You Might Also Like The Burden: Empire On Blood
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Hi, this is Mark Smerling, the creator of Crimetown and Crooked City, and the Confessions of Anthony Raimondi. A few years back, I listened to a podcast that rose to number one on the Apple charts called Empire on Blood. It was about two young drug dealers in New York City who ruled a corner they called the Corner of Blood, and it was hosted by journalist Steve Fishman. Well, Steve went on to make another great podcast called

called The Burden, and now he's released his director's cut of Empire on Blood as a second season of The Burden. So head to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and find The Burden, then listen to season one and season two, Empire on Blood. Here's an episode to get you started. Come to order. Continue hearing all bodies present.

Recalling number one, continued hearing, People's State of New York versus Calvin Buhari. Appearances as previously noted. Calvin Buhari is in court today to appeal his life sentence. He's 46 years old and has been incarcerated for almost two decades. The crime? Gunning down the Harris brothers while they ate dinner in their car.

Cal admits he was a drug dealer, but he insists he is not a killer. And this hearing, it may be his last shot to prove that. My name is Calvin Buhari. B-U-A-R-I.

Everybody was scared of Calvin. See, the Harris brothers had nothing to do with drugs. Their sin was insulting him.

In front of people. To convict Cal, the prosecutor enlisted a crucial witness, Cal's former protege in the drug trade. He claimed that he and Cal shared a vision. If you got to kill a few people to get what you want in life, so be it. You can't build an empire on blood.

Cal and his protege had a falling out, and suddenly, the protege wanted to talk. You're telling me telling is forbidden. Who made that rule? You know, I'm going to make my own rules. I'm going to play. With that said, I gave him the Harris brothers. In other words, the protege told the prosecutor he saw Cal shoot the Harris brothers. It wasn't no coming back from that, you know what I mean? Back in the courtroom, Cal is being questioned on the witness stand. Now, um...

Did you have anything at all to do with the shooting of the Harrisburgers? No, I did not. This is Empire on Blood, the director's cut. A story of murder, betrayal, and a man who fought the law for two decades. And of an obsession. My obsession with one murder case. Today I want to share with you a sneak peek. It's an introduction taken from the first episode.

Calvin Bawari may have finally connected with the one person who can change his fate. He's a legendary lawyer, a champion of lost causes, who's come off his deathbed to take up one last cause, Calvin's. Before Calvin's arrest, before his prison term, and long before his courtroom hearing, Calvin Bawari was a savvy businessman, that business being the crack cocaine trade.

Cal ran a spot on a dangerous street in the Bronx, on a corner known as the Corner on Blood. Cal was also a fashion pioneer, as any visitor to the Corner on Blood would have noticed. I had many favorite outfits. There was a time when whatever I liked, that I bought it. I was just young, fresh, and flashy. I had a couple mint coats. Didn't that draw attention to you?

I think it did. When you young and you don't know no better, you just want to feel like you're living the life. Cal and other drug dealers might be living the life, but that life involved a good amount of death. In the early 90s, there was an average of 2,000 murders a year in New York City. Then came the summer of 1995.

In one weekend, there were eight shootings in and around Cal's corner. Even Cal was shot. We've got to change the rules on the drug dealers and the street criminals. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was fed up. If we keep going merrily along, this city's going down. In other words, get people like Calvin Buhari off the streets.

Fast forward two decades. Inmate Calvin Bawari has started calling me regularly. A former inmate I knew gave him my number. When Cal first started phoning, I didn't know if he was guilty. And frankly, I didn't much care. I didn't even know if I wanted to continue the conversation. But it turned out Cal was charming. He was actually fun to talk to. And I know how that sounds. But I found him compelling.

In the end, what kept me in this story for seven years was a feeling I realized I'd had from the very beginning. Cal was a person in distress. He was running a campaign for his freedom from a prison payphone. I tried to imagine what it must have felt like to be that powerless, that alone.

I took Cal's calls. Yeah. Yeah.

I just can't wait to get in a situation where I'm around the people that truly, genuinely love me so I could just be me, you know, and just be free. If life in prison isn't going to be Cal's destiny, then he desperately needs an attorney. Someone to believe that his cold case is worth warming up.

In Cal's flowery script, he wrote letters to hundreds of lawyers, even got a few on the phone. Their typical response? Wait, you were a drug dealer? All right, best of luck. Then in 2015, Cal managed to get the legendary Myron Beldock to take his call. Myron's the attorney who spent a decade springing Hurricane Carter from prison, nearly bankrupting his firm in the process. So you never give up.

That's kind of like the basic rule. Just don't give up. A newspaper once called Myron the champion of lost causes. The first time they spoke, Cal raced through the facts of his case. The lying witnesses, the unscrupulous prosecutor. Myron interrupted with four words. Cal, I believe you. Then Myron agreed to represent him.

Just one worry. At the time they met, Myron was 85 years old and not doing well. Prostate cancer, heart problems, and a tumor behind his left eye. A tumor that made that eye bulge. Myron had all but stopped practicing. But Cal's case? It kind of like gave me a kind of a shot of adrenaline. You know, I was feeling very sick.

For Cal, Myron was more than a lawyer.

I think it was after 8 o'clock that he was sitting in the office working on my case. And he basically told me, Calvin, let me get the work done because I want to make sure you're covered. Now, when he said that to me, I've never had any male figure that was older than me that made me feel as though they cared about me. Cal loved Myron, but I needed to ask Myron about something that troubled me.

I mean, he's a drug dealer who helped bring crack to the Bronx and ruined people's lives. How should people think about that, and especially how should they think about you trying to get a guy like that out of prison? Well, there's no easy answer. People are entitled to their opinion, and lots of people think that people who have dealt in drugs heavily aren't...

Myron saves his outrage for prosecutors he believes have done wrong.

His sympathy, that's for people like Cal. You know, their youth generally was stolen from them by people who cheated them. And they cheated. That's the really right word. They cheated. They didn't do careful work. They did sloppy work and then they intentionally did wrong work. Do you think they intentionally did wrong work in the Calvin case? Yes. Yes, from what I can see so far.

So Myron Beldock is working days, evenings, weekends for Calvin Bawari. You there? One day, Myron calls me. Steve, first, I'm here. First, you have to know that I'm going in to have my effing eye operation tomorrow.

It's just serious stuff. Bowery knows about it. So I have to be optimistic because if I don't survive, it's going to be a hell of a lot of problems for other people. I had to put a signature to the papers so that the work I've done, at least, is now boxed. This motion is...

is his last chance because you don't get back and back and back and back again. I kind of have to go. I only have an hour and a half left before I run off to have a little operation. You're not going to die, right? I don't intend to.

And then, I kid you not, Myron launches into a little song he's written for the occasion. Are you ready, everybody? It's not a rumor. I caught a tumor. Uh-oh, uh-oh. It keeps on growing. It's really showing. Uh-oh. It wants to eat my eyes. It makes me want to cry. Are you there, Cal?

Yes, I'm here, Steve. I might not can't stay on long. Is it true that Marvin passed yesterday? Yup, it's true. Wow. Wow. Heart-wrenching. Yeah. The phone line goes dead. I didn't know why. But it left me to think. In court, people talk of reasonable doubt. Reasonable doubt will set an accused man free.

But life, life is not reasonable. Are you there? Yeah, I'm here, Steve. The next day, Cal calls back to apologize for hanging up. It just got kind of like a little emotional because, you know, with my rebel duck, you know, fighting my case, it just seemed like, you know, I really finally got the guy that I needed to really get to where I needed to be. You know, so...

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Our story is just getting started.

Follow me as I learn about courtroom deals that were struck, lies that were told. I find out how a priest-like cop undid a confessed killer's confession and how a turtle-loving prosecutor got his way. I'll go inside a meeting that never should have happened and I'll take you to meet the person who killed him.

I believe is the real killer. That's all coming up in future episodes. If you'd like to hear the full episode and all of our 10-episode series, please find Empire on Blood, the director's cut on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is produced by Demille Klein. Our associate producer is Austin Smith. I'm your host, Steve Fishman. A kingdom built on blood means they came home.

It's time to go.