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and is brought to you by great healthworks. >> need an ambulance. >> reporter: within minutes the 911 calls started coming in. brian's mother ran to a pay phone frantically pleading for help. >> they stabbed him in the heart. he's dying. >> is he awake? >> no, he's not. he's unconscious. >> reporter: brian watkins died on the way to the hospital. he was just 22 years old. >> they were the targets of young killers. >> reporter: a tourist was stabbed to death. >> brian watkins. >> reporter: how would you describe the media reaction to this murder? >> almost inducing a wave of panic. >> it is the terror of new york city, no one from violence.

>> rep the worst year of crime in the city's history. >> i dress for the muggers. >> i wear flat shoes so i can run. >> reporte and most terrifying was underground. >> very often our subway stations -- >> reporter: 25 years ago the man responsible for policing the transit system was bill bratton. >> it was a terrifying time. there is no denying that crime was out of control. >> reporter: bratton is widely recognized as one of the nation's top cops. he's run the police departments of america's two largest cities. and he served twice as new york city's police commissioner. but just to put it in perspective, the murders of 1990, compare that to other years. >> there is no comparison. 1990, 2,243, last year 333. >> reporter: but it was the 1,585th homicide of that year, brian watkins murder, that the police commissioner says caused everyone to pay attention. >> i'm damn angry.

of course i am. >> reporter: beginning with then-mayor david dinkins. >> actually, the headline around that time, dave, do something. meaning, dave do something about the horrific crime rate and the brian watkins stabbing was an accelerant that was added to that whole fear. >> reporter: the minute you got this call, did you know this is going to be a big one, a lot of eyes, a lot of press on this one. >> a tornado nature of the attack. wolf pack. >> reporter: wolf pack. it was a name the media had recently given to another group of five teenagers who just the year before were arrested for brutally attacking a jogger in central park. bratton says law enforcement had a strategy in dealing with these so-called wolf packs. >> you had to get every one of them. you had to send out the message that the importance of not just arresting one or two but to get all of them. >> reporter: and that's exactly what police were doing in the watkins case. within 24 hours, they had a group of teenagers in custody.

but bratton says the impact of brian watkins murder on new york didn't end with those arrests. >> well, it was a seminal case for me. it allowed us to have a tipping point impact. >> reporter: the day after the murder, bratton received a call from the governor's office of $40 million to help fight crime. money that would be used to hire thousands of new cops and soon the city's crime rate began to drop, as it has for the past 25 years. as for the suspects arrested in the watkins case, all would be convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. but that's not even close to the end of the story. of the seven men convicted of this crime, one says he alone is unjustly paying the price for the murder that commissioner bratton says changed new york city. >> i had no involvement in this crime. so it's very, very important to

me that my name is cleared. coming up -- this man admits he was one of the teens a t the subway station that fight. why he now says he's not a villain in this story but a victim. >> he slapped me in his face and he kicked me right dow ♪ if you've got a life, you gotta swiffer ...studying to be a dentist and she gave me advice. she said... my daughter is... ...dadgo pro with crest pro-health. 4 out of 5 dentists confirm... ...these crest pro-health... ...products help maintain a... ...professional clean.

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it's been a quarte since the murder of bria watkins. and since then, this m johnny hinkapia has been locked up, one of the seven convic. but he insists he's in. >> i had no involvemenhi crime, lester. i'm the only one that's claiming innocence. >> reporter: so what is johnny hincapie's story? to find out, i went to speak with him at new york's fishkill correctional facility. hincapie took me back to the night of the crime. he had recently turned 18 and was on his way the a can't-miss event, a father roy at the rose ballroom in manhattan. >> there was a very popular deejay who was throwing a party for himself. and everybody just wanted to be there. >> reporte he explained that he and as many as 50 other

teenagers to subway, all headed to the same club. and how when the train arrived, he went upstairs to the street where he lost sight of a friend who was holding his money. he says he couldn't carry his cash because of the tight designer jeans he was wearing. >> it had numerous pockets on them, but you couldn't really put your hands in them. >> reporter: so he said he went back down into the station to look for his friend. >> as i'm going down, i start hearing some screaming. and when i got to the bottom, i see a crowd of people running toward me. >> reporter: did you have any idea what was happening on the platform? >> no. >> reporter: he said that's when he turned around and ran back upstairs to the street where he saw his friend. >> he asked me what was going on? and i told him, i have no idea but something seems to be happening over there. let's just go to roseland. >> reporter: hincapie says he danced until the wee hours, got a ride home and slept in. the next day hincapie and the

rest of new york city awoke to a huge story. >> police lineups are still being conducted inside the station house and have been e day. >> that was the fist time that i found out that something had happened. >> rep he claims he didn't think much of it until later that night, 24 hours after the murder when detectives knocked on the hincapie's door. >> they say well, we need to see your son because we'd like to ask him a question. >> reporter: hincapie's mother maria said she asked detectives if her son needed a lawyer. >> they said how old is he? i said he just turned the 18. so they tell me he doesn't need a lawyer. the police tell me he doesn't need a lawyer. >> reporter: hincapie's father carlo said he was shocked. johnny w gre kid. literally an altar boy. had he ever been in trouble with the law before? >> never, never, never. >> reporter: traffic ticket? >> never. >> reporter: nothing. >> never. >> reporter: that was about to

change. police brought the hincapie's son to the precinct. what johnny didn't know was that detectives had spent the past 24 hours working the case and already had six suspects in custody who had confessed. >> when was the robbery first planned? >> at the train station. >> reporter: 17-year-old gary morales, nicknamed rock star, admitted he was the one who fatally stabbed brian in the chest. >> could you feel it entering his body? >> i just felt like a -- >> reporter: police were pressing each suspect, wanting to know who else was involved. one gave hincapie's name and two others agreed. but another suspect said, no, hincapie was not there. >> they all needed money? >> reporter: still, detectives wanted to find out for themselves. >> they placed me inside of a room. there was iv w laying down on one of the bottom bunk beds smoking a cigarette. >> reporter: hincapie says he

told the detective exactly what he did that night, but the detective didn't believe a word of it. >> he called me a liar. and he said that he had all my friends in another room. he knew what happened. >> reporter: and then what happens? >> he's blowing smoke into my face from the cigarette that he's smoking. he slapped me in my face. he pulled my hair. and he kicked me right down to the floor. >> reporter: what is he saying to you and what are you saying back? you tell me you didn't do this crime, so i'm assuming that you were very forceful in your denial. >> i'm telling him, listen, i'm innocent. i just told you that i just saw it on the news for the very first time. >> reporter: hincapie says that's when the detective offered him a way out. >> he just said, listen, if you really, really want to go home, all you got to do is just memorize a story that i want you to say. i'll have you driven home immediately. >> r you believed him? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: hincapi says the

detective led him to believe he was a witness, not a suspect. >> so in my mind, i'm thinking if i'm a witness and i have to say that, yeah, i knew somebody had a knife and this is what i have to say to go home, then i'm going to do that. >> reporter: and that's what he did. hincapie sat in front of a video camera and told a story that he now says was scripted for him to an assistant district attorney. >> so was it planned that all of you made to get money to go to roseland? >> yeah. >> and were you part of that plan? >> yes, i was. i said, okay, that's it. it's over with, it's done with, i'm out of here. >> reporter: hincapie didn't know, but he'd just written his arrest warrant. his confession was all police needed. a confession he gave to them three hours after he was picked up. it's not like you were in the interrogation room for hours and hours and hours. >> well, to me, it was a long time. i was scared. >> reporter: under the law, hincapie and the six others were

equally responsible even though only one actually stabbed brian watkins. hincapie never went home again. and so for the past quarter century, his mother maria has made the same two-hour journey every other week since her son was sent away. >> it's very hard because it's been 24 years, 24 birthdays, 24 christmases. >> when she arrives, the ritual is always the same. same room, same tables, same long wait. finally, he appears. >> how is everything? how was your trip? >> very nice. >> reporter: they say their visits are heartbreaking for both of them. >> how have you been able to hold up knowing this year is too many years? >> don't cry, mommy. don't cry. >> reporter: but maria says she's been crying out, pleading

for anyone to listen since that very first day her ordeal began. >> i wanted to scream to the world and tell the world my son is not guilty. please help me. >> reporter: little did she know help was on the way. >> i love you, okay? >> yeah. coming up -- a new witness could reveal critical information about the night of the crime, but will he talk? >> he was shaking. he was visibly nervous. he started cry ♪ i love you, basement guest bathroom. your privacy makes you my number 1 place... ...to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. ♪ new febreze air effects with odorclear technology cleans... ...away odors like never before. because the things you love the most can stink. and try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up...

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i've been up and d throughout this whole incarceration. >> reporter: johnny hi serving his 24th year behind bars for the 1990 murder of a young tourist on a subway platform in his own words sealed h >> so you could see th a knife? >> yeah. >> reporter: anybody l it, it sounds like you agreeing with it, that this is

>> but it wasn't. >> reporter: but a jur convicted him, and over the year, hincapie couldn't get a court to hear his . >> when all my appeals finished, i literally on my knees, lester, and god, i don't want to be here anymore. i don't . >> reporter: and then one day, 16 years into his prison sentence, a reporter heard about hincapie's claim of in >> i covered crime. i got a lot of letters prison inmates saying they wer. i never believed any o. >> reporter: it was bi >> met with johnny, li him for a couple hou. and i didn't believe h. i saw his confession, and i thou but i read the transcr. i started to look into >> reporter: one of th things he did was reac the other men convicte crime who were all sti prison. >> i interviewed gary who actually stabbed brian watkins. i interviewed

emiliano fernandez, wh mr. watkins. and both admitted they involved and both said was not. >> reporter: hughes al the original interroga video, and, for the first time, he saw how that other suspect told cops that hincapie and another teen w >> and they all needed? >> no. johnny and kevin l >> reporter: hughes wa intrigued especially w heard the suspect time that hincapie was involved. >> so there were eight surrounding -- >> no. there were. >> there were six? >> yeah, because the t left. >> a tape hincapie's j saw. >> the more i investig the more i came to bel he might be telling me the truth. there is not a shred of forensic or physical evidence. >> reporter: but he confessed. he confessed not after 15 days of interrogation but after just several hours. >> yeah. like most people, you can't possibly fathom admitting you

did so >> reporter: nobody do >> nobody would thin capable of doing it, b truth is a skilled int could probably get youi admit we kidnapped the lindbergh . >> reporter: in the su 2010, hughes wrote an about hincapie's story magazine called "city limi >> i published an articl 20th anniversary of the murder. and no >> reporter: and the y continued to pass. >> lester, we've been with johnny for 24 yea. >> yeah. all our family. >> reporter: alex is j younger brother. he was 15 when johnny was . >> i pray for my broth single day. we all do. >> reporter: like his he never believed his was guilty. >> it was just a shock us. just watching my parents, what they went through, it was really heartbreaking, especially my dad going into my brother's room

ki kiss that's been in my memo many years. >> reporter: johnny? >> lester. >> reporter: so ? >> no, i wouldn't call i my home is with my fam outside. >> reporter: how old a johnny? >> i'm 42. >> reporter: you've spen than half of your life bars? >> yes. it's terrible. being separated from y family. that's probably the wo >> reporter: throughou incarceration, hincapi a model prisoner. he's been involved wit inmate theater program. >> i don't know. i've been tired ly >> reporter: and he to courses offered at the which is where he met the name of bob dennis. >> he said, i don't know if you know anything about my case. once he started, i said, of

course, i do. everybody know. >> reporter: dennison former chairman of new y state's parole boa. >> he showed me the ar bill hughes had wr him. >> reporter: did he te was innocent? >> he did. he told me he was inno. >> reporter: and you r eyes, thinking yeah. >> no, yeah, i did. but something about johnny stuck with me. >> rep so dennyson decided to reach tout . and all of a sudden, h had a former parole co and a reporter teaming re-investigate his cas >> we laughingly refer ourselves at the white gumshoe squad. we were pounding aroun looking for potential >> reporter: after nea of searching, they fou. a man who said he knew about johnny hincapie. >> we sat down in his and he was shaking. he was visibly nervous >> we sat at his table. and he sta >> and he took out a n he drew a map of the s station. he remembered as clear as if it was a . >> reporter: they knew witness told them, if tr

a bombshell. but neither dennison n is a lawyer. so they got in touch with one, new york city's well-known civil rights attorney, ron k >> they said look, we there's no money to pa but he's an innocent guy. wo so i said yes. >> reporter: kuby's fi was to talk with that his name is luis monte. >> luis montero offere that johnny did not co crime. coming up -- would the court agree? luis montero is about harrowing story. >> all of a sudden, i heard a co >> did you see him go platform? i love you, couch. you give us comfort. and we give you bare feet... ...backsweat and gordo's everything.

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the mystery of what happened on this subway platform so long ago took a new twist with a new witness named luis this is a three-level subway

montero had been in the subway station during the crime and told attorney ron kuby a story that backed up johnny hincapie's account of the night brian watkins was >> montero establishes did johnny not partici the attack, he could n participated in the at. >> reporter: and that' established by what lu from where we're stand >> that's right. >> reporter: based on story, kuby filed a mo new hearing, and 24 ye he went away, hincapie wish -- a manhattan su court judge agreed to re case. >> people of the state york vs. johnny hincap >> reporter: in fe 2015 the hearing was c order. for this proceeding, t was on hincapie's atto kuby and his co-counse busby, to convince judge eduardo

padro that hin capy's conviction should be va lea, who is your first w what is it you need to? >> luis montero was th witness, and he was th prove that he saw john time the crime took johnny wasn't ther >> how long had you mr. hincapie? >> maybe a year, give >> reporter: montero t he was also on the sub to the dance club. >> what was your relat with mr. hincapie like? >> we knew each other, but we didn't know each. >> reporter: in fact, they haven't seen each other to understand montero's st it's important to unde the subway station is . the platform level is trains come in and where one long flight up fro platform is what's cal

.urn style level, and then a montero says that hinc not on the platform wh crime happened but one flight up on that turnstile level with >> what did you say to other? >> he asked me for thi guy that came in, if i >> reporter: montero t about specific details matched hincapie's ver events. >> he was looking for guy because he suppose some money for him. >> reporter: another det matched hincapie's sto montero said hincapie going down this up esc which kuby says wasn't at the time. seconds la montero says, somethin his attention. >> all of a sudden i h commotion, screaming. >> reporter: montero when he saw hincapie and run back up. if true, it means hinc not have been near the scene. >> did you see him go platform? >> no.

>> reporter: so why ha montero come forward b kuby says montero was because, as it turned out, he had been wrongfully accused of this very >> he was held in jail 18 months awaiting tri crime. he was identified by a the watkins family and realized that watkins sure and 18 months lat say to luis montero, gosh, wrong guy. sorry about that. and they t >> reporter: but to kuby, perhaps the most compelling part of montero's testimony is how he says detectives tried to coerce a false co the very same thing hi says happened to him. >> they just started t around the kidneys and me every time i said s they didn't want t. they just hit me. you know? that's when the nightm started.

>> reporter: but monte cracked and maintained innocence. kuby argued to the jud what montero and hinca happened to them was e believe. that they were just tw innocent people swept police at a time in ne history when crime was control, simply in the wrong place in the. >> we've done some ter terrible things to inn people in the course o crime. >> reporter: case in p arg that other so-called wolf pack. just like hincapie, th teens had also con but they were exonerated 2002 after dna cleared >> defense now calls j hincapie. >> reporter: now, the come for hincapie to t story under oath on the witness stand. in says his

original trial attorney advised >> i wanted to take th he told me that the di attorney's office woul basically just walk al because i had confes >> reporter: he testifie how he left the station back down to look for who was holding his mo >> i gave him my walle with all my money. >> reporter: and for t time in a courtroom he police of coercing a f confession from him. >> he slapped me in my face. he grabbed me by my ha. >> reporter: hincapie even had proof that recant his confession immediately. jailhouse letters, incdi letter dated two days arrest telling the sam tells today. >> please believe me. please help me. please talk to the judge and tell him that i am telling the truth, that the detective told me to say everything.

>> is there anything e you'd like to add? >> i was just 18 years this happened, and i never had . i never had an opportu honor, from the mome was arrested. not one chance. >> reporter: as the pr got ready to present its case, hincapie's mother maria lind on her faith, as she ha >> you know, we've been separated for 24. i pray to god that joh be exonerated, and we finally together. coming up -- prosecutors call a witness who contradicts a key element of johnny's story. that friend tells the prosecution that johnny's lying. how do you respond to that? and then, a last-minute twist could up-end the whole case. >> she's a surprise to me. she's a surprise to everyone. ♪

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manhattan assistant district attorneys eug and ben rosenberg didnk hincapie's original tr but they say hincapie and that justice was s 25 years ago. to make their point, p cross-examined hincapi witnesses, starting wi luis montero. >> good morning, mr. m. >> good morning. >> reporter: assistantn rosenberg pointed out story have changed. >> that's what you swore to >> yes, it's right the. >> so is your testimon today is inaccurat >> reporter: and that these years montero ne mentioned seeing hinca that night and that mo wrongful arrest gave h motive to lie.

>> your experience in dating back 20 plus ye are angry about it, ar? >> i'm not angry about it. i'm just >> you are still scare >> yes. you kept me innocent for 18 months. you think i'm not going to be scar? i am petrified of you . you know? i can't even look at you guy, yo? >> and you're angry? >> no, i'm not angry. i'm scared of you. >> reporter: prosecutors their own witnesses to hincapie's story who want us to record thei testimony. remember that friend who hincapie said was holding his? >> i gave him my walle with all my money. >> reporter: that frie a anthony nichols, and he testified that hincapie never gave him >> looking for anthony nichols is supposedly the whole predicate for the defendant going back into the subway station or going dow.

but mr. nichols says, happen. >> reporter: i asked ron c that friend tells the prosecution that joh he never gave him mone how do you respond? >> right, well that fr told ms. busby -- admitted on the stand he told miss busby that he just didn'. >> reporter: hurley ar the court that hincapi lying about somethin. he says the escalator hincapie says he ran d working just fine and moving up, not down. >> he made the ridicul he went down the up esca >> reporter: but perha most dramatic part of hearing was prosecutor cross-examination of j hincapie himself. hurley argued that hin making up the whole st falsely confessing. >> and it is the first you have ever alleged to that your confession woe by detective casey phy abusing you and making memorize a story. is that correct? >> correct. >> reporter: the detective wasn't called to testify, but we tr.

and he denied ever abu hincapie. hurley moved on to tha. >> please believe me. please help me. >> reporter: the one h says he wrote to a law days after his arrest. hurley argued it wasn' written back then. >> the date is on the . the date 1990 could have been put in 2011, right? >> no. >> reporter: and that conveniently addre attorney who is now de. >> in fact, you waited for him to pass away to forge that letter to him, d >> not at all, sir. >> reporter: prosecutor hurley also ridiculed his story about being coerced into confessing by an abusive >> he was wearing a t- smoking cigarettes >> yes. >> like some evil movi >> yes. >> you made that up, d >> no. >> reporter: hurley ar hincapie knew details crime not because he w coerced but because he w

>> you heard him say, let's get paid? >> yeah. >> you know they said because you were there was true, right? >> it was not true, mr. >> you were there, was true, right? >> no, it wasn't. >> reporter: the prose hincapie's fate was no hands of the judge. and that's when ron kuby go >> a new witness came who had never spoken t before. >> reporter: this is you >> total surprise. >> reporter: this is y mason moment. >> right. she's a she's a surprise to ev. coming up -- from out of the blue, a new eyewitness who was on the platform the night of the murder, but which side will she help? >> she saw all of the attackers. she knew what johnny looked like. >> then after a quarter century, johnny hincapie learns his fate. - "once upon a time a little girl

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witness testimony had just ended in johnny hincapie's hearing when his attorney, ron kuby, notified the judge of an unexpected d. >> amazingly enough, d course of the hearing new witness came forwa young woman named mariluz santana. >> reporter: santana t she had recently read about hincapie's court. >> and she realizes, oh, my god. .e's still in prison.

>> reporter: santana s knew hincapie from her neighborhood. she was on the subway that night headed to the dance club and saw th. >> so she's standing h and she sees them surrounding the wa. and at that point, she flee. >> reporter: as she ra attackers, she said sh all, and is certain hi not one of them. she said when she heard the news of hincap arrest back then, she her mother he was inno santana says she wto come forward. so mariluz remains silent. >> silent. completely silent, exc telling her mother. so she doesn't get inv she's figured, well, you know what? johnny wasn't there. the po and she sort of forget it. >> reporter: but now, later, santana took th but didn't want us to testimony. prosecutors attacked h

credibility, pointing santana was convicted charge back in the 199. and they argued just b didn't see johnny doesn't mean it is not possible she just missed seeing johnny in the confusion on the platform, that he was there and she just didn't no >> absolutely impossib. she saw all of the att. she knew what johnny l like, and johnny was them. >> reporter: it would to judge eduardo padro a case that brought up questions about police in a different era. i asked nypd's inform commissioner bill bratton about that as everyone awaited the judge's decision. given the climate in the city, the climate of fear, the political pressure, was there pressure on detectives to just cast a wide net in these high-pro >> i don't think so. in the sense is there ? certainly.

but as to the idea to go over the threshold, you can't break the law to enf >> reporter: so does h the police crossed tha threshold with johnn? if the court exonerates him, would different views on the case? >> i don't have enough as to his particular c i have no reason to not supportive of the poli investigation. >> reporter: on october 6, 2015, the day came for judge padro to announce his hincapie's family and along with the media, manhattan supreme co his fate. in a packed courtroom, was clearly anxious as the judge . >> under the newly dis evidence, the court do the questions has borne the the court is going to the convictions. >> reporter: the judge t

hincapie's conviction. in the decision, the hincapie failed to pro was actually innocent, judge did find hincapie' witnesses persuasive e grant him a new trial. but that didn't mean h free just yet. prosecutor eugene hurl the judge to send hinc to prison while the d. office considered its for appeal and whether it will >> during that time we ask that the defe >> reporter: ron kuby steaming. >> let's not ignore th mr. hincapie has been incarcerated for 25 ye 1 month, and as of tod 3 days. he's made a quarter ce liberty down payment. >> reporter: the judge ultimately agreed to release hincapie on a token $1 bail. >> the court will allow

>> please, please, com order. >> reporter: hincapie family were overco emotion. he was led away to be for release, but that nearly six hours. downstairs, his mother waited. a quarter century ago, in nearly the same spot in shock after her son was conv. now, here she was agai this time with her fam crush of reporters to her son's first steps freedom. two brothers, separate teenagers, now reunite middle-aged men. there were two other m

the crowd who hincapie find. bill hughes and bob de the self-named irish guys gumshoe squad, who launched his journe >> i owe tremendous, tre love, energy, grateful these two individuals. >> welcome home, johnn >> cheers, cheers. >> i'm so happy you're >> wow, this looks goo >> reporter: his first m stuffed filet of sole. his 20-year-old niece >> this is your first . it's a thing now. >> reporter: -- who wa when he was already in introduced johnny to h selfie. how are you doing? >> overwhelmed. >> reporter: we steppe to talk about what his hours of freedom were . >> i've been thinking beautiful it is to be in new york city.

watching the cars go b lights in the trees. it's a lot of nostalgia, know, and i'm grateful >> reporter: so where truth live in this sto? >> look at the sky up johnny. >> i know. >> reporter: for johnny hincapie, it li this moment. .> you got to love it at the end you know, this is a dr true. >> reporter: and one t for sure -- the city he rejoins is much different and much safer than the one he left behind 25 years ago. in the end, the former police commissioner says that has a lot to do with what happened on thar >> i truly believe tha death of that young ma propelling catalyst fo york miracle that we'v experienced the last 2 >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us.

caught on camera, a dramatic rescue from an arizona flash flood. >> and psident trump will speak directly to the american people about health care. >> and michael phelps racing a great white shark and much more on a busy monday r. >> welcome to the work week and welcome to have you on the "early today" team. >> i just