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The Case of Vincent Ellerbe
📻 Episode #316
🎙️ Hosted by Guest Host Laura Nirider
📅 Dec 12, 2022
About This Episode
Just past 1am on November 26, 1995, 50 year old Harry Kaufman was working the token booth at a subway station in Brooklyn, NY, when multiple men set the booth on fire, causing explosions, an eruption of flames, and ultimately, Kaufman’s death. Hefty rewards were offered for information, and police received many tips from multiple…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
Just past 1am on November 26, 1995, 50 year old Harry Kaufman was working the token booth at a subway station in Brooklyn, NY, when multiple men set the booth on fire, causing explosions, an eruption of flames, and ultimately, Kaufman’s death. Hefty rewards were offered for information, and police received many tips from multiple informants. Ultimately, they honed in on James Irons, Thomas Malik and Vincent Ellerbe. The three were ultimately convicted based on confessions they made to the Detective Louis Scarcella. They were all sentenced to 25 years to life.
As Co-Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and co-host and writer of the award-winning Lava For Good podcast, Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions, Laura represents individuals who were wrongfully convicted when they were children or teenagers.
https://lavaforgood.com/false-confessions/
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:04:58“Speaker 2: now called the Exonerated five. Few years before this happened Speaker 2: to Vince. And there are so many other cases around Speaker 2: the country that were driven by the super predator myth. Speaker 2: Right here in Chicago, the Dixmore five, the Anglewood four, Speaker 2: the Marquette Park four, the Uptown seven. These numbers just”
00:20:17“Speaker 2: playing field was stacked, right, it stacked from the moment Speaker 2: that a teenager walks into the interrogation room alone, without Speaker 2: a parent, without a lawyer, without any clue about what's Speaker 2: facing him, and a trial that all just continues with Speaker 2: lies and concealments. Vince, I want to ask you if”
00:35:08“Speaker 3: and Ron told him he let him know straight up Speaker 3: and down. Y'all should do the right thing because this Speaker 3: case gonna get over trunk. Y'all don't want to be Speaker 3: the reason why he had to stay in prison any longer, Speaker 3: so y'all should let him go.”
Listen to the Episode
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← #315 Michael VonAllmen #317 Elvis Brooks →
Also on the podcast: #88 Vincent Atchity and Kelly Grimes · #231 Vincent Simmons · #287 Vincent Simmons