WEBVTT - Episode 1: The Right Guy 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.119 It's two thousand and one fifty miles southwest of Chicago, 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:14.400 Joliet Penitentiary, ring a bell it should it's the prison 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:19.919 from the opening scene of Blues Brothers, Prisoner number n 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.520 eight one seven one seven. Lee Harris is tense. He's 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.720 waiting on a new selly. Lee's had his share over 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.960 the past decade, and it's always a craft shoot a 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.600 space seven feet by four feet with a bunk bed 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:38.640 and an open toilet, intimately shared with another convict. There's 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.840 a few ways this could go as far as Lee's concerned. 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.880 Ain't none of them good? You can be sure Lee 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.800 did not expect someone like Robert Chatler to walk in 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:52.440 on the outside. These men would have never crossed paths. Lee, 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.960 a black man and career scammer raised in Chicago's most 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.200 notorious projects, Now pushing fifty. Robert, white Jewish kid from 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.520 the suburbs, half his age, an odd ball who sought 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:09.399 solace rescuing insects and animals. How was this gonna work? 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.200 In short order? Robert would drive Lead to his wits end. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.759 He chained smoked from sun up to sundown, all while 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.840 playing radio dub beetles cassettes on repeat. Lee hated smoking, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.320 and let's just say the Beatles weren't exactly his flavor. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.559 But all of that would fade away because on that day, 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.639 Lee Harris was about to meet his future best friend, 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:38.920 brother from another and the key to his freedom from 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:43.840 iHeart Podcasts. I'm Dax stelin Ross and this is crying wolf. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:54.960 White victim, female, pretty wealthy black defendant. I mean, as 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.640 soon as I saw it, I'm like, fuck me, this 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:58.440 is gonna be bad. 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.720 He says the police are his friends, and then that's it. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:01.800 They turn on it. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.600 I get nineteen years killing somebody I have never seen. 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:06.440 They got the wrong. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.480 That at Lee's mouth was Lee's downfall. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:09.720 Along with dirty call. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.760 There's a list of police officers who deserve a special 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.120 place in hell. As I walked down the hostage, ban said, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:17.799 my home. 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.760 Address up came from the world of How the Techniques? 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.840 Why didn't be a restaurant of grant right now? 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:25.880 How do you want? 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:27.519 Don't you fear? Guys? 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:32.799 I realized from the beginning killed Dana Fidler and that 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.519 person's still up here. 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:49.720 Episode one, The Right Guy. It's the late eighties. Paula 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.080 Abdul and Public Enemy are in heavy rotation on MTV. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.160 Michael Jordan has yet to win a title. Some think 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.480 he never will. Oprah is still on our way to 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.840 becoming an afternoon I. Lee Harris is thirty something living 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.120 in Chicago's Near North Side. He's got a little boy 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.760 he can't wait to teach the intricacies of softball. His 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.960 own prospects aren't so bright. By his own admission, he's 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.799 a petty crook running out of hustles. The one thing 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.160 Lee does have going for him, besides his son, The 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.840 thing that sets him apart is his charm. He could 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.359 and would talk to anyone. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.880 I remember him walking up to us. You'd see a 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.440 crew and it'd say, Hey, how you doing. Oh hey, 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.359 mister Jordan, what you guys doing here? 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.839 That's Bob Jordan, And if you're from Chicago, you might 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.520 recognize his commanding voice. Bob's a news veteran with a 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.280 career spanning six decades. Back in the eighties, he was 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.080 a general assignment reporter for the TV station WG in Chicago. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.320 Every day he'd gather his film crew and had to 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.440 cover the city's biggest story of the day. 0:03:55.360 --> 0:04:00.560 Lee was not afraid to step out and be seen 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:05.280 be recognized, be known. If we're out doing a story, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.880 we'd want to find someone whom we could interview and say, 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.920 you know, what's the problem of the day. People are 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.520 many times afraid of a camera crew. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:21.080 But Lee wasn't. Living in the projects meant the media 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.680 was usually there for one of two reasons, drugs or violence, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.640 and often both meant they were looking for a good SoundBite. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.200 For some residents, the site of reporters prompted a bline 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.480 in the opposite direction. Being so amenable made Lee stand out. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:39.719 He stood out for other reasons too. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.159 I've been trying to think of words to describe him. 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:49.720 Impetuous is kind of a word, because he was outside 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:57.240 the norm. He was probably smarter than the average kid 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:02.080 he ran around with because he knew how to work 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.120 the system. And if I do this and do that, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.599 I can game the system. I might be able to 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:14.640 use it to my advantage. But he was unpolished. He 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:20.600 was vulnerable to his own recklessness. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.559 The same unabashed approach Lee took with journalists like Bob 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.800 Jordan extended to local beat cops too. 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.000 He was very affable, he was very friendly, he was 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.760 very you know, he respected as we were the police, 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.520 but we respected, you know, we had different lifestyles. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.200 This is Mary Siwak and her partner Joseph Roberts Signoretti, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.159 but he also goes by Bob. Back in the day, 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:51.720 Lee was a recurring character on their beat. 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.760 He's a scam artist. There's an alley off of Rush Street. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.640 They call it drug Ali Lee. He would shell fake drugs, 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.120 burn eggs. 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.400 You know the number dried herbs instead of weed. A 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.839 regano meant whatever a hustler can entice some thrill seeking 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:10.160 inner city tourists with. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.440 And all the suburbanites would go across and walk, you know, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.760 so a black guy coming up and telling, you know, saying, hey, 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:19.240 do you want anything. 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.680 And more often than not they'd fall for it. But 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.240 once a sale was made, real drugs or not, Bob 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:27.120 would have to step in. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.600 Sorry, Lee, you're gonna have to go to jail or 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:32.960 or sometimes I just shag him out of there, and 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.800 you tell him get out of here because you don't 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.520 want to hassle with them and bring in and stuck 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.200 while he did, don't want to touch them, you know. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:43.880 So it was a funny kind of dance back then 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.360 between Lee and the police. Sometimes after a sale, Lee 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.400 would hang around to get arrested on purpose. A tip 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.960 to the precinct with his cop piles could be more 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.160 pleasant than the wrath of a returning customer. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.560 But if he didn't do what he did, then we 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.479 wouldn't do what we did right. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:01.279 He was job security. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.800 This love hate triangle between locals, the press, and the 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.440 police could have typified daily life in any project. But 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.040 Lee didn't live in just any project. He lived in 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.560 one of the most infamous of them all, Cabrini Green. 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.000 You've likely heard of Cabrini, even if you couldn't point 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.240 to it on a map. I certainly couldn't. It's where 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.200 the Colthood horror candy Man was set. It's had countless 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.120 mentions in Chicago rap, and it was the backdrop for 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.960 the classic black sitcom Good Times from the seventies. The 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:40.280 title it was ironic in case you're wondering. When the 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.040 first Kabrini rowhouses and towers went up in the nineteen 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.360 forties and fifties, they represented optimism, the potential of public 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.960 housing to provide quality homes for all. It was certainly 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.160 a step up from the slum land it replaced Little Hell. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.440 The locals used to call it, who at the time 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.800 were a mix of Irish, Swedish and Italian immigrants. But 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.120 by the nineteen eighties, when Lee lived there, things had 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:09.000 changed a lot. The projects had become a new kind 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:13.800 of poverty, poverty of gangs, drugs, and violence, and Cabrini's 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.000 buildings were now exclusively housing black residents. 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:19.480 Most of the police officers didn't want, even want nothing 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.280 to do with Kabrini, but it's wild. 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.120 There was a different world. Crack cocaine was rife, controlled 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.280 and fought over by the Mickey Cobras or the gangster disciples, 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:33.000 some of Cabrini's most notorious gangs. Oddly enough, none of 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:34.199 that phased Bob Ora Mary. 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.120 We got along with all the gangs, the ones that 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.640 hated and shot at each other. We were like their 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:46.439 aunties or something. So it was an unusual relationship we had, 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:48.360 and Lee was one of those people. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.760 To be clear, Lee was not in a gang, a 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.680 gang banger, as they used to call it. What's interesting, though, 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.520 is that he somehow managed to get along with them all. 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.880 He wasn't afraid of being seen. He also knew how 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.880 to disappear into the crowd. Make himself invisible or if 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:11.040 nothing else non threatening. More than anything, Lee was a survivor, 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.040 which meant being both nothing in particular and a bit 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.400 of everything. This showed up in his various occupations. Being 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.040 that Kabrini was right next door to some of Chicago's 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.840 most affluent neighborhoods, Lee would sometimes dabble in more legitimate pursuits, 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.320 like window cleaning for the luxury high rises, and when 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.400 window washing and burn bags didn't cut it, there was 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.360 always a quick buck to be made sharing information with 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:35.920 the cops. 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.280 We would talk to him about things, Hey Lee, do 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.359 you know about this or that? Or we say hey Lee, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.319 if you hear about anything. 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:50.040 But an inexplicable tragedy a mere few blocks from Kaberni 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.400 was about to shake up the natural order of things 0:09:52.800 --> 0:10:07.960 and send chills throughout the whole of Chicago. How people 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.520 endure Chicago winters has never made sense to me. A 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.480 place that hovers between bone cold and brick for months 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:21.840 on end. Then you experience the summer, and suddenly it 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:30.160 all makes sense. Chicagoans live for the summer. It's when 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.880 the city exhales, when the frozen shorelines of Lake Michigan 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:38.400 thaw into tanning mecchas dotted with beach bums and fitness diehards, 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:43.439 and by night becomes stages for music, fireworks, and joy. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.160 Summer in Chicago isn't just a season, It's a resurrection. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:53.360 Summer nineteen eighty nine was no different. Then came the 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:59.520 night of June eighteenth. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.840 A twenty four year old woman lies in a coma tonight, 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.360 the victim of an execution style shooting, apparently near her 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:07.400 home on the Gold Coast. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.800 Dana Peitler was smart, attractive, from money as promising as 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.760 they make them in America. She had just completed an 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.640 internship at one of America's top banks and was about 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:22.000 to begin graduate studies. Moments after returning home from a 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.520 night out celebrating with friends, she's forced into a nearby alley, 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.000 shot in the back of the head, and left for dead. 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.000 The motive is unclear, although police find two ATM receipts 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.880 in Dana's wallet. The time stamps indicate the withdrawals happened 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:43.280 after she had returned home. Patrol cop Mary Siwac remembers 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:43.959 it well. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.800 She's from wealthy family down in the Gold Coast, right 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.400 by Astor Street, which is the biggest money street where 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:55.040 the governor lives, you know, right where all the concentration 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.320 of money is. So is a heater case. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.719 It was an instant heater and yes, it's exactly what 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:06.040 you think it is. The heat was on. This kind 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.360 of thing just didn't happen on the Gold Coast to 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.840 a white woman. Not only was it one of the 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.120 richest neighborhoods in Chicago, it was one of the richest 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.880 neighborhoods in the entire country. Reporter Bob Jordan lived there 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.880 around that time. He could attest to its bona fides. 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:27.960 There was an air of security and you never felt 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:34.400 ill at ease. So when Dana is discovered in this alley, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:44.959 it was a tremendous story because it broke the calm. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.480 The Dana Fightler case becomes a real life horror story 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.239 that everyone is following. The media descend daily on Northwestern 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:56.720 Memorial Hospital to get updates from Dana's neurosurgeon, and alongside 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.120 fears for Dana, Chicago's residents have worked themselves into a 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.679 kind of moral panic. ATMs are still a weird new 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.360 invention in the eighties, Was this new technology safe? What 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.280 was being compromised in the name of convenience. We found 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.400 some TV footage from the time where a police superintendent 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.360 no Less tells a reporter armed police won't use them. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.600 What in the devil are you guys doing standing at 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:23.200 an ATM. And to top it all, tongues are wagging 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.760 about the perpetrator. Surely this crime had been committed by 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.400 a black man and was it only money he was 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:36.360 after first days, then weeks pass and Dana holds on, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.160 The city holds its breath. The police chase down leads 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.800 to feed up the chain of command. The media scramble 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.800 for tidbits to satiate its audiences. Bob Jordan had a 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.000 front row seat to it all. As news crews. 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:54.160 We were in the area doing that story daily, trying 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.240 to do updates, trying to find ways to work the 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.960 story with new angles and that sort of thing. 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.840 Then out of nowhere, a woman who was out walking 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.680 her dog the night of the incident comes forward. She 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.760 has some vital new information. Moments before the attack, she 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.000 saw Dana being led down the street by three men, 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:20.080 three black men. After weeks of waiting for a break, 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:25.560 the CPD finally has something and then just as news 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.680 from the witness becomes known, Dana's family makes an unusual move. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.920 They put up a sizeable reward. Might the promise of 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.040 hard cast shake loose some new leads, jog a few 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:43.160 memories The fightler's one answers, so does the city. 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:49.360 When the mayor is getting static from his constituents, then 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.080 he calls the police chief and says, what the hell 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.240 is going on with this fightler story? How close are 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.960 you in getting this wrapped up? And then the police 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.840 chief calls his neighborhood commander says, how soon are you 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.520 getting it wrapped up? Net pressure all the way to 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.720 the patrolman is find somebody, make some arrests. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.840 Armed with this new information from the dog walker, the 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.160 CPD puts every cop in the vicinity on high alert. 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.920 Even beat cops like Mary and Bob get drafted. They're 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:24.160 summoned to an emergency briefing and their orders find any 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:28.440 scrap of information they possibly can about that night. And 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.960 this is not going to be a collaboration effort across 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:35.520 the force. This is cop against cop. Whoever brings home 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.880 the biggest scraps. It's the biggest prize. 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.400 It was very doggy dog yeah, And if you want 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.000 to be a police you get the bad guys done. 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.720 You've got to do battle. You've got to compete. 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.720 As Mary and Bob step out of the precinct, they 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.760 know exactly where to head. First, the streets. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.800 There'd be thousands of people out there, you know, in 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.480 the summertime. Everybody got there, everybody, and there's always somebody 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.280 that saw all those people all day long, you know 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.520 what I mean, somebody always would see what happened. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.680 Someone perhaps like Lee Harris. 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.480 He could have been there, Yeah, he could have been there. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:20.880 He was a contender, you know what I mean. 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.680 Turns out finding Lee doesn't require much effort at all. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.200 Marry and Bob bump into him almost immediately. They fill 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:34.280 him in about the crime, but also the reward twenty 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.760 five large for anyone who can provide information that leads 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:38.960 to an arrest. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.040 We're the ones that totally about it. And back then 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.120 there was a lot of money, and he was a 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.400 money guy. He was a you know, kind guy. Five 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.440 thousand dollars okay, you know, I mean, there was a 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:54.120 motive for him to want to find out about it 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.240 because in his situation, you know, there was good money. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:05.320 Right, always a man to work numerous angles. Lee has 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.560 also been talking to some other cops who worked the 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.720 Gabrini beat. Old friends, in fact partners, James Ward and 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.320 John McHugh. These guys went way back. They used to 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.400 help Lee out when he got in trouble with the law. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.840 They'd loan of money sometimes. They even attended Lee's wedding 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.119 back in the day. Ward and mceu are much closer 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.160 to the case than Bob and Mary. They're working directly 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:32.320 for the lead on the Fightler case, Detective Richard Zuley, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.359 a tough talking cop known for making cases and making 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:41.280 them stick. They tell Lee some enticing insider information. They've 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.360 got three suspects in the case, well known criminals from 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.680 the area. The trigger man went by the street name Cheese. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.520 But with no witnesses placing them there, there's no chance 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.560 of making any arrests. Lee gets thinking. A twenty five 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.119 thousand dollars reward has a whole lot of burn bags 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.880 and cleaning windows. He could start a new life, move 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.240 his son out of Cabrini. His mind starts worrying. Cabrini, 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.680 Green and the Gold Coast are just around the corner 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.080 from each other. We're talking less than a mile walking distance, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.480 and the three suspects are also from the projects. It 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.880 will be believable that Lee knew them. He thinks, maybe 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.159 I was there the night Dana was attacked. Maybe I 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.919 did see something or someone. Lee decides he does know 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.200 something about the knight of the crime, and he knows 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.760 who he needs to speak to about it. He head 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.439 straight to Area six to find Ward, McHugh and their boss, 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:42.720 Detective Richard Zulie. Mary was unimpressed. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:51.199 Those detectives are used to be called Area six. They 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.919 were all primnanas. I have to admit he hurt my 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.560 feelings a little bit because I thought that we had 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.240 a rapport and I thought, you know, because it was 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.840 a hitter case and he would have liked to been 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.840 the one that, you know, solved it, because there is 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:10.920 an elation to solving a case, getting the right guy, 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:12.640 you know, solving it. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:15.840 And that was the last time that Marry and Bob 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:17.800 ever spoke to Lee. 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.080 See once he got involved like that, we disengaged because 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.119 why would we be involved with him. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.679 Ward and mceue are all ears. Dana is still in 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.399 a coma, fighting for her life. They want to nail 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.560 this case before anyone else does, and now it looks 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.960 like they might have a reliable witness putting their suspects 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.280 in the frame. It's a win win. Lee is a 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.880 shoe win for the reward money and the police get 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:48.280 their suspects and maybe some promotions as well. Warden mceu 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:50.600 are at the ready to help Lee prepare his words 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.959 ahead of making his formal statement to Detective Zuli. I 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.520 was having a coffee and dunkin Donuts when I saw 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.000 three black guys running out. 0:19:58.840 --> 0:19:59.480 Of the yawn. 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.919 Quickest twenty five k Lee would ever make. But a 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.879 few days later, his friends Ward and mcew ask if 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.040 he wouldn't mind coming back for another statement. A little 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.960 more detail would be really helpful. Lee thinks, sure, why not. 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.320 What starts out is just one statement soon becomes two, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.399 then three, four, five, six, and each time Ward and 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.119 mcew reminding Lee of some helpful details from the night 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.440 Dana was shot. The exact alley She was shot in, 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:35.000 a black garage door an ivy covered wall. Before long, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.400 Lee is not just offering peripheral scraps of information about 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.160 the night of the crime. He's the key to it all, 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.160 the state star witness. So much so he's moved out 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.840 of Cabrini for his own safety, all on the taxpayer's 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:53.399 dollar when win right. But Ward and mcew are hungry 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.880 for even more information. They need Lee to be closer 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.680 to the action. Maybe he was part of the gang 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.560 that at hacked Dana. They assure Lee not to worry. 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.720 This is all just so they can nail Cheese and 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.479 the other members of the gang. Detective Zuli gives Lee 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.520 his word and so and yet another statement. Lee tells 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:19.960 Zuli he was the fourth member of the gang. The 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:22.879 police are getting closer and closer to closing the case, 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:27.720 and those statements from Lee keep on coming. In total, 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:34.520 he gives twenty two and then on the tenth of July, 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:36.720 three weeks after the attack. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.119 After lingering in a coma for twenty one days, Dana 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:44.240 Fightler was taken off life support. 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.480 Systems and died. Police are giving out very little information. 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:49.920 They're being very tight lip. This is a high priority 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:51.800 case and they're being very careful. 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.840 It's a tragedy for the Fightler family and for the CPD. 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.440 The pressure is really on. They are now the hunt 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.680 for a murderer, and thanks to Lee, they finally have 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:18.560 the evidence that they need to make that arrest. Bob 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:21.360 Jordan is at work one morning, waiting on his assignment 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:26.480 for the day when the news breaks Dana Feitler's murderer 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:29.960 has been found. But when he hears the name, it 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:33.560 comes as a big shock. Turns out it's someone he 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.360 already knows, Lee Harris. 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:43.520 When they arrested Lee, I remember saying to my camera, man, hey, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.600 you know this guy they arrested. We've interviewed him, We've 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:49.880 seen him around. He was always around. 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.399 The switch around is baffling. The CPD's star witness has 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:59.639 become their prime suspect. But in the end, what choice 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.040 did they have? All those statements Lee was giving, all 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.280 twenty two of them. With each one he was clearly 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:09.680 incriminating himself. And then, to top it all, the dog 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.960 walker that saw Dana moments before the attack. She's identified Lee, 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:16.560 not Cheese or any other members of the gang in 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:24.120 a lineup. Solving a heater case is like winning a championship, 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:27.320 but instead of a parade, you get a press conference, 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:31.119 a really big one. After weeks of waiting, wondering, and 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:37.159 wild speculation, the entire press corps summoned camera's ready Mike's hot. 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:42.200 Every TV station was there, all the newspapers, every one. 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:46.280 Bob Jordan and his cameraman Mike elbow their way to 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:49.960 the front. Everyone is thirsty for the money shot, the 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:53.960 purp walk, that moment when the cuffed perpetrator, flanked by 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:57.080 police officers, is finally revealed to the public. 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:00.199 I can only imagine what that must be like to 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:04.480 come through a door and face a whole wall of 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:08.840 probably ten or twelve TV cameras in lights, that's how 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:13.880 big a story. It was just the sound alone of 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:18.200 the flashbulbs going off and the cameras rolling, and these 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:22.719 were noisy cameras back in those days, and you know, 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:27.360 there was a cacophony of sound in that room and 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:30.720 the lights flashing and reporters of screaming, Lee, did you 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:32.520 do it? Did you kill her? 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:33.639 Did you shoot her? 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:34.200 You know? 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:34.960 Where were you? 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.280 Bob manages to hold his position at the front. It's 0:24:40.400 --> 0:24:42.240 enough to get Lee and I shot. 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.920 I remember the look on his face. It was a 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:52.560 look of shock and amazement, and it was like he 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:59.920 had seen something unreal. I don't know if he saw 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:05.040 I think he did. His eyes bulged and it was 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:09.960 like he wanted to say something but couldn't or was 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:12.840