Ricky Kasso

Richard Allan "Ricky" Kasso Jr. (March 29, 1967 – July 7, 1984) murdered his 17-year-old friend Gary Lauwers in Northport, New York, on June 16, 1984. Two other teens, Jimmy Troiano and Albert Quinones, were present at the murder, which took place in the Aztakea Woods of Northport while all four were high on what they believed to be mescaline, but was actually most likely LSD.

The murder became sensational news in New York City and across the nation due to the torture of Lauwers and alleged Satanic ritualistic aspects of the murder. The murder took place during a period when there was much public concern over the effects of Satanic and occult content in heavy metal music and in role-playing games. Kasso was wearing an AC/DC T-shirt at the time of his arrest and was a fan of groups such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne.

Kasso was the son of a local high school history teacher and football coach at affluent Cold Spring Harbor High School. Kasso was often thrown out of his home as a young teen and lived on the streets of suburban Northport, New York, usually sleeping in the local woods, or in the cars, garages, backyards and houses of friends. He often took drugs, mainly marijuana, hashish, LSD, PCP, and purple-microdots of what he believed to be mescaline, but was most likely low-grade LSD. He tended to consume all of his drugs, but had on occasion dealt drugs in Northport as well. Kasso dabbled in the occult and Satanism and was possibly acquainted with the members of a loosely organized group of friends who referred to themselves as the "Knights of the Black Circle". There are reports that he participated in Satanic ceremonies, mostly in Northport, and is said to have celebrated Walpurgisnacht at the infamous Amityville Horror house in 1984. Kasso also expressed to friends his interest in Anton LaVey's book The Satanic Bible. On at least one occasion, Ricky's parents admitted him to the South Oaks Psychiatric Hospital (formerly known as the Amityville Asylum) in Amityville, New York for drug rehabilitation and psychiatric care.

In the year prior to the murder, Kasso had been arrested for digging into a colonial-era grave inside a local cemetery. Less than a month after his arrest for this crime, Ricky contracted pneumonia and was treated at Long Island Jewish Hospital. During his hospital stay, his parents tried to convince the doctors to commit him for involuntary psychiatric care. However, the conclusion of the psychiatrists was that Kasso exhibited antisocial behavior but was neither psychotic nor a violent danger, and Kasso was released upon recovering from his bout with pneumonia.

The conflict between Kasso and Lauwers had started some time earlier when Lauwers stole 10 bags of PCP from Kasso's jacket, after he had passed out at a party. Kasso confronted him soon after the incident, prompting Lauwers to immediately return five of the ten bags of PCP. Lauwers also promised to repay Kasso $50 for the five bags of PCP that had been used. Kasso reportedly beat Lauwers on four separate occasions. On the night of the murder, Kasso visited the small gazebo in the new Cow Harbor park and borrowed a radio from a friend. He then invited Lauwers to get high with him, Troiano and Quinones. The group walked to Aztakea woods, set up camp and ingested several doses, or "hits", of what they believed to be mescaline. The drugs they ingested were tablets called "purple microdots", and while they were erroneously referred to as mescaline on the street, they were actually most likely LSD. The teens attempted to start a small fire, but all of the available firewood was too wet and would not ignite. Lauwers used his socks, as well as the sleeves from his denim jacket, as kindling to start the fire.

At some point during the night, the situation escalated into violence. Kasso scuffled with Lauwers, bit him on the neck and stabbed him in the chest. Kasso continued his assault on Lauwers, and Quinones later claimed that Troiano helped Kasso and held Lauwers during the attack. During subsequent testimony he provided under immunity, Quinones later claimed that Troiano did not assist Kasso. Lauwers was stabbed somewhere between 17 and 36 times and his eyeballs had been sliced out during the stabbing. During the attack, Kasso allegedly commanded Lauwers to "Say you love Satan", but Lauwers is said to have instead replied "I love my mother". After the attack, Kasso and Troiano covered Lauwers' body with leaves and small branches.

In the aftermath, Kasso reportedly bragged about the murder to local teens, claiming the murder was a "human sacrifice". Kasso told some that he had murdered Lauwers because Satan had commanded him to. Kasso claimed Satan manifested in the form of a black crow after killing Lauwers, and that the crow had cawed; something he interpreted as Satan's approval of the murder. Kasso even brought several disbelieving teens to view Lauwers' decomposing body before he and Troiano returned to the woods to bury the decomposing remains in a shallow grave. However, it wasn't until two weeks went by, on July 1, that the murder was reported to the police via an anonymous tip. On July 4, 1984, police used dogs to search Aztakea woods and recovered the decomposing and mutilated body of Gary Lauwers. On July 7, two days after his arrest, Kasso committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell.

Jimmy Troiano signed a confession that he later recanted. Quinones gave witness account that Troiano helped Kasso during the murder, but later denied this during his testimony at Troiano's trial. Due to Quinones' drugged state at the time of the killing, his testimony was brought into question and Troiano was acquitted of second-degree murder in a trial by jury in April 1985.

Books

• Say You Love Satan (published October 1, 1987 by Dell Books; ISBN 0-440-17574-7) by David St. Clair, a heavily fictionalized account of the events that is no longer in print.

Documentaries

• The Devil Worshippers (1985, TV), episode of ABC news program 20/20, featuring the Kasso murder
• Satan in the Suburbs (2000, TV), directed by Scott Hillier
• Occult Killers (2012, TV), directed by Jean Leclerc for the Biography Channel, featuring the Kasso murder

Films

• Where Evil Dwells (1985), directed by Tommy Turner and David Wojnarowicz
• My Sweet Satan (1994) directed by Jim Van Bebber
• Black Circle Boys (1997) directed by Matthew Carnahan
• Ricky 6 (2000), also known as Ricky Six, Ricky 666 and Say You Love Satan, directed by Peter Filardi

Songs

• "Sudden Impact!" (1985, This Is Big Audio Dynamite) by Big Audio Dynamite
• "Satan Is Boring" (1985, Bad Moon Rising) by Sonic Youth
• "0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)" (1987, Dirtdish) by Wiseblood
• "Bad Party" (1988, Beelzebubba) by the Dead Milkmen
• "Cryin' Shame" (1989, Wake Me When It's Over) by Faster Pussycat
• "18 and Life" (1989, by Skid Row
• "The Usurper" (1993, The Passing) by Betrayal
• "Psychedelic Sacrifice" (1993, Burn, Baby, Burn!) by the Electric Hellfire Club
• "Teenage Dirtbag" (2000, Wheatus) by Wheatus
• "Catacomb Kids" (2007, None Shall Pass) by Aesop Rock
• "From Listening to Lightning" (2009, The Lightning EP) by Wheatus
• "Severed Heads of State" (2012, The Grimy Awards) by Ill Bill
• "Ricky Kasso" (2013, Howie Made Me Do It 3) by Ill Bill
• "Black Circle (S.Y.L.S.)" (2015, Where Evil Dwells) by Ranger
• "Too Many Devils And Drugs" (2016, Longing For Infection) by Fistula