The 11th Hour

And I mean seeing ends on and they're talking about it and I saw it today and we're all, you know, for parents, it's just terrible. So I'm just gonna give you some quick comments about this and then we're gonna move on and we're gonna get into some other things. But it is part of the news of today. Four people killed. You heard about that, two teachers, two teachers, and two students in Georgia, about an hour outside of Atlanta.

But this is something I saw in USA today that the school get a phone call warning them of a shooting. And this would be the first school. There were going to be five schools targeted and this was going to be the first school. So I just want to know the timeline. Because the shooter, called Gray, according to reports, began this tragedy at like ten twenty in the morning. So when did the call come in? And if the call came in sooner than that, how come the doors

were not locked immediately? How come it was just not shut down? I don't know. This is the ultimate second guest. Very easy for me to do. But we have seen in the past, as we know, in past school shootings where comic sense did not prevail, where they didn't act immediately, and I hope that this is not the case here. I have seen that report. A warning was given to the school, Okay, shut it down immediately, but perhaps the young man was already in school with the gun and

it was too late. But that part I did find disturbing. But the police were, they got the listen, they were there within minutes. Maybe they had already been warned, maybe they were already on their way and it could have been a lot worse. Of course, that doesn't make anybody feel better right now, especially those related to the four people killed and a fourteen year old student, coach Gray, who surrounded immediately to police. It's all of it. It's

mental health, it's gun control, it's all of it. I don't understand why there are sides with this, I really don't. It pisses me off. There should be one side. Stop it. That's it. Stop it. That's what I have to say about that. All right, We're going to try to move

on from that. And then okay, so Vice President harrispoke today, and it seems with her tax situation, or her tax breaks, or her whole economic policy is to help the middle class, help the little person, if you will, And that makes sense. I understand that. You know, saying that corporations and billionaires should pay taxes, that's never gone away. You and I

could talk about that all day long. The billionaires of the world, they have the tax breaks, they have the interest they have all the financial capabilities, and the people working for them where they can pay seventeen percent tax as opposed to forty percent tax because of the way they can make the numbers work and they can put losses against gains and so forth and so on. That's never going to change. That's never going to change. That's

just gobbly good speak. Helping the middle class. I get that. That's fine. Fifty thousand dollars tax break for startup companies, great, four thousand dollars tax break per child for people that have multiple children in their home or people that have obviously families. You get a couple of kids, you get an eight grand tax break. That can help. It's all the good start. It's not earth shattering. I mean it's not. I mean the whole thing is interest rates have to

come down. If interest rates come down, which I anticipate they will, that's going to be good for her. If it happens during the Biden administration. That's what it's gonna be all about. But I don't think while we can point to the economy, and I think people say the economy, the economy, the economy, I don't think that's gonna be what decides this election. I think morality is what's going to decide the election. Is ken people vote for a guy in Donald Trump who has a lot of moral questions.

We know, convicted felon sexual harassment charges, comments it about fallen soldiers and what happened during COVID. He totally mismanaged that total. I mean, I don't know who could have done there were a lot of things he said during COVID that were just stupid. You know what you're gonna get with Trump. You don't know what you're gonna get with Harris, and she's gonna get the young vote. People will point to the economy. I don't think the economy

is going to decide the election this time around. I think it's gonna be personality. I think it's gonna be like I think Trump's a bad guy, or Trump's got a record. I don't like Donald Trump because he's a bully. I mean, Donald Trump's not stupid and well, could be good for the economy. We know pro trumpers have pointed to the fact that while he was in office, the

economy was great. Well, you know what, when Bill Clinton was in office, he balanced the budget, So you can you can point the Republicans and you can point to Democrats where the economy worked for them. Both parties can make arguments on that regard. I don't think it's the economy stupid about this time. I think it's when you go to the ballot box, which person, Which person can

I vote for? Can I let January sixth slide? Can I let the sexual harassment accusations and charges in convictions slide? Can I let those things slide? Can I let us slide? The way he has spoken about following soldiers at Arlingcoln cemeteries? Can I let that slide? Should I vote for Vice President Harris? I don't know how she's gonna do. I haven't been impressed so far she was vice president. What they do? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. That's the thing. You don't know. That's so that's where we're at. I mean, we've talked about this before. So it's great that she's got the tax breaks and all that. I don't think it's ever shattering. And I don't think it's gonna be the economy that decides the election. I don't. I think people are just gonna vote. They're gonna vote with their heart, and they're gonna have a moral compass in which way they can go.

That's it. Do they go with the unknown with a person who, as far as we know, seems to have a very good moral compass, or do we go with what we do know, with Donald Trump, who may be good for the economy, who may be good for big business, whose moral compass is a little off. That's what it's gonna come down to. All Right. Those are my opening thoughts on the show coming up tonight right here on night Side on WBZ dan rygus Off. As you know, we will take calls coming up at the eleven o'clock

hour at six, one, seven, two, four, ten thirty. Got a lot of work to do between now and then. My good body, Casey Sherman. He's got a great article Boston Magazine. You know, he's written some great books like Murder in Hollywood, a hell Town, Cape cod serial Killer. He's got another one coming out, Blood in the Water. Also got a big play coming up, cases producing a big play at the Wilburn next spring. Yes, yours truly will be taking the stage, so we'll talk about that.

But he's going to be talking about a man. He's going to be speaking about a man that he's written about in Jimmy Rodwell, who has spent the last forty three years in prison for a crime that he says he did not commit. Nine o'clock John Powers, one of the great sports journalists in the world, in the world who's going to join us from the Boston Globe, and we're going to look back at the Paris Olympic Games and look ahey to twenty twenty eight, and I just

want to talk about the Olympics in general. Rhythm Masters and Mickey Hart Experience The Grateful Dead Drummer, one of the two. Mickey Hart has this idea the rhythm of sports. The rhythm of the universe is in sync with the rhythm of sports. My good friend Toys and Paying directed this documentary in which Mickey Hart focuses on this. And I have to admit when I first heard the idea, I went, ah, do I have to have some shrooms?

Is it advised when you watch the Rhythm Rhythm Masters and Mickey Hart Experience on ESPN that you pop a couple of shrooms. You don't drive, do not drive, you know, but you just pretend you're at a dead concert. Act accordingly within your living room. I've seen the documentary. It's phenomenal, it's great, it's great. It's Mickey's a little out there,

but you want to hear. You want to hear what the journey that Tory had and putting this whole documentary together, working with the Joe Montanas of the world, and when he was alive, the great Bill Walton and Mickey Hart and bringing athletes and musicians together for one common theme. Very interesting stuff. A lot of the greats Nicholas, Joe Montana, Bill Walton all say rhythm is part of being successful

in sports. So that's all coming up at the ten o'clock hour, and again you're coming up at eleven o'clock right here on WBZ. Okay, coming up next here on Nightside, Gary Tagway for Dan Ray, a man that has spent forty three years in jail for a crime he says he did not come in. Casey Sherman, our buddy, breaks it down for us next on WBZ. Now back to Dan Ray. Line from the Window World, night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio the Eleventh Hour from Boston Magazine.

It's a great story, a great tale told by Casey Sherman. We know that Casey is great at these things. Casey, of course, who has written a number of best selling books and now he's working on this story to you free Jimmy Rodwell spending forty three years in prison for a crime that he says he doesn't commit. And when you take a look at the facts and you read the article and you look at what Casey's working on. Lotter eyebrows get raised. Casey, thanks for joining us here on Nightside.

wall I'm innocent on this. I'm innocent on that. But this one really got under my skin and I started to dig into the case and found what an absolute travesty of justice it really is.

testimony that fingered the guy. Other than that, I don't see any other connection, which is just head scratching on this. So sure, let's go through it, Okay. So Rose set up the situation, tell us about the crime, and they tell us about how Rodwell got in.

a cold case for two years. And in nineteen eighty May of nineteen eighty Jimmy Rodwell, who's in his twenties at the time, is working as a bouncer at a disco on the Lindwe called Deja Vu. Is actually working with Franklin Zuli, who would later write for The Sopranos, and Frank de Pasqually, who's obviously a pill very well known restaurant tour and a state police detective comes to the disco and puts the cuffs on and says that you're arrested for murder. Arrested for the unsolved murder of

Louis Rose Junior. Now Jimmy thinks it's a mistaken identity, and in fact, when he goes to the Somerville police station that night, he sees some cops that he knows and they're all, you know, kind of telling him, look at Jimmy, this is this has to be mistaken identity because you clearly aren't capable of doing this.

you know, doing very well for himself. And out of the blue, he gets, you know, picked off the job and thrown into jail, and he thinks he is it's I think it was a Memorial Day weekend in May of nineteen eighty and he thinks he's going to get out, you know that Mondeer that Tuesday. And he's never released from prison. And it's all because, as you mentioned, Gary you know, two serial snitches looking to shave time off their sentences put him at the crime scene.

rod Well's company, and he was a disgruntled worker. I think Rodwell had to fire him at some point, and I think he carried a grudge and when he was asked, you know, to put somebody you know at that crime scene because there was a very high profile crime, the you know, murder of the son of a decorated, decorated local police officer, you know, Jimmy Rodwell was was served up.

a really egregious case here involving Jimmy Rodwell. And again, you know, a guy like frank Holmes, the first initial witness, he'll say whatever you know the state police you know, ask him to say. And again he had a grudge. You must have had a grudge against Jimmy Rodwell because Jimmy fired him from the job, and that name popped into his head and came out of his mouth.

and we've seen it, we've heard of it. Justice is not being served putting an innocent man in jail, manufacturing evidence or taking the first story or the second story from a couple of witnesses who are certainly not reputable, who have everything to gain by telling a story so they can get out of jail, and then putting another man in jail. You're letting out two people who should be in jail to put a man in jail who

shouldn't be there. I don't get it. What is the motivation for the police to do that?

story coming up next. I feel like I'm on twenty twenty or Datelight. This on Dateline on WBZ. We'll be back after this. It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's News Radio. Cool. Thank you very much, appreciate it. Back here on Nightside, Gary Tangway for day tonight, Casey Sherman is joining us here. How Town. It's a terrific book. You got to read this. Then Murder in Hollywood, which is my favorite one of Casey's because I love the whole murder stuff in the noir and but it's toss

up between hell Town and murder and Hollywood. He's got another one coming out soon, Blood in the Water. We'll ask him about that a little bit later on, and then there's a big show coming up with the Wilberg next Springs who he's a busy man. But right now we're talking about the Eleventh Hour, which is an article he wrote in Boston Magazine about Jimmy Rodwell, the man who spent the last forty three years in jail, and

he's been continuing to prove his innocence. So, Casey, we have witness number one that fingers Rodwell and says that he did it. He was the trigger guy. But you need too, so tell us about Nagel and how he comes in the picture.

Jimmy Rodwell. Shortly after Jimmy Rodwell gets arrested in nineteen eighty and you know, within days, according to Rodwell allegedly confessed that he had killed Louis Rose Junior in nineteen seventy eight. Quote, I put seven in his head and I didn't hesitate.

government to shave years off of his sentences. And you know, how does anyone believe that, within a couple of days of Jimmy Rodwell even knowing David Nagel, that Jimmy Rodwell is going to confess to a murder that may put him away for life. Didn't make any sense then, doesn't make any sense. Now, Jimmy barely knew David Nagel while

they were at the bel Rique House of Correction. But those are the two witnesses that the prosecution put on the stand during rod Well's trial in nineteen eighty one, and the jury bought it, despite the fact that Jimmy Rodwell's lawyer just ripped these two witnesses to shreds on the witness stand. You know, in nineteen eighty jurors believed the government. They believed the prosecutors. They didn't you know,

they really didn't know. You know, the depths of the corruption within the FBI and wedding Bulger, or within the state police in several other crimes and cases. You know, these people were susceptible to what they believe the government was telling them, which is what they thought was the truth.

As we know, back in nineteen seventy eight, you had to take the keys out to open up the trunk. It's not like today. You didn't have keyless entry. So the pills in the rifle that Rose allegedly had, it's all over the road. And the testimony changed, and how it exchanged hands and how the whole thing went down. When you take a look at Holmes's testimony, it changed three times. I'm not sure about Nagel, but that witness's testimony was not consistent, not once.

him of this massive jar of percocet pills. But the inconsistency is very stark because the vehicle, to your point, Gary was still running at the time in nineteen seventy eight. You literally needed to take the keys out of the ignition, go around to the back of the trunk of the car, open the trunk with a key in order to extract anything from the truck. That's exactly you know that didn't happen.

Holmes was was blasted by the defense attorney during trial for this major discrepancy, this major inconsistency that should have been enough for the jury to say, wait a minute, something is fishy here. Jimmy Rodwell is not going to get convicted because we need a threshold of beyond a reasonable doubt, and that clearly wasn't the case here.

for themselves. You know, Nagel, you know, his biggest inconsistencies are where you know, Jimmy Rodwell claimed he had tossed the murder weapons, and they had state police divers searching two locations that ultimately came up, you know, with nothing, no evidence at all that any you know, pistol or any murder weapon had been absconded or dropped, you know, either in Somerville or you know, by the Charles River

in the North End. So you've got two, you know, very I would say, you know, criminal witnesses with zero credibility on the stand trying to put this guy away for life.

Nagel got several years shaved off of the sentence. And one of the things that Jimmy Rodwell's attorney, Veronica White, has found out over the years, and she's she's been a bulldog on this case, is that Nagel not only was he a local you know, informant for the state police, but he also head tied to the federal government and it was the government's job to protect Nagel, especially in the Rodwell case, because Nagel's fingers were also on several other cases at the federal.

this case. I think for forty three years, people in the justice system in Massachusetts knew Jimmy Rodwell was innocent, but they were willing to let an innocent guy go down to protect not only the David Nagels of the world, but their own reputations. Now, by putting a new lens on this case and getting people involved much like they were and have been involved with Karen Reid case, you know, that will lead to changes being made at the state level to get Jimmy Rodwell out of prison.

time is running out for Jimmy Rodwell. And I think that you know, your audience here, Gary, I'd love them to pick up the article. But for Boston Magazine, they can also read it online. I think it posts next week. Get involved, get outraged, use the hashtag free Jimmy, and get this guy out of jail.

channels to get Jimmy out. But we'll see what levers need to be pulled in order to get this guy's freedom.

what Casey's get cooking next here on wbz's Nightside. Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Nightside Studio on WBZ News Radio. All right, back here, Gary Tangling for Dan tonight. Coming up at nine o'clock. The Great John Powers, who has been covering the Olympics for the Boston Globe since nineteen seventy six. We are going to talk to him. He was in Paris and he is one of the great journalists in this city. And we're not only going to talk about Paris, but just

to talk about the whole Olympic atmosphere. What's going on with the Olympics now and looking ahead to Los Angeles and what did it worked here in Boston? What did it work here in Boston. That's all coming up now. I'm right here on WBZ Casey Sherman with US Boston Magazine. Check it out. The eleventh Hour, Jimmy Rodwell claiming his innocence after spending forty three years behind bars. Check that out. But Casey's also working on some other things. Casey, tell

me about Blood and Water. What's going on with that book? When can we expect it? What is it about?

she disappears. He's a castaway on a life raft for up to seven days before he's rescued by a passing Chinese cargo ship in the fishing lanes of the North Atlantic. He's brought back to the US Coast Guard station, and at first Gary everybody thinks it's a bittersweet story. He's been rescued, but unfortunately his mother has disappeared and was likely drowned. But when they get him back to the

Coastguard station, they begin to pick at his story. They don't believe that his mother just went missing or got knocked off the boat. They believe that he killed her. And then they realize that he's also the prime suspect in his grandfather's shotgun murder three years prior in Connecticut, all allegedly to seize control of a fifty million dollar family fortune. It makes the murder case in South Carolina

look like a bunch of amateurs. This is an explosive story, and the way I'll tease it out is everything has been written about Nathan Carman, about the guilt in both these cases, but I interviewed thirty witnesses in this case, and this guy may actually be innocent of the crimes that he was accused of.

just tell the story. But as the story began to unfold around me, and as you know, putting my journalist hat on and interviewing as many people as I could around this case, many other suspects emerge. In the shotgun murder of his father and also in the you know, disappearance of Nathan's mother, Linda Carmen.

my reinvestigation of that case. My aunt Mary Sullivan, for those that know, was the youngest and final victim in the Boston Strangler case in nineteen sixty four, so we'd take a deep dive into that. We also bring to stage Lana Turner and really focus on a murder in Hollywood and how the shooting of her gangster boyfriend all went down on Good Friday nineteen fifty eight. And then we end the show with a very graphic and profound retelling of Healthtown, which is about a serial murder case

in nineteen sixty nine in Provincetown. And I've covered over one hundred homicides in my career, Gary, this is the most brutal that I've ever seen. This is like Jack the Ripper had been resurrected to stock the women of the Outer Cape, and that's exactly what happened.

To the idea that these two maniacs, these two serial killers were breathing the same air evolving at the same time is really incredible to see. And you know, as much of an amazing show that this is going to be, it's also a charity show. So all proceeds from this show are going to the Pete Frades Foundation that supports als patients and their families across New England. And you know,

thank you Gary for donating your time. Thank you to my incredible cast that is going to be joining me on stage at the Wilbur because we're all doing something very special that night.

the top of my mind. You know, who teaches theater at high school and he comes out and does these performances. I go, this guy should be in Hollywood. You know. There's so many local actors that have just chose to stay here and work and then you know, kind of do it as a hobby. And that's what you will get to see at the Wilburg. I mean, there's no doubt about that.

sale right now. Just go to wilbur dot com. A Nightmare with Casey Sherman and again your ticket will benefit the Pete Fradies Foundation for als patients.

have a good one. All right. Coming up next, I'll look back at the Paris Olympic Games and the Olympics in general with the Dean of Olympic Coverage, John Powers of the Boston Globe. This is WBC's nightside