WHAT: iHeartPodcasts and Best Case Studios today announced “Rorschach: Muder at City Hall,” a 10-episode investigative true crime podcast series.
July 2003, New York City Hall, downtown Manhattan. Two men arrive together and are ushered past the metal detectors. Both men are Black, handsome and wearing a suit. Both are carrying concealed weapons. Within an hour, both men are dead. Over 200 witnesses watched as Niel Askew shot former New York City police officer and current Councilman James E. Davis multiple times in the back in the balcony of the Council Chamber, and was then gunned down himself by a New City City cop on the security detail.
The story shocks the city. Then details emerge, and rumors begin to circulate. All that summer, the two men had been seen around Brooklyn together: in Davis’ office, at political events across the city, getting haircuts at a barbershop. So, what was the true nature of their relationship? But despite this very public assassination, the story is now almost completely forgotten, along with the mystery of what really happened between Niel Askew and James Davis.
Throughout 10 thirty-minutes episodes, “Rorschach: Murder at City Hall” explores double lives and fatal ambition, and how the destinies of these two men became entwined, along with the mystery behind this dramatic tragedy. But this is more than a murder story: it’s an investigation into an act of violence -- one that takes listeners into the underbelly of New York City politics, where ambition and desperation are often two sides of the same coin.
Executive producers are Brent Katz and Adam Pincus for Best Case Studios. The show is based on original reporting by journalist Brent Katz. Original Music by Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Wilder Zoby.
Episode 1: Shots Fired
Episode 2: How Could This Happen in City Hall?
Episode 3: A Victim of Blackmail
Episode 4: Niel’s Secret
Episode 5: Friends and Enemies
Episode 6: A City in Crisis
Episode 7: James Meets Niel
Episode 8: The Last Day
Episode 9: The Empty Seat
Episode 10: It Stays with You
WHO: Host Jamal Jordan is a journalist and mixed-media documentarian, former editor at The Washington Post. Jordan has worked at The New York Times and was a video producer at Vice and NBC News and elsewhere. He is the author of Queer Love in Color (Penguin Random House), a photographic celebration of the love and relationships of queer people of color. He lives in Brooklyn and lectures at Stanford University. Jordan also has a large following online, with over 69K followers on X. (former Twitter)
Journalist Brent Katz has produced podcasts for Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify and elsewhere. He has written for the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, the Paris Review among others. “Rorschach: Murder at City Hall” began as his thesis at Columbia Journalism School. His debut short film, JOSH’S WEDDING, is coming out through the New Yorker.
WHEN: “Rorschach: Murder at City Hall” will be available March 25th, with new episodes launching every Wednesday. Listen to the official trailer now.
WHERE: “Rorschach: Murder at City Hall” is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and will be available on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard. Episodes available one week early to subscribers of iHeart’s True Crime+ channel on Apple Podcasts. Follow @bestcasestudios on Instagram for updates.
