Andrew Crispo

Andrew Crispo (born 1945)[1] is an American former art gallerist, one-time murder suspect who was present at and implicated in the Death Mask Murder of Norwegian fashion student Eigil Dag Vesti, and later a convicted felon.[2]

Biography

An abused child Crispo was brought up in a Philadelphia orphanage.[3] He went on to found and run an eponymous high end art gallery on West 57th Street in the famed  art deco Fuller Building[4] and had clients such as Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.[5] Over the course of the gallery's history it exhibited such artists as Richard Anuszkiewicz, Richard Pousette-Dart,[6] Charles Burchfield,[7] and Lowell Blair Nesbitt. Often Crispo would write essays for the catalogies which he published to accompany the gallery's exhibitions.[8] Meanwhile, he was involved in S and M activities sometimes at his gallery.[9]

Death Mask murder, trial subsequent criminal cases, and later life

One night in 1985, Crispo and his cohort and "executioner" Bernard LeGeros (the son of United Nations Development Fund official John LeGeros[10]) while on a drug fueled nightlife run picked up a 26 year old Norwegian Fashion Institute of Technology student Eigil Dag Vesti at the Limelight Club. They handcuffed and hooded him and brought him back to LeGeros's parent's estate in the hamlet of Tomkins Cove in the town of Stony Point, New York. Then at some time during that night or the early morning of the following day LeGeros shot the hooded young man twice with a rifle in a smokehouse on the grounds of the compound. Later Dag Vesti's body was accidentally discovered after having been burned and largely eaten by wild animals, however, due to the black leather mask with a zipper mouth on the deceased young man's face his remains were able to be identified. Had this not been the case it is said the Norwegian's identity may never have been known.

Subsequent to the finding of the body Crispo was implicated but never charged with murder or any other crimes associated with the homicide.[11] However LeGeros was convicted of the murder in the 1985 trial for the crime and served 33 years of a 25 years to life sentence at Attica State Prison in Attica, New York.[12] The case was prosecuted by then Rockland County, New York District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz who later wrote about the case in his book (co-authored with H. Paul Jeffers) Murder Along the Way: A Prosecutor's Personal Account of Fighting Violent Crime in the Suburbs.[13][14] David France also penned a book about the case named "Bag of Toys".[15]

Later Crispo was charged with the kidnap and torture of an 26-year-old man but acquitted.  Meanwhile, in between the two trials (one in which he was implicated and one in which he was charged) over violent sexual misbehavior, Crispo was convicted of Federal charges of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison.[16]  In 1985 Crispo was involved in a dispute with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum over Constantin Brancusi's 1912 sculpture "The Muse" which ended in the museum paying $2 million US for the artwork, at the time believed to be the most ever paid for a 20th century sculpture. Crispo at that juncture was currently free on $300,000 bail while under indictment on United States Federal tax evasion charges.  The bail had been guaranteed by the artwork and was now in turn guaranteed by the newly liquid funds.[17]

In 1989 while imprisoned on the aforementioned tax evasion conviction Cripo's home in The Hamptons suffered a catastrophic explosion due to a natural gas leak.[18]  In 1991 a court ordered that the Long Island, New York utility Lilco pay Crispo $7.6 million dollars for his lost home and art collection.[19]

Crispo is also a former owner of the historic Simmons-Edwards House in Charleston, South Carolina.[20]

References
  1. "1969 Robert Creeley Poem Illustrated and signed by Robert..." Barnebys.se.
  2. Glueck, Grace (June 21, 1992). "There Was Something Creepy About the Gallery (Published 1992)" – via NYTimes.com.
  3. Sun-Sentinel, STEVEN R. BILLER, Special to the. "TRUE CRIME SEX, MURDER AND THE ART WORLD CONVERGE". Sun-Sentinel.com.
  4. "'Round 57th Street: New York's First Gallery District Continues (for Now) to Weather Endless Changes in the Art World". July 19, 2016.
  5. Haden-Guest, Anthony (February 17, 2015). "The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night". Open Road Media – via Google Books.
  6. "Chronology". The Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation.
  7. https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Americans-Watercolor-Andrew-Crispo/dp/B001U6OP0E
  8. https://www.jhbooks.com/pages/books/162519/richard-anuszkiewicz-andrew-crispo-gene-baro/richard-anuszkiewicz-recent-paintings
  9. "The History of New York Scandals - Andrew Crispo's S&M Dungeon -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine.
  10. "U.N. executive's son arraigned today for sex-slaying". UPI.
  11. Zugibe, Frederick Thomas; Carroll, David L. (July 30, 2006). "Dissecting Death: Secrets of a Medical Examiner". Crown/Archetype – via Google Books.
  12. Lieberman, Steve. "Bernard LeGeros paroled after 3 decades for Stony Point S&M murder". The Journal News.
  13. "Arrest Made in Bizarre Slaying Of Modeling Student". AP NEWS.
  14. "Nonfiction Book Review: Murder Along the Way: A Prosecutor's Personal Account of Fighting Violent Crime in the Suburbs by Kenneth Gribetz, Author, H. Paul Jeffers, With Pharos Books $16.95 (264p) ISBN 978-0-88687-422-3". PublishersWeekly.com.
  15. "Nonfiction Book Review: Bag Toys: Sex, Scandal, and the Death Mask Murder by David France, Author Grand Central Publishing $30 (350p) ISBN 978-0-446-51606-8". PublishersWeekly.com.
  16. "Jury Clears Art Dealer in Attack". AP NEWS.
  17. "The Guggenheim Museum paid art dealer Andrew Crispo more..." UPI.
  18. "Blast at imprisoned art dealer's home investigated". UPI.
  19. "Jury awards art dealer $7.6 million in suit against power company". UPI.
  20. "Property File - 14 Legare Street (Simmons-Edwards House a/k/a Pineapple Gate House)".
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