The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson Page #3

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Justice! Justice! Justice!

[Karla] Sylvia was always very outspoken.

She was unrelenting.

She was... Sylvia was very in-your-face.

Very intense eyes. A slash of a mouth.

A guttural laugh like Marlene Dietrich.

Sylvia was quite the serious one.

She pushed her way to the front line.

"Homes for the homeless!

Food for the poor!

Gay rights! Gay rights!"

[protesters] P!

-[Sylvia] O!

-[protesters] O!

-[Sylvia] W!

-[protesters] W!

-[Sylvia] E!

-[protesters] E!

-[Sylvia] R!

-[protesters] R!

-Tell me what!

-[protesters] Gay power!

-I can't hear you!

-[protesters] Gay power!

A little bit louder!

[protesters] Gay power!

After a while, I think they knew

that they most had to concentrate

on the area

that no one was addressing for them,

and that only they could address.

And that was being transgender.

[Sylvia] Marsha and I thought one day

we needed to do something for our own.

That's where STAR was born.

Street Transvestites

Action Revolutionaries.

[Marsha] Sylvia Lee Rivera deserves

all the credit for STAR.

I was just one of the queens

that was behind her,

like the vice president of STAR.

She knew exactly

what she was talking about.

She was talking about nobody's

representing transvestites, ya know?

The one thing they had in common

which bonded them,

why their name

should always be connected,

is that they helped those

who were on the street,

just trying to live their lives.

And a lot of them got on the street

and ended up hooking or hustling

to make a buck,

and they sometimes had no place to stay.

[Sylvia] Marsha and I started STAR House

to keep the kids off the streets.

To get these kids

get their things together.

STAR was part

of the people's revolution,

and it was time for us to show the world

that we are human beings.

[Victoria] I didn't know Marsha, but I

became very close friends with Sylvia.

Back in the late '60s,

I was going out with Frankie,

who was a bouncer at the Stonewall.

Frankie was always cheating on me,

and he was going out

with Sylvia's best friend at the time.

Sylvia and I didnt get along too well,

so I had lost sight of her for 25 years.

One day I went to a meeting,

and who was there? Sylvia.

She sat right across from me,

and she got up and she says, "I know you."

And I got up, too,

and I says, "I know you, too."

And then this button,

she had it on her left side,

popped out and it just rolled to my feet.

So one of the girls picked it up

and Sylvia says,

"No, give it to her. She's one of us."

And from that moment on,

we became very close friends.

We spoke to each other

at least twice a week.

And she was always there

for me and the community.

And I will never forget that.

When she spoke about Marsha,

there was always a tear in her eyes.

She loved Marsha, and she said that

that was our mother.

What's been going on

with the Marsha P. Johnson case?

There seems to be conflicting evidence

on the last time she was seen.

Randy said he last saw her on the second.

-[Marsha] Thank you very much, doll.

-[man] My pleasure.

[Victoria] And then someone reported

seeing her on the night of the fourth.

And the body was found on the sixth.

So we're gonna ask more questions

of people who knew her

or reported seeing her during that time.

And that's what we're trying to find out.

We'll get to the bottom of it.

Okay.

[line ringing]

[busy signal beeping]

[line ringing]

[automated voice] Please leave a message

after the tone. When--

[line ringing]

[Daniel Massanova] Can I help you?

Yes. May I speak to Daniel Massanova?

That's me. What's the matter?

What's up?

Daniel, my name is Victoria Cruz.

I work for the Anti-Violence Project.

I'm working on a reopened case

from 1992...

-What was the name of the victim?

-Marsha P. Johnson.

Are you talking

about the girl off the water?

Yes.

Yeah, that was Jimmy Abreu's case.

Jimmy is retired like I am from the NYPD.

Okay, you wouldn't happen

to have his number, would you?

No, I don't.

I'm trying to get in contact

with a James Abreu.

[woman 1] I'm not familiar with that.

[woman 2] I don't know that person.

There is nobody here named James Abreu.

[line ringing]

-[man] Daryl.

-I'm looking for a James Abreu.

Yeah, hold on. Jimmy, phone call.

[James Abreu] Hello?

-James Abreu?

-Yes.

Hi, my name is Victoria Cruz.

I'm working for the Anti-Violence Project.

I'm working on a reopened case

on the Marsha P. Johnson case

that was... She was found in 1992

by Christopher Street Pier.

Right.

Can I meet with you

in reference to this particular case?

Definitely not.

Because?

Because I'm retired from the NYPD

and you're calling me at work.

Can we meet outside of your job?

No, definitely not.

I don't want to meet

in regards to anything.

[line disconnects]

He didn't want to tell me

anything about the case.

He doesn't wanna look back.

[James] I can't control

what people say to you.

-I understand.

-I don't know who you represent.

I don't even know

if you are who you say you are.

-Are you a lawyer?

-No, I'm not.

-You a private investigator?

-No.

How about I give you a little advice?

Don't play detective yourself.

Leave this to the people

that should handle it.

[sighs]

Okay.

This is me in '67.

Look at the hairdos. [chuckles]

I was doing shows at the time.

I just loved the stage.

Oh.

I used to do the catwalk in the city

till they found out I was trans,

and then I got booted out.

Back in the '60s, it was against the law

to be dressed in drag.

I was very fortunate

that I was small and petite,

so I really wasn't detectable.

[chuckles] I was very careful

not to get arrested.

X-rated.

This is my beach outfit,

when I had the body. [chuckles]

I had a 24-inch waist.

[chuckling]

I've been very blessed and lucky

that my family accepted me.

As a matter of fact,

my mother was a dressmaker,

and she was very supportive.

This was a friend of mine

who got murdered back in '73.

This is him in drag. Carlos Sanchez.

We never found out who did it or...

Cold case.

They just didn't care.

They were trans.

Outcasts. Society doesn't want them.

I've dealt with those feelings...

my own personal experiences.

-[Kitty Rotolo] Victoria?

-Miss Kitty?

[Kitty] Hi.

-How are you?

-Thank you so much for coming.

Thank you for allowing me to come.

-Thank you.

-Sit, please.

Thank you so much.

-You're more than welcome. Thank you.

-[sighs]

So, I heard so much about you.

[Kitty] And was it good or bad?

-[Victoria] It's all interesting.

-[Kitty] Yes.

[Victoria] How did you meet Marsha?

I was probably 13 or 14 at the time.

I would always pass Sheridan Square Park.

And when I first saw Marsha,

she was just this elaborate,

with feathers and plumes and...

makeup that was never put on correctly.

And Marsha was all,

"Honey, you are fabulous,"

and, "You would make a beautiful girl."

She used to come by

and snatch my hair up on both sides,

and it made me feel so special.

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