THE COMBAT ZONE-Jan Brogan

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Dan Zupansky

True Crime, News Commentary, Documentary, News, Society & Culture

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the end of the 1976 football season, more than forty Harvard athletes went to Boston's Combat Zone to celebrate. In the city's adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant, violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way. At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Puopolo, raised in the city's North End, was murdered in a stabbing. Three African American men were accused of the crime. His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city's red-light district.
Starting with this brutal murder, The Combat Zone tells the story of the Puopolo family's struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two trials with opposing verdicts, all within the context of a racially divided Boston. Brogan traces the contentious relationship between Boston’s segregated neighborhoods during the busing crisis; shines a light on a court system that allowed lawyers to strike potential jurors based purely on their racial or ethnic identity; and lays bare the deep-seated corruption within the police department and throughout the Combat Zone. What emerges is a fascinating snapshot of the city at a transitional moment in its recent past. THE COMBAT ZONE: Murder, Race and Boston's Struggle for Justice-Jan Brogan

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking killers in true crime history,
0:12.9	and the authors that have written about them.
0:15.4	Gacy, Bundy, Dahmer, The Night Stocker, BTK, every week, another fascinating author talking
0:23.6	about the most shocking and infamous killers in true crime history.
0:27.7	True Murder, with your host, journalist and author, Dan Zufantke.
0:41.2	Good evening.
0:42.3	At the end of the 1976 football season, more than 40 Harvard athletes went to Boston's
0:48.9	combat zone to celebrate.
0:51.1	In the city's adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant.
0:56.0	The violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way.
1:00.4	At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Popolo raised in the city's
1:06.0	north end was murdered in a stabbing.
1:08.7	Three African American men were accused of the crime.
1:12.0	His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city's red light
1:16.4	district.
1:18.2	Starting with this brutal murder, the combat zone tells the story of the Popolo's family
1:23.2	struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two
1:27.9	trials with opposing verdicts.
1:30.2	All within the context of a racially divided Boston, Brogan traces the contentious relationships
1:36.2	between Boston's segregated neighborhoods during the busing crisis, shines a light on
1:41.3	a court system that allowed lawyers to strike potential jurors based purely on the racial
1:46.2	or ethnic identity, and lays bare the deep-seated corruption within the police department and
	...

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