Dancing on the Jetty The Death of Michael Hutchence, et. al. By Alex Constantine © Copyright 1999 [From: A. Constantine, The Wall of Death: CIA/Mafia Killings of British and American Rock Musicians - An Annotated Guide, Feral House, to be published in the Spring, 2000.] On November 22, 1997, the morning Michael Hutchence was found tethered to a door fixture at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, Reuters placed his self-immolation 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, was best known for his duets with Roberta Flack...." The mortality rate among rock musicians with abundant capital, sexual gratification and public adoration is extremely high - depression is often cited as the prelude to death among these pitiful creatures. It explains everything. Michael Hutchence was despondent over a custody battle and destroyed himself. Case clo .... But hold the phone, if you please. Kym Wilson, a friend of the vocalist's, spent some five hours with the rock singer 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 is secluded in 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 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 assembled the pieces and were led to explore 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 far-fetched 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, went a bit over the top in the act of self-love. 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, a kick in the backside on the way out. 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 [hanged himself] on purpose or by accident."3 He didn't leave a suicide note behind for Paula Yates and his daughter.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, and was reassured, "Dad, I'm fine." The vocalist "was an unlikely candidate for suicide," noted Glenn Baker, an Australian rock 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."4 Why not? He was branching out into a thespian career in a Quentin Tarantino production, was 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 discovered 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 Hmmmmm ... Now, Australian police could find "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 questions. Did Hutchence break his own hand? Did he bludgeon himself so that 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 certain 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 entail unwarranted "time and expense." Case clos ... but if there is no objection to one small peek at the record ... The "suicide" verdict may have been self-evident to a trained medical examiner, but a layman might call it a replay of the Bobby Fuller "suicide." And it wasn't universally accepted. Paula Yates appeared on Australian television in March, 1988 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 had been depressed, but his infant daughter was his passion and "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 aXs, 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 12 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. They 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 labyrinthian 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 stained and obsured by saliva in the dictionary used by daily news reporters, and so, seven months later, Australia's Courier-Mail found the "missing millions," and a horribly interesting "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 Harbrick were hauled to court by Hutchence's mother, Patricia Glassop, and stepsister, Tina Hutchence, in a bid to reclaim millions of dollars in assets. Harbrick Ltd was a nexus in an intricate web of companies, some of them based offshore. The purpose of the lawsuit was to force them 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 was 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 8.5 years in Western Australia in 1987 for conspiring to cultivate a 1.5ha 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." 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.12 His mother and sister alleged before the bench that the Ł16 million in dispute had been siphoned off. 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, a 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 by discretionary trusts administered by Colin Diamond and Andrew Paul. Hutchence himself was penniless the day he allegedly looped a belt around his neck and choked himself into 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 - themselves 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 Hutchence's will were requested by Andrew Paul, who had the bile 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, has hinted at a conspiracy to cover up what really happened."15 The financial links with the Calabrian Mafia raise the specter of Michael Hutchence's close friend, Gianni Versacé, the celebrated fashion designer gunned down on the front steps of Casa Casuarina, his palatial South Beach home, by a serial killer on July 15, 1997, only five months before the INXS vocalist went down. Versacé, in fact, was raised in the south of Italy, a locale dominated by the Calabrian Mafia. The Telegraph reports that Versacé "would become inflamed with rage at suggestions that he had links with the Mafia."16 But another Telegraph story notes, "There have long been reports that Versacé, whose family comes from Calabria in southern Italy, had been financially involved with the Mafia," and so was Hutchence, with or withour his knowledge. "It had been rumoured that he borrowed mob money to expand his business, and had been paying 'protection money.'"17 In Europe, the press ran rampant with allegations of Versacé's financial links to the Mafia. Newspapers in Italy and Ireland offered stories on the designer and the Calabrese. The Russian Information Agency ran a feature on the topic. Then there was the dead mourning dove found lying beside the designer's body. The dove was said to be a "hit man's calling card." Police denied any connection to the Mob. One of the .40 caliber bullets that struck Versacé in the head ricocheted off his front gate of his house, a police spokesman explained, sending a lead fragment hurtling skyward. It struck a dove sailing overhead in the eye, killing it instantly. The dove (the reincarnation of John Connally?) plummeted to the gutter and plopped down beside Versacés dead body.18 But the conclusion of a private detective formerly employed by the fashion designer were at odds with the official verdict. Frank Monté, an Australian P.I. - and former recruiter of mercenaries for the African campaigns of the 1960s - told radio shock jock Howard Stern and other interviewers he was convinced "both Versacé and Cunanan were murdered by the Mob." He said that he'd been hired by the designer to investigate the killing of a friend's lover, and was recruited again to follow up on reports that employees of his own company had been laundering mob money. The private eye held that Versacé was gunned down because he intended to turn evidence of the laundering operation over to Italian police. Andrew Cunanan, Monté insisted, was a patsy kidnapped and "suicided" to provide the cover story. The investigator was so confident of the Mafia connection that he publicly advised Cunanan, after Versacé's murder, to turn himself in or he would be next. Ten days after the slaying of Versacé, he rold reporters: "Nothing that has happened since then has changed my mind." He could not shake off certain unresolved discrepancies. Cunanon is reported to have stolen a .40 calibre pistol and used it to shoot Versacé two times in the head and then turned it on himself. Cunanon was so badly disfigured by one blast that police were unable to identify him at first - but the same gun left two small, pristine holes in Versacé's skull. Monté was skeptical that the stolen gun could have produced the drastically dissimiliar wounds, and complained that FBI ballistic tests had been "fudged."19 The funeral of Gianni Versacé in Milan Cathedral was attended by Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, a month before her own death in a Parisian tunnel. As it happened, another social butterfly and friend of Michael Hutchence with organized crime connections was Dodi Fayed. Dodi's uncle was arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi of Iran-Contra fame. Mohamed al-Fayed, dodi's father, is "one of the richest men in Britain," notes the St. Louis Tribune. "The source of al-Fayed's wealth always has been somewhat murky. Born poor in Alexandria, Egypt, he acquired a university education and married Samira Kashoggi, sister of the fabulously wealthy Saudi Arabian arms dealer. His brother-in-law gave al-Fayed his start in business by putting him in charge of his furniture-importing interests in Saudi Arabia."20 He is said to have sicced Donna Rice on Gary Hart to sabotage his bid for the Oval Office. Dodi and his uncle introduced Marla Maples to Donald Trump. Denise Brown, a sexual gadfly with a black book of organized crime figures, traveled in the same social circle as Dodi Fayed and dated him. Al Fayed and Adnan Khashoggi were closely associated with the Sultan of Brunei, who has been accused by an American beauty queen of presiding over a "white slaver's harem." Dodi Fayed and Diana Spencer were killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997, three months before Michael Hutchence died. The intelligence underground withholds its files the accident and has steadfastly refused to declassify them. In November 1998, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the propietors of the APBNews web site, the National Security Agency confirmed that it had on file "39 NSA-originated and NSA-controlled documents" concerning the crash, but "refused to release them." The NSA insisted that the files were "top secret," and their release, it seems, could bring about "exceptionally grave damage to the national security." Press accounts of the secret files moved Al Fayed to undertake a series of lawsuits in Baltimore and Washington district courts for their release. His demand included any intelligence that might be cabbaged away in CIA, DIA and NSA files. Each agency was sued separately in February 1999, and to date, Fayed and the media have been denied any classified files pertaining to deaths of his son and the estranged princess.21 Notes 1. Mike Gee, The Final Days of Michael Hutchence, London: Omnibus, 1998, p. 152. 2. "INXS fury at photos of bondage,"South China Morning Post, December 11 1997. 3. Gil Kaufman, "Police Say INXS Singer Left No Suicide Note,"Music News of the World, December 5, 1997. 4. Ibid. 5. Geoffrey Lee Martin, "Hutchence seemed so happy, say friends," London Telegraph,, Issue 914, November 24, 1997. 6. Gee, p. 150. 7. Ibid. 8. David Fricke, "The Devil Inside," Rolling Stone, January 22, 1998, p. 17. 9. Derek W. Hand, Inquest into the Death of Michael Kelland Hutchence, February 6, 1998. 10. "Yates in Legal Move to Fight Suicide Verdict," London Telegraph, March 30, 1998. 11. Diamond interview transcribed by Leah Sungenis, aXs (INXS newsletter), July 1998. 12. Paul Whittaker and Rory Callinan, "Mafia Tie To Rock Star's Lost Riches," The Courier-Mail, February 13, 1999. 13. Mark Chipperfield, "Hutchence family fights for 'missing' fortune," Sunday Telegraph, April 19 ,1998. 14. Ian Verrender, "Fight begins for control of Hutchence assets," Sydney Morning Herald, March, 8, 1998. 15. Leigh Reinhold, Angry Kim - I didn't kill Michael - A year later, Kym Wilson is still haunted by Michael Hutchence's death," New Idea Magazine,, Always INSX Web site. 16. Caroline Davies, "Boy Raised Among the Brothels Who Became a Fashion Star,"London Telegraph, July 16, 1997. 17. James Langton, "Did Mafia silence Versacé to hide financial scandal?" Sunday Telegraph, July 27, 1997. 18. "FBI Hunt Gay Serial Killer After Versacé Shot Dead," London Telegraph, July 16, 1997. 19. Bruce Taylor Seeman, "A murder theory takes wing: `Dead bird clue' fosters speculation," Miami Herald, July 27, 1997. 20. Anonymous, "Dodi's Royal Romance Was Coup for Father," Salt Lake Tribune, September 3, 1997. 21. Tami Sheheri, "Al-Fayed Demands Spy Agency's Diana Files," APBNews.com, April 19, 1999.
