The Informer

21:57The house was not like Aunt Marina keeps it. It wasn't normal, it was wrong. He was just wrong. Anthony, the nephew she doted on, had become surly and resentful. I saw the way Anthony was treating Aunt Marina. Namely how? Very disrespectful. Give me an example. Swearing at her, yelling at her. His ever-present friends, Jason and Tom, a constant problem. The atmosphere was evil. These boys were wild. They weren't caring. I did not like these boys at all. Marina was so frightened, Donna says, she'd begun hiding her money. She would put it in a nylon stocking and wrap it around her waist when she'd go to bed at night.

22:52I told Aunt Marina that she was in great danger. And she said that if anything happened to her, she'd call 911. And I told her, you'll never get the chance. I just knew. As soon as she heard about Marina's death, Donna says she was suspicious, and she went to the police with her concerns. They showed little interest. I think that police should be held accountable for doing such a terrible, non-caring investigation. They took it as an old woman who fell down the stairs and let it go.

23:38Assistant DA Susan Corcoran concedes investigators' mistakes early on made it much harder to build a case. You didn't look at this and say, oh, you know, this will be a snap.

23:51Susan Spencer:No I did not. I knew that I had to overcome a lot of issues when I first received the case. What was the biggest one that you think you had to overcome? The state police had declared it an accident. The Quincy police had declared it an accident, and the medical examiner had declared it an accident. So even though detectives on the scene did notice scratches on Tom Lally's face, they didn't bother taking pictures, instead simply accepting the boy's explanation. They said that the night before they had an argument because Anthony had been drinking or something to that effect. and Tom tried to grab the bottle from him and Anthony scratched Tom's face.

24:35Ten months later, by the time the police knew they were investigating a murder, not only had the scratches healed, Marina Calabro's house had been sold. The kitchen remodeled. What would the crime scene folks have done that they couldn't do by the time they got into the house?

24:54Susan Spencer:They tried to do testing for blood. It was too long, it was too late for them to do any type of testing. So although Corcoran had Jim Morrell's secretly recorded tapes, she initially had little else. They were very good at covering their tracks. They tried to conceal the crime. When she was found at the foot of the stairs, they covered everything up. They cleaned everything up at the crime scene on that night.

25:24When police drained the pond where Jason Weir had taken Jim Morrell, they did find the frying pan, believed to be the murder weapon, and it was right there where Weir said it would be. Also found remnants of newspapers from the week of the crime and a yellow tea kettle.

25:45Susan Spencer:This was a very, very heinous crime. It was committed with a frying pan and with a tea kettle. Not so fast, says Jason Weir's attorney, Ed McCormick. I'm sure if we go to any pond in the general area, we're going to find some debris. He thinks that after 10 months in the pond, frying pans and tea kettles are not evidence. There's no fingerprints to tie anyone to this. The state, McCormick charges, has been all too eager to jump to wild conclusions to make up for evidence it doesn't have. He points to a bizarre discovery at the crime lab, which at one point said it actually had found DNA on Marina Calabro's body in seminal fluid.

26:32The question obviously is, whose is it? How did it get there? The lab took DNA samples from the three suspects and even from Jim Murrell. It didn't match morale, and to make matters worse for the state, it didn't match the three suspects either. It really calls into question the entire version of the death of Marina Calabro as alleged by the Commonwealth. McCormick suggests Weir's damning admissions on tape are just typical adolescent swagger. Is this just two 16, 17-year-old boys talking big who caught the biggest fish, who has the prettiest girlfriend, who has the fastest car? Let me tell you something that will shock you and make myself feel tough.

27:18I don't know. Lally's lawyer, Robert Griffin, says in his client's case, the alleged motive, greed, makes no sense. Thomas Lally had an annuity that was going to pay him money every five years. He received his first payment in 2001. And Anthony Calabro's lawyer, Bob Lowney, says that when Anthony wanted money... He was getting anything he wanted from her. All he had to do was ask. So does Anthony explain this situation in terms of, hey, she just fell down the stairs? That's what we maintain. Not part of any criminal activity. Anthony's Aunt Donna would so like to believe that. I wish to God it wasn't Anthony.

28:02More than anything, I wished it wasn't Anthony. But it is. As the state prepares to go to trial, its star witness, Jim Morrell, is ready to face his former friends in court. I'm confident that I can do this. I'm very confident. You're not nervous? I'm a little nervous. And Lally's lawyer says his client, the first up, is terrified. What are the stakes here? He goes home or he goes to prison for the rest of his life with no possibility of parole.

29:01will take you places you've never been before, in more ways than one. For more about Isla Morata, visit flakeys.com slash Isla Morata. For years, Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Through deeply reported narrative-driven stories, we're digging into the myths, scandals, and power structures that still shape the South. and, in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.

29:52March 3rd, 2006, and Tom Lally has changed dramatically in the more than four years since Marina Calabro died. He's the first of the three defendants to stand trial for her murder. He's nervous. He's got to get up there. He's got to tell the story, and this is the fight of his life. His uncle has been by his side throughout. For the last four years, I just did everything I could do to keep Tom going and just really try to be positive. It was the perfect crime. That's what he said. But in Prosecutor Susan Corcoran's eyes... This defendant strikes her on the head with the frying pan. Tom Lally is a cold-blooded murderer, period.

30:36Whacking her as she was screaming for her life. She makes sure the jury knows that this slight young man before them bears little resemblance to the swaggering tough he once was. He was 220 pounds and was bald. He may have looked tough, but Tom's never been a tough kid. I would say the exact opposite. Lally describes his nephew as a caring boy, close to his mother, saddled with learning disabilities and struggling with a mild case of Tourette's Syndrome. The only place I've been able to get my answers is from Tom, and I do believe him. He thinks that in the end, the state can't prove its case.

31:19And for sure, the state has problems. Thank you, Your Honor. As defense attorney Robert Griffin points out, not only is there the medical examiner's initial ruling. You had ruled that the cause of death was an accident, correct? That's right. But the DNA, supposedly found on Marina's body, turned out to be one big embarrassment for the state. Further testing showed it wasn't from seminal fluid after all. And worse, it came from the lab worker who did the testing. You contaminated that sample during the course of your handling it, correct? That's correct. Still, as much as the defense discredits the early investigation, This is a story of loyalty and betrayal.

32:06And the prosecution's case relies less on forensic evidence than on the testimony of Lally's friends, or former friends. Do you know the defendant? Yes, I do. Yes, ma 'am. And they can't seem to bear their souls fast enough, offering chilling testimony about how Anthony and Tom used to talk about Marina Calabro. Tom was saying that he could have her neck broken without leaving any bruises. Wouldn't it be funny if we pushed her down the stairs and got her money?

32:40The one friend not called to testify, Jim Murrell, whose undercover taping unraveled the entire plot. Instead, the state produces a new key witness. Please call your next witness. Someone who was actually there. You saw him swear to testimony about the end of this court. Jason Weir. Betrayed by Jim Morrell back in 2002, he is now in turn betraying his friends. In exchange for his testimony, he agreed to plead to manslaughter and take a 10-year sentence.

33:17Susan Spencer:He was always consistent about what happened in that apartment that day and always consistent about what Tom Lally did. Jason tells the jurors that he heard Tom and Anthony plot the crime. Anthony would say something along the lines of, I should take a contract out on her, and Tom Lally would say, it could be arranged, or, you know, what if something was to happen to her and you just didn't know about it? He claims he never took it seriously. Until that moment, he and Marina stood in the kitchen and Tom walked in with a frying pan. She says, what are you doing with my pan? He was just like, I'm doing this.

33:54And as I looked up to see, this frying pan came literally right across my face. I could feel the breeze off of it.

34:02Susan Spencer:What was the next thing you remember happening, Mr. Ware? He hit her in the head with a pan.

34:11Marina kept struggling, Jason says, and then Tom grabbed a tea kettle. He picked it up and he was hitting her off the head with it.

34:18Susan Spencer:What was she doing at that point? She was terrified. She was screaming, she was yelling, calling for Anthony, calling for anything. Did you go in to help Marina Calabro at any point? No, I didn't. And why not? I didn't. I couldn't react. I was too afraid. When it was over, Jason says, and Anthony had come inside, Lally kept his cool. He said, I put her head at the bottom of the stairs so that way it'll look like it's all legitimate. But defense attorney Griffin says Jason Weir would say anything to save himself. And he reminds jurors how cocky Jason was when he confided to Jim Morrell. You told Mr.

34:59Morrell that you played it smart, didn't you? Yes, I did. You told James Morrell you knew you would get away with it, didn't you? Yes, I did. But whatever the jury may think of Jason's callous words, the state finally has some forensic evidence to bolster his story. In 2005, Prosecutor Corcoran had Marina's fingernail clippings tested by another lab, and it found DNA. DNA which, while not conclusive, is a partial match to Tom Lally. The DNA underneath the fingernails could be from Tom Lally. Yes. Is that right? Yes. and it excluded the other two defendants. It could not be from either Jason Weir or Anthony Calabro.

35:42Susan Spencer:So it's very consistent. We had the fingernail scrapings and the fingernail clippings from Marina Calabro and the scratch marks on Thomas Lally's face. Lally's uncle believes the DNA got under Marina's nails when his nephew tried to help her. But he knows things look bad. Just got to keep him thinking strong and thinking positive and get him back in the game. Defense calls Thomas Lally. Seemingly backed into a corner, Tom Lally takes the stand in his own defense. Mr. Lally, did you harm Marina Calabro in any way? No, I had nothing to do with Marina's death. Jason Ware killed her. Just switch the roles, Lally says.

36:22Jason was the killer. It was Jason who took him by surprise that horrible day. Jason Ware came out of the dining room with a sock on his right hand. He was holding a frying pan, and he struck Marina Calabro in the head with it. What, if anything, did you do when you saw Jason Ware strike Ms. Calabro? I tried to help her by getting in between them, but she had fallen to the floor unconscious. During the course of that struggle, what if anything happened to you? He scratched my face. It was Jason, Tom says, who staged the scene. He dragged her body to the stairs and placed her at the bottom of the landing.

36:58and then he says Jason bullied both him and Anthony into lying to the police. What was the reason you were afraid of him, Mr. Lally? I saw him kill Marina Calabro, and he was threatening me and my family. Prosecutor Corcoran doesn't hide her disgust at this story.

37:15Susan Spencer:I'm asking you, when Jason Weir came into that kitchen, which is a small kitchen from that living room, You couldn't see that frying pan in his hand? You want the jurors to believe that? Yes, ma 'am. When he raised his hand is when I saw it. That was when I took notice of it. Was she yelling at that time? No. She was just standing there. She wasn't yelling? She may have made a sound. I did not hear her yell, though, no. She was struck three times with a cast-iron frying pan, and you did not hear Marina Calabro yelling, Mr. Lally? It was in very rapid succession, and it was not a cast-iron frying pan.

37:54Susan Spencer:Please answer my question. Did you hear her scream, Mr. Lally? That's what I'm asking you. No, I did not, ma 'am. You were very tough on him. I think I had to be. I think I had to be tough on him. I firmly believe that he was the one who committed this crime. No further questions. Thank you, Mr. Lally. You may step down and reach out. I was proud of him. He's been waiting four years to tell his side of the story. It was important for him to be heard, but it was also difficult.

38:20With the case in the jury's hands, Tom's mother and uncle can only wait.

38:29My biggest fear is that Tom doesn't make it home.

38:39And after only four hours... I'm in charge of murders, defending guilty or not guilty.

38:49Guilty of murder in the first degree. Tom Lally is found guilty of first-degree murder.

39:00It really knocked me for a loop. The sentence, life without parole. I truly prayed every night and every day for the last four years for something else. And the raw emotion just came out.

39:21The fate of Anthony Calabro, alleged mastermind, is yet to be decided. I've got a case where I've got a client who was not in the room. And that means, his lawyer says, that despite the Lally verdict, he still could win his case. There's a lot of different ways this could have went down that my client didn't have to necessarily know about.

39:42Susan Spencer:I think Anthony was the smartest of the three of them.

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41:03She was an extraordinary woman. You miss her? Oh yeah, very much so. Very much so. As hard as Donna Strassel finds it to accept the loss of her Aunt Marina, it just would never have happened. It's even harder to accept that her own nephew, Anthony, was behind the murder. I love him. He's my nephew. But he needs to be held accountable, and he needs to take responsibility for this.

41:35Susan Spencer:Marina Calabro adored her great-nephew, Anthony Calabro. But Anthony betrayed his great-aunt's love, says Prosecutor Susan Corcoran, and with appalling callousness. She put up a fight. It took a while for this woman to die, and she was screaming for her great nephew to come in and help her.

42:01By the time Anthony Calabro finally has his day in court, four years have passed since Marina's death. Does Mr. Calabro wish to speak? Unlike his friends, Anthony never gave a statement to police. He now, tearfully, breaks his three-and-a-half-year silence. I'm disgusted with myself. I'm disgusted with my actions. I don't even think there are any words in the English language that can explain how sorry I am for everything that I've done. Having seen his friend Tom Lally convicted and hit with life without parole, Anthony is now no longer proclaiming his innocence. It's my sincerest wish that I could go back in time and undo the events of that day.

42:43I only hope that someday I might be able to be forgiven for all that I've done. You saw me swear to make true answers to such questions as... His confession comes only after the state's decision to offer him a deal, plead guilty to a lesser charge. Did you commit the crime of murder in the second degree? Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I'll accept your plea of guilty. Prosecutor Susan Corcoran reminds the court one last time just what he did. in every horrific detail.

43:14Susan Spencer:When the defendant entered the apartment, he saw that the victim was dead, shrugged, and left. Anthony no longer denies any of it. And as he's led away, his Aunt Donna almost seems relieved. When he spoke today, his actions, his words, he was my nephew with sincerity and caring. You said you most wanted him to accept responsibility. And he did that. Thank you. The agreed on sentence, life in prison. With the possibility of parole in 12 years, a vastly different fate than that of his former friends. Star witness Jason Weir could be out of prison in fewer than seven years. But Tom Lally will spend the rest of his life there, period.

44:03No possibility of parole. The three people who all equally shared responsibility and the crime, I'll get different punishments. That just doesn't seem fair to me. But all Tom's distraught uncle can do is to promise to be there for his nephew. It may not be the life that we would want anybody to have, but there's a life, and there's a relationship, and there's love, and you keep that going. I believe they all had involvement. They never would have done a job like this unless everybody knew about it, everybody was willing to take part in it. And then there is the fourth friend, Jim Morrell, who at 19 put truth over loyalty and went to the police.

44:54Susan Spencer:This case would be nowhere without Jim Morrell. These three kids could have gone on the rest of their lives and gotten away with this murder. And yet even today, his decision makes Morrell uneasy. Their lives are kind of ruined now, you know. They destroyed one life. And I kind of feel like even now after everything, I still feel like I kind of destroyed three.

45:18Jim Morrell is still writing music, now a little less dark. He has a job and a hopeful future. I'm moving up in my own car, my own apartment. It seems like I'm kind of taking care of myself. And if he were to find himself today in that same impossible situation? It's not the easiest thing in the world, but I had no choice. Jim Morrell says he would do it again.

45:46In 2009, Jason Weir was released from prison. Anthony Calabro was granted parole in January 2022. Thomas Lally remains behind bars.

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