Thursday, August 28th 2025, 10:23:06 pm
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All three stars of the 1955 classic film “Rebel Without a Cause”—James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood—died suddenly and tragically. For decades, Mineo’s death in particular caught the fascination of Hollywood buffs, true crime aficionados, and plenty of conspiracy theorists—for good reason. Depending on who you ask, it’s a story of revenge, salacious Hollywood blackmail, Deep State CIA-linked assassins, or, simply, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Now, the case has become a beacon for criminal justice reform advocates, too, who are calling for the exoneration of the man who went to prison for Mineo’s murder. Lionel “Ray Ray” Williams was a low-level criminal with a long rap sheet in 1976, the year Mineo was slain outside his West Hollywood apartment