#the capeman

Thanks! It's mostly gone.

Today You Learned about Salvador Agron, also called... "The Capeman".

Born in the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, his family moved to NYC when he was young. He became kind of a troubled kid, from seeing his stepmother's suicide as a child, to eventually joining gangs (first the Mau Maus, and then the Vampires). On the way to a fight with a rival gang, he ran into two teenagers who he assumed were rival gang members and he murdered them. For this he was arrested and sentenced to death at the age of 16.

"Wait, that's not much fun for a Fun Fact, Jurakan!" Well, worry not--Agron did not get killed at 16, because while much of NYC wanted him dead, others did not, such as the father of one of his victims, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He also became religious while on death row.

Well, his sentence got reduced in 1962, and he got to live. Hooray! Not only that, he got up to speed on learning, gaining his high school equivalency, and becoming something of a poet. He got published! He got a degree in philosophy and sociology! Now, he did try to escape prison, but was found not guilty after being caught because of mental illness. On November 1, 1979, he was released from prison.

He worked as an activist and counselor for young people, speaking out about gang activity and how it could ruin your life. In 1986, Agron died of pnemonia at the young age of 42.

There was a musical about him, too:

It, uh... okay, it was a flop, and got bad reviews. There was a streamlined version redone in 2010, and that one was better received.

Salvador Agron was a troubled kid turned murderer... but that's not what he ended up as. He was a guy who was able to turn his life around and become something no one would have expected of him: a poet, a college graduate, and an activist helping people make good choices.

Shows I’ve Never Heard Of: The Capeman

The Capeman opened on January 29, 2008. It was a controversial sung-through musical recounting the history of a real-life Puerto Rican killer. Paul Simon conceived the evening and he collaborated with Derek Walcott on the book and lyrics. The Puerto Rican killer was Sal Agron. He was played by different actors at different ages of his life.

Many critics were unhappy with the seeming glorification of murder. Simon was praised highly for his work on the show, and was outwardly aggressive at any negative talk about the rest of the show. The show cost $11 million to produce.