THAT MURDEROUS
NIGHT
The
Crime in Brief: On the evening
of June 16, 1966, a white man murdered a black man in a black
bar. It was a business dispute. The killing caused an uproar
in the black community and there was talk of revenge. The stepson
of the murdered man was Eddie Rawls, a friend of Rubin
Carter. Rawls was very upset, and told police, "If you don't
take care of it, I will." Rawls and Carter were seen together
that night.
About
six hours after the murder, two black men walked into a nearby
white bar, The Lafayette Grill. They shot everyone and walked
out. It was not a robbery. The first to die was a known racist:
the bartender.
As this
was happening, small-time crooks Al Bello and Dexter Bradley
were conducting an unsuccessful break-in down the block. Bello
needed cigarettes and walked to The Lafayette Grill. He arrived
just as the gunmen emerged. They were laughing and talking loudly.
Bello came to within 15 feet of them when he realized they were
not armed detectives. He turned and ran. The gunman raced to
their car, quickly looked for Bello, and drove off.
Inside
the bar, two men were dead, a grandmother was fatally wounded,
and a man was seriously wounded in the head. He would be the
only survivor.
About
10 minutes later and one mile away, Rubin Carter and John
Artis were pulled over by police. The officers let them go —
the description of the killers' getaway car was not yet complete.
THE CAPTURE
of CARTER and ARTIS
Do yo u know how Carter got caught? Do you think
it was massive plot by a racist conspiracy? Not at all.
At the
murder scene just 20 minutes after the crime, witness Al Bello
described the killers’ getaway car to two cops. Coincidentally,
those two cops had stopped Carter’s car just minutes before
— and had let it go! The cops immediately recognized the
car from Bello's description and went back on the road to look
for it. They found it 10 minutes later and took Carter and John
Artis into custody (photo of Carter at right).
THAT is
how Rubin Carter got sucked into this case — good police
work by two ordinary cops. It had nothing to do with racist plots,
vindictive cops, or widespread conspiracies. It was over and
done with just 30 minutes after the crime. The case against Carter
was born — and the chief detective in the case
wasn’t even out of bed yet. You won’t find this information
in Norman Jewison's horribly misleading movie and those biased
books, but it is indisputably true. --- Cal Deal
Two
Eyewitnesses Identify Carter's Car
as the Killers' Getaway Car
-----  Less than hour after the crime,
Pat Valentine (photo, lower right) and Al Bello positively
identified Carter's car as the killers' getaway car.
See: [Valentine's view of getaway]•[Valentine
statement] • [Valentine
1967 trial testimony -- PDF file] •
[Al Bello Page]
----- Bello and Valentine described
Carter's car to police BEFORE it was brought back to the
murder scene.
----- Carter admits driving down
12th Avenue at virtually the same time as the escaping killers
(2:35 a.m.), but wants you to believe the killers were in an
identical car on the same deserted street heading in the
same direction (away from the murder scene) at virtually the
same time in the middle of the night.[See
taillight comparison] [See map]
----- T he killers'
car had out-of-state plates. Carter's car had out-of-state plates.
No other white car stopped by police that night had out-of-state
plates. [Prosecutor's brief]
----- The butterfly taillights
seen by two witnesses were unique to one model of car —
Carter's car, a Dodge Polara. [1975 news story]
----- Identification points matching
Carter's car: Large, white, highly-polished, brand-new, butterfly
taillights, out-of-state plates, black occupants, near crime
scene. [TOP]
Live
Ammo Found in Carter's Car
Fit the Murder Weapons
-----  Two
live rounds that could have been fired from the two murder
weapons were found in Carter's car 90 minutes after the murders
and were logged that day. [Homicide report]
----- The live rounds were found
long before ballistics determined the caliber of the handgun
used in the crime. [Prosecutor's
brief]
----- Three witnesses —
a citizen, a reporter and a detective — saw the live rounds
minutes after they were found. [Prosecutor's
brief]
----- Carter testified in 1967
that he was shown the bullet on the morning of the murders, and
Artis testified he saw both the shotgun shell and the bullet.
[Prosecutor's brief]
----- Pat Valentine told Cal
Deal about the shotgun shell in September 1975 — more than
a year before she testified about it (the defense strongly suggested
she was lying). She repeated her story in an interview with Deal
tape recorded in January 1976. (She did not testify about it
at the first trial because it was not an issue.) [TOP]
 |
Bill O'Reilly:
"If they did find the ammunition in the car, and there's
no credible evidence that it was planted, that's a strong piece
of information."
--
Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor"
--
February
2000
[Note:
There is NO credible evidence that the live rounds were planted.]
|
Bello
Identifies Carter as the
Man with the Shotgun
----- Seconds
after the murders, Al Bello saw both gunmen face-to-face from
less than 15 feet away, according to his trial testimony. He
ran for his life, which was witnessed by a nearby resident. [Prosecutor's brief]
----- Within five minutes of
the murders — long before police knew what type of weapons
were used — Bello told police the gunmen were carrying a
shotgun and a pistol. [Prosecutor's
brief]
----- Hours later, Bello identified
Carter as the killer with the shotgun. "Rubin Carter
shot up the whole bar," he told friend Ken Kellogg.
Read story.
----- In his formal statement
to police (6/18/66), Bello's description of the gunman matched
Carter.
----- Four months later, Bello
reluctantly identified Carter by name to police. He decided to
talk after someone warned him to keep his mouth shut about Carter.
He was rattled by that threat. Bello identified the second gunman
as John Artis. [More about Bello's testimony]
----- In Carter's 1976 trial,
Judge Leopizzi told the jurors to FREE Carter and Artis if they
didn't believe Bello. They voted for conviction in just eight
hours. [Judge's statement]
[TOP]
Carter,
Artis Fail
Lie Detector Tests
----- Carter and Artis failed
lie detector tests hours after the crime — a fact confirmed
for this web site by the polygraph operator himself! [Read story on
Lie Test Page]
----- Before his second trial,
Carter got an amazing, no-lose offer from the Prosecutor himself:
Pass a lie detector test and GO FREE. Carter refused to
take the test. [Read
the actual letters.]
----- In all, Carter has refused
at least four requests that he take a second lie test. Click
here.
----- In 1976, eyewitness Al
Bello passed two lie tests regarding his identification of Carter.
Click
here. [TOP]
Carter
Creates
a False Alibi
----- Carter tried to feed the
details of his alibi story to his two key alibi witnesses before
his first trial. He did it in a letter he wrote to them from
jail in 1967. The letter was intercepted by authorities. [Read Carter's jailhouse letter]
----- Nine  years later, four of Carter's black alibi
witnesses told a black investigator that they had lied at the
first trial. [1976 news story] (Carter
no longer mentions this alibi story, which appears on Page 242
of his book.)
----- Carter and Artis claimed
they were together on the night of the murders, but when questioned
by police they gave conflicting statements about their whereabouts.
[Comparison chart]
----- Carter has given three
completely different versions of his whereabouts that night:
one to police that morning, one at his first trial and the story
he tells today. [TOP]
Shooting
Victim's Sketch
Resembles John Artis
----- Three weeks after the shootings,
victim Hazel Tanis guided a police artist in making a sketch
of one gunman. The sketch looks like John Artis. [Read
news story]
----- A week later, Tanis died.
As a result, this sketch was inadmissible at trial. [Obituary]
[TOP]
Hours
Before the Murders,
Carter Hunts for His Missing Guns
----- Although his .12 gauge
shotgun and some rifles had been stolen a year earlier,
Carter went looking for them shortly before the triple murder.
[Prosecutor's brief]
----- Carter failed to mention
the search when he gave details of his activities that night
in his statement to police. [Details
from statement] [TOP]
Carter
was in a Bar Just 1,320 Feet
from the Murder Scene
----- Minutes before the triple
murders, Carter & Artis were in The Nite Spot bar, just five
blocks from The Lafayette Grill. [See
photo showing both bars] [See
aerial map with scale]
----- Carter was last seen in
the Nite Spot by his friend, bar manager Elwood Tuck, at 2:15
a.m. The murders occurred 15 minutes later. [Prosecutor's
brief] [TOP]
Prosecutor
says Murders were Revenge
for Earlier Killing of a Black Man
----- Earlier that night, a white
man killed the stepfather of Carter's friend Eddie Rawls.
It was a business dispute, not a racial matter. THIS MURDER IS
THE MOTIVE FOR THE LAFAYETTE GRILL TRIPLE MURDER, according to
the prosecutor. [Prosecutor's
brief] — [Revenge mentioned
at end of first news article on shootings]
----- The killing angered Paterson's
black community and there was talk of revenge.
----- Rawls was upset.
"If you don't take care of it, I will," he told police.
----- Eddie Rawls and
Carter were seen together that night at the Nite Spot bar —
just 1,320 feet from the Lafayette Grill, where the triple murder
would later take place. [See map]
----- The Lafayette Grill didn't
serve blacks but was on the edge of a black neighborhood.
----- All of the Lafayette Grill
victims were white. The first to die: The racist white bartender.
----- There were no other acts
that could be construed as "revenge" that night.
----- Shortly after the murders, a white
car later identified as Carter's was seen leaving the murder
scene. [See witness' view]
----- Minutes later, a white
car (like Carter's) was seen near the Nite Spot. (Prosecutors
believe they picked up a local alcoholic for an alibi. They were
"taking him home.") [See
graphic]
----- A white car was seen seconds
later racing down 12th Avenue — away from the Nite Spot
and away from the murder scene. It was heading toward Eddie
Rawls' apartment.
----- The white car was followed
by a black car. Rawls owned a black car, according to
Elwood Tuck.
----- Minutes later police stopped
Carter's car. It was on Eddie Rawls' street and heading
away from Rawls' apartment. (Prosecutors believe they dumped
the guns at Rawls' apartment.) [See
graphic]
----- Carter was hiding in the
back seat (probably fearing Bello had already identified him).
[Officer's trial 1967 testimony]
----- Carter claims he was going
home to get money, but the street was not a through street to
his house.
----- Carter and Artis were let
go because police were looking for a white car with two blacks,
and this one had three (remember the alibi witness). [TOP]
Carter,
Artis Were the Gunmen,
Shooting Survivor Told Close Friends
MANY
THANKS TO RICHARD & LONA
FOR
THEIR ASSISTANCE
— Cal Deal
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