NYC NOW - April 17, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Governor Hochul is defending an agreement with New York State lawmakers to bolster tenant protections that’s drawing criticism from progressives and housing advocates. Meanwhile, Lincoln Center’s summer festival of ‘almost entirely free’ programming is back for the third straight year. Plus, a new podcast examines the impact of former NYPD detective Louis Scarcella, who was known for getting convictions. But now, 20 of those convictions have been overturned, despite Scarcella denying wrongdoing. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with Steve Fishman, co-host of ‘The Burden,’ a podcast about the rise and fall of Scarcella and the allegations against him.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, April 17th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hokel is defending an agreement with New York State lawmakers to bolster tenant protections that's drawing criticism from progressives and housing advocates. Hockel tells WNICs the Brian Laird show efforts to curtail. rental increases are a bonus, even though some say it doesn't go far enough. This is the most significant changes for our tenants that they have seen. We worked really hard to find anti-gouging measures to limit what landlords could charge them.

The measures slated to be included in the state budget, which was due April 1st. This week, Hockel said that she and legislative leaders had a handshake agreement on the spending plan, which includes a tax break for developers to build affordable housing and new measures to curb some rent increases. Lincoln Center's summer festival of almost entirely free programming is back for the third straight year. Summer in the city runs from mid-June to mid-August, Chief Artistic Officer Shanta Thake, says programming this year has expanded to hip-hop, musical theater, art and dance

performances, and more. It's a much longer, bigger festival, nine weeks. involving artists from all over the world, telling stories that respond to all of the communities of New York. The festival also features a film program and several new works Lincoln Center has commissioned. 60 and partly cloudy right now. 50-50 chance of late afternoon showers, clouds in 62, and then tomorrow afternoon showers likely cloudy and low 50s, then Friday, chance of afternoon showers in 57. Once again, 60 and partly cloudy. Stay close. There's more after the break.

A new podcast examines the impact of a former NYPD detective who was known for getting convictions, many of which have since been overturned. Other officers used to call former NYPD detective Louis Carcella the closer, a reputation he himself helped to cultivate. I was one of the best detectives in Brooklyn. I looked like a detective right out of central booking. I fit the part. I was the part. But more than a decade ago, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office opened investigations into about 50 of his convictions. Now, 20 of those have been overturned. Scarsella denies any wrongdoing. Steve Fishman is co-hosted of the podcast about Scarsella's days on the streets of New York City and the people who helped uncover his alleged wrongdoing.

It's called The Burden. Steve Fishman joins us now. Steve, it's been more than a decade since the Brooklyn. D.A.'s office opened and inquiring to dozens of these cases. Remind us who Lewis Scarcella is and what happened? Detective Scarcella was the great Brooklyn detective of the 80s and 90s. He was the guy who put the worst criminals away and got the confessions no one else could get. That was his reputation. And he was. Listen, he put lots of bad guys away. But fast forward, 25 years. and suddenly a whole roster of people he helped convict are walking free.

Now Scarsella has cost New Yorkers at least $110 million in settlement. Paid out to people he helped put in jail whose convictions were overturned. But Scarcella is a free man, Steve. He hasn't been charged with any crimes. Would you explain why? Well, for one thing, the district attorney really has still. behind him and basically said he did not commit any wrongdoing. To put it in context, I think we all need to remember that the justice system does not come down to one detective. It was not the Louis

Scarcellar show. The people who are in a position of power in the criminal justice system worked for the district attorney, in this case the Brooklyn District Attorney. And we found, and we were lucky enough to get a hold of and see some documents that had previously been confidential, is that internally you find that the Brooklyn District Attorney has investigated and found that its own attorneys, its own investigators, were people who really pushed these convictions. Do you think, as you say, they pushed these convictions, is there evidence to show that they knew that the confessions were coerced or anything like that? The district attorneys, the assistant and district attorneys who actually do the prosecution, they're on the same team.

There are times that they make decisions based on what's in front of them, but also based on what they want to believe. And you find that people in positions of power, they proceed on that belief. Scarcella altogether stopped talking to the press once reports of his alleged wrongdoing spread. But you eventually got him to speak to you in some pretty unusual Their next meeting is at Louis' favorite Russian bathhouse, where he beats me with oak leaves. It takes the toxins out of your body. It's like a third kidney. I'm lying on a bench in the sauna.

By the way, I hate sonnas. They are so hot. But Louis, he tells me he loves this place. Steve, what went into building a relationship with this man? Well, it took a while. it took persistence, took kind of near stalking. But I think, and actually I know that Scarcella wanted to tell his story. But what I wanted to do was I wanted to hear the story from him. I mean, here you have a guy who's been a no comment guy forever, right? He's the black hole at the center of this. So I start calling people. I start calling people who know people who know him. Nothing. And then one day, my phone rings. And it's Louis Scarcello on the phone. He wants to talk. He doesn't want to talk over the phone. He wants to talk at person. So we start meeting. And that begins what I can only look back on and say was a series of tests.

Now, months and months go by, finally I say, did I pass the test? And he says, pass the test. And we get him in the studio. How does he explain what's happened here? Scarcella is sure that he's a scapegoat. He's sure that he has been thrown under the bus. And beyond that, Louis Scarsela says, I did nothing unethical, immoral, or illegal. And he felt no responsibility, no culpability in bringing what may have been bogus and coerced confessions to the district attorney's office.

And the district attorney's office is not going out investigating what he's says he's found in his investigation as a first grade detective, right? No, everybody cheered the results back then. There were headline cases. There was a murder of a rabbi in Williamsburg. Nobody could solve the case. Call in the big dog. Call in Detective Scarcella.

Scarcella gets the guy. You know, fast forward 20 years in that case is overturned. And really, that case looks really shaky. So far, Steve, your podcast has touched on Scarcella. Sella's story, the reporting that helped uncover his crimes and the efforts of the incarcerated men who fought to expose Scarcella and free themselves. What can listeners expect next? Well, listen, over 20 people have had their convictions overturned. Now, Scarcella has become a bit of a card that you can play.

In at least one case that I know of, Scarsela's very presence in an investigation led to that conviction being over. turn. So one thing that we're seeing is a lot of people who can argue that their convictions were not credible or questionable are rushing into court. And they are claiming that Scarsela is a guy who had a pattern and practice of cheating so that you cannot credit his testimony and his investigative techniques against them. And so I think that we're we will continue to see lots of people, lots of people in prison, lots of people who were convicted with the help of Scarcella protesting their convictions. And I think that we're going to see the taxpayers paying out a lot more money. Steve Fishman co-created the podcast, The Burden, About the Rise

and Fall of NYPD Detective Lewis Scarcella from Orbit Media and IHeart Podcast. Steve, thank you so much for joining us on this. Thank you very much for having me, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.