LOS ANGELES — Ed Buck, once a fixture of West Hollywood’s political scene, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for drug and sex crimes that led to the overdose deaths of two vulnerable men.
To the outside world, Buck before his arrest was a champion of causes such as fur bans and AIDS awareness, and a donor to Democratic officeholders.
But behind the walls of his Laurel Avenue apartment was a nightmare. For nearly a decade, the wealthy, white Buck lured young Black men at the lowest points in their lives — homeless, addicted, resorting to subsistence-level sex work — into what he called “party and play” sessions.
