All language subtitles for Episode 01 Fritz Honka

On the 21st of December, 1978,

police in Chicago
were desperately trying

to locate a missing teenager

and had begun searching the home

of a local maintenance
contractor.

When they executed
that search warrant,

they went in the crawl space,
and the very first shovel

that they dug,
they found human remains.

The man they had in custody,

36yearold John Wayne Gacy,

was a popular socialite
who spent his weekends

dressed as a clown
entertaining children.

At one point, chillingly,
he says to the detectives,

"You know, clowns can
get away with murder."

Well, never was
a truer word said.

In total, Gacy the killer clown

had tortured and killed
33 young men

over a 5year period.

27 of the bodies were buried
right beneath his own home.

Using other human beings,

you know, inflicting pain
and suffering and torture

on another helpless human being,

to me, is the essence of evil.

The remorseless John Wayne Gacy
had proved himself

to be one of the world's
most evil killers.

Over the course of six years,

John Wayne Gacy
kidnapped, tortured,

and brutally murdered
33 young men and boys

in and around Chicago, Illinois.

It was one of the most
shocking sets of crimes

in American history.

The bodies of 27
of Gacy's victims

were buried directly below
the house he lived in.

But this killer's story
starts almost 40 years before.

John Wayne Gacy
was born in Chicago, Illinois,

on the 17th of March 1942.

The second of three children,
Gacy had a difficult upbringing.

His father was an alcoholic
who was reportedly both mentally

and physically abusive to
his children and their mother.

His father spent apparently
all of Gacy's childhood

demeaning him
and physically punishing him

and telling him how stupid
and worthless

and effeminate he was.

Gacy's childhood friend,
Barry Boschelli,

remembers the physical abuse
he suffered

at the hands of his father.

If Johnny was two minutes late,
no food.

So a lot of times,
Johnny ate at our house

and stayed at
our house overnight.

He used to take Johnny

when he was sitting
at the kitchen table,

and he would take his fists
and hit Johnny in the face.

The father is a very
significant figure

in the genesis
of Gacy's terrible deeds.

For to my mind, Gacy was always
trying to satisfy his father,

whom he never could.

He was beaten repeatedly
by his father

with belts, with brooms.

At one stage, he was
knocked out by him.

These people grow up
with such a malignant view

of the world
and of human relationships,

feeling that human relationships
are not based on love

and trust and respect,

you know, that they're all based
on exploitation and cruelty

and inflicting pain.

Gacy was a sickly child.

He suffered from
a heart condition,

limiting his involvement
in sports activities

and consequently, alienating
him from his peers.

Aged 11, an accident
in a playground

led to his teenage years

being blighted by blackouts
and hospital visits.

At that time, the swings
were wooded base swings

with heavy chains coming down.

Johnny went to grab it,

and the swing clipped him
right across the forehead

and knocked him to the ground.

By 1966, 24yearold Gacy
was married

and had relocated
to the city of Waterloo,

300 miles west of Chicago

in the neighboring state
of Iowa.

Well, Gacy got married,
and life from the outside

appeared to be
relatively normal.

He had quite a good job.

His wife had two children.

So they appeared to be

the typical, cerealbox,
American nuclear family.

And Gacy wasn't just
a regular family man.

He was also quite active in
the local Chamber of Commerce,

and he played
quite an active role.

And he was a real figure
in the local community.

Gacy had started to build
the perfect life for himself,

but he was concealing
a dark secret.

He developed an unhealthy
sexual interest in young boys.

It was a son
of a fellow J.C. member

who he lured back to his home,
and he sexually assaulted.

So he's abusing power.

He's getting into
these positions of trust,

and he's taking advantage.

That's a theme that's
gonna continue for him.

And then when the kid

revealed this to his father,

and Gacy was arrested for it,

Gacy hired another teenager
to intimidate this kid,

to lure this kid
into some remote place

and spray mace in his eyes
and beat him up

and warn him against
testifying in Gacy's case.

Despite Gacy's efforts
his victim still testified,

but there wasn't conclusive
proof of an attack.

Therefore, police were
only able to charge him

with sodomy of
the 15yearold boy.

He pleaded guilty
to one count of sodomy

thinking he would get
a very, very minimal sentence,

but the judge threw
the book at him,

and he was sentenced
to 10 years in prison.

On the 3rd of December 1968,

Gacy was sent to
Anamosa State Penitentiary.

Whilst in jail,
Gacy's wife divorced him.

A further blow was dealt
when his father died,

and he was denied permission
to attend the funeral.

Given the perfect nature
of Gacy's ability

to groom whomever
he came into contact with,

within a matter of months,

Gacy had become head cook
at the prison,

had convinced the staff that
he was absolutely ideal person.

What's more, then convinced
the parole board

that he was no danger
to anybody,

and so served barely 18 months

of the 10 years
of his original sentence.

In June 1970, now age 28,

John Wayne Gacy was
released from prison

and returned home to Chicago.

His friends, family,
and neighbors

were entirely unaware
of what had taken place

while he'd been living
over 300 miles away in Iowa.

His background was not
looked into in any way,

I think partly because he didn't
go into any line of work

in which any kind of background
check would've been necessary.

You know, he began
his own business.

I mean, none of his acquaintance
was even remotely aware

of his criminal background.

In June 1972, Gacy got married
for a second time,

and he and his new bride
set up home

in the Chicago suburbs

at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue,

a house that would
eventually become

one of the most infamous
addresses in America.

Six years later,
in December 1978,

10 miles from Gacy's house,

15yearold Des Plaines resident
Rob Piest

was reported missing
by his mother.

Detectives Mike Albrecht
and Dave Hachmeister

began to investigate
the teen's disappearance.

Rob Piest was, like,
a stellar kid.

I mean, he was the kind of kid
that anyone would want as a son.

Never been in trouble.

Never had any inclination
to run away.

He was a good student.

Very, very much out of character
that he would turn up missing.

So, that caught
our attention, obviously.

At that time,
in the late '70s,

there was a lot of stuff going
on with the hippie movement,

all that kind of stuff.

But he made a determination
very quickly

that this was not
a normal "runaway."

Didn't have any
girlfriend problems.

Was not involved in drugs
or anything like that.

Just an allAmerican good kid.

At the time
of his disappearance,

Piest was working at
a pharmacy in Des Plaines.

So he had told an employee
and actually his mother

that he was gonna go talk
to a contractor about a job.

And he then went out
the back door,

and he was not seen
any time thereafter.

Rob Piest seemed
to have just vanished

off the face of the earth.

The two detectives
desperately needed

to track down the contractor

who was probably
the last person to see him.

Their search would lead them
to the door of a 36yearold man

by the name of John Wayne Gacy.

He'd divorced his second wife
two years previously

and was now running
a successful business

called P.D.M. Contractors.

Gacy would often
employ young men,

one of whom was Tony Antonucci.

At the time when I met him,
I was about 16 years old.

And, of course, like a lot
of 16yearolds,

I wanted to get a job so
I could afford to have my car.

My first impressions were that
he was basically a likable guy.

Kind of jovial.
Liked to joke around.

You know, appeared very normal.

Gacy seemed in many ways
like the perfect boss.

Sometimes at 3:00
in the afternoon,

John would say,
"Hey, it's a nice day out.

Let's knock off early
and have some fun

or do something,"
all normal stuff,

you know, just kind of
You didn't expect your boss

to be the one
that wanted to knock off early.

Another young man
who'd come looking for a job

was 15yearold Rob Piest,

but he hadn't been seen
since meeting with Gacy

at the pharmacy where he worked.

Detectives David Hachmeister
and Mike Albrecht

were investigating.

We ran a records check on him,
and as it turns out,

he had a fairly
lengthy background.

He had spent some time
in Iowa for sodomy,

and so it was sexual crimes,
basically, against children.

Concerned by Gacy's
criminal record,

the police obtained a warrant
to search his home.

The warrant consisted
of three facts.

The first fact is that
John Wayne Gacy, in fact,

was at the pharmacy the night
Rob Piest went missing.

And, fact two, that Rob Piest
had told people

that he was going to see
a contractor regarding a job.

And, fact three,
his criminal background.

So on those three facts,

they were able to obtain
a search warrant.

On the 13th of December 1978,

police conducted their first
search of Gacy's home

finding a number
of suspicious items.

They recovered various
items of pornography.

They recovered some books

that were titled
"Pretty Boys Must Die."

They also recovered driver's
licenses of other young people,

and they did a check
on those driver's licenses.

It was determined that those
kids were also reported missing.

Initially, we're hoping to
find Rob Piest alive someplace.

And it didn't take long
to realize

that probably was not
gonna happen.

Another item recovered
was a highschool ring

which had belonged to missing
19yearold John Szyc,

last seen in January 1977.

Further investigation discovered

that two of Gacy's employees
had been reported missing

17yearold John Butkovich,
last seen in July 1975,

and Gregory Godzik,
also 17 years old,

missing since December 1976.

It was an evolution
as we went along.

I think, you know, it was after
that search warrant,

we're pretty confident there
is at least five or six victims

that were associated with Gacy
that haven't been seen.

But with no evidence
or bodies,

the police could not
make an arrest.

They decided to begin
surveillance on Gacy.

We just said,
"Wherever you go, we're going."

If Gacy went into
a public place,

we were gonna follow him in
and see what he was up to.

Throughout this
overt surveillance,

we became fairly friendly
with John Wayne Gacy.

He knew we were following him.

He tried to be cordial with us.

In fact, he initiated
conversations with us.

He'd play games
with the police.

He'd go up to their car and say,

"Hi. Do you guys want
some marijuana?"

or just something
stupid like that.

He goes into Moose Lodge,

and Mike and I,
my partner and I said,

"We're gonna go in
right along with Gacy,

but we'll sit
at a different table."

All of a sudden,
the waitress comes over

with a couple of beers

and places the beers
in front of us

and says, "It's on
that gentleman over there."

We look over at John,
and John gives us the "Hi" sign.

And we wave back.

Very confident, cocky.

Kept on bragging
about all property

and how much
of a businessman he was

and how well connected he was.

John Wayne Gacy had
a psychopathic personality.

So he really does seek out
power, and he seeks out control,

and he likes playing
with people.

He's a bit of a puppet master.

And I think that was
driving his behavior.

Everyone that we talked to
just loved John Wayne Gacy.

His neighbors, his coworkers,
all of his associates,

they loved the guy.
And we could see that.

I mean, the way he was
interacting with us

was basically the same.

And my partner and I would
have to on many occasions

remind one another,
"Hey, listen.

This guy is dangerous."

Gacy was considered
an upstanding, key member

of his small community.

He was popular
and involved in politics.

At weekends, he would even
dress as a clown

and perform
for children at parties

and at local hospitals.

The fact that Gacy had
this other persona

as Pogo the Clown

Professional clowns
usually, you know,

will paint their smiles

with sort of gentle, circular
things around their lips.

Gacy's smile looks
like bat wings.

There's just something
horrifically sinister

and monstrous

about this figure of Pogo.

Just an element that raises Gacy
to the level

of a kind of mythic
American monster.

At one point, chillingly,
he says to the detectives,

"You know, clowns
can get away with murder."

Well, never was
a truer word said.

But it took some time

for those detectives
to fully comprehend

that here was a man
who was capable of murder

and more than one.

As Mike and Dave continued
with their surveillance,

detectives back at the station

were trying to get
another warrant

to search Gacy's house.

They'd received some
disturbing new evidence

while questioning
his colleagues.

They were young kids,
you know, 17, 18, 19 years old.

And at times he, Gacy,
had ordered this young kids

to go down into his crawl space
of his home and dig trenches.

And he had told them
that there was a sewage issue

and that he needed
the trenches dug

so he could alleviate
that situation.

But they said that it
happened several times

and that there was
an odor down there

that was just unbelievable.

So now we're starting to
believe, hey, is that possible?

I know it sounds crazy,
but is it possible

he could've buried someone
in the crawl space?

He gets other people
unwittingly involved

in his offending,

and they don't know anything
of what's going on.

I think that's what
gets him gratification

the fact that he has such power
over other people

that they're not joining
the dots together

and that he's able
to hide in plain sight.

Mike and Dave continued to
follow the popular contractor,

but they had a plan
to force Gacy's hand.

We were on the surveillance
for about seven days.

And as the surveillance
progressed, what we found out

was that he had
this huge core support

of friends and family
and coworkers and such,

and that that is really
what was the barrier

between us and Gacy.

So we developed a plan
for the investigators

to put some pressure

on all these people
that were supporting him,

and slowly, they started
peeling back from Gacy.

And we were feeding
Gacy information

that there's possibly looking to
execute a second search warrant.

He became more
and more desperate.

And the last day,

it was about midnight
or 1:00 in the morning,

he contacted his attorneys

and met his attorneys
in their office in Park Ridge.

At that point,
Mike and I are outside,

and we see the attorneys
waving us into the building.

It was very uncharacteristic
of the attorneys to do this.

First thing they were telling
us, though, is to park your cars

in front of Gacy's
and don't let him out.

If he tries to move,
shoot his tires out.

You know, what's going on here?

It was very obvious to us
that the attorneys

were absolutely scared
to death, petrified.

They're pacing up and down.

They won't take their eyes
off of Gacy.

And that pretty much
solidified the fact to us

that he had confessed
to his attorneys

about at least
a couple, three murders.

Dave and Mike knew that Gacy
was beginning to buckle.

They continued to trail him as
he left his attorneys' office.

So we followed Gacy, and Gacy
is driving like a madman.

And he drives
to the Shell gas station

where he did
all of his business.

He goes in,

and we see a transaction
happen in the gas station.

Was very emotional, shaking
his hand almost on the side,

hugging, that kind of thing.

And this was a lot of contact
for Gacy.

So when Gacy comes back out,
jumps in his car, and takes off,

I go back in the gas station.

And when I go in there,

they throw a couple of bags
of marijuana at me,

the employees,
and they say, "Hey, listen.

We didn't buy this.
We didn't ask for it.

Gacy just gave it to us."

As Gacy's behavior
grew more and more erratic,

the two detectives at least now
had a reason to apprehend him.

We make a decision
at that point

to arrest him
for the drug transaction

that happened
at the Shell gas station.

So we cut off the car,
pull Gacy out of the car,

and arrest him
for the drug transaction.

Devon and Milwaukee.

This was Gacy's final location
of freedom.

That's it.

He was never free
from this point on.

Grabbed him out of the car.
He was all whining to us.

"Why you doing this to me?"
and all that.

And that's where it ended.

So, technically
he was arrested

for marijuana possession
and delivery.

Then we took him to the station.

While in custody,
Gacy told detectives

he was experiencing chest pains

and was taken to a local
hospital as a precaution.

But he was just trying
to buy some more time.

The police had obtained
the second warrant

they'd been so desperate for.

On the 21st of December, 1978,

they searched Gacy's home
on West Summerdale Avenue

for the second time.

When they executed
that search warrant,

they went in the crawl space,
and the very first shovel

that they dug,
they found human remains.

Police had finally
unearthed the secrets

that Gacy had thought
would stay buried forever.

So they immediately called me,

let me know that there was human
remains in the crawl space.

And at that time, I arrested
John Gacy for murder.

Gacy says he wants to confess,

but really he wants to confess
to the surveillance team,

both myself and my partner
and the other team.

And now all of a sudden,
he's got an audience again,

and he's on top of the world.

And he knows he can't get
out of it at this point,

and so he might as well
just divulge

everything
that actually happened.

Gacy told detectives
he was willing

to draw a map of the burial site
beneath his home.

I gave him a pen,
and he started right off.

He squared it off
in the thing, and he started,

"Well, this was a double,
and this was a triple,

and this was the first guy,"
with a put an X on it.

Went around
the whole crawl space

with these places
where the body was buried.

I mean, they were digging
with spoons and everything.

But they obviously identified
where all the bodies were.

And they did an overlay of where
the bodies were actually found

compared to that diagram
that he made.

And it was unbelievable.
It was right on the money.

In total, 27 bodies

were discovered
in Gacy's crawl space.

It wouldn't take long for news
of this horrific discovery

to filter out
to the wider world.

Then the arrest came down.

And that was the headline
on the local papers,

how many bodies they took
out of Gacy's basement.

Well, you know, when Gacy's
crimes were uncovered

he entered into
the record books, you know,

as America's most
prolific serial murderer.

The notion that this pudgy,

normalseeming, decent,

regular, ordinary guy

was living in this horror house

that was just suffused
with the stench of death,

and that there were
the rotting bodies

of 27 young men

in this crawl space

bringing home
and torturing young boys

right in the midst
of all his neighbors

and then going off
to work the next day.

When we booked him for murder,
we asked Gacy where he was born.

And Gacy looked at us and said,

"I was born in the state
of confusion."

And he smiled like that,
and we captured the photo.

In total, Gacy confessed

to the murder
of 33 young men and boys

between 1972 and 1978.

Gacy preyed on victims
who he knew

were not necessarily gonna be
missed by any family members,

rootless and homeless
teenage boys

who had no families
that were going to miss them

or care about
their disappearance.

At that time in the late '70s,

kids were running away
all the time.

And a lot of these kids
were reported missing,

but there was no followup.

As it turns out, he had buried

27 young kids
in the crawl space.

He buried one of the young kids
outside in his backyard.

And he didn't have any room
left on his property,

so he threw five remaining
victims in the Des Plains River.

One of the bodies
found floating

in the Des Plaines River
in April 1979

was that of Rob Piest,

the 15yearold boy
whose disappearance

had ultimately led
to Gacy's downfall.

He was very descriptive on
what he had done with Rob Piest.

Rob Piest's mom
was waiting for him

in the front parking lot.

And Rob said to his mom,

"Hey, I'm gonna talk to
a contractor about a job.

I'll be right back."
He goes back in the pharmacy.

Gacy is the back parking lot,
the alleyway.

And as Gacy's leaving,
Rob follows him outside

and says, "Excuse me, sir.

I understand
that you hire young kids.

And I'm really interested
in having a different job."

And Gacy says,
"Well, jump in the car.

I'll have you fill out
an application."

So Gacy actually drives Piest
willingly to Gacy's house.

While there,
Gacy starts showing Piest

some little tricks of the trade
of being a clown.

He shows him a couple
of card tricks.

And the last trick that he shows
Piest is the handcuff trick.

Gacy actually handcuffs himself
and turns around

and struggles
with the handcuffs

and then turns back,
and he holds the handcuffs up.

And Piest is pretty
amazed at that.

He said, "That's neat.

How'd you do that?"
So Gacy says, "Well, here.

You handcuff yourself, and
I'll show you how to do that."

So Piest handcuffs himself,
and he struggles,

and he struggles,
and he struggles.

And he looks at Gacy,
and he says,

"What's the trick to this?"

And Gacy reaches in his pocket

and pulls out a key
to the handcuffs,

and he says, "The trick is,
you got to have this key."

This handcuff trick was part
of an horrific yet clinical M.O.

Gacy, throughout
all of the 33 killings,

had developed a method
of killing these young kids.

He would pick up these victims.

Some were kids
who worked from him,

but most were teenage runaways.

You know, in bringing them
back to his house

and giving them drinks,

he would sort of trick them
into handcuffing themselves

or being handcuffed.

Gacy would use chloroform
to subdue his victims.

Chloroform's an oldfashioned
anesthetic, really,

so it gets into your lungs,

and it just renders you
unconscious very effectively.

He did what he called
a rope trick.

And when he had these young kids
incapacitated like that,

he would slip a rope
over their neck,

a knotted rope like a loop,

and then put the stick
in the back like a tourniquet.

And he would slowly
turn the tourniquet.

He said he had it
perfected so well

that he knew exactly
how the body would react

to each half turn.

Putting a ligature
'round the neck,

the first thing it's going
to block is the blood vessels,

so it prevents blood
getting to the brain,

prevents it getting back
to the body from the brain.

It's gonna be very
uncomfortable,

and it can even
render you unconscious

in a small number of seconds.

And he went into detail

on how he would torture
these young men.

And he, in fact, did double
and triple murders.

He would incapacitate two
or three people at a time

and kill one person in front
of the other victims,

and then continue to kill
the other victims.

And he seemed to be
pretty proud of that.

We used that to our advantage
to keep him talking,

and he described
every killing to a "T,"

exactly how it happened, all 33.

As the news broke
across the country,

one shocked viewer

who'd unknowingly experienced
Gacy's M.O. firsthand

was his exemployee
Tony Antonucci.

Whilst working for P.D.M.,

Tony has accidentally got
a nail stuck in his foot.

John took me,
and I got a tetanus shot,

and took me home.

And he came over
later that evening

to check on if I was okay,
or that was the theory.

But he also had some wine,
and we were drinking,

and he was kind of
joking around.

It was probably 10:00,
10:30 at night.

I was a highschool wrestler,
and he said,

"Oh, you know, you're
a big wrestler guy."

And he started
wrestling around with me.

He got my left arm,
and he got it behind me.

And I felt him
put a handcuff on it.

I kept flailing
my right hand around

so that he couldn't
get my right arm,

but eventually, he did
get ahold of my right arm,

and he knocked me down to the
floor with my hands behind me.

He left the room
for a few minutes,

and I realized that if I pulled
really hard on my right hand,

that I could pull my hand
through the handcuff.

I could get it out.

By pretending
he was still handcuffed,

Tony was able to catch Gacy
unawares when he returned

and turned the situation
to his advantage.

I took the handcuff
that I had gotten out of,

and I handcuffed him
on one of his wrists.

Then I reached into his pocket,
got the key,

and I handcuffed him behind
his back laying face down.

He goes, "You're the only one

that not only got out
of the handcuffs

You got them on me."

And I didn't know
what that meant.

I thought that this was
some type of test

that he had performed before.

And I let him stay handcuffed
for 10 or 15 minutes

before I let him out
of the handcuffs.

And he had previously agreed
that when I let him up,

he would leave. And he did.

Tony had no idea
just how close he'd come

to being another victim
of this deadly killer.

I did not fear for my life.

And not fearing for my life
and not panicking

is probably what saved my life.

'Cause I'm sure if, when I got
out of the handcuffs,

if I tried to run for the door
or do something, you know,

he was 33 years old
and very strong,

and I was 16 or 17.

I'm sure he could've
overpowered me

if he knew he had to.

Tony continued
working for P.D.M.

for a few months
after the attack

and only reported the incident
after Gacy's arrest.

By the time the case
went to trial,

police had managed to identify

the remains
of 22 of the victims.

So, with Gacy,
we have around 30 bodies,

different states
of decomposition,

some of which have been there
for many years.

Forensically, that sort of scene
is a nightmare.

You've got so many
different things to dig up.

It's a very complex procedure.

It's very hard work.

It will involve a lot of people
and a lot of time.

Seven of Gacy's victims
have never been identified.

This closeknit community
on the outskirts of Chicago

was baffled beyond belief

that such a monster had lived
amongst them for so long.

One of the effects
that learning about these crimes

has on the public

is that it sort of reduces you

to a state of childlike awe

and terror and wonder.

You can imagine all these
middle American suburbanites.

Suddenly, here are
the authorities

bringing out the decomposed
remains of young men

that had been stored
in the crawl space

of your neighbor's house.

A horrified public were both
shocked and outraged

by the crimes
Gacy had committed.

As the State prepared
their case,

they were determined to ensure

that the man who'd been held
in such high esteem

by his local community would pay
for his crimes in full.

The trial of John Wayne Gacy
began on February the 6th, 1980,

at the Cook County Criminal
Courts building in Chicago.

At the time, Illinois still had
the death penalty.

Gacy's defense team
were pleading insanity.

It was an interesting trial.

And what was so fascinating
about it was

they had so many
different psychiatrists

saying so many different things

that they all came up
with different diagnosis,

which really goes toward
this picture

of this notintact human being,

this bitsandpieces of person.

During the fiveweek trial,

the prosecution
were desperate to prove

that Gacy was fully
responsible for his actions.

There's a difference between
psychopathy and mental illness.

Psychopaths are rational.

They know what they're doing,

and they know
what they do is wrong,

but they decide to do it anyway.

So he was pretty culpable
for his crimes.

He was vicious. He was evil.

He was not insane in any way.

He knew exactly
what he was doing.

And he killed these people
for selfpreservation,

because he was so well liked
politically and businesswise

he couldn't have this public out

that he was taking
advantage of these kids.

One of the prosecution
witnesses

was Gacy's former employee
Tony Antonucci,

who'd been attacked
by the 37yearold contractor.

I saw him in court,
and he was off to my left

sitting at the table

where the defense attorneys are.

And he just stared
straight forward.

He was fairly far away.

I might've caught his eye
on occasion in the courtroom,

but I was pretty nervous
to be a witness

on a trial of that significance

even at that age,
in my early 20s.

On the 13th of March 1980,

the jury had made their decision
of the fate of John Wayne Gacy.

It didn't take long
for them to find him guilty.

I think it took
maybe less than three hours,

which was amazing.

And then he was found guilty.

It was kind of amazing
how fast everything went.

When you look at other trials
that have gone on,

this trial went extremely fast.

In the final moments
of the trial,

one of the prosecutors,
William Kunkle,

called him a ruthless,
sadistic killing machine.

And I think that's
a pretty apt description.

Judge Louis B. Garippo
sentenced Gacy to death.

He was immediately taken

to the Menard Correctional
Center Illinois,

where he would remain
on death row for 14 years.

Whilst in jail,
he took up painting,

selling his artwork for profit.

Even when he was behind bars,

he continued to control
and manipulate people.

He produced several paintings,

several works of art
which he sold,

and he maintained a legacy

even after his death
through those paintings.

So he was still in control
when he was behind bars.

He still had power
over other people,

and he was still able
to make choices and decisions.

The profits he gained
from these paintings

resulted in the government
suing him for his earnings.

Lawyer Karen Conti took on
Gacy's case against the State.

Gacy like to paint, and he was
a terrible, terrible painter.

And he painted horrible things
like skulls and clowns

and creepy things like that.

But people bought them,
and they paid $200 a shot

for him to paint
these ugly pictures.

So that's the first thing that
he wanted to talk to us about,

but we went down there knowing
that what we wanted to do

was represent him
in the death penalty.

What was surprising was

he looked and acted
just like anybody else,

like your favorite uncle,
like your nextdoor neighbor.

And if you think about it,
that's probably why he got away

with killing
so many boys and men,

because he didn't look evil.

You could not reconcile
what he did

with the man
you were talking to.

Karen was a firm opponent
of the death penalty

and represented Gacy

during his final appeals
against the sentence.

Over the years,
Gacy had numerous appeals,

and our system allows that

appeals in the federal court,
appeals in the state court.

By the time that Gacy had
his execution date set,

we were out
of traditional appeals.

There are certain
serial killers

Even staunch
antideath penalty advocates

would not protest
against the execution

of somebody like Gacy.

If he felt any twinge
of feeling sorry

it was only feeling sorry
for himself.

You know, these people
are possessed

with incredibly
malignant narcissism.

The only thing that they are
capable of feeling anything for

is themselves
and their own needs.

When you have a client
who has committed

these horrific acts,
33 murderers,

no court is gonna want
to let him out.

No court is going to want
to change execution

to life in prison, because
it's politically a disaster.

Gacy had to be executed,
and no matter what we alleged,

even if we had really,
really good arguments,

I don't think anyone
would've listened,

because it was John Gacy.

In a CBS TV interview filmed
in Menard Correctional Center

in May 1992,

Gacy recanted his confession
and tried to deny

he was guilty
of any of the murders.

He claimed that he was
a victim of circumstance

and clearly innocent.

Now, that was balderdash.

He was guilty as sin,
but, nevertheless,

he just proved what
an extraordinary man he was.

And throughout the interview,
you can see the interviewer

looking more and more astounded
by Gacy's relaxation.

He didn't look nervous.

He looked absolutely
composed, relaxed,

if anything, a little angry.

"Why am I being
put through this?

It's not fair.

It was a pure accident.

I never did it."

We knew it was
his lastditch effort.

You know,
everything else failed.

He thought he could get away
with the insanity plea,

and that didn't work.

So it was lastditch effort
to say that he wasn't involved

or that others participated.

But it was very clear
during his initial confession

that he was the one
who completed these crimes

and completed them by himself.

Gacy never took responsibility
for his actions,

and he would always
blame others.

He would blame his victims,

and in some cases,
he blamed his victim's parents.

He would turn around and say,
"Well, it's not my fault.

I'm completely not responsible
for any of this."

And that's a key
psychopathic trait,

the failure
to take responsibility

for their own actions.

Despite numerous attempts
to appeal his death sentence,

on the 10th of May 1994,

John Wayne Gacy was executed
by lethal injection

at Stateville Penitentiary
in Illinois.

It was a circus.
We were in a room at some point,

and we saw a television screen,

and we saw thousands
of people lined up

at least a mile down the street
at the prison

with signs,
"Kill the Clown," "Kill Gacy,"

with our names on it.
"Kill Karen Conti,"

people beating drums,
people dancing,

people with clown makeup on.

It was a celebration.

Gacy's last words were,
"Kiss my ass."

Those are the words of a man

who absolutely didn't mind
what he'd done.

He was proud of himself
and proud of that killing spree,

which makes him
particularly chilling.

Gacy was unrepentant right up
until his last moments.

He clearly felt no remorse
for any of his 33 victims.

Using other human beings,

inflicting pain
and suffering and torture

on another helpless human being,

to me, is the essence of evil.

After the execution,
you think there'd be closure,

but there really isn't closure
for something like that.

I mean, you always think back
to the victim's family

and the poor, young boy
who was 15 years old

and just a good kid.

So as much as you'd like
to believe there was closure,

there really wasn't closure.

40 years after being attacked,

Tony Antonucci feels relieved

he didn't become one
of Gacy's many victims.

I do feel very lucky
to be alive.

I don't know what
to attribute that to, you know?

Maybe I Luck, definitely
the biggest component,

you know, a little bit
of help from above.

And, basically, my own
ignorance of the fact

that I was truly in danger,

and the fact that I didn't panic
and just wanted to win the game,

if it was a game,
is probably what helped.

I also would've been one
of the earlier victims.

So I'm sure his techniques
became more honed

after he was divorced
and lived alone

and had more freedom
to act differently.

John Wayne Gacy remains one
of the most infamous killers

in American history.

His horrific murders continue
to haunt the nation to this day.

I still get weird emails.

I still get weird things
where people lash out

and say terrible things to me
about representing Gacy.

Gacy said to me, "You know,
your obituary will read,

'Karen Conti represented
serial killer John Gacy.'"

And although I won't be
around to verify that,

I have no doubt
that's what it will read.

For kids, monsters are real.
Once you become an adult,

you realize, well,
there are no real werewolves.

There are no real vampires.

Then something like
this happens, and it's like,

"Whoa, this monster is real."

There is this ogre.

It's transfixing. It's riveting.

It's fascinating
in the most horrifying way.

Gacy was the epitome of evil.

And he was the epitome
of being a great guy,

which gave him the ability to be
the most evil guy in the world.

Gacy's outward persona
of a charming socialite

helped to keep his crimes
hidden for over five years.

But behind the mask
of this friendly clown

was a sadistic killer

who cruelly and savagely
ended the lives of 33 young men

by torturing them
in the most hideous of manners,

all for his own selfish
sexual gratification.

His lack of remorse
for any of his victims,

all their loved ones, right up
until the day he was executed,

proved that he is,
without doubt,

one of the world's
most evil killers.