1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:00,760 Speaker 1: Hi. 2 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 2: There a quick note before we start. Most of you 3 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 2: love listening to ads. I know that, But if you don't, 4 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 2: here's an option. Subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts. 5 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 2: You'll get ten episodes of Empire on Blood the Director's 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 2: Cut ad free and one week early with exclusive bonus content. 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 2: And it's a mere two ninety nine a month previously 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 2: on Empire on Blood. 9 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 3: These Days Full names of the record, My name is 10 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 3: Calvin or are you okayme out? I'm back. 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 4: When you looked at him, did you recognize him? Yes? 12 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 3: And who did you see the way. 13 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 5: Therefore, discord grants to the defender's motion and hereby vacates 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 5: the conviction. 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 6: All right, cow, you did it. You did it. 16 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 5: You are the most persistent motherfucker. 17 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 4: And oh good lord. 18 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 3: Yeah. 19 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 2: So cal called me last night to ask oh he 20 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 2: did yeah? 21 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: His uh. 22 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 2: He's not left his cell in the forty eight hours, 23 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 2: and he's turning. 24 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 4: Francis was supposed to not. 25 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 2: Risk any any possible problem. He's just packing himself up, 26 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 2: sitting in his cell and just waiting. Yeah, he says, 27 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 2: I'm staying away from everybody, about talking to anybody. I 28 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 2: asked him how it felt to be in there and 29 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 2: he just said he was so anxious. 30 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you sleep? 31 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 3: Right? 32 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 4: Do you think he has even slept? 33 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 2: That's me in one of Calvin Buari's attorneys, Oscar Michelin, 34 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 2: early morning of Monday May eighth, twenty and seventeen, the 35 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 2: day Calvin is supposed to be released after twenty two 36 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 2: years in prison. This passed for a judge in the 37 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: Bronx vacated his double homicide conviction as if it never happened. 38 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 2: Cal is free to walk out of prison. The judge 39 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 2: said so, but paperwork that takes time. So the Department 40 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 2: of Corrections took him back to prison for the weekend. 41 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 2: And then in Oscar's car, the phone rings. It's Cal's friend. 42 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 4: She yes, they say, he's not going nowhere. 43 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 2: The judge may have let cal go, but maybe his 44 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 2: past won't. 45 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 7: Why that was a sergeant because they thought I was 46 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 7: on a visit. 47 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 5: I was like, no, I'm trying to see us the process. 48 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 5: And so he looks on the paper and he was like, yeah, 49 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 5: he's here, He's not going away. 50 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 2: Why is that? 51 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 5: He's not giving me the information. 52 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 2: So here we are in a moment between what should 53 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 2: be and what is We've gotten to know moments like 54 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 2: this pretty well from Orbit Media. This is Empire on Blood, 55 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 2: a story of murder, betrayal and a man who fought 56 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 2: the law for two decades and of a question when 57 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 2: is a man truly free? I'm Steve Fishman. We're sitting 58 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 2: in Oscar's car in front of the ironically named green 59 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 2: Haven Correctional Facility. Haven. My ass it's got a thirty 60 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 2: foot high window is cement wall around it. We pull 61 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 2: up shortly after ten am after a two hour ride 62 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 2: from the city. What's going on inside green Haven? Who knows? 63 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 4: Yes? 64 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Oscar Mitchell. I'm gonna turn it 65 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 2: for Kalabowari. 66 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 6: The issue is that we were Yeah, he was supposed 67 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 6: to be released today and I want to just double 68 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 6: check to make sure that everything is all set for 69 00:03:58,560 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 6: his release. 70 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 2: He got his conviction. 71 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 5: To Oscar Michelin and you attorney. 72 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 2: I am cal Bui's attorney. 73 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: Yes, concerned? 74 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 5: And why you would think he's leaving this week. 75 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 2: Because he was? 76 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: Uh? 77 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 3: I'm sorry? 78 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 5: Can I have remotely close to his day? 79 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 2: What is to be done? We're here, Let's go inside, 80 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 2: try to get this straightened out. 81 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 3: Oh so, just have a seat distreevisits inside. 82 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 2: Do you know when a prisoners released, he would he 83 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 2: come this way? 84 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 4: This is the only way they could go. 85 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,839 Speaker 2: We see ourselves in a gloomy area what passes for 86 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 2: a waiting month A few feet away. Corrections officers, process visitors, 87 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 2: A handful of us are here. Cal's lawyers, a few relatives. 88 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 2: His god brother, Pam is not here. She and Cal 89 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 2: are still legally married, but they've grown apart. Cal friend, 90 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 2: she drove up from Westchester. She's his main support now. 91 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 2: There are also a couple of journalists from the Associated Press. 92 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 2: Cal will be let go. A judge ordered his release. 93 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 2: It's unconstitutional to hold him in prison, after all, he's 94 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 2: no longer convicted of anything, but the anxiety it won't quit. 95 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 2: Cal calls me from inside, maybe one hundred feet from him, 96 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 2: but several tons of cement and steel separate us. It's 97 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 2: ten forty six a m cow, cow, How are you? 98 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 4: Yeah? 99 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 5: I'm all right. I'm afraid to get up out of 100 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 5: his You know what's going to. 101 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 8: Hold up is? 102 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: I don't where are you now? 103 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 4: Are you? 104 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 2: Are they telling you you're getting outton? 105 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: No? 106 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 5: There ain't nobody even come and tell me anything. And 107 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 5: I'm talking to people. Everybody know that I'm supposed to 108 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 5: get out, but nobody ain't come to tell me it's 109 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:56,359 Speaker 5: time to go. 110 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 2: The hours pass one, two, three. Finally the paperwork lands 111 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 2: on the right desk, eyes dotted, tea's crossed. It's not 112 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 2: every day someone's conviction is vacated. Then Cal appears in 113 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,280 Speaker 2: the distance, maybe fifty feet away. I can see his 114 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 2: nit cap through the bars of the steel gate for 115 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 2: one more minute. He looks like he's inside a cage. 116 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 2: Then the gate slides open. 117 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 3: You see you. 118 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 2: Cal walks out in khaki pants, timberlands, toting a single 119 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 2: canvas bag stuffed with the essentials from two decades behind bars, 120 00:06:51,080 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 2: legal documents I find out later, go, oh my god. 121 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 9: Daddy came out said, where's everybody? As you're gonna praise 122 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 9: that you can't do the. 123 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: Photography, thank you, and if you want to conduct an 124 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: interview and. 125 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 3: Asking the property, let's go. 126 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 2: We go out double swinging doors, leaving the guard tower 127 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 2: behind us and the thirty foot high cement wall. We 128 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 2: go down two sets of stairs into a parking lot 129 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 2: that spreads over a couple of acres. 130 00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 10: Surreal, surreal, man, Oh. 131 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 7: My god, Oh no, we got a bus ticket for you. 132 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 2: We're not gonna drive. You gotta take a great house. 133 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 2: I'm sorry we couldn't. 134 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 3: We couldn't afford it. 135 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 2: I'm sorry about yeah, but it's a good man. You 136 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 2: could see right by the driver. 137 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 3: A call right now. 138 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 11: People don't know, you know, it's like anxiety. 139 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 10: It's beautiful, man. I never seen this side without the 140 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 10: handcuffing on. That's the beautiful thing about it, you know, 141 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 10: no handcuffs, no shocks. Finally, man, oh, long time coming. 142 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 3: Couldn't come at a better time. 143 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 7: Unbelievable. 144 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 2: Right. Cal hugs his god brother, he hugs me. He's muscular, 145 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 2: prison muscles. It's a powerful embrace. You did it. The 146 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 2: prison authorities insist that we leave state property. They don't 147 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 2: have to ask. Twice. We trooped through the parking lot, 148 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 2: a small horde, making our way to the shoulder of 149 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 2: the road. The Associated press hands cow a microphone. 150 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 10: That's what it really. 151 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: It's just like I work so hard to get to 152 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: where I'm at right now, and I finally made it 153 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: the long journey that I took to get to where 154 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: I'm at, and it's still a continuous fight, you know, 155 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: because still dealing with the issues that are launcht the 156 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: a office not really worn until mix to their mistakes 157 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: and doing the right thing. 158 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 4: I gotta keep my mind and keep. 159 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 2: Pushing Cows on message, hitting his talk point, staying focused. 160 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 2: Of course, he's right. The District Attorney's office has threatened 161 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 2: to appeal the decision that set him free. He knows 162 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 2: there might be more coming. And I feel like the 163 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 2: truth is finally revealing it, so, you know, thank you. 164 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 2: Cal hands back the microphone. She pulls up the getaway car. 165 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 2: My producer Emil, and I jump in with Cal. 166 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 9: Okay, see where are we going? 167 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 2: Well, we want We're gonna ride with you wherever. 168 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 4: The change station station. 169 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 2: What's Cal? Looking forward to an iPhone and a bath 170 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 2: his first bath in twenty two years. 171 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 10: That's that's that's one of sleeping in the bed and 172 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 10: probably getting in the bathtube and then going into a refrigerator. 173 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 3: What I want to to get out? What I want 174 00:10:58,200 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 3: to get out. 175 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 2: Of such things? Freedom is made. Cow's walked off prison grounds. 176 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,199 Speaker 2: But what does it take to feel free? Cal knows 177 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 2: what I mean from prison. He told me, I just 178 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 2: can't wait to get in a situation where I'm around 179 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 2: the people that truly genuinely love me, so I can 180 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 2: just be me truthfully, just be free. And so Cal 181 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 2: he wants to see his. 182 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 10: Mom, and I'm an knock on the door, let him 183 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 10: have a come downstairs. 184 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 3: Once she over the door, is gonna be me happy. 185 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 3: Mother's dak. You got an early mother's taken. 186 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 2: But first, Cow's got some errands to run. After the break, 187 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 2: a free man heads out into the world with a 188 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 2: long to do list and finds more than he bargained for. 189 00:11:53,200 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 2: Stay with us outside, we're back with Empire on blood. 190 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 2: So when does an ex prisoner actually shake prison out 191 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,319 Speaker 2: of his bones? I asked Emil mcdalell, Cal's prison buddy, 192 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 2: who got his own sentence vacated email served nineteen years. 193 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:29,079 Speaker 12: When the judge vegacated my conviction, it was like a 194 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 12: surreal experience. 195 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 2: You really can't believe it. 196 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 12: Cal is not going to believe that he's really out 197 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,439 Speaker 12: until he actually steps his foot on concrete and he's 198 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 12: able to walk in a store with dollars in his pocket. 199 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 2: That's how it was for me. 200 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 12: Yeah, they said, you know you're out, You're going home, 201 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 12: and I'm just still sitting there looking at the judge, 202 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 12: and I'm just like, Okay, I'm going home. I'll be 203 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 12: home with my family for Christmas. You know, I could 204 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 12: be home for my birthday finally after nineteen years. 205 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 9: But. 206 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 12: Until I got out, and you know, my cousin gave 207 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,120 Speaker 12: me like one hundred dollars but in twenties and tens. 208 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,679 Speaker 12: He gave it to me, and I actually jumped out 209 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 12: of his car, went into the store and I was like, 210 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 12: I'm out. 211 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 2: So Email will put twenties and tens in Cal's pocket. 212 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 2: He's going to take Cal shopping in Brooklyn for sneakers. 213 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 2: Once upon a time, Cal had wanted air Jordan's. Twenty 214 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 2: five years ago, he'd started selling crack so he could 215 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 2: buy them. This time, his hardworking prison comrade says he'll 216 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,199 Speaker 2: pick up the tab. But Cal has a few other 217 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 2: items to attend to, people, to visit, places to see. 218 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 2: He's a man in a hurry. 219 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 3: Open buzz me in, man, buzz me in. 220 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 2: Email drives Cal to Tracy, Koit's apartment, coming to see trade. 221 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 3: Where are you at. 222 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 7: That count? 223 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 2: Because you look alive and he was a mess. Tracy 224 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,079 Speaker 2: was for a time one of his main allies on 225 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 2: the outside, a leading light of the Free count Lady 226 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 2: that helps fixed all mambo said, man, you know me 227 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 2: and home was going hard. 228 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 10: She's the first one that picked up the bend of 229 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 10: the Free Cow fan and waved it the round in 230 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 10: the rallies stripped. 231 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 3: Into t shows. 232 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 2: You know, I assume Tracy might be celebrating Cow's release. 233 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 3: You don't want thisake, right, No? 234 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 2: I mean she's just hearing from Cal Now. 235 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 9: Off the audio because I got let you let me 236 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 9: miss that moment. 237 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 2: You're walking out of Greenhaven. You ain't want me you 238 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 2: let me missed out. 239 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 3: You didn't know what Dale was coming. 240 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 2: Now he was coming out until cal changes the subject 241 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 2: like a natural born politician, he picks up Tracy's baby 242 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 2: harmit This. 243 00:14:53,440 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 4: Man, yes, yes, wood, gorgeous. 244 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 2: Ray cal is smiling, loving on harmony the way. It 245 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 2: seems to me that maybe Tracy had hoped to be 246 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 2: treated me. 247 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 4: Like you. 248 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 2: You soon it's time to go. This has been something 249 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 2: of a thank you visit to one of the soldiers 250 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 2: in the Free Cow movement. One of the women they 251 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 2: came for Cow but worked for the movement price of admission, 252 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 2: said you. 253 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 4: Always loved yourself some Calvin, But now now let Calvin go. 254 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 4: You are not your free man. Now you should think 255 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 4: of me every day. 256 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 2: I'm sure he will. And that's another element of what 257 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 2: it means to be free, free to play the field, 258 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 2: to be a player. As Tracy says, I. 259 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 3: Wanted to surprise you. No, that's not how it goes you. 260 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 3: Lucky that I was it lucky. I'm blessed. I don't 261 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 3: believe in love. I'm blessed. I gotta give him a 262 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 3: golf definitely always. 263 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 2: Fire store right there, good man, so cal visits a supporter. Okay, 264 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 2: let's shop for some sneakers on a Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn. 265 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 2: Email and cow head to the Atlantic. Mall, eh god, 266 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 2: they they do a whole festival for your hold festival. 267 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 10: They knew you was coming downtown for that's where everybody 268 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 10: at Look at that, look at it. 269 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 11: Look that's something. 270 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 2: They spend hours going from shoe store to shoe store 271 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 2: along the way, callent, email, running to people. They know 272 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 2: what they're doing with that. 273 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: I ain't. 274 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 11: Now you know, I'm all filing for my wrong for 275 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 11: conviction and all, oh good, I've been here about him 276 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 11: doing good by. 277 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 2: I tell you my old lady to you right now, 278 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 2: I say my old lights. 279 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 3: I did that. 280 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 4: I did thirty three years straight. 281 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 3: That's right, Yeah, thirty three years straight. 282 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 5: You know, look in anyway, they ain't wait five years ago. 283 00:16:58,680 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 2: Let this took from shopping. 284 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 5: He just came. 285 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 4: My nephew just came over last week. 286 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 5: I just took him shop and bought him some clothes, guns, saying, man, 287 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 5: some barbecue, and. 288 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 2: Now I gotta cut out your stay safe. But anything 289 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 2: to work out for you, all right, you take care 290 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 2: right right later? 291 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:12,959 Speaker 7: All right? 292 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 10: Yeah, last time I was when I first met him. 293 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 10: He cut the dude that tried to start man just 294 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 10: being Pattica. Yeah yeah, yeah, that's how I first met him, 295 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 10: and we ended up going to South Fort. 296 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 4: He was never my next door neighbor. 297 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 2: So it's good. 298 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 10: I knew I was going run into somebody in downtown Brooklyn. 299 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 2: Not just one somebody inside a shop. They bump into 300 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:58,119 Speaker 2: another guy from the old days. This one did nine years. 301 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 3: I've been on being changed. Dramatic, dramatic. I'm talking. I 302 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 3: remember how first Gale. I remember I went to Green 303 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 3: Niggas mall. 304 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 2: How I felt when I was giving the phone and 305 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:13,160 Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like I was like, okay, how. 306 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 3: Y'all doing stuff. I'm painting. 307 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,120 Speaker 2: I'm trying to see how you mighty rap, what's cool 308 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 2: and what's not. 309 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:19,399 Speaker 3: I think I had some shoes on. It was like 310 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 3: I thought they was flooding. 311 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 4: It's not the lot. 312 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 2: Two X cons on a Sunday shopping trip recognized another 313 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 2: two X cons what the hell is going on at 314 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 2: the mall. I'm accustomed to running into people, people I 315 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 2: met at college or summer camp or over a cocktail 316 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 2: at my bar. But this, this vast web of people 317 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 2: linked by the shared experience of prison that's invisible to 318 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 2: somebody like me. Of course, you read about it all 319 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,160 Speaker 2: the time, black men swept off the streets, crowded into prisons. 320 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 2: And here's the evidence. Think of it. One afternoon outside 321 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 2: Burlington Coat factory in Chucky Cheese. Four black men Email 322 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 2: and Cal and the two others. These guys randomly meet 323 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 2: and together they've done a total of eighty three years 324 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 2: in prison. Yeah, Cow was a drug dealer, and maybe 325 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 2: the too many ran into were criminals as well. Maybe 326 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 2: they should have all done time. But I've made a 327 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 2: seven year journey with Cal. I know his case inside 328 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 2: and out, and I know emails too. The honor student 329 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 2: sentence for a murder that someone else committed. The system 330 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 2: feels rigged against people like Cal and email. People like 331 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 2: Col people like Email. That's how the system viewed them 332 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 2: as a type, the type of person society is better 333 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 2: off without. And let's agree society was better off without 334 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 2: crack dealing Cal on the streets in the theater of 335 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 2: the early nineties, Cool Cal had a role to play, 336 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 2: and he played it to perfection. He wore minks and 337 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 2: drove BMW's rewards for seating a neighborhood with poison. Cal 338 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 2: he high stepped through falling bodies and his admiring crew. 339 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 2: They thought he was master of it all. They wanted 340 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 2: to be just like Cal. Cal could have done other 341 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 2: things with his life. He had the talent, but no 342 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 2: one in authority looked at Cal and thought there's potential here, 343 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 2: if only it could be redirected. That wasn't anyone's duty. 344 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 2: Of course, Cal sometimes told me that if only his 345 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 2: father had stuck around, his life might have looked different. Instead, 346 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 2: for a pair of air Jordan's, which his mother couldn't 347 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 2: afford and which a teenage cow desperately wanted, he turned 348 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 2: to the streets and there was no turning back from. 349 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 3: That ocause you gotta let me know. 350 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 2: Cal and e. Mel ended up visiting a dozen stores 351 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 2: in search of just the right sneakers. Cow finally selected 352 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 2: a pair of sand colored Nike Hirachis retail price one 353 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 2: hundred and twenty dollars. 354 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, I almosnikus. It took almost all day. 355 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 2: But other items on cows to do list lawyers, driver's license, housing, 356 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 2: visiting HERVs of course, and catch up with people he 357 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 2: left behind. At one point, Cow visits Jay, another ex 358 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,719 Speaker 2: con who'd been his best friend. They were shot together. 359 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 2: There's a bond, and Cow visits Pam, still legally his wife. 360 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 2: They reminisce, laugh, They share a few hours of conversation. 361 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 2: As for the other friends from the Bronx, friends like 362 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,640 Speaker 2: Jmo or former crew members, callous staying away for the time, 363 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 2: being too close to the days of murder in Mayhem, 364 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 2: days he needs to put behind him. But me, I 365 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 2: stay in touch with the old crew. 366 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 5: Yeah, yeahs, you will pass myself. He saw me, master 367 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 5: be It's all he's on dr. 368 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 4: Right. 369 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 2: Dwight Robinson, What is Dwight going through now? 370 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:36,640 Speaker 1: Man? 371 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 2: I hear about it. His trouble his dramas. I send 372 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 2: Dwight things like Sudoku books, which he tells me will 373 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 2: prevent Alzheimer's and lottery tickets, which he says can earn 374 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 2: us millions. Once he asked for a porn magazine. Sure, Dwight, 375 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 2: why not? And as always, Dwight wants news from the 376 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 2: outside to keep his mind free. Lately he wants to 377 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 2: know what outfits cal is wearing now that he's out. 378 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 2: Is he wearing a rolex? Mostly though we talk about 379 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 2: prison nonsense, nonsense, that's the word Dwight uses. There always 380 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 2: seems to be some craziness happening, some of it of 381 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 2: Dwight's own making, and that craziness it's compounded by living 382 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 2: out his days in an institution where a body can't 383 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 2: be free. 384 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 5: See I write this information out. 385 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 2: Seem to see. 386 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 5: It right, Special Investigator Donkey, okay, all right, tell him 387 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,640 Speaker 5: that right now. See that my life is in danger 388 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 5: with these officers here, and I would like to see 389 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 5: somebody as soon as possible. 390 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 2: Dwight says. The officers are angry at him over the incident, 391 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 2: his plan to pick a fight with an inmate. He 392 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 2: says it's sided with the guards. Okay, I am you 393 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 2: sure you should do that? 394 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:55,880 Speaker 4: Man? 395 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,159 Speaker 5: You could just I thought about every more is the 396 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 5: best move plus plus plus. Once I beat them up, 397 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 5: they're gonna separate us. I'm only gonna be locked up 398 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 5: for like thirty days. I'm just gonna beat them up. 399 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 2: I really don't want to hear this. I do my 400 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 2: best not to get pulled into Dwight's nonsense, but I'm 401 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 2: thinking Dwight could get hurt. I can't not be involved. 402 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 2: But mostly I think, how well do I really know? 403 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 2: Dwight's a really nervous man. I just really know. 404 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,360 Speaker 5: Relast man. Look Steeve, Steeve, you know how we grew 405 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 5: up really so you know what I mean different? We 406 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 5: were a different breed. Yeah, you know that. You know 407 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 5: what I mean? 408 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:45,919 Speaker 3: What do you mean? 409 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 5: We're a complete different breathing. Yeah, you got from a 410 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 5: different cloth, yeare? That's that's that's listen everything on one 411 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 5: God for the best one you are. Don't worry about nothing, 412 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 5: you know. I mean, I think how a company has 413 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:05,200 Speaker 5: trust me? 414 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 2: Trust me? For the record, Dwight doesn't beat up anyone. 415 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 2: We spoke on a recorded line. Dwight told me the 416 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 2: authorities tuned into our conversation and then search the inmating 417 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:26,160 Speaker 2: question establish control and prison. Of course, it's all about control. 418 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:31,640 Speaker 2: Control is all encompassing. Nothing is private, not one movement, 419 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 2: not a single article of clothing. I send Dwight a 420 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 2: Christmas present, some timberland chuckus his dream footwear of many years. 421 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 2: Prison officials. They return the shoes to me. The reason 422 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 2: it's complicated. Dwight is furious in his way. Dwight is 423 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 2: relentless too, and hopeful. On the phone. He tells me 424 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 2: he's got a plan. He'll figure it out. He assures 425 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 2: me he will get his sneakers. Dwight's first shot at 426 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 2: parole is in less than four years. I wonder if 427 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 2: Cal's appeal will affect Dwight's chances. The judge as much 428 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 2: as said that the DA should look hard at Dwight 429 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 2: as a murder suspect. So far, though the DA has 430 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 2: made it clear for them, the bigger picture is still Cal, 431 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 2: and so Dwight is hopeful on that score. Two, he 432 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 2: dreams of freedom after the break. Cal, now outside prison's control, 433 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 2: gets to be himself truly deeply. Finally, stay with us. 434 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 2: We're back with empire on blood back to the day 435 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 2: Cow was released when we rode with him in the 436 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 2: getaway car. At last Greenhaven Correctional was just a dot 437 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 2: in the rear view mirror. He had a lot on 438 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 2: his mind that day. One thing above all that won 439 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 2: a video and take one go and see my motto? 440 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, what are you going to see her? 441 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 3: Yeah? You want me to see if I can get 442 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 3: a videographers come along? 443 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 2: Would Yeah that would be a nice gift. 444 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 3: I think I think you'd be all for it. Yeah, definitely. 445 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 4: That's day ticonic State Party. 446 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 2: Since I first spoke with Col back in twenty eleven, 447 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 2: lots has happened in my life. I've gotten divorced and remarried, 448 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,919 Speaker 2: opened a bar, one of my kids became a teenager. 449 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 2: Much of Cal's life, his interior life, especially, has been 450 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 2: on hold in prison. That's the way it is. And 451 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 2: I've only known Cal while he's been in What is 452 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 2: Cal like when he's truly free? Maybe I'll find out 453 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 2: his mother lives in Maryland now she is driving Cow there. 454 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 2: He's had trouble getting a driver's license. 455 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 8: I left. 456 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 4: Hear right, Okay, we're going forty four? 457 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 3: God can go on up? 458 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:19,120 Speaker 7: Oh? 459 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 5: He said. 460 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 7: Forty three. 461 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 2: Cal is in a car trying to spot the house, 462 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 2: which he's never seen. He's wearing a special outfit for 463 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 2: the day, raspberry colored sweater, gold chain, sunglasses, and the 464 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 2: ever present cap, a tan one and for today's event, 465 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 2: cool Cal has fastened a red bow to the front 466 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 2: of that cap. And he's carrying presents too. He grips 467 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 2: the string of a floating balloon, the words on it 468 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 2: I Love You. In his other hand, he's got a 469 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 2: dozen red roses wrapped in gold foil. I've never seen 470 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 2: Col so full of anticipation and mischief. He wants to 471 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 2: surprise his mother. He's actually tried to keep the news 472 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 2: of his release from her. Didn't call her, told friends 473 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 2: not to tell her. 474 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 3: What su. 475 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 2: Cal's mom lives in an attractive, well tended suburb, single 476 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 2: family homes clipped front lawns. Hers is a white stucco house. 477 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 2: Cal heads to the front door. She's iPhone in his hand. 478 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 2: He calls his mother. He pretends he's not at her 479 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 2: front door even as he bangs on the door. 480 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 3: You know, I wanted to see her. What's up? 481 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 7: Man? 482 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 3: What's up? 483 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 4: Mar Eh? 484 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 5: Who all saw? 485 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 2: I'm all side, I'm all saw in New York. 486 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 3: I'm in New York City. 487 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 2: When Col's sneak attack fails, he heads around to the 488 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 2: back of the house, goes through the gate of a 489 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 2: chain link fence. There's a sign on it beware of dog. 490 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 2: He walks into the house through an open back door. 491 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,719 Speaker 2: His brother heads upstairs to bring down their mom, who 492 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 2: is still recuperating from surgery. And then there she is 493 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 2: the object of all the fuss, a small, older woman 494 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:51,479 Speaker 2: with plane glasses in a flowery house dress. Col stands 495 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 2: awkwardly in a kind of pass through between the kitchen 496 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 2: and living room. That bouquet in his hand, that crazy 497 00:30:59,120 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 2: bow on his farm. 498 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 3: A head. 499 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 2: Cow's brother is in the background, the videographer nearby. The 500 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 2: spectators don't matter to Cows. It's like he's in a 501 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,640 Speaker 2: private space with his mom. He kisses her, grips her tight, 502 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 2: Happy Mama's day. 503 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 6: Mommy, your son is him. Your son is here, Mommy, 504 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 6: your son is here. Huh, I'm here, Mom, I'm here. Mo, 505 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 6: Mom here, you hear me, I'm here. Your son's chip. 506 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 6: I'm here, Mom, your son is here. 507 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 3: I'm near. President, I'm the president. I'm your president present. 508 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: Huh. 509 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 3: Everything's gonna be all right. Mam. You gotta be strong. 510 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 3: You gotta be strong. 511 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 8: Mom. 512 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 3: You gotta believe, you gotta believe. 513 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 4: I'm here. 514 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 11: You know your son is always gonna be strong. I'm 515 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 11: gonna be alright. I'm gonna keep fighting. 516 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 7: Mom. 517 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 11: If you don't raise nobody that's gonna give up. You 518 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 11: know that we don't give up. You don't give up ever. 519 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 3: I'm here. 520 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,760 Speaker 11: I'm gonna have your testament to that. What you raise, Mom, 521 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 11: nobody said you know matter, I'm gonna take give up. 522 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 11: Points were always gonna come out on top. Always know that, Mom, 523 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 11: always always gonna come out the. 524 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 3: Top because we got genuine hearts. It's always in a heart. 525 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 7: Mom. 526 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 11: You know that. 527 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 7: You know that I love you. 528 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 3: It's gonna get graying. 529 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 2: Mom. Cal always told me that his mom is a 530 00:32:54,600 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 2: silent warrior, never complaining, honest, upright religious, never disappointed in 531 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 2: him despite everything he's done. She prayed for his release. 532 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 3: Everybody sold me off leaving for dad. I'm here, your 533 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,479 Speaker 3: son is here. I'm in the flesh of a baby. 534 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 4: I'm here. 535 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 8: We all we got That's how you us, that's how, 536 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 8: that's how, that's how you small well, all of them 537 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 8: all of them, all of them have ever doubted us. 538 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 3: All of them know that I'm here. I don't ever 539 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 3: think that I ain't missed your cause. Not to do 540 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,440 Speaker 3: whatever I can to get to my mommy, to do 541 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 3: whatever I can't get to my mom. I love you, 542 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 3: Love you, mom. 543 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 5: Yeah. 544 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 2: Before or my father the IRV in my bar IRVS. 545 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 2: Before he passed away, I asked him a question, a 546 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 2: nosy pointed question. He'd been ailing for a while. His balance, 547 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 2: his strength were failing him. He had bruises on his 548 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 2: face from falling off a curb. My father died at 549 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 2: age eighty six, the same age at which Myron Beldock 550 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 2: passed away. By then, my dad was chair bound. Death 551 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 2: can be a kind of freedom, but my father resisted. 552 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 2: It sucks getting old, he told me. He hung on. 553 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,600 Speaker 2: My father wanted to live forever. One day I asked 554 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 2: him why why was he so attached to living? He 555 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 2: had an answer ready. I want to see how the 556 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:56,400 Speaker 2: story ends. This is the end of Empire on Blood, 557 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,799 Speaker 2: the end of the story. I'd assigned myself seven years ago, 558 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 2: way before I knew how long it would take. But 559 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 2: as my father certainly knew, the story doesn't end life 560 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 2: goes on. I'm thinking of Cow's life and the turn 561 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 2: it took. This story never seemed to go where I expected. 562 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 2: Cow had decades in prison to anticipate freedom, to choreograph 563 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 2: reunions and dream of future successes. Someday Cow may be 564 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 2: worth millions. He sued the City of New York and 565 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,840 Speaker 2: will sue the state. He wants compensation for having lost 566 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 2: more than two decades of his life, but he's not 567 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 2: waiting around for a settlement that could take years if 568 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:46,280 Speaker 2: it comes at all. Remember, in prison, he'd written seven 569 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 2: business plans. Success legitimate success was always going to be 570 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,839 Speaker 2: Cow's revenge. Sitting on a beach writing checks, Cal said 571 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,399 Speaker 2: that was his five year plan. A couple months after 572 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 2: his release, Cal got his driver's license and started one 573 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 2: Venture Riders van service riders with a Z. Somehow he'd 574 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 2: managed to get hold of a fifteen seat Chevy van. 575 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 2: He transports families and friends of inmates to prisons upstate. 576 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 2: Some days, Cal gets up at four in the morning 577 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 2: to pick up customers. Imagine this, Cal walks into the 578 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 2: waiting room of green Haven Correctional Facility to drop off 579 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 2: his business cards. This actually happens. Cal says the corrections 580 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 2: officers remember him and smile. Cal assures me business is 581 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,960 Speaker 2: picking up. That's what Cal would say. He spent decades 582 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 2: thinking positive thoughts in the face of ongoing disappointment and disappointments, Well, 583 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 2: it seems they never cease. On November twenty ninth, twenty seventeen, 584 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,760 Speaker 2: an assistant bronx DA told a judge that the office 585 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:08,280 Speaker 2: will appeal the decision to vacate Cal's sentence. The office 586 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,799 Speaker 2: seems intent on bringing him back to trial and back 587 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 2: to prison. The Cal I know is relentlessly fiercely positive, 588 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 2: But the day of the DA's announcement, I received a 589 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 2: text from him. He was he wrote, a little drained 590 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 2: from the living. At times, I fear the fight has 591 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,719 Speaker 2: deformed Cal more than anything. He wanted to be with 592 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:40,560 Speaker 2: people who truly genuinely love him. Now he has troubled 593 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:44,399 Speaker 2: being with those people. She is in love with Cal 594 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,160 Speaker 2: and Cal. He tells me he loves her too. He 595 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 2: calls her his partner. Still, She tells me that one 596 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 2: minute they are so close close is one finger wrapped 597 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:02,399 Speaker 2: around another. The next Col flees his space. The intensity 598 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:07,799 Speaker 2: of intimate relationships can overwhelm him. The living can overwhelm him. 599 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:13,960 Speaker 2: As I record this, Cal is homeless. I never expected 600 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 2: that landlords aren't receptive. Cal has no credit history, and 601 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 2: on the internet he is still accused of a double homicide. 602 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 2: And so Cal tells me he lives in his van, 603 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,359 Speaker 2: sleeping on one of the long seats in the rear. 604 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 2: Using the bathroom at the local McDonald's. He washes up 605 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,800 Speaker 2: there too, brings his own toiletries and tow. 606 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 3: To me. 607 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:47,880 Speaker 2: Cal sounds desperate. I'm silent. I don't know how to respond, 608 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:57,759 Speaker 2: and then Cal, being Cal, recovers He assures me this 609 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 2: too shall pass. On March twenty first, twenty eighteen, just 610 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 2: as we were finishing production on this podcast, we got 611 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 2: some news. At a hearing, one that had been scheduled 612 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:37,839 Speaker 2: months in advance. The Bronx District attorney shocked Cow's defense team. 613 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 2: The DA moved to dismiss the two decade old indictment 614 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:46,120 Speaker 2: against Cal. A State Supreme Court judge granted the motion, 615 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,120 Speaker 2: and with that the legal cloud over Cal lifted. He 616 00:39:51,480 --> 00:40:10,440 Speaker 2: is officially free. The director's cut of Empire on Blood 617 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,280 Speaker 2: is produced by Emil Klein. Austin Smith is our associate 618 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,080 Speaker 2: producer and production coordinator. The original production of the empowering 619 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 2: Blood was also produced by Emil Klein. Neil Lobell was 620 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:26,920 Speaker 2: our executive producer, Julia Parton, our story editor, fact checking 621 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,879 Speaker 2: by Stephanie Daniels. Our advisor was Joel Dusk. Additional field 622 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:37,280 Speaker 2: reporting from Noah Shalom, mastering by Jason Gabrel, original scoring 623 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,920 Speaker 2: by Joel Saint Julian, and our theme song, The Lonely 624 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 2: King is by mister Lynn. Special thanks to Andy Bowers, 625 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 2: who championed the original production at Paniple. I'm Steve Fishman, 626 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 2: Lucky Bill to. 627 00:40:53,920 --> 00:41:00,760 Speaker 9: Blood, Leedsday King, The Birds, The Blurbs, Friendo and Old 628 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 9: the last One. 629 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 5: You hear this com com. 630 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 2: Hi there before we go, You've just listened to another 631 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 2: brilliant episode of Empire on Blood the Director's Cut. To 632 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 2: hear episodes of this series one week early and ad 633 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 2: free with exclusive content, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on 634 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,600 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts. It's just two ninety nine a month.