#080: March 4th, 2019

Here comes the story of the HurricaneThe man the authorities came to blameFor somethin' that he never donePut in a prison cell, but one time he could-a beenThe champion of the world.

You’ve probably heard these words sung out by Bob Dylan in his signature drawl. The song, Hurricane, was written in 1975 when Dylan heard the story of boxer Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter.

At that point Carter had been in prison almost 10 years, and he was to spend another 10 years in prison, wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey, before being released.

While you may have heard Dylan’s song, or seen Denzel Washington portray carter in the 1999 film The Hurricane, you’ve never heard Rubin tell his own side of the story. These are The Hurricane Tapes.

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This new podcast from the BBC uses over 40 hours of recorded interviews with Carter to lay out the story from his perspective. That isn’t to say this podcast is one dimensional; they also interview countless other people involved or affected by the case and even share tape recordings from the police officer who lead the initial investigation.

The result is the deepest ever dive into one of the most infamous wrongful convictions in US history.  

Have a listen and let us know what you think.

Stephen and EvanYour Podcast Delivery crew

“[The police officer] said, ‘We’re looking for two negroes,’ and Rubin said ’Would any two negroes do?’”

- Episode 2: Murders at the Lafayette