Phillip Paske

Paske was born on June 11, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois. It was reported that his father worked for the city's 33rd ward and that Paske had a violent temper and frequently cross-dressed. Paske was also openly bisexual and had a lengthy criminal record beginning at age 17 in 1971, with convictions for drug dealing, theft, battery, and murder. In a 1992 prison interview with John Wayne Gacy, who once employed Paske, he described Paske as dangerous and stated that he used hard drugs, shared an apartment with a prostitute, and "Child prostitution|pimp[ed] girls, boys, for sex or movies". ==1973 robbery-murder==

On November 7, 1973, Paske, along with Alfred Bone, 20, and Richard Angel, 18, planned to rob 65-year-old coin collector Louis McKerley. The attempted robbery took place at 7 p.m. in a second-floor apartment at 6025 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago, where McKerley was home watching television with his wife. Bone was armed with a knife, and Angel had accompanied him with a handgun. Paske's role was to act as a lookout for any oncoming witnesses. When McKerley opened the door, Bone and Angel asked if he had any coins for sale before forcing their way into the apartment. A struggle ensued, and Bone stabbed McKerley in the chest. All three then fled the scene after McKerley's wife began to scream. McKerley would later succumb to his stab wounds. The three were arrested and charged with murder and attempted armed robbery. Through a plea deal, Paske and Angel's murder charges were dropped; in exchange, they pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery. Both served prison time and afterward were placed on probation. Bone would subsequently plead guilty and receive a sentence of 14 to 20 years imprisonment. ==Child pornography ring==

John David Norman (1927–2011) was a sex offender who ran multiple child pornography and prostitution rings in the 1970s and 1980s. As of 1977 his magazine Hermes had about 5,000 nationwide subscribers. He also had potential links to serial killers Dean Corll and John Wayne Gacy. According to Gacy, Norman produced snuff films of young boys; After his release, Paske registered both his and Norman's names to a Chicago post office box, and the two shared an apartment on Wrightwood Avenue. On his probation record, it is stated in both May and December 1976 that he was working for Norman and was earning $3 an hour. In January 1977, a month after Norman's conviction and arrest for sexual delinquency of a child, an investigator stated that the Delta Project was no longer operating in Chicago, though it had continued operations until a 1979 raid on Norman's apartment. ==Ties to John Wayne Gacy==

The earliest record of Paske working for Gacy's construction business, PDM Contractors, is from 1978, when Paske had assisted in demolition work at a drugstore in Rochelle. It was also reported by Gacy that Paske was fired from his employment under PDM. ==Unrelated murders==

Paske was initially wanted for questioning in the January 19, 1977, murder of Kenneth Hellstrom, 17, of Homewood. He was stabbed six times while walking home from work and died several hours later. Hellstrom had implicated Norman on child molestation charges in 1973, which resulted in Norman being sent to prison for four years. Norman was still in prison at the time of the murder. On February 25, 1979, Michael Salcido, 17, Arthur Salcido, 19, and Frank Mussa, 16, were found dead in a car at 3 a.m. in Chicago. Their throats were slashed in what police described as an "almost ritualistic" fashion. It was suspected that their bodies were placed in the car after their deaths. Michael was a ward of the state who was set to testify in Norman's upcoming trial. ==Later life and death==

Norman relocated his operation to Pennsylvania in 1983 after his release from prison. Paske's activities after this point are unclear; his final arrest was in 1996 for possession of a controlled substance. He died on November 9, 1998, in Chicago from AIDS-related complications. ==In media==

• Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, E7 "David" (2025), played by Brandon McEwan ==Notes==