Ricky Kasso: The Acid King

[00:00] Cape Fear is a new series now streaming on Apple TV. This 10-episode mystery thriller is executive produced by Martin Scorsese and stars Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, Academy Award nominee Amy Adams, and Emmy nominee Patrick Wilson. [00:15] When convicted murderer Max Cady is released from prison, he begins infiltrating the family of the married attorneys who helped put him behind bars. [00:24] Chilling crime cases are mysterious, but finding coverage shouldn't be. With the State Farm Personal Price Plan, you have options and can personalize your plan to help create an affordable price, so you can get back to cracking all of life's bigger cases. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Prices are based on rating plans that vary [00:54] availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. [00:59] Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. [01:17] Anyway, give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at MintMobile.com. Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.

[01:47] This is morbid. First thing I want to say is fuck ice so hard. Times two. Yeah, fuck ice. Fuck that whole thing. [01:56] It's absolutely tragic what happened to Renee Goode. Yeah, she was murdered. I have no words. I have no words. It's horrific what's happening. But the fact that we live in a place where a man can shoot a woman in the face in broad daylight over... [02:12] essentially nothing. [02:15] That's scary. Yeah. I think we've all seen the videos. We've all seen it. And, you know. [02:21] I know what I saw. She was turning her car around. I know what I saw. But one thing I do want to say is... [02:29] it's really hard right now to be happy about anything or... [02:34] find any kind of joy in anything. And I totally get that. But it's really important that you try to. It's really important. Like even just little things. Like, you know how I mentioned like, [02:46] Turn on some fucking soft jazz on your own, that little old timey Bluetooth radio in the morning. Shit like that. I saw one of those the other day. Yeah. Just make like any little thing you can find that makes it a little easier to do. [02:59] to to exist do you know what i found so much joy in what i'm trad wifing so close to the sun lately oh damn [03:07] mopping all my floors. I found, I'm not kidding. I found such fucking joy mopping my floors the other day. The smell of pine salt sends me. Hey, whatever sparks joy. It sparks joy and makes the place clean. Made the place clean. Smells good. Woke up this morning. Shit still smelled like pine salt. And I organized my little beverage drawer. And a lot of people said, ash.

[03:32] Where are the fridge ciggies? And I'm trying to give them up. She's trying. I'm really trying to give them up. I'm not going to tell you to give them up. I think you should still drink them. Especially if it brings you joy. If it brings you joy, crack open a cold one. Do it. [03:45] Because I'm being like, we're like, we're joking about these silly like fridge cigarettes and everything. But I'm being very serious when I say I really think it's important to find little joys because everything sucks so much. What's your other little joys? And I've seen a lot of people like saying like they feel really depressed and I get it. We all get it. Like that's and I just don't want, I don't want everyone falling into like not being able to find anything because then we'll all, then it just really sucks. Yeah, absolutely. But so, and again, little things. [04:15] What's your newest joy? [04:17] Cooking, meal prepping. Yeah, I love getting ready for the, like, that gives me some sense of joy. And, like, I have my little notebook that I'm obsessed with. I bought one. Let's see. You got to get yourself a nice notebook, and it's got to be a notebook. [04:30] that. [04:31] If you're one of those people, because I'm one of those people that was obsessed with planners forever, but you would buy a planner every few months, start it and then abandon it immediately. I, too, am one of those people because it's pre-planned out. That's the thing. I'm here to tell you that it's not that you don't want to be organized or that you don't want like it's not you. It's not you. It's the planner. It's not you. And I think if that is you, because that was me. [04:55] Get yourself a plain... [04:57] fancy, leather-bound, if you want, or anything that you feel special about notebook. And then you can make it your own. And I swear to you, that changed my life. Yeah. I really want to start junk journaling. I keep seeing TikToks of people doing that. And they put, like, stickers, and they write calligraphy. And they just, like, one page is, like, all the books they read, and the next is, like, a calendar. Yeah. Like, there's no...

[05:19] rhyme or reason and that's how my brain works yeah if it's in a planner it's like what are you doing on monday what about tuesday thursday bitch what's going on and i'm like it feels a little too overwhelming and then you can make your own little weekly like i make my own weekly plan thing on a page and then i control it yeah it's controlled i think it's important that control what you can control right now it's my advice [05:42] Who knows? Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but that's all I got. That's all you have for right now. I'm going to be so vulnerable right now. [05:49] no it's fine i'm just kidding no it's literally fine i found joy in one of those foot mask things and i'm gonna find joy when my feet start peeling oh yeah i'm really excited if you guys haven't seen those they're pretty fucking great they look they're gross gnarly as hell i showed it to drew last night and he was like that's gonna happen to your feet yeah they're like little booties that have like this crazy lotion in them and you let them sit for a while it's not i don't love that part of it you don't love that no i did not like the feeling that makes so much sense uh i [06:19] because it's like a cold like yeah i did not like that it's not it's like a kind of liquidy a little bit yep i liked it a lot i didn't keep it on for as long as i should have because i could not handle it i kept it on for an hour and a half that's wild how long did you leave yours on for who knows probably 20 minutes and your foot still peeled your feet because a few days later your feet will start to peel and then you have like [06:39] Baby's butt feet. But it looks crazy. It does. I'm afraid for some reason I'm going to be the... I'm afraid of my feet peeling like that. And I'm also afraid that I'm going to be the one person it doesn't work on. Yeah.

[06:50] I have such fear related to this. I mean, it could go either way, really. Those are the two ways it will go. Yeah, there's only two. Hopefully. It'll either peel or it won't peel. What if I just wake up with no feet? That would be crazy. That would be crazy. They just peel off. That's a lawsuit. So that I feel like you could win. There you go. I could enjoy winning that. Yeah, find joy. [07:11] Um, but yeah, we, what else has been going on besides? Your book is out. Oh yeah, that's a big deal. Sorry. Uh, sorry everybody. Hey, I think you wrote another book. Cause there's a lot going on. It's hard to think of these things. Um, but yeah. [07:27] Yeah. The Butcher Legacy is out. It's out. It's about. It's ready to be pre-ordered. Go get it. There's still special editions, too. There's still special editions. There's also signed editions at Barnes & Noble. Signed editions. And there's only... [07:40] a limited number of those and they're almost gone so if you're looking for a signed edition go to barnes and noble and get it because they will be gone and to find all of the links you can go to butcherlegacy.com comes out august 11th you can pre-order it now perfect perfect so books feet books feet joy some joy if you can and fuck ice and you know [08:04] you know [08:05] Here we are, everybody. Here we are. We love you. Love you. And we're in this together. Together. So here we are. Here we are. Just a little quick side note for you guys. Going forward, so this New Moon bonus episode is going to be a little bit later than we said. We should need like a little more time to get it together. And going forward, we're going to be releasing all the bonus episodes on the last Friday of the month.

[08:35] out. So look forward to that because we're putting all the fucking work into it. And it's going to be great. And we're excited for the rest of them. I fucking love doing this little series. Hell yeah. I have a crazy case for you today. You might as well. [08:49] I might as well. Why not? We are going to be talking about Ricky Caso, the Acid King. [08:55] And I'm talking LSD. [08:58] I'm not talking like acid puts people in barrels. Yeah, which is a honestly an important distinction on this podcast. Oh my god, I was, you took the words out of my mouth. I said in a place of morbid, you must distinguish. Because to be quite honest, when you first said that, I was like, oh, oh. Do you know I saw that in your eyes? And that's why I said, oh, we're really going for it. I said, I'll tell you exactly what we're getting into. It's brutal. I was gonna say it's probably still brutal, but just in a different way. So let's talk about it. We're gonna talk about an area [09:28] North Shore, about 50 miles from Manhattan, called Northport. It's like the quintessential bedroom community. It was dotted with Victorian houses, ice cream shops, antique stores. I would have wanted to go there and bop around. Just your typical in a quiet town where nothing terrible ever happened. Keith Morrison just walked right in. Thank you. I really did a bad impression of him, but that was my attempt. I mean, there's only one Keith. Oh, gee. Yeah. Keith. But given how [09:58] 1970s, it was only a matter of time before that made its way to Long Island. I mean, good for the occult, you know? Yeah, the occult. Gaining popularity. The occult is a big part of this story and also no part of this story at the same time. Love that. It's interesting. That's interesting. Yeah, for sure. So on November 13th, 1974, you might remember 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed all six members of his family in Amityville. I do remember that. That's only

[10:28] surprise, he later claimed that he was possessed by an evil entity at the time of the murders. You know, you remember. It really didn't do much to help his defense, but it did hypercharge the growing interest in the occult and the supernatural. [10:40] And that had a lot to do with Ed and Lorraine Warren. I'm sure you know them. You know them. Yeah, within a few days, or a few years, excuse me, which honestly, surprisingly, it wasn't a few days. I'm surprised it wasn't hours. Within a few minutes of the murders, the Warrens and other experts in the paranormal were on magazines. They were appearing on talk shows, tabloids all across the country, either promoting their services or warning about the increasing influence of the devil. The devil on American culture. [11:10] So the murder of the DeFeo family was obviously a huge moment that only added fuel to everybody's obsession with the supernatural, especially in the 70s and the 80s. [11:19] But there had actually been rumors of an evil presence on Long Island even before those murders occurred. According to author Jesse Pollock, in the early 1970s, the villagers of Northport began to whisper about a coven of witches meeting inside the forest, holding midnight ceremonies after an evening of robbing graves. [11:39] Okay, aside from the Robin Graves part... [11:42] That sounds awesome. I knew you were going to say that. We got to get rid of the robbing graves. Yes, don't rob the graves. Don't do that. Jesus. Actually, that's something that just happened. [11:51] What? A little side quest. Wait, that becomes another part of my story today. Tell me. The big story just came out. It happened in Pennsylvania. This guy, what the fuck is his name? Tell me. Jonathan Gerlach, I believe. He...

[12:08] had basically a hundred... [12:11] bodies like parts of bodies like hundreds of them he had grave robbed forever and he had them around his house he was selling them he's he's he's ed i was just gonna essentially um he had like an online presence too i guess not an influencer and people didn't know that he was like doing this shit but i think what was his name [12:33] His name was like Dead Stuff Daddy or something like that. Something very... If that's not exactly what his name was, I won. Do be pissed. I don't even think it's that far off, to be quite honest. Dead Stuff Daddy? Hold, please. I'm going to look it up. Hello? It's a big deal. Yeah. He wasn't... He was robbing graves. He was breaking into mausoleums to steal things. Like, literally destroying mausoleums. Like... [12:59] crazy sure you want a mausoleum that's the so i mean my mausoleum now i gotta upgrade the it's gonna be on the mausoleum you know i'll ensure that if you go first appreciate that happens that's the one thing about being cremated that is maybe a little bit better [13:14] Like nobody can steal your body later, but that does happen because there's all those crazy stories about cremation where like you go in to get cremated and they don't even cremate your body. They just keep you. Exactly. Exactly. [13:24] And then they just like stack you somewhere. It's really fucking terrible that you have to worry about what happens after you die. Like you kind of do, but like you're dead. But this is awful. So there's more than a hundred human remains, some dating back decades or even centuries. Centuries? Yep. They said he was selling some of these things online. Some of these remains included infants.

[13:45] Oh, that's so sad. He I mean, he had he he admitted to stealing from at least 30 graves. [13:52] in like a nearby cemetery, there was corpses hanging from the ceiling. In his house? Yeah. There was eight more bodies in a storage locker. Yeah. [14:03] He, uh, he used, he, like, used tools, like, literally crowbars and shit to break into mazzolums, burial vaults, all kinds of things. Holy shit. I feel like the scary thing about this, too, is it's, like... [14:14] I don't know how things are now as far as like laws go with grave robbing and that kind of thing. But remember that podcast that we listened to? [14:21] about the guy who worked at the crematorium and it turned out that he was like noble noble such a good show please listen to that podcast but remember when it came time to prosecute that guy there was all these issues because they didn't really know what charges exactly against him it's so weird that was like way back in the i think like [14:38] Early to mid 2000s. I don't know what. I mean, he's definitely being charged with stuff. Did they say what he's been charged with yet? I don't know. I'm sure they have, but I don't. By the way, his name online was Dead Shit Daddy. [14:50] So I was not far off. [14:52] Oh, my God. I told you. I was not kidding. That was not me being hyperbolic. What was he putting online? I think he just had, like, a lot of, like, what people were, like, art and stuff. They thought was art. But people were just thinking it was, like, spooky art. Yeah. Like, I mean, who knows how many people knew what was going on. But, like, yeah. It's, like, a big deal. It's, like, an ongoing thing. Right now, it's a very big thing. And he was just arrested. Yeah, he was just arrested.

[15:17] Literally with corpses hanging from the scene. Like it is straight up Ed Gein. That's like almost worse. Yeah. [15:23] He just hasn't [15:24] that like [15:26] Murdered someone like Ed Gein. [15:29] But, like, that's a mess. The amount. And the thing is, he was going, like, some of the, most of these cemeteries were being, like, kind of, like, abandoned almost. Like, not being kept up. And then some of them were, obviously. But, like, he was kind of going towards ones that were, like, vulnerable. Yeah. We got to take care of cemeteries. We absolutely do. They're really not well taken care of. Yeah. Like, at all. It's a bummer. I follow so many people that go and, like, clean up gravestones. I know. I love that. It's awesome. And I think there's a, there's, I donated to this, like, foundation to keep up cemeteries. [15:59] They've been keeping up cemeteries in New Orleans, like trying to keep those going. Save our cemeteries. Save our cemeteries. Oh, I'd donate. Yeah, you can donate to them. They do a lot of benefits. That's really cool. And they just, they're trying to preserve... [16:14] like historical cemeteries and any kind of they just want to keep cemeteries like taken care of and safe hell yeah and you can find them at save our cemeteries.org that's so easy yeah so that's easy so do that because especially with this shit going on if you can even donate like a dollar or makes a difference just to clearly we need more [16:34] shit being happening to our cemeteries to keep them safe. You know, we need some upkeep. Because there needs to be respect. Well, I don't really know how to transition back into this. Yeah, sorry, that's just, it really reminded me that that's a big thing happening right now. No, I'm glad to know. That wasn't me saying, how dare you interrupt me? That was just like, damn, that's a hard, heavy. It was heavy. Here we go. Here we go.

[16:52] He was grave robbing. These witches, who were probably just women hanging out, probably weren't. Okay. I like that. But years earlier, the woods in Northport had become a popular lover's lane area with teenagers. Oh, excuse me? So the rumors of witchcraft in the woods were probably just an attempt to keep them from going out there. People were like, maybe don't park in the woods. Like, that's dangerous. I mean, that's a good way to do it. [17:13] Yeah, but still, with fears of Satanism on the rise and the supposedly supernaturally motivated DeFeo murders having happened nearby and pretty recently, the whispered rumors of the witches soon became a widespread local legend. [17:25] So in the years since the murder of Gary Lowers, which we're going to talk about today, rumors and all these urban legends about the woods around Northport have multiplied, and they've gotten all mixed up in the game of telephone. Some people say it started all the way back in 1658 when Goody Garlic, a local occult practitioner, Goody Garlic, a local occult practitioner, was charged with witchcraft and put on trial. No. That was the start of the Northport Woods drama. Listen to me right now. [17:56] If somebody whose name is Goody Garlic tells you some shit. It's true. It's 100% true. It's fact. [18:03] And you move with that information as if it is fact. You must listen. Yeah. And if she was hanged, I'm done. I'll... [18:11] revolution. Truly. Goody garlic? Goody garlic. We ride. I essentially am Goody garlic. Like I'd like to look into if I'm an ancestor. I was gonna say because any recipe that calls for garlic. Doubled. Tripled. Quadrupled in fact. Honestly just the whole whole thing. I measure garlic with my heart. Oh absolutely. Especially jarlic. Garlic?

[18:32] And vanilla extract, you measure with your heart. Vanilla extract, two tablespoons at least. A little tip from me to you. Yeah. No, not really. So others connect the supernatural happenings to tortured spirits of former Native Americans who belonged to the area first and obviously were wrongfully killed. Also valid. [18:49] Very valid. But whatever the case, rumors about the Northport woods would soon give way to an even more horrifying and very true story that would shake the residents of Northport for decades to come. So let's get into it. In the early 1960s, Richard Dick Casso was teaching at Northport Junior High, and he met his future wife, Lynn, who was also a teacher. They dated for a few years. They got married in 1965, and their son, Ricky Jr., who we're going to be talking about today, was born a couple of years later in 1967. [19:19] They had three more kids, all girls, shortly after Ricky. [19:23] And to their friends and neighbors, they pretty much appeared to have an idyllic life, a home in a quiet neighborhood. They had reliable jobs. They had a happy family. They went to church every Sunday. What more could you ask for? I was literally just going to say that. What more could you ask for? As a child, Ricky Jr. was pretty ordinary. He was much like other kids. He liked to be outside, which it sounds crazy now, but I think it was a little more popular in the 60s and 70s. He spent a lot of time in the woods. He was collecting leaves, rocks, insects. [19:53] That was popular in the 90s, babe. That's crazy. We were in the woods all the time. I grew up in the aughts when you could not be in the woods anymore. I'm surprised my mom didn't let me go in the woods. There was fucking killer clowns walking around. Not until 2016, but damn. I know. I mean, we went to high school parties in the woods. That was brave. But anyway, he got along well with his three sisters, but he got along the most with his youngest sister, Wendy. Family friend Sue remembered. Ricky loved Wendy. He would say, my Wendy, my little Wendy Lou. Aw.

[20:23] seemed to be like more than just a brother or protector. He was her closest friend. And this is so sad. He seemed to be the only person in the family who really paid any attention to Wendy. Wendy seemed like she just got like [20:35] the shit out of this day. Yeah. But it wasn't just his sister Ricky was popular with. He had friends in the family's neighborhood in Northport. He would play football with them, other sports out in the neighborhood. And for Dick Casso, his dad, the coach of the local high school football team, there was nothing that could have made him happier than his only son showing a super strong interest in sports, especially football. Sports. Wendy said, nothing else could compete with my father's [21:05] That's... [21:06] the worst truly like that is the as someone who genuinely enjoys some sports yeah that's the worst i just started enjoying one sport yeah basketball but shouldn't come before you kids it will never come before my kids yeah uh but all of the casso children had to play sports they had no choice and dick was pretty explicit in his expectation that they had to win as well oh okay like you you sport and you win at sport you win that's it yeah win sports for win don't sport unless you're [21:36] If what you were doing wasn't related to sports, it wasn't important. [21:41] No sport. [21:42] no import no import no sport no import that was their motto yeah yeah tm tm so ricky's interest in sports might have made his dad happy but that didn't mean that he was particularly interested in playing them or that he was really even very good at any of the sports that he played i feel like i'm saying sports so much sports sports go sports ricky was pretty average in a lot of things that he did he was a good brother a good friend a good neighbor but when it came to

[22:12] and got modest results. He did what he could, got what he did. You get what you put out, I suppose. Also, the sports thing, I'm taking another turn. It's really quick, though. I don't know if I've mentioned this TikTok creator before, but you should go follow them. They're vintage recipes. [22:27] Vintage recipes. Yeah, and he makes crazy ass vintage recipes, but he's the funniest person ever. And every time he does something like throw something in the air and catch it, he says sports. I've seen him. It makes me laugh every time. And also you say that a lot. I do. Yeah. Or you like that. [22:42] I, in fact, don't like that. I think it's the funniest thing in the world. I, in fact, dislike that. Watch it. You'll love it. [22:50] I like his videos. Yeah. I think when you say it, it freaks me out. I don't know why. It's nothing personal. I still like it. Wow. Carry on, I guess. I don't like it. So for Dick, the modest effort was fine when Ricky was like eight or ten. But once he got into middle school, Ricky's like ambivalence became a very big point of contention between them. One of Caso's Little League teammates said Dick used to scream and degrade his kid whenever Ricky didn't perform well. [23:15] So he was like, not great. I feel like we've all seen that dad who you're like... [23:19] They're in third grade. Yeah, you like calm down. This is a competition. This is a relay race, sir. Yeah. It's okay. It's like really. But while things at home were growing increasingly tense because sports as Ricky got older. Sports. He started spending a lot less time at home and much more time looking for opportunities to escape his unpleasant life. [23:36] One day in the fall of 1977, when he was in fifth grade, a friend's brother gave him a hit off a joint and the experience changed his life. He was in fifth grade. He was 10.

[23:47] My God. He was 10. Lord. So when he was high, everything felt better, more enjoyable. His life didn't seem as difficult. And at first, he would just smoke occasionally whenever the opportunity presented itself, which for a 10-year-old was not that often. [24:01] I would imagine. But, I mean, it was the 70s. Yeah. But by the time he was 12, his peers had also really developed an interest in smoking weed. Oh my god, you're 12! Oh no, I did not smoke weed that early. But soon, Ricky was- You'll just be clear. I'm like, let's be explicit right now. It wasn't much later than that, but it was not 12. Damn. [24:20] That was a tough life. But soon Ricky was leaving home early every morning to get high with his friends before school. And we're talking like sixth and seventh grade. Oh my God. I do remember kids, though, like doing that in like seventh, eighth grade. Lord, that is when it started. It's scary. [24:37] So for Ricky, who was constantly seeking an escape, smoking weed obviously led to experimentation with other drugs. And he managed to get his hands on what he and his friends thought was mescaline or mescaline, but what turned out to be acid or LSD. Oh. [24:51] that shit yeah a little different yeah and he was young yeah i mean that's never something you want to be surprised with i imagine but no definitely not as a child i mean mescaline would also probably be pretty bad i'm pretty sure there's like i don't even know what that is [25:04] When I looked it up, I think there's like peyote in it. Holy shit. I could be wrong. Let me double check. So I'm not giving you false information about drugs. Damn. [25:12] uh it's come up a lot in our lives no i know that's not in our personal lives but just to clear that up so there's go watch the re-watcher yeah it came up in the re-watcher that's actually why i remembered that so there's not peyote in mescaline but it's similar like if the effects are similar to if you did peyote peyote vibes peyote vibes exactly put that on a shirt got it so he they thought they were getting that kind of vibe and so they got lst which i would assume is kind of similar yeah i mean that yeah but from what little i know about those two experiences i

[25:42] similar? Yeah, I don't know. I never tripped. But his friend Mark Fisher told a reporter, first time he tripped in seventh grade art class, he drawn a dragon on the board and said it started to move. I mean, I was like, that's the most quintessential trip story I've ever heard in my life. It's also very... [26:01] kind of adorable. Yeah, in a weird way. As far as trip stories go. It's adorable. I was in art class. I drew a dragon and the dragon moved. That's kind of awesome. I wish you had been in high school, not seventh grade. Yeah, I wish you were not a child on acid at that moment. But if you must be. I wish you were not a child on acid. But if you must be drawing a dragon and having it move, I suppose, is the best case scenario, to be quite honest. Facts. Agree. Agree hard. This is just [26:31] terrible all of the way around it gets worse i'm just trying to find the joy you know here you are like you said at the top of this at the top of the show [26:47] you [26:49] If you're not familiar with Mooncat, all of their nail lacquers are like nail art in a bottle. Every single shade is a work of art intentionally crafted with only the highest quality pigments and designed to be as long-lasting as they are extraordinarily out of this world. These are some of the prettiest nail polishes I've ever seen in my life. We're talking colors you've never seen before. Shifty polishes that constantly transform colors in different lighting. How freaking cool is that?

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[29:09] No account or overdraft fees. We love transparency. You can get your paycheck up to two days early, plus get up to a $300 welcome bonus when you sign up with eligible direct deposit. [29:21] Sign up for SoFi Checking and Savings at SoFi.com slash morbid. SoFi Checking and Savings is offered through SoFi Bank and a member FDIC. Terms apply. [29:31] Every good detective needs a partner to support them on important cases. Think of a State Farm agent like your sidekick, there to help you along the way in your search for coverage. State Farm can help you choose the coverage you need, whether it's for your home, car, boat, or even RV. With so many options, it's nice knowing you have help finding what fits for you, so you can get back to solving all of life's bigger cases. Go to statefarm.com or use the award-winning app to connect with a local agent and get a quote, [30:01] neighbor, State Farm is there. [30:07] So in the eyes of a lot of his friends and his classmates, Ricky's drug use, especially during class, made him seem cool. We all remember that. I have one kid. It's not cool, kids. Drugs aren't cool. Drugs are bad. I wonder if D.A.R.E. was a thing back then. I don't know when D.A.R.E. started. I don't know. Let's Google. Wasn't that like an 80s thing? I think you're right. When did D.A.R.E. start? Yeah, it might have been 90s. [30:27] 1983. Oh, there we go. Look at that. I think it made sense that it was the 80s. It feels like a very 80s or 90s thing. Especially the logo. Dare so vividly. I do too. Remember that big suitcase full of fucking paraphernalia and pills that they showed us? I don't think anyone will ever forget the day that they brought like Vicodin, cocaine, and heroin into our classroom. It all just like all like on that big like thing. Yeah. Like the suitcase and then they opened it and it like

[30:57] like oh my god there's drugs they were like ricky his older brother says that drugs are cool what would you say what would you say what would you not cool what would you tell him and we we did the pact yeah and i signed that the amount of people that broke that fucking i broke i broke that pact not too many years later i i kept that but you know what i you can't sign under distress and i was probably just that is signing under distress we weren't old enough to sign contracts [31:27] legally by today thank god so people at first thought he was cool yeah his friend said we had a sit-out one time could you imagine a junior high sit-out did it today holy shit man it's crazy holy shit soon ricky had become kind of like the de facto leader of a small group of boys who looked up to him and they'd all get high together before during and after school at this point there's high high y'all high you're all high all the time so the thing was for 12 and 13 year olds money was [31:57] any drugs. So in order to support now like a growing habit, which like we can joke, but now he's like, that's horrifying. The entire thing, horrifying. Like this is a horrifying situation that like literal children are hooked on acid at that point. Yeah, it's bad. This is gross. So Ricky turned to petty theft and he broke into a nearby church where he not only stole money from the collection box, but he even grabbed a box of the body of Crass Crackers on his way out the door.

[32:27] Yeah. [32:27] He stole not only money, but the body of Christ. [32:33] that's big. That's, I mean, I'm also like, why would you choose those crackers? I've never had them, but I heard they're not good. Thank you. [32:40] Maybe that's also coming up a lot in our life. It is. What is going on right now? Life is a simulation. We're plugged in somewhere. Too much is coming up right now. But. [32:49] I was saying this, and you can feel however you want to feel about the body of Christ crackers. What are they, communion wafers? Eucharist. Boom. Look at you. I didn't even do that. Eucharist. I think it tastes terrible. That's just me. I think it tastes like water. [33:03] I think it tastes like a stale... [33:06] It's like when you have COVID and you bite into a sandwich and you can't taste it and it just tastes like water. Yeah. Yeah. That's just me, though. I feel like he didn't steal those to eat. I feel like he had to have stolen them just like for shits. [33:17] But, like, why else are you stealing those? Because, like... [33:20] Like you're stealing the body of Christ from a church. Just for the rush. For the thrill of it. To be like, I took their fucking crackers too. I took the body of Christ. What are they going to do tomorrow? What are they going to do? I don't know. What are they going to do tomorrow? [33:32] You know? [33:32] I don't know. What are they going to do? I don't know. What did they do? Earlier today, I said that if I was allowed to take the body of Christ back in, like, when I did go to church sometimes, I would just go, eh, if I could. If I was allowed to take the Eucharist, I would Meg the Stallion and go, eh. Try to get it out of my tongue. Because I feel like we were saying some older people...

[33:52] don't do the hand thing where you put it in the hand, they just stick their tongue out and they put it right on there. Yeah, I've seen that. I don't like that. I don't like it. It's an experience. I would not want to be the guy giving it out either. No. No. Anyway. Just in case. By the next year, Ricky's criminal behavior escalated to the point where he was not only stealing the body of Christ, but he was also breaking into houses and stealing from his neighbors, which is an un-neighborly thing to do. It really fucked up and it also shows a level of desperation that is very sad. This is also just fucking insane. Wait until you hear this. [34:22] Retired police officer Gene Romer remembered there was a newspaper back then called the Northport Journal. We used to call it the criminal's best friend. Whoa. Because they would announce when locals would be going on vacation and how long they'd be gone. [34:36] Who the fuck? Who the fuck thought of that? Why would you do that? Why would you ever stand up? Who the fuck did that? Like, why? That's literally diabolical. No, it is. That was made by a criminal. Absolutely. It had to have been. [34:52] And also, how the fuck do you know when I'm going on vacation and how long I'll be? Well, that's the other thing. I was like, people must have had to be like, oh, me and the Jones family are going to the Bahamas for seven to ten days. I, I. Why would you submit to that? I rebuke that. I do, too. I don't know. [35:09] But now, armed with a schedule of locals' vacations, Ricky and his friends could just be pretty sure they were in the clear to sneak into those houses and steal everything that they could to get drugs. Here you go. Without anybody even realizing that they'd been there. Yeah, you might as well roll out the red carpet at that point. Honestly. Let's go. It just reminds me of Home Alone. Yeah. So unfortunately, Ricky's luck obviously eventually ran out. And that was when he and some friends were picked up by police after breaking into a local house where they stole alcohol and silverware. Aw. Shitty.

[35:39] Yeah. At first, his parents. [35:41] Exactly. At first, his parents took... I mean, he did, not the people who weren't there. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Just to be clear, I wasn't like, you had it coming that he was going to steal your son. You idiots. Why would you tell them when you were going on vacation? No, Ricky. So at first, his parents took the news in stride. They were like, you know, maybe it's just our son sowing his wild oats. You know, youthful indiscretion. Youthful B&E. Yeah. But when they searched his room looking for the stolen items and they found a bong, their attitudes changed. [36:11] Actually, I think back then it was even worse because parents were like, oh, my fucking God. Yeah, I would imagine it would be so much worse back then. [36:19] I mean, personally, if I found one in my child's room now, it would be as worse, I think. Yeah, I believe that. Yeah. It would be as bad. It would be as bad. Yeah. I mean, if I find a bong in my kid's room, I'm going to have like zero legs to stand on, but I'm going to be so fucking angry. Yeah. That's the thing that sucks. But a few years earlier, two local kids were killed in a car accident while they were driving under the influence. And in response, the town council approved the development of what was called Concepts for Narcotics Prevention, CNP. [36:49] alternative to like dare because dare didn't exist. Dare wasn't, they didn't figure that amazing program out yet. They didn't, they didn't get all the suitcase in order yet. No. [36:57] But after finding the bong in Ricky's room, his parents were concerned, obviously, that he was developing a serious problem, so they brought him to CNP to see a counselor. [37:06] He was 13 at this point, by the way. 13? So he's, like, stealing from churches, breaking into neighbors' houses. Dependent on drugs. Like, fully dependent on drugs. Scheduling sit-outs with his friends in junior high. Holy shit. High in school, before school, and after school.

[37:22] Damn. It's bad. Yeah, that's really bad. So he showed no interest, obviously, in stopping or even slowing down his drug use. And when he was confronted about the bong, he told the CNP counselor, I like what I'm doing. [37:35] I mean, he's just telling it like it is at that point. Well, and it's an escape for him, which is sad. Like, if they had gone a little deeper, they probably would have been able to figure out why he needed to escape from life. You got to look at the problem here. But I don't think... Especially at 13 years old. I don't think therapy was then what it is now. I know it's definitely... Yeah. So the meeting at CNP marked a change in Ricky's relationship with his parents. He didn't go back to the center again, but they did make him attend therapy with a psychiatrist. [38:05] even though he didn't want to, which was pretty good parenting, I would say. [38:09] Again, especially for back then. Yeah, that's like pretty big. Yeah, because like nobody was, especially not sending boys to therapy. No, definitely not. Which is fucking crazy. But Ricky refused to engage with the psychiatrist. And after a few sessions, the doctor was like, yeah, this is a waste of my fucking time. I can't just sit here and stare at him. Yeah, he said Ricky was sabotaging the sessions. [38:27] which, you know, like it happens. [38:29] I sabotaged a few psychiatric situations too. Have I been there? I don't know. Yeah. But in the months that followed, Ricky's relationships with his parents started to decline even more so. And by Christmas of 1980, he was no longer living at home. [38:45] he's literally a child yeah he's like 14 at this point oh so upsetting instead he just kind of like he would stay with friends including his newest friend jimmy treano like ricky jimmy was also a heavy drug user who by all accounts was a quote failure at school to a degree you would not believe

[39:06] Whoa. Yeah. According to his classmates, Jimmy had an I'm going to get you before you get me. Oh, kind of personality. And he was constantly in trouble for breaking rules, getting into fights, being disruptive like he sucked. [39:19] And his parents tried to encourage him to adopt a better attitude by also taking him to CNP to see a counselor. But just like Ricky, he didn't take to the counseling. The senior counselor there said, though, Jimmy concerned me because to put it simply, he had a problem seeing the difference between right and wrong. Oh, it wasn't just that. Like Ricky was like, yeah, I like what I'm doing and I'm going to keep doing it. But it's probably not great. Jimmy was like, I don't. What's the fucking issue? Like, I don't give a shit. I'm going to get you before you get me thing is it's definitely scary. [39:49] Especially for like a 14, 15 year old. Exactly. So the closer Ricky and Jimmy got, the worse their relationship with everybody else got. Because I'm sure they developed that like, oh, it's us against the world mentality. Yeah, nobody gets us. Nobody gets us. [40:02] They encouraged each other's drug use and bad behavior, and whenever they got kicked out of their respective houses, they would hitchhike more than 200 miles to the Caso's vacation cabin. [40:13] Damn. They would hitchhike 200 miles? 200 miles. [40:19] Wow. Isn't that insane? I can't believe they got out of that. Especially in the 70s. Well, this was in the early 80s, I guess. Early 80s, but still. So pretty much every time that happened, they were picked up by the police and returned to Northport, where they would be returned to their parents and the cycle would just start all over again. This happened tons of times. Between 1980 and 1984, Ricky and Jimmy fell into what was arguably the worst possible crowd they ever could have found themselves associated with. Cool. The local drug dealers and teenage burnouts. Oh, boy.

[40:48] And during that time, their drug use escalated from weed and acid and now included PCP. Oh, which like that can get scary. Yeah. PCP is very much known for causing severe long term effects on users. At the time, the two boys had been associated with a group of teenage drug users who referred to themselves as the Knights of the Black Circle. [41:11] Wow. [41:12] Yeah, that's so cool. [41:14] Yeah. Rock on. Wow. So for years, this is really sad because remember Northport has all these like whispers of like a cult happening. Yeah. For years, farm animals and the occasional pet had gone missing in Northport. No. Yes. Which fed the local rumors about Satanism and witchcraft happening in the area. And in December of 1981, some locals found the burned remains of a goat fetus on one of the stones, one of the stone chess boards in the park. Come on, man. [41:43] Later, it would be revealed that an unhoused man had found the fetus in one of the fields of Northport. He was starving and desperate, and he tried to cook it to feed himself, which is even sadder than what you would imagine. Yeah, that destroys me. But when it was first discovered, it was understood by many to be further evidence of devil worship in the area. And somebody reported to the Northport police that the Knights of the Black Circle were behind it. Ultimately, they were not what happened, is what I told you.

[42:13] And then it doesn't matter what the facts are. It's just, this is what I think. So this is what I'm going with. Because then when they tell you the real story, everybody's like, oh, that's a cover up. Yeah. [42:21] And it's like, no, that's actually much more possible. No, that's literally what happened. So there were never really any real means of identifying who was a devil worshipper, like ever. But throughout the 1980s, as satanic panic was ever present in the U.S., Satanism quickly became associated, as we know, with a very popular aesthetic or particular aesthetic. Excuse me. People who were assumed to be involved in Satanism wore denim, which is insane. Oh, yeah. Doesn't everybody wear denim? Every time I see someone in denim, I'm like, trouble. Trouble. Satan. [42:51] clothing they had long hair probably like dyed black hair they drank they did drugs and they lifted listened to heavy metal music oh this is very paradise lost it's so paradise lost that's always what i think of whenever we talk about a case that involves satanism yep like quote unquote so in northport that criteria best described the kids who called themselves the knights of the black circle [43:14] The discovery of the goat fetus and their being labeled as bad kids led to them being associated with Satanism. But most of the teenagers who were in that little club weren't really into the occult at all. Just the aesthetic. Just the aesthetic. And they were just using drugs. Yeah. They weren't Satanists. They just had problems. So Jonathan McCuller said of himself and his friends in the Knights, We were the absolute last of the hippies. We were about peace, love, and harmony. [43:41] Okay. Not Satanism. Yeah. Which actually, if you really look at Satanism. Yeah, exactly. It actually is about that fact. So still, though, like what they looked like and the fact that they listened to heavy metal music and it made the locals nervous. Yeah. And that fear and anxiety was projected onto them as a whole. Yeah. And he said, he goes, I guess it was because we were all a bunch of outcasts. Yeah. Which was really sad. It really is like...

[44:05] Paradise Lost. [44:06] So while they may have been mostly harmless, that didn't mean that they were very big on the rules. Like Ricky Casso and his friends, the Knights spent a lot of time getting high, listening to music, and when they weren't doing drugs, they were selling them or getting into fights over drugs and where you, like, who could sell drugs where territory. Sounds great. Yeah, it's all a mess. [44:26] Even McCuller was willing to admit that the group sometimes went out of their way to antagonize the locals. He said the colors of the colors of our jackets were demonic and that was to freak people out. It had nothing to do with Satan. We just did that to repulse people, which we accomplished. Valid. I was like, what color is demonic? Yeah, what is it? Just black? Is it black? Red? [44:47] So to Ricky Casso, who was already spiraling out of control, associating himself with the knights just made sense. They were outcasts in one way or another. They really liked to get high a lot of the times. And some of them had expressed interest in the occult. Okay. Which, like... In and of itself, that's not a bad thing. In and of itself, exactly. It's not a bad thing. And around that age, I think a lot of people express interest. Yeah, who wasn't a witch? Yeah, I had a fucking coven in third grade. Hell yeah. And I literally got a phone call home about it. You know. [45:15] But in Ricky's case, his interest was sparked innocently when he found a book on the occult at the local library. But according to his dad, it wasn't until Ricky reached his teens that his interest became somewhat concerning. Dick Casso later said, the really bizarre, really deviant behavior started in the seventh grade, which makes sense. That's like, yeah, really when he got like super into drugs.

[45:36] From there, they said his interest in the occult only grew, and that scared both of his parents. [45:42] Now... [45:43] Based on some people's memories, Ricky had a very strong interest in the occults and like stories, things like that. But it's really unclear how strong that interest was. Oh, okay. Lots and lots of pretty innocuous things at that time were deemed to be like related to Satanism and the occult, especially through the lens of the older generation. Yep. And as devout Christians, Dick and Lynn Casso probably interpreted a lot of those interests that were benign as being satanic. Yeah, that makes sense. [46:13] said that as a teenager looking for attention wherever he could get it there's a very good chance that ricky played up his supposedly satanic interest to get a reaction out of people which he basically said he did yeah exactly did like the knights did one local said ricky was of the devil when he was on acid he'd go back up into the dark woods up in aztec yeah and he would talk to the devil he said the devil came in the form of a tree which sprouted out of the ground and glowed [46:40] Who said that? [46:41] A local. Okay. Okay. [46:43] Um, [46:44] period period period wow imagine believe well imagine being described as of the devil of the devil i'm kind of upset if somebody described me as of the devil yeah i think i might take that as i'm sure i've been described as of the devil absolutely you have positive yeah but but don't you kind of take that as a compliment yeah yeah the devil has never come to me in the form of a tree

[47:07] That I can't claim. [47:09] In the form of something else? No, I mean, I don't think so. Okay. I'm sure. Like, maybe an ex. Yeah. Perhaps. Mine came in the form of my mom, so I got it. So maybe there's that. Not a tree, though. No, not a tree. I'd actually like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot less distressing. It is. You know. So by 1983, Ricky's antics had led to him becoming an outcast, even in his own friend group. Oh. By their own admission, they were the local outcasts, and now he was an outcast of [47:39] obviously deeper into drug use and he spent more and more time with Jimmy alone or just completely by himself. [47:45] By that point, he was dangerously close to getting expelled from school because he had taken a teacher's checkbook from her desk and... [47:54] like threatened to use it essentially like he was going to steal her he also had been deemed and this is not a term obviously that we use anymore but that's what they said back then he had been deemed emotionally handicapped by the school's district committee wow they were like he cannot be helped no [48:10] At the same time, his parents were starting to look into other options for his education, but a lot of those would include him being sent away, essentially. Yeah. In reality, a school experience with educating kids like him, like with behavioral issues and drug issues, probably could have helped him. Yeah. But every time his parents would arrange for an interview, he would run away or he would find ways to dodge the appointment. And at least they're trying. Yeah, it does seem like they tried.

[48:40] But from everything we do know, it seems like they've tried to get him help. In late March of 1983, they reached the end of their wits with Ricky and they went to the local police chief, Robert Howard, hoping that there was something the authorities could do to straighten their kid out because they were desperate. Damn. So Chief Howard, he was like, yeah, of course, I'll help you. And that month, Ricky was involuntarily admitted to South Oaks Hospital in Amityville for treatment and observation. [49:05] This is really sad and trigger warning for suicide. While he was at South Oaks, he tried to hang himself in the shower with a sweater, but he was discovered luckily before any serious damage had been done. He also tried to run away at least five times and had to be tracked down by the police and brought back to the hospital. Wow. [49:23] So he was released from South Oaks in May, and for a short time, things at the Casso House were quiet. But by the end of the year, his resentment toward his parents and just frustrations in general had returned, and so did his bad behavior. [49:36] And this time it seemed like he was even meaner than he had been before. [49:40] That's scary. In one instance, and this is just like, it's so petty, but it's so mean. He covered his arms in ketchup and yelled for his mom and to come into his bedroom and yelled at her, look what I did. And for a minute, she believed that he had cut himself and was like bleeding profusely. But when she realized it was only ketchup, he started laughing at her. And Lynn just started gathering all his shit and throwing it onto the front lawn. And she told him to get

[50:10] And it's like, that's wild. [50:12] I can't imagine being in that position. I can't imagine being in that position. It's easy to look at it from here and be like, you should never throw your kid out when they're like 16, 17. Yeah, of course not, but I haven't lived that. But we haven't lived that. We don't know what they were going through. And that is emotionally traumatizing. Of course. So at that point, she did kick him out. And he was like, okay, cool. See ya. [50:32] And from that point forward, he basically just spent his time wandering the streets of Northport and couch surfing. That's wild. Yeah. By early 1984, 17-year-old Ricky and whatever friends he had left could usually be found hanging out at the various cemeteries around Northport. The cemeteries were usually empty, and there was also several crypts and obscured areas, so they could use drugs without being caught, or they could crash there if, like Ricky, they didn't have any home to go back to. And, like, they kind of had shelter, which is awful. [51:02] In a mausoleum and a crypt, but they did. [51:05] Around this time, Ricky started to spend a lot of time with 16-year-old stoner Randy Guthler. Like Ricky, Randy was like a local misfit. He was a heavy drug user at 16 years old. And he spent most of his time getting high and causing trouble. In October, so weird that you had mentioned this earlier, and you had no idea that this was coming. No. Randy broke into one of the crypts and stole a skeletonized hand from a 54-year-old gravesite. What the fuck? And this kid's 16 years old. [51:35] He kept the hand in a brown paper bag and just loved, took any chance he could to show it off to the other kids and like horrify them.

[51:45] What the fuck? A few weeks after he had just taken the hand from the site, he went back with Ricky to the cemetery where they stole the skull from the same grave site. [51:56] What? This poor person. A couple of straight-up douchebags. This person had been laying in rest for 54 years. And these asshole teenagers come and just pick apart his body? Yeah. Jesus Christ. Exactly. So the police ended up getting involved, and they took the case very seriously. And in April, Ricky and Randy were arrested and charged with violation of a public health law, which is so interesting. It's like I was saying earlier, I think they have to be kind of creative about charges for grave robbing. I think now they have better charges for it. [52:26] better ones, but even still... [52:28] I think they could use some work. Because I assume desecration of a corpse and stuff should be part of that. Yeah, definitely. And I think even a grave, like disturbing a grave site is a... [52:38] charge. So not one to pass up the opportunity to defy authorities, when he was interviewed about the grave robbery, Ricky told detectives that he had procured the remains for use in a satanic ritual. He's obviously just fucking with them. I don't think he's really a mastermind of a satanic ritual. No. [52:57] According to Detective Douglas Varney, though, when he was arrested, he was carrying satanic material, the pentagram and a list of hierarchy in hell names given the devil, such as Beelzebub and a whole group of Latin names. Wow. [53:09] I said, I'm sure he's probably so legit. [53:12] Definitely. Yeah. Like he's like 17. I'm not that worried about it. I'm more worried about the fact that he's grave robbing and like actively doing things. Yeah.

[53:20] The hand was confiscated by the police upon their arrest, and the following month, the skull was discovered and everything was put back. [53:27] So at the same time that Ricky was destroying his relationships and earning a reputation as one of Northport's most notorious Satanists, Gary Lowers was on his own decline, unfortunately. [53:40] Once known among his friends as the type of guy that everybody liked, by 1984, he had developed a somewhat serious drug habit himself, and he had started stealing in order to support the drug habit. According to his friend Dan, Gary would do things for the moment. He wouldn't think about the next day, what was going to happen to him. He'd totally fuck somebody over and not think about the consequences of it. Not a good way to live. Because his frontal lobe is not developed yet. We're talking about all these people, and it's like... You think they're like 30. [54:10] serious drugs and you are stunting the shit out of yourself because your brain isn't even finished growing yet well and it's like hearing about all these people that it's like oh they have a serious drug problem and they were going through this and you think you're talking about like a 30 year old yeah you're talking about a 16 year old a 17 year old so sad [54:26] *music* [54:36] This episode is brought to you by SoFi, the all-in-one finance app where you can bank, borrow, and invest all in one place. Let's talk about bank accounts for a second. The average bank savings rate is 0.39% in interest. You're earning pennies on your savings, and it doesn't have to be that way. But with SoFi's high-yield checkings and savings, the money barely making moves sitting in your savings account can earn over eight times the

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[56:42] This is a paid ad by BetterHelp. There have been times in my life where I have been work, work, work, and nothing else, but that simply doesn't work for me. So I feel like the older I've gotten, I've really gotten much better at taking a step back, being able to prioritize a work-life balance that works for me. [56:59] Not everybody thrives when life gets busy. You might catch yourself feeling drained, even during things that you usually enjoy, or realize that you've been pushing yourself more than you need to. It's important to take care of yourself when things get busy by resting, recharging, and saying no when you need to. [57:14] Therapy can also be a great way to get out of autopilot and get a solid reset. Therapy with BetterHelp may help you understand your needs, feel more confident setting boundaries, and create a rhythm that feels sustainable. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. Just take a short questionnaire to identify your needs and preferences, and BetterHelp will handle the initial therapist matching work for you. You can also feel confident knowing that BetterHelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully qualified. [57:44] Take a pause with therapy. BetterHelp can help life feel manageable again. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash morbid. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash morbid. [57:58] so in the summer of 1983 Gary stole some money from his parents who eventually just didn't know what to do with him anymore much like Ricky's parents and they kicked him out of the house just like Ricky Gary managed to find some places to stay he kind of couch surfed he also slept in various clubhouses around town or he broke into the lumber yard and would sleep in one of the few abandoned buildings on the property

[58:24] It's so sad. It really is like a 16 year old just roaming around town. Yeah, it's awful. A few years earlier, Gary had started casually dealing drugs to support his own habit. And that's how he got to know Ricky Casso and Jimmy Troiano. [58:38] So one night in April, Ricky and Gary happened to be at the same party together, and Ricky had passed out after a night of drinking. While Ricky was unconscious, Gary went through his jacket and stole 10 envelopes of PCP and then snuck out before Ricky woke up. [58:53] A few days later, Ricky and Jimmy tracked Gary down and they said, we know you did this. [58:59] And he admitted he did, but that he still had half of the envelopes. Like he had five of the 10. So he gave back what was left and he promised to pay Ricky back for what was missing. But they beat him up regardless. He got a bloody nose, a black eye and some cuts on his face. And according to his friend, Michelle DeVoe, Ricky told Gary if it happened again, he would kill him. [59:18] Whoa. [59:19] So by that summer, very serious. By that summer, Ricky was mostly living in the woods and he had what most described as a serious addiction to PCP. He's living in the woods, addicted to PCP. [59:32] Yeah, and he's like 17 years old. Holy shit. [59:36] PCP, it feeds paranoia. Yeah. Like people become insanely paranoid. Keep that in mind. [59:43] He was regularly traveling to the Bronx in order to buy PCP. Friend Johnny Howard said it got dark after he started doing all the angel dust, which is PCP. He said, you don't want to do anything like that when you're really depressed because it's going to make it worse. If you smoke a joint of angel dust and read the Satanic Bible, it will amplify the feelings you presently have. Ooh.

[1:00:03] So that was obviously bad. But if his addiction to PCP wasn't enough reason for people to keep their distance, the recent reports of his grave robbing were. He really only had a few friends, if that, left. And they tried to keep him grounded in reality, but he just wasn't there. So he spent most of his time alone. And he spent a lot of that time fixated on how he was going to get revenge against Gary for stealing from him. Oh, boy. And his rage is only growing throughout this whole period. Not good. Yeah. [1:00:32] So on the night of June 19th, Gary and a small group of his friends were hanging out at a gazebo in Cow Harbor Park. [1:00:38] He had plans later that night to go to the movies with his new girlfriend, Grace. But he also told friends that he was going to hang out with Ricky that night because he really wanted to repair their friendship. The plan seemed very strange to everybody who was there. They were like... [1:00:52] Ricky wants revenge on you. Like, I don't think you should go hang out with him. He's really pissed at you. And he's pissed that you still haven't paid him back. So they were like, don't go with him. Hang out with us. Like, stay here. We're concerned about this. But Gary allegedly told them it's okay, guys. I swear it's fine. So shortly after that, Ricky and Jimmy arrived at the same park where it was clear to everybody that they were tripping on LSD. Once he spotted Ricky, Gary approached and he handed Ricky $50 that he had owed him for the drugs. And, [1:01:21] for the stolen drugs. But to his surprise, Ricky was like, no, I don't want the money. [1:01:24] And instead, he opened his hand and offered Gary some of the LSD that he had, which obviously Gary accepted. And soon they were all tripping and they seemed to be getting along just fine. At some point, Ricky, Jimmy, Gary and another friend, Albert, decided to go to like this makeshift campsite in the North Port Woods to continue drinking and listening to music and tripping.

[1:01:46] nobody can be completely positive about what happened in the woods that night what the actual truth is because all we have are accounts from the two people who were involved or two of the people involved but according to jimmy jimmy treyano they were all sitting around the fire and he said quote ricky kept telling gary to donate some of his clothes to the fire the fuck which is a weird fucking way to put that and like weird thing to ask anybody to do desperate to be on good terms with the group though gary was just doing what ricky said and [1:02:16] of his clothing into the fire which also remember these kids are unhoused like they don't have yeah a lot of clothes so that's sad in and of itself [1:02:25] A short time later, though, they started fighting Gary and Ricky. Jimmy later told the police, suddenly me and Albert heard Gary say, I love you, mom. [1:02:33] And when they looked to see what was happening, they saw Ricky stab Gary in the back suddenly. What the fuck? He said, I love you, Mom? I love you, Mom. [1:02:41] Oh, Gary tried. This gets even worse. Gary tried to run away, but Ricky tackled him before he could get far. He then bit his neck like insanely hard and started dragging him by the ankles back to the campsite. [1:02:54] He then just started stabbing Gary over and over in the back, screaming for him to say, love you, Satan. [1:03:02] What the fuck? Which, like, he's on drugs. Yeah. Yeah. [1:03:06] In response, Gary just kept repeating, I love my mom. Oh, which ruins you. [1:03:11] before finally saying allegedly i love you satan holy shit yeah

[1:03:17] So Ricky stabbed Gary Lowers nearly 30 times in the face, back, and eyes. Eyes? Eyes. [1:03:27] Once he was dead, they searched his pockets and they found his wallet, which allegedly contained a list of the dignitaries in hell and instructions on how to conduct a satanic ritual. Who knows if that's true? I doubt it. It was about 3 a.m. by that point and everybody wanted to get out of the woods. So they covered Gary's body with dirt, leaves and branches and then just started walking out of the woods. [1:03:49] Like no big deal. Like nothing had ever happened. Like they hadn't, that Ricky hadn't just stabbed somebody 30 times. That's more than 30 times. That's wild. Yeah. While Gary Lauer's murder was brutal and completely shocking in and of itself, what was even more shocking was that between the teenagers who committed and witnessed the murders and then those who heard about it, nobody really seemed to care that much or sympathize in any way. That is so scary. The general apathy there is really scary. It absolutely is. [1:04:19] but brag to his friends about what he had done because he's a piece of shit he told two friends i started kicking gary's ass for stealing from me there was this crow flying overhead screeching that was a sign from satan he was ordering me to kill gary so i pulled out my knife and i stabbed him once before he ran away and he even went as far as taking other people into the woods to go see gary's body to prove that he had done it what [1:04:42] Yeah. [1:04:43] Holy shit. In the days before the murder, Gary had apparently made a few comments about leaving Northport, so when he wasn't around all of a sudden, most people just assumed he had left town. It wasn't until July 1st, almost two weeks later, that an anonymous call came into the Northport police regarding Gary's murder. Before hanging up, the caller just said, there's a body in the woods behind Gunther's taproom.

[1:05:06] That's it. [1:05:07] To the officer on the receiving end, the caller sounded like a young woman, maybe a teenager, and he thought it was probably a prank. [1:05:13] And as far as he knew, there was nobody missing in Northport. So, seems like it was just a prank. That's one thing you should always do as a member of law enforcement. Assume that these things are pranks. Yeah, just write it off. It works out most of the time. Don't go out and check. Yeah, definitely don't. What's the point? Yeah, why spend the resources? Yeah, like... [1:05:32] Dude. Yeah. My brother in Christ. Yeah. Go take a peek. Just go. [1:05:36] Good luck. [1:05:37] It could be a prank, but you know. [1:05:38] Check it out. [1:05:40] Whatever. Egg on your face. Exactly. You'd rather be safe than sorry. You'd rather that egg on your face. So things took a more concerning turn the next day when the head nun at Madonna Heights School, which imagine going to Madonna Heights School. I know. I was going to say in the 80s. Pretty rad. Especially in the 80s. I mean. Height of Madonna. Can you imagine? Yeah. Back to the story. [1:06:01] The head nurse there, Sister Mary James, reached out to the Northport police to report that one of her students, Jean Wells, had reported something shocking to one of the school counselors. According to Sister James, Jean had gone to the counselor after coming home from a weekend in Northport, where she learned that one of her friends, Gary, had been murdered and buried in the woods. Officers went out to Gary's house, where his mother said that she hadn't seen him for a few weeks, but that wasn't that unusual.

[1:06:31] she and Gary get in touch and let them know as soon as she saw him. [1:06:35] So after leaving his house, the officers paid a visit to Jean's house, and Jean explained that she had gone into Northport for the weekend to visit her friend Karen, whose boyfriend, Jimmy Trujillo, had been in the woods the night that Gary was killed. [1:06:49] It was while all three of them were together that Jimmy casually mentioned Ricky Casso was keeping a low profile because he had killed Gary. And then Jimmy offered to take Gene out to the woods to see the body. What the fuck? So they were all just being like, you want to go see? You want to go check it out? Yeah, I can show you. Oh, okay, great. Like, what the fuck? Like, that is some cruel ass shit. Absolutely it is. It's... [1:07:12] unhinged yeah so the casual way that jimmy was talking and even laughing about the entire situation made jean wonder if he was telling the truth and she explained that to the officers detectives of northport were still skeptical of jean's story i'm like this poor girl is in emotional distress yeah and she's like reaching out to anybody she can to be like i i'm pretty sure this is true look for this body in the woods like that's she's begging you [1:07:38] So they waited until the next day for whatever reason. Like you said, my brother in Christ, what are you waiting for? Like when they got around to it, I guess. And they went out to the area known as the Aztekia Woods, but it didn't take long for them to find exactly what they were looking for. About 100 yards from the opening to the path that led into the woods, detectives Romer and McCready found one of the cadaver dogs pulling on something buried in the dirt. You don't say.

[1:08:08] of human scalp. [1:08:11] Holy shit. Yeah. Holy shit. So it had rained heavily the night before. [1:08:17] So when technicians arrived at the scene, they didn't have to work very hard to unearth Gary's remains from what was the very shallow grave that Jimmy and Ricky had buried him in. Honestly, calling it a grave is a stretch. I was going to say, because they just keep showing people his body. They keep showing people his body and they hadn't really even dug a grave. They just covered him in about like an inch of soil, leaves and debris. Yeah. At first, investigators did believe that Gary had been decapitated since his head had become separated from his body when he'd been buried a couple of weeks earlier. [1:08:47] later determined that it was just decomp but the rest of his remains were equally battered and brutalized and that indicated that whoever had killed gary had been very angry at the time yeah [1:08:58] So it took some time, but eventually detectives managed to catch up with Ricky, Jimmy, and Albert on July 5th, and they were all arrested on suspicion of murder. [1:09:07] Not surprisingly, Ricky was defiant and basically refused to say anything. But Jimmy barely hesitated before telling investigators... [1:09:15] Almost every last thing that had happened to Gary. He said Gary had stolen the 10 packets of PCP from Ricky a few weeks before the murder. And on the night of June 19th, while he was high, Ricky stabbed Gary to death for it. Jesus Christ. [1:09:28] In his version of events, Jimmy let it slip that during their walk to the woods, Albert quietly mentioned to him that Ricky was planning on killing Gary once they got there. Holy shit. So it was just completely planned and known. That's what. No one stepped in. Yeah, that's what they thought. This came as a shock to detectives who assumed that Gary had just been killed in a fit of rage. But if what Jimmy was saying was true, that meant that Gary's murder was premeditated. That's murder one, babe. And that changes everything.

[1:09:55] Now, in his description of the events, Jimmy also mentioned that Ricky and some of the others in their squad, I guess, had expressed some interest in the occult and in Satanism. But he was also fairly explicit that the murder was related to Gary having stolen Ricky's drugs and that Ricky was also on drugs when Gary was killed. That's the thing. I believe this is a very like grounded in a shitty reality kind of thing of like drugs. Yeah, it's all it all just leads back to drugs, because even if they're talking about Satanism, they're high on drugs. [1:10:25] they're hallucinating on drugs. Yeah. It all goes back to drugs. It's not like sober as a judge people sitting here murdering people. For Satan. For Satan. No. Yeah. But still, Robert Dunn of the Northport Homicide Squad told reporters, you've got a whole bunch, a whole group of Satan worshippers. This was a sacrificial killing. They built a roaring fire in a field near the woods. I don't know what this is supposed to mean, but this is what they did. It's pure Satanism. Well, and just to be clear, that like, [1:10:55] even if they were sober as a judge killing someone, that's equally as bad. I'm saying, like, to pin this on, like, well, they're Satanists, and that's the reason. It's like, no, you don't have to do that. This is as bad. They were all on drugs, and they killed someone over drugs. Like, it's bad either way. You don't need to add in Satanism elements. And that's exactly the point here, is that, why are you adding on Satanism when this poor kid was nearly decapitated he had been stabbed so many times? And for a very stupid, like, for drugs. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[1:11:26] It's like you said, it just doesn't need the added layer. And it was to glorify this. Not glorify this, but it makes it more salacious. Exactly. [1:11:37] So in a press conference the next day, Assistant District Attorney William Keehan said they treated this living and breathing 17-year-old man as a sacrificial animal. They slaughtered and mutilated him. [1:11:47] Which is true. They did. He went on to describe the murder as nothing less than a sadistic, torturous, sacrificial killing, a satanic ritual murder. I was like, you had me until the very end. You're partially right there. I was like, guys, that's not the point that matters. Yeah. Which was wild because, again, Jimmy just mentioned all the occult stuff in passing, probably when he was probed about it. Yeah. And told them the majority of this entire thing was [1:12:17] All Ricky told the police was, I stabbed him. He got what he deserved. Yeah. Which is nuts. He literally stabbed him in the eyes. And to be that callous. Yeah. I don't think that kid stood a chance. You start doing drugs when you're 10 and you get into PCP by the time you're like 13. You're going to lose all that basic empathy. Unfortunately. So in the days after Ricky and Jimmy's arrests... [1:12:40] Adults and the press in Northport made a huge deal of the supposed satanic aspect of the murder, apparently completely unaware of the contradictory statements from Ricky's friends and associates. One friend told a reporter, I doubt they really were into Satanism. And most of the teenagers interviewed by the police and the press explained that Ricky had bragged about devil worship and occult practices, but nobody really believed his interest was anything more than him just trying to get attention.

[1:13:10] trying to say he is, he would be doing that pretty quietly. Exactly. I don't think he'd be running around doing it. If he's bragging about it and being like, ah, raising the devil and all that, he's doing it to get reactions. Exactly. That's basic human behavior. Well, and I'm obsessed with this comment. Chief Robert Howard, who was the first one to actually try to help Ricky when his parents went to the authorities, he said it was a group of losers looking for something to make them special to get attention. They got it. Yeah. That attitude is so Red Foreman. [1:13:40] He's literally being like, yeah, we can sit here and sensationalize. And pick hair, like split hairs. It's just a bunch of assholes. [1:13:48] They were trying to make a name for themselves. They got mad over drugs and they killed another human being. Like that's simplistic. Don't get lost in the minutiae all the way around. [1:13:57] So on July 7th, Ricky Casso hanged himself in his cell with a bed sheet. Holy shit. And what the medical examiner listed, obviously, as an apparent suicide. Given his confession and Jimmy Treano's, Ricky had reason to believe that, and he probably would have, that if he was found guilty of murder and sent to prison, it would be for a very long time. Yeah. The sheriff told the reporters he exhibited no undue stress and was treated as any other inmate. And Ricky left no note explaining his actions. [1:14:27] into. I feel really bad for his parents. Yeah. And obviously for Gary's parents as well. Yeah. All of these kids' parents. It's just like, oh. Yeah. And his sister, Wendy. Yeah. [1:14:38] Yeah. Who like he was close to. That's going to be hard. It's awful to watch that evolution happen. Yeah. And to live in a house too, that was probably so chaotic because of his drug use and behavioral issues. Like I think she lost who her big brother was for a very small amount of time in her life. For sure.

[1:14:55] with Albert Quinonez having been let go without charges. He was just there that night. Yeah. [1:15:00] and Ricky did, that left only Jimmy Traiano alone to face trial for Gary's death. He did go on trial in early April of 1985, and by then the judge had ruled out any possibility that the murder was ritualistic or occult in nature. Instead, Jimmy was just being tried as an accomplice in Gary's murder. The jury was told that Jimmy held Gary while Ricky had stabbed him. The prosecution's entire case was based on the investigator's belief that Jimmy had participated, however minimally, [1:15:30] assault and that made him culpable for murder. They said any statements made by Jimmy himself to the contrary couldn't be trusted given his character, which you can understand. But still, both Jimmy and Albert testified that Jimmy never restrained Gary, never tried to prevent him from leaving the area, and the violence inflicted on Gary and the murder were entirely Ricky's doing. Which is also very easy to do, though, when Ricky is no longer here to... Absolutely. You can pin it all on him now. [1:15:58] Absolutely. I'm not saying that's not what happened. It's just it's like that's why it makes you second guess it. That's why I set it up the way I did like when we first started talking about it. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever know the full truth of that date. Yeah. The only truth that we do know is that Gary was viciously murdered. We don't really know. [1:16:14] exactly who did what. Yeah, like we know clearly Ricky was heavily... Yeah, obviously he was there and I do think he stabbed him, but who knows what other people's input was. [1:16:24] After more than 10 hours of deliberation, though, the jury ultimately sided with the defense and Jimmy was acquitted of the charges and allowed to leave a free man.

[1:16:33] All of the jurors refused to comment on what led them to an acquittal. All they said was, we all had a job to do and we did it well. It was a long deliberation and therefore you can conclude it was well thought out. [1:16:44] Okay. So in his statement to the press, Jimmy's lawyer, Eric Nyberg, was equally vague and just said, there's proof of the defendant's guilt, but also reasonable doubt. I don't think anybody but God knows what happened that night. [1:16:55] Yeah, yeah. I mean, I also think the people that were there know what happened that night. Yeah, exactly. But sure, just God. Yeah, for sure. In November of 1984, before the trial had even been scheduled, journalist David Breskin published an article called Kids in the Dark in Rolling Stone magazine. That's spooky. It really is. More than simply just coverage of Gary's murder, the article was a very lengthy interview between Breskin and several of the kids in and around Jimmy's circle. Interesting. [1:17:25] did obviously mention the satanic and occult interests, but mostly stuck to the drug story. Breskin painted a picture of suburban teenagers gone wild, abusing some of the scariest drugs on the streets at that point and engaging in dark religious practices. So the article poured gasoline on an already raging satanic panic fire. And for a while, Ricky Casso became the new face of satanism in America. An ordinary kid who slid far too easily into drug abuse, heavy metal music, [1:17:55] And finally, ritualistic murder. [1:17:58] Unfortunately, and what's really just, it breaks my heart, the truth of Gary's murder is,

[1:18:05] has been completely forgotten. Yeah. And nobody will ever really know exactly what happened that night, except like you said, the three people that were there. But obviously the salacious rumors of Satanism and the occult remain to this day and everybody gets a little too focused on that. Once they're put into a story, it's hard to take it out. It is. Because there's always going to be people that you can throw the evidence right in front of their face and they're going to say, Nope. [1:18:30] Satan. In my opinion, this was all drug-fueled. It feels like it was very much drug-fueled, and I'm sure there was, like, Satan shit being thrown about. Sure. They're teenage boys. But I'm sure it was more for shock value than anything else. I don't think that they were... [1:18:46] I honestly don't think they were, like, capable of organizing actual, like, religious practices here. I just don't see them, like, organizing, you know, ritualistic shit. I think they just did it to shock people, and it worked. People gave them what they wanted. Nothing about the murder was ritualistic at all. Yeah. You know? It looked like a brutal murder that someone... [1:19:09] who is not completely in their right mind would commit. Exactly. Yeah. [1:19:15] Wow, that's really sad. It is a really sad one. Poor Gary. Poor Gary. Poor Gary's family. The victim will get lost in these kind of things when it gets too focused on the salacious Satanism shit. Ritualistic shit and all that. Yeah. Like Gary will get... [1:19:32] lost like more and more as it goes exactly no and it's sad because obviously gary was having some kind of struggle he was 16 years old and didn't live at home anymore yeah and was addicted to drugs you look it up though he looks like a baby yeah he looks so young yeah it's awful it's really sad all of these kids were so young and like

[1:19:51] living the hardest fucking lives. [1:19:54] It's awful. [1:19:55] And it's time. [1:19:57] For a fun fact. And I think it's your turn to find a fun fact. I thought it was your turn. Is it my turn? I'll take it. [1:20:02] The most pancakes flipped in one minute is 140. [1:20:06] holy shit that's a lot of fucking pancakes i could barely flip one in a minute [1:20:10] I wonder what counts as a successful flip. [1:20:13] You know? [1:20:14] I mean, it's got to be... [1:20:17] like a full flip around. You can't have like edges curled under or anything. It's got to be a full flip. Yeah, that's what I would think. Holy shit. 140. I mean, good for you, person who did that. Hell yeah. Let's look up who did that. That's pretty impressive. Of course, it was an Australian. Australians do great things. Australian celebrity chef Brad Jolly, who I don't know, flipped a pancake 140 times in a minute in Sydney, Australia on February 21st, 2012, setting the world record [1:20:47] it. [1:20:48] Probs. Yeah. But also, are you flipping like if that sounds like he's just flipping the same pancake over and over? [1:20:56] Oh, that feels not saying I could do it. [1:21:00] But that feels a little bit easier than flipping a fresh pancake. You know what I mean? Like batter side over. Oh, because honestly, you really couldn't do it that way anyways. Because when you flip a pancake, you have to wait for it to bubble. Oh, yes. We flipped the same pancake 140 times. I mean, again, I'm not saying I could do it. No, I'm definitely not saying that. I'm not saying I couldn't. [1:21:20] I couldn't do it.

[1:21:21] We're going to try that tomorrow and we'll get back to you. We'll try it. So we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you don't have a contest with your friends and family about flipping pancakes. Yeah. I want pancakes now. [1:21:51] Thank you. [1:22:21] Thank you.

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