Murder at the Palladium

Nearly eight years after Carol Kramer voted to convict David Lemus and Omeldo Hidalgo of murder, an article appeared on the front page of the New York Times raising questions about the Palladium nightclub shootings.

One man who read it was Richie Feliciano, in prison on federal drug charges. After seeing the article, he told federal prosecutors that the wrong men had been convicted. He said he knew because he saw someone else shoot the bouncer, a friend he was with that night. The feds found Feliciano candid and credible and passed the information to the Manhattan district attorney's office, and also to detective Bobby Addolorato, who interviewed Feliciano.

Addolorato: "He goes, 'I can't believe that they have two guys in jail. He goes, I was there that night. I drove Spanky's car away from the scene.'"

Spanky Morales was thus identified yet again as the real shooter—the same name police heard in 1990 from a tipster just days after the murder. The same name detective Addolorato heard in 1992 from an informant, and then again in 1995, when gang member Joey Pillot confessed that he and "Spanky" Morales were the gunmen. Now, in July 2000, nearly 10 years after the murder, one more witness was pointing the finger directly at Spanky Morales.

Addolorato: "It's somebody who's saying I'm standing a few feet away from him when he takes out a .38 and blasts the bouncer."

The new witness reinforced what the detective already believed -- that David Lemus and Omeldo Hidalgo were innocent. Addolorato became more determined than ever in pursuing the case, no matter how long it took. Two years later, he was still at it when he was promoted to detective first-grade, the highest rank a detective can achieve in New York. His partner, John Schwartz, was also a first-grade detective and a 19-year veteran.

John Schwartz: "I had no idea that he had been working on a case from the Palladium going back 10 years. He just turned around to me one day and he took a folder out of a box. He says, do me a favor and just take a look at this. Tell me what you think."

'We had somebody telling us that one of our brother officers had basically perjured himself in a police report.' — Det. Bobby Addolorato

In that folder were a series of police reports that grabbed their attention.

Addolorato: "In the police reports, there were several interviews of Janice Catala, who was David Lemus' girlfriend at the time."

The detectives discovered that shortly after the murder Janice Catala had given several accounts of where she and David Lemus were that night, contradictory accounts, one of which put them at the Palladium. 

Addolorato: "It's putting him at the scene of the crime. So if David wasn't there what's the explanation for the report?"

The detectives were about to find out. Dateline's cameras were rolling when they paid a visit to David Lemus' ex-girlfriend. They went to her apartment without calling or giving her a heads up that they were coming. They just showed up and knocked on her door:

Addolorato: "I need you to be 100 percent honest. Because at this point, only the truth is what we're after. Were you there that night?"
Janice Catala: "No, I wasn't there that night."
Addolorato: "Was David there that night."
Catala: "No, he wasn't there that night."
Addolorato: "Okay. Your first original statement, okay, that you spoke to a detective."
Catala: "I remember that." 
Addolorato: "Okay."
Catala: "I remember that very clearly."
Addolorato: "Okay."
Catala: "At the precinct when we were walking in that's when they told me, well he's here for murder." 
Addolorato: "Um-hm."
Catala: "'Well murder.' That night we didn't go anywhere. We were home.  We ate and that was it. We went to sleep. They kept on badgering me. I mean they had me there for hours. I didn't say any statement at all. They were the ones telling me, 'you guys went to the Palladium, when you were leaving there, that your car broke down. You left it on the highway and you jumped in another car with some friends and you guys left.'" 
Addolorato: "That night did you sign a written statement."
Catala: "No, I didn't sign anything at all."

When the detectives came out of the apartment, both knew that the ante had just gone up in the case. It's impossible to know what Janice Catala said back then. But it troubled the detectives that there was no signed statement from her. Addolorato says that the lack of a written statement is unusual, that if police are going to take a statement from someone, they would normally take a statement.

Addolorato: "We had somebody telling us that one of our brother officers had basically perjured himself in a police report."

Dateline contacted the detective who wrote the report. He told us he had no comment.

Addolorato: "I mean, you know, it does-- it puts us in a lousy spot."

Schwartz: "This is the position all those bad cop movies are in."

Addolorato: "I've always believed that the truth comes out, you know, the justice system is fair."

But if the system was going to work in this case, Addolorato would have to dig deeper. His next move was to see the inmate whose confession to murder years earlier had been rejected by a judge. Was Joey Pillot sticking to his story that he and Spanky Morales were the real shooters? Would he offer up any other leads?

Addolorato: "Joey's got no reason to talk to me. He has nothing to gain. He's serving 15 to life."

Schwartz: "He could be labeled a rat."

Addolorato: "Maybe there's something we missed, some little thing. I mean, run through the whole thing. I mean—"
Joey Pillot: "We're hanging out in a club. Big commotion started with the bouncer. The bouncers grabbed him again and the bouncers started beating up on him."
Addolorato: What did Spanky have?"
Pillot: "Thirty-eight."
Addolorato: "Okay."
Pillot: "Everything was hectic, the shots happened. I never got to let a round from out from my gun. For what reason, I don't know."
Addolorato: "So when you went-- when you cocked it you jacked the slide."
Pillot: "Yeah.
Addolorato: "Round come out?"
Pillot: "Yeah, it did."

So his story had not changed. Pillot was still insisting his gun had jammed and that a 9-mm bullet had fallen to the ground at the scene. But the detectives needed to know if anyone else could corroborate Pillot's story. Sure enough, Pillot said there was. He gave them another name – Peachy – and said they all came together and left together.

Schwartz: "He told us Peachy was there, Spanky was there, I was there. He never said Lemus and Hidalgo were there."

Pillot: "I don't know these kids from a hole in the wall. They should let those kids go home."

That night, the detectives found the man with the street name "Peachy." Dateline cameras rolled from behind a one-way mirror, as Peachy sat down with them.

Addolorato: "There are many pieces of this puzzle. Okay? But you're important because your little piece can help an awful lot. Think back 12 years."        
Peachy: "One thing I remember was Joey arguing."
Addolorato: "Was Spanky there that night?"
Peachy: "Yeah, yeah."
Addolorato: "Okay, so he was there."
Peachy:  "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah."
Addolorato: "Right, okay."
Peachy: "And then as we leaving, then a big commotion happened. But from what I was at, whatever, to be honest, I couldn't hear nothing."

Though Peachy was adamant that he did not witness the actual shooting, his account had never been heard before, and because of that, detective Addolorato thought Peachy's signed statement would finally convince prosecutors that the Palladium shooters had gotten away with murder. 

Addolorato: "Did he tell me the whole truth that night? No, okay? I believe he held back, but he puts Joey Pillot in an argument with the bouncers. He puts Spanky there. He puts himself there, which as far as I was concerned was a home run knocked right out of the park."

It was now November 2002. David Lemus and Omeldo Hidalgo were just beginning their second decade in prison. Freeing the men in prison was one thing, but just as important to the detectives was something else. Spanky Morales, who had spent nearly a dozen years in prison on unrelated charges was about to get out.

Addolorato: "So now it is a race against the clock, because we don't want this guy hitting the streets. We wanted to lock him up before his foot hit the pavement."

So they set up a meeting with the Manhattan district attorney's office, hoping Morales would be charged with murder.

Addolorato: "The policy in New York is you don't make a homicide arrest without the authorization of the district attorney's office which is fine. Those are rules. Play by the rules."

Now the detective was about to make his case to the D.A.'s office. After a decade of digging, after what had become a personal crusade, would detective Robert Addolorato finally convince prosecutors that he knew the real story about what happened at the Palladium?

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