How Gianni Versace and Andrew Cunanan met before murder

The life of Andrew Cunanan was shrouded in mystery, with few people truly knowing the man who murdered Gianni Versace.

In the premiere episode of American Crime Story, viewers were exposed to some of the many lies he told friends and strangers, along with a few shocking truths.

And none is more shocking than the fact that Versace and Cunanan had met at a San Francisco gay club in 1990, and by all accounts had a cordial conversation.

Seven years later, the friendly young man Versace met in The Golden Gate City would shoot him dead on the steps of his Miami mansion.

Operatic: The night Gianni Versace and Andrew Cunanan met is seen in the premiere episode of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace (Edgar ramirez and Versace and Darren Criss as Cunanan above)

Recreation: The pair met in 1990 at the San Fransisco gay club Colossus according to two eyewitnesses, who spoke with Maureen Orth for her book Vulgar Favors (Ramirez as Versace above)

Deadly friend: Versace, who was in town designing costumes for openingf night of the opera, made his way over to Cunanan, and said: ‘I know you. Lago di Como, no?’ (Criss above as Cunanan)

The depiction of how Cunanan (played by Darren Criss) came to meet Versace (played by Edar Ramirez) in American Crime Story is fairly close to how it was presented in the source material for the series, Maureen Orth’s book Vulgar Favors.

Orth spoke to two people who saw Cunanan with Versace at Colossus, a popular San Francisco gay club.

Versace reportedly stopped by the club for three straight weeks on Saturday nights while he was in the city designing costumes for the opening night of Capriccio at the San Francisco Opera.

And one at least one of those nights, and possibly two, he was seen chatting with Versace.

The first source Orth spoke to about this was Eli Gould, a friend of Cunanan’s and high-profile lawyer who said he was with Cunanan the night he met Versace.

The two men were in the VIP section at Colossus when Versace walked in with his entourage.

He later made his way over to Cunanan, and said: ‘I know you. Lago di Como, no?’

Slain: Cunanan would shoot Versace dead on the steps of the designer’s Miami mansion seven years later after a cross-country killing spree

Final look: Versace was just 55 at the time of his death, and days away from taking his compnay public

Orth writes that this was how he would strike up conversations with strangers, and that Cunanan made no attempt to correct the famed designer.

‘Thank you for remembering, Signor Versace,’ said Cunanan, and he made small talk with the designer before Gould said the two went down to the dance floor.

Eric Gruenwald, another attorney, claims he too saw Versace and Cunanan speaking at the club one night, though it is unclear if that was the same night he was with Gould or another evening.

The rest however, was all a lie, with Cunanan’s claims that he accompanied Versace to opening night of the opera and claims that the two had dinner together once a year nothing more than a fantasy.

That fantasy eventually turned fatal, and the aftermath of Versace’s murder can be seen next Tuesday on American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

VERSACE FAMILY ATTACKS TV SHOW ABOUT GIANNI’S MURDER

As we have said, the Versace family has neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV series about the death of Mr. Gianni Versace, which should only be considered as a work of fiction.

The company producing the series claims it is relying on a book by Maureen Orth, but the Orth book itself is full of gossip and speculation. Orth never received any information from the Versace family and she has no basis to make claims about the intimate personal life of Gianni Versace or other family members. Instead, in her effort to create a sensational story, she presents second-hand hearsay that is full of contradictions.

As just one example, Orth makes assertions about Gianni Versace’s medical condition based on a person who claims he reviewed a post-mortem test result, but she admits it would have been illegal for the person to have reviewed the report in the first place (if it existed at all). In making her lurid claims, she ignores contrary information provided by members of Mr. Versace’s family, who lived and worked closely with him and were in the best position to know the facts of his life.

Gianni Versace was a brave and honest man, who engaged in humanitarian work for the benefit of others. Of all the possible portrayals of his life and legacy, it is sad and reprehensible that the producers have chosen to present the distorted and bogus version created by Maureen Orth.

The Versace family will issue no further comment on the matter.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk