The Covert War Against Rock

by Alex Constantine

  At present, the murders of Tupac Shakur, Biggie Small—also Yaefu Fula, Rolling 60 Crip Jelly Johnson, Jake Robles, Randy “Stretch” Walker and Genius-Car-Wash-Owner Bruce—remain “unsolved.”

  NOTES

  1. William Shaw, “Wrong Man, Wrong Place, Wrong Time?” Details, September 1999, p. 193.

  2. Cathy Scott, “Behind the Scenes of ‘Unsolved’ Shakur Mystery,” Las Vegas Sun, March 14, 1997.

  3. “Witness to Tupac Murder Killed,” E! Online News Service, November 14, 1996.

  4. Anonymous, “Callers say Shakur’s death just a bad rap,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 22, 1997.

  5. Neil Strauss, “Change of Story in Shakur Case,” Las Vegas Sun, March 18, 1998, courtesy of the New York Times.

  6. AP Release, “Cops Eye Three in Shakur Murder,” Nevada Business Journal, February 4, 1997.

  7. Shaw, p. 197.

  8. Shaw, p. 196.

  9. Shaw, p. 194.

  10. Anonymous, “Orlando Anderson Speaks About Tupac Murder,” MTV News Gallery. The segment originally aired on March 21, 1997.

  11. Friends and family of Tupac Shakur, “Back 2 the Essence,” Vibe magazine special commemorative issue, October 1999, pp. 103–107.

  12. Vibe interview, p. 107.

  13. AP release, “Is the ‘Rap War’ for Real?” March 10, 1997.

  14. Mutulu Shakur letter, Fortune City Tupac Shakur website.

  15. AP release, “Police Saw Rapper Shooting,” Las Vegas Sun, April 23, 1997.

  16. Michael Goldberg, ed., “Notorious B.I.G. Security Guard Suspended— Off-duty cop who worked for Biggie the night he was murdered had criminal record,” Music News of the World, Aug 2, 1997.

  17. Matt Lait and Scott Glover, “Ex-LAPD Officer is Suspect in Rapper’s Slaying, Records Show,” Las Angeles Times, December 9, 1999, p. A-1.

  18. Ibid., p. A-43.

  19. AP release, “Knight Investigated in B.I.G. Murder,” Las Vegas Sun, April 21, 1999.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Dancing on the Jetty:

  The Death of Michael Hutchence, et al

  POP EATS IT YOUNG, THAT’S FOR SURE MICHAEL HUTCHENCE ON KURT COBAIN

  On November 22, 1997. the day Michael Hutchence was found tethered by the neck to a door fixture at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, Reuters placed his death in context: “If Michael Hutchence’s death is eventually ruled a suicide, the INXS vocalist would join a long list of rockers who have taken their own lives. . . . Joy Division singer Ian Curtis built a career on songs filled with angst, paranoia and death. After making inspired hits such as ‘She’s Lost Control,’ ‘Transmission’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart,’ he hanged himself in his Manchester, England home in 1980. Richard Manuel, pianist and vocalist with the Band, hanged himself in a Florida hotel room a month shy of his 43rd birthday in March 1986. Little had gone right for him since the group broke up in 1976, and a subsequent reunion—without main man Robbie Robertson—further depressed him. . . . Psychological problems may have played a part in the 1979 death of soul-pop singer Donny Hathaway, who fell to his death from a 15th floor hotel room in New York City. Hathaway, who was 34, best known for his duets with Roberta Flack. . . .”

  The mortality rate among rock musicians—who, as a group receive more than a share of capital, sexual gratification, and public adoration—is extremely high. Depression is often cited as the prelude to death among these pitiful creatures. Of course. Michael Hutchence was despondent over a custody battle and destroyed himself. Case clos ....

  But hold the phone, if you please. Kym Wilson, a friend of the vocalist’s, spent some five hours with him the morning he died. She was the last person to see him alive and reported, “He was concerned about the custody hearing but I wouldn’t say he was depressed. His attitude was that he believed he was right and that he and Paula should get custody of the children and if they didn’t have luck this time, they would keep fighting on. I never for one instant think he thought that would be the end.” Hutchence had spoken “with such excitement of his future—I had really never seen him with so much to look forward to.”1

  God hides in the details, so before rushing this case file to the “Day the Music Died” morgue, one last check for Him in the flotsam of details related to a very peculiar death is in order. There was no inquest. Friends of Hutchence told investigators that the “happy/depressed” rock singer was “involved in kinky sex over the years,” and though it’s fairly certain that he was not the first rock musician to indulge in “kinky sex,” authorities explored auto-eroticism as the cause of death.

  The salacious indictment originated with Australian police, appeared in the New York Post, took on a life of its own, gathered momentum on the newswires, sprinted across the airwaves and barreled through the world media machine. On December 24, police spokesmen announced that they were anxious to quash this ugly rumor. Argumentative “paranoids” might ask why this particular bit of speculation was fed to the press in the first place. The “mainstream” media ran with it—and both passed the buck to the tabloid press, as E! News Online reported: “Authorities have not officially ruled Hutchence’s case a suicide, although that’s where they’ve indicated they’re leaning, in spite of tabloid reports that the 37-year old singer accidentally hung himself while practicing an oxygen-deprivation masturbation game.”

  Two weeks after his death, INXS members called a press conference to complain about a cover story on their late lead vocalist entitled “Auto-Eroticism—the Sex that Kills” in New Weekly magazine. The article played on the conjecture that Hutchence did not commit suicide but hung himself accidentally. The stills, lewd S&M bondage scenes, were shot by fashion photographer Helmut Newton two weeks before Hutchence died. The magazine’s cover featured a photo of Hutchence chained, a ravishing tart, barely clad in leather, arching over him. Another portrayed the tart wearing a saddle, with Hutchence the domineering equestrian. Surviving INXSers announced that they were considering legal action. A spokesman for the band found the article “incredibly insensitive.”2 It was a smear reminiscent of Albert Goldman’s postmortem demolition jobs.

  All around, it was a damned peculiar death. Senior Constable Mark Hargreaves of the New South Wales Police media unit, asked by reporters why Hutchence was naked when he hung himself, replied: “It was early in the morning, he could have just gotten out of bed. It’s hard to determine if he did it on purpose or by accident.”3

  He didn’t leave a suicide note behind.4

  The night of his death, Hutchence had dinner with his father and stepmother at a local Indian restaurant. They laughed throughout the meal. His father expressed concern about Michael’s personal problems, but was reassured, “Dad, I’m fine.”

  The INXS vocalist “was an unlikely candidate for suicide,” noted Glenn Baker, an Australian pop music historian. “He was the consummate rock star. He took on the role of a star so comfortably. He floated above the pressures. Why he would choose this moment to throw in the towel I think will always remain a mystery.” Ian “Molly” Meldrum, a television celebrity in Australia and close friend, said he last saw the singer in Los Angeles eight weeks before. Meldrum told reporters: “He seemed so happy and at peace, and even said to me, ‘I’ve never been happier in my life.’”5

  Zinta Reindel and Tamara Brachmanis, guests at the Ritz during Hutchence’s last stay there, talked to him the night before his “suicide,” and recalled, “He looked like he was a bit high on something . . . but he was happy.” Why not? He was branching out into a thespian career in a Quentin Tarantino production and working on a solo album. His daughter was to be christened soon. Why abandon her without so much as a note?

  Significant details were excluded from most press accounts. Corporate outlets reported: “SYDNEY, Australia—Michael Hutchence, the lead singer for the rock band INXS, was found dead Saturday in a Sydney hotel . . . shortly after midday. The INXS front man was in Australia preparing for the band’s 20th anniversary tour. His body was discov
ered by a maid when she went to make up the room. Prescription pills were found scattered over the floor of his suite and there were bottles of alcohol on a sideboard.”6

  Pills, mostly antibiotics, Prozac, booze and a hotel room in a state of squalor—a death scene completely consistent with suicide. Hutchence died of asphyxiation. His body was still warm when he was found suspended from a door, the leather belt looped around his neck.

  Music critic David Fricke, writing in Rolling Stone, supplemented the standard metro daily obituary: “His body bore the marks of a severe beating (a broken hand, a split lip, lacerations).”7

  Yet Australian police found “no evidence” of foul play. Derek Hand, the new South Wales coroner, stated without reservation: “The standard required to conclude that his death was a suicide has been reached.”10 But the coroner’s report did not address the protruding contradictions. Did Hutchence break his own hand? Did he bludgeon himself until his lip bled, then beat himself into a pulp, and by doing so break bones in his hand? Then how, with one good hand and the other in excruciating, throbbing pain, did he manage to loop the belt through the door brace and around his neck securely enough to hang? The coroner didn’t address the lingering questions, but was so confident of his verdict that he advised against an investigation: “Nothing will be gained by holding a formal inquest,” he concluded. A homicide probe would consume unwarranted “time and expense.”

  Case clos . . . but, please, one more small peek at the record.

  The “suicide” verdict may have been self-evident to a trained medical examiner, but it wasn’t universally accepted. Paula Yates appeared on Australian television in March, 1998 to declare publicly that she sought legal advice to contest the finding. She said that Hutchence considered suicide the most cowardly act in the world. “I will be making it abundantly clear that because of information that I and only I could know about, I cannot accept the verdict. And I won’t have my child grow up thinking that her father left her, not knowing the way he loved her.” She acknowledged that Hutchence may have been depressed, but Hutchence’s infant daughter was his passion, his “reason to live.”

  “In no way do I accept the coroner’s verdict of suicide.”9

  The Devils Outside

  Whatever Paula and only Paula knew, it’s certain that the name Michael Hutchence appeared on more than one enemies list.

  Hutchence was a political activist. His will designated Amnesty International and Greenpeace as the benefactors of the lion’s share of his assets. And like many popular musicians on the left, the authorities harassed and set him up for a fall. In a July 1998 interview that appeared in a fan newsletter, Colin Diamond, Hutchence’s attorney and former executor of his estate, was asked about the vocalist’s September 1996 opium bust and his defense that the narcotic was planted by police.

  “Perhaps you should try and figure it out for yourself!” Diamond snapped. “Michael and Paula were out of the country and during that time only a few people had any real access to the place: Bob Geldof, Anita Debney, the nanny who used to work for Bob for twelve or so years, and a woman called Gerry Agar, who had developed a grudge against both Paula and Michael. The police were called days after the nanny claimed she’d found two Smarty packets with opium in them. Geldof immediately had a new custody application before the courts, ‘in light of recent events.’ The local police and prosecutors had the media on their case. There was enormous pressure on them, but even they had to admit something was a bit fishy. [The court] dropped all charges, remember, and Michael was issued with a certificate of non-prosecution by the Crown.”

  When asked if Hutchence “got off” fairly, Diamond snapped again: “Got off, GOT OFF?? I think the question should be who tried to get him on. You figure it out!”11 The barrister turned on his interrogator again when asked about the late singer’s complicated finances, the “missing millions” reported by the Australian press:

  Q: You’ve copped a bit of a hiding in the press as some sort of financial Svengali to Michael, with suggestions that, with regards to his estate, all is not as it should be. You’ve refused point-blank to speak to the media before this, so let me ask you directly: Where’s the money?

  Diamond: None of your business. That’s the point, it’s private. Don’t you guys get it? It’s PRIVATE.

  The word “private” is not to be found in the dictionary used by most daily news reporters—seven months later Australia’s Courier-Mail found the “missing millions,” and a horribly intriguing “Mafia Tie To Rock Star’s Lost Riches.”

  It was reported that Hutchence “was involved in property dealings with a company allegedly connected to the Mafia. Bruno Romeo Sr., an alleged high-ranking member of the L’Onorata Societa, or Calabrian mafia, and his family are current and former directors of a company which sold a Gold Coast bowling alley for $2.25 million to a trustee company linked to the former INXS front man. A police intelligence report alleged Romeo was a key member of Italian organized crime groups.” The National Crime Authority, in search of cocaine, descended upon the bowling alley in 1995. “Company records indicate Harbrick Pty. Ltd., whose former directors include Bruno ‘The Fox’ Romeo, a convicted drug dealer, also borrowed $270,000 as part of the deal.” Colin Diamond “signed the earlier loan documents.”

  Lawyers and accountants of Mafia-owned Harbrick were hauled to court by Hutchence’s mother, Patricia Glassop, and stepsister, Tina Hutchence, in a bid to recoup millions of dollars in assets. Harbrick Ltd. was the nexus in an intricate web of companies, some of them based offshore. The purpose of the lawsuit was to force Harbrick to declare an estimated $25 million in assets not included in the Hutchence estate.

  “The bowling alley at 378 Marine Pde., Labrador is one of five multi-million dollar properties worldwide which Mrs. Glassop and Ms. Hutchence claim should have been included in the singer’s estate and divided according to his will,” the newspaper reported. “The NCA . . . targeted a person associated with Harbrick.” This would be Bruno Romeo, Sr., 69, “jailed for 10 years in 1994 over his role as the ringleader of an $8 million cannabis-growing operation on remote pastoral leases in Western Australia.” Bruno was a director of Harbrick, a family-owned operation, “from 1988 to 1990. His son, Bruno Lee Romeo, 42, who was jailed for eight and a half years in Western Australia in 1987 for conspiring to cultivate a 1.5 hectare cannabis crop, is still a director of the Queensland-registered firm. The other director is Romeo Sr.’s son-in-law, Guiseppe ‘Joe’ Sergi, 42 . . . sentenced to five years jail after being convicted over a marijuana crop in 1982.”12

  Court documents revealed that the representatives of Harbrick in the loan agreement also worked for a baroque score of offshore companies that helped themselves to the finances of Michael Hutchence. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on May 29, 1998, “both sides have been told in writing that Hutchence had nothing to do with the investments.”

  His mother and sister charged before the bench that the £16 million in dispute had been siphoned off by Colin Diamond. Australian tax inspectors said that the vanishing funds meant that his widow and daughter might not receive a cent of the inheritance. Outraged, the family filed suit in the Queensland Supreme Court against Colin Diamond and Andrew Paul, Hutchence’s Hong Kong-based tax consultant. Companies in Australia, the United Kingdom, France and the British Virgin Islands controlled the singer’s income.

  In fact, the Hutchence clan complained that the pop singer had relinquished most of his assets, including luxury automobiles and property in the south of France, Australia and London. His immense wealth had completely vanished into a black grotto of investments and trust accounts, and most, perhaps all of these firms were managed through discretionary trusts administered by Colin Diamond and Andrew Paul. Hutchence himself was penniless the day he allegedly looped a belt around his neck and found oblivion.

  Many of Hutchence’s most cherished possessions “were not actually owned by him,” noted the London Telegraph in April 1999, “but were controlled by companies—t
hemselves under the control of others. Beneficiaries have been told that only Mr Hutchence’s personal effects will be distributed to them.”13

  The Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 8, 1998 that Hutchence “died almost penniless. But up to $30 million worth of property, cars, shares, bank accounts and income streams from his music and publishing—believed to have belonged to Hutchence—is held by obscure trusts in tax havens stretching from Hong Kong to the British Virgin Islands.” Closed hearings on the will were requested by Andrew Paul, who had the temerity to ask that legal expenses in the pending litigation be underwritten by the estate. “The looming court battle has been variously reported as a ‘squabble over the estate’ or ‘the family contesting the will.’” complained the Herald, “but this is not so. All members of the estranged family have agreed that Hutchence’s will . . . was fair. What is disputed is the claim by his executors that there is nothing in the Hutchence estate to distribute.”14 Too much funny business, and still no investigation of the singer’s death. Reporter Vince Lovegrove, reports New Idea Magazine, “was the last person to interview the rock star, and has hinted at a conspiracy to cover up what really happened.”15