Bag of Toys: Sex, Scandal, and the Death Mask Murder [Hardcover]

David France (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0446516066 | ISBN-13: 978-0446516068 | Publication Date: June 12, 1992 | Edition: First Edition

Here's the shocking true story of the 1985 "Death Mask Murder"--a grisly crime linked to prominent Madison Avenue art gallery owner Andrew Crispo, a man who operated in both the forbidding underworld of sadomasochists and drug addicts, and in the glittering art world and New York society. 8-page insert.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1985 prominent New York art dealer Andrew Crispo was linked by police to the sadomasochistic torture and murder of fashion student Eigil Vesti. Bernard LeGeros, a gallery employee and personal associate of Crispo, received a life sentence after confessing he had killed Vesti on orders from his boss; Crispo was acquitted, although he spent three years in jail for tax evasion. France, author of a 1988 Vanity Fair article on the case, careens from Manhattan's seamy gay underground to the chic, money-driven art scene and social whirl in a scorching expose of brutal sex crimes and judicial negligence. He graphically tracks Crispo's plunge into cocaine abuse, drug trafficking and S&M torture. France endorses speculation that politically ambitious prosecutor Kenneth Gribetz failed to indict Crispo for Vesti's killing due to apprehension that the high-profile case was too uncertain.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A plunge into the midnight world of gay sadomasochism and murder-for-kicks that was the playground of Manhattan art dealer Andrew Crispo and his 22-year-old proteg‚ Bernard LeGeros. The violence-ridden narrative first appeared in abbreviated form in Vanity Fair. Orphan/hustler/con man Crispo moved to N.Y.C. in 1964, just when the art world was discovering the publicity value of glitz. He fell almost by accident into the gallery scene, and with his combination of good looks, slick wardrobe, and glib tongue, he soon was highly successful, opening his own gallery in 1972. Depravity and drugs--especially cocaine--in increasing doses followed. In 1984, Crispo hired LeGeros, not so much for his art expertise as for his willingness to engage in the whippings and degradations that Crispo imposed on gay partners. When, one day, Crispo picked up Norwegian fashion student Eigil Dag Vesti and suggested that the young man be ``snuffed,'' LeGeros went along with the plan, putting two bullets into Vesti after an evening of sadomasochism. Eventually implicated--the murder took place a few yards from LeGeros's vacation home in New York's Rockland County--LeGeros confessed. Crispo, however, remains unindicted for the crime. Here, France keeps the action moving briskly, though the narrative is plagued with weaknesses both psychological (e.g., the suggestion that LeGeros's mindless enslavement to Crispo may have resulted from the younger man's mother having given away his dog years before) and stylistic (``Everywhere there was the particulate remains of urban decay suspended at shirt level, nose level, pore level, pouncing at will''). And, despite an expected air of disapproval, the text also holds a subtle sense of prurience. Bruisingly detailed: not for the fainthearted. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (June 12, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446516066
• ISBN-13: 978-0446516068
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad trash writing, July 25, 2008

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Guy Reader (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bag of Toys: Sex, Scandal, and the Death Mask Murder (Hardcover)

This is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. Who got it in their mind to publish it? The actual event is worthy of a deeper and more insightful exploration.