Episode 49 | Shawn Drumgold, Roxbury, Massachusetts: The Sonoma Street Alibi (Tiffany Moore part 2)

Updated: Oct 13, 2023

In August 1988, Tiffany Moore was shot three times in what police would call a rival gang turf war on Humboldt Ave in Roxbury. The streets were not safe, Tiffany's own mother sent her away to keep her from the violence that was taking over their neighborhood, only for it to take her back in the cruelest way possible. The city was outraged and put pressure on the Boston Police to solve her murder and do something about the violence. Her death was covered nationwide and would symbolize the disorder that ruled the streets, the kind of chaos that elicited fear among those who were outside looking in. Police targeted a low level drug dealer named Shawn Drumgold, painting him as a savage gang member. This episode is about a murdered child, drugs, gang violence, witness intimidation, police and prosecutorial misconduct, wrongful convictions, and a still-unsolved crime.

Trial 4 about Sean Ellis's wrongful conviction

There is no justice in putting innocent people in prison.
The New England Innocence Project: newenglandinnocence.org

October 2 is International Wrongful Conviction Day
Learn about the Exoneree Network: newenglandinnocence.org/exoneree-network

Two core sources (more listed):

Doubt Cast Over Tiffany Moore Verdict by Dick Lehr, Boston Globe, May 2003
Thanks to Dick and The Globe's great reporting or Shawn Drumgold might have died in prison.

Coming Home by Chris Wright, Boston Phoenix, Dec 2003

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