The 13 defendants lived in various places in the Montrose - - Covenant House, motel
rooms, outdoors, in abandoned buildings, five or six together in low-cost efficiency
apartments - and subsisted on four-for-a-dollar Ramen noodles. They spent their days at
HIPY, their nights in the clubs.

And they have the standard case histories: One was born in prison; another spent three years trying to pass the ninth grade, reported an employment history of a week and a half at McDonald's and, according to court documents, "used virtually every type of drug at least once... [stating] 'marijuana to me is like eating.' "

Yet another has a past of auto theft and assault and once broke into a doughnut shop and emptied out the cigarette machine. Some have known each other a while; others, just days, traveling by car from Alabama to Seattle and breaking down in Houston, ending up in Montrose.

They have nicknames like Wolf, Crystal and Tears, and some of them were - or
pretended to be - gangsters, drag queens, drug dealers, tres (male prostitutes), vampires Like many in the Montrose street scene, they defined themselves and their lives by Anne Rice, Stephen King, "Jeremy," The Outsiders and Happy Days reruns. They lived the street life, though in an environment so saturated with pop culture, it seems less likely they constructed their own lives than played characters in their private versions of The Streets of Montrose: The Movie.

Alex says he sent his people to get Meinecke, and they brought him back to
his apartment.

"I basically told 'em like this: 'We're gonna kill him,' and they were like 'How?' Alex
says. was like 'Don't worry about that - I got it under control,' and when you're in a
leadership position, you can't just sit there and say, 'Well, I don't know; because that
makes you look like a piece of shit.

"And everybody was like 'OK, we can do it.'

"I said, 'Rudy,' and he said [imitates meek voice], 'Yeah, Alex?' and that crumbled me
right there, my heart melted. He was like 'Yeah, Alex?' And he has just the neatest way of saying my name."

Alex claims he told Meinecke, "Lost Boy wants me to kill you," and Meinecke started to
cry.

"Instant fucking tears," Alex says. "He looked at me, he started crying; he said, ' 'Sir,' I
said, Rudy, don't call me sir. Whenever Rudy gets in a situation where he's, like, totally
fuckin' scared, he starts calling people sir and ma'am."

Alex says that when Lost Boy arrived at the apartment, Meinecke was placed on a stool
with his hands tied behind his back. Then, Alex says, both he and Lost Boy * beat
Meinecke until he agreed to prostitute under Alex's direction.

Alex says he told Lost Boy, " 'Look, if you give him some time or whatever, turn him
over to me, I'll have him out here on the streets, I'll have him tricking and everything, I
got some clients lined up, some big-time paying clients.' I said, 'He can at least pay you
$500 a week.' "

Alex says that he later sent some of his people with Meinecke to HIPY to do laundry,
telling them to keep an eye on him. At HIPY, Meinecke told Tracy Brown he had been
beaten by friends of a drug dealer. Brown called an ambulance, and Meinecke was taken
to Ben Taub Hospital. When Alex heard about this he assumed that Meinecke or his
girlfriend had ratted on the group. That night, Dec. 19, Meinecke left Ben Taub Hospital
and again ended up in Alex's apartment Alex claims Meinecke came to the apartment on
his own; court records say he was abducted - - where he was held for another two days.

Alex says that he had now wasted two weeks of his life dealing with Meinecke and that
he was tired of caring.

"Rudy's sittin' there like Chuck Chill-out," Alex says. "I was hysterical then. I said,
'Rudy, don't fuckin' make a move.' He was scared. He was looking at me. I was like
'Rudy, don't make a move, don't breathe.' At that time I think he actually quit breathing,
because he was like [simulates someone holding his breath].

"I laid down in my bed, laid back and relaxed. I told Rudy, 'Rudy, stand on the fuckin'
rug.' I have a rug, I have a special rug when shit hits the fan. 'On the rug,' And everybody was like 'Oh, no... you on the rug now, Rudy.' "

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