In the late eighties and early nineties, the crack epidemic was in full swing, and one of New York's most powerful drug gangs was Lenny and Nelson Sopulvida's Wild Cowboys a k a. The Red Top Crew. Red Top referred to the color of the caps on their crack piles, and they're less powerful. Competitors were called Orange Top and Yellow Top. Yellow Top began selling out of an alleyway on Beakman Avenue in the Bronx, which was Red Top territory.
Around December sixteenth, in an incident that became known as the Quad Murders, Nelson Sepulvida and three others rolled up with semi automatics indiscriminately spraying sixty bullets into the alleyway on Beakman, killing four and wounded one. Detective Mark Tappins was under intense pressure to bring order to the dangerous area, and he indicted forty one people as codefendants for several
drug related incidents, including the Quad murders. Tappin's street sweep turned suspects into witnesses, and nine of the forty one it went to trial. Five of the codependants were blamed for the quad writers, four of whom are inocent, and one of those poor souls is Danny Rincon. Alibi witness has placed Danny on the other side of a large city block at the time of the shooting, including a victim's mother and brother, but the jury could not see
through the trial's circus atmosphere. Dandy was convicted and sentenced to a hundred and fifty eight and a third to life. Glenn Garber and Para Rossner from the Exoneration Initiative joined Danny Rincon, calling it from Attica Prison to tell us about the case that they've built for Danny's freedom. This is Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. Hello, n the prepaid collect call from an inmate at New York State Department of Corrections and commiting supervision. This call is subject to
recording and monitoring. To accept charges. Press one. Thank you for using Securist. You may start the conversation now. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom. Before I introduced Danny reren Cohen, who's calling in from prison where he's been for a very long time, where he doesn't belong. First, I'm going to introduce his legal team. Sarah Rossner Vara is an attorney with the Exoneration Initiative. Thank you for having us and with us today as well is Glenn Garber.
And Glenn has been responsible for a large number of exonerations as the founder and director of the Exoneration Initiative. And it's so great that you're here and so great that you're working on Danny's case. That I know that you'll be the first one to greet him when he gets out, because I know how much this case means you. So Glenn Garber, welcome to Wrongful Conviction. Thank you. Jason happy to be here. And Danny ring Cohn calling in
from Attica. So Danny, welcome to Wrongful Convict. Thank you so much, Jason, thank you for the opportunity. Danny is serving what I think a lot of people will agree as an absurd sentence. He's serving a hundred and fifty eight and a third years to life. But let's not start there. Let's start at the beginning. Danny, you grew up in Washington Heights in the height of the crack epidemic. Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like. It was a certainly a volatile neighborhood, a
troubled time to New York City. There was a you know, war on drugs. There was a high crime and murder rate. Drugs were prevalent, particularly crack cocaine. And I'm not going to say that I am innocent of being involved in drugs. What I would never do, what I am wrongly convicted of. You know, my parents were working people. My dad worked at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for twenty seven years. My
mom mads she rest in peace. Excuse me. My mom work thirty three years at a ghost actory, and my parents worked hard to provide for my brothers and me. My parents are still values in US. And I made a poor decision in those years to take to the streets, which brought nothing but shame, embarrassment, and humiliation of my
parents and my family. But you know, we were blessed in many ways because my parents provided and we had what we needed, my brothers and I, and we went to school and we had a great upbringing, despite the fact that we grew up in a poor neighborhood that was flooded and riddled with violence and drugs. But that was Washington Heights. In those days, the South Bronx was
no different. You know. I ventured over to the South Bronx at the age of maybe fourteen fifteen years old, and what I saw there was not much different than what I've seen in my own neighborhood in Washington Heights. Even for the violent insanity that was taking place in the South Bronx and Washington Heights, that whole section of the city in those days. This was a particularly violent crime though. This was a crime that became known as
the Quad murders. So there were rival drug organizations at the time in the area in mad Haven, and there were three that we can discuss which were actually relevant to this incident. There was the Red Top organization, which was led by two brothers, Lenny and Nelson sepo Veda, and then there was another organization, the Orange Top, which Danny was affiliated with, and then there was the Yellow Top. Each of these organizations had a separate location where they
would sell drugs. They had different people that worked for each of the groups. They were stepping on each other's toes. They were fighting over territory, they were fighting over pricing for each of the vials that they were selling, trying to undercut the other to take over some territory. So it was a drug war so to speak, that was going on between these three organizations. This was not some
small time drug dealing. I mean they were making between ten and twenty million dollars a year just the Red Top Gang itself, right. The Septas were sort of the drug kingpins, if you will, and they were the ones who were actually ruling most of that area. BigMan Avenue is a small street between St. Mary's Park and a Hunt forty street in the Bronx, New York. Let me subpurvid a basically rule BigMan Avenue with a nine fist. Let me suburvid. At the time of the murders was
in prison. A good friend of mine, Gerard Her, open up a spot on BigMan Avenue and was selling yellow time. Nelson Supervida apparently took over while his brother Lenny was in prison and felt that Gerard Her was encrouching on BigMan Avenue. So in an act of force or discipline or what have you, he decided to unleash these individuals, included himself, to shoot up this corners, killing four people. So what happens is, first of all, it's a freezing
called night. It was about ten fifteen ten twenty on December sixteen, and Nelson Spulvida, who was the architect of the quad murders, arrives on the scene with Francisco Medina, where Freddy Krueger, a guy named Platinauh who's will Fredo de los Angeles Teso or Raphael Perez, and an individual known as Crazy Ray converge and start opening fire into
that alleyway at three Beakman Avenue. These guys, two of them, jump out of a car to run up on foot Nelson Sepulvido, will Fredo de los Angeles, Rafael Perez, and a guy named Crazy Ray. They roll up spray the alleyway with sixty rounds from semi automatics, wounding one person Janice Brewingtons and killing four Cynthia Cassada, Emmanuel Vieira, one unidentified man, and Anthony Green and Danny. You knew Anthony Green and his family, his brother Benjamin and his mother Irene.
I mean, in fact, there part of your alibi. I mean again, this is the mother and the brother of a victim. It just doesn't get more so other than that, right. What we learned later was that the shooters left the apartment of Terrell Blair and Brenda Blair on Bagman Avenue. Sorelle Blair leaves his apartment and runs up to the Green's apartment to tell Benjamin that something's gonna happen to his brother down down the block because these guys were
leaving his apartment and he knew they were discussing. Gerard heard his brother and those individuals around Yellowtop there, so he was headed up there to warn Benjamin to go get his brother out of the way because something was going to happen there. Cyrelle Blair has refused to get involved in this matter for whatever his reasons are. Can you tell us about that night, Like, what were you
actually doing that evening? I was on Cyprus Avenue in Building three seventy and Apartment one gene while I was second in a bedroom talking to my brother May also rest in peace. He was inconservated in Ranking's Island at the time. He had made a phone call prior to me taking the coal. I was inside Apartment one B in the adjacent building three and have been to course apart. While my brother and I were on the phone, I heard shooting and it appeared to me that the shooting
was coming from right out front. I raised the shade from the window and I see a girl standing right in front of the window, by the name of Pamela Fortune. I bang on the window. I tell her, don't you hear those people shooting? Get in the building. Moments later, within minutes, I'm getting ready to walk out the building. In the vestibute of the building, I run into Palm Lena Patton Irene Green, who's crying uncontrollably. I know Irene Green because she is the mother of two friends of mine,
Benjamin Green and Anthony Green. She tells me that her boy got shot. I offered to help her up to her apartment. Lena Patton and pam Fortune said that they were going to take up there, so I took her to the front of the elevator and I left him there. I immediately walked outside. I noticed that Benjamin Green was standing in front of the building. In my mind, when she said my boy got shot, I thought that it was Benjamin because I knew at the time benjam was
running the streets in those days. Never had it occurred to me that it was Anthony. So I approached Benjamin. I said to him, Hey, your mother doesn't seem well. You need to go in there and check on your mother. He tells me my brother got shot. He goes in the building to assist his mother. I leave the neighborhood that night. The very next day, I was back on Cyprus Avenue about ten eleven in the morning, and I see that the neighborhood is flooded with investigators and cops.
Kind of seeing that whole entire area. Yeah, I guess you would have a lot of investigators and a lot of pressure to get the killers off the streets or to get somebody just to make the pressure go away, right, And I imagine that had a lot to do with how they ended up targeting you, right, absolutely. Mark Teppins was pressured to make an arrest in this case and he didn't have anything. Teppins was a member of the Fort Precinct Detective Squad and he had several open cases
in the Mount Haven area during that time. In ninety two, after the Quad murders, he was assigned to the Bronx d A's office to help make the case on the Quad. He was under a lot of pressure to close all of these cases. And so he used a lot of the same witnesses over and over again, sort of a witness for higher situation, if you will. These witnesses would offer false testimony and exchange for money and reduced charges
or sentences for their own crimes. In the Quad murder case, many of the witnesses he used to implicate Danny and his co defendants were members of the Red Top, the rivals to Danny's Orange Tops and to those Yellow Tops who were the targets of the Quad. They had all had a vested interest in Danny getting off the streets, so they were more than willing to place him at the scene. So let me give you an example. In April of Tebbin's received a call from a woman named
Elizabeth Morrales. Morales, who by the way, had worked for the Red Top organization, claimed that she and her family were in fear for their lives because the Sepulvedas were after them because they'd stolen drugs from them. So Elizabeth Morrales said she needed help, and in exchange for that help, she told Teban's convenient that she could provide help and give him information on a lot of the violence that took place on Beakman Avenue, so Tabbin's remember under so
much pressure. He went immediately to the shelter to where she and her three children were and started talking to them, and she said that they could give them names of the alleged perpetrators of the quad, as well as several other homicides that had taken place in the area over time. So he calls them down to the d a's office and they give statements. Meanwhile, he's providing them protection, he's
helping them to relocate to a motel. He gives them money for living expenses and food, and he later moves them to an apartment and starts to pay for their rent. So each of them happily gives a statement. One of Elizabeth's daughters, Iris Crews, what they used to call her Little Iris. She was fourteen years old at the time of the quad and she also was an employee of
the Red Top. She can't even read English at the time, but she signed a statement he handed her that she saw Danny from her fourth floor apartment window at the opposite end of Beakman Avenue, which is where the alley was located, and she said she heard fireworks, so she leaned out of her window and looks down the road through a fire escape and says she can see what was going on. Now, if you picture a city block,
it's pretty long. She can see all the way down to the other end of the block in the dark because the lights have been blown out, and can see that Danny's sitting in a car shooting from the car. I mean that sounds a little bit sketchy to me. Yeah, And I would like to actually go to that apartment, and I have a funny feeling we would know maybe
you've already done that. So we actually did do that, Jason, and we stood on the street and looked down the block, and there's absolutely and we did it in broad daylight. There's no way in the dark of night you could see all the way down there. We see cases like this over and over again where these witness statements are so easily proven to be not a false but could
not be true. It's a different category from false, right could not be true because you cannot see from where they said they were to where the thing took place. But that gets, you know, pretty easily glossed over in the course to these proceedings somehow, and Elizza. Morales also had a son named Joey Morales who was thirteen at the time of the quad and he allegedly saw the shooting as well. And he, by the way, was a witness in six other cases in which Tappens was the detective.
Let me tell you something about the incredible Joy Morales. Joy Morales claims that he went to buy a gallon of milk at ten thirty in the evening and witnessed the quad murders. In another case, he went to buy milk at three thirty in the morning and witnessed a guy by the name of Rashi Rice and Angel Kimone is comit a robbery and the murder at three thirty in the morning that his mother sent him to go
buy some milk. In another matter, Marion Fraser's case, the Incredible Joy Morales claims that he left his house to go hang out in the neighborhood at for the afternoon and wandered the neighborhood to six o'clock in the morning
without going home. Thirteen year old kid wondered that neighborhood in those years to six o'clock in the morning, where at five thirty in the morning he allegedly observes Mami and Frasier a bit of murder on huntred and pressure, and these people were just so lucky that they have to witness one murder after another. That sounds like some scarce seller type of stuff. It seems that Tepans has got set the one in this name. This episode is brought to you by Stand Together. Stand Together is a
philanthropic community dedicated to helping people improve their lives. For more than twenty years, Stand Together and its partners have been on the front lines of criminal justice reforms. By empowering people to take action, supporting nonprofits, and working with businesses. Stand Together tackles the root causes of problems in our communities and empowers those closest to the problems to drive solutions.
Solutions like reducing unjust prison sentences through the First Step Act, empowering community based programs and help people re enter society, and now working to bridge divides in our communities. To learn how you may get involved, visit stand Together dot org. Slash conviction Danny, when did you get arrested? And it was almost a summer day like it was June six. I was on the same street that I was on
the night of the murders on Cyper's Avenue. As I look up, I see Mark Tebbins and he tells me that he needed to talk to me, and I said, to talk to me about what He said, Well, somebody said you robbed him. When I get to the priest and he tells me that I'm there for big Monabue and so, what do you mean, big Manambe? He said, we got information that you was driving the car the night of the murder. That's it mean impossible. There's thirty forty people that could tell you I was on Cyper's
Avenue that even that's impossible. I was processed. I was taken down to Central Booking and charged with killing four people and wounding someone else. And Judge I will grow with me, granted me. They of the bells set at a hundred thousand dollars. That's kind of low bail for someone who they think committed this horrific crime. Is I was able to get built out because Benjamin Green and his mother, Irene Green, where at my arrangement. And as you know, Benjamin is the brothers in. Irene is the
brother of one of the deceased Anthony Green. And so their statement was to quote an open statement that I was on Cyprus Avenue in their building and that I assisted her that evening, and that I couldn't have been involved. The judge, I guess, took that in consideration and granted me the bail. Even while I was out on bail, I visited the Greenhouse. So how long were you out before the trial? So I got arrested and I need
to I got out on bail. I initially started trial in the Bronx, well, at least the Code offenders did, and just Ira Globerman, Supreme Court justice in the Bronx, granted me the bail. By the way, Ira Globerman did not believe that I was guilty of these murders. He's told the prosecution and a hearing he said that he's seen the evidence of prosecution has and he's not persuaded that I am guilty of these murders. And there for those reasons, he's gonna separate my case from that of
the Code offense. He said. The Quote offenders will go on trial for U and Mr Rencom because he is out on bail, he will go out trials. Seconds that never happened, obviously, we was indicted in the superseding indictment in New York County. All the charges were later dismissed in the Bronx and re indicted in New York County, and I was remanded by Snyder and that was ine as the trial his thoughts were. A year later, we went before Snyder and Leslie Crocker Schneider, you know, was
an animal judge. I mean, she was notorious for doing out the harshness of sentences and wrote the book Life, which focused on the Wild Cowboys. Yes, she was notorious. Little did anyone know that this tough judge would not be Danny's biggest problem. It's important to note that in November of ninety three they found an indictment with forty one defendants co defendants, and they called it the Wild Cowboy Trial, but it was like all the crimes that
had taken place in that area. So there was a big blanket of an indictment that they issued, and all that the crowd murder is just one of them, and thirty two of those individuals of the played out. They played guilty, and nine Danny being one of them, proceeded to go to trial. And those five of them were convicted of the quad. I can tell you that the wrong people that they focused on were Stanley Tooks, Russell Harris, Daniel Gonzalez, and Danny Wrencone. And those people are all innocent,
by the way. In addition to Danny Wrencone, there was one guy, will Fredoda Los Angeles, who we believe was a an actual perpetrator of the quad. But the theory that they went with was clearly wrong. How did they come to land on all five of them? Yes, so the prosecution came up with this theory that Orange Top teamed up with Red Top in an effort to off Yellow Top, which was totally false. I mean, in fact, Red Top and Orange Top did not get along, and Red Top um and put a hit at it actually
shot Danny. I was the subject of a similar shooting at the hands of Lenny se Povator, where I was shot six times on that same corner where the quad happened just a year before, for the same reasons, because I was associated with our rest as we know that the murders happened on the Sumber six. Two weeks later, I held the New Year's party at Cyper's Avenue. I invited the whole Yellow Top crew throughout her. Benjamin Green, whose brother had just been killed two weeks earlier, was
in a party with me. So you know, it just the size logic that you know, I would trying to ambush these guys and then be partying with them two weeks later. But ironically, the people that were actually now known to be responsible for the quad we're not present or invited to the party. Again, as I said it, the size logic um. So there was really a clear divide between Red Top and Orange Top, but the prosecution just blew through that because they needed to join them
for their case. So you end up a trial and how did the whole thing play out? So the trial began in September ninety four, but I never, for the life of me, believe that the choad was something that I get convicted of. For many reasons. The alleged witnesses stories were all over the place, you know, their nagratives changed from one telling to the next, and I knew that there was just so many people that can place
me on side Press Avenue. But as the trial moved along, I realized that the way Snyder was pushing this trial forward and the way she was denying stuff. You know, my hopes dwindled more and more that I can get
a fair trout in front of this woman. And so the witnesses got up, understand, and they all testified, and one after the other, the Lord's tried their best to try to show that these witnesses were all lying for a favor and providing testimony and to try to get legacy from the prosecutor's office or for you know, whatever reasons. But I predominantly wanted to hear the Cruise Morales family
because I knew I didn't know these people. I knew that we were in friends, I knew that these people were lying, and I just knew that at some point, you know, it's gonna come out, this is gonna come out during this trial, that these people they'd not witness this and these people just implicating individuals here wrongefully. That was my aspiration, But they didn't play out that way. They testified, they gave the conflicting narratives that they gave,
and the jury still accepted it. But I believe that the jury accepted the narratives that these witnesses provided simply because the way the trial was held. They sat as in this courtroom, eight individuals at a defense table. So try to picture these guys in your mind. There's three defense attorneys, there's an armed camp of court officers and investigators and police all surrounding the court room, media all
over the place. There's eight defense attorneys. A couple of the defense attorneys had either paralegal or second chair, and there's just this big show going on about how these guys were one of the worst groups of individuals that committed all these hats acts during the course of seven years. It sounds like a circus. I mean, with that many people, how could you even begin to present a cohesive defense. It's very unusual that they would do more than five
defendants together in a trial. Anything over five becomes super unwieldy. And this was way beyond that. It was a circus. And the jury, not hearing from any of the defendants in their mind, must have said, then they're all guilty. They all did it. Why aren't they getting up there and defending themselves. I wanted to testify. I was prepared to tell this jury. Look, I was on Cyprus Avenue and Irene Green and Benjamin Green had provided information to
Donald Tucker, Danny's lawyer, about that alibi. Donald Tucker failed to do anything with that alibi and investigated further and put on alibi witnesses on Danny's behalf. The lawyer Donald Tuckle at the time, who was disbarred by the way six months seven months after my trial, told me that if I forced any witness to come into the quote to testify that doesn't want to testify. Whenever I needed them to testify, they won't testify for me. And I was explained to that if I do testify, would not
be in my best interests. So I decided to not to testify, which I think is one of the worst mistakes I've made in my life. But the trial was a farce. You have a circus trial with an impossible number of people at the defense table in and around defendants, lawyers, paralegals. You had a lawyer who was on his way to being disbarred. But the moment, the moment when you were convicted, what was that like? I gotta tell you that it was probably one of the worst days of my life.
I mean, absent my mother's passing and my brother. I think that that was one of the most worst days of my life. You know, I sat there and looked at I stared at the jury like a blank stare, and I'm trying to just makes sense of how did they come to the conclusion that I was guilty of a quad The reason we sat there was because of that quad murder, and I knew I wasn't guilty. I never, never, never would have imagined that maybe this twenty years later
and I'm still sitting here. I knew that. At some point I said to myself, you know, Benja mcgreen's family will come forward and fortune would come forward and tell these people I'm not responsible for this. They can bear witness to the fact that I didn't do this, and that day hasn't come. You got sent to prison. On the day of sentencing, I was taken up to downstay from the bullpen. I didn't make it back to Ragge's Island.
I was processing downstairs. Within the next two three days, I was on a bus headed towards Western New York. I found myself in Wendy Correctional Facility. I stayed at
Wendy for about roughly seventy days. I had an opportunity at least to see my mother, my mother tracked me down and made her way up there, and I saw my mother's and there after, seventy some days later, I found my stuff where I am today at Attica Correctional Facility, and I'm looking for a familiar face, and I run into Derek Hamilton's who I had known from Rankers Island and who actually was a friend of my brother when he rested peace. So I've seen Derek and he tells me, listen,
you gotta go to the Low Library. But back then and I didn't have a clue of what the Low Library was and what the Low Library was gonna do for me, and I just didn't go. So five years later, I leave Attica and I find myself that green Haven. I decided that I needed to go to the Low Library because they was offering a legal research class, and
I ended up getting a legal research certificate. Almost four years later, I leave green Haven and I find myself in Hauburn, and I run into a good friend of my name, Shabaka Shakur, who introduced me to other individuals that are working in the Low Library of doing things that were constructive. And I just made a decision that
that's what I was gonna do that. I had to teach myself how to research, understand, how to seek evidence, obtain evidence, and presented I find it to get a job in the Low Library around two thousand seven, two eight, and then another guy comes into the library that I had at the privacy to me. Then Nelson Cruz talking about his case. He was talking about how he had a role for conviction and he had actually an officer who can in substantiate that he was not the shooter
in his case. Lord behold, Derek Hamilton's arrives to the facility, but he's at the shoe now and he sent me a message because he heard that I was a kirk in the Low Libraries. And so there he gets down to the Low Library. Now we're all together. We were all roughfully convicted, and because we were all arguing actually witnisence, we named the group the A High Team, the actually Witnisens Team. So what we would do is brainstorm different cases.
One of the cases that we brainstorm was in Ree Davis. It was a Supreme Court case where the guy was convicted rolefully we believe as well, for shooting a police officer down in Georgia somewhere and Interestingly, in the decision, one of the judge stated was that the guy had some alibi winners who weren't given the opportunity to testify,
and it should be afforded that opportunity. And when I read that that, that kind of like gave me energy, gave me hope that the witnesses that I have that can placed me on typeers Avenue hadn't been given that opportunity to testified and should be given that opportunity to testify. So Danny actually had a number of post conviction motions after he got sentenced to a hundred and fifty eight third to life, and the first motion was a Brady
violation the suppression of exculpatory evidence, which she lost. It was another one that was brought based on Leslie Crocker Snyder's failure recused herself because she had conflicts associated with the case. They lost that. There was a habeas corpus petition brought in federal court based on the theory of execution, which was that it was one single conspiracy, which was the Red Top Orange Top combined, when in reality was
multiple conspiracies. They lost that. So during those years, you know, the people that I would write frequently. Right was Glenn Garber, John Edelstein, Ron Koby pleading with them to help me with my situation. But unbeknownst to me, there was an attorney who believed in my innocence. Was David Tiger and David Gohstein who were actually speaking to Glenn for me.
David Tager, who was the lawyer for Rafael Perez and was co counsel to Donald Tucker, Danny's lawyer, came to me and said, you've got to get involved in in Danny's case. We actually went me and David Tager up to see Tessa Rafael Perez to talk to him because David was saying that Danny was innocent. And the affid David that Tesso signed came about either when I went
with him or maybe shortly thereafter. In any event, in two thousand fourteen, I teamed up with two other lawyers to do what was a very substitutive post conviction motion of also called a four forty motion, and the lawyers were Jonathan Edelstein and Patrick Joyce. And in that motion in two thousand fourteen, we had an affidavit from Raphael Perez Tesso, who came forward and said that he was
a shooter in the quad murder. Now, mind you, Tesso was not one of the prosecution defendants for the quad murder. He was actually at that joint trial, but the prosecution did not claim he was associated in any way with the quad shooting. But it turns out that Tesso was a shooter. And Francisco Medina also came forward a k a. Freddie Krueger, and he also signed an affid David and said that he was a shooter in the quad murder. Also, somebody the prosecution did not target as a defendant for
the quad murder. I also want to pull something out that I think it's very interested in. There was an individual by the name of Raoul Focus who was indicted by federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York along with several others. They charged seventeen murders. Freddy Krueger, who was actually one of the participants in this quad, was charged in that indictment as well. In the federal government had yet to declare whether or not there was
going to seek the death penalty in that case. Raould Vogg has decided to become a federal cooperator. He admits to the federal government that he was involved in the
quad murders. And in that trial, Raoul Argus testified about being the driver and being in the neighborhood and around the corner when the shooting took place, and was aware of the details of it and knew that Freddy Krueger was involved, knew that Tessa was involved, knew that Nelson Sepulvida was involved, and knew that Platineau was also involved, and says that Danny had nothing to do with the
quad murder. So we had those three people who were all involved in the quad murder, all people the prosecution did not target his defendants in the quad murder, and they came forward and they said unequivocally that Danny was not involved. That really should have been enough to get either an exoneration or a hearing where they could have testified in front of the court and the court could have heard from them. The judge actually denied us even
hearing on that motion. There was other things also that were raised in that motion that were very powerful. There were six alibi witnesses that came forward and just to hearken back to what Danny was saying a bit. Those were witnesses that placed him at that apartment one G on Cypress Avenue, over a block and a half away from where the quad murder took place at the time that the shooting occurred, and those witnesses prepared affidavit's and we filed those with our four or fort emotion as well.
Some interesting features also is David Tager wrote an Affidavid and said that tes Raphael Perez had been telling him all along from the beginning that he was involved in the Quad murders and that Danny was innocent. But David toward couldn't reveal that information because he was defending tes Oh and he obviously couldn't raise that information and implicate him on something that's client did that he wasn't charged with. But TESO ultimately allowed David Tuger to come forward with
this information because justice demanded it. And that gives you a sense of why David Tagger was up in arms about this, the fact that Danny was erroneously placed in the Quad murders. Not only you know, during the trial, but also afterwards, why he came to me and why he's so adamant that this injustice happened that Danny needed
to be exonerated. David Goldstein also filled out an affid David that was submitted in that for Ford Emotion, and talked about Donald Tucker, who was Danny's lawyer, and said that he had revealed to Tucker that there is an alibi, and Irene Green and Benjamin Green had provided information to him about that alibi, and Donald Tucker never brought that
evidence forward. And one of the claims in that for fort Emotion, by the way, was in effective assistance of counsel for Tucker's failure to do anything with that alibi. Investigated further and put on alibi witnesses on Danny's behalf. So unfortunately, two thousand fifteen, Judge Fitzgerald, who got assigned to the case, wrote a very bad decision, denying us on all grounds and not even giving us our day in court. And that's where we're basically at now, where
we're continue our investigation. We're trying to shore up additional aspects of the alibi, we're looking into Tebban's and we're at a place right now where we're trying to get him back into court with new stuff. And I think one of the most important parts of this whole case has been the targeting of Danny, basically to get him
off the street. And I think the witnesses they've used, I mean, the judge never seemed to acknowledged the fact that all of these people had invested interest in having him put away, and that was something that just was never brought to light. And I think that that's sort of our goal going forward, is to show that they
all had a motive. We have people with no incentive to lie that have cleared him, So I think we just need to sort of parse out the facts and separate them chronologically and logically to see why we're in the situation. It just doesn't make any sense. It just
doesn't make any freaking sense. And so many of the people that Danny referenced are people that we've had on the show, people that I consider to be friends, and most of them have been exonerated by now or at a minimum, freed, and yet he continues to go on with Danny. I mean, what a what an inspirational guy you are. You were convicted of a horrible crime that you didn't commit, killers were allowed to remain free, and
New York city suffered as a result. Taxpayers continue to pay for your wrongful incarceration, and you continue to pay with your very life, and all of it is something that outrage everybody of good conscience. So the good news is we're here, we're shining a light on it. We have Glenn and Farah and a whole team of people, and I think hopefully we'll build a new legion of people with some of the information that we've shared today.
And how can people get involved? First of all, they could write letters to the Manhattan District Attorney's office to sid Vance Jr. Um and asked that they'd be sent to the Integrity Unit and that they reevaluate the case. We went to the Integrity Unit, by the way, and they didn't give a ship. Um. They can go to their local government representatives and their districts and they could say that this is a case that bothers them, and asked those people to get involved and maybe write letters
to the D's office on their behalf. There's also a petition that you can sign on change dot org, So please scroll down to the bio and get involved. Now, we turned to the portion of the show that we call closing arguments, First of all, I think are distinguished guests, all three of you para roster. Thanks again for being here, Thanks for having us, Jason, thank you, and Glenn Garber my pleasure and I'm glad that you're featuring this case.
We really appreciate it. And of course, Danny Um, you know we're gonna get to you last, because that's how closing arguments works here the show is that we always saved the best for last. And but first of all, like I said, I just want to thank you for being here. Thank you so much, and we're going to keep fighting for you. So now, closing arguments is where I turned my microphone off, I kicked back in my chair, and I asked each of you to share your final
thoughts with our audience. First of all, thank you so much Jason for having us, and thank you for taking the time to hear's Danny's story and getting to know him and learning as many people as possible here about the injustice he has suffered. Already, he spent twenty five years in prison for a crime he did not commit. As you've heard, there's no there's so much evidence supporting his claim of innocence, from statements of the actual perpetrators of the quad to the people who were with him
at the exact time of the shooting. Is clear that he was not near or in the alley when the shooting occurred. In fact, he was on the phone with his brother, who was incarcerated at the moment the shots were fired, and he ran to see what had happened. He yelled to his friends to come inside, and then he saw the mother of one of the victims and actually hugged and consoled her. These six people have signed affidavit stating that Danny was with them when the shots
were fired. They all signed statements saying that he did not commit the pod murder. He had the misfortune of having a lawyer who did not call these witnesses as alibi witnesses at trial, despite his repeated requests. He also had the misfortune of being tried in front of a judge who was predisposed to not liking him. As we later found out in a book she authored after the trial with no evidence, she blamed him and his co defendants for death threats she and her family received during
the trial. He had the misfortune of being targeted by detective who was determined to close his cases as quickly as possible. And as we've discussed, we have concerns about the detective's use of witnesses in this case and have found a pattern of him misusing the same witnesses over and over. He has made promises to witnesses and they often received reduced penalties for their own crimes and exchange
for their false testimony. Most of these witnesses were members of the rival Red Top organization and they had been interest in getting them off the street. So Glen and I are really committed to helping him uncover the truth in this case and giving Danny as well as the
families of the victims the justice they deserve. So this case is a debacle of justice, and there's exceptionally strong evidence of innocence that normally would be enough to at least get an evidentiary hearing to be able to open the door to the court and establish through live testimony the exonerating evidence, and we unfortunately had a judge who didn't care when we brought the evidence forward in our
post conviction motion in two thousand and fourteen. The decision that the judge wrote was basically focusing on non substitive matters to deny us even the hearing that we needed
to establish Danny's innocence. We are hopeful that maybe with a new DA in Manhattan, or with additional evidence which we're developing right now and getting back into court, we will get a fair hearing if we have to go that far, and we'll get a judge who's actually going to care and hear the evidence, because we do think that once we ultimately get our day in court, but we can bring those witnesses forward, those true killers who actually admit to the crime, and the alibi witnesses who
have never been heard by a fact finder. Once we're able to bring those forward in a fair environment, we're optimistic that Danny is finally going to get exonerated. Amen, and now Danny over to you for closing arguments. Thank you so much, Thank you so much, Jason for giving me the opportunity. I want to thank Glenn Gabba Slava Rosin of the Generation for giving me this opportunity, for believing in my innocence, for not giving up on me while you know I fight for my life here. You
know this is a difficult situation. Um being in prison is hard enough. For being in prison for a crime that you didn't to commit, and doing life for a crime that you didn't commit. And you know that you look in the mimory morning and you don't have a date to be released from this hell. It's pretty it's a pretty hard pip to swallow. You know. It weighs
on my conscience. It makes me make bad decisions at times, It makes me lose my temper, and you know, it tests my faith, It tests my my mental forty two it really you know, doesn't number. I mean and and and it affects a lot of you know, other aspects of my life. And you know, my personal relationship, my friends, relationship with my family and friends. And it's just not right. And I know that most of the decisions that I
make obviously are influenced by this incarceration. But my aim is to prove that ultimately one day, that I didn't commit this crime, and that there is more than enough evidence to substantiate the fact that I commit this crime. And I act and urge those who have that evidence to please, you know, come forward, come forward and provide that evidence. You know, you know, think about what it would be for you to sit in prison for twenty
years for a crying un comit. Think about what it would be for a relative of your brother, sister, sibling, anybody that you may know that's close to you to sit in prison for twenty eight years knowing that that person is citizen, while that person with the ways and rots in prison. That's not that's not an easy thing. It's not fair. I don't think it's sat on anybody. Is It's not something that anybody should go through. And
you know, this is a difficult system. The justice system is not just you know, the justice system is about who has the wherewith or to to navigate the systems. If you have the money, you can locate what you want to need it. It appears to be in this system. But if you have the evidence, you know, the system for some reason tends to undermine it and look for ways to discredit the evidence. UM. Something that I faced
in twenty fourteen when a motion was filed. I might behalf based on actual with a system and judged by the name of Daniel. This general undermine the evidence. UM overlooked the fact that I was sitting in prison for a crime that atical it and did away with me, you know, and that was wrong and and for those reasons, you know, among others, I fight as hard as I fight to prove that, you know, I do long around my family and friends and not in prison to rout
away for something that I didn't do. Don't forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get your podcasts, it really helps. And I'm a proud donor to the Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll join me in supporting this very important cause and helping to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to thank
our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wardis. The music in the show is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production the Lava for Good Podcasts in association with sig Know Company Number one