Does anyone else remember murderer Jack Henry Abbott? He was sprung from prison by Norman Mailer AND Bill Buckley because he was “a changed man.” In less than three weeks he killed a waiter over “poor service” and Mailer and Buckley shrugged and said “Ooops!” Last I heard the poor waiter is still dead as Mailer and Buckley are and scumbag Abbott is in prison where he always belonged.
I think you are thinking of Edgar Smith, concerning Buckley.
Abbott hanged himself in prison in 2002. It’s true Mailer championed Abbott. But Buckley was never associated with him, since he’d learned his lesson years earlier by cultivating a friendship with another criminal, Edgar Smith, which Buckley later came to regret. In any case, Buckley got involved with Smith because he thought the man might be factually innocent, which was never the case with Mailer and Abbott.