Empire On Blood: the newest true crime podcast to binge

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a podcast season about a single murder case in the northeast US, with calls between an investigative journalist and an inmate convicted of murder. The inmate insists he’s not a killer, and the case is filled with flaws and holes glossed over during the trial by lens of racism. A lawyer champions the inmate’s case but dies before the appeal can complete.

Nope, I’m not describing Serial but Empire On Blood, the latest true crime podcast by Panoply. Steve Fishman spends seven years documenting the case of Calvin “Cal” Buari and trying to understand what really happened in a 1992 Bronx double homicide. While the basic structure is very similar to Serial, Cal is no saint. During the 1980s, Cal was a mink-wearing, BMW-driving kingpin who became rich when he introduced crack cocaine to the Bronx, but he was never convicted of drug dealing. Instead, he’s spent 22 years in prison serving two consecutive life sentences for the murder of two car thieves—a crime he insists he did not commit. This poses the question: “Even if Cal is innocent for this murder, should this drug dealer and outlaw be given a second chance?”

Fishman, known for his investigative journalism on the podcast Ponzi Supernova about Bernie Madoff and his New York Magazine articles, develops a compelling narrative that includes interviews with Calvin “Cal” Buari, Dwight Robinson who was a fellow dealer with Cal in the 80s, The police officers that investigated the initial case, Allen Karen who was the Bronx DA that convicted Buari (twice), and terrified witnesses. You get to enter the courtroom and hear the whole appeal trial unfold, a rare look into a world usually inaccessible to investigative reporters and journalists.

The series does a wonderful job exploring the impact law has on everyone involved. At one point, a witness is found and when asked why they hadn’t come forward before, they expressed how they needed to keep their heads down, not tell the cops anything, and stay out of it. They were young and scared, understandably. It was a highlight on how policing and the judicial system instills fear in more than just the guilty and innocent, but passerby’s as well.

I recommend this podcast series to any true crime fan, especially if you like podcasts such as Serial, Undisclosed, Breakdown, and others that follow one single case for the season. The series has a very satisfying ending, with good cliffhangers and thrills along the way.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher