with Rubin for 40+ years. I was casual friends with John. I also worked, as a volunteer, with Rubin's attorney, Myron Beldock. Hence, I do not rely upon internet articles or media reports for my opinion. I have a very large collection of legal documents and trial transcripts/ court decisions that span the twenty years the case was tried.
Perhaps the single most important thing is that the actual man with the shotgun -- who Rubin was accused of being -- confessed to the triple murder on his death bed. This came as no surprise to any of us, as this fellow was the Paterson police's first suspect. He wasdirectly involved with the tensions between the forces contesting control of the gambling profits in the bars in that general neighborhood. Indeed, the black bar owner murdered by the white former owner -- over a dispute on profits from people playing the numbers -- was a relative.
Much of this is related to what the New York Times reported in November of 1974. Tapes of the police interviews with Alfred Bello had surfaced. The lead detective refers to Rubin and John as "niggers, Muslims, animals, and murderers." I note that neither Rubin nor John had any connection to "Muslims," though the two actual gunmen were connected to the Nation of Islam, including to those who were "enforcers" -- and those of us a certain age can think of an infamous fellow from the NOI who murdered a friend of Rubin's with a shotgun in a ballroom in February of 1965. He came from Trenton, a short drive from Paterson.
As the second trial approached, the prosecution was prepared to say the actual gunmen had commited the murders, and that Rubin and John were there, outside the bar, as co-conspirators. This theory was rooted in an investigation conducted by a state assemblyman on behalf of the governor. However, when the trial was about to begin, the prosecution went back to the original story.This was the result of the fact that their "evidence," when put under a microscope, did not support their theory. The prosecution hid evidence that indicated Rubin and John were not there, including the Caruso file -- the records of an investigator who concluded that Rubin and John were not only "not guilty," but innocent. (I played a role in our eventual accessing this file.)
The appeal in federal court was the work of Leon Friedman, of Hofstra University. It was, in part, based on the numerous Brady violations, the significance of could not be overlooked by any actual defense attorney. But the original submission to Judge Lee Sarokin included a significant amount of evidence that we knew could not be officially included. But once Sarokin read it, it would be in his mind. I could list more than a dozen facts from the state trials, etc, that show that Rubin and John were innocent. But the fact that the one of the two actual killers confessed to his role, and the role of the others involved -- and who actually fit the description of the killers like a glove -- should be enough.
= new reply since forum marked as read
