Today, we’re sharing the first episode of the 2025 Ambie Award-nominated investigative podcast The Burden from our friends at Orbit Media. The Burden tells the story of detective Louis Scarcella, once celebrated for his prowess in solving tough cases in 1990s New York City. Scarcella becomes embroiled in controversy as a group of convicted murderers uncover Scarcella’s involvement in dozens of cases, leading to the release of over 20 individuals he helped convict. But can these jailhouse lawyers get themselves out too? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the story behind detective Luis Garcella and why is he controversial?
Hi, listeners. It's Dugan. Today, we're sharing the first episode of the 2025 Ambie Award-nominated investigative podcast, The Burden, produced by our friends at Orbit Media. The Burden tells the story of decorated detective Luis Garcella, once celebrated for his prowess in solving tough cases in 1990s New York City.
Scarcella becomes embroiled in controversy as a group of convicted murderers turn jailhouse lawyers, who all claim to be innocent, uncover Scarcella's involvement in dozens of cases, leading to the release of over 20 individuals he helped convict. But can these jailhouse lawyers get themselves out too?
The government has paid out a record-breaking $150 million in wrongful conviction settlements, with more to come. Before we dive into the episode, be sure to follow The Burden on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, here's the episode.
Dax, this is the first story I ever heard Louis Scarcella tell. The legendary New York detective. Tell me more. So Detective Scarcella is with his partner. They're testifying in court one day. It's lunchtime. The court breaks, and Detective Scarcella and his partner decide that this is the moment to track down a murder suspect.
We park right here. right here there was an italian guy right here smoking a shoot i say venica venica and i showed him the picture he looked at the picture he backed up and he points to the white house lo and behold a man six foot 300 pounds comes out of the house i said that's him i said i'm gonna run him down I gun the car. Screech! Jump out. I run over him. I put the gun on him.
He's got a Sig Sauer in his waistband. A big Sig Sauer. I jump on him. He's going for the gun. I put my Glock to his head and pull the trigger. But the gun's no good. My gun's no good. I deal to my partner. Shoot him! He's bucking me. He's bucking me like a bronco. I grab him and I knock him to the ground.
Do you ever imagine that clock goes off?
I intended it to. I intended it to. What do you want me to do? He's got a six hour going for a six hour. Am I supposed to kiss him?
Welcome to Louie's Brooklyn, where bad guys were around every corner, and it was up to Detective Scarcella to protect the people. They needed me, and I loved doing it. Louie's heyday was the 80s and 90s, and back then, all New Yorkers, even the most liberal columnists, wanted law and order.
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Chapter 2: Who is Luis Garcella and what was his reputation in 1990s New York City?
You know, he doesn't have anything better to do. So he sits down and I'll probably never forget this moment for the rest of my life. I said to him, you know, my name is Francis Robles. I'm a reporter for The New York Times. I'm doing a story on Teresa Gomez. And he just froze and his eyes welled up with tears. And he said, I've been telling people about Teresa Gomez for 25 years.
And I said, well, now somebody's listening.
But for Robert Hill, talking about Teresa Gomez is not an easy decision. He's about to come up for parole. And one of the things that's drilled into somebody applying for parole is you got to go in, take responsibility, show remorse. You got to ask forgiveness. Now, that's going to be hard to do if you're also telling a New York Times reporter, hey, I didn't do it.
And he said to me, is this going to mess up my parole? And I remember I said something that, you know, ethically I should not have said. And I probably shouldn't even repeat that I said. But I said it. I said, no, this isn't going to mess up your parole. I said, this is going to get you exonerated. And I said something so ridiculous because I believed it.
That's our Frenchie. She'll save your life at your peril. And Robert Hill, let's face it, he needs his life saved. So maybe it's worth the risk. Hill starts talking, and he tells Frenchie, Teresa Gomez is a liar. Frenchie goes on her way, and soon she's working on a front-page story for The Times, one that she hopes will make a splash.
Standard journalism practice is to get a comment from everyone mentioned in a story, especially a high-stakes story like this one. She calls the district attorney's office.
It's like six o'clock that Thursday and I call the spokesman and I said, I got a 2,500 word article about all these guys, you know, who say that they were wrongly accused. And you know what it doesn't have? It doesn't have a quote from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office because your quote was so pathetic. I said, so we're going to do a do-over. And it's a one question do-over.
Do you stand firm? behind these convictions or not. That's it. We're not going to negotiate a response. We're not going to be like, off the record, background, upside down, inside out. What's your answer? And so the spokesman said, I'll call you back. Okay, call me back. So they called back and he said, well, you have to come back to the office tomorrow. I'm like, oh, I'm crying out loud.
I go to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, sit down, like, all right, what is it? were reopening all of Scarcella's cases.
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