The Bull, walked over to the computer and googled his name. In excess of 165,000 hits were listed. For a murderer! Geez… Well, if the guy’s story was interesting enough to spark a movie, a couple of books then there might be something to learn. The first hits were the usual Wikipedia hits. The third, however, was am article written by Jonathan Van Meter on the NYC Magazine web site titled Party Boy in a Cage.
The contrast between the two descriptions and the photos shows the degradation of Alig’s image, body, and soul after some ten years in the New York State penal system. It also shows, very clearly, that the party animal that dismembered a corpse he had kept in his bathtub for some ten days prior still has all of his ‘weapons’ near at hand. Ten years has done nothing to dull his wit, his charm, or his ability to instantly be – and act – exactly how the people around him want him to be and act. Van Meter nailed it. Alig is a human mirror. He is also still just as dangerous as he was at the time of his crime. Michael can claim he is now free of his drug habit, something that he has always blamed for his bloody act. Yet even I can see that at the first taste of freedom Alig will be at once trying to back into the NYC club scene and within days – if not hours – he’ll be back on heroin.
Alig was, (fortunately for us), denied parole. He’ll get another chance to go before the board in 2009. We can only hope that the State of New York sees at that future point that even twelve years is not enough time to rehabilitate such a waste of Human flesh as Michael Alig.
Damn. I’m glad I live in little ol’ Mobile, AL!
Bull out. 
