Gay porn star Vito Gallo, née Richard Caswell, flew into a coked-up rosy-hued rage after barging into porn impressario Michael Lucas’s offices and just “started beating people up” — all while wearing a hot pink shirt.
The New York Post really wants you to know that Caswell was wearing a hot pink shirt, as if his “flamboyant attire” was somehow responsible for his outburst.
Caswell, one of Lucas Entertainment’s most popular porn stars — “top four”, claims Lucas himself — has an exclusive three year contract with the studio, making $1500 per film. Upset that Lucas wasn’t giving him more work, the 28-year-old former Navy seaman (all puns intended) decided to take matters — and Lucas’s throat — into his own hands.
The Post reports that security footage caught Caswell bursting into Lucas’s Hell’s Kitchen studio on September 12 and proceeding to “push and strike” Lucas about the neck and shoulders as he tried to call the cops.
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“He just stormed into our offices and started beating people up,” Lucas told the Post. “Several people locked themselves into the editing suite. You had to see his eyes the veins bulging on his forehead. It was scary.”
Not as scary as suffering a sartorial faux-pas on the way to getting locked up, according to the Post. “Wearing pink to jail isn’t ideal,” the 6’3, 9.5″ performer said Monday as he left a Manhattan courthouse after being charged with trespassing. “I got a lot of looks.”
Perhaps a few fans?
Caswell rejected a no jail plea deal, which would have allowed him a charge of disorderly conduct in exchange for attending anger management classes. Should he choose to rein in his rage, he’ll always-ish have a home at Lucas Entertainment. Apparently not holding any grudges, Lucas said he’d welcome the “very good looking” Vito Gallo back “if he goes through very serious anger management and see a pink shrink.”
As for Lucas, he might want to invest in some better security. This is the second time in three months that some trashbag got rowdy in his presence. But in his defense, Nick Gruber was being aggressively straight, so the Post didn’t have to worry about his “flamboyant attire.”
Photos: Lucas Entertainment
middleagespread
Just $1500 per film? I thought they made more than that. Doesn’t seem like a lot of money for what they do. I love to watch porn so this is not a slam against the actors at all. I know bartenders that make that amount in 2 days of work. The actors should make way more than that.
middleagespread
Also, with his looks I’m sure that people were staring at him. He is a very good looking man!!
Richjr42
I thought he stopped doing porn a while back.
QJ201
@middleagespread:
The only one that makes money is porn in the producer…which is why porn “stars” who can raise the cash start their own production companies.
Yes $1500 bucks…the pay has flatlined…Lucas was offering that rate 10 years ago…but he sure does live nicely, very nicely.
middleagespread
@QJ201: capitalism at its worst. Make a lot of $$ off someone else’s starfish.
Spike
@middleagespread: I thought the same, then remembered that these boys only to videos as a means to promote/advertise themselves as escorts, and that’s where they cash in.
Rockery
So…. I’ve seen some of his work
He is perfection. Tall, HOT, fit and his dick is gigantic. Its LONG & THICK.
I love my partner and all, but if Vito came to my door, I wouldn’t be asking for permission, I would be advising him of what WILL be doing
Pistolo
Pretty generous of Michael Lucas to say he’s still welcome back.
I think the emphasis on his attire and his “flamboyance” is probably just a straight journalist intimidated and threatened by the sight of a muscled, fist-swinging gay that can beat people up…even in PINK. Yes, gay men are capable of being aggressive and physically intimidating.
redcarpet
I know you had to be a “big” name to make any kind of real money in porn, but 1500 per film is the high end?! You’d have to do 2 or 3 films a month just to make a livable wage. And we all know the shelf-life of a porn career is not long, even under the best circumstances.
Homeboy better keep his nose clean if he wants any kind of job/income after they can no longer sell his videos. Unless he has a masters degree we don’t know about.
Stache1
@redcarpet: @QJ201: Not to mention that the producers make $ years to come off future sales of the films and stills. If they had a union like regular actors do they’d rightfully get a %.
Charlie in Charge
@middleagespread: I had the same reaction. $1,500 and an exclusive contract? This could of course be one way of getting out of a contract.
TinoTurner
I had a close friend that worked for a major studio years ago…and then he was making $3-4k a film.
Amalgamate
Theyre only paid that much because theyre a dime a dozen-there are hundreds of porn stars who do it for less. This guy is attractive, but most porn stars are.
Amalgamate
he can beat people up because he’s a crazy, drugged out gay guy picking on other gay guys? not sure that follows
Amalgamate
he’s ok-check out GRIND or SCRUFF-there are twenty of this guy on right now
AtlasRich
This stuff can not just be imagined. Too funny. Sounds like the beginning of a porn plot concept!
scotshot
What about the IRS? The last place I’d be honest about my income is online. Who knows who really owns these companies and where the money goes.
GymJockTX
@middleagespread:
I used to date a porn star (if that’s really even possible, haha), and back in 2001-2002 he made about 17 films, almost all of them with the big name gay xxx studios in LA and SF. He was being paid the same back then, $1,500.00 per film, and from what I’ve heard of studios drastically cutting back on porn star salaries these days, I’d say this guy Vito (who is HOT as FU*K, IMO) is doing okay.
My ex-porn star bf/fb (let’s call him “Bo”) told me some funny insider stories. Said that ChiChi LaRue was a blast and a hoot to work for. And that most of the studios had a fairly strict policy about “no drugs” if you want to film with them. Bo was a lot of fun to be around; he was also escorting at the time (which I have no judgment about, I gave it a shot myself for about 2 months way back when), which is sort of common with some of the porn stud stars. I guess if you think about it, making porn films is the ultimate form of advertising for a hot guy, if he wants to ca$h in on his temporary fame and rent his talents out to gentlemen of means.
Bo was a heavily muscled up handsome buck with a bubble butt that looked like one you’d see on an injection molded Ken-doll, and he was proud to identify himself as a “power bottom.” Just could not get banged enough, LOL. He phoned me once after an all day shoot in L.A. to tell me with utmost enthusiasm, “I just now got paid to get fu*ked in the ass all day long by some heavy hanging hot studs today, and now I’m heading out to the Hollywood Hills for a trick, and he’s gonna bang my butt all night long and pay me well for it. Woo-Hoo!!”
Bo was quite a character. Sadly, I lost track of him around 2004, and nobody in the biz on the Coast seems to know what happened to him. If you read this, Bo (former Army Ranger from Dallas, we met by the pool at the CBC Dallas on a Saturday in September, 2000), I’m still in Austin. Hit me up, budd!
–from the Texan who gave you your porn star name, “JS”.
phishy2
Damn!!!! Porn actors should unionize and get something per video sold or played on ppv.
oilgun
Michel Lucas is a douchebag and surely deserved it. The guy is basically an abusive pimp.
LeNair Xavier
@oilgun: YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!!
During my time in porn, I’ve dealt with Michael Lucas. So I know how full of sh*t he is FIRSTHAND. There are stories on my blog to back it up. So you’ll get no argument from me about how Michael Lucas deserves every bit of that attack. And he is, like most porn directors, an abusive PIMP. Hence the ONLY reason he’ll take back Richard Caswell (a.k.a. Vito Gallo). It’s because to Michael Lucas, Vito Gallo is just another cash cow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPhSCTLjhsE
BlogZilla
@middleagespread:
They make those low wages because almost no one pays for porn anymore. Do you know of anyone that pays for porn?
And actually if you are making $1500 a scene or making that per film, you’re doing pretty good. Most of the money doesn’t come from videos anyway for those so called ‘stars’. It comes from licensing, stripper touring, and prostitution (escorting)
EdWoody
I am entirely in sympathy with anyone who wants to beat the living crap out of Michael Lucas.
tardis
Wait? What! 1,500 measly dollars?
MarionPaige
There is a reason why most adult production is done in California. This could all become a little nightmare for ALL involved, including the DA.
And, what are the chances that some reporter for the New York Post just happened to be waiting outside of the court house for Vito AND that that reporter just happened to knew what Vito looked like? Reporters don’t just happen to report on a story because it’s news.
All in all, everyone involved in this matter SHOULD have better things to do. Under New York City Law, it’s not an assault unless someone was hurt, this is why the NYPD will call for medical attention if they really want an assault claim to stick. If no one called for medical attention and no one can prove that they were hurt (particularly when all of the people involved appear to be ADULT MALES), it ain’t an assault.
Durannie
A lot of you have no idea that porn is not making much money these days. If he’s getting 1500/scene he’s doing better than 99% of the models out there. Porn just doesn’t make money any more, or the few studios who can make money off of it have such large, intricate digital distribution deals that they make pennies off of every view and count on massive amounts of paying customers just to make a decent but modest profit. I know because I have a good friend who produced porn for many years and he often would ask me to produce scenes for him since I lived in an area with a large concentration of people (which meant more guys to choose from). The past several years has seen a rise of free content sites, free amateur content, and as always, piracy and file trading. Very few people are paying for porn which translates into fewer videos being made and fewer models being employed. It also translates into less money being paid for a model’s fee. 1500 is a lot to make for a scene these days (the usual is about 500) but as this story points out, he wasn’t working that often. I hear this same complaint a lot from guys who do adult modeling. There’s just not a lot of work out there any more.
This is the reality of this age of free content and people getting bored with porn. Yes, bored. With so much content out there and it being so freely (in all senses) available, I’ve heard a lot of people in the industry say that they think we’re entering a post-porn era in society.
Anyway, just wanted to share a few things so you’ll all understand that while you think 1500 isn’t much money for doing a porn scene, it’s actually at the very top end but he’s lucky if he works several times a year doing scenes.
Cam
The issue is, the courts should probably consider porn the same as other entertainment, i.e. the actors could get residuals for use of their image later.
The problem being, that the Screen Actors guild protects actors, they don’t really have a porn section so the industry is pretty much free to do what it wants.
GymJockTX
If you read my previous comment about my porn star fb “Bo”, I had dinner with him once in Austin in 2002, along with a big muscle daddy, a very hot and well known porn star, also from Dallas, who was gradually easing his way behind the camera as a producer–let’s call him Mark. Mark was a really nice guy, he was easy to like, and had actually opened the door for Bo to get into the business, and helped him with salary advice and tips of the trade, etc.
The three of us had a lot of fun hanging out and having drinks before dinner arrived, and since they were both porn stars, I got to ask some questions about the industry that they were happy to answer. I asked Mark about the unbelievably HOT, handsome HUNG porn star known as Pavel Novotny. I really think PN was/is one of the most unbelievably beautiful male creatures ever to live and breathe( to say nothing of the incredible, ripped muscle bod paired with the considerable endowment he had swinging down below), and since Mark had been paired with him in a film, I asked about him. Mark told me that “X” studio had signed Pavel for 3 films, flew him in from Europe to California, and made the movies back-to-back to make it easier for all parties concerned. Mark, who struck me as a remarkably down to Earth and honest Midwest boy type (though he was a full grown hot man), told me the studio had paid Pavel a lump sum of $7,000.00 for the 3 films, which were lensed around 1999 or 2000, I forget which. One of the hottest of them to me was “Czech Point.” Pavel’s scenes nearly melted my TV screen. Definitely did a lot of slo-motion replays on that film.
I think this is a pretty good idea of what somebody who is indescribably hot and at the very top of their game would be paid. Bo told me that Mark had shared with him that since he was a big name, and a hot looking top muscle stud with a nice johnson, that studios were paying him $3,500.00 per film (vs. Bo’s $1,500)–but again, this was around 2000-2002. The consensus seemed to be that if you were extra hung and had a lot of muscle to boot, the price was upwardly negotiable. It’s all supply and demand in the end.
Bottom line (pun intended): I think “Durannie” posted comments that are right on target. The porn market is saturated, so porn star pay checks have dwindled considerably. And these days, there’s at least 1 web site I know of that allows the customer to view 45 minutes or more of a film in online streaming before making up their mind about a purchase. They have a TON of “semi-straight” films in which HOT HANDSOME HUNG Muscle studs do double dick scenes inside a hot babe’s front and/or back hole, often double penetration, the ol’ double-D–which makes it easy for a gay horn dog like me to get off imagining the two studs doing each other in their off hours, seeing as how they didn’t just cross swords, they ground those big hard babies together inside their “girlfriend”. LOL.
Ahh, the wonderful world of human sexuality. I can still remember when I was a bi-curious straight boy, too. 😀
Fitz
I also feel badly about their pay rate. I am making a commitment, right here and now, to start using escorts more.
Stache1
@Fitz: Wow. You’re a true humanitarian. If only there was more like you.
mpwaite
Well I was hoping that QUEERTY could go one whole day without mentioning that idiot Nick Gruber… BUT I WAS WRONG!!
Durannie
@GymJockTX Last year my producer friend pulled the plug on his sites and went into repackaging his older material for a bit because there’s just no money in this any more. Prior to that, whenever I tried to hire guys, I would get newbies who had read the old stories about what porn stars make and would think that was what they would get, and when they found out what the pay really was, would huffily decline (usually with a nasty remark) only to come back a few months later after they found out that not only wasn’t there a lot of work out there, the pay was exactly what I told them it would be. I also went through this with guys who had previously done porn in the heydays of the late 90s/early 00s (we produced mature men porn) and they would want to film again but wanted their old paycheck, not realizing it’s a different economic landscape in porn out there these days. Filming budgets are smaller all around and if a scene can’t be completed for a little over a grand, performers and crew, then it won’t get made because it will never recoup the cost in a decent amount of time. I don’t know how sites like MEN or Titan still make the videos they do, but I’ve heard rumors that some of them are subsidized and don’t turn a profit. I completely believe it.
As for this new trend in “str8” double vag or anal porn, I think it’s interesting how popular it’s become and for men who are supposedly str8. I really think it’s the visualization of what many men want but are too afraid to admit or pursue: some male touch and pleasure. Even the performers who do these scenes obviously must get some pleasure out of it because I’m not seeing them lose erections and I doubt they’re using caverject. I’ve heard from many people in that side of the industry that off-camera, a lot of those guys aren’t exactly Kinsey zeros or even ones.
halfahomo
The $1,500 per film is probably for all 9.5 inches of him, IMO, he hasn’t got much of anything else of interests. Looks don’t impress me, nor does his cookie cutter model chisled body.
stranded
Oh no, i heart Vito Gallo. OMG especially when he started bottoming. The shit i hear about Lucas, he must deserve some of what he got. Whether he does, or doesn’t come back to porn, I hope the guy gets clean.
Louis
Very good looking but hes another gay dude who looks down on other gay dudes thats pretty obvious most gay guys who look like him are full of themselves narcissistic and arrogant sadly.