WEBVTT - Introducing - Crying Wolf 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:00.360 Hi there. 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.040 I'm Steve Fishman with Orbit Media and we're here today 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.520 with Dax Devlyn Ross. Today we're dropping the first episode 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.119 of Dax's new true crime series, Crime Wolf. But before 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.920 we get to that, some of you will remember Dax. 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.040 He's the co founder a co founder of Orbit Media, 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.160 also author, lawyer, journalist, and recently I hear a writer 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.800 of science fiction. Dax and I worked together co hosting 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:33.400 The Burden, which was Orbit's first splash in the true 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:38.519 crime universe. I like to think I discovered Dax for podcasts. 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.199 Thanks for having me on the show, Steve may or 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.760 may not be familiar with me from the work I've 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:50.360 done with the one and only toast of the Town himself, 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.440 Steve Fishman. So it's great to be here. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.320 So the band is back together. Unbelievable, right, you know, 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.960 twenty twenty six. It's what should happens, you know, it's 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.120 how it should be. A few interesting tidbits about Dax 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.000 before we get to the episode. All right, So see 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.520 now this is this is Dax. He's always traveling. It's 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.360 like a mysterious man. I can't keep up with him. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:14.840 I don't know what. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.240 I really can't tell you where I was this week. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:18.920 This was like I was in like a room. I 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:20.880 will tell you I was at a I was in 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:25.800 a convening where there was like security all over the floor. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.319 Like it was secure. It was a secure like you 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.360 couldn't tell. You had to like give your badges when 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.399 you got there, take them there to give, take your back, 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:34.920 and you couldn't leave with your badge. 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.959 See, Dax is making it sound like it's a one off, 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.319 but this is how dactually. It's his life, and he 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.280 won't tell you what he does. You know, he says like, uh, well, 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:48.520 I just worked for the department, so I got no idea. 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.760 I'm sure, I'm sure he's out righting wrongs. 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.960 But trying to man, that's it. You know, it's a 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:55.760 lot of wrongs to right in this world right now. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.000 And you know, as I I do like to point out, 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.800 Dax is also on the pathway to perfection. You know, 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:07.400 he's almost erased sleep as one need, pops out of 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.400 bed at you know, like a quarter past midnight and 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:16.600 does one hundred finger tip push ups. And then of 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:18.680 course he's lucky he has to live in chef who 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:20.560 makes him a calorie free breakfast. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.119 Well that would be great, right, Calari free. Right, that's 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.720 called black coffee from a cure. That's with that. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.400 So Dax and I were last partners on our our 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.600 flagship podcast, The Burden, which took I think six eight 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:34.280 months to make. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:35.840 That's all. 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.480 That's all took about four years to make, and it 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:45.320 actually was really good, especially the showdown in the final episode. 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.440 I still wake up thinking about it. Although people have 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.399 given me flak over the you know a cloud couple 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.360 of years, right, everybody has their opinions about how that 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:53.079 should have gone down. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.919 Jax went on to host solo host a pretty brilliant 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.200 podcast called Crying Wolf. I will say I think has 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:07.400 gotten not enough attention. It's a kind of brilliant role 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.440 out of a situation that we're sadly familiar with, the 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.760 wrongful conviction. But in this in this instance, there's this 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:22.000 amazing friendship at the center of it. Is that right that? 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.839 Yeah, it is a story about two friends who meet 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:31.480 in prison, and they meet and the meeting is fortuitous 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:33.919 and so far as it's you know, somewhat short lived. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.880 They only are in actual cellmates for less than a year, 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.560 but becoming self mates for less than a year. One guy, 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.640 Robert is, you know, this young Jewish guy who's in 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.360 prison because he has a drug problem. And he meets 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:52.800 this character who has been accused of and convicted of murder, 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:57.640 heinous murder, named Lee Harris, who's convinced and has never 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:01.480 ever swayed from the you know, the expression of his 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.720 of his innocence, and Robert listens, and when Robert gets out, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.400 he says, I'm gonna, I'm gonna look into this, and 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.000 looking into this becomes the next twenty years of his life. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:16.200 And he finds the witness that was used against Lee, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.480 that was basically the one who sealed the deal. He 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.400 finds this guy and he talks to this guy, and 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.719 he finds out that this guy was a government you know, snitch, 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.920 and he discovers that that Illinois, the Cook County knew it. 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.160 They knew he was a snitch, and that they never 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.440 revealed that to the to the jury, to the court. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.400 And so unfortunately Lee dies shortly after he gets out. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:40.760 He gets out in twenty twenty three. But what's left 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.320 behind is like twenty years of tape because they've recorded 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:48.040 the phone calls for years, and that becomes like the 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.320 spine is that you hear this relationship between these two 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.120 guys on the phone over the years. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.400 Today we're dropping the first episode of the series to 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:03.039 listen to the rest Crying Wolf's Look for Crying Wolf 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.640 wherever you get your podcasts, and if you don't like 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.919 the many ads they stuff into every episode, subscribe to 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:22.799 True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts and listen at free Enjoy. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.479 It's two thousand and one fifty miles southwest of Chicago, 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.760 Joliet Penitentiary, ring a bell it should It's the prison 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:37.279 from the opening scene of Blues Brothers. Prisoner number n 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.880 eight one seven one seven. Lee Harris is tense. He's 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:45.080 waiting on a new selly. Lee's had his share over 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.640 the past decade, and it's always a crapshoot. A space 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.080 seven feet by four feet with a bunk bed and 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:56.120 an open toilet, intimately shared with another convict. There's a 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.160 few ways this could go, as far as Lee's concerned, 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.080 none good. You can be sure Lee did not expect 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.640 someone like Robert Chatler to walk in on the outside. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.520 These men would have never cross paths. Lee, a black 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:14.640 man and career scammer raised in Chicago's most notorious projects, 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.640 now pushing fifty. Robert, a white Jewish kid from the 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.320 suburbs half his age, an odd ball who sought solace 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:28.839 rescuing insects and animals. How was this gonna work? In 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.560 short order, Robert would drive Lee to his wits end. 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.120 He chained smoked from sun up to sundown, all while 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.200 playing radio dub Beetles cassettes on repeat. Lee hated smoking, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.679 and let's just say the Beatles weren't exactly his flavor. 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.920 But all that would fade away because on that day, 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.000 Lee Harris was about to meet his future best friend, 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:56.279 brother from another and the key to his freedom from 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:01.200 iHeart Podcasts. I'm Dax Steblin Ross and this is crying wolf. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:11.520 White victim, female, pretty wealthy black defendant. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:13.280 I mean, as soon as I saw it, I'm like, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.040 fuck me, this is gonna be bad. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.080 He says the police from his friends, and then that's it. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:19.160 They turn on it. 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.960 I get ninety years for killing somebody I have never seen. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.840 They got the wrong That Lee's mouth was Lee's downfall. 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:27.160 Along with dirty colls. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.120 There's a list of police officers who deserve a special 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:34.480 place in health. As I walked down the hostel, said 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:35.320 my home address. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.120 Upline came from the world of how the Techniques? 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.960 Why didn't be your restaurant of grant? Why? How do 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:43.360 you see? 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:44.600 Don't you fear? 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:44.880 Guys? 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.600 I realized that I was from. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.760 The beginning, fell and killed Dana Filer, and that person's 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:51.560 still out here. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:07.080 Episode one, The Right Guy. It's the late eighties. Paula 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.440 Abdul and Public Enemy are in heavy rotation on MTV. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.520 Michael Jordan has yet to win a title. Some think 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.840 he never will. Oprah is still on our way to 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:20.200 becoming an afternoon icon. Lee Harris is thirty something living 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.440 in Chicago's Near North Side. He's got a little boy 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.080 we can't wait to teach the intricacies of softball. His 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.320 own prospects aren't so bright. By his own admission, he's 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.160 a petty crook running out of hustles. The one thing 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.480 Lee does have going for him, besides his son, the 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.199 thing that sets him apart is his charm. He could 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.720 and would talk to anyone. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.280 I remember him walking up to us. You'd see your 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.800 crew and it'd say, hey, how you doing. Oh hey, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.720 mister Jordan, what you guys doing here? 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.200 That's Bob Jordan. And if you're from Chicago, you might 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.880 recognize his commanding voice. Bob's a news veteran with a 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.640 career spanning six decades. Back in the eighties, he was 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.439 a general assignment reporter for the TV station WG in Chicago. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.680 Every day he'd gather his film crew and had to 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.479 cover the city's biggest story of the day. 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:17.920 Lee was not afraid to step out and be seen, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.640 be recognized, be known. If we're out doing a story, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.280 we'd want to find someone whom we could interview and say, 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.280 you know, what's the problem of the day. People are 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.760 many times afraid of a camera crew, but Lee wasn't. 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.440 Living in the projects meant the media was usually there 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.959 for one of two reasons, drugs or violence, and often 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.480 both meant they were looking for a good SoundBite. For 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.640 some residents, the site of reporters prompted a bline in 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:54.840 the opposite direction. Being so amenable made Lee stand out. 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.080 He stood out for other reasons too. 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.880 I've been trying to think of words to describe him. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:07.079 Impetuous is kind of a word, because he was outside 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:14.560 the norm. He was probably smarter than the average kid 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:19.439 he ran around with because he knew how to work 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.480 the system, and if I do this and do that, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.960 I can gain the system. I might be able to 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:32.000 use it to my advantage. But he was unpolished. He 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.559 was vulnerable to his own recklessness. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.920 The same unabashed approach Lee took with journalists like Bob 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.160 Jordan extended to local beat coops too. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.360 He was very affable, he was very friendly, He was 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:56.120 very you know, he respected as we were the police, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.880 but we respected, you know, we had different lifestyles. 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.600 This is Harry Siwak and her partner Joseph Roberts Signoretti, 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.520 but he also goes by Bob. Back in the day, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.280 Lee was a recurring character on their beat. 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.120 He's a scam artist. There's an alley off of Rush Street. 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.040 They call it Drug Alley Lee. He would sell fake drugs, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:18.800 burd bags. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.760 You know, the number dried herbs instead of weed. A 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.200 regano meant whatever. A hustler can entice some thrill seeking 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:27.520 inner city tourists with. 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.800 And all the suburbanites would go across and walk, you know, 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.120 so a black guy coming up and telling, you know, saying, hey, 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:36.599 do you want anything. 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:40.040 And more often than not they'd fall for it. But 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.600 once a sale was made, real drugs are not. Bob 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:44.559 would have to step in. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.680 The Sorry, Lee, you're gonna have to go to jail 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.199 or or sometimes they just shag them out of there 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.960 and you tell them get out of here because you 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.880 don't want to hassle with them, and bray and stuck 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.560 while he did, don't want to touch them, you know. 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.240 So it was a any kind of dance back then 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.720 between Lee and the police. Sometimes after a saale, Lee 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.760 would hang around to get arrested on purpose. A trip 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.320 to the precinct with his cop piles could be more 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.520 pleasant than the wrath of a returning customer. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:14.920 But if he didn't do what he did, then we 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.840 wouldn't do what we did right. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.640 He was job security. 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.160 This love hate triangle between locals, the press, and the 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.800 police could have typified daily life in any project. But 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.400 Lee didn't live in just any project. He lived in 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.920 one of the most infamous of them all, Cabrini Green. 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.360 You've likely heard of Cabrini even if you couldn't point 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.640 to it on a map. I certainly couldn't. It's where 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.559 the Colthood horror candy Man was set. It's had countless 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.480 mentions in Chicago rap and it was the backdrop for 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.320 the classic black sitcom Good Times from the seventies. The 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.640 title it was ironic in case you're wondering. When the 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.440 first Cabrini rowhouses and towers went up in the nineteen 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.720 forties and fifties, they represented optimism, the potential of public 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.320 housing to provide quality homes for all. It was certainly 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.280 a step up from the slum land it replaced Little 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.520 Hell the locals used to call it, who at the 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.199 time were a mix of Irish, Swedish and Italian immigrants. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.320 But by the nineteen eighties, when Lee lived there, things 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:26.040 had changed a lot. The projects had become a new 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.480 kind of poverty, poverty of gangs, drugs, and violence, and 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.400 Cabrini's buildings were now exclusively housing black residents. 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.840 Most of the police officers didn't want, even want nothing 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:37.680 to do with Kabrini. 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:38.600 It was wild. 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:39.680 It was a different world. 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.480 Crack cocaine was rife, controlled and fought over by the 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.960 Mickey Cobras or the gangster disciples, some of Cabrini's most 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:51.559 notorious gangs. Oddly enough, none of that phased Bob or Mary. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.480 We got along with all the gangs, the ones that 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.000 hated and shot at each other. We were like their 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:03.400 aunties or something. So it was an unusual relationship we 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:05.760 had and Lee was one of those people. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.120 To be clear, Lee was not in a gang, a 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.040 gangbanger as they used to call it. What's interesting, though, 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.840 is that he somehow managed to get along with them all. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.240 He wasn't afraid of being seen. He also knew how 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.240 to disappear into the crowd, make himself invisible or if 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:28.400 nothing else, non threatening. More than anything, Lee was a survivor, 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.400 which meant being both nothing in particular and a bit 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.760 of everything. This showed up in his various occupations. Being 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.400 that Kabrini was right next door to some of Chicago's 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:43.200 most affluent neighborhoods, Lee would sometimes dabble in more legitimate pursuits, 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.680 like window cleaning for the luxury high rises, and when 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.760 window washing and burn bags didn't cut it, there was 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.720 always a quick buck to be made sharing information with 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:53.280 the cops. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.640 We would talk to him about things, Hey Lee, do 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.320 you know about this or that? Or he said, hey, Lee, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:01.760 if you hear about anything. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.440 But an inexplicable tragedy a mere few blocks from Caribeania 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.760 was about to shake up the natural order of things 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:25.320 and send chills throughout the whole of Chicago. How people 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.880 endure Chicago winters has never made sense to me. A 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.840 place that hovers between bone cold and brick for months 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:39.200 on end. Then you experience the summer, and suddenly it 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:47.520 all makes sense. Chicagoans live for the summer. It's when 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.240 the city exhales, when the frozen shorelines of Lake Michigan 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.760 thaw into tanning mecchas dotted with beach bums and fitness diehards, 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:00.720 and by night becomes stages from music, fireworks and joy. 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.520 Summer in Chicago isn't just a season, It's a resurrection. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.720 Summer nineteen eighty nine was no different. Then came the 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:17.360 night of June eighteenth. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.200 A twenty four year old woman lies in a coma tonight, 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:23.720 the victim of an execution style shooting, apparently near her 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:24.760 home on the Gold Coast. 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.160 Dana Peitler was smart, attractive, from money as promising as 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.160 they make them in America. She had just completed an 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.000 internship at one of America's top banks and was about 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.360 to begin graduate studies. Moments after returning home from a 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.840 night out celebrating with friends, She's forced into a nearby alley, 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.000 shot in the back of the head, and left for dead. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.360 The motive is unclear, although police find two ATM receipts 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.240 in Dana's wallet. The time stamps indicate the withdrawals happened 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:00.000 after she had returned home. Patrol cop Mary sya Way 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:01.280 remembers it, well. 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:06.160 She's from wealthy family down in the Gold Coast, right 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.760 by Astro Street, which is the biggest money street where 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.400 the governor lives, you know, right where all the concentration 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.679 of money is. So it was a heater case. 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.080 It was an instant heater and yes, it's exactly what 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.400 you think it is. The heat was on. This kind 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.720 of thing just didn't happen on the Gold Coast to 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.199 a white woman. Not only was it one of the 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.479 richest neighborhoods in Chicago, it was one of the richest 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:36.240 neighborhoods in the entire country. Reporter Bob Jordan lived there 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.240 around that time. He could attest to its bona fides. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:45.320 There was an air of security and you never felt 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:51.760 ill at ease. So when Dana is discovered in this alley, 0:17:52.840 --> 0:18:05.640 it was a tremendous story because it broke the calm. 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.840 The Dana Fightler case becomes a real life horror story 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.600 that everyone is following. The media descend daily on Northwestern 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:14.080 Memorial Hospital to get updates from Dana's neurosurgeon, and alongside 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.480 fears for Dana, Chicago's residents have worked themselves into a 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.040 kind of moral panic. ATMs are still a weird new 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.720 invention in the eighties. Was this new technology safe? What 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.639 was being compromised in the name of convenience? We found 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.760 some TV footage from the time where a police superintendent 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.919 Holess tells a reporter armed police won't use them. What 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.960 in the devil are you guys doing standing at an ATM? 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.600 And to top it all, tongues are wagging about the perpetrator. 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.880 Surely this crime had been committed by a black man 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:50.879 and was it only money he was after? First days, 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.160 then weeks pass and Dana holds on. The city holds 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.040 its breath. The police chase down leads to feed up 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:00.960 the chain of command. The media scramble for tidbits to 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.920 satiate its audiences. Bob Jordan had a front row seat 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:05.400 to it all. 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.080 As news crews. We were in the area doing that 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:14.000 story daily, trying to do updates, trying to find ways 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.960 to work the story with new angles and that sort 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:17.320 of thing. 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.200 Then, out of nowhere, a woman who was out walking 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.040 her dog the night of the incident comes forward. She 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:29.119 has some vital new information. Moments before the attack, she 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.400 saw Dana being led down a street by three men, 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:37.439 three black men. After weeks of waiting for a break, 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.920 the CPD finally has something. And then just as news 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:47.040 from the witness becomes known, Dana's family makes an unusual move. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:51.280 They put up a sizeable reward. Might the promise of 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.400 hard cast shake loose some new leads jog a few 0:19:54.440 --> 0:20:01.760 memories the fighters. One answers the city when the. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:07.240 Mayor is getting static from his constituents. Then he calls 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.040 the police chief and says, what the hell's going on 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.879 with this fight er story? How close are you in 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.040 getting this wrapped up? And then the police chief calls 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.560 his neighborhood commander and says, how soon are you getting 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.000 it wrapped up? That pressure all the way to the 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:26.119 patrolan is find somebody, make some arrests. 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.760 Armed with this new information from the dogwalker, the CPD 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.520 puts every cop in the vicinity on high alert, even beat. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.760 Cops like Mary and Bob get drafted. They're summoned to 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:42.080 an emergency briefing and their orders find any scrap of 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.159 information they possibly can about that night. And this is 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.800 not going to be a collaboration effort across the force. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.880 This is cop against cop. Whoever brings home the biggest scraps, 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.200 it's the biggest prize. 0:20:57.920 --> 0:20:59.440 It was very doggy dove. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:00.000 Yeah. 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.200 And if you want to be the police, you get 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.280 the bad guys, then you've got to do battle. You've 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:07.080 got to compete. 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.080 As Mary and Bob step out of the precinct, they 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.120 know exactly where the head first, the streets. 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.159 There'd be thousands of people out there, you know, in 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.440 the summertime, everybody be out there, everybody, and there's always 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.600 somebody that saw all those people all day long, you 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.880 know what I mean. Somebody always would see what happened. 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.080 Someone perhaps like Lee Harris. 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.840 He could have been there. Yeah, he could have been there. 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.200 He was a contender, you know what I mean. 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.040 Turns out finding Lee doesn't require much effort at all. 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.560 Mary and Bob bump into him almost immediately. They fill 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:51.640 him in about the crime, but also the reward twenty 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:55.119 five large for anyone who can provide information that leads 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:55.879 to an arrest. 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.320 We're the ones that totally about it. 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:01.120 And back then there was a lot of money, and 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:03.240 he was a money guy. He was a you know, 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.400 can guy five thousand dollars okay, you know, I mean 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:10.160 there was a motive for him to want to find 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:11.480 out about it. 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.600 Because in his situation, you know, there was good money. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:22.680 Right, always a man to work numerous angles. Lee has 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:24.960 also been talking to some other cops who worked the 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:29.080 Gabrini beat. Old friends, in fact partners, James Ward and 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:33.680 John McHugh. These guys went way back. They used to 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:35.760 help Lee out when he got in trouble with the law. 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:39.200 They'd loan him money sometimes. They even attended Lee's wedding 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.479 back in the day. Ward and mceu are much closer 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.520 to the case than Bob and Mary. They're working directly 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:49.679 for the lead on the Fightler case, Detective Richard Zuley, 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.760 a tough talking cop known for making cases and making 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:58.640 them stick. They tell Lee some enticing insider information. They've 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:01.679 got three suspects in the case, well known criminals from 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.040 the area. The trigger man went by the street name Cheese, 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.879 but with no witnesses placing them there, there's no chance 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.920 of making any arrests Lee gets thinking a twenty five 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.480 thousand dollars reward has a whole lot of burn bags 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:20.240 and cleaning windows. He could start a new life, move 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.600 his son out of Cabrini. His mind starts worrying. Cabrini, 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:27.040 Green and the Gold Coast are just around the corner 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:30.480 from each other. We're talking less than a mile walking distance. 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:33.879 And the three suspects are also from the projects. It 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:38.240 will be believable that Lee knew them. He thinks, maybe 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:41.520 I was there the night Dana was attacked. Maybe I 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:46.280 did see something or someone. Lee decides he does know 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:48.560 something about the knight of the crime, and he knows 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:51.160 who he needs to speak to about it. He heads 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:54.800 straight to Area six to find Ward McHugh and their boss, 0:23:55.320 --> 0:24:00.000 Detective Richard Zulie. Mary was unimpressed. 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:08.560 Those detectives are used to be called Area six. They 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.160 were all priman honas. I have to admit he hurt 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.679 my feelings a little bit because I thought that we 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:17.320