Vulgar Favors. Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History

436 Pages·2010·1.95 MB·English

by  Maureen Orth

HIGH PRAISE FOR MAUREEN ORTH’S
SENSATIONAL NATIONAL BESTSELLER
VULGAR FAVORS
“VULGAR FAVORS BY MAUREEN ORTH MIGHT BE CALLED THE COMPLETE CUNANAN … she
[has] an indefatigable hunger to know everything.” —Chicago Tribune
“A DETAILED PAGE-TURNER.”
—St. Paul Pioneer Press
“An exceptionally good account of suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan’s spree in 1997.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Orth has an inviting, readable style.”
—Oakland Tribune
“The definitive book on the July 15, 1997 murder of Versace.” —Sun-Sentinel (South Florida)
“An exhilarating journalistic chronicle of Cunanan’s crime and flight … the book is charged with
adrenaline and the pages just seem to turn themselves.” —Lesbian and Gay New York

Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Copyright © 1999 by Maureen Orth All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of
the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press, New
York, New York.
Dell® is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of
Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-30776661-8
Published simultaneously in Canada June 2000
v3.1
For Tim and for Luke and
for my mother, who told me,
“Any damn fool can write a book.”
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
PART I
Chapter 1. Mother
Chapter 2. Childhood
Chapter 3. Bishop’s
Chapter 4. Pete
Chapter 5. Berkeley
Chapter 6. Capriccio
Chapter 7. Hillcrest
Chapter 8. Jeff
Chapter 9. Crystal
Chapter 10. Kept Boy
Chapter 11. David
Chapter 12. Breakup
Chapter 13. Bad Manners
Chapter 14. Unravel
Chapter 15. Spinning
Chapter 16. Good-bye
PART II
Chapter 17. Murder
Chapter 18. Suspect
Chapter 19. Chisago
Chapter 20. Miglin
Chapter 21. Minefield
Chapter 22. Fatal Error
Chapter 23. Whispers
Chapter 24. Reese
Chapter 25. The Lid
Chapter 26. Cross-Purposes
PART III
Chapter 27. Escape
Chapter 28. Underbelly
Chapter 29. What’s Gay Got to Do with It?
Chapter 30. The Secret
Chapter 31. Most Wanted
Chapter 32. Broad Daylight
Chapter 33. King Kong
Chapter 34. The Family
Chapter 35. Miami Mishaps
Chapter 36. Show Me the Money
Chapter 37. The Rainbow
Chapter 38. Profile and Prosecute
Chapter 39. The Last Night of Carnival
PART IV
Chapter 40. Dead Is Dead
Chapter 41. Echoes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Just look at the vulgar favors that give the crowds of the capital such
delight.… Its amusements are insolent, obscene, clumsy and boorish.…
You despise these lewd doings and yet you suffer them.
—from the Richard Strauss opera Capriccio
Prologue
T 1 and my husband sleepily caught the receiver.
HE PHONE RANG ABOUT A.M.,
“Is Maureen Orth there? Is this Maureen Orth, the writer?” The male
voice was insistent.
“Who’s this?”
“I want to discuss the article.” A pause, then a click.
“It sounds like him,” my husband told me.
“Who?”
“The guy you’re writing about.”
“What? You mean Andrew Cunanan?”
“Weird,” my husband said. Then he flopped over and went back to
sleep. But by then I was wide awake.
About ten days later, hours after Gianni Versace, the famed fashion
designer and gay icon, was murdered, the phone rang again a little after
1 I was already booked on a morning plane to Miami to report the
A.M.
breaking story of Versace’s murder, because the number-one suspect was
Andrew Cunanan. By then I had been reporting on Cunanan for nearly
two months for Vanity Fair magazine—his favorite publication. I also had
learned that he had met Versace several years earlier and that he was
suspected of killing four other people, including his best friend and the
only man he ever said he loved.
“Hello. Is Maureen Orth there?” My husband recognized the same gay
male voice. “Who’s calling?” But the person on the other end thought
better of it. The long-distance background sound cut off abruptly. I will
never know if I thereby lost the scoop of my life.
Under any other circumstances, appearing in Vanity Fair would have
been Andrew Cunanan’s dream come true. By then, however, in early
July 1997, he was about to become the subject of one of the largest