GERARD CHRISTIAN ZACHER'S JAMES DEAN SITE

SAL AS HE POSED FOR HAROLD STEVENSON'S FAMOUS & CONTROVERSIAL (Censored Version)

"Oh, my God! No! Help me, please!"



On February 12, 1976, at 9:30 p.m., 9-year-old Monica Merrem heard a man's terrified shouts coming from the parking area below her bedroom window. She was not the only one in the apartment block on Holloway Drive in West Hollywood, California, to hear the cries for help. Several other tenants who also heard rushed into the alleyway behind the garage of the complex and found Sal Mineo lying on the ground curled up on his side. He was bleeding heavily from an unseen wound beneath his shirt. Roy Evans, one of Mineo's neighbors, noticed his labored breathing and attempted to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but to no avail. Evans felt Mineo give a long exhale and he knew then that "he was gone." Shortly after paramedics arrived 37-year-old Broadway and Hollywood screen star Sal Mineo was pronounced dead from a single stab wound to the heart.

From the Bronx to Broadway









Salvatore Mineo Jr. was the third of four children born to Sicilian immigrants Salvatore Mineo Sr. and his wife Josephine on January 10, 1939, in East Harlem, New York City. The newest addition to the family was referred to as Junior and was preceded by two older brothers, Victor, born in 1936, and Michael, born in 1937. In 1943, the Mineo family became complete with the birth a little girl named Sarina.



In 1948, after years of saving, Josephine and Salvatore Mineo Sr., a skilled casket-maker who owned his own company, moved the family to a larger three-story home on East 217th Street in the Bronx, New York. It was where Sal Mineo was to spend the formative years of his childhood. The Bronx was also the one place with which he was most associated.

Following his move to the Bronx, the young Sal found it difficult to make friends. The neighborhood children either avoided or made fun of him because of his father's unusual business. Sal found acceptance from a small neighborhood street gang after he took a dare of smoking a pack of cigars. He was eventually named as one of their leaders.

At the age of 9, Sal made his first stage debut at his local parochial school where he was asked by the nuns to play the role of Jesus. According to H. Paul Jeffers' book, Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder and Mystery, he studied diligently for the part, learning the lines verbatim and developing the character he was to portray. On stage, he displayed a great deal of talent and was able to improvise to make his character more believable. To Sal's surprise, acting not only came naturally but it was something he enjoyed tremendously. It was just the beginning of his lifelong love for the art.

That same year, the owner of a dancing school spotted Sal's natural grace and good looks while he was playing sandlot baseball with friends. According to Hollywood.com's biography of Sal Mineo, the man convinced Josephine that her son could one day be on television if he were given the appropriate training. Although his mother was hesitant at first, she eventually gave in to the idea of her son attending a dancing school. Her decision was further supported by the fact that Sal was having behavioral difficulties. He had been recently thrown out of school for being involved in a fight and had also been caught stealing.

Sal was thrilled at the prospect of being on television. For several years he worked hard at learning how to dance and perfecting his techniques. Eventually, Sal's mother transferred him to another more reputable dancing school. While attending the school, he was asked to occasionally perform on the popular television program The Ted Steele Show.


At the age of 11, Broadway producer Cheryl Crawford approached Sal after seeing him dance. She asked him to recite one line, "The goat is in the yard," which he did. The line came from a Tennessee Williams play known as "The Rose Tattoo," which Crawford was producing at the time. She gave him a small part in the play paying $65 a week, where he was to reiterate the same line twice a week to audiences at the Martin Beck Theater in New York City.

This was the break Sal dreamed of, and he was filled with excitement at the opportunity of performing in a Broadway play, even if he was only going to speak one line. The play was to have a trial run in Chicago before being played in New York. Sal had to leave home for the first time in his life. According to Jeffers, he broke into tears saying goodbye as the train was departing from the station. He cried so much that Tennessee Williams, who was also traveling on the train, held him in his lap until Sal stopped sobbing.

However, the tears did not last long and Sal found happiness in performing at the theater. Eventually the play made its way back to Broadway and Sal was back on his own turf. Twice a week he took the subway train from his home in the Bronx to Broadway to perform. The good looks that propelled him onto the stage also got him into a great deal of trouble off the stage.

En route to his job he was frequently propositioned by strange men for sex or threatened by gangs traveling on the subway. He would often have to escape their advances or threats by switching trains or running through the subway in an effort to lose them. There were times when a gang of kids would catch him and beat him up and he would arrive at work bloodied and disheveled from a fight.

To ward off the predators, Sal bought a realistic toy gun, which he successfully used on several occasions. Although his trip on the subway was often frightening, he never allowed it to disrupt his work at the theater, according to writer Hans Hafkamp He continued to act his part in the play for one year before its closing in 1952.

That same year, he acted in another Broadway play called "Dinosaur Wharf," yet only for four performances. Sal also played a small role in the television drama, which chronicled the life of ex-first lady Abigail Adams, called "A Woman for the Ages." Both experiences earned him little money and even less praise from critics.

One of Sal's big breaks came in 1952, when he won the part of an understudy for the Crown Prince of Siam in the Broadway play "The King and I" at the St. James Theater. The play starred such greats as Yul Brynner, who portrayed the king of Siam, and Gertrude Lawrence, who played the King's English teacher. This time Sal was given more lines and was even required to sing. The play provided him with the opportunity to display his unique vocal abilities. Yet, as the understudy, he only performed when the boy who played the part fell ill or went on vacation.

In the summer of 1953, Sal got his chance to play alongside Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence full time, when the boy who usually played the part went on vacation. Sal found Yul Brynner to be as intimidating as he was talented, and the boy was afraid to speak to the domineering star. One day, Sal went into Brynner's dressing room on the advice of his make-up man to discuss the application of his theater make-up. To his surprise, Brynner was welcoming, jovial and supportive of the young co-star.

It wasn't long before Brynner took Sal under his wing. Brynner taught the eager beginner how to develop his acting techniques and skills, which would help him perfect his stage performance. The advice from Brynner paid off. Sal's acting steadily improved and he was offered the part of the Crown Prince of Siam on a permanent basis. Finally, in 1954, the play "The King and I" came to a close. Fifteen-year-old Sal, with great reviews under his belt, went on the search for a new role.

On Screen




Following the closing of "The King and I," Sal played in a weekend series called Omnibus. During one of the CBS series, Sal played a matador in the adaptation of Hemingway's "The Capital of the World" He played alongside Anne Bancroft and Leslie Nielsen in the production, which was directed by Yul Brynner. Once again, Sal profited from the direction and acting techniques taught by his mentor. The part won him praise and led to several other television roles.

Between 1954 and the beginning of 1955, Sal appeared once as an emergency patient in the television series called Janet Dean, Registered Nurse and in an Omnibus television production as the character of Señor Cortez in "A Few Scenes Out of the California Boyhood of William Saroyan." He also appeared in the televised plays "Juvenile Gangs" and "The Trees" at the Philco Playhouse, later that year. Sal's reputation as an exceptional actor was gaining recognition and his career was on the verge of taking off in a new direction.

Sal was not the only Mineo family member who had an interest in acting. His older brother Mike also aspired to be an actor. One day he accompanied his brother Mike to a casting call for Universal International's film Six Bridges to Cross. Sal went to offer support and advice because it was Mike's first-ever audition. Mike was to audition for the part of Jeff Chandler, who allegedly masterminded the true-life robbery of an armored car.

During the audition, Sal was surprised when he was picked out to read, following a director's hunch. After one week Sal was called up by the casting director and asked to play the role of the young Chandler in the upcoming movie. Tony Curtis was chosen to play the lead role of the adult Chandler. Within weeks, Sal began working on his first movie, playing the role of the young hoodlum in the streets of Boston.

During the final stages of making the movie, Sal had to travel to Hollywood to complete the soundtrack for the film. While there, he auditioned for another part playing the character of a cadet colonel in a movie starring Charlton Heston called The Private War of Major Benson. Again, the young talent was awarded the role in the new movie and began filming soon after the completion of Six Bridges to Cross.

Sal, now 16 years old, was beginning to make an impression on movie audiences nationwide. His good looks and talent captured the hearts of young Americans and caught the eye of professionals in the entertainment industry. When the movie was finished, he delayed his trip back to New York so that he could audition for another role in a new and upcoming movie.

Warner Brothers Studios was in the process of casting actors for the Rebel Without a Cause. The lead character named Jim Stark was to be played by a new talent named James Dean and the part of Judy was awarded to 16-year-old Natalie Wood. The casting director for the movie was still looking for actors to play the role of Jim Stark's friend Plato. It was the character Sal longed to play.

During the audition, Sal was asked by the director Nick Ray to read for the part of Plato three times. The first time Sal read alone for the part, and on the second and third occasions he was paired with James Dean. It wasn't long before the chemistry between the two young actors began to develop. Sal was chosen to play the part of Plato. It was a role that would win him great acclaim and popularity.

Rebel Without a Cause struck a cord among American teens. During the 1950s, juvenile delinquency was a major concern for parents and law enforcement agencies across the country. Many feared that aggressive teenage rebellion would lead to the eventual disintegration of traditional norms, values and of society as a whole.

The movie also depicted for the first time on film a blatant homosexual desire between James Dean and Sal Mineo. Dean, who was an admitted bisexual, encouraged Mineo to express homosexual feelings toward him during the filming in an attempt to add more depth and realism to the characters. It was believed that a relationship developed between the two off screen, but the rumor was never substantiated. Yet, there was no doubt that there was chemistry between the two actors on screen.

Years later, Sal would admit he was also bisexual but that he didn't realize his interest in men until several years after the movie's completion. According to Jeffers, when Sal was asked if he had a relationship with James Dean he was quoted as saying that if he "understood back then that a guy could be in love with another one, it would have happened. But I didn't come to that realization for a few more years, and then it was too late for Jimmy and me".

James Dean befriended Sal and Natalie Wood during the months of filming. The three were often seen together speeding away in James Dean's car to some unknown destination.

James acted as a kind of guardian to Sal and Natalie, who in turn saw him as a kind of hero. At 24, he had more years and experience in the trade and they learned a great deal from him. Sal and James were particularly close and after the movie was completed, James helped him to get his next role.

Shortly before the release of Rebel Without a Cause, Sal signed a contract to play the part of Angel Obregon II in the upcoming movie Giant, starring James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Filming began several weeks after the signing, in a small Texas town called Marfa. During the making of Giant, Sal acted in only a few scenes, most of which ended up on the cutting room floor. However, his disappointment with being cut out of most of the movie ended when he delightedly signed a contract with MGM to star in another film with James Dean called Somebody Up There Likes Me.

On September 30, 1955, several weeks following the completion of Giant, James Dean was killed in a car accident. Sal was devastated by the loss of his confidant and hero, and the death changed his life. Sal began taking up hobbies in which James Dean had expressed interest, including boxing, drums and weightlifting. Jeffers states that he even changed his style of acting to emulate the techniques practiced by James, popularly known as "The Method."

Sal was able to apply his new style of acting, which involved incorporating life experiences into the stage character's personality, in the movie Somebody Up There Likes Me. Hollywood newcomer Paul Newman played the main character, Rocky Graziano, the role that was originally designated for James Dean. According to an interview Boze Hadleigh had with Sal years later, he and Newman didn't get along during the making of the movie, although he agreed that he had the talent and looks to make it to movie stardom.

While he was filming Somebody Up There Likes Me, Sal learned that he had been nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role of Plato in Rebel Without a Cause. Sal became one of the youngest performers to have ever been nominated for an Oscar for the best supporting actor. His reputation and popularity among young Americans soared to new heights after the movie was released. Moreover, critics around the country raved about his splendid performance, calling him "sensational" and "brilliant." Nevertheless, he was passed over for an Oscar at the 28th Academy Awards.

But he refused to let this loss deter his ambition to become a great actor. By the end of 1956, he starred in more than six television dramas, including one called Dino, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He also starred in the movie Crime in the Streets, for which he received the nickname "The Switchblade Kid" for his performance as a bitter criminal.

The beginning of 1957 saw a different side to the teenager who usually played tough street kids on the silver screen. With the increasing popularity of rock-'n'-roll, Sal turned his attention to singing. In the summer of 1957, he appeared in a television production by Kraft Television Theater, where he performed for the first time a new song titled "Start Movin' (In My Direction)."

It wasn't long before the single became an instant hit among teenage fans. It was quickly followed by another hit single entitled "Lasting Love," which made it into the Top 40s for several weeks. However, the more popular "Start Movin'" stayed in the Top 40s and for more than 13 weeks and reached the number nine position. The albums that Sal recorded with Epic Records sold more than one million copies.

Over the years, he had several more hits with Epic Records, including, "Sal," "The Words That I Whisper," "Love Affair," "Little Pigeon," "Party Time" and "You Shouldn't Do That." Much like his acting, Sal had an undeniable talent for singing. His emotion-filled voice, which made many teenage girls swoon, made for a successful singing career. However, Sal began to miss doing what he most loved, acting.

In late 1957, Sal appeared in a couple of television programs and several popular movies, including a movie version of Dino. In the movie, Sal portrayed a bitter teenager seeking love, acceptance and revenge. His emotionally charged portrayal of the title character earned him praise from critics and movie audiences alike, which further boosted his reputation as a serious actor.

Between 1957 and 1959, Sal added five more movies and six theatrical television appearances to his growing list of credits. The movies included The Young Don't Cry, Rock Pretty Baby, Tonka, A Private's Affair and The Gene Krupa Story. During the late 1950s, Sal was reported to have earned more than $200,000 a year. It was a far cry from the $65 a week he was earning less than a decade earlier.

Although many adored the public figure Sal had become, few really knew him behind the scenes. Contrary to the hardened street kid image he often portrayed, Sal was a gentle and fun-loving person who maintained a close relationship with his family. In fact, his family helped him make decisions about his career. Throughout much of his youth, Sal's mother Josephine managed his career with the assistance of the other three siblings.

According to Jeffers, Sal's brothers Mike and Victor performed numerous jobs for him, including handling and negotiating contracts, guardians and personal assistants. Sal's little sister Sarina often helped with the flood of fans letters. However, it was Sal's mother who ran the show behind the scenes, making sure that her son took the "right" contracts for usually large sums of money.

Sal understood that he probably would not have achieved as much as he had in such a short period of time without his family. At the age of 18, he could afford to buy his family a luxurious home that stood along the shores of Long Island Sound in Mamaronek, New York. He also bought himself an apartment in New York City and rented a large house in Beverly Hills, where he often entertained the "who's who" of Hollywood.

Sal enjoyed all the good things life offered him. When he wasn't performing, he often threw himself into one or more of his many hobbies, which included waterskiing, painting, working on cars, weightlifting, racing his speed boat and playing the drums. Sal also spent a great deal of his time goofing off with his friends.

In 1960, the work pace picked up again. He signed a contract to star in what would be one of his most acclaimed roles, in the film Exodus. The movie, directed by Otto Preminger, was a screen rendition of the novel by Leon Uris about the Jewish people's struggle for the liberation of Palestine following World War II.

Sal starred as the Dov Landau, a Polish Jew on route to Palestine to create a Jewish homeland after having survived the horrors of the Nazi run Auschwitz concentration camp, only to be diverted and imprisoned by the British. Exodus was filmed almost entirely in Israel andboasted an all-star cast including Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford and Jill Hawthorn, who played Sal Mineo's love interest.

During the making of Exodus, Sal Mineo was rumored to have fallen in love with 15-year-old actress Jill Haworth, who played the role of Karen Hansen. Suspicions were confirmed when the starlet moved into his Beverly Hills home after the movie was finished.

However, the relationship was short-lived. Haworth eventually moved on to bigger roles elsewhere, leaving behind Sal. Although the relationship was brief, the two remained close friends for many years afterwards.

Following the release of Exodus, Sal's hard work was acknowledged by the excellent reviews he received. Once again, critics raved about 21-year-old Mineo's passionate performance, which earned him a second Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He was the only actor in the all-star cast of the movie to have been nominated for an award. Sal had achieved some of his best work in the making of the film and he was confident that he would win. Yet fate would prove otherwise.

Sal's hopes were dashed when he was passed over for an Oscar a second time. He knew that it was unlikely he would be nominated a third time. After Exodus, Sal's career, which had always been moving steadily upward, began to change course.

A Change of Pace




Between 1962 and 1964, Sal had been in the game for more than a decade and Hollywood was on the lookout for new faces. Fewer and fewer roles were being offered to Sal, and his career and financial situation began to slowly diminish. He starred in several television shows, one play that ran for only a brief period and three movies, including Escape From Zahrain, The Longest Day and Cheyenne Autumn. However, all three films failed to draw large audiences and Sal's performances received little credit.

Although his career began to lose pace, Sal found that he had more time available to discover other sides of his persona, specifically in regard to his sexuality. Sal's interest in men began to accelerate and he became involved in several low-profile homosexual relationships. During the 1960s, homosexual relationships were considered taboo, and movie stars who flaunted their diverse sexual interests in the public forum usually found they were quickly out of work. Realizing this, Sal became particularly careful about keeping his relationships with men private.

Work became scarce and Sal's finances worsened. He was forced to sell almost everything he owned to pay the bills that had quickly accrued due to his extravagant lifestyle. He even had to sell the house he bought for his family on Long Island Sound. Although Sal experienced financial dire straits, he refused to give up his love for acting.

After hiring a new Hollywood agent named Tom Korman to manage his career, Sal's deteriorating financial situation was temporarily relieved. He was offered roles in two movies during 1965, including The Greatest Story Ever Told and Who Killed Teddy Bear. The earn-out for his performances was considerable, yet the movies did little to boost his suffering career.

In fact, after starring in the film Who Killed Teddy Bear, in which he played a busboy in a sleazy discotheque who stalks his manager, played by Elaine Stritch, his reputation in Hollywood began to slide further. According to Hollywood.com's biography of Sal Mineo, following the film's release critics called it, "everything from edgy to unwatchable," even though audiences found Sal's performance brilliant. During this time, Sal sought solace in spending his money on his friends, a new home, a motorcycle and other material goods. It wasn't long before his finances were exhausted.

From 1966 to 1968, Sal faced financial ruin. For a second time he had to sell off all of his belongings and give up his home. To earn extra cash to survive he appeared in more than 10 television series, but they paid very little. Once again, he refused to allow his situation to deter him from fulfilling his dreams. Sal moved into a low rent apartment in L.A. and began planning his next comeback.

In 1969, Sal decided to turn temporarily away from acting and try his hand at directing. He became interested in a play written by Canadian-born John Herbert called Fortune and Men's Eyes. The play told the story of a man named Smitty who is imprisoned for a minor offense. While in prison, he suffers homosexual rape and degradation at the hands of other inmates, which deeply embitters him.

According to Jeffers' book, in order to earn enough money to buy the rights to the play, Sal traveled to Las Vegas and gambled the little money he had left at the casinos. He got lucky and earned enough to buy the rights. Sal began the difficult task of choosing the actors who would star in his performance.

Sal sought perfection in those who auditioned for the play and rightly so. This was his debut as a director and a possible turning point in his career. One of the actors Sal chose for the lead part of Smitty was a young, handsome 18-year old named Don Johnson, who would later go on to star in the 1980s hit television program Miami Vice. At the producer's urging, Sal played the bullying character Rocky.

In 1969, Fortune and Men's Eyes opened at the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles. The play received encouraging reviews, especially from the gay press. But it did not appeal to everyone because of a shocking homosexual prison rape scene. Nevertheless, the play had large audiences and eventually became a hit. That same year, Fortune and Men's Eyes opened under the direction of Sal in New York City, but the reviews were less favorable. In less than a year the play closed.

Before long, Sal found himself back in financial woes, looking for a chance to make some additional money. From 1969 to 1975, he appeared in more than 22 television series, one other off-Broadway play called The Children's Mass and three films, including 80 Steps to Jonah, Krakatoa, East of Java and Escape From the Planet of the Apes. All of these endeavors gained him little attention from the critics, but allowed him to pay the bills.

During the 1970s, with little to lose and everything to gain, Sal became more open about his sexuality and his relationships. In the interview by Hadleigh, Sal admitted to being bisexual and during one interview expressed a particular interest in "all men and a few chicks now and then." There were even rumors that Sal had had brief relationships with several Hollywood leading men, including Peter Lawford and Rock Hudson.

1976 was considered Sal's comeback year. Sal was offered the role of a bisexual burglar named Vito in a hit play called P.S. Your Cat is Dead written by James Kirkwood and produced by Richard Barr. Following the opening of the two-act play at Montgomery Playhouse in San Francisco, Sal received excellent reviews for his brilliant performance. Sal's determination saw him through life's rough spots and his career was on the verge of taking off again. However, fate would intervene.

After many successful runs, the play moved to the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles several miles from Sal's West Hollywood apartment. Jeffers writes that, at about the same time, Sal obtained the financial backing to direct what would be his first movie, called McCaffrey. The pace was quickly picking up for Sal and he was happier than he'd been in years. Until February 12, 1976.

Walking home from a rehearsal of P.S. Your Cat is Dead at the Westwood Playhouse, Sal was attacked and stabbed to death.

Sal Mineo's Body As It Was Found

The Investigation

Following the discovery of Sal's body, several people saw a man running from the crime scene. One witness claimed that the man was Italian or Mexican with dark curly hair. He also said that the man climbed into a yellow Toyota and sped away. The little girl who heard Sal's screams said she had seen a white man with dark curly hair fleeing the scene. Another witnesses said the man he saw running was white with darkish-blonde hair.

When the L.A. police detectives arrived at the scene, they were quick to surmise that the murder may not have been the result of a robbery. They found $21 in Sal's coat, and the jewelry he was wearing and his car keys were lying on the ground next to his body.

The autopsy revealed that Sal died of a single stab wound to the heart. The tissue surrounding and including the stab wounds was removed during the autopsy so that if the knife was found it could be matched to the perforations. The medical examiner listed the death as a homicide.

During the autopsy, the medical examiner also found evidence of possible drug usage by Sal. Several puncture wounds were discovered in his buttocks and in other areas of his body. Sal's occasional use of LSD and marijuana were no surprise, but the puncture wounds pointed to heroin.

A former lover of Sal's named Michael Mason told police that Sal received hormone injections to supplement his waning sexual appetite, thus explaining the puncture wounds in his buttocks. But it did not explain the others, which showed evidence of injections. Some people who knew Sal said he was an avid user of cocaine.

Although there was some speculation that the murder was drug related, detectives Ed Pia and Dan Tankersley believed the murder was sex related. This theory was concocted following the detectives' search of Sal's apartment, where they found piles of homosexual pornographic magazines.

The police questioned as many people as they could find who had connections with Sal. Eventually, the search was narrowed to mostly homosexuals in the entertainment industry. It became increasingly clear that they were no longer exploring the idea of a robbery by some unknown assailant. It wasn't long before the case stalled.

Sal's remains were flown back to his native New York for the funeral. On February 17, five days after Sal's death, 250 mourners crowded into the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Mamaronek, New York, to pay their last respects. There were an equal number of mourners outside the church, mostly onlookers and saddened fans. Among the church mourners were Sal's family and many of his friends and acquaintances in the entertainment industry. Some of the people included Sal's lover, Michael Mason, and best friend, Elliott Mintz, as well as Desi Arnaz Jr., David Cassidy, Natalie Wood, Yul Brynner, Peter Lawford, Warren Beatty, Dennis Hopper and Paul Newman.

According to Jeffers, during the night of the wake, Michael Mason and Sal's brother Victor had an argument over what little of Sal's money remained. Sal's family had difficulty acknowledging that he had relationships with men, and they refused to acknowledge Sal's former male lovers, including Mason. Following the wake, Sal was laid to rest next to his father, who had died three years earlier, at the Gates of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

The investigation into Sal's murder remained stalled for several months and eventually the case was temporarily shelved. Then 16 months later, a woman named Theresa Williams came forward with new evidence. Theresa told police that on the night of the murder, her husband Lionel came home with a bloody shirt and admitted to her that he killed Sal with a hunting knife. She said that his motive was robbery. Shortly after giving her statement to police, Theresa committed suicide.

The once-cold investigation heated up. Detectives researched 21-year-old Lionel's past and found that he had an extensive criminal record, including robbery and check fraud. There was one problem. Lionel did not fit any of the descriptions given by the witness at the scene of the crime. Lionel was a black man.

Detectives visited Lionel, who was being held in the L.A. County Jail on bad check charges. He was anxious to talk about Sal's murder. During the interview, Lionel claimed that he overheard some gang members talking about a contract to kill Sal because of a drug deal gone wrong. Detectives believed that Lionel was lying, but they had no proof. Once again the Mineo case turned cold, but not for long.

While serving time on bad check charges at Michigan's Calhoun County Jail, Lionel was overheard bragging about killing Sal Mineo to fellow inmates. Wardens of the prison alerted the police in Los Angeles and he was charged with Sal's murder. Lionel was extradited to Los Angeles in January 1978 to face the murder charges brought against him.

The Trial



On January 17, 1978, the case against Lionel went before Judge Andrew Weitz at the Beverly Hills Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing. Lionel pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder as well as 10 counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery. The latter charges were included when witnesses identified Lionel as the perpetrator in a string of robberies in the Los Angeles area. Bail was posted at $500,000 and Lionel returned to jail to await trial.



Following several delays, the trial began on January 9, 1979, one day shy of what would have been Sal's 40th birthday. Leading the prosecution team was Deputy Michael Genelin. Mort Herberts, a court-appointed lawyer, represented Lionel Williams. Judge Ronnie Lee Martin presided over the hearing.



The theory supporting the prosecution's case was that the murder was premeditated, which would make Lionel eligible for the death penalty. They believed that Lionel was awaiting Sal's return from his rehearsals in order to rob him, but his attempt was stymied when Sal's screams brought unwanted attention. The prosecution's case hung on several key pieces of evidence during the trial, including the statement made by Lionel's deceased wife, testimony from an acquaintance of Lionel's and the medical examiner.



During the trial the prosecution presented important evidence that supported the theory that Lionel stabbed Sal Mineo. The prosecution presented to the court a duplicate knife similar to the one Theresa Williams claimed her husband had on the night of the murder. Jeffers writes that testimony by L.A. County Medical Examiner Dr. Noguchi revealed that when he had inserted the knife into Sal's incised stab wound, he found a perfect match between the perforation in the tissue and the blade.



Twenty-six-year old Allwyn Price Williams, an acquaintance of Lionel's, testified that Lionel bragged about stabbing Sal with a pearl-handled knife during an attempted robbery. He further claimed that Sal fled in a Lincoln Continental. However, the defense challenged his testimony, damaging his credibility.



The defense believed that the prosecution's theory was based on flimsy evidence. When Herbert cross-examined Allwyn Williams, they discovered he did not tell the truth to prosecutors. He admitted to lying about both the knife and the Lincoln Continental in an interview with prosecutors, because he thought it would get him out of jail earlier. At the time the interview was conducted Allwyn was in jail for kidnapping.



In an effort to clear Lionel of the charges, Herbert stated to jurors that it was precarious to assume that the replica of the knife was an exact copy of the one Lionel's wife had seen or even the one used to kill Sal. Especially since the witness was deceased and could not testify further to the events surrounding the conversation. Herbert further stated that there was no strong evidence supporting this theory because there was no weapon ever found or any witness to the crime.



The defense further tried to discount the prosecution's case by presenting three witnesses whose description of the alleged perpetrator didn't match Lionel's appearance. Two witnesses claimed to have seen a white man. One of them stated that he had curly long blonde hair, whereas another witness claimed his hair was black. A third witness said the man he saw fleeing the scene and getting into a yellow Toyota appeared Italian or Mexican in origin with curly hair. Following the witness' testimony, Herbert argued that Lionel could not have been the person seen at the crime.



However, the prosecution retaliated by showing the jury a picture of Lionel that was taken at the time of the murder. According to Jeffers, the picture showed Lionel with light skin and long bleached hair. Moreover, they provided records that Lionel had borrowed a light-colored Dodge Colt that resembled a Toyota from a dealership on the day of the murder. The evidence proved to be damaging. On March 16, 1979, more than three years after Sal's death, Lionel was found guilty of 10 of the 11 charges and sentenced to 51 years to life.



There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Lionel's trial. Many believe that Lionel was not the killer. Some still believe that the killing was a result of a homosexual dispute. What really happened on February 12, 1976, will remain a mystery known to only Sal and his killer.

This Article Was Written By Rachael Bell