Rubin "Hurricane" Carter - guilty or innocent?
Teresa/Colorado
Web Sites Aim to Debunk Hurricane
Film's Depiction of Carter Case Criticized
Feb. 11, 2000
By Staci D. Kramer
AP
The real Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter
NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- When Bob Dylan took up the cause of a former boxer
imprisoned for triple murder in New Jersey and spread it across the world
like a musical gospel, those described as villains in the song "Hurricane"
could do little but listen and complain.
When Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's conviction was overturned and he was
released from New Jersey state prison in 1985, those who believed a murderer
had been set free had nowhere to go with their anger and frustration.
But when The Hurricane swept into movie theaters this winter with a
sympathetic portrayal of Carter and a depiction of the lead detective as
racist and evil, those who felt the script was more concerned with emotion
than accuracy knew where to go: the Web, where anyone with minimal software
and a few dollars a month can have their own virtual printing press.
That's where ex-reporter Cal Deal turned to combat the image of Carter as
wronged hero. As a reporter and photographer for a New Jersey daily
newspaper, Deal covered the Carter case in 1975 and 1976 when the former
boxer was seeking a new trial.
He says he began that coverage believing that Carter probably was innocent
and then became convinced of his guilt. Deal left the story behind more than
20 years ago when he moved to Florida. But he kept in touch with others
involved in the case, including witnesses and victims' relatives, and he
held on to his research.
Deal doesn't pull any punches when it comes to his campaign against Carter's
image as an innocent man. The title of his site says it all: "Hurricane
Carter. The Other Side of the Story."
The ex-reporter makes no claims of objectivity. He flat out tells visitors
to his site: "This is not intended to be a balanced presentation, just an
accurate counterweight to the Hollywood Justice System."
The signs all point to a story seen only through the lens of condemnation,
including a sinister-looking photo of Carter looming over the overly long
front page and headlines including "Rubin Carter Is a Substantial Threat to
the Community" and "Dylan Dissected: How His Song 'Hurricane' Murders the
Truth."
"It doesn't mean I'm out here churning out false information," said Deal.
"If fair means running statements that I believe to be false, [then] I don't
have to do that. There's enough out there on ... other sites.
"I didn't feel a crying need to duplicate other people's efforts. This is
sort of the lone voice out there who believes the man is guilty."
Don't even look for links on Deal's site to others that have something
positive to say about Carter: "I'm not giving you both sides of the story,
I'm basically giving you the prosecution's side of the case."
Instead, Deal presents an almost overwhelming amount of documentation to
bolster his argument. He has pages and pages online covering decades of
testimony, evidence presented at trial, news articles, graphics and
testimonials about those he thinks were maligned in the movie, and even
snippets of ancient audio.
He also has links to current articles and sites that fit his point of view.
This time around, Deal, who now makes a living designing trial exhibits,
doesn't have to battle the physical constraints of a newspaper.
"[The Web] is one of the best means of communicating," he said. "It's better
than television. Television disappears in an instant -- here, people can
print it out and study it."
Many people find their way to Deal's site through a link from a Rubin Carter
site run by Zach Dillon, a junior at Stanford University. Dillon's
comprehensive site dates back to 1997, when his interest in Bob Dylan led
him to explore the details behind the Hurricane's legend.
Dillon went online, didn't find much and started building.
"I never even suspected that there was another point of view at the
beginning. Basically, all I knew was what was in the Bob Dylan song. As the
movie started drawing closer, a couple of people who knew things about the
case e-mailed me ... that he might not be innocent."
Dillon never doubted Carter's innocence until he went to Deal's site. He was
struck by the amount of information but disturbed by the bias.
"It's really obvious that he thinks Carter is guilty and he never really
gives the opposition side."
Dillon said Deal's reliance on the newspaper articles and the prosecution
side to the exclusion of everything else led the student back to believing
that Carter is innocent.
"It's worth reading, but with an objective mind, knowing that there are
different interpretations to the facts," Dillon added.
Deal may have the only site dedicated to Carter's guilt when it comes to
murder, but some who were depicted in the movie are also airing their
grievances on the Web.
One of the film's early scenes shows Carter fighting middleweight champ Joey
Giardello, who loses, even though it looks like he should be the winner.
He was the winner, says Giardello, and he's got the Web site to prove it.
The site was put up by his sons to tell what they say is true story of the
fight.
On the site, many boxing commentators and sports writers tell their versions
of the fight, which have Giardello, whose real name is Carmine Tilelli, as
the clear winner.
"If they can't get that fight right, how can you believe in the movie?"
Giardello told The Philadelphia Daily News.
New Jersey advertising executive Jim DeSimone thinks his father has been
maligned by the movie, too, without his name ever being spoken.
DeSimone is the son of the late Vincent J. DeSimone, who as chief of
detectives was the lead investigator for the Carter case. Deal's Web site
carries the son's impassioned response to the movie's lead detective, the
racist, evil Lt. Vincent Della Pesca.
"Everybody that knew of the crime and presently sees the film will very
easily position my father in the role of Della Pesca," Jim DeSimone said.
Deal's Web site gave him the chance to tell his and his father's side of the
story.
DeSimone attended a news conference Tuesday with victims' relatives, who
were critical of how the film depicted the Carter case. Producers have
admitted to altering parts of the story; Carter's attorneys still maintain
that their client is innocent.
The anti-Carter forces aren't the only ones using the Internet.
The movie's producers turned to Universal's The Hurricane Web site to post
their letter to the editor of The New York Times refuting its recent
article, by reporter Selwyn Rabb, that attacked the movie's accuracy.
The studio followed tradition by taking out full-page ads in industry trade
magazines Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, but the Web site allowed
them to get the message to an audience far beyond Hollywood.
"The traditional technology is simply limited in terms of time and space,"
explained Kevin Campbell, Universal Studios vice-president of new media
marketing. Campbell was in charge of marketing and publicity for The
Hurricane.
"[On the Web], we know that it's not edited down."
Universal never intended for the movie site to be definitive, Campbell said.
The site simply provides information about the movie's source material.
Executive producer Rudy Langlais explains in his online letter that the
story is about "the relationship among Rubin Carter, a black teenager from
Brooklyn and three Canadians who teach the boy to read and write and
dedicate themselves to reviving Carter's flagging spirits and appeals for
freedom."
The movie draws heavily from two books: The Sixteenth Round, Carter's 1974
autobiography, and Lazurus and the Hurricane, by Sam Chaiton and Terry
Swinton, two of the Canadians who devoted years to helping Carter get
released.
Those who want to know more can buy the books, Campbell said.
And in today's wired world, they can also go online.
"That just opens up another can of worms about publishing," said Campbell,
who pointed out the difficulty of verifying online information. Campbell
said he hasn't seen the sites critiquing Hurricane, and thus didn't want to
comment.
Meanwhile, Dillon is using his site to tell the story of Ron Lipton, the
boxing referee and former boxer who got Muhammed Ali involved in the Carter
case and whose efforts to help Carter get out of prison nearly ruined his
own life.
http://www.graphicwitness.com/carter/ - Cal Dean's web site
http://www.stanford.edu/~zdillon/hurricane.html - Zach Dillon's web site
http://www.joeygiardello.com/ - Joey Giardello's web site