Phillip Paske: Difference between revisions

Phillip Paske
1976 mugshot
Born	Phillip Ronald Paske (1953-06-11)June 11, 1953 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	November 9, 1998(1998-11-09) (aged 45) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Details
Span of crimes	c. 1976 – 1979 (with Norman)
Country	United States
State(s)	Illinois

Phillip Ronald Paske (June 11, 1953 – November 9, 1998) was an American criminal, murderer, and child pornographer from Chicago, Illinois. He was the closest associate and personal friend of sex trafficker John David Norman and was briefly an employee of John Wayne Gacy's construction business, PDM Contractors.

Biography

There is scarce information about Paske's life. It was reported that his father was a city worker and that Paske had a "bad complexion," a violent temper, and frequently cross-dressed. Paske had a lengthy record beginning at age 18 in 1971, with convictions for crimes such as drug dealing, theft, battery, and murder.

In a 1992 prison interview with John Wayne Gacy, whom Paske was once employed by, he described Paske as dangerous and stated that he "pimped girls, boys, for sex or movies." Gacy also denied ever discussing sex with Paske.

1973 robbery-murder

In November 1973, Paske, along with Al Bone and Richard Angel, planned to rob a coin collector named Louis McKerley. The robbery took place at 7 p.m. in a second-floor apartment at 6052 ½ W Irving Park Road in Chicago. Bone was armed with a knife, and Angel had accompanied him with a handgun. Paske's role was to act as a lookout for any oncoming witnesses. When McKerley opened the door, Bone and Angel forced their way into the apartment. A struggle ensued, and Bone stabbed McKerley in the chest. All three then fled the scene. McKerley would later succumb to his stab wounds. The three were arrested and charged with murder and attempted armed robbery.

Through a plea agreement, Paske and Angel pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, with the murder charge being dropped and some prison time served as well as probation. Bone would subsequently plead guilty and receive a sentence of 14 to 20 years imprisonment.

Child pornography ring

John David Norman (1927–2011) was a sex offender who ran multiple child pornography and prostitution rings in the 1970s and 1980s. As of 1973, he allegedly had between 50,000 and 100,000 clients in 35 U.S. states. He also had potential links to serial killers Dean Corll and John Wayne Gacy. According to Gacy, Norman produced snuff films of young boys. No such films have been found. In 1973, the Commander of the Police Youth Division in Houston, Bennie M. Newman, stated that there was no known connection between Norman's operations and Corll's murders.

Norman and Paske first met in Chicago's Cook County Jail. It's known that Norman had continued producing his newsletter behind the walls of the jail, in which he had made pleas for bail for both him and for Paske, whom he referred to as his "right-hand man."

Paske was released on probation in 1976 after a plea deal in the murder of Louis McKerley. The funds for bail came from patrons of Norman's newsletter. Subsequently, a patron from California paid Norman's bail. Norman remained free until the end of 1976, when he pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent liberties with a child.

After his release, Paske registered both his and Norman's names to a Chicago post office box for mailings. On his probation record, it's stated in both May and December 1976 that he was working for Norman's Delta Project and was making $3 an hour.

Paske was fired from his job as children's supervisor at a fire department swimming pool in August 1977 after he was publicly linked to Norman's child prostitution ring.

Ties to John Wayne Gacy

Paske's paystubs from his employment under Gacy

Although there is no concise date for when Paske first came into contact with Gacy, he was using Gacy's alias "Patches" after his 1976 release from prison. This alias was also used by fellow PDM employee Michael Rossi.

The earliest record of Paske working for Gacy's construction business is from 1978; it's also mentioned in a letter Gacy had written that Paske had worked for him between August and October 1978 and was introduced to him through PDM employee David Cram.

Both Rossi and Cram were named by Gacy as accomplices in several of his murders. It was also reported by Gacy that Paske was fired from his employment under PDM.

Unrelated murders

Paske was initially wanted for questioning in the January 19, 1977 murder of Kenneth Hellstrom, 17, of Homewood. He was stabbed six times while walking home from work and died several hours later. Hellstrom had implicated Norman on child molestation charges in 1973, which resulted in Norman being sent to prison for four years. Norman was still in prison at the time of the murder. In June 2012, a man named Fred Rogers was convicted of Hellstrom's murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Rogers, who was 16 at the time, had gotten into an argument with Hellstrom earlier in the day that he was stabbed.

On February 25, 1979, Michael Salcido, 17, Arthur Salcido, 19, and Frank Mussa, 16, were found dead in a car at 3 a.m. in Chicago. Their throats were slashed in what police described as an "almost ritualistic" fashion. It was suspected that their bodies were placed in the car after their deaths. Michael was a ward of the state who was set to testify in Norman's upcoming trial. It was later revealed that Latin Kings members, of no relation to Norman, were responsible for the murders.

Later life and death

Norman relocated his operation to Pennsylvania in 1983 after his release from prison. Paske's activities after this point are unclear; his final arrest was in 1996 for possession of a controlled substance. He died on November 9, 1998, in Chicago.