June 9, 2024 • 27 mins
On July 2, 1990, Jackson Heights resident Alan Sack had stopped while walking home to speak with a friend after parting ways with his life partner Julio Rivera about 20 minutes earlier near Public School 69 on 78th Street when they were approached by a panicked man yelling that a man was being murdered in the nearby school yard. The group started running in the direction of the school yard and what they would find would alter not only the lives of the group but would lead to the first prosecutions and convictions for a hate crime in New York State and spur a flurry of pro-LGBTQ changes across the state and the nation. In this episode we delve into the life and legacy of 29 year old Julio Rivera whose life was brutally taken from him in a senseless act of hate and violence. The act would unite the LGBTQ community in Queens to have the first successful march in Queens and lead to the start of the Queens pride parade that still takes place today.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
On July 2nd, 1990, Jackson Heights resident Alan Sack had
stopped while walking home to speak with a friend after
parting ways with his life partner Julio Rivera about 20
minutes earlier near Public School 69 on 78th St. when they
were approached by a panicked man yelling that a man was being
murdered in a nearby schoolyard.The group started running in the
(00:23):
direction of the schoolyard and what they would find would alter
not only the lives of the group,but would lead to the first
prosecutions and convictions fora hate crime in New York State
and spur a flurry of pro LGBTQ changes across the state and
nation. I'm Amanda Morgan, and this is
New York's dark side. Today I'm bringing you the story
(01:10):
of the brutal slaying of Julio Rivera, a 29 year old bartender
who loved life and was a vibrantmember of the Jackson Heights
community. His death would unite the
community to fight against the LAX investigation being done by
law enforcement. This story is about far more
than Julio's death. It's about the legacy of unity
(01:31):
that was sparked by the event and the need for continued
fighting for the protections of all human rights.
Let's dive in. Julio Rivera was born in the
Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. He would actually end up
quitting school due to the amount of harassment that he was
enduring due to his sexuality. He was described as being true
to himself and wanting to share his life with others.
(01:53):
Julio was an incredibly handsomeman.
His sister-in-law, Peggy would describe him as a good looking
Freddie Mercury, which I have tosay I definitely see the
resemblance. I I get it.
I've posted pictures of him on our web page for this episode
and on social media. Julio would move to the Queen's
neighborhood of Jackson Heights,one of the most culturally
(02:13):
diverse neighborhoods in the country.
After discovering the gay community there and trying to
avoid the violence occurring in the Bronx, Jackson Heights
started to become a community where a larger population of
LGBTQ chose to reside due to theaffordability of the
neighborhood and its access to the Seven train.
While the community was largely Caucasian, in the documentary
(02:34):
Julio of Jackson Heights, some of the residents would speak
that the gay community was largely accepted within the
neighborhood because they reallydidn't draw attention to
themselves and no one really ever talked about it.
They were within the community and active members working in
various capacities and in leadership positions.
Julio, as I mentioned, worked asa bartender at one of the many
(02:56):
gay bars in the area. Julio's family spoke highly of
him. In the documentary film Julio of
Jackson Heights, It was clear that while he had moved away
from the Bronx neighborhood, he still retained a close
relationship with them. Julio's father had died while he
was young, and unfortunately, Julio would also witness the
death of his mother. In the documentary I've
mentioned, Julio's brother Ted talks about how their mother
(03:18):
used to tease Julio, basically telling him that he wouldn't be
around when she died because he didn't come around as often as
she would like to visit. That would prove not to be true
because on the day she died, Julio was in the cab with her
attempting to get her to a hospital as she was having
difficulty breathing. She suffered from chronic
asthma, and unfortunately she would pass away in the cab with
(03:39):
Julio before they reached the hospital.
Julio's family would also describe the awareness of the
dangers that Julio was in due tohis sexuality.
His brother Ted described how one night Julio had called him
asking for him to come pick him up.
Ted would go on to say that he knew something was wrong because
it was very out of character forJulio to ask for help with
(03:59):
anything. He arrived at the address Julio
had asked him to come to and noted that the police were there
as well. When he went up to the door, he
said an older man named Harold was there and was enraged to the
point where he was basically foaming at the mouth.
There had clearly been some typeof altercation as there were
paintings that had been ripped and furniture was in disarray.
(04:21):
While Julio never really talked about what happened, Ted said it
was clear to him that Harold, whose last name was never given,
was connected to the mob and that Harold had asked Julio to
do something with another man who was there, and when Julio
refused, that set Harold off, leading to the altercation.
Ted and Julio, though, were ableto leave the area with no
(04:42):
issues. Julio had an active social life
and he was very proud of his family for their acceptance of
him and his partners. One of his former boyfriends
named Dennis also spoke on the documentary about Julio and how
they met. Dennis was dancing at one of the
bars and Julio approached him, discussing his appreciation for
Dennis's ability to dance. For Dennis, it was love at first
(05:03):
sight and he was surprised that someone like Julio would take an
interest in him. They dated for quite a while,
but Dennis would end up leaving Julio after it became obvious to
him that Julio was choosing drugs over him.
He describes one night when theywere out and Julio had started
to go into a bathroom with someone to use.
Dennis tried to stop him from going, but Julio told him to go
(05:24):
home and that he would see him in a little while for dinner.
Julio didn't make it home for dinner that night, and it was
about a month before he actuallydid come home.
Another one of Julio's lovers was named Alan Sack, and he
would speak on the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights as
well. He described how one day he
called the bar that Julio was working at at about 3:45 in the
morning asking to speak with Julio.
(05:46):
When Julio got on the phone and Alan told him who he was, Julio
responded White Russian, which was a drink that Alan frequently
ordered. Alan invited Julio to go with
him later that morning down to Jones Beach and told him that he
was heading to the store to get supplies to take with them.
Julio was extremely excited about the invitation and he also
showed up at Alan's house at about 6:30 with several bags of
(06:09):
food, soda and beer to take withhim on the trip because Julio
would never accept an invitationwithout bringing something
along. So they really had double of
what they needed because Alan had already gone to the store.
In the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights, residents of
the Jackson Heights community noted that the neighborhood
really started to become more violent, especially towards the
members that were suspected of being gay or lesbian.
(06:31):
People would walk around the neighborhoods with baseball bats
and pipe wrenches. Items like glass bottles would
be hurled out of cars in their direction.
These assaults were not typically reported to the police
because there was very real concern that police wouldn't do
anything about it anyway, so whybother?
There were at least six murders that occurred in Jackson Heights
(06:52):
prior to Julio's death that had basically been swept under the
rug and residents didn't recall them occurring because they
weren't really publicized. On July 2nd, 1990, Julio was out
with his close friends and life partner Alan.
When Alan was ready to head home, Julio after the stay out
for a bit so they separated fromeach other near Public School 69
(07:14):
on 78th St. A witness named Helen would
speak on the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights and said that
around midnight she heard a man desperately calling for help and
praying to Jesus. She went to her window and
looked out and saw a young man walking through the schoolyard
towards 78th St. and watched himwalk about 1/2 a block and
disappear around the corner. Alan was still in the area and
(07:37):
he would interview on both the documentary and then on the show
New York Homicide. While his story varies a little
bit between the two, he would say that on his way home he had
bumped into a friend and began aconversation with them.
After conversing with his friendfor about 5 minutes, a man came
running towards them screaming that they were killing someone
(07:58):
in the schoolyard. They ran towards the schoolyard
and Alan said that he was concerned that the attacked man
might have been another friend of theirs named Brian, but he
never considered for his life that it would be Julio.
When he saw Julio coming towardshim covered in blood, he noticed
he had been brutally beaten and was on the verge of passing out.
Alan grabbed him and tried to reassure him that he would be
(08:20):
OK. While cradling him in the
schoolyard, Alan asked him if heknew who attacked him, but Julio
shook his head no. First responders would arrive to
the scene shortly after and rushed Julio to Elmhurst
Hospital. At the hospital, doctors and
nurses sprung to work to try to save him.
Initially, they let Alan stay inthe room with him, urging him to
(08:43):
hold his hand and talk to Julio while they worked.
They would eventually ask him toleave the room for a bit while
they continued to work. After about 10 minutes, a doctor
came out to speak with Alan and told him that Julio was either
going to have permanent brain damage or be paralyzed due to
his injuries, if he even survived the night.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of medical personnel,
(09:06):
Julio would pass away from his injuries.
He was only 29. Alan was left to deliver the
horrible news of what happened to Julio to his family.
Julio's brother Ted would describe how police showed him
photos of Julio in the extent ofhis injuries, which was
extremely traumatizing for him and he couldn't have imagined
actually seeing Julio's injuriesin person.
(09:28):
NYPD's Precinct 115 would be dispatched to the scene to
process it for evidence. There was a large amount of
blood in a smashed glass bottle,indicating that a fight had
occurred. Despite canvassing the scene,
there were no witnesses that came forward initially.
Now I did mention a witness spoke on the documentary, but I
(09:49):
truly don't know if or when she spoke with police, only that she
interviewed on the documentary. The area around Public School 69
was well known to law enforcement for being an area
where transactions for drugs andsex work would take place.
Julio's autopsy came back later that day.
The medical examiner had noted multiple facial injuries and
(10:09):
severe head trauma. Some of the wounds indicated
that they were done with a claw hammer.
There was also a fatal stab wound on his back that had
punctured his lung. The autopsy also indicated that
Julio had cocaine in his system.Allen would later be visited by
detectives from Precinct 115 whocame to his home.
(10:29):
He described that they were for the most part respectful to him,
with the exception of one officer who had made derogatory
comments about Julio. Due to the positive results for
cocaine, law enforcement felt that it was likely a drug
related crime. When checking in on the case,
people were told not to worry about it, that this was a
limited event, meaning that there was no danger to the
(10:50):
community, and that this was likely the result of a trick
that had gone bad. Julio's friends and family did
not believe that this was the case, even though they tried to
dispute this with law enforcement.
Law enforcement maintained that their stance on this was likely
a drug related incident. A week after Julio's murder,
there was only one detective assigned to Julio's case.
(11:11):
Allen described on the documentary going down to the
precinct to try to get an update, and he was told that the
detective was on vacation and that no one else was looking
into the case in his absence. This was incredibly frustrating
to him, and rightfully so. Allen was thankfully not going
to let law enforcement be so quick to push this crime off as
something that he knew that it wasn't.
(11:33):
He continued to visit the precinct twice a week, every
week, and he would regularly call for updates as well, but he
was continuously pushed off by law enforcement.
In the documentary, Alan described many of his friends
urging him to just let it go andto not continue to pursue
pressuring the police, but he couldn't stop.
Even Julio's brother Ted spoke in the documentary about his own
(11:55):
hesitation about getting involved in the fight for
answers. But his wife, Peggy, pressured
him into continuing to show up for not just Julio, but for the
rights of justice for the gay community.
The owner of one of the gay barsin Jackson Heights, the Magic
Touch, discovered an article about the Anti Violence Project
in a magazine. The Anti Violence Project was
(12:15):
the only organization in the city that was focused on trying
to get justice for crimes against the LGBTQ community, and
he reached out to them, getting their executive director, Matt
Foreman in touch with Alan. The organization had been
monitoring the increasing crimesagainst the LGBTQ community.
In the episode covering Julio Rivera's murder on New York
(12:37):
homicide, the former executive director of the Anti Violence
Project, Matt Forman, said that the summer that Julio was
killed, there had been a 13 weekstretch of time that numerous
members of the gay and lesbian community had been hospitalized
due to the injuries that they had incurred being attacked in
the streets of Manhattan for their sexuality.
The AIDS crisis contributed to this due to the demonization of
(13:00):
the gay community by religious organizations and politicians
telling the masses that they were the ones spreading the
disease. Alan, along with Matt Forman
from the Anti Violence Project, set up a meeting for Julio's
family and friends at the Magic Touch to help them navigate
expressing their concerns to lawenforcement.
Matt spoke extensively with the family and with members of the
(13:21):
gay community, trying to gain anunderstanding of what their
exact concerns were with the investigation.
They shared that they had been calling law enforcement, sending
written letters, and showing up in person at the precinct to try
to get updates on the case, and they would continually not get a
response from law enforcement. This was true of other violent
crimes that were occurring in the area as well.
(13:42):
There was an extensive history of these being swept under the
rug. Matt attempted to speak with law
enforcement himself about the case, but he received very
flippant responses to the where the investigation stood.
Due to the lack of response, Matt and Alan decided to
organize a March and candlelightvigil six weeks after Julio's
murder. This was something that had not
(14:03):
been done in Queens before because the gay community had
very legitimate fears of exposing themselves and being
attacked. Mark and Alan went and spoke
with many gay organizations around the city to bring
awareness to the event. There was a lot of concern on
the day of the event that no onewould come.
The community, however, decided that they had had enough and
(14:23):
they wanted to come together forJulio and there was a huge
response to the call. On August 18th, 1990, hundreds
and hundreds of people showed upto March for Julio and denounced
the violence against the LGBTQ community, making it the first
successful LGBTQ March in Queens.
Ted spoke about how meaningful this was for his family, to have
(14:44):
such a huge crowd of people cometogether and March for Julio
because he knew how much fear there was that they would be
recognized and later attacked. Unfortunately, despite their
efforts, two more months would pass without any further updates
on the case. The community, however, was not
about to give up. They organized another March.
This time they took the March tothe doorstep of the Mayor of New
(15:07):
York City, David Dinkins. About 300 people participated.
They had painted red on their faces to signify blood, and they
stormed the mansion where a dinner event was occurring and
began to Heckle Dinkins during his speech.
This finally put enough pressureand awareness on law
enforcement, and now the community had the mayor backing
(15:28):
them. The precinct's best
investigator, George Byrd, was put on the case and he actually
committed to helping with the investigation.
He spent months talking with thegay community to gain their
trust and that work paid off because a sex worker named Tony
came forward to tell him about what he had witnessed on the
night of Julio's attack. Tony shared with him that he was
(15:49):
cruising and turning tricks in the area of Public School 69 on
the night Julio was attacked andhe saw Julio walking in the area
when he was approached by a man with longer hair.
He saw Julio speaking with the guy, but then Tony was
approached by someone and he left the area for about 15
minutes. When he came back about 15
minutes later, Tony saw three men running away from the
(16:11):
schoolyard. Two of them he described as
skinheads and the third one was the man with longer hair.
One was carrying a claw hammer in his hand and another had a
pipe wrench. All three were wearing Doc
Martin shoes. This turned out to be a very
good lead as there was a group of skinheads trying to start a
gang in the area called DMS, theDoc Martin skinheads.
(16:32):
They had even started tagging areas of the neighborhood with
their DMS sign. The skinheads like to frequent a
bar called Kennedy's. So this is where Lieutenant Bird
went next. He went undercover and started
talking to people at the bar. At the bar, he met a man called
Army Dan, who, true to his name,was dressed in fatigue style
clothing. After a couple drinks and casual
(16:53):
conversation, Army Dan discloseda bird that he might have some
information on the Rivera case and that the DMS was trying to
fight the gay community from coming into their neighborhood.
The following day, Army Dan was brought in for questioning.
They let him know that they considered him a suspect in the
case, which got him to crack andhe disclosed the name of three
people that he said were involved with Rivera's murder.
(17:17):
He would tell them that there was a party at a fellow DMS
members home and at the end of the party three of the attendees
decided to go out and do something for DMS.
Those three people were 20 year old Daniel Doyle, who was the
son of a former NYPD detective, 18 year old Estate Beachy and 21
year old Eric Brown. They were described in one
(17:37):
article as being an unlikely group.
Doyle was an aspiring lawyer with a prep school background
and was attending Union College in Schenectady, NY, where he had
high grades and was studying law.
Eric Brown was attending the Arts Students League in
Manhattan. His father was a recently
retired electrical engineer. I got conflicting information
about a stat Beachy. The New York homicide episode
(18:00):
described Beachey as being an honor student in high school,
but another source said that he was a high school dropout and
had a troubled family background, including drug
trafficking by his father and the murder of his mother at his
father's hands when he was seven.
All three are brought in for questioning, and even though
they're all questioned individually, they all stick to
the same story. Doyle and Beachey were the two
(18:22):
described skinheads at the time of Julio's murder, and Brown was
the man with long hair. By the time they were
questioned, though, Doyle and Beachey had grown out their hair
and Brown had cut and dyed his. Investigators would go back to
their witness, Tony, and he was able to pick all three out in a
photo lineup. Estad Beachey and Eric Brown
quickly retained lawyers when they were told that they were
(18:42):
all suspects in the murder. Byr decided the best bet to get
some answers would be to appeal to Daniel Doyle's father, who
was a retired NYPD officer, to try to get his son to confess.
Bird was saying this show New York homicide that he told
Doyle's father either Danny Doyle was going to take the fall
on his own or he would work out a cooperation agreement with the
(19:03):
District Attorney and this worked.
On November 13th, 1990 / 4 months after Julio was attacked,
the police interviewed Daniel Doyle and he agreed to a plea
deal. In exchange for his confession.
He would tell investigators thatafter the other guests had left
at an informal gathering at his house, he is stat Beachy and
(19:24):
Eric Brown decided to go out anddo some damage.
He obtained a claw hammer, pipe wrench and a knife from his
father's toolbox and distributedthem among the group.
They went out to 34th Ave. before heading to PS69.
There they saw Julio standing inthe area.
Doyle would tell investigators that he told Brown to approach
(19:44):
Julio and offer an exchange of sex for drugs.
Julio walked away with Brown into an isolated area and that's
when Beachey and Doyle approached them from out of the
darkness to start their attack. I'm going to give a trigger
warning here because what happened to Julio was just
horrific. Beachey struck Julio in the head
with a glass bottle and they began attacking him with their
(20:07):
fists. Beachey would pull out a hammer
and start striking him. With that, Brown pulled out the
pipe wrench and hit Julio in theface repeatedly.
And Doyle would admit to being the one to ultimately stab Julio
in the back, which would be the ultimate cause of death for
Julio Doyle. While he confessed, his actions
would not provide a motive. During that confession, Bird
(20:29):
kept working on Doyle, talking with him, and he would
eventually confess that the motive behind the murder was
just hatred of the gay community.
The DA offered him a plea deal of dropping his charges from
murder to manslaughter for his testimony at trial against his
Co conspirators, which he accepted.
Prior to this case, no one had ever been tried and convicted of
(20:50):
a true hate crime in New York State, so this was an important
case in New York's legal history.
The trial took place over several weeks and after three
days of deliberations the three were found guilty.
Peggy Fiore, Julio's sister-in-law, would describe
how difficult it was to hear this testimony and what truly
had been done to Julio. This was the first time the
(21:12):
family had heard the full scale viciousness of the crime
committed. Beachey and Brown were convicted
of second degree murder and faced life sentences with parole
no sooner than 15 years. Doyle pled guilty to 1st degree
manslaughter as part of that plea deal and was sentenced to
25 years in jail but could receive parole in as soon as
eight and a third years. The community had won and Matt
(21:35):
Forman, the director of the AntiViolence Project called
convictions on monumental relief.
Friends and family would March again on the night the
convictions were handed out to celebrate the tremendous victory
that they had won. Peggy Fiore would stay on the
show. New York homicide quote.
Julio's murder brought to the forefront the violence against
homosexuals in our community andour nation.
(21:57):
It was astounding and it broughtmore stories to the surface.
It allowed the police to take itmore seriously.
There was a tremendous impact. NYPD would even open a unit
specifically trained to deal with the crimes against the
LGBTQ community. In 1992, in the aftermath of
Julio's murder, Queens City Councilman Daniel Drum would
(22:20):
organize the first Queen's PrideParade as a way to combat the
negative spotlight that was being cast on the LGBTQ
community at the time. There was a vicious fight going
on amidst the District 24 Schoolboard election, and one of the
topics under fire was the Children of the Rainbow
curriculum, which was meant to spark the discussion of
diversity within families because the teachers were
(22:42):
actively acknowledging that children in their classes may
have families that consist of gay and lesbian partners.
There was a lot of propaganda that was being handed out by
people against the curriculum calling members of the gay and
lesbian community pedophiles, and we're going as far as a
handout gay porn falsely claiming that it was part of the
(23:03):
school's curriculum. The first Queen's Gay Pride
parade took place in 1992. It has since taken place in
early June every year and there are 10s of thousands of people
that attend. Organizations are also founded
in the Queen's neighborhoods to provide vital services,
including community Centers for youth groups, seniors, and
electoral political groups. On July 2nd, 2012, the City of
(23:27):
New York honored Julio by officially naming 37th Ave. and
78th St. Julio Rivera Corner.
Unfortunately, the convictions of Eric Brown and the Stat
Beachy would end up being overturned by the Appellate
Division due to a procedural error on the presiding judge's
behalf. Eric Brown, though, would end up
pleading guilty to charges of manslaughter In May of 1996.
(23:48):
The day after his guilty plea, Estat Beachy, who had been freed
on $350,000 bond and was awaiting a second trial,
disappeared. A manhunt ensued for the next
six years, but Estat Beachy would end up being shot to death
in Tijuana, Mexico on an apparent drug related assault.
On October 2nd, 2002, both Eric Brown and Daniel Doyle completed
(24:12):
their sentences and were released.
The brutal murder of Julio Rivera sparked a lot of change,
but there are still so many vicious attacks against members
of the LGBTQ community occurringto this day across the nation
and across the world. According to the ACLU, there are
currently 515 bills within Congress that are anti LGBTQ
(24:34):
that are meant to infringe on the rights and protections of
the LGBTQ community. Some of these bills are for
forced outings in schools and others impact important access
to healthcare, which can be devastating if passed.
I'm thankful to live in a progressive state like New York
that works to protect the rightsof its citizens.
In fact, this past April, New York passed a bill to broaden
(24:55):
the scope of what could be prosecuted as a hate crime
sparked by a dramatic increase in bias motivated crimes after
the October 2023 attack in Israel.
The spike included attacks that were anti Muslim, anti LGBTQ and
anti-Semitic in motive. There is still so much work to
do as a nation to protect the rights of all of our citizens.
(25:17):
And it's it's difficult to see anation so divided.
And I know I got on the political side last episode, but
again, I just really want to hone in how important it is to
be an active member of the democracy and to use your voice.
If you're a voting age, use yourvoice and vote.
We talked about the Anti violence program in this episode
(25:39):
and they are very much still around and have grown and now
run the National Coalition of Anti Violence Programs.
The National Coalition of Anti Violence Programs works to
prevent, respond to, and end allforms of violence against and
within LGBTQ communities. There are National Coalition of
local member programs, affiliateorganizations and individual
(26:01):
affiliates who create systematicand social change.
They can help connect you with services and resources in your
area. If you are dealing with issues
or concerns of violence in your community or are interested in
supporting their effort, you cancheck out the website avp.org or
(26:23):
you can call or text the number 212-714-1141.
I'm going to wrap up today's episode and put in a quick plug
that in addition to following the show on your podcast
platform of choice, you can alsofollow us on social media.
We have pages on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
All source material for this episode with some additional
(26:44):
supplemental material can be found on the show's website,
www.nydarkseidpodcast.com. If you want to get in touch with
me, you can always reach out to me at New York Darkside Podcast
at gmailcom. I hope you join me for the next
episode and I'm wishing you all a great week ahead.
And I hope you stay curious.
On July 2nd, 1990, Jackson Heights resident Alan Sack had
stopped while walking home to speak with a friend after
parting ways with his life partner Julio Rivera about 20
minutes earlier near Public School 69 on 78th St. when they
were approached by a panicked man yelling that a man was being
murdered in a nearby schoolyard.The group started running in the
(00:23):
direction of the schoolyard and what they would find would alter
not only the lives of the group,but would lead to the first
prosecutions and convictions fora hate crime in New York State
and spur a flurry of pro LGBTQ changes across the state and
nation. I'm Amanda Morgan, and this is
New York's dark side. Today I'm bringing you the story
(01:10):
of the brutal slaying of Julio Rivera, a 29 year old bartender
who loved life and was a vibrantmember of the Jackson Heights
community. His death would unite the
community to fight against the LAX investigation being done by
law enforcement. This story is about far more
than Julio's death. It's about the legacy of unity
(01:31):
that was sparked by the event and the need for continued
fighting for the protections of all human rights.
Let's dive in. Julio Rivera was born in the
Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. He would actually end up
quitting school due to the amount of harassment that he was
enduring due to his sexuality. He was described as being true
to himself and wanting to share his life with others.
(01:53):
Julio was an incredibly handsomeman.
His sister-in-law, Peggy would describe him as a good looking
Freddie Mercury, which I have tosay I definitely see the
resemblance. I I get it.
I've posted pictures of him on our web page for this episode
and on social media. Julio would move to the Queen's
neighborhood of Jackson Heights,one of the most culturally
(02:13):
diverse neighborhoods in the country.
After discovering the gay community there and trying to
avoid the violence occurring in the Bronx, Jackson Heights
started to become a community where a larger population of
LGBTQ chose to reside due to theaffordability of the
neighborhood and its access to the Seven train.
While the community was largely Caucasian, in the documentary
(02:34):
Julio of Jackson Heights, some of the residents would speak
that the gay community was largely accepted within the
neighborhood because they reallydidn't draw attention to
themselves and no one really ever talked about it.
They were within the community and active members working in
various capacities and in leadership positions.
Julio, as I mentioned, worked asa bartender at one of the many
(02:56):
gay bars in the area. Julio's family spoke highly of
him. In the documentary film Julio of
Jackson Heights, It was clear that while he had moved away
from the Bronx neighborhood, he still retained a close
relationship with them. Julio's father had died while he
was young, and unfortunately, Julio would also witness the
death of his mother. In the documentary I've
mentioned, Julio's brother Ted talks about how their mother
(03:18):
used to tease Julio, basically telling him that he wouldn't be
around when she died because he didn't come around as often as
she would like to visit. That would prove not to be true
because on the day she died, Julio was in the cab with her
attempting to get her to a hospital as she was having
difficulty breathing. She suffered from chronic
asthma, and unfortunately she would pass away in the cab with
(03:39):
Julio before they reached the hospital.
Julio's family would also describe the awareness of the
dangers that Julio was in due tohis sexuality.
His brother Ted described how one night Julio had called him
asking for him to come pick him up.
Ted would go on to say that he knew something was wrong because
it was very out of character forJulio to ask for help with
(03:59):
anything. He arrived at the address Julio
had asked him to come to and noted that the police were there
as well. When he went up to the door, he
said an older man named Harold was there and was enraged to the
point where he was basically foaming at the mouth.
There had clearly been some typeof altercation as there were
paintings that had been ripped and furniture was in disarray.
(04:21):
While Julio never really talked about what happened, Ted said it
was clear to him that Harold, whose last name was never given,
was connected to the mob and that Harold had asked Julio to
do something with another man who was there, and when Julio
refused, that set Harold off, leading to the altercation.
Ted and Julio, though, were ableto leave the area with no
(04:42):
issues. Julio had an active social life
and he was very proud of his family for their acceptance of
him and his partners. One of his former boyfriends
named Dennis also spoke on the documentary about Julio and how
they met. Dennis was dancing at one of the
bars and Julio approached him, discussing his appreciation for
Dennis's ability to dance. For Dennis, it was love at first
(05:03):
sight and he was surprised that someone like Julio would take an
interest in him. They dated for quite a while,
but Dennis would end up leaving Julio after it became obvious to
him that Julio was choosing drugs over him.
He describes one night when theywere out and Julio had started
to go into a bathroom with someone to use.
Dennis tried to stop him from going, but Julio told him to go
(05:24):
home and that he would see him in a little while for dinner.
Julio didn't make it home for dinner that night, and it was
about a month before he actuallydid come home.
Another one of Julio's lovers was named Alan Sack, and he
would speak on the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights as
well. He described how one day he
called the bar that Julio was working at at about 3:45 in the
morning asking to speak with Julio.
(05:46):
When Julio got on the phone and Alan told him who he was, Julio
responded White Russian, which was a drink that Alan frequently
ordered. Alan invited Julio to go with
him later that morning down to Jones Beach and told him that he
was heading to the store to get supplies to take with them.
Julio was extremely excited about the invitation and he also
showed up at Alan's house at about 6:30 with several bags of
(06:09):
food, soda and beer to take withhim on the trip because Julio
would never accept an invitationwithout bringing something
along. So they really had double of
what they needed because Alan had already gone to the store.
In the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights, residents of
the Jackson Heights community noted that the neighborhood
really started to become more violent, especially towards the
members that were suspected of being gay or lesbian.
(06:31):
People would walk around the neighborhoods with baseball bats
and pipe wrenches. Items like glass bottles would
be hurled out of cars in their direction.
These assaults were not typically reported to the police
because there was very real concern that police wouldn't do
anything about it anyway, so whybother?
There were at least six murders that occurred in Jackson Heights
(06:52):
prior to Julio's death that had basically been swept under the
rug and residents didn't recall them occurring because they
weren't really publicized. On July 2nd, 1990, Julio was out
with his close friends and life partner Alan.
When Alan was ready to head home, Julio after the stay out
for a bit so they separated fromeach other near Public School 69
(07:14):
on 78th St. A witness named Helen would
speak on the documentary Julio of Jackson Heights and said that
around midnight she heard a man desperately calling for help and
praying to Jesus. She went to her window and
looked out and saw a young man walking through the schoolyard
towards 78th St. and watched himwalk about 1/2 a block and
disappear around the corner. Alan was still in the area and
(07:37):
he would interview on both the documentary and then on the show
New York Homicide. While his story varies a little
bit between the two, he would say that on his way home he had
bumped into a friend and began aconversation with them.
After conversing with his friendfor about 5 minutes, a man came
running towards them screaming that they were killing someone
(07:58):
in the schoolyard. They ran towards the schoolyard
and Alan said that he was concerned that the attacked man
might have been another friend of theirs named Brian, but he
never considered for his life that it would be Julio.
When he saw Julio coming towardshim covered in blood, he noticed
he had been brutally beaten and was on the verge of passing out.
Alan grabbed him and tried to reassure him that he would be
(08:20):
OK. While cradling him in the
schoolyard, Alan asked him if heknew who attacked him, but Julio
shook his head no. First responders would arrive to
the scene shortly after and rushed Julio to Elmhurst
Hospital. At the hospital, doctors and
nurses sprung to work to try to save him.
Initially, they let Alan stay inthe room with him, urging him to
(08:43):
hold his hand and talk to Julio while they worked.
They would eventually ask him toleave the room for a bit while
they continued to work. After about 10 minutes, a doctor
came out to speak with Alan and told him that Julio was either
going to have permanent brain damage or be paralyzed due to
his injuries, if he even survived the night.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts of medical personnel,
(09:06):
Julio would pass away from his injuries.
He was only 29. Alan was left to deliver the
horrible news of what happened to Julio to his family.
Julio's brother Ted would describe how police showed him
photos of Julio in the extent ofhis injuries, which was
extremely traumatizing for him and he couldn't have imagined
actually seeing Julio's injuriesin person.
(09:28):
NYPD's Precinct 115 would be dispatched to the scene to
process it for evidence. There was a large amount of
blood in a smashed glass bottle,indicating that a fight had
occurred. Despite canvassing the scene,
there were no witnesses that came forward initially.
Now I did mention a witness spoke on the documentary, but I
(09:49):
truly don't know if or when she spoke with police, only that she
interviewed on the documentary. The area around Public School 69
was well known to law enforcement for being an area
where transactions for drugs andsex work would take place.
Julio's autopsy came back later that day.
The medical examiner had noted multiple facial injuries and
(10:09):
severe head trauma. Some of the wounds indicated
that they were done with a claw hammer.
There was also a fatal stab wound on his back that had
punctured his lung. The autopsy also indicated that
Julio had cocaine in his system.Allen would later be visited by
detectives from Precinct 115 whocame to his home.
(10:29):
He described that they were for the most part respectful to him,
with the exception of one officer who had made derogatory
comments about Julio. Due to the positive results for
cocaine, law enforcement felt that it was likely a drug
related crime. When checking in on the case,
people were told not to worry about it, that this was a
limited event, meaning that there was no danger to the
(10:50):
community, and that this was likely the result of a trick
that had gone bad. Julio's friends and family did
not believe that this was the case, even though they tried to
dispute this with law enforcement.
Law enforcement maintained that their stance on this was likely
a drug related incident. A week after Julio's murder,
there was only one detective assigned to Julio's case.
(11:11):
Allen described on the documentary going down to the
precinct to try to get an update, and he was told that the
detective was on vacation and that no one else was looking
into the case in his absence. This was incredibly frustrating
to him, and rightfully so. Allen was thankfully not going
to let law enforcement be so quick to push this crime off as
something that he knew that it wasn't.
(11:33):
He continued to visit the precinct twice a week, every
week, and he would regularly call for updates as well, but he
was continuously pushed off by law enforcement.
In the documentary, Alan described many of his friends
urging him to just let it go andto not continue to pursue
pressuring the police, but he couldn't stop.
Even Julio's brother Ted spoke in the documentary about his own
(11:55):
hesitation about getting involved in the fight for
answers. But his wife, Peggy, pressured
him into continuing to show up for not just Julio, but for the
rights of justice for the gay community.
The owner of one of the gay barsin Jackson Heights, the Magic
Touch, discovered an article about the Anti Violence Project
in a magazine. The Anti Violence Project was
(12:15):
the only organization in the city that was focused on trying
to get justice for crimes against the LGBTQ community, and
he reached out to them, getting their executive director, Matt
Foreman in touch with Alan. The organization had been
monitoring the increasing crimesagainst the LGBTQ community.
In the episode covering Julio Rivera's murder on New York
(12:37):
homicide, the former executive director of the Anti Violence
Project, Matt Forman, said that the summer that Julio was
killed, there had been a 13 weekstretch of time that numerous
members of the gay and lesbian community had been hospitalized
due to the injuries that they had incurred being attacked in
the streets of Manhattan for their sexuality.
The AIDS crisis contributed to this due to the demonization of
(13:00):
the gay community by religious organizations and politicians
telling the masses that they were the ones spreading the
disease. Alan, along with Matt Forman
from the Anti Violence Project, set up a meeting for Julio's
family and friends at the Magic Touch to help them navigate
expressing their concerns to lawenforcement.
Matt spoke extensively with the family and with members of the
(13:21):
gay community, trying to gain anunderstanding of what their
exact concerns were with the investigation.
They shared that they had been calling law enforcement, sending
written letters, and showing up in person at the precinct to try
to get updates on the case, and they would continually not get a
response from law enforcement. This was true of other violent
crimes that were occurring in the area as well.
(13:42):
There was an extensive history of these being swept under the
rug. Matt attempted to speak with law
enforcement himself about the case, but he received very
flippant responses to the where the investigation stood.
Due to the lack of response, Matt and Alan decided to
organize a March and candlelightvigil six weeks after Julio's
murder. This was something that had not
(14:03):
been done in Queens before because the gay community had
very legitimate fears of exposing themselves and being
attacked. Mark and Alan went and spoke
with many gay organizations around the city to bring
awareness to the event. There was a lot of concern on
the day of the event that no onewould come.
The community, however, decided that they had had enough and
(14:23):
they wanted to come together forJulio and there was a huge
response to the call. On August 18th, 1990, hundreds
and hundreds of people showed upto March for Julio and denounced
the violence against the LGBTQ community, making it the first
successful LGBTQ March in Queens.
Ted spoke about how meaningful this was for his family, to have
(14:44):
such a huge crowd of people cometogether and March for Julio
because he knew how much fear there was that they would be
recognized and later attacked. Unfortunately, despite their
efforts, two more months would pass without any further updates
on the case. The community, however, was not
about to give up. They organized another March.
This time they took the March tothe doorstep of the Mayor of New
(15:07):
York City, David Dinkins. About 300 people participated.
They had painted red on their faces to signify blood, and they
stormed the mansion where a dinner event was occurring and
began to Heckle Dinkins during his speech.
This finally put enough pressureand awareness on law
enforcement, and now the community had the mayor backing
(15:28):
them. The precinct's best
investigator, George Byrd, was put on the case and he actually
committed to helping with the investigation.
He spent months talking with thegay community to gain their
trust and that work paid off because a sex worker named Tony
came forward to tell him about what he had witnessed on the
night of Julio's attack. Tony shared with him that he was
(15:49):
cruising and turning tricks in the area of Public School 69 on
the night Julio was attacked andhe saw Julio walking in the area
when he was approached by a man with longer hair.
He saw Julio speaking with the guy, but then Tony was
approached by someone and he left the area for about 15
minutes. When he came back about 15
minutes later, Tony saw three men running away from the
(16:11):
schoolyard. Two of them he described as
skinheads and the third one was the man with longer hair.
One was carrying a claw hammer in his hand and another had a
pipe wrench. All three were wearing Doc
Martin shoes. This turned out to be a very
good lead as there was a group of skinheads trying to start a
gang in the area called DMS, theDoc Martin skinheads.
(16:32):
They had even started tagging areas of the neighborhood with
their DMS sign. The skinheads like to frequent a
bar called Kennedy's. So this is where Lieutenant Bird
went next. He went undercover and started
talking to people at the bar. At the bar, he met a man called
Army Dan, who, true to his name,was dressed in fatigue style
clothing. After a couple drinks and casual
(16:53):
conversation, Army Dan discloseda bird that he might have some
information on the Rivera case and that the DMS was trying to
fight the gay community from coming into their neighborhood.
The following day, Army Dan was brought in for questioning.
They let him know that they considered him a suspect in the
case, which got him to crack andhe disclosed the name of three
people that he said were involved with Rivera's murder.
(17:17):
He would tell them that there was a party at a fellow DMS
members home and at the end of the party three of the attendees
decided to go out and do something for DMS.
Those three people were 20 year old Daniel Doyle, who was the
son of a former NYPD detective, 18 year old Estate Beachy and 21
year old Eric Brown. They were described in one
(17:37):
article as being an unlikely group.
Doyle was an aspiring lawyer with a prep school background
and was attending Union College in Schenectady, NY, where he had
high grades and was studying law.
Eric Brown was attending the Arts Students League in
Manhattan. His father was a recently
retired electrical engineer. I got conflicting information
about a stat Beachy. The New York homicide episode
(18:00):
described Beachey as being an honor student in high school,
but another source said that he was a high school dropout and
had a troubled family background, including drug
trafficking by his father and the murder of his mother at his
father's hands when he was seven.
All three are brought in for questioning, and even though
they're all questioned individually, they all stick to
the same story. Doyle and Beachey were the two
(18:22):
described skinheads at the time of Julio's murder, and Brown was
the man with long hair. By the time they were
questioned, though, Doyle and Beachey had grown out their hair
and Brown had cut and dyed his. Investigators would go back to
their witness, Tony, and he was able to pick all three out in a
photo lineup. Estad Beachey and Eric Brown
quickly retained lawyers when they were told that they were
(18:42):
all suspects in the murder. Byr decided the best bet to get
some answers would be to appeal to Daniel Doyle's father, who
was a retired NYPD officer, to try to get his son to confess.
Bird was saying this show New York homicide that he told
Doyle's father either Danny Doyle was going to take the fall
on his own or he would work out a cooperation agreement with the
(19:03):
District Attorney and this worked.
On November 13th, 1990 / 4 months after Julio was attacked,
the police interviewed Daniel Doyle and he agreed to a plea
deal. In exchange for his confession.
He would tell investigators thatafter the other guests had left
at an informal gathering at his house, he is stat Beachy and
(19:24):
Eric Brown decided to go out anddo some damage.
He obtained a claw hammer, pipe wrench and a knife from his
father's toolbox and distributedthem among the group.
They went out to 34th Ave. before heading to PS69.
There they saw Julio standing inthe area.
Doyle would tell investigators that he told Brown to approach
(19:44):
Julio and offer an exchange of sex for drugs.
Julio walked away with Brown into an isolated area and that's
when Beachey and Doyle approached them from out of the
darkness to start their attack. I'm going to give a trigger
warning here because what happened to Julio was just
horrific. Beachey struck Julio in the head
with a glass bottle and they began attacking him with their
(20:07):
fists. Beachey would pull out a hammer
and start striking him. With that, Brown pulled out the
pipe wrench and hit Julio in theface repeatedly.
And Doyle would admit to being the one to ultimately stab Julio
in the back, which would be the ultimate cause of death for
Julio Doyle. While he confessed, his actions
would not provide a motive. During that confession, Bird
(20:29):
kept working on Doyle, talking with him, and he would
eventually confess that the motive behind the murder was
just hatred of the gay community.
The DA offered him a plea deal of dropping his charges from
murder to manslaughter for his testimony at trial against his
Co conspirators, which he accepted.
Prior to this case, no one had ever been tried and convicted of
(20:50):
a true hate crime in New York State, so this was an important
case in New York's legal history.
The trial took place over several weeks and after three
days of deliberations the three were found guilty.
Peggy Fiore, Julio's sister-in-law, would describe
how difficult it was to hear this testimony and what truly
had been done to Julio. This was the first time the
(21:12):
family had heard the full scale viciousness of the crime
committed. Beachey and Brown were convicted
of second degree murder and faced life sentences with parole
no sooner than 15 years. Doyle pled guilty to 1st degree
manslaughter as part of that plea deal and was sentenced to
25 years in jail but could receive parole in as soon as
eight and a third years. The community had won and Matt
(21:35):
Forman, the director of the AntiViolence Project called
convictions on monumental relief.
Friends and family would March again on the night the
convictions were handed out to celebrate the tremendous victory
that they had won. Peggy Fiore would stay on the
show. New York homicide quote.
Julio's murder brought to the forefront the violence against
homosexuals in our community andour nation.
(21:57):
It was astounding and it broughtmore stories to the surface.
It allowed the police to take itmore seriously.
There was a tremendous impact. NYPD would even open a unit
specifically trained to deal with the crimes against the
LGBTQ community. In 1992, in the aftermath of
Julio's murder, Queens City Councilman Daniel Drum would
(22:20):
organize the first Queen's PrideParade as a way to combat the
negative spotlight that was being cast on the LGBTQ
community at the time. There was a vicious fight going
on amidst the District 24 Schoolboard election, and one of the
topics under fire was the Children of the Rainbow
curriculum, which was meant to spark the discussion of
diversity within families because the teachers were
(22:42):
actively acknowledging that children in their classes may
have families that consist of gay and lesbian partners.
There was a lot of propaganda that was being handed out by
people against the curriculum calling members of the gay and
lesbian community pedophiles, and we're going as far as a
handout gay porn falsely claiming that it was part of the
(23:03):
school's curriculum. The first Queen's Gay Pride
parade took place in 1992. It has since taken place in
early June every year and there are 10s of thousands of people
that attend. Organizations are also founded
in the Queen's neighborhoods to provide vital services,
including community Centers for youth groups, seniors, and
electoral political groups. On July 2nd, 2012, the City of
(23:27):
New York honored Julio by officially naming 37th Ave. and
78th St. Julio Rivera Corner.
Unfortunately, the convictions of Eric Brown and the Stat
Beachy would end up being overturned by the Appellate
Division due to a procedural error on the presiding judge's
behalf. Eric Brown, though, would end up
pleading guilty to charges of manslaughter In May of 1996.
(23:48):
The day after his guilty plea, Estat Beachy, who had been freed
on $350,000 bond and was awaiting a second trial,
disappeared. A manhunt ensued for the next
six years, but Estat Beachy would end up being shot to death
in Tijuana, Mexico on an apparent drug related assault.
On October 2nd, 2002, both Eric Brown and Daniel Doyle completed
(24:12):
their sentences and were released.
The brutal murder of Julio Rivera sparked a lot of change,
but there are still so many vicious attacks against members
of the LGBTQ community occurringto this day across the nation
and across the world. According to the ACLU, there are
currently 515 bills within Congress that are anti LGBTQ
(24:34):
that are meant to infringe on the rights and protections of
the LGBTQ community. Some of these bills are for
forced outings in schools and others impact important access
to healthcare, which can be devastating if passed.
I'm thankful to live in a progressive state like New York
that works to protect the rightsof its citizens.
In fact, this past April, New York passed a bill to broaden
(24:55):
the scope of what could be prosecuted as a hate crime
sparked by a dramatic increase in bias motivated crimes after
the October 2023 attack in Israel.
The spike included attacks that were anti Muslim, anti LGBTQ and
anti-Semitic in motive. There is still so much work to
do as a nation to protect the rights of all of our citizens.
(25:17):
And it's it's difficult to see anation so divided.
And I know I got on the political side last episode, but
again, I just really want to hone in how important it is to
be an active member of the democracy and to use your voice.
If you're a voting age, use yourvoice and vote.
We talked about the Anti violence program in this episode
(25:39):
and they are very much still around and have grown and now
run the National Coalition of Anti Violence Programs.
The National Coalition of Anti Violence Programs works to
prevent, respond to, and end allforms of violence against and
within LGBTQ communities. There are National Coalition of
local member programs, affiliateorganizations and individual
(26:01):
affiliates who create systematicand social change.
They can help connect you with services and resources in your
area. If you are dealing with issues
or concerns of violence in your community or are interested in
supporting their effort, you cancheck out the website avp.org or
(26:23):
you can call or text the number 212-714-1141.
I'm going to wrap up today's episode and put in a quick plug
that in addition to following the show on your podcast
platform of choice, you can alsofollow us on social media.
We have pages on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
All source material for this episode with some additional
(26:44):
supplemental material can be found on the show's website,
www.nydarkseidpodcast.com. If you want to get in touch with
me, you can always reach out to me at New York Darkside Podcast
at gmailcom. I hope you join me for the next
episode and I'm wishing you all a great week ahead.
And I hope you stay curious.
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