‘Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder and the Manhunt to bring the Killers to Justice’ by Andrew E. Stoner and Peter A. Conway
Author: Tom Cardamone
December 22, 2012
Cobra Killer (Magnus Books) details (and I do mean details) the murder of amateur porn impresario Bryan Kocis by self-identified rivals, Svengali Joe Kerkes and his young companion in escorting, Harlow Cuadra. The reason for this horrid crime, the near-beheading and torching of the body, was to untangle young porn star Sean Lockhart from his contract with Kocis, so he’d be free to shoot porn with Cuadra. Unbeknownst to the killers, however, Kocis and Lockhart had just arrived at an amiable agreement. Got it? Crime scenes are typically messy affairs, and true crime writing rarely ascends to the literary coverage of Uncle Truman, much less provides objective reporting on something as divisive as the gay porn industry. The authors of Cobra Killer can be commended on structuring the book in a compelling manner while informing but never judging a often maligned business. Additional kudos can be extended on how well they managed the chapters concerning the trial. Trials are the quicksand of true crime books. The preponderance, the very granular nature, of evidence as well as the cast of characters suddenly introduced, can seriously bog down a book. The same can be said for extraneous moralizing, as if every reader needed a nudge in that direction (though some, without a doubt, do), not that that’s the case here. But what about the story?
Every crime is a hideous stitch that links otherwise previously unconnected bits of community; it is here where the tellers of the tale can rise above the terrible event to show how the players came together, how that community was affected. It might be this very point that elevates reportage to literature, and it’s here that Cobra Killer loses the plot. Cobra Killer lays bare all the particulars, riveting and banal, involving the killing of Bryan Kocis. The action swings from Black Beach to Virginia, Philadelphia, New York and Las Vegas. We also get the complete story of Lockhart’s introduction to porn as well as the resulting scandal once his status as an underage performer surfaced. Even a questionnaire concerning possible prejudices that was sent to potential jurors is included in full. Still, true crime writers have to pluck their WWTCD bracelets and ponder that very question, what would Truman Capote do? Well he’d take forever to finish the book, and contemporary crime writers have to produce while the crime is still fresh in the minds of potential readers, before interest has waned or been consumed by something even more ghastly. So scratch that. But Capote would show you the town. He’d make the people breathe. One of Cuadra’s regular clients was a middle aged Filipino man who lived with his parents while working two fast food jobs. Yet he’s introduced and then hastily forgotten. Details are meticulously recorded, but no characters sketched. Same with murder victim Kocis. Certainly he’s no angel, and humanizing him is more challenging then chronicling his death. It’s stated that Kocis saved his father from a heart attack, but the scene is never painted for the reader, a missed opportunity to show him as more than a pornographer with a penchant for twinks.
One of the authors maintained a meticulous blog throughout the trial, and since this murder is ensconced in the world of gay porn, facets of it are spread across the internet. Readers can supplement chapters with websites, images and video clips galore, highlighting the more unsavory aspects of the genre. When not giving readers Capote-esque chills or exploring deeper cultural issues, ruined lives are displayed as moral car wrecks and we get to drive by slowly, shake our heads, and then speed away.
Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder and the Manhunt to bring the Killers to Justice
Andrew E. Stoner and Peter A. Conway
Magnus Books
Paperback, 9781936833016, 336 pp.
June 2012
