Introducing The Burden

Summary

Spotlight: Snitch City Episode: Introducing The Burden Release Date: May 2, 2025

Hosted by The Boston Globe Spotlight Team

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Introduction

In the inaugural episode of Spotlight: Snitch City, investigative reporter Dugan Arnett delves into the murky waters of police informant abuse within a single New York City police department. Titled "Introducing The Burden," this episode sets the stage for a gripping exploration of Detective Louis Scarcella's controversial legacy and the fallout from his alleged misconduct.

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The Rise of Detective Louis Scarcella

The episode opens by painting a vivid picture of Louis Scarcella, a once-celebrated detective whose reputation for solving high-profile cases in the 1980s and 1990s earned him both fame and admiration. Scarcella was often featured in media appearances, including the Dr. Phil show, and was revered by peers and the public alike. As Steve Fishman narrates, "Luis Scarcella had movie star good looks, smoked a cigar everywhere. And he was tough. He seemed like he was the kind of tough cop the city needed" ([03:43]).

However, beneath the facade of a dedicated law enforcer lurked allegations of unethical practices. Scarcella became known as "the closer," a detective skilled in extracting confessions, but this expertise came under scrutiny as questions arose about the legitimacy of these confessions.

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Uncovering Wrongful Convictions

The episode takes a critical turn when a group of convicted murderers, now acting as jailhouse lawyers, begins to challenge Scarcella's involvement in their convictions. These individuals assert their innocence, claiming that Scarcella's methods led to over 20 wrongful convictions. As Frances Robles laments, "He looks like shit now. The poor guy" ([04:47]), highlighting the personal toll these revelations have on those connected to Scarcella.

Dax Devlin Ross and Steve Fishman introduce the severity of the issue, noting that the government has already allocated a record-breaking $150 million in wrongful conviction settlements. The central question posed is whether the efforts to exonerate these individuals will be successful and deeply transformative for the justice system.

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Frances Robles’ Investigative Journey

Frances Robles, a seasoned reporter known affectionately as "Frenchie," is introduced as the person who initially broke the story surrounding Scarcella. Her journey begins in her own challenging upbringing in Howard Beach, Queens, where experiences with racial tension and personal trauma shaped her perspective on justice. Robles recounts a pivotal moment from her childhood that fueled her passion for uncovering the truth:

"Maybe my mother helped send an innocent person to prison. He got seven years. Everybody was in on it. Everybody was in on the game." ([10:24])

Her investigative instincts are further ignited in 2013 when she connects with Derrick Hamilton, an ex-convict turned jailhouse lawyer, who provides her with critical information linking Scarcella to multiple wrongful convictions.

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Derrick Hamilton and the Jailhouse Lawyers

Derrick Hamilton emerges as a pivotal figure in the narrative. Serving time himself, Hamilton has become a self-taught lawyer, leveraging his position within the prison system to aid others in similar predicaments. His collaboration with Robles is instrumental in unraveling the extent of Scarcella's alleged misconduct. As Hamilton passionately states:

"To me, he's no better than a serial killer. Right, because you kill people." ([31:23])

This declaration underscores the depth of betrayal felt by those wrongfully convicted and sets the stage for a larger battle against systemic corruption.

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The Breakthrough: Chewbacca Shakur’s 440 Motion

A significant breakthrough occurs when Chewbacca Shakur, another wrongfully convicted individual, submits a 440 motion—a legal tool used to overturn convictions. Shakur meticulously documents his innocence, challenging the validity of the evidence used to convict him, particularly the testimony orchestrated by Scarcella. Robles highlights:

"Louis Scarcella was notorious in Brooklyn for his, you know, unethical and, you know, framing people, basically." ([15:59])

This motion not only seeks to exonerate Shakur but also serves as a catalyst for reopening numerous other cases tied to Scarcella's investigations.

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Ethical Dilemmas and the Quest for Truth

Throughout the episode, ethical dilemmas surface, especially concerning the delicate nature of prosecuting wrongful convictions. Robles grapples with the moral implications of her interactions with convicted individuals, particularly when reassuring Robert Hill that approaching her may aid his exoneration:

"I said, no, this isn't going to mess up your parole. I said, this is going to get you exonerated." ([21:34])

These interactions highlight the personal and professional risks involved in pursuing such a deeply entrenched issue within the criminal justice system.

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Scarcella’s Defense and Public Perception

Detective Scarcella, confronted with the mounting allegations, vehemently denies all wrongdoing. His public persona shifts dramatically as he becomes either a scapegoat or the central villain in this unfolding drama. As Scarcella asserts:

"I'm a very good person." ([33:18])

Yet, voices like Derrick Hamilton's equate Scarcella's actions to those of a serial killer, showcasing the polarized views surrounding his legacy.

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Conclusion and What Lies Ahead

The episode concludes by setting up the continuing narrative of Spotlight: Snitch City. The investigative team, comprising Fishman, Robles, and Ross, commits to a thorough examination of Scarcella's cases, aiming to uncover the truth and seek justice for the wrongfully convicted. As expressed by Robles:

"These are lies. These are real lives that you're impacting." ([23:23])

Listeners are left anticipating the deeper dives into individual cases, the strategies of the jailhouse lawyers, and the broader implications for police accountability and the justice system.

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Notable Quotes

• Louis Scarcella ([02:50]):

  "I intended [the gun to go off]. What do you want me to? Am I supposed to kiss him?"

• Frances Robles ([10:24]):

  "Maybe my mother helped send an innocent person to prison. He got seven years. Everybody was in on it. Everybody was in on the game."

• Derrick Hamilton ([31:23]):

  "To me, he's no better than a serial killer. Right, because you kill people."

• Frances Robles ([21:34]):

  "I said, no, this isn't going to mess up your parole. I said, this is going to get you exonerated."

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Final Thoughts

"Introducing The Burden" serves as a compelling entry point into the complex and emotionally charged investigation of police misconduct and its devastating effects on individuals' lives. Through meticulous reporting and firsthand accounts, Spotlight: Snitch City promises to shed light on the darker aspects of law enforcement, advocating for accountability and reform.

For those seeking a profound understanding of wrongful convictions and the individuals fighting against a flawed system, this episode is an essential listen.

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Follow Spotlight: Snitch City on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform to continue the journey into the heart of police informant abuse and the quest for justice.

Transcript

[Dugan]

Hi, listeners, it's Dugan. Today we're sharing the first episode of the 2025AMBI Award nominated investigative podcast, the Burden. Produced by our friends at Orbit Media, the Burden tells the story of decorated detective Louis Scarcella, once celebrated for his prowess in solving tough cases. In 1990s New York City, Scarcella becomes embroiled in controversy as a group of convicted murderers turned jailhouse lawyers, who all claim to be innocent, uncover Scarcella's involvement in dozens of cases leading to the release of over 20 individuals he helped convict. But can these jailhouse lawyers get themselves out too? The government has paid out a record breaking $150 million in wrongful conviction settlements. With more to come before we dive into the episode, be sure to follow the burden on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Now. Here's the episode.

[Steve Fishman]

Dax. This is the first story I ever.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Ever heard Louis Scarcella tell the legendary New York detective. Tell me more.

[Steve Fishman]

So Detective Scarcella is with his partner. They're testifying in court. One day. It's lunchtime. The court breaks and Detective Scarcella and his partner decide that this is the moment to track down a murder suspect.

[Louis Scarcella]

We park right here, right here. There was an attack. Italian guy right here smoking a chute. I say, vennet Caven. And I showed him the picture, he looked at the picture, he backed off, and he points to the White House. Lo and behold, a man, 6 foot, 300 pounds comes out of the house. I said, that's him. I said, I'm gonna run him down. I gun the car, screw, reach, jump out. I run over him. I put the gun on him. He's got a Sig Sauer in his waistband, a big Sig Sour. I jump on him, he's going for the gun. I put my Glock to his head and pull the trigger. But the gun's no good. My gun's no good. I dealt with my partner. Shoot him. He's bucking me. He's bucking me like a Bronco I grab him and I knock him to the ground.

[Steve Fishman]

Did you ever imagine that clock goes off?

[Louis Scarcella]

I mean, I intended it to. I intended it to. What do you want me to. He's got a Sig Sauer going for a Sig Sauer. Am I supposed to kiss him?

[Steve Fishman]

Welcome to Louis Brooklyn, where bad guys were around every corner and it was up to Detective Scarcella to protect the people they needed. Me.

[Louis Scarcella]

And I loved doing it.

[Steve Fishman]

Louis heyday was the 80s and 90s. And back then, all New Yorkers, even the most Liberal columnists wanted law and order.

[Frances Robles]

When you have babies being shot in.

[Louis Scarcella]

Their grandmother's arms, people's throats being slit.

[Steve Fishman]

For a $5 vial of crack, I.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Don'T care where those prisons are. I want them sent there for long terms.

[Steve Fishman]

Luis Carcello had movie star good looks, smoked a cigar everywhere. And he was tough. He seemed like he was the kind of tough cop the city needed.

[Louis Scarcella]

He was everybody's idea of the Prince of the City.

[Frances Robles]

He was the guy who solved the hardest cases and made sure the worst.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Killers were brought to justice.

[Steve Fishman]

Luis Scarcella was known as the closer. The one who got the confession. And with that came fame. He was on the Dr. Phil show. No one knows the art of getting confessions better than 29 year veteran new York City homicide detectives.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And he earned the respect of his peers.

[Derrick Hamilton]

Boy, he's my guy. He's my man, you know, he's my friend, a hell of a cop, great detective.

[Frances Robles]

God forbid something happened to me or my family, I would want Luis Garcella to do the investigation. I'd put a lot of trust in him. He looks like shit now.

[Louis Scarcella]

We'll call his shit Steve.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

The poor guy.

[Frances Robles]

The poor guy.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

They beat the balls off of me, you know? That's right. Years later, the Luis Garcello story changed.

[Dugan]

The once decorated detective now stands accused.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Of coaching witnesses, coercing confessions and trading drugs for testimony.

[Frances Robles]

Cracked numerous murder cases in the 80s and 90s. But his techniques have been questioned. And a group of convicted murders says.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

It all comes back to one rogue official.

[Steve Fishman]

And they want their names cleared.

[Louis Scarcella]

Oh, yeah. I'm the devil and disgrace Devil, yeah, yeah. Well, what could I tell you?

[Steve Fishman]

I'm Steve Fishman. I've lived in New York a long time. I've been writing about crime for a long time. As a journalist, I've interviewed cops, prosecutors, criminals. Son of Sam, Bernie Madoff. They opened up to me. I felt I knew a lot about the criminal justice system. So when I heard these headlines about Scarcella, my thought, this cannot be the whole story. Was this really about one rogue cop who, what, hoodwinked? And an entire system?

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And I'm Dax Devlin Ross. Journalist, author, lawyer. I've written about criminal justice for years. I know what it's like to be wrongfully arrested personally. And I'm interested in the people who went to jail and maybe shouldn't have.

[Steve Fishman]

We're gonna go deep. Is Louie a hero cop, a scapegoat or a super villain who helped put away more than 20 innocent men, men who now want revenge?

[Dax Devlin Ross]

I Don't know, man. Maybe they want vindication.

[Steve Fishman]

You know, that's what Luis Scarcella feels he deserves too.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

I'll tell you what, though. We need to know the truth, both about Luis Scarcella and the band of convicted murderers who took him on and about the city.

[Steve Fishman]

We, Storm Cloud are coming, Coming straight to you.

[Frances Robles]

You can't run for shelter. There's nothing you can do.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

From Orbit Media, this is the bur.

[Steve Fishman]

Today on the show the Scoop. You gotta hold on tightly.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Don't you dare let go. All right, Steve, where do we begin?

[Steve Fishman]

We begin with the person who broke the Luis Scarcello story long before you or I got involved. That's Frances Robles, known to her New York Times colleagues as Frenchie.

[Frances Robles]

The Puerto Rican girl known as Frenchie. I do not speak French.

[Steve Fishman]

Frenchie's from Queens, from an Italian neighborhood called Howard Beach.

[Frances Robles]

Howard beach was a astoundingly racist place.

[Steve Fishman]

And growing up there, it taught Frenchie to be fierce.

[Frances Robles]

My best friend in elementary school was Puerto Rican. And so this one kid was like, hey, Puerto Rican, where's the switch lane? And my girlfriend Genevieve and I, we went to his house in sixth grade. We rang the doorbell. His mother answered the door. She was pregnant. She had her belly out to wherever is Anthony home. And she's like, auntie. So he comes and he's. You know, you can see he's kind of looking at us rather suspiciously, like, what are the two Puerto Rican girls that I bully in school doing at my door? And we beat the crap out of him right there in front of his mother.

[Steve Fishman]

This was the 1980s, and Frenchie was in high school, living in a dangerous neighborhood in a dangerous city. One night, her mother was a victim. Her mother was carjacked. A gun was put to her head right in front of their house. And then her mother was summoned to the police station to identify the carjacker in a lineup, the man who'd been arrested in the stolen vehicle.

[Frances Robles]

And the detective puts his right hand on his left arm, and he makes, like, a figure of the number two, you know, holding up two fingers. And he looks at my mother, telling her to choose number two. So my mother goes in there, she looks at the guys. She has no idea who it is. She doesn't remember. It was dark, you know, she had a gun in her face. So she picked number two. I remember thinking, well, screw him. You know, he was driving a stolen car. He's, at the very least, was involved in car theft.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Guilty enough for her.

[Steve Fishman]

Yeah, back then, it didn't matter to Frenchie, if this guy did this crime. But later, Frenchie became a reporter, first at the Miami Herald and then at the New York Times. And their views evolved.

[Frances Robles]

You know, maybe my mother helped send an innocent person to prison. He got seven years. Everybody was in on it. Everybody was in on the game. The cops were in on it. The witnesses were in on it. And the prosecutor probably knew that my mother didn't know who he was and was like, whatever she said. Number two. Number two.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Fast forward to 2013, and Frenchie is at the New York Times. She's itching for a good story, a big story, something that will make a splash one day. She's on a routine assignment when she meets someone interesting.

[Frances Robles]

Was a guy named Derrick Hamilton, who was an ex con who had been kind of like a jailhouse lawyer.

[Derrick Hamilton]

We meet her, an Hispanic woman, beautiful, long hair, you know, made up.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

This is Derrick remembering meeting Frenchy for the first time. He's a bigger guy, broad chest, about six foot two. He's got a single gold tooth in the front and a shaved head, Big presence.

[Derrick Hamilton]

I've been on Queens Boulevard across the street from the courthouse. There was some restaurant there, and we.

[Steve Fishman]

Had dinner talk, and so we're just.

[Frances Robles]

Chatting, and he says, oh, you know, I see that you're kind of interested in this issue of, you know, the Brooklyn DA's office having screwed somebody over. I know a lot of cases in Brooklyn of wrongful convictions. Well, okay. Really? Okay, good. You know, I was kind of in the New York office sharpening pencils, so that seemed like a good idea to me to follow up on that tip.

[Steve Fishman]

So Frenchie brings it to her editor.

[Frances Robles]

And I'm like, oh, I have a tip. You know, there's a lot of wrongfully convicted guys in Brooklyn. And I have a good source. He was a jailhouse lawyer. And so my editor says to me, well, what else do the cases have in common? Like, what connects them? And I was so offended by that question. I was like, well, I don't know, maybe they didn't do it. Like that connects them. Maybe they're all black and the railroaded by the criminal justice system. Like, I just thought it was such a. Such a hoity toity New York Times view of journalism that. That I couldn't just come up with a wrongful conviction. I had to come up with what connects them. So I nod politely, you know, yes, ma'am, and I'm like, I go back to my desk, kind of grumbling under my breath, and I call Derek and I'm all right, well, this editor of mine wants to know what connects these cases. He goes, well, a lot of them are the same cop and his name is Louis Garcello.

[Derrick Hamilton]

There's smoke behind the story.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

That's after the break. Welcome back. Derrick Hamilton was out of prison, but still connected to people on the inside. He's a self taught lawyer, learned the law behind bars, and he was still in the prison grapevine.

[Frances Robles]

So I meet with Derek again. And Derek, you know, it was interesting because he knew some things, but he did not know a lot of things. He told me kind of loosey goosey stuff like he said, oh, that this guy was notorious for using the same witness over and over again. But he didn't know the names of the defendants who had had the same witness testify against them, and he did not know the name of the witness. So I was like, oh, brother, you know, here I am talking this up to my editor like I'm some hotshot who's going to crack this case open, and I got nothing. And I thought, oh, my God, you know, what do I, what am I going to do now? You know, I don't have anywhere to turn.

[Steve Fishman]

So she went back to Derek. She needed the name of that very talented witness. And that's when Derek gives her a legal document. This was a document written by one of his friends still in jail, another jailhouse lawyer. It's called a 440 motion, and it's what you file if you're trying to get your conviction overturned.

[Frances Robles]

So he gives me Chewbacca Shakur's 440.

[Derrick Hamilton]

I probably rewrote that a hundred times because I wanted to make sure that I was saying what I wanted to say.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

This is Chewbacca Shakur. Scarcella helped convict Chewbacca of a double murder, which he says he didn't do. His 440 was impressive. 60 pages of legal arguments written while he was part of a prison law firm. That's right, a law firm formed in prison and run by convicted murderers, all of whom claimed innocence. More on that later.

[Steve Fishman]

Chewbacca and Derek got close in prison. Now Derek urges Chewbacca to talk to Frenchy.

[Derrick Hamilton]

So I called her and she was like, okay. You said Scarcella's a crooked cop. I read your brief. I said, listen, I gave her a list of names, a list of people she could talk to, information that would substantiate that he was a crooked cop. And I remember telling her, you an investigative reporter, go and investigate.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

In that dense document, two pages focused on Luis Scarcella.

[Frances Robles]

He says, in this document, it says something. Something. Louis Scarcella was notorious in Brooklyn for his, you know, unethical and, you know, framing people, basically. In fact, he was known to use the same witness over and over again, a woman named Teresa Gomez. And I'm like, ching, you know, that's it. That's the name. That's right. That's what I've been waiting for. I've been waiting to find out the name of the. Of the. Of the witness.

[Steve Fishman]

So Frenchie has the name. Now she does what a lot of us do when we're hunting for information. She Googles.

[Frances Robles]

That's my big investigative reporting secret. So I Google Luis Scarcella and Teresa Gomez together. You know, I don't know what I thought I was gonna find, and I got a hit. And I'm like, well, this is curious. It was like some random Google forum, a cigar smoker forum, where somebody has asked. I think the question on the forum was, when did you first smoke your first great cigar?

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Okay, so a cigar smoker's forum. Not exactly where I'd expect to find a lead about a crooked cop.

[Steve Fishman]

Exactly. But what she comes across there turns out to be crucial to her understanding of the entire story.

[Frances Robles]

This guy, a man, answers. The first cigar, which truly made me realize how much I was going to enjoy cigars, was smoked in 1988 at a bar on Remsen street in Brooklyn, New York, called Callahan's. The cigar was given to me by a legendary detective of the Brooklyn North Homicide Squad named Louis Garcella. Louis had been the detective on the first two murder cases I prosecuted, both of which featured the same witness testifying against the same defendant for two different murders. The defendant was a dealer named Robert Hill. The witness was named Teresa Gomez, a woman who was even then ravaged from head to toe by the scourge of crack cocaine. It was near folly to even think that anyone would believe Gomez about anything, let alone the fact that she witnessed the same guy kill two different people. And the guy signs it, it's the District Attorney, and he's now a judge.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Here's what I'm wondering. What the fuck? The Assistant District Attorney. He's not the District Attorney, just to be clear about that. Is basically saying that no one should have believed his witness, the one he put on the stand, who happens to be the lone eyewitness in two alleged murders by Robert Hill on two different occasions.

[Frances Robles]

My head mark is probably still on the roof of the New York Times office from my jumping up and down and realizing that I had hit bay.

[Steve Fishman]

Dirt so Frenchy was excited by her discovery. I want to point out, though, that what the prosecutor is saying is that he'd be stunned if a jury believed Theresa Gomez. What he's not saying is that she's lying.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

So Frenchy now has the name of this troubled and troubling witness. And now she's also got the name of the person Teresa helped convict of murder one, Robert Hill, former drug dealer. So, Steve, where does she go from here?

[Steve Fishman]

She goes to prison unannounced to find Robert Hill.

[Frances Robles]

Oh, my God. These are lies. These are real lives.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

More on those real lives after the break.

[Steve Fishman]

Frenchy is waiting in the visitor's room for Robert hill. He's serving 18 years to life. He's not expecting her.

[Frances Robles]

So this guy comes in, he walks with a kid, and he's kind of hunched over, and he has very, very long dreadlocks all down his back. And I see him looking around the room like, you know, I don't see anybody here who's here to see me. And so I raised my hands, and he looks at me like, you know, who the heck is that? You know? But all right, fine. You know, he doesn't have anything better to do. So he sits down. And I'll probably never forget this moment for the rest of my life. I said to him, you know, my name is Francis Robles. I'm a reporter for the New York Times. I'm doing a story on Teresa Gomez. And he just froze, and his eyes welled up with tears. And he said, I've been telling people about Teresa Gomez for 25 years. And I said, well, now somebody's listening.

[Steve Fishman]

But for Robert Hill, talking about Teresa Gomez is not an easy decision. He's about to come up for parole. And one of the things that's drilled into somebody applying for parole is you gotta go in, take responsibility, show remorse. You gotta ask forgiveness. Now, that's going to be hard to do if you're also telling a New York Times reporter, hey, I didn't do it.

[Frances Robles]

And he said to me, is this going to mess up my parole? And I remember I said something that, you know, ethically I should not have said, and I probably shouldn't even repeat that. I said. But I said it. I said, no, this isn't going to mess up your parole. I said, this is going to get you exonerated. And I said something so ridiculous because I believed it.

[Steve Fishman]

That's our Frenchie. She'll save your life at your peril. And Robert Hill, let's face it, he needs his life Saved. So maybe it's worth the risk. Hill starts talking and he tells Frenchie, Teresa Gomez is a liar. Frenchie goes on her way, and soon she's working on a front page story for the Times, one that she hopes will make a splash.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Standard journalism practice is to get a comment from everyone mentioned in a story, especially a high stakes story like this one. She calls the District Attorney's office.

[Frances Robles]

It's like 6:00 that Thursday. And I call the spokesman and I said, I got a 2,500 word article about all these guys, you know, who say that they were wrongly accused. And you know what it doesn't have? It doesn't have a quote from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. Because your quote was so pathetic. I said, so we're going to do a do over. And it's a one question, do over. Do you still stand behind these convictions or not? That's it. We're not going to negotiate a response. We're not going to be like off the record background, upside down, inside out, what's your answer? And so the spokesman said, call you back. Okay, call me back. Say call back. And he said, well, you have to come back to the office tomorrow. We're crying out loud. I go to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, sit down like, all right, what is it? We're reopening all of Scarcella's cases. And I'm like, oh, my God. So I go back to the office and I, I go find the editor, the same person that had originally asked me what connects these cases. And I said, you're, you're not going to believe this. The DA is reopening all of his cases. They're going to go back 30 years. And her eyes welled up in tears. And she said, oh, my God. She goes, these are lies. These are real lives that you're impacting.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Frenchy's story breaks On May 11, 2013, the headline review of 50 Brooklyn murder cases ordered. The story lays it all out how Teresa Gomez says she witnessed six separate murders. Who sees six murders? And Frenchy tells other stories, like Chewbacca's how Scarcella told the court he had made an incriminating statement that Chewbacca says he never made.

[Steve Fishman]

A copy of. Frenchy's story eventually arrives at the prison library.

[Derrick Hamilton]

It got spread around, you know, word went like wildfire. And everybody had their own copy that they took back to their cell.

[Steve Fishman]

By this point, Shabak has been incarcerated for 22 years.

[Derrick Hamilton]

I had a couple of copies. I even mailed copies out to people like, yo, look. So we was excited about it. And I think that that was the first time that I knew. Like, I always thought I was gonna get out. But I knew I was gonna get out. Then.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Chewbacca's friend Derek, the one who set all of this in motion. At first he's pleased when he sees the article. But then he gets angry. This is personal. You see, Scarcello was the cop who arrested Derek for murder. A murder he insists he didn't do.

[Derrick Hamilton]

You gotta understand something, man. My kids grew up without a father. This bastard was able to raise us. This guy is a piece of shit, but he gets to run around like he's God.

[Steve Fishman]

It's Derek and his jailhouse law firm that will lead the charge against Scarcella. With Derek and Louie, it will be a zero sum game. If one rises, the other must fall.

[Derrick Hamilton]

We gotta get at this guy.

[Steve Fishman]

Here's where I enter the story. It was a few years after Frenchie's Scoop. I was a New York magazine journalist back then. I just moved to a new neighborhood in Brooklyn. And on a whim, I decided to open a cocktail bar. I did not have a grand vision. There was an empty space, 224 square feet. How hard could it be? I called it ervs, after my dad. And I loved the place. The neighborhood loved it. The people on the block loved it. Some even worked there. But that little dead end on which Irvs resided, what a block. Old school. Hey, it was like the 90s in New York City, that block. One day there was a guy chasing somebody with a machete. Another day, a guy ran down the block shooting at someone. Fortunately, not a terrific shot. Intellectually, politically, I'm skeptical of the police. I marched in the marches. Their methods sometimes frighten me. But when violence erupted on my block, the block where my bar resided, I needed someone to call. Who else was I going to call but the police? It turned out that Luis Scarcella had spent a good part of his career patrolling my bar's dead end block. And there was a moment I found myself wondering if I needed a tough cop to come in and restore some order so I could run my little business. Later, Louie would come by and he'd offer an appraisal. An appraisal which proved prophetic.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

I remember that bar distinctly. It was where I entered the store. I remember coming there one night, sitting down with you and having the first big conversation about this series.

[Steve Fishman]

I remember that first night you came. And I remember you telling me about your experience with cops.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

To be clear, there's been more than one. So we could be talking about the time I got pulled over twice within about 20 minutes because I had a vanilla Roma air freshener in my rearview mirror.

[Steve Fishman]

Yes, you did. But the one I remember, the one that made an impression on me, starts with a pull up on a scaffold.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

I'm entering my third year of law school. I'm standing on a street corner in Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C. you know, I got my satchel on because at the time I used to wear a satchel and I used to write, keep my poems in my satchel. And I was first starting to grow my dreads. I'm with my buddy who's a student, he was at Georgetown Law, and he decides to jump up on a scaffold and do a pull up.

[Steve Fishman]

Okay.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And. And I think I jumped up and maybe did a pull up with him. And we got down, I turned around and there was a cop. I don't know where the that came from. Just next to us. Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground. And I me, you know, having done two years of law school, at this point, I got, I just, I took CRO. I'm just more like, I haven't violated any laws that you're just going to come in broad daylight and tell me to get down on my. Get down on my knees. I'm not doing that. I don't know what happened. Five more police cars show up and at some point, my friend and I get separated somehow I end up in an alley on my back and I have three or four on me.

[Steve Fishman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

My family has Sunday dinner. I don't show. No one knows where I am.

[Steve Fishman]

I remember hearing that story and thinking, man, this is crazy. Law school students doing a pull up and then end up getting beaten by cops. That's just racism, flat out.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And you'd be right, except for one thing. Those cops who arrested and beat me, they were black.

[Derrick Hamilton]

Wow.

[Steve Fishman]

I did not expect that.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Yeah, most people don't. But for me, what I took away from that is that a cop is always a cop. Always blue. And to cops, I'm a black man. And to be a black man, at least in some spaces in this country, is to be a suspect.

[Steve Fishman]

Well, here's what I can say. We enter this journey through different doors, don't we?

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Yes, we do. And it's gonna be quite a ride.

[Steve Fishman]

Buckle up. In this series, we're gonna look at it all from the inside. We'll get deep on Scarcella.

[Louis Scarcella]

We're here. We're Here in the belly of the beast. But we're here doing what we got to do. And we did it. We did God's work and we did it.

[Derrick Hamilton]

To me, he's no better than a serial killer. Right, because you kill people.

[Steve Fishman]

Dreams.

[Louis Scarcella]

This diary.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Diabolical character that he's been depicted as.

[Frances Robles]

Is just pure nonsense. He had a great reputation.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

We'll enter a crazy world of violence.

[Frances Robles]

This guy runs right down the middle.

[Steve Fishman]

Of 8th Avenue and he's got a gun.

[Louis Scarcella]

Sergeant just, you know, shot him.

[Frances Robles]

He goes down.

[Louis Scarcella]

Oh, my God.

[Frances Robles]

It's like the Wild West.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And we'll hear from the politicians trying to tame it.

[Frances Robles]

I am prepared to do anything to.

[Louis Scarcella]

Take back our streets.

[Steve Fishman]

By night as well as by day. We'll dive into the Brooklyn criminal justice system.

[Frances Robles]

She definitely testified. Isaac Height one day, he's the judge.

[Louis Scarcella]

And he puts his arms around me. He says, we both know who this guy is. We both know he's guilty.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

And we'll follow Derrick Hamilton and his band of convicted murderers who created their own law firm behind bars to take on Scarcella and fight for their freedom. This guy's like God when it comes to criminal law.

[Derrick Hamilton]

Everybody knows how to make emotion. But how many times do you really know what your burden is? Look, man, this is our team right here. This is the AI team. We're gonna work these cases and we're gonna get out.

[Steve Fishman]

And targeting the detective at the center of it all.

[Derrick Hamilton]

I say, damn, that's the same motherfucker that frame me.

[Louis Scarcella]

If I did 1 kg, 1 kg of what they said I did. And you know what I mean by one nanogram? An infinitesimal. If I did one of the things that they said I did, I would have killed myself. I love myself. I'm not gonna kill myself.

[Steve Fishman]

What do you love about yourself, Louie?

[Louis Scarcella]

I'm gonna tell you. I think I'm a very good person.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Yeah, we'll see about that.

[Steve Fishman]

Next time on the Burden. I try to get Luis Scarcella to give it all up. He used to be a talker. Then with the bad headlines, he mostly shut up. Frenchy couldn't get him to talk. But I'm on a mission. Turns out that mission starts with a plunge into the freezing Atlantic.

[Louis Scarcella]

Make sure your bathing suits don't come off today.

[Steve Fishman]

Well, I did it last time.

[Louis Scarcella]

Yeah, it did. Certainly did.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

That's next time on the bird.

[Steve Fishman]

Storm cloud are coming.

[Dax Devlin Ross]

Coming straight to you.

[Frances Robles]

You can't run for shelter. There's nothing you can do.

[Dugan]

Doogan here again. If you enjoyed this episode There are plenty of other episodes from the series that are available to binge right now, so don't miss out. Follow the burden on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now.