Pushkin. Hello there. You're about to enjoy a sneak preview of Empire on Blood, The Director's Cut. To hear the entire show, please find and follow Empire on Blood, The Director's Cut, wherever you get your podcasts. To hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts.

Come to order. Continue hearing all parties are present. Recalling number one, continued hearing, people of state of New York versus Calvin Bouhari. Appearances as previously noted. And it is present.

Calvin Bouhari is in court today to appeal his life sentence. He 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 Bouhari. B-u-a-r-i.

Cal's path to freedom won't be an easy one. The state of New York is determined to keep him behind bars because, according to the state, Calvin Bouhari is a cold-blooded killer.

Everybody was scared of Calvin.

That's the prosecutor in Calvin's original trial. 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 The protégé had a falling out, and suddenly the protege wanted to talk.

You're telling me telling is forbidden? Who made that rule? I'm going to make my own rules, how 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, did you have anything at all to do with the shooting of the Harris Brothers?

No, I did not. You know what I mean?

This is Empire on Blood, The Director's Cut. A story of murder, betrayal, and a man who fought the law for two decades. Of course. 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. Episode, Calvin Buari 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 Bouhari 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 have 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 of mint coats.

Isn't that draw attention to you?

I think it did. When you're young and you don't know no better, you just want to feel like you're living a 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 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 is going down. In other words, get people like Calvin Bouhari off the streets. Fast forward two decades, inmate Calvin Bouhari 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 pay phone. I tried to imagine what it must have felt like to be that powerless, that alone. I took Cal's calls.

Sorry about that. Did I catch you at the wrong time, though?

Yeah, but I want to spend a few minutes with you.

Tell me again what you were just saying about laughing.

No, I'm just saying it's so good to drop my garg and just be able to smile and laugh and be a little free and open and be able to talk. That's just something that's normal for me. I just can't wait to get in a situation where I'm around the people that truly, genuinely he truly loved me so I could just be me 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 Belledock to take his call. Myron's the attorney who spent a decade springing Hurricane Carter from prison, nearly bankrupting is firm in the process. So you never give up.

That's like the basic rule, to 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 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 gave me a shot of adrenaline. I was feeling very sick a couple of months ago, and I didn't think I would be able to take a case on like that.

For Cal, Myron was more than a lawyer.

I called him one late night. I think it was after eight o'clock that he was sitting in the office working on my thing, 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 brought helping 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 entitled to any consideration. I don't feel that. I feel that there's probably explanations for what everybody does that are acceptable. I mean, that's how I feel.

And let people think what they want about you.

Well, it can't be helped.

Myron saves his outrage for prosecutors he believes have done wrong. His sympathy, that's for people like Cal.

Their youth, generally, was stolen from them by people who cheated them. And they cheated. That's the 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 Belledoc is working days, evenings, weekends for Calvin Bouhari. You there? One day, Myron calls me.

Steve, first... Hello. 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. Bouhari knows about it. 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 is now boxed. This motion is his last chance because you don't get back and back and back and back again. I 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.

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, it keeps on growing. It's really showing up. It wants to eat my eye. 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 my impassion is today?

Yeah, it's true. Wow.

Wow. Hard run, you know? Hard run. Hard run.

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.

She's got a little I was really emotional because with Myron Bell-Duck writing my case, it just seemed like I really finally got the guy that I needed to really get to where I I was really in a debate. I was scared to tell you the truth, Steve. I really felt a little secure with my life in his hands Yeah.

How was last night for you?

I broke down, Steve. I just broke down. I wanted to really just get to know him. It's just so much more than just my case. So I broke down. I broke down from the time that I hung up the phone on you, and I feel myself, God, God, again. It's great.

My man. You're not going to give up.

I'm not.

I can't.

I can't. I can't.

Our story is just getting started. Follow me as I learn about courtroom deals that were struck, lies that were told. I find that 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 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 leaves the king lonely. Bear the burdens of your sins and them only. The where the bird line between friend and foe, the last words you hear.

It's Tom and Ghost.

You have been listening to a sneak preview of Empire on Blood, the Director's Cut. To hear episodes of the show one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, please subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts.