It was on this day 43 years ago, February 2, 1979, when Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious was found dead of a heroin overdose in New York City. The day before, the rocker held a party in Greenwich Village to celebrate his release from Riker's Island prison, during a 55-day stay during which he supposedly took part in a drug rehab program, on $50,000 bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who died less than four months earlier. It was at that party where he did the heroin. Vicious initially confessed to the murder, saying “I did it … Because I’m a dirty dog”, before retracting his statement, saying he had been asleep when it happened. He had taken 50 Tuinal barbiturates. Many have speculated the whole tragic episode was the result of a botched suicide pact, the couple romanticised as punk’s very own Romeo and Juliet. Some conspiracy theorists have suggested Vicious was framed for Nancy's murder and was later killed by an assassin to cover the tracks. In Alan Parker's book Too Fast To Live the real culprit was a well-known New York actor called Rockets Redglare, who was a drug dealer in the 1970s. The book claims that Redglare, who was supplying drugs for Vicious, and who brought drugs to the hotel room hours before Nancy's death. A police report said that Vicious had been unconscious on drugs from 3am until 9am while Spungen died between 5am and 9am. At the same time all the cash from their room had been taken. Supposedly, Redglare wanted to cover his tracks after killing Nancy by then taking out Sid. After arrest, suicide attempts and jail, Vicious died on February 2nd, 1979, at the age of just 21.