Angelo Buono, Jr.
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Template:Infobox Serial Killer
Angelo Buono, Jr. (October 5, 1934 – September 21, 2002) was an American serial killer. Buono and his cousin Kenneth Bianchi together are known as the Hillside Stranglers.
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Early life
Buono was born in Rochester, New York. In the time leading up to the killings, Buono had already developed a long criminal history, ranging from failure to pay child support to assault and rape. When Buono was 41 he met Kenneth Bianchi in 1975.
A self-described "ladies' man", Buono persuaded his younger cousin to join him in prostituting the women and young girls they brought to bed, holding them as virtual prisoners. In late 1977, the pair began killing them as well, claiming 10 documented victims by the time they were arrested in early 1979.
Trial
For a time, it seemed as if Buono would escape justice and not have to answer for his crimes. The legal case against him was based largely upon the testimony of Bianchi. The case's original prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office came to feel that Bianchi was too unreliable to be believable and that their case outside of Bianchi's testimony was too weak to be able to secure a conviction. They actually moved to dismiss all charges against Buono and set him free.
Such motions are almost always granted, given that if the prosecutors themselves do not feel there can be a conviction, it is expected there is little reason to bother with a trial. However, in this case, the presiding judge, Ronald M. George, felt so strongly that the prosecutors were in error that he took the almost unheard of step of denying the motion to dismiss. He refused to release Buono, and he reassigned the case to the California Attorney General's office.
Buono's trial would become the longest in American legal history, lasting from November 1981 until November 1983. During the trial, Bianchi, in exchange for a lighter sentence, did proceed with testifying against Buono. As he did so, the original fears of the district attorney's office were realized when Bianchi did make every effort to make his own testimony seem unreliable. However, the jury's verdict ultimately vindicated Judge George's belief that the problems with Bianchi's testimony did not alone destroy the case against Buono. Despite Bianchi's best efforts, the jury convicted Buono on nine counts of murder.
The jury spared sentenced Buono to life imprisonment, with Judge George commenting that that he felt a death sentence would have been the appropriate punishment.
Prison sentence and death
In 1986, after his conviction and while in prison, Buono married Christine Kizuka, a mother of three and a supervisor at the California State Department of Employee Development.[1]
Buono was found dead on September 21, 2002 at Calipatria State Prison while serving a life sentence. Buono, who was alone in his cell at the time of his death, died of a heart attack.
After his death
In 2007, Buono's grandson, Christopher Buono, killed himself shortly after shooting his grandmother, Mary Castillo, in the head. Castillo was at one time married to Angelo Buono, and had five children together, including Chris' father.[2] [3]
In the 2004 film The Hillside Strangler, Buono was portrayed by actor Nicholas Turturro.
