Ricky Kasso was from Northport Long Island. In 1984 the police of Northport recieved a phone call about a body in a shallow grave in a small woods called Aztakea Woods. There in the woods the police found the body of Gary Lauwers, over two weeks decomposed. The man had been stabbed thirty two times, twenty-two in the face. The total may have been higher, but the decompisation made it impossible to tell. The police focused their investigation on Ricky Kasso and James Troiano. Both were high school dropouts, and known drug abusers who lived on the streets. Troiano had a record of burglary arrests, but Kasso had more unusual charges. His most recent arrest was a charge of grave robbing, where he dug up a 19th century grave from which he stole a skull and hand that he intended to use for a satanic rite. Soon after they were taken into custody, they both confessed to the murder. They were linked to a local satanic group known as the Knights of the Black Circle, which had around twenty members and was known for animal sacrifices. As part of a satanic rite, Kasso goughed out Lauwers eyes. Kasso may have been able to help more with the investigation, but on July 7th, he hung himself in his jail cell. When Troiano went on trial for second degree murder at the beginning of the next year the case had been revised. The Knights of the Black Circle had nothing to do with this murder. There had been only one witness to the murder besides Troiano, Albert Quinones. Satanism wasn’t muchly involved in the murder, even though they knew Kasso was into a heavy metal style of satanism, but drugs were the main factor in the murder. The act that triggered the murder was Lauwers stealing ten bags of Angel Dust from Kasso. Kasso spent two months complaining about the rip-off, then on June 16th he decided to teach Lauwers a lesson. Lauwers was in the woods with Kasso, Quinones, and Troiano tripping on Mescaline. Kasso started harrassing him about it, then started beating him, soon he was out of control and got out his pocked knife. Kasso stabbed him over and over again screaming “Say you love Satan!!!”. Lauwers responce was “No, I love my mother!”. He accidently cut out the eyes while he stabbed him over and over again. He eventually left the body in the woods covered with leaves. In Kasso’s confession, he said he heard the screech of a crow, which, in his mind, was Satan saying that the murder was a good thing. At the trial of Troiano, he maintained that he was only a witness, and didn’t participate in the murder. The jury found him not guilty.
