Angelo Buono Jr.

Angelo Anthony Buono Jr. (October 5, 1934 – September 21, 2002) was an American serial killer, kidnapper and rapist who, together with his adopted cousin Kenneth Bianchi, raped and murdered ten young women and girls between October 1977 and February 1978 in Los Angeles, California in what became known as the Hillside Strangler murders, as the victims were usually strangled to death and dumped on a hillside. In November 1983, after a two-year long trial, Buono was convicted of 9 counts of murder and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.

Although Buono began killing in 1977, he previously had a lengthy rap sheet of convictions, ranging from failure to pay child support to car theft. He began committing crimes as a teenager, primarily petty theft which he committed alongside a group of youths, then it escalated into stealing a car in his mid-teens. Buono also had a history of violence, mostly sexual, towards women ever since he was young. As an adult, Buono frequently forced young women to perform oral sex on him and held them in captivity for days, forcing them to "turn tricks" for customers of his upholstery business.

Following his arrest for the Hillside Strangler murders, Buono maintained his innocence, even after being convicted. At one point, he accused the court of "violating his constitutional rights". Buono died of a heart attack on September 21, 2002, at age 67 while he was serving his life sentence. He never expressed any remorse for his crimes.^{[citation needed]}

Angelo Anthony Buono Jr. was born on October 5, 1934, in Rochester, New York, the son of Sicilian immigrants from Caltagirone. He moved to Glendale, California at five years old. As a teenager, Buono began blaming his mother for his parents' divorce, and calling her demeaning names such as "whore", and idolized rapist Caryl Chessman. He also boasted to his friends about raping and sodomizing girls. He dropped out of school at age 16. In 1951, he was sent to reformatory school, but escaped shortly afterwards with several other youths.

Throughout his adult life, Buono had fathered eight children and got married four times, including once in prison, though during the murders, he was unmarried. He also piled up an extensive criminal record, ranging from grand theft auto, rape, pimping and failure to pay child support. On January 10, 1956, 17-year-old Geraldine Vinal, Buono's first wife, gave birth to his first son, Michael Lee Buono. He divorced her shortly afterwards and refused to pay child support. On April 15, 1957, Buono married his second wife, Mary Catherine "Candy" Castillo, aged 17, with whom Buono had five children. One night in late 1963, Buono dragged Candy by the hair to the living room, tossed her on the floor and assaulted her in full view of their children because she had rejected his advances. In May 1964, Candy filed for divorce, citing Buono's aggressive and perverse sexual desires and his unpredictable violence. A year later, Buono moved in with 25-year-old Nanette Campina, a single mother of two. He treated her similarly to how he had treated Candy; physically and sexually abusing her, to the point where she was afraid to leave him because she thought he might kill her. Buono had two children with Campina, born in 1967 and 1969, respectively. Shortly before the birth of Buono's first child with Campina, he was given a one-year suspended sentence for stealing a car.

In 1971, Buono began sexually abusing his 14-year-old stepdaughter, which caused Campina to leave Buono, taking the children with her. In 1972, Buono married Deborah Taylor, his third wife, and moved in with a male roommate shortly afterwards. Buono never moved in with Taylor and didn't bother getting a divorce. On one occasion, the roommate witnessed Buono watching school children through binoculars while masturbating.

In May 1975, Buono, aged 40, moved into his own place and opened up his own upholstery shop at 703 East Colorado Street, in northeast Glendale. He reportedly reveled in the fact that he was Italian and hung up the Italian flag on top of his shop. He began calling himself the "Italian Stallion" and earned a reputation for being a "stud", having multiple young girlfriends at once, some as young as 13, impressing the girls with his fancy clothing and expensive jewelry, such as a gold chain and a large turquoise ring. In July 1975, Buono began dating a teenaged girl, whom he impregnated twice. He forced her to abort the first child, while the second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. While the girl stayed loyal to Buono, he frequently had sexual relations with other young women.

In January 1976, Buono's adoptive cousin, 24-year-old Kenneth Bianchi moved in with him. Bianchi was a criminal himself, having been arrested numerous times, mostly for petty theft. When Bianchi arrived to his cousin's home, he discovered that Buono had been holding four teenaged girls in his home virtually as prisoners, a sight which Bianchi described as a "junior harem". Bianchi later claimed that two of Buono's sons, Peter and Danny, often brought their own girlfriends to their father's place to be used for sex. In August 1976, about seven months after his cousin had moved in, Buono practically "threw [Bianchi] out of the house", after having grown tired of having him at his house so often. In June 1977, Bianchi met 16-year-old Sabra Hannan, from Phoenix, Arizona, and brought her to Buono's residence under a false pretense of nude photography in exchange for money as the girl had run out of cash. One night, Buono and Bianchi stripped her, beat her with a wet towel and then raped her. The girl was held as a prisoner for the following three months; she endured harsh beatings from the pair and was forced to "turn tricks" for customers at Buono's upholstery shop, which he used to bolster the business. The girl was sometimes starved for days at a time. In early September, Sabra escaped her captivity by running away during an "outside job".