Presumed Guilty
From generation to generation an Irish family from Long Island, NY produces NYPD cops. The latest, Joe Donnelly, a brash, 20-year old street cop who walks a foot post in East Harlem, NY.
After a rapid advance through the ranks just shy of achieving his dream of a detective shield and a promotion into the elite Homicide Detective Squad, the six-year career of this young husband and father is cut short when he is shot at by a drug dealer, breaks a bone in his neck and forced to retire.
After a year of wallowing in self-pity, he is contacted by a well-known Manhattan Assistant District Attorney starting his own Private Investigation firm. He offers Donnelly a job as a private investigator working for defense lawyers who represent “the bad guys” who are charged with heinous crimes, including murder. Reluctantly, he takes the job to support his wife, 3 young daughters and infant son.
From this point on, his journey as Real Life P.I. begins, and Joe Donnelly becomes the most sought after criminal defense homicide investigator in NY. His family and friends on the police force write him off, asking, how could you? Yet, somehow, deep down inside, he knew it was his calling.
Corruption at the D.O.J.
Within a short time his initial trepidation turns into sadness and a sheer disdain for a federal criminal justice system in New York that he never knew existed. Up close and personal, he sees the inner workings of a corrupt and unethical Department of Justice where federal prosecutors and agents will do anything necessary to prove their case.
In this world ethics and rules of evidence are swept under the rug, and a win-at-all costs mentality turns justice into a mere illusion. Innocent people are wrongfully charged, convicted and imprisoned. Biased and prejudicial prosecutions are sought, all within a rigged system where social injustice and racism runs rampant, exculpatory evidence is withheld, and the truth is grossly distorted by over-reaching prosecutors.
Over 4,000 Cases
Over two decades Donnelly investigates more than 4,000 federal and state cases. He is appointed by federal judges countless times as an expert investigator working on behalf of predominantly indigent, minority defendants many of whom were charged with murder, and faced a penalty of death by lethal injection or life in prison.
Many of his clients are alleged to be high-ranking members of the five organized crime families operating out of NY. Others include Latin Kings, MS-13, Sex-Money-Murder-Bloods, Crips, Salvadorians with Pride, Trinitarios, Dominicans Don’t Play, Hells Angels and Pagans, to name a few. Others included, celebrities, sports figures and high profile corporate officers.
Fighting For Justice
In a span covering 5 years Donnelly conducts investigations that lead to the release of seven black men who had been wrongfully charged, convicted and incarcerated for murder and rape. After a rape investigation reveals an NYPD detective lied and withheld evidence that would have exonerated an innocent man, things become personal for a few of these agents.
After years of being a major thorn in their side, Donnelly becomes a target of the Department of Justice-Violent Crimes Unit in the Southern District of New York. Facing 45 years in prison for uncovering the truth and fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves, he embarks upon the most important investigation of his life.
In doing so, Donnelly uncovers disturbing events, cover-ups and obstruction of justice with regard to the government’s use of a cooperating witness who had previously confessed to the murder of a black man who was a retired NYPD detective. Within two years his private investigator license is restored.
