The Playboy Murders: What happened to Roy Radin? Details of The Cotton Club Murder explored

The 1983 kidnapping and murder of the American show business promoter and struggling film producer, Roy Radin, came to be known as The Cotton Club murder as the case was reported in media outlets. The 33-year-old Roy Alexander Radin went missing on his way to a meeting in Beverly Hills on May 13, 1983, while he was in a limo with Karen Greenberger.

His remains were found in June 1983 in California and the investigation led to the arrest of four individuals - Karen Greenberger, Robert Lowe, William Mentzer, and Alex Marti. Roy Radin was also previously accused of beating and r*ping Melonie Haller for refusing to partake in sadomasochistic s*x games.

The Playboy Murders Season 2 Episode 6 titled Horror in the Hamptons showcases the widely covered case of Haller as it airs on February 19, 2024, at 10 p.m. EST.

The synopsis reads,

"Actress Melonie Haller is poised for stardom after appearing in the television series "Welcome Back, Kotter" and a pictorial in the March 1980 edition of Playboy; eager for her next role, she goes to a party in the Hamptons that takes a violent turn."

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Who was Roy Radin? Details explored

Roy Radin was born on November 13, 1949, to the Broadway promoter, Al Radin. The high school dropout, Radin started with publicity work at the age of 16 and went on to sign George Jessel and J. Fred Muggs as part of the first traveling show. Roy Radin was a millionaire by 20 with billings of the vaudeville shows under his name.

While the tickets for the creatively financed shows were sold for local causes, New York State Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz found out in 1975 that only 27% of the funds were forwarded to charity. During the late 1970s, Radin started including musical acts by fading music artists and bands along with his comedy shows.

His first shave with infamy happened when American actor and model, Melonie Haller, reported being brutally beaten and r*ped at the film producer's 72-room Southampton mansion named Ocean Castle. Haller said that she was forced to participate in s*x games and beaten when she refused to take part, per the Los Angeles Times.

Roy Radin pled guilty to charges of illegal possession of a handgun. He was fined $1,000 and put on three years of probation. Melonie Haller's date to the dinner party at Ocean Castle, Robert McKeage, also pled guilty to charges of assault and served 30 days in jail.

Roy Radin's last move in his career was to break into the television industry by funding Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club. Radin was introduced to film producer Robert Evans (The Godfather) by Karen Greenberger, Evans' girlfriend, and the two were slated to launch their own production house with the release of The Cotton Club, per the New York Magazine.

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What happened to Roy Radin? Details explored

Roy Radin had been suffering financially as he had been neglecting his live tours. At the same time, Radin had been working hard to have The Cotton Club funded. The 33-year-old Radin was on his way to a meeting in Beverly Hills when he was reportedly kidnapped. Per the New York Times, he was last seen getting into a limo with Karen Greenberger, also known as Elaine Jacobs, around 7 p.m. on May 13, 1983

His heavily decomposed remains were found by a forest ranger and beekeeper in Gorman, California on June 10, 1983, in a creek bed in Copco Canyon outside Los Angeles. The body came with a bullet wound on his head.