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In the summer of 1984, the quiet Long Island town of Northport became the center of one of the most disturbing crimes of the decade.

Seventeen-year-old Ricky Kasso, known locally as the “Acid King,” had developed a reputation for heavy drug use, fascination with Satanism, and increasingly bizarre behavior. Then his friend Gary Lauwers disappeared.

Weeks later, police uncovered Lauwers’ body in the woods.

According to investigators and witness accounts, Kasso had brutally attacked Lauwers while demanding that he profess his love for Satan. Kasso later reportedly interpreted the call of a crow as a sign of Satan’s approval. Within days of his arrest, Kasso was dead, found hanging in his jail cell.

The murder exploded into national headlines and became one of the defining stories of the emerging Satanic Panic. But almost immediately, two competing explanations emerged. Was Gary Lauwers murdered in an actual Satanic ritual, or was this primarily a drug-fueled killing wrapped in occult imagery by a group of disturbed teenagers? Even the Suffolk County district attorney eventually emphasized drugs as the underlying motive, while acknowledging the ritualistic elements of the crime.

In this episode of The 99th Meridian, we trace Ricky Kasso’s descent into drugs and occult fascination, the murder of Gary Lauwers, the strange events surrounding the crime, and the media storm that followed. Then we ask the deeper question: even if the sensational claims of organized Satanic cult activity were exaggerated, does that mean the spiritual forces Kasso was deliberately invoking should be dismissed?

Welcome to The 99th Meridian.

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