Jarecki had been pursuing one of New York's most successful party clowns, David Friedman (aka Silly Billy) for months. Arnold's father hustled a living buying and selling auto parts. Andrew Jarecki was interested in what inspires someone to be a professional clown, so he set about making a short documentary about some of the best performers in New York City. After contacting a psychologist quoted in the piece, she launched the Internet campaign. I only understood fear.". I don't think it will ever end," one mother said. ARNOLD FRIEDMAN, 59, PIONEER IN CHEMISTRY. 1:47 (adult content, language). . PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Defendant appealed from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which ordered defendant detained following his indictment on charges of sending and receiving child pornography through the mail. Mike Epstein was yet another of the former students who spoke to Jarecki. . "It's really painful when the district attorney lies about you," Friedman said. Someone said this question is for both Jesse and for the co-producer and asked, ''What is the movie about?'' Subsequently, her two brothers moved in with their mother in a single room apartment. As an artist, he was more concerned with the formal aspects of painting rather than with creating the exact appearance of nature. "She's very pliable. Kid-size, Formica-topped tables held personal computers. Another transcript recorded by one of the children's mother shows detectives telling a boy he'll become a homosexual if he doesn't admit to being abused. . [Note: J.B. later made statements to the police around June of 1988 of repeatedly being sodomized and witnessed others being abused as well as mass orgies with three defendants playing naked sex games over a period of years, as did his younger brother and two of his brother's friends]. During this time the other kids were screaming and telling Mr. Friedman to get off me. Manhattan attorney Earl Nemser said Wednesday he's filing papers in Nassau County Court seeking a new trial for 34-year-old Friedman, the youngest member of the Great Neck, N.Y., family featured in the film. The haunting tale of the Friedmans - The Hindu According to parents of the victims, Jesse Friedman often had a camera around his neck when he greeted their children outside his home before computer classes. The parents of five of Arnold Friedman's victims have talked at length about the case in recent months. San Antonio Express-News - Feburary 23, 2004. `Did they do it or not?' I said, `What am I - a bad mother?'". The convictions lacked physical evidence and relied on children's testimony obtained by discredited investigative techniques. Other winners included Alec Baldwin (best supporting actor), Renee Zellweger (best supporting actress), Peter Jackson (best director), "City of God" (best foreign-language), "Capturing the Friedmans" (best doc), "Finding Nemo" (best animated), and "American Splendor" (Russell Smith award for cutting-edge indie film). "He was always one of my best," said Speiser, who was principal at Bayside from 1972 to 1985. Other children display what Kaplan calls a "frozen watchfulness," suspiciously eyeing people around them. He said he remains plagued by a persistent physical injury that has never healed. Then O'Malley designed a brochure advertising "boys and girls in sex action," offering a set of 12 photos for $15. "That's a hard thing for me to overlook. The film, directed by Andrew Jarecki, is one of the favorites in the documentary race, along with "The Fog of War," a portrait of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Friedman has an encyclopedic knowledge of wrongful convictions and false confession cases, many of which made headlines in the late 1980s such as the McMartin preschool case in California and the Kelly Michaels case in New Jersey. Many articles and reviews, mostly supporting the movie's point of view, have been written. In a previous interview, Jesse Friedman said he lied in 1988 when he confessed to molesting the boys. This is getting out of hand.". In that spirit, we are sharing this important bibliography with the public, and hope that audiences will withhold judgment regarding the Friedman case until they have had access to more complete information. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I don't recall anyone in my squad taking photographs. Arnold M. Friedman, age 96, passed away peacefully on June 20, 2020, at his home in Wayland. And it left me feeling troubled. "The Friedmans are a complex group, and not much more fun to work with than they appear in the film," he says. His mother, Elaine Friedman, sat with her eyes closed or her gaze averted during most of the proceeding. ", Some said they did not yet know what to make of the nuances. He said his father started abusing him by fondling him while reading him bedtime stories and then escalated to outright incest by the time Jesse hit puberty. The Great Neck community felt relieved that it had rid itself of two sexual predators. Even more troubling was that the report cited a statement by Jesse's uncle, Howard Friedman, his father's brother, who told prosecutors that he knew Jesse was guilty. Arnold. Aided by decisive editing and crucial testimony from the central characters, The Friedmans talked to Jarecki, the director believes, because "this family needed to tell this story. In 1988, it wasn't fully understood how hypnosis could implant false memories in children. Arnold pled to 8 counts of sodomy, 28 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and also admitted to ramming a child's head into a wall in front of other children. Nudity and fondling were demanded in "Simon Says.". The group named Peter Jackson as the best director of the year for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." He asked for their support. The willingness of the police to make false statement to the press in this case is documented in Jesse Friedman's legal motion.]. When a child is with a babysitter, teacher or anyone, McDermott said, "one of the things you should do is drop in unannounced and uninvited. Director Andrew Jarecki and producer Marc Smerling New Yorkers, both believe their film, the story of a Long Island family left in ruins by a child molestation scandal, is fair to all involved. Things got murky when the filmmakers asked him a harmless question about his childhood. There were a few people who did not respond to the film the way the vast majority did. But he added: "If you put people in the category of monster, you learn nothing. There was never any sense that anyone else was ever going to see these tapes.". After their pleas, both Arnold and Jesse said that no abuse had taken place during the computer classes, but they felt, given the media coverage of the case and the climate in Great Neck at the time, they would have been convicted and given harsher sentences if they had gone to trial. "He loves his kids like any parent. A spokesman for Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon declined to comment, saying prosecutors had not yet seen the court papers. Jesse Friedman said his mother urged him to plead guilty, fearing that if he went to trial, he would die in prison. I think this the beginning of a new direction for documentary, which is going to be much more about capturing real life in ways that were not designed by a director, necessarily.". A family and a community were devastated, and the book of justice was closed in Nassau. Galasso, the retired chief detective on the case, said Gregory's interview with Newsday was consistent with his original statement to police. Because Judge Costantino's implied finding that Friedman posed a risk of flight was clearly erroneous, we reverse and remand. In the documentary, the truth of what happened on Piccadilly Road is left to the viewer. Almost 20 years later, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki stumbled onto this case and made a documentary about it: "Capturing the Friedmans." Many victims told police they were photographed performing sexual acts in the home of computer teacher Arnold Friedman, who has pleaded guilty to sex abuse. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times wrote: The Washington Post columnist Desson Howe offered similar praise, writing: The film was voted the fifth film in the 2005 Channel 4 programme The 50 Greatest Documentaries. One detective admits to visiting a student 15 separate times in order to finally procure incriminating testimony despite the child's consistent statement that he had not been abused. But along the way, it morphed into an investigation into the sickening details of Arnold Friedman's supposed double life as a child molester in the 1980s. "Child sexual abuse is today's unspeakable. These revelations are profoundly self-incriminating, even through Arnold may have gone to prison on wrongful charges. So what is the movie about? . The alleged abuse was reckless, occurring in front of groups of children. "You could believe Arnold was using the U.S. mail to mail child pornography; that he had a sexual interest in children; you could even believe he molested children" at some point, noted Jarecki. Panaro did not return a reporter's call. "No matter how intriguing a story it tells, 'Capturing the Friedmans' hurts the most vulnerable among us by misleading the public about sexual crimes against children.". "The movie minimizes the evidence against Arnold and Jesse Friedman," notes Paul J. Fink, a former president of the American Psychiatric Association. One young boy, who revealed what happened only after numerous visits by detectives, repeatedly pounded his head against a wall while describing the sexual abuse. That's what I always keep in my front pocket - the remembrance that we are staying true to everyone who grants us an interview. "You can't leave the film and think the police ran a tip-top investigation," Jarecki said in an interview conducted earlier this year. News stories and interviews with officials since the film's release charge that it is biased, and that Jarecki's use of the facts is misleading and selective. Middle son Seth, who did not want to be interviewed for the film, no longer lives in New York. How can you interview two victims to say it didn't happen," said retired Judge Abbey Boklan, who heard the original case. I did not see ambiguity as a tool. About how influenced the truth is by all of our own prejudices and agendas and needs on every level. "I feel that I cannot just sit silently by and not protect the credibility of many of the victims in this case," Boklan told the crowd. The end result is that a firm conviction is a dangerous thing. But he "is similarly unsuitable based on his having presided over a strikingly similar child sexual abuse case involving some of the same detectives," Gimpel contends. Rounding out the top 10 were "Cold Mountain," "Mystic River," "Lost in Translation," "Finding Nemo," "American Splendor," "In America," "Big Fish," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," and "The Last Samurai." That it wasn't true." That sex abuse is the fault of the adult perpetrator, not the child. ", "Now I had two co-defendants who had both already confessed, and I was the only person standing up and saying, 'These things never happened,'" Friedman said. Abuse experts from around the nation requested that the Academy: Not award an Oscar to "Capturing the Friedmans". Arnold and Jesse Friedman were arrested Nov. 26, 1987, after Nassau police and federal agents executed a search warrant at their house at 17 Picadilly Rd. Washington, DC 20004. Jesse Friedman was accused in more than 200 of those counts. Friedman said he lied about his guilt because he felt he didn't have a choice. It would be fifteen years in the future, and the Bride (Uma Thurman) would be in a wheelchair.". They were fans of the amateur home movie, and David Friedman filmed hours of raw footage of his family's destruction, footage that makes reality-TV programs such as The Osborne's look tame and contrived by comparison. I never harmed a child. Trained as a private investigator, he used access to interviewees and records granted him as a filmmaker to conduct his own investigation of the case. What it reveals at least as much is the modern phenomenon of reality-TV self-exposure carried to such lengths that, by comparison, the Osbournes look like the Cleavers. I don't know if you would remember met but I remember you as one of the greatest teachers I have ever had. See end of text for sidebar-Possible Telltale Signs. Notes from those interviews weren't provided to the defense, he said. charges that Friedman and his father sexually abused children. The recently released DVD includes that much more information. Investigators re-interviewed old witnesses and examined new evidence. Frances Galasso, head of the Nassau sex crimes unit, said the Friedmans had the children mimic the actions of the computer figure in "Talking Sam." [Arnold Friedman was a user of pornography and confessed to contact with two boys. The police had notes of these interviews, and never provided them to the Friedmans as required under Brady v. Maryland. He was sentenced May 3 to two to six years in prison. "Clear evidence is omitted, facts distorted, and uncertainty is created about the guilt of these two confessed pedophiles," the letter said. That's debatable, but this is certain: It is surely one of the most controversial movies this side of "The Passion of the Christ.". The shame at what has happened, and the fear that they won't be believed keeps them silent. Boys were allowed to take these computer disks to their homes, where a few were found by police. The priest scandal illustrates clearly how hard it is for male victims to come forward," Silberg points out. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. And that was the start of the film Jarecki ended up making. Arnold Friedman died in prison, apparently a suicide. Mrs. Friedman taught school. From 1998 to 2000, she was also a reporter for the San Antonio Current. He cannot visit toy stores or playgrounds or revisit the scene of the purported crimes. His main complaint with Jarecki's documentary -- which he cooperated with by sitting for extensive filmed questioning -- was that he came across as if he had not remembered any of the abuse until after hypnosis. The Associated Press/San Francisco Chronical - January 27, 2004, 18. They found three brothers who had all attended classes with the Friedmans. At the time of his death, according to an Argonne official, Mr. Friedman was working to . My father and I are collectively charged with hundreds of counts. Postal Service over the past few years, federal agents have become major traffickers in kiddie porn, posing as sleaze merchants in order to break up a vile underground business. The anti-Friedman constituency cites his plea as conclusive evidence that the crimes occurred. Elaine Friedman has remarried and moved to the Berkshires. "While we applaud director Andrew Jarecki for addressing the important topic of sexual abuse," Dr. Fink states, "a straightforward documentary would have mentioned the 1989 Geraldo episode where Jesse tearfully confessed to the crimes, as well as the confession of a co-defendant, Ross Goldstein, whose existence is not revealed in the film.". A suburban family in hell | Salon.com He is willing to testify for Mr. Friedman and his mother does not object. He traded kiddie porn with undercover postal inspectors. "I kind of broke down. He has rebuilt his life, he said, adding that the "victims are entitled to closure.". "When these PSAs aired on other channels, calls to our hotline increased by a hundredfold. About two dozen families flatly refused to allow officers to talk to their children. (4) Numerous children, ages 7-12, disclosed similar details about sexual "games" such as leap-frog and Simon says. I think we didn't think to ourselves, well, it's a documentary and therefore it needs to follow this structure that's based on historical information and putting it in the context of other cases like this. A spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney's office said yesterday he had no comment, as the motion had not yet been filed. "He would not have pleaded guilty and he would have had a very, very good chance of being acquitted.". Since the film's release, media accounts of the case have actually used terms such as "alleged victims" and "accused perpetrator," as though there had been no conviction. The interview, on a New York sidewalk, became the starting point of the Sundance Jury Prize-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary Capturing the Friedmans. Speiser said he teased Friedman for being obsessed with technology. Jesse says. But they too were triggered by stress. "I never told about the abuse. They would soon face more than 300 charges between them for repeatedly sodomizing local kids during Arnold Friedman's computer classes. Friedman was arrested and charged with sending and receiving child pornography by mail. In a recent interview with Newsday's Vctor Manuel Ramos, the filmmaker Jarecki said he did not mention Goldstein in the film because Goldstein asked not to be mentioned. (Disclosure: Harvey Silverglate has acted as co-counsel for Gerald Amirault, and both authors are working for the vindication and release of Bernard Baran. If anything, Goldstein's arrest bolsters the case for Jesse Friedman's innocence. "I have known for at least seven months that there was a motion that was going to be filed, and at that time I predicted that it would be filed close to the time the video and DVD would be coming out. "You know, Jesse had this hair," she said. "He let me down as a father.". Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Of the hundreds of children that authorities believe the Friedmans abused over the years, it was these parents' sons who endured police lineups and testified before as many as three grand juries. Arnold Friedman, 57, was also charged by federal officials with distributing child pornography through the mail. Arnold had an established history as a child molester: The film acknowledges that Arnold was an admitted pedophile. Arnold M. Friedman - Obituary - Wayland, MA - John C. Bryant Funeral 3142(i) require that when pretrial detention is ordered, the judicial officer include written findings of fact and a written statement of the reasons for the detention. "I had no friends and no interests except M&Ms, marshmallows and TV." As it turned out, the most prominent clown in the business was David Friedman, Jesse's older brother. Excerpts from those films and videotapes include some of the family's most private, agonizing moments, as they react to the investigations and legal cases. Of these, 13 would later testify before a grand jury to substantiate criminal charges against Jesse Friedman, his father, Arnold, and another teenager. "I was convicted before the cops even put the handcuffs on me," Friedman insists today. Accordingly, we hold that the district court's finding with regard to Friedman's risk of flight was clearly erroneous. "They're ashamed of their bodies. Galasso and her husband, [Nassau County] Judge John Galasso, and even attended the premiere of the film 'Capturing the Friedmans' together.". Jarecki did not set out to make "Capturing the Friedmans." Arnold admitted to being attracted to young boys, but denied molesting them. We don't just film birthday parties, we film all kinds of things in our lives. Nonetheless, the court remanded the case to allow prosecution to introduce any new evidence supporting its claim that defendant was a flight risk or had the potential to obstruct justice if freed. I can't condone it, I'm not happy about that fact. He said, "I fondled [the children]I was forced to, to pose in hundreds of photos for my father in all sorts of sexual positions with the kids" He now claims that his story and his tears were "fictionalized to win leniency". Her son gave grand jury testimony against Jesse Friedman in 1987. Some of the children who testified before the grand juries received threatening telephone calls warning them not to cooperate with police. The film, which won the documentary grand prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was named best nonfiction film by the New York Film Critics Circle, has been mentioned as a possible Oscar nominee. Reprise of a late '80s Great Neck child sex-abuse case is deeply troubling, thrillingly cinematic, aptly enigmatic. Friedman said nothing when offered a chance to speak. HN3 The provisions of 18 U.S.C.S. Child sexual abuse is a national public health crisis. Arnold Friedman Obituary, Death Cause - Who was Arnold Friedman? A Long Island man who admitted sodomizing or sexually assaulting 13 boys who came to his Great Neck home for computer courses was sentenced yesterday to up to 30 years in prison. "I thought it would be fun to follow one of these people into their lives," he recalled recently. It included: There was footage on the bonus disc of an altercation that occurred during a Q&A session following the film's screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, in which Frances Galasso, the retired head of the Nassau County Police's Sex Crimes Unit, argues with investigative journalist Debbie Nathan, as well as a speech by trial judge Abbey Boklan from the film's premiere in Great Neck. Capturing the Friedmans (2003) borrows from this video vault of the Friedmans to tell the most unusual story. For his part, Jarecki said, he "never saw anything in the course of the three years I worked on this film that I felt indicated that Jesse participated in anything inappropriate in those computer classes. It has all the elements, starting with the father, who could be considered a noble man. "Just about every class was videotaped. "It seemed like Jesse was calling the shots," the mother of one victim said. He went to therapy out of fear that he would molest his own children. Stoked by constant media coverage, the community was demanding harsh justice. The mother of the victim who spoke to The Times said her son appeared to recover quickly after he was molested at the age of 7 but had severe emotional problems when he became an adolescent. The wrongful conviction story is very compelling and more so than saying a convicted man is guilty as charged. Stan sent two photos and on Feb. 8, 1986, Arnie mailed a large envelope with a handwritten note. In the late 1980s a jury in Great Neck, on New York's Long Island, found three people guilty of multiple counts of child abuse. Then his nose began to bleed. He didn't just plead guilty either. According to Arnold Friedman's wife - who insisted that her first name be withheld as a condition for consenting to an interview - her father-in-law was emotionally distant. 2252 (Supp. The fact there was an adult witness ready to testify against Jesse is never mentioned or alluded to. If on the other hand no injustice was done, you have to defend yourselves - and other victims like you - and to explain to those unfamiliar with the sexual abuse of children why the cops were right to come back, and come back, until you were able to talk. She says the film "is great theater, but don't call it true. Clearly, Arnold was a damaged cell, and he got together with (his wife) Elaine, and she was in some way a damaged cell. The alarm bells started ringing. Many viewers leave the theatre believing that they have seen an objective documentary presented by a director who entrusted audiences to draw their own conclusions on Arnold Friedman's and Jesse Friedman's guilt. Like other guilt-ridden parents, the woman wondered why she didn't see what was happening. The latest news, articles, and resources sent to your inbox weekly. Arnold's metaphoric death started when he accidentally shot his brother Eugie. HN2 After a motion for detention has been filed regarding a criminal defendant subject to the Bail Reform Act, the district court must undertake a two-step inquiry. The other two sons, David and Seth, and their mother, Elaine, were not prosecuted. ' Never would let me in.". Arnold played club dates at night but took education courses and did substitute teaching during the day. After conferring briefly with his lawyer, Peter Panaro, Friedman assured Boklan, "Your honor, all the things I said were the truth.". Jesse Freidman is submitting the DVD as part of the supporting evidence for his motion to overturn his conviction. And, for the first time since the case surfaced, many of them are commenting on the documentary and the court motion -- one in his own voice, one through an interview with his parents and his own written statement, and four through a lawyer hired to speak on their behalf and protect their privacy. "I would walk in and he'd be doing something technical. LEXIS 199, **, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT. But that account from a co-defendant such as [Ross] must be independently corroborated to be of use during a trial, said Assistant District Attorney Joseph Onorato. "Thinking doesn't make it so. "What that young man eventually revealed," Galasso continued, "was a pretty complete account of how he was seduced and then raped by Arnold Friedman and then Jesse Friedman." McNutt, 38, an unemployed Vietnam vet, sheepishly told detectives at the scene: "I thought it would be fun to take." The children kept it all secret. Jarecki himself gave them and other sources anonymity in his film and in the outtakes included in the DVD.