DAILY MAIL
By Richard Alleyne
01/29/2014
Raymond Boyer was known as 'Gay Ray' to Obama and his marijuana smoking 'Choom Gang' of privately-educated kids at Hawaiian high school;
Ray was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in 1986, seven years after he supplied the future president and his friends with drugs;
Lover Andrew Devere, a male prostitute, gave police a variety of reasons for the murder
He said surfer Boyer put him down constantly and broke wind in his face;
Court documents uncovered for the first time by MailOnline;
Choom is island slang for pot smoking and group went on excursions to countryside to get high and party, sometimes in Ray’s surf van;
Devere is now living on the mainland after serving his life sentence;
Obama last week said marijuana was no more dangerous than alcohol;
Devere's new wife Elizabeth told MailOnline doing drugs is fine if you are rich and 'have the tools to deal with it' but not if you are poor with problems.
His lover Andrew Devere, a male prostitute, gave police a laundry list of reasons for the killing, including that Boyer, a surfer and unemployed chef, constantly put him down, made him beg for drugs and had a habit of breaking wind in his face.
The full extent of Ray's grisly end and the bizarre reasons for it were set out in mitigation by Devere, who was jailed for life for the murder.
Appeal court documents from 1991, uncovered for the first time by MailOnline, reveal Devere killed Boyer on New Year’s Day 1986 because: Boyer was killing a friend of his by supplying that friend with drugs; Boyer embarrassed Devere and put him down in front of other people; Boyer had developed a habit of farting in Devere's face; Boyer once attacked Devere with a knife, slicing Devere's finger; Boyer made Devere beg for drugs.
Obama has never hidden his drug taking youth and recently put on record that he felt that marijuana was no worse than alcohol.
It was even known that 'Ray' had been murdered but only now can the MailOnline can reveal the full tragic story of his life.
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Experiments: Obama,
18, who was only just beginning to explore his black roots – having
been brought up by his white grandparents – was a leading member of a
group called the Choom Gang
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Mama Mia Pizza restaurant, which also had a bar, was at the centre of a thriving university scene in Honolulu during the counter culture days of 1979.
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Unlike Bill Clinton Obama inhaled and now openly admits it |
Boyer, 30 at the time, lived the archetypal hippy existence, sleeping in an old bus with two pet monkeys, and enjoying in full the promiscuous and hedonistic lifestyle of the gay community on the Pacific island.
He also dealt drugs to friends - and it was through supplying marijuana that he came into contact with the young Obama, known as Barry, who was attending Punahou school nearby.
Obama, 18, who was only just beginning to explore his black roots – having been brought up by his white grandparents – was a leading member of a group called the Choom Gang.
Choom is island slang for pot smoking and the group went on excursions to the countryside where they would get high and party, sometimes in Ray’s surf van.
The gang, whose other passions were beer and basketball, even made up rules about the smoking of 'bud'.
One of them was that you skipped a turn if you did not inhale properly and the other, a favorite of Obama, was that you could grab an extra drag of a joint if you elbowed in and shouted 'intercepted'.
'Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated,' Tom Topolinski, one member of the Choom Gang, told Maraniss.
Ray, although older, was an integral part of the gang, known for his ability to 'score good bud' and drive them up nearby Mount Tantalus to party.
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Andrew Devere sentenced to life |
While the other members of the gang went onto university and careers as lawyers, writers and businessmen, Ray’s wild life was just beginning to unravel.
He lost his job at Mama Mia’s and lived above a car repair shop in a rundown area of downtown Honolulu.
This was to be his undoing.
As he slept on New Year’s Day 1986, Devere, upset with Ray’s treatment of him, eretook a claw hammer and literally beat his brains out. His body was not found until eight days later.
Devere said that he had meant to shoot Boyer but could not get a gun and was planning to kill him at night but he fell asleep. He finally bludgeoned him to death the next morning.
Devere, who jailed for life for the murder but released in 2007, has since moved to the mainland.
He now has a wife and although has since been convicted of minor drug offenses holds down a job.
He is too traumatized to talk about his old life but his wife, Elizabeth, told MailOnline that the gruesome episode was a warning to anyone.
'He survived by being a prostitute. I think drugs affect people in different ways. It depends how you are brought up.
'If you have the right tools to deal with them then it’s okay. But if not they definitely subtract from the good.'