May 23, 2019 • 35 mins
After months of anticipation, iO and Austin receive the biggest piece of evidence yet.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So crime f A shooting. I don't know what f
A is. Precinct of occurrence. Ninth location in front of
me and my producer Austin is something we always knew
we needed, but we're never sure we'd be allowed to
see something essential to ever understanding the full story of
(00:20):
what happened to Billy Balls. We're finally holding the police
report from Billy's shooting. The NYPD sent a small stack
of statements, forensic reports, handwritten notes, and twelve crime scene photos.
(00:41):
Oh my god, Oh Jesus, this is a photograph of
the front door of thirteen third Avenue. It's a black
and white, super high contrast photograph, clearly taken at night,
with a flash of the front of the storefront where
(01:02):
my mom and Billy lived. And this is a crime
scene photo. That's the words. I've heard so many stories
from my mom about this storefront. It's wild to finally
see the whole place. Oh my god. Now I'm looking
(01:26):
at a photograph of the inside of their apartment. There's
exposed pipes on the ceiling and and just ship everywhere.
It's just one big open room and there's stuff piled
on everything, and the bed is up on a platform
in the back of the room near the kitchen. The
(01:50):
other thing about this photo that this was exactly what
my house looked like when I was a kid. I
see evidence of her in this space. There's like some
Grecian bust over here. There's flowers, there's the telephone, there's
the workout gear, the movies, the records, like everything is out, everything,
(02:16):
every evidence of being lives on display. The next photo
is a photo of the bathtub that she said he
installed for her. There's a beer can resting on the
edge of the bathtub, and like bags of stuff on
the ground, and there's two toothbrushes and holder on the wall.
(02:44):
This was their world drawn. My brother had birds always,
oh really mostly harmless little birds. Where did you keep
all those birds? Isn't that pronounced av Harry? This is
(03:38):
a photograph of a mirror. It's like the bottom piece
of a mirror. Oh, there's a bullet hole in it.
Snacks pictures of a dresser with bullet holes in it. God,
how many shots did this fucking guy fire. This is
(04:02):
a photograph of the moment that somebody's life changed forever.
Nothing was the same after this day, not in his life,
her life, Amanda's mine. This day changed everything from crime town.
(04:28):
I'm io till it right and this is the ballad
of Billy Balls. The dude with the cowboy hat broke
down the door, shooting that wasn't undercover narcotics to texted
(04:57):
on the north side of the street as the ninth precinct.
I would like to hear if they still have records
from then, where they would be and how one could
get them released. The NYPD has sent us a call,
if you will, of records. There is a story that
(05:18):
the police tell here Chapter eight. Cops tend to shoot. Okay,
so there's the complaint report. Storefront, Third Avenue arrested William
(05:41):
heightsman age thirty seven, height five ft ten, weight hundred
and fifty okay, oh shit. Defendant arrested and charged attempted
murder of a police officer. Defendant did cock and point
(06:03):
a loaded caliber automatic at undercover police officer number blank
blocked out in an attempt to shoot said officer. Wow.
After Billy's shooting the undercover cop, the guy in the
(06:24):
cowboy hat gave a statement about what happened. We now
have that statement. A d A O'Donohue from the Manhattan
District Attorney's Office was present at the ninth Precinct and
took a statement from undercover narcotics police officer shield number
blacked out. The officer stated that he had gone to
(06:47):
Avenue to make a narcotics purchase from a male known
as Billy Piano William Heightsman. During the time that he
was in the apartment, the police officer observed the subject
(07:07):
look at a telephone number written on a newspaper and
then call his suppliers. While the subject was on the phone,
the PO managed to look at the number and then
went into the bathroom to write the number down. We
(07:28):
cool The subject came into the bathroom and observed the
PO writing on the paper. At that point, the subject
drew a caliber automatic and stated to the p O,
give me the fucking paper. Give me the fucking paper.
(07:52):
The PO slipped the paper in his pocket and walked
out of the bathroom. The PURP was still holding the
gun on him. The PO started to hand over his
buy money and then drew his three eight automatic and
(08:13):
fired seven rounds. The subject was struck at least five times.
The PO was not sure if the PURP had managed
to fire a shot the purp was removed by ambulance
(08:36):
to cabrin Hospital. Caliber automatic was recovered at the scene
and vouchered at the ninth precinct under and then it's
blocked out. There were no witnesses to the actual shooting
due to the fact that it took place inside the
apartment and only the po and the subject were present.
(09:15):
Forensic report from the crime scene unit Caliber Automatic, Webley
and Scott shows no evidence of discharge. A single page
forensic report says that the gun the undercover cop claims
Billy poled was never fired. Next page says Cabrini Hospital
(09:36):
doctor's name is also blacked out. Five torso front, one
back and that's five shots in the torso and one
in the back. Then we turned to a page that
looks like it's been photo copied from some sort of notebook.
This is just a piece of paper that's handwriting, that
lists the kind of gun that Billy has, the serial
(09:57):
number of it. And then this person wrote out the
name of the guy in the cowboy had it's written
here and blocked out. The name of the undercover cop
has been covered by a big black rectangle. This is
(10:18):
so frustrating because it's written by hand. It's almost like
it's so close. In homicide cases like this in New
York City, a detective is assigned to investigate whether the
shooting is justified. During his investigation, the detective rights follow
up reports that are known as d D five's. We
(10:41):
turned to a d D five from the day after
the shooting. Number one at hours which is five pm
on June four two. I was president Cabrini Hospital and
did attempt to interview the purp in this matter, one
William Heightsman in I see you there at at the
time of the attempted interview, the purpose in a semi
(11:02):
conscious state and was unable to respond to our inquiries.
The investigating detective tried to take Billy's statement on the
first day he was in the hospital, but Billy couldn't talk.
In another d D five, a detective reports a part
of the case that has haunted my mother for decades
(11:27):
June six one, Police Plaza, the purp William Heightsman, did
expire from gunshot wounds at Cabrini Hospital on six fift two.
And then it says case remains closed justifiable homicide. So
that right there is the end of the investigation into
(11:49):
what happened to Billy Balls As far as the police
are concerned, they classified it as justifiable homicide and closed
the case the day after he died. The day after
he died. That's the last d D five that we have.
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They're saying,
(12:12):
first of all, that he had a gun, which we
don't know if he had. Again, so not only is
he saying that he had a gun, but he's saying
he pulled it on him and cocked it, and still
he had time to shoot seven rounds before Billy fired
even one. I don't buy it. I don't know what
any of this means. You know who does know what
(12:34):
all of this means? He Austin run. How are you saying?
I'm great? Man? How are you? I'm good? I wanted
to see if they we could schedule a time to
come by and talk through the police report. Um, yeah,
that would be great. Uh, that would be great. What
works for you, Ron? I do have one more question, though,
(12:58):
how do you think we should riff her to you?
Because you're not our lawyer? Yeah? I mean, really, any
anything that you want works in the law, cowboy, right?
You know law outlaw hired Gun the Lost Linger. I
(13:19):
I don't you know what? Really, pretty much anything works great,
ron Koby the Lost Linger. After the break, how did partner?
(13:56):
I'm very excited about what's about to happen. Austin and
I show up to Ron Koby's office with high expectations
that we'll get some answers. Thanks for seeing us. Ron
leads us into a corner conference room. I think the
(14:16):
office smells like dog pass I wonder how that happened. Well,
luckily you have dogs. We sit down and the tone
of the room changes as we begin looking through the
police report. When you looked at the police report, generally,
did anything jump out at you? So let me tell
(14:40):
you how I read all of these documents together and
the story that the police have. Ron starts with the
detailed account of what happened inside the storefront that night.
So the detective who who's making this report is speaking
(15:04):
to the undercover. This is all sort of you know,
within a couple hours of of the shooting. The undercover
stated that he had gone to Third Avenue to make
a narcotics purchase from a male known as Billy Piano.
During the time that he was in the apartment. The
PO observed the subject look at a telephone number written
(15:27):
on a newspaper and then call his supplier, and and
and so. Right now, at this moment, Billie has been
pegged for exactly what he is, which very small time
drug dealer, um street level drug deals. But he's obviously
getting his drugs from somebody, and the idea is to
find out who he's getting his drugs from, work your
(15:50):
way up the chain until finally you get somebody who's
actually worth arresting. So that makes perfect sense so far. Um.
While the subject was on the phone, the police officer
managed to look at the number and then went into
the bathroom to write the number down. That also kind
of makes perfect sense. The subject came into the bathroom
(16:12):
and reserve the police officer writing on the paper. At
this point, the subject to caliber automatic and stated to
the p O, give me the fucking paper. Give me
the fucking paper. And that also makes sense, the part
that I don't buy entirely. Um. So the police officer
(16:38):
slipped the paper in his pocket and walked out of
the bathroom, presumably will be at LEAs still holding the
gun on him, which strikes me as a needless risk.
I mean, under those circumstances, when somebody's pointing a gun
at you, saying, hand over the paper, hand of the paper,
what does one do, hand over the fucking paper. Yeah, exactly,
(17:01):
So I don't entirely quote unquote by that account. The
police officer walked out of the bathroom, the purp billy
was still holding the gun on him. I mean, I
kind of believe that billy lowers the gun or doesn't
(17:23):
keep the gun trained on the comp And I kind
of believe that based on what the cop is saying
that he did. The police officer started to hand over
his buy money and then drew his three eight automatic
and fired some rounds. So then the subject was struck
at least five times. Police also not sure if the
(17:44):
perk managed to fire shots. Purpose removed to Cabrini Hospital,
automatic was recovered the scene and vouchered at the ninth Precinct.
Ron's conclusion, it's not huh exactly like the police say
it is, but it's not a premeditated murder either. Part
(18:09):
of the reason Run thinks it's not a premeditated murder
is because the undercover cop describes using something called buy
money with Billy buy money. And that's a term of art.
When you go make an undercover operation, an undercover drug purchase,
they record the serial numbers of the currency that's being
handed over, and that way, when they make an arrest,
(18:32):
they can report that, you know, the defendant had on
him eighty dollars of pre marked by money. These are
the serial numbers, and and and so that suggests, at
the very least, this is not some rogue operation that
the undercover is conducting on his own for the purpose
of his own whatever. It suggests, this is all part
(18:53):
of a real operation. I don't think Billy suspected for
a minute that this was an undercover up. I think
he thought this was just some you know, dirt bag
buyer who was trying to um jump over him in
the supply chain to cut out his profit margin. I
(19:13):
don't think Billy intended to shoot anybody, or would have
shot anybody. I think the gun was there silly for
intimidation purposes. They recovered its caliber Webley and Scott. It's
an old, not terribly great gun. This is this is
not a serious gun in the sense of you don't
(19:34):
go into combat situations with one of those things This is,
this is a pocket pistol that you keep for intimidation
purposes or maybe have to shoot somebody in run. And
it's exactly the kind of gun that if if you
thought that somebody was closing it on you and you
get rid of most of your heavy duty firearms. It's
the kind of thing you just sort of keep in
your pocket. And if you're like just a regular dirtbag
(19:56):
drug buyer, kind of street buyer kind of thing, so
many points ave done it you you're going to be intimidated.
You know, if if you're a cop and you happen
to be carrying your own pocket pistol, a much bigger
and better pocket pistol than the ones being pointed at you,
you're gonna have a very different response. What about the
(20:20):
fact that the police report says Billy was shot five
times in the torso and once in the back. If
it were the other way around, five shots in the
back of one of the torso, I'd be a lot
more suspicious. And there's a couple of things about this.
One is frequently what what is referred to casually as
the back is the side um, And if it was
(20:43):
a shot in the back, my My guess is that
once the detective started firing, at some point Billy was
turned or spun around. I mean, I guess there's a
universe you could say, well, why don't you think he
shot him once in the back and then Billy, having
been shot in the back, turns around and gets five
(21:05):
in the torso. And I guess the answer is, given
the way this went down, I can't really see Billy
turning his back to the undercover. So this is the
forensic report was sent by the crime scene unit. The
crime scene unit took a look at what they claim
(21:26):
was Billy's gun, shows no evidence of discharge. Can you
say Billy did not shoot towards the cop. Billy didn't
didn't fire his gun at all, but as we know,
the undercover cop definitely did. Um they recovered six auto
discharged shells on the floor near the entrance. For the
(21:51):
first time, this detail that all the discharged shells were
found near the entrance sticks out to me. Okay, the
cop in the bathroom, then getting out of the bathroom
with a gun trained on you, and then getting all
the way back across the apartment and you're by the door.
(22:13):
You have now fully established that Not only is this
person not going to shoot you, you're on the move,
So why do you then basically get to the door
where you could conceivably walk out and leave and turn
around and shoot him. I agree, Like if you found
(22:34):
one of the discharged shells near the entrance, you could say,
all right, somebody kicked it in the scuffle, um, But
all of them seemed to indicate that that was the
area in which the cop was was shooting. But again,
cops don't have to leave an armed perpetrator alone in
an apartment. Cops get to shoot them, which is why
(22:56):
I said all along, I don't think the killing happened
exactly the way the undercover says, and they usually don't
happen exactly the way the cops say. So the best
argument you could make is that okay, UM probably didn't
have to shoot him looking back on it, and I
(23:18):
think that that's true, and somebody who was not a
cop would have dealt with us in a different way.
But the truth is that's what cops do. Cops see
a gun, see an armed suspect, and they will shoot
that armed suspect, whether they are in immediate danger or not.
(23:41):
You know, cops tend to shoot. But are we sure
Billy was an armed suspect? We asked Ron, if there's
any possibility that the gun wasn't Billy's. Any possibility is,
of course yes. To imagine that world, you would have
(24:03):
to imagine that the undercover carries with him a throwaway
gun or a gun to flake a suspect. And that's
a risky thing to do. And let's assume that this
detective is just such a bad, bad person that he
(24:25):
always walks around with an extra gun to plant on
somebody in case he he has to kill somebody. Is
that possible? Sure? And is it possible that, for reasons
that are utterly opaque, this relatively simple drug by from
(24:47):
a relatively low level drug seller went so wrong somehow
that the undercover decided he had to shoot him many
many times and then lie about it and lantic. Yeah,
that's all possible, But there's nothing to support that theory,
and everything to support the notion that fundamentally, in terms
(25:12):
of the way this all happened, the cop is telling
the truth. The only place that that he's he's lying,
I think, or or shadowing is just how much danger
he actually felt he was in at the time when
he withdrew his firearm and fired. You have undercover detective
who's giving a very straightforward story, and then you have
(25:36):
a guy who is in the hospital. He's charged with
attempted murder of a police officer as well as other things,
and then you know, tweeks later he dies the end. Sorry, absolutely,
(25:58):
I'm sorry, It's fine. I get up and leave the room. Yeah.
So wait, okay, so the rest of it we can
wait for I or what else, whatever you want to do.
What I guess do you with with a reaction like
(26:22):
I have just had to this? Do you have experience
with clients where you're you take a case thinking that
it's like you were saying before, thinking it might be
a good case, and then realizing that it's not, and
then having to deal with the fallout from it with
other people. Is that your role is that? I mean
that that happens all the time. I mean, look, when
(26:45):
you have to break it to them that this was
you know, quote clean, shoot close quote, which is just
sort of a legal term, which means this was legally justified.
You know, there's a lot of It doesn't make it right,
it doesn't make it this it shouldn't happen. It is unfair.
And all of these things that are that are totally true.
(27:08):
They exist in an absolutely true universe. And people know that.
But what they don't then understand is why they don't
have a case. And you know, the answer is that
the system is designed to make sure, under those circumstances
they don't have a case. I mean, the system embodies
structural violence. And and the most direct form of structural
(27:31):
violence is the police. And and so you know, how
many billy balls are you willing to allow to be
killed to make sure you are safe? And the answer
that most people give is just do whatever you need
(27:51):
to do. Judges, jurors, citizens, courts are always willing to say, well,
it's too bad, but that's what happens. You know, people
want to be kept safe, and part of that is
not second guessing every single thing the cops do. How
(28:15):
do you reconcile that that balance between keeping the public
safe and a system that embodies structural violence. I don't
reconcile it. It's your reconcilable. I actually just threw up bathrone. No,
(28:43):
I think I didn't expect that to happen. I know
you're interviewing me. But why is this a surprise or
a shock or a jarring sing? The mundanity of it
(29:06):
is really painful. You hope that the greatest tragedy in
somebody that you love as much as Sime getting so
emotionalless so intense. I'm sure you're used to this from people,
but you hope that the greatest tragedy in your mother's
life is something extraordinary. You hope that it's not something
(29:31):
as mundane as he was an idiot and hold a
gun on a cop. You hope that it's not a
narcotics detective want to go make a drug by and
probably wasn't even looking for him, probably was looking for
the guy higher up the chain, and he probably could
have gotten out of it if he was a little
less irrational, a little less wild, and a little more
(29:56):
level headed, and if he hadn't pulled a gun, maybe
he could have flipped or whatever the fuck. But the
mundanity of it is just like makes me feel sick,
literally actually just made me sick. Are you thinking about
your mom and what interactions with her are going to be? Like, Yeah,
(30:17):
this is this is heavy. I'm thinking, Yeah, yeah, that's
gonna be really hard. And used to deliver. Right now,
(30:37):
I'm grappling with an idea that made me puke. What
if the story the guy in the cowboy hat told
is true? Then what then? What am I doing here?
Why did I dig all this ship up? Am I
just going to destroy the story my mom has told
herself to survive. I don't know what to do, but
(30:59):
I do know who I want to talk to about everything.
I mean, you're very close to the mica. There's one
person who knows the situation and my relationship with my
mom almost as well as I do. My name is
Seth till It and then I was father and Rebecca's
firstwhile lover. Yeah. Um, this is the police report from
(31:28):
the incident. Wow, I'm just gonna read you one piece
and then hand it to you. I show my dad
the police report. Oh my god, God, it makes everything
looks so tawdry and hopeless and like deadly. Jesus Christ,
(31:52):
promise me something. You never show this to Rebecca. Don't
do this. Why. I never thought there would be an
actual eyewitness report of what happened, and we have absolutely
no way of knowing whether that's true at all. Yeah,
(32:26):
next week on the ballot of Billy Balls. If somebody
who you thought was your life partner, your protector, you're
like soulmate, is viciously murdered, your grief is of a
different nature. It's not distinguishable from anger. It's rayging grief.
It's like slaughter. Everybody grief. Crimetown is Zach Stewart Pontier
(33:01):
and Mark Smirling. The Ballad of Billy Balls is hosted
by me Io till It Right and made in partnership
with Cadence thirteen. You can find me on the internet.
U Io loves you on everything. I love hearing from
you guys, and if you want to know more about
my story, pick up my memoir Darling Days. We also
want to hear from you. We have a voicemail set
(33:23):
up for you to call us here summer. I just
want to call and tell you guys, what's your podcast
means me. I had a couple of friends that were
brutally murdered. And you know, my friends weren't perfect, and
the media but trade them is almost like deserving or complacent.
It's just nice to people that care about what happens
(33:44):
to people that other people might not consider. Course that
just means a lot. Yeah, you know that's the point
of this whole thing. Nobody deserves to be forgotten. There's
something on your mind, or you have a story or
a joke, or thoughts of feelings, or complaints, whatever, call
us and leave us a voicemail at five seven oh
(34:07):
three nine two nine zero. You can also get into
our discussion forum on our website, The Ballad of Billie
Balls dot Com, which this week I really think you
should do because now there is a lot to work with.
Go get your detective on. The show is produced by me,
Kevin Shepard, and Ryan Swicker. Our senior producer is my
(34:30):
Man Austin Mitchell, editing by Zach Stewart Pantier and Markus Smerling.
Fact checking by Jennifer Blackman. I See you, Jenny. This
episode was mixed by Sam Bear, sound design and music
by Kenny Qcat. Our title track is Dark Allies by
Light Asylum. The rest of their music is just as good,
Go listen to it. Archival researched by Brennan Reese. Special
(34:59):
thanks to Dan Yellow, Ariah Rachel Lee Wright, and Emily
Wiederman for putting up with us. Green Card Pictures, Alessandro
San Toro, Bill Plegg, Ben Davis or In Rosenbaum and
the team at Cadence thirteen, and, of course, as always,
my Mom, without whom none of this would be possible,
So crime f A shooting. I don't know what f
A is. Precinct of occurrence. Ninth location in front of
me and my producer Austin is something we always knew
we needed, but we're never sure we'd be allowed to
see something essential to ever understanding the full story of
(00:20):
what happened to Billy Balls. We're finally holding the police
report from Billy's shooting. The NYPD sent a small stack
of statements, forensic reports, handwritten notes, and twelve crime scene photos.
(00:41):
Oh my god, Oh Jesus, this is a photograph of
the front door of thirteen third Avenue. It's a black
and white, super high contrast photograph, clearly taken at night,
with a flash of the front of the storefront where
(01:02):
my mom and Billy lived. And this is a crime
scene photo. That's the words. I've heard so many stories
from my mom about this storefront. It's wild to finally
see the whole place. Oh my god. Now I'm looking
(01:26):
at a photograph of the inside of their apartment. There's
exposed pipes on the ceiling and and just ship everywhere.
It's just one big open room and there's stuff piled
on everything, and the bed is up on a platform
in the back of the room near the kitchen. The
(01:50):
other thing about this photo that this was exactly what
my house looked like when I was a kid. I
see evidence of her in this space. There's like some
Grecian bust over here. There's flowers, there's the telephone, there's
the workout gear, the movies, the records, like everything is out, everything,
(02:16):
every evidence of being lives on display. The next photo
is a photo of the bathtub that she said he
installed for her. There's a beer can resting on the
edge of the bathtub, and like bags of stuff on
the ground, and there's two toothbrushes and holder on the wall.
(02:44):
This was their world drawn. My brother had birds always,
oh really mostly harmless little birds. Where did you keep
all those birds? Isn't that pronounced av Harry? This is
(03:38):
a photograph of a mirror. It's like the bottom piece
of a mirror. Oh, there's a bullet hole in it.
Snacks pictures of a dresser with bullet holes in it. God,
how many shots did this fucking guy fire. This is
(04:02):
a photograph of the moment that somebody's life changed forever.
Nothing was the same after this day, not in his life,
her life, Amanda's mine. This day changed everything from crime town.
(04:28):
I'm io till it right and this is the ballad
of Billy Balls. The dude with the cowboy hat broke
down the door, shooting that wasn't undercover narcotics to texted
(04:57):
on the north side of the street as the ninth precinct.
I would like to hear if they still have records
from then, where they would be and how one could
get them released. The NYPD has sent us a call,
if you will, of records. There is a story that
(05:18):
the police tell here Chapter eight. Cops tend to shoot. Okay,
so there's the complaint report. Storefront, Third Avenue arrested William
(05:41):
heightsman age thirty seven, height five ft ten, weight hundred
and fifty okay, oh shit. Defendant arrested and charged attempted
murder of a police officer. Defendant did cock and point
(06:03):
a loaded caliber automatic at undercover police officer number blank
blocked out in an attempt to shoot said officer. Wow.
After Billy's shooting the undercover cop, the guy in the
(06:24):
cowboy hat gave a statement about what happened. We now
have that statement. A d A O'Donohue from the Manhattan
District Attorney's Office was present at the ninth Precinct and
took a statement from undercover narcotics police officer shield number
blacked out. The officer stated that he had gone to
(06:47):
Avenue to make a narcotics purchase from a male known
as Billy Piano William Heightsman. During the time that he
was in the apartment, the police officer observed the subject
(07:07):
look at a telephone number written on a newspaper and
then call his suppliers. While the subject was on the phone,
the PO managed to look at the number and then
went into the bathroom to write the number down. We
(07:28):
cool The subject came into the bathroom and observed the
PO writing on the paper. At that point, the subject
drew a caliber automatic and stated to the p O,
give me the fucking paper. Give me the fucking paper.
(07:52):
The PO slipped the paper in his pocket and walked
out of the bathroom. The PURP was still holding the
gun on him. The PO started to hand over his
buy money and then drew his three eight automatic and
(08:13):
fired seven rounds. The subject was struck at least five times.
The PO was not sure if the PURP had managed
to fire a shot the purp was removed by ambulance
(08:36):
to cabrin Hospital. Caliber automatic was recovered at the scene
and vouchered at the ninth precinct under and then it's
blocked out. There were no witnesses to the actual shooting
due to the fact that it took place inside the
apartment and only the po and the subject were present.
(09:15):
Forensic report from the crime scene unit Caliber Automatic, Webley
and Scott shows no evidence of discharge. A single page
forensic report says that the gun the undercover cop claims
Billy poled was never fired. Next page says Cabrini Hospital
(09:36):
doctor's name is also blacked out. Five torso front, one
back and that's five shots in the torso and one
in the back. Then we turned to a page that
looks like it's been photo copied from some sort of notebook.
This is just a piece of paper that's handwriting, that
lists the kind of gun that Billy has, the serial
(09:57):
number of it. And then this person wrote out the
name of the guy in the cowboy had it's written
here and blocked out. The name of the undercover cop
has been covered by a big black rectangle. This is
(10:18):
so frustrating because it's written by hand. It's almost like
it's so close. In homicide cases like this in New
York City, a detective is assigned to investigate whether the
shooting is justified. During his investigation, the detective rights follow
up reports that are known as d D five's. We
(10:41):
turned to a d D five from the day after
the shooting. Number one at hours which is five pm
on June four two. I was president Cabrini Hospital and
did attempt to interview the purp in this matter, one
William Heightsman in I see you there at at the
time of the attempted interview, the purpose in a semi
(11:02):
conscious state and was unable to respond to our inquiries.
The investigating detective tried to take Billy's statement on the
first day he was in the hospital, but Billy couldn't talk.
In another d D five, a detective reports a part
of the case that has haunted my mother for decades
(11:27):
June six one, Police Plaza, the purp William Heightsman, did
expire from gunshot wounds at Cabrini Hospital on six fift two.
And then it says case remains closed justifiable homicide. So
that right there is the end of the investigation into
(11:49):
what happened to Billy Balls As far as the police
are concerned, they classified it as justifiable homicide and closed
the case the day after he died. The day after
he died. That's the last d D five that we have.
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They're saying,
(12:12):
first of all, that he had a gun, which we
don't know if he had. Again, so not only is
he saying that he had a gun, but he's saying
he pulled it on him and cocked it, and still
he had time to shoot seven rounds before Billy fired
even one. I don't buy it. I don't know what
any of this means. You know who does know what
(12:34):
all of this means? He Austin run. How are you saying?
I'm great? Man? How are you? I'm good? I wanted
to see if they we could schedule a time to
come by and talk through the police report. Um, yeah,
that would be great. Uh, that would be great. What
works for you, Ron? I do have one more question, though,
(12:58):
how do you think we should riff her to you?
Because you're not our lawyer? Yeah? I mean, really, any
anything that you want works in the law, cowboy, right?
You know law outlaw hired Gun the Lost Linger. I
(13:19):
I don't you know what? Really, pretty much anything works great,
ron Koby the Lost Linger. After the break, how did partner?
(13:56):
I'm very excited about what's about to happen. Austin and
I show up to Ron Koby's office with high expectations
that we'll get some answers. Thanks for seeing us. Ron
leads us into a corner conference room. I think the
(14:16):
office smells like dog pass I wonder how that happened. Well,
luckily you have dogs. We sit down and the tone
of the room changes as we begin looking through the
police report. When you looked at the police report, generally,
did anything jump out at you? So let me tell
(14:40):
you how I read all of these documents together and
the story that the police have. Ron starts with the
detailed account of what happened inside the storefront that night.
So the detective who who's making this report is speaking
(15:04):
to the undercover. This is all sort of you know,
within a couple hours of of the shooting. The undercover
stated that he had gone to Third Avenue to make
a narcotics purchase from a male known as Billy Piano.
During the time that he was in the apartment. The
PO observed the subject look at a telephone number written
(15:27):
on a newspaper and then call his supplier, and and
and so. Right now, at this moment, Billie has been
pegged for exactly what he is, which very small time
drug dealer, um street level drug deals. But he's obviously
getting his drugs from somebody, and the idea is to
find out who he's getting his drugs from, work your
(15:50):
way up the chain until finally you get somebody who's
actually worth arresting. So that makes perfect sense so far. Um.
While the subject was on the phone, the police officer
managed to look at the number and then went into
the bathroom to write the number down. That also kind
of makes perfect sense. The subject came into the bathroom
(16:12):
and reserve the police officer writing on the paper. At
this point, the subject to caliber automatic and stated to
the p O, give me the fucking paper. Give me
the fucking paper. And that also makes sense, the part
that I don't buy entirely. Um. So the police officer
(16:38):
slipped the paper in his pocket and walked out of
the bathroom, presumably will be at LEAs still holding the
gun on him, which strikes me as a needless risk.
I mean, under those circumstances, when somebody's pointing a gun
at you, saying, hand over the paper, hand of the paper,
what does one do, hand over the fucking paper. Yeah, exactly,
(17:01):
So I don't entirely quote unquote by that account. The
police officer walked out of the bathroom, the purp billy
was still holding the gun on him. I mean, I
kind of believe that billy lowers the gun or doesn't
(17:23):
keep the gun trained on the comp And I kind
of believe that based on what the cop is saying
that he did. The police officer started to hand over
his buy money and then drew his three eight automatic
and fired some rounds. So then the subject was struck
at least five times. Police also not sure if the
(17:44):
perk managed to fire shots. Purpose removed to Cabrini Hospital,
automatic was recovered the scene and vouchered at the ninth Precinct.
Ron's conclusion, it's not huh exactly like the police say
it is, but it's not a premeditated murder either. Part
(18:09):
of the reason Run thinks it's not a premeditated murder
is because the undercover cop describes using something called buy
money with Billy buy money. And that's a term of art.
When you go make an undercover operation, an undercover drug purchase,
they record the serial numbers of the currency that's being
handed over, and that way, when they make an arrest,
(18:32):
they can report that, you know, the defendant had on
him eighty dollars of pre marked by money. These are
the serial numbers, and and and so that suggests, at
the very least, this is not some rogue operation that
the undercover is conducting on his own for the purpose
of his own whatever. It suggests, this is all part
(18:53):
of a real operation. I don't think Billy suspected for
a minute that this was an undercover up. I think
he thought this was just some you know, dirt bag
buyer who was trying to um jump over him in
the supply chain to cut out his profit margin. I
(19:13):
don't think Billy intended to shoot anybody, or would have
shot anybody. I think the gun was there silly for
intimidation purposes. They recovered its caliber Webley and Scott. It's
an old, not terribly great gun. This is this is
not a serious gun in the sense of you don't
(19:34):
go into combat situations with one of those things This is,
this is a pocket pistol that you keep for intimidation
purposes or maybe have to shoot somebody in run. And
it's exactly the kind of gun that if if you
thought that somebody was closing it on you and you
get rid of most of your heavy duty firearms. It's
the kind of thing you just sort of keep in
your pocket. And if you're like just a regular dirtbag
(19:56):
drug buyer, kind of street buyer kind of thing, so
many points ave done it you you're going to be intimidated.
You know, if if you're a cop and you happen
to be carrying your own pocket pistol, a much bigger
and better pocket pistol than the ones being pointed at you,
you're gonna have a very different response. What about the
(20:20):
fact that the police report says Billy was shot five
times in the torso and once in the back. If
it were the other way around, five shots in the
back of one of the torso, I'd be a lot
more suspicious. And there's a couple of things about this.
One is frequently what what is referred to casually as
the back is the side um, And if it was
(20:43):
a shot in the back, my My guess is that
once the detective started firing, at some point Billy was
turned or spun around. I mean, I guess there's a
universe you could say, well, why don't you think he
shot him once in the back and then Billy, having
been shot in the back, turns around and gets five
(21:05):
in the torso. And I guess the answer is, given
the way this went down, I can't really see Billy
turning his back to the undercover. So this is the
forensic report was sent by the crime scene unit. The
crime scene unit took a look at what they claim
(21:26):
was Billy's gun, shows no evidence of discharge. Can you
say Billy did not shoot towards the cop. Billy didn't
didn't fire his gun at all, but as we know,
the undercover cop definitely did. Um they recovered six auto
discharged shells on the floor near the entrance. For the
(21:51):
first time, this detail that all the discharged shells were
found near the entrance sticks out to me. Okay, the
cop in the bathroom, then getting out of the bathroom
with a gun trained on you, and then getting all
the way back across the apartment and you're by the door.
(22:13):
You have now fully established that Not only is this
person not going to shoot you, you're on the move,
So why do you then basically get to the door
where you could conceivably walk out and leave and turn
around and shoot him. I agree, Like if you found
(22:34):
one of the discharged shells near the entrance, you could say,
all right, somebody kicked it in the scuffle, um, But
all of them seemed to indicate that that was the
area in which the cop was was shooting. But again,
cops don't have to leave an armed perpetrator alone in
an apartment. Cops get to shoot them, which is why
(22:56):
I said all along, I don't think the killing happened
exactly the way the undercover says, and they usually don't
happen exactly the way the cops say. So the best
argument you could make is that okay, UM probably didn't
have to shoot him looking back on it, and I
(23:18):
think that that's true, and somebody who was not a
cop would have dealt with us in a different way.
But the truth is that's what cops do. Cops see
a gun, see an armed suspect, and they will shoot
that armed suspect, whether they are in immediate danger or not.
(23:41):
You know, cops tend to shoot. But are we sure
Billy was an armed suspect? We asked Ron, if there's
any possibility that the gun wasn't Billy's. Any possibility is,
of course yes. To imagine that world, you would have
(24:03):
to imagine that the undercover carries with him a throwaway
gun or a gun to flake a suspect. And that's
a risky thing to do. And let's assume that this
detective is just such a bad, bad person that he
(24:25):
always walks around with an extra gun to plant on
somebody in case he he has to kill somebody. Is
that possible? Sure? And is it possible that, for reasons
that are utterly opaque, this relatively simple drug by from
(24:47):
a relatively low level drug seller went so wrong somehow
that the undercover decided he had to shoot him many
many times and then lie about it and lantic. Yeah,
that's all possible, But there's nothing to support that theory,
and everything to support the notion that fundamentally, in terms
(25:12):
of the way this all happened, the cop is telling
the truth. The only place that that he's he's lying,
I think, or or shadowing is just how much danger
he actually felt he was in at the time when
he withdrew his firearm and fired. You have undercover detective
who's giving a very straightforward story, and then you have
(25:36):
a guy who is in the hospital. He's charged with
attempted murder of a police officer as well as other things,
and then you know, tweeks later he dies the end. Sorry, absolutely,
(25:58):
I'm sorry, It's fine. I get up and leave the room. Yeah.
So wait, okay, so the rest of it we can
wait for I or what else, whatever you want to do.
What I guess do you with with a reaction like
(26:22):
I have just had to this? Do you have experience
with clients where you're you take a case thinking that
it's like you were saying before, thinking it might be
a good case, and then realizing that it's not, and
then having to deal with the fallout from it with
other people. Is that your role is that? I mean
that that happens all the time. I mean, look, when
(26:45):
you have to break it to them that this was
you know, quote clean, shoot close quote, which is just
sort of a legal term, which means this was legally justified.
You know, there's a lot of It doesn't make it right,
it doesn't make it this it shouldn't happen. It is unfair.
And all of these things that are that are totally true.
(27:08):
They exist in an absolutely true universe. And people know that.
But what they don't then understand is why they don't
have a case. And you know, the answer is that
the system is designed to make sure, under those circumstances
they don't have a case. I mean, the system embodies
structural violence. And and the most direct form of structural
(27:31):
violence is the police. And and so you know, how
many billy balls are you willing to allow to be
killed to make sure you are safe? And the answer
that most people give is just do whatever you need
(27:51):
to do. Judges, jurors, citizens, courts are always willing to say, well,
it's too bad, but that's what happens. You know, people
want to be kept safe, and part of that is
not second guessing every single thing the cops do. How
(28:15):
do you reconcile that that balance between keeping the public
safe and a system that embodies structural violence. I don't
reconcile it. It's your reconcilable. I actually just threw up bathrone. No,
(28:43):
I think I didn't expect that to happen. I know
you're interviewing me. But why is this a surprise or
a shock or a jarring sing? The mundanity of it
(29:06):
is really painful. You hope that the greatest tragedy in
somebody that you love as much as Sime getting so
emotionalless so intense. I'm sure you're used to this from people,
but you hope that the greatest tragedy in your mother's
life is something extraordinary. You hope that it's not something
(29:31):
as mundane as he was an idiot and hold a
gun on a cop. You hope that it's not a
narcotics detective want to go make a drug by and
probably wasn't even looking for him, probably was looking for
the guy higher up the chain, and he probably could
have gotten out of it if he was a little
less irrational, a little less wild, and a little more
(29:56):
level headed, and if he hadn't pulled a gun, maybe
he could have flipped or whatever the fuck. But the
mundanity of it is just like makes me feel sick,
literally actually just made me sick. Are you thinking about
your mom and what interactions with her are going to be? Like, Yeah,
(30:17):
this is this is heavy. I'm thinking, Yeah, yeah, that's
gonna be really hard. And used to deliver. Right now,
(30:37):
I'm grappling with an idea that made me puke. What
if the story the guy in the cowboy hat told
is true? Then what then? What am I doing here?
Why did I dig all this ship up? Am I
just going to destroy the story my mom has told
herself to survive. I don't know what to do, but
(30:59):
I do know who I want to talk to about everything.
I mean, you're very close to the mica. There's one
person who knows the situation and my relationship with my
mom almost as well as I do. My name is
Seth till It and then I was father and Rebecca's
firstwhile lover. Yeah. Um, this is the police report from
(31:28):
the incident. Wow, I'm just gonna read you one piece
and then hand it to you. I show my dad
the police report. Oh my god, God, it makes everything
looks so tawdry and hopeless and like deadly. Jesus Christ,
(31:52):
promise me something. You never show this to Rebecca. Don't
do this. Why. I never thought there would be an
actual eyewitness report of what happened, and we have absolutely
no way of knowing whether that's true at all. Yeah,
(32:26):
next week on the ballot of Billy Balls. If somebody
who you thought was your life partner, your protector, you're
like soulmate, is viciously murdered, your grief is of a
different nature. It's not distinguishable from anger. It's rayging grief.
It's like slaughter. Everybody grief. Crimetown is Zach Stewart Pontier
(33:01):
and Mark Smirling. The Ballad of Billy Balls is hosted
by me Io till It Right and made in partnership
with Cadence thirteen. You can find me on the internet.
U Io loves you on everything. I love hearing from
you guys, and if you want to know more about
my story, pick up my memoir Darling Days. We also
want to hear from you. We have a voicemail set
(33:23):
up for you to call us here summer. I just
want to call and tell you guys, what's your podcast
means me. I had a couple of friends that were
brutally murdered. And you know, my friends weren't perfect, and
the media but trade them is almost like deserving or complacent.
It's just nice to people that care about what happens
(33:44):
to people that other people might not consider. Course that
just means a lot. Yeah, you know that's the point
of this whole thing. Nobody deserves to be forgotten. There's
something on your mind, or you have a story or
a joke, or thoughts of feelings, or complaints, whatever, call
us and leave us a voicemail at five seven oh
(34:07):
three nine two nine zero. You can also get into
our discussion forum on our website, The Ballad of Billie
Balls dot Com, which this week I really think you
should do because now there is a lot to work with.
Go get your detective on. The show is produced by me,
Kevin Shepard, and Ryan Swicker. Our senior producer is my
(34:30):
Man Austin Mitchell, editing by Zach Stewart Pantier and Markus Smerling.
Fact checking by Jennifer Blackman. I See you, Jenny. This
episode was mixed by Sam Bear, sound design and music
by Kenny Qcat. Our title track is Dark Allies by
Light Asylum. The rest of their music is just as good,
Go listen to it. Archival researched by Brennan Reese. Special
(34:59):
thanks to Dan Yellow, Ariah Rachel Lee Wright, and Emily
Wiederman for putting up with us. Green Card Pictures, Alessandro
San Toro, Bill Plegg, Ben Davis or In Rosenbaum and
the team at Cadence thirteen, and, of course, as always,
my Mom, without whom none of this would be possible,
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