WEBVTT - Episode 6 - The Hitman 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:15.960 January seventeenth, twenty twenty four, phone conversation with Hey, Danny 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.440 Smith from meremr PDI catch it at that time? Are 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:18.800 you good? 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:19.720 No? 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.239 I'm good. This case is. 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.920 Has got a life of its own. And I've learned 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.159 that two boxes became three, that became six, and I'm like, 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:34.720 you know what, I'm just gonna set up in my 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.639 garage and work from here from now on. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.440 Well, I think I can close some circles for you. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.559 I don't know who you know and what you don't, Daniel, 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.920 but I could kind of put if you think of 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.680 it as terms of that is silent, I can kind 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:53.960 of put all the voices in the perspective behind it, 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.400 people and each and every one of these people that died, 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:59.720 and each and every one of these people. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:07.560 I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff, and 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:16.800 this is cold blooded. The Apollo Jim murders. In January 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.800 of twenty twenty four, Miramar Police Department held a press 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:25.039 conference to announce that it had sufficient evidence to officially 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.120 reopen a nearly forty year old cold case, our case, 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.280 the unsolid homicide of twenty eight year old Billy Halper. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.600 Good morning, I want on behalf of the Miramar Police 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.600 Department and the Helping family. We want to thank all 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:44.680 of you for coming out. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.640 With Billy's sister Laurie at his side. Detective Danny Smith 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.520 addressed members of the South Florida. 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:58.400 Press October twenty first, nineteen eighty six. Billy Helper was 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:04.160 killed in his Miarmore count home. Billy was bound, beaten, 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:09.720 and ultimately killed. This was done in broad daylight. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.400 The story of murder, muscles and the mob played like 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.840 breaking news and. 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.960 Also new at noon Miramar Police announcing a major break 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:21.600 in a cold case and involves. 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.239 The brutal murder of a firefighter in his home back 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:28.000 in nineteen eighty six, and dominated the front page of 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.720 the next morning's Miami Herald. But of course, Danny and 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.000 I had been at this for more than a year, 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:41.079 knocking on doors, interviewing witnesses, testing DNA, and generally trying 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.600 to untangle the web of facts, lies, and legend surrounding 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.200 the Apollo Gym, which we believed was at the center 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.680 of a string of unsolved murders. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:58.200 Billy's murder has been tied to numerous other murders throughout 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.280 the Daytenbrower area back in the nineteen eighties. Central to 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:07.400 those murders was a former Miami Day police officer, Gil Fernandez, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.079 and his partner Burt Christie, who both worked and owned 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.080 or ran Apollo Gym out of Hollywood. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.680 The goal first to raise awareness among the general public 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:25.040 that Billy's case was still unsolved and that Billy, like 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:30.280 any victim, was still entitled to his share of justice. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.520 We believe that Billy heard something he shouldn't have heard, 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.680 and he saw something he shouldn't have seen, and we 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.520 believed that Billy was killed to keep him quiet and 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:41.360 for nothing else. 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.960 Danny also wanted to appeal to any potential witnesses who 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.720 might know something about Billy's murder to come forward and 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:55.080 share that information with police, someone who may have been 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.160 too afraid or too involved to come forward before. 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.360 So we're asking the public to come forward and even 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.000 give us a name of someone who they believe was 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.400 there that we can potentially get their DNA and compare 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:10.600 that to what we have. 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.800 A DNA match could help Danny finally close the case 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.440 on Billy's murder, but more importantly, it would give Billy's 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.840 family the closure they so deeply deserved. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.479 As a possibility that someone out there knows something, knows 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:28.040 who may be. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.200 Responsible for this. If there was a message that you. 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:31.479 Had for then what would it be. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.279 Come forward, Call Danny, call them, call Mirrama, mirror mar 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.599 and thank you for coming and being brave. Don't be afraid, 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.120 come and tell them what you know. I'd be grateful, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:45.680 My family would be grateful. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.640 Less than four hours after the press conference ended and 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.239 was televised on local news channels in South Florida, Danny 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.880 received a phone call from someone whose name who's nowhere 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:03.120 to be found in the original case file or ours. 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.720 The caller claimed he had information not just about Billy's murder, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:13.200 but also about Gil Fernandez, Harry Collier, and even a 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.280 couple of new names of people he believed were responsible 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:18.560 for Billy's murder. 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.800 There were other people that were, at least, let me say, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.880 like part of the read from the gym that no 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:28.360 one has ever mentioned. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.320 And like anyone who was in the South Florida bodybuilding scene. 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:37.400 He was also a regular at the Apollo Gym. For 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.279 reasons that will become apparent, this witness would only reveal 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:46.680 his identity to law enforcement, requesting that information not be released. 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.080 I became very close to Burke, and I would be 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.040 at the gym all the time, all the time, so 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.560 I'd be listening to things that I should have been 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.080 listened to, and then I would always walk out, and 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.160 I guess they appreciated the fact that I didn't want 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.160 to know anything that was going. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:11.360 On and what was going on. According to the original investigation, 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:16.960 drug dealing, shakedowns and deadly ripoffs all directed by former 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.480 Mister Florida Burt Christie and carried out by Gil Fernandez 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.720 and his crew. But according to this new witness, Bert 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.520 Christy was not always the one calling the shots. He 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.279 mentioned a name that neither Danny or I had heard 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.800 mentioned in this investigation, a name that for now is 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:38.680 being redacted. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.360 Have you ever heard the name? 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.400 Not a name I've come across now, No, I. 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.239 Don't think anyone knows him. In working at the gym 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.480 was a guy from New York and he would come 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.599 down once a month or it would go outside and 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.960 would not park. They would be pulling into the porking lot, 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:03.600 but Bert would be nervous that take. 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.119 He would go get in the car and be gone 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.440 for whatever time, half hour, hour, hour, and a half. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.640 Whatever, I'm sorry you said he was Gills boss, or 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.760 Bert's boss was Gills boss. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.600 And was Burt's. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.840 It was the first time Danny had heard mention of 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:29.320 Christie's boss, someone who potentially was not just aware of 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.480 Christie's criminal enterprise, but behind it. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.960 Was one of those shady guys. When his name was mentioned, 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:40.320 everyone said, don't ever save that name. Don't ever save 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.520 that name. And I guess in retrospect he was giving 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.480 bird orders and what would happen was. 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.960 Burt would come back and he would be nervous as shit. 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:55.040 But there was one visit in particular that always stuck 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.760 in his memory. It was nineteen eighty five. Business at 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:04.440 the Hollow was booming, and with each new score, Burtngill's 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.720 crew was getting more brazen. 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.640 Are don't work, Gil and Tommy all went out and 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.960 bought beautiful cars, and all of their wives got implants. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.760 It's everything you told someone not to do after committing 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.720 a crime and making money. 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.440 Not only that, but according to Mark Lopez, drug use 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.600 among the Apollos in a circle, particularly the injection of 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.800 anabolic steroids, was getting out of control. 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.520 You got to realize when you start loading your body 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.839 up with lots of artificial distosterone that can make it 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:45.160 super aggressive, and it can kind of distort your thoughts, 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.760 so it could make you excessively violent if you don't 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:50.240 know how to rail yourself in. 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.120 Eventually, their rising profile started to attract the attention of 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:02.760 law enforcement, including the South Florida Field Office the FBI. Obviously, 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.000 with law enforcement sniffing around the Apollo, the larger enterprise 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.400 was at risk, even with Gill's connection within the police force, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.240 because as we know, where there are detectives, there are 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.960 potential informants, maybe even a whole gym full of them. 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.199 So on one of his boss's visits, Christy was given 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.200 strict instructions, get your house in order. 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:33.160 I mean when he came down with the last times 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.559 and you could see it in his mind if something 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:40.480 concerned him so much that he just had to go home. Now, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.080 whether he got orders, I don't know. Whether the orders 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.680 were so over the top that there were people that 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.400 just had to be cleaned up, I don't know. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.600 Thanks to the information presented in gil and Bert's later trial, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.200 we know that both local and federal law enforcement had 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.480 been surveilling the Apollo gym and looking for for any 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:05.000 Apollo employees who may have been willing to offer incriminating 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.960 testimony against their bosses. In fact, when we first talked 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.880 to Mark Lopez, he described what it was like to 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:16.000 live under the eye of both the cops and Gil Fernandez. 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:22.320 At that time, we knew that law enforcement was out 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:27.920 there poking around about Gil and I know when it happened. 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.560 I told Gil about it. I specifically told him that 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.559 BSO is trying to call me in and call my 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:36.480 girl in with me. 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.600 These particular detectives were looking for information on the nineteen 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.120 eighty three murders on Danger Road. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.800 We met them for the first time in the Broward 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:51.600 maw two detectives. I said, you guys, honestly think that 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.800 me or anybody else like me is going to cooperate 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.120 with you, because if I ever agreed to do something 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.160 like that, I said, you know, my fate is sealed. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.880 Gil had become the top suspect in the still unsolved 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.640 triple homicide out on Danger Road, and by nineteen eighty 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.760 five he was beginning to feel the heat. 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.760 As time went on, you could see that there was 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:24.240 some type of underlying issue, and you can just see 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.079 it in someone. Then when they're carrying something heavy right, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:32.120 or they're worried about something. He was easily agitated, you know, 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.440 when he was agitated, like you could see it on 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.400 his face. And I would always when I saw that look, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:40.640 I would give him a wide berth. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.480 Everyone at the Apollo was unnoticed. With law enforcement closing in. 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.439 Gil was on a tear and according to the investigation, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:55.719 anyone that could potentially inform on him was seen as 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:00.400 collateral damage. And according to this new witness, that meant 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.440 Billy Halburn could have found himself squarely in Bert and 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:05.559 Gill's crosshairs. 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.360 He got a little sloppy Burton gulp, and I saw 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.360 things I probably shouldn't have seen, and a greody guess 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.839 because of the fact that Billy was there alive, he 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.400 probably saw things he shouldn't have seen. And I think 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.960 that's the reason Harry was called down, well, whatever reason, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:28.760 because I recalled vividly that went towards the end when 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:29.960 Bibe came down. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.000 The caller is again referring to the man he believed 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:37.000 to be Bert Christie's boss. 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.199 Bert not that he was nervous that he would come 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.920 down normally, but he would when he was visibly upset 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.760 when he learned that Harry came down. 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.199 Harry as in Harry Collier, the same Harry Collier whose 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.480 fingerprint would later be found at Mitch Hall's murder. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.120 And that's when this thing started getting out of control. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.480 Anybody who do anything. They just started going after him 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:07.960 and silencing everybody. 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.360 One thing you learned from talking with witnesses with more 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.760 than a passing understanding of the criminal world. They have 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.680 a particular fondness for understatement. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.320 Okay, Harry was gone. Harry was not a friendly guy. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.959 Also, according to this new witness, Harry Collier had a 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.040 very particular skill set. 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:38.800 I don't know how I came out of this a lot, 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.199 but to make a long story short, it would be. 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:45.719 Talking about knives and shit. I so know that he 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.000 was really into knives. 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.959 The medical examiner determined that the official manner of Billy 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:57.360 Helpern's murder was trangulation, but someone had also likely used 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:01.439 a large knife to cut Billy's throat, leaving a wound 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.840 so jagged and deep it appeared that they were trying 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.800 to remove his head. Six months later, Mitch Hall and 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.880 his girlfriend char Linda would be killed the very same 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:18.800 way it was an opening that Danny couldn't pass up. 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:26.120 So actually, I'd like to stay on Harry for a minute, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:33.640 and I'm going to be very upfront with you. I 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.600 am more than ninety percent sure that Harry Collier was 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.920 at Billy's and took part in his in his murder. 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.400 I know Harry was down for an extended period of time, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.040 and it seemed like everything was happening during that span 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.360 of time when Harry was down here. 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.280 That's what he was down for. If you asked me, 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:54.440 I guess. 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:58.880 As they were backtracking over their people, anyone met new anything. 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.880 Our witnesses theory Billy, like a lot of other guys 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.400 at the gym, had learned too much about Bert and 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:14.000 Gill's criminal activity, specifically the triple homicide on Danger Road, 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:19.160 and according to Dave Fasano, Bert and Gill's involvement was 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:20.880 an open secret. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:27.000 Everybody knew about it, everybody had talked about everyone knew 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.080 about it, especially the guys that were worked out there. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.800 Now, Danny and I checked and there was no record 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.040 anywhere that Billy had ever contacted either local or federal 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.280 law enforcement. But perhaps because of his clean record or 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.720 a refusal to be part of Gill's gang. Billy was 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.840 a threat, and threats had to be eliminated. Here's Dave 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:56.560 Fasano again, this time recalling that fateful morning in October 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:58.200 of nineteen eighty six. 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:01.200 I went to work. 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.960 And when I was pulling into the parking lot, you 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.360 could see Billy's block from the swimming pool, and I 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.080 saw the ambulances and stuff, and I'm like wow. And 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.840 I got out of the car and people were coming 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.800 up to me, Hey, somebody was murdered. Somebody was murdered. 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.120 And I walked down the street and I see that 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:27.840 it's Billy's house and I realized it's Billy. I kind 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:29.640 of went back to the pool by myself, and I 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:34.000 was going over and over in my head. You know 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.120 that Bert must be involved. 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.240 Mitch Hall and Charlnda Drought were killed less than six 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:43.920 months later. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.480 So Mitch Hall and Charlinda his girlfriend, who appeared to 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:51.800 be in the wrong place at the wrong time, we 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:57.080 were killed with a very similar mo. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:16:59.440 That Billy was. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.480 And you let just see this points the atmosphere of 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.600 the one was looking over the shoulder towards the egg. 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.000 Who's next. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.760 Because of a short spend period of time, all of 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.640 a sudden all his people died, so. 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:21.840 Who was ultimately responsible who was calling the shots? Harry 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.320 Collier was rumored to be a hit man from up 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:28.359 North with a thing for large knives, the kind of 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:35.080 weapon used to nearly decapitate Billy, Mitch and Charlnda. Collier 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.639 also happened to leave a fingerprint on a piece of 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.240 electrical tape at the Mitch Hall crime scene, even without 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.359 his DNA. This is strong circumstantial evidence that he was 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.040 at least one of the men behind all three murders. 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.360 But if it was Collier, who was with him who 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.320 ordered the hits. Since Jimmy high Note was found murdered 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.840 alongside Collier just a week after Mitch and Charlnda, it's 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.960 not a leap to assume he was also present at 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.760 Billy's murder. This fit with our assumptions that Billy was 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.160 ambushed by multiple assailants. 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.800 The theory is that Billy would not have opened the 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.800 door for Harry. He didn't know Harry. He wouldn't open 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.439 the door for Harry, but he knew Jimmy hin Note 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.840 action and he grew up with Jimmy high Note. And 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.520 my theory is that Harry and Jimmy high Note with 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:36.600 one other person, whether it's Gill or someone else. 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.840 Once again, it appears all signs seem to point to 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.520 Gil Fernandez, but without any physical evidence linking him to 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.240 the crime scene, it might be impossible to know for 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.639 sure if he was there, perhaps helping high Note and 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.800 call your tie Billy up, giving the orders to kill, 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:00.480 or even doing it himself. And while he may not 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.480 have any proof that Gil Fernandez killed Billy Halpurn, what 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.720 about the murders of Jimmy high Note and Harry Collier? 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.320 Not to mention the fact that shortly thereafter, I don't 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:15.159 know if you remember Gil had to go to the 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:16.679 hospital with lead in his eye. 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:22.679 I remember, that's right. The day after high Note and 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.760 Collier were shot dead. Police reports show that Gil was 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:30.600 admitted to the emergency room with a very telling injury. 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.320 Somehow a small piece of lead had lacerated his eye. 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.920 According to the report, it was a shard of iron 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.280 from a weightlifting accident. But our witness had an opinion 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:44.080 about that too. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.080 What do you feel about that? That excuse that it 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.040 was a dumbbell that broke, or of. 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.359 Course, of course you know better than that, and I 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:55.239 know better than that. 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.160 Of course, now in retrospect, it's hideous that I believed 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:03.160 what I believe. You know, it was obviously a freight 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.280 mint from lead from a gunshot. 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:21.600 In October of nineteen eighty six, Harry Collier was summoned 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.119 to the Apollo Gym in Hollywood Beach, Florida. Burton Gill's 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:30.240 operations had gotten sloppy. People were talking, and according to 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:34.960 the investigation, it was Collier's job to help clean things up. 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.439 Every day you'd go in, they're wondering who's going to 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.680 be dead next. That was the atmosphere in the gym 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:43.399 at the time. 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.480 It reminded me of something Billy's friend Dave Fasano told 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.280 us about a particularly ominous conversation with Burt Christy just 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.720 a few days before Billy was killed. 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.679 I was at the gym one day and I was 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:04.360 working out, and Bert came up to me, So your 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.320 friends would Biblity to help hert right? And I said yeah, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.480 He says, how good a friend? He says, well, I 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.840 don't want you hanging out with him anymore. I don't 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.040 want you to go to his house. I don't want 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.200 you to get in a car with him. I don't 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.119 want you to go out with him to a club. 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.280 I don't want you to do nothing with him. If 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:25.520 he calls you, you make an excuse, but don't go 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.280 anywhere near him. 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:31.080 Later that week, Billy Helperan was murdered. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.679 And I'm thinking, holy shit, Bert had to know something, 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:39.040 because why did he tell me to stay away from Billy? 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:44.400 So Bert in a way protected me at the same time, 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.840 was involvable killing one of my closest friends. 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.439 It may have been a warning, a mentor and coach 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:56.920 looking out for his bodybuilding protegee, but it also clearly 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:01.000 was a threat. And you know what, it worked. 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:04.600 When the cops came to me, they asked me to speak, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:06.400 asked to speak to me. They came in the gym 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.040 and they said, it's David Fasano win here and they 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.359 pointed me out. They came over and they pulled me 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:13.040 out of the gym and the frock in the parking 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.560 lot and started questioning me. The first question was that 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.359 you know, there's all these murders and your name is 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:22.560 in all the phone books that we've recovered. 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:24.359 Why why is that one? 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:26.639 And I said, well, because we all worked out here 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:31.720 to pollow gym. And we're friends from this gym. I 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.720 remember just being nervous as hell because Gil was looking 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:35.720 out the window. 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:37.440 And I was terrified. 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:39.359 I was afraid I was going to get killed because 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.080 and so I kept my mouth shut. And I felt 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:46.320 guilty for keeping my mouth shut at that time because 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.480 I thought I could help Billy, but I was terrified 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:50.480 that they were going to kill me. 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:57.720 He had reason to be afraid. Supposedly, Bitch Hall had 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.480 heard the same rumors about Bert and Ill that Billy had, 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:05.240 and when Billy was killed, he made the decision to 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:09.080 come forward and share what he knew with law enforcement. 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:13.840 It's still painful for his sister Kim to recount what 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:14.560 happened next. 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:20.240 Charlette was pulled from the shower. My brother was not 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:25.119 home yet, and they cut her throat. And then my brother, 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:27.800 he Messa, went to the store because they have had 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:30.840 a six pack of beer on the kitchen counter, and 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:33.359 then I guess he went to the room and he 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:36.480 tried to get to his gun, which was in the closet, 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:39.280 and I guess they cut his throat. 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:45.240 The truth was no one was safe, as high note 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:48.840 in Collier's murders proved when it's time to clean house. 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:51.520 Even the hitman gets hit. 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:56.720 My brother died May sixth. When I went to the funeral, 0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:59.199 of course, he had like five hundred people at the funeral. 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:03.080 He was very pop. My brother and Jimmy High Note 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:06.040 was there and he came up to me and he 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:09.560 was sweating. He it seemed like he was like just 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:11.919 got out of the shower and never dried off. He 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:15.560 was sweating and sweating, and he hugged me. I'm sorry 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:18.480 about Mitch. I'll never forget it. He said, I'm going 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.760 to be next. And I said, Jimmy, you need to 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:23.920 go to the police. You have to go talk to somebody. 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:28.199 I can't kim I'm going to be next. Then a 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:30.320 week later, he was next. 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:35.960 He was shot alongside the same man who most likely 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:40.600 killed her brother, Harry Collier. The realization hit her like 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:43.479 a ton of bricks. She had known Jimmy high Note 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:47.240 her whole life, she just never knew what he was 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:48.880 allegedly capable of. 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:54.159 I believe in my heart he was there, and I 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:58.000 just have this feeling and I'm thinking, oh my god, 0:24:58.000 --> 0:25:01.840 I if Jimmy he was there and he killed my brother. 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:04.640 I actually hugged his murderer. 0:25:06.400 --> 0:25:10.280 During this investigation, Detective Danny Smith made efforts to learn 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:14.560 more about both Jimmy high Note and Harry Collier, and 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:17.480 while plenty of people had memories of high Note, who 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:21.919