The Murder of Jay Given

This case guys has dirty written all over it! Since 1981 there still has no substantial evidence to use  to obtain a trial. Ultimately JUSTICE for Given's. Oh also the surprise I was telling you guys is here! Introducing my Co Host Matt will be joining here and there for a another aspect or view I should say on a case other then just mine. Conversation I believe gives way more info and things I might miss just giving you guys the facts. Enjoy!

Let’s pull back the shadows that have kept these cold cases in the dark for far too long. Piece by piece, we’ll work to rebuild the truth not just for the story, but for the victims and the families still waiting for answers. The puzzle isn’t complete yet, but together, we’re getting closer.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hey guys, I'm your host, Sarah, and welcome to the Shadows Uncovered. Today, the case I want to discuss is about a highly political figure. But the surprise I've been telling you guys, I am going to be including a co-host. Yes, I am married to this co-host. I'm going to have him on just a few episodes here and there just to get another feel for another view position of the case, because a conversation brings up more details and sometimes that would be missed. But let me just give you the story real quick. It's East Chicago, Indiana. And in the mid-20th century, it is a city forged in steel and fueled by industry and running on a brand of politics that didn't just bend the rules, it rewrote them. And in this world, the elected officials on television weren't always the ones holding the strings. Now, to understand how the power really worked here, you had to know Jay Given. He wasn't the mayor. And technically, he was a municipal attorney serving at East Chicago City Attorney from 1963 to 1973. But on the streets, they called him the Midnight Mayor. Given was a brilliant, fierce, and hot-tempered kingmaker. And for decades he operated in the smoke-filled backrooms, orchestrating major funder users and securing massive public contracts and deciding exactly who won them. He was a man who knew every secret in the city. But on a spring night in 1981, those secrets caught up to him. So it's May 15th of 1981. At the venue is the local elf club in Chicago. And inside the room, the vibe is completely electric. It's a political fundraiser, after all. Packed to the guilds with roughly 400 people. We're talking local power brokers, politicians, union leaders, and off-duty police officers. Jay Given is right in the center of it. He is 51 years old, sharp-witted, and riding a wave of political defense. Now, you see, Given was fiercely aligned with East Chicago's long-serving mayor, Robert Pastrick. But power breeds rivalry, guys. The two had a massive explosive falling out. Given just didn't walk away. He went to war. He followed lawsuits, alleging deep-seated corruption within Pastrick's administration and threw his massive political weight behind Pastrick's rival, Addison Spann. And yet, that night's fundraiser, it was for Spann. Jay Given is publicly drawing a line in the sand. And around 10 p.m., Given decides to call it a night. He says goodbye and he walks through the crowded room towards the lobby door to leave. One shot rings out, and Jay Gibbon was struck and died instantly near the lobby. Now, let's consider the setting. There's 400 people in that room. The hallways are narrow and many were just standing feet away. But as a panic erupted and the crowd dispersed, chilling reality set in. Despite 400 potential witnesses, not a single person claimed to have seen the event occur. It was a room full of people, guys, and followed by total silence. The East Chicago Police Department arrived at the scene, but suspicion was immediate. The circumstances suggested a calculated political hit, and the list of those with motives was extensive. Investigators eventually focused on one individual. The individual was John Cardona, a former deputy police chief at East Chicago. Cardona and Given had a history of intense hostility. Cardona was present at the Else Club that night, and reports indicated he owned a firearm of the same caliber as the one involved in the shooting. It appeared that the infigation had a lead, but the political climate of East Chicago, the path to resolution, was about to be complicated. Now, guys, in any homicide investigation, forensic evidence is critical. We all know that's step one-on-one. The ballistics gathered from that scene was the primary means to either a link a suspect or to the crime or clear a name. The evidence was placed in the East Chicago's police department's custody, and however, a significant issue arose. While held as evidence, the ballistic materials were reportedly, quote unquote, damaged. The unique markings required for a definitive match were no longer viable for clear identification. This development led to widespread public skepticism regarding the integrity of the investigation. Questions remain as to whether this was a result of procedural error or deliberate attempt to obstruct justice. A grand jury eventually reviewed the facts surrounding the death of Jay Given, and prosecutors presented the available information. But without clear ballistics, the case lacked the necessary foundation for a trial. And the grand jury determined this was insufficient evidence to proceed with charges. John Condarona maintains his innocence through the process, and no charges were ever filed, and the investigation eventually stalled. That's the gist of it. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah. Well, I was reading about because John Gardona, he gave an interview in 1986 saying he wasn't even supposed to be at the fundraiser. He was told by his co-deputy chief that he had information about an officer that had a substance, well, an alcohol abuse problem. So he went there to make sure he wasn't there drinking. He said he didn't want to go and he didn't plan on going, but when he passed by the L Club, he said he saw the car of the officer, so he pulled in and went inside. First, he went to the first floor where there was a bar and he didn't see him. And then so he went to the second floor where he said he didn't know there was a fundraiser going on. But when he got there, he seen a bunch of people, and then he said he saw Gibbons sitting down, maybe playing cards, and he said he didn't really know Gibbons. He didn't say he liked him or didn't like him. He said he just there were more acquaintances, like his old boss would give him packages to drop off at his law office, Gibbons Law Office. So he said he was there and he was talking to the people, and then he said he all of a sudden he heard of he heard like a table getting turned over, and somebody yelled, somebody was shot. And then they said a bunch of people started stampeding and running out of even trampling over Gibbons' dead body at that point.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

And he said, you know, Span that was there was African American. And he said, Span told him, let's get out of here. That's a white man that's dead. No, we don't want to be blamed, so we don't want to be anywhere near here. So they left, but I guess Gardina said he he taped off the scene and and collected the evidence at first when he secured the scene when he was there. And they said that his evidence investigator collected and said he didn't know about any evidence tampering. Conveniently. But then in nineteen eighty-six he also was found guilty of lying to the grand jury of the and knowing that there was evidence tampering because once the FBI got involved, they saw there was evidence tampering of the of the ballistics, the gun gunshot shells, that the 45 was, and it was a deutonic. The only person that they knew at the time that had a deutonic was John Cardona. But John Cardona said yes, he owned it, but he didn't have it out of the package when the shooting happened.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Okay. Doesn't that sound a little sketchy?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

It does.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

How okay, so say for you know, you were sent because you had to go find an officer that had a alcohol abuse, right? That could just be a reason pulled out of the thin air to cover him. So even though he didn't know it was a fundraiser, but mind you, there were 400 people there, it's kind of hard to miss that.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Who said did somebody send him? Was it a mission for him to be at the event so somebody already had it out for given and he was just there as the escapegoat?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Does that sound kind of maybe, but you know, he said, you know, his co-deputy chief, you know, asked him could he just keep an eye on this on his other officer, but that just to me that seems a little convenient.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

No.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

And how how it's just chain of commands, if he did collect the evidence, and from the evidence it went to the analysis, who what happened from point A to point B for it to be tampered with? And then they have the guy and he lies to the Supreme Court, so now this evidence can't be used. So they literally have nothing to to put a trial together. And I don't know. Cardona, I'm not saying he is, he isn't, because we don't know the full story. Although, okay, they did say that after the shooting, they asked everybody in the police department to do a polygraph, polygraph test, and he was the only one that refused.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yes, that was a they asked him to do a polygraph test of the evidence tampering, and that's why a lot of people think he was fired, but he said he wasn't fired for that.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

So then what was he fired for?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

He said he was fired for right before he got the deputy chief, he took evidence home, a gun home that he was supposed to put into evidence, but he never he said he forgot and never got it there.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

How do you forget that? You're a cop. All this just seems set up.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

It does.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

So hopefully they can get more evidence and that's if anyone wants to come back then's still around. 1981. They're not young anymore.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Right now. John card. He still presumes his innocence.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Well, I'm not saying you're not saying any it is or it isn't. That's again, we're just giving you guys the facts. And maybe he is innocent. And I mean, I'm just saying my gut feeling, this was a setup, this was dirty political work. With tied into bad cops and possibly the game world. He was a really powerful political guy. Who I'm sorry, he seemed to be, you know, flashing it everywhere. That sounds like his personality. He was big and loud, and he hung out with powerful people to be portrayed as powerful. So nobody knows was given dipping into things that he shouldn't have been. Who knows? And that would lead to a hit. But there it is, guys. What do you think about this? Is it a setup? Was it a political negoti? Not negotiation, but you know what I mean. So it's just something dirty, right? It's just dirty. But all right, guys. Well, I hope you enjoyed this. And hang in next week. We do have another episode that I will tell you is one heck of a Looney Tune kind of case. All right, guys. Bye.