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TRAINING VIDEO NARRATOR:
After paper has been made,

it's reeled up
into a fiber core

on a reel spool.

After a roll is as large
as is desired,

a new roll is started
with a second core.

This on-the-run process

of transferring the sheet
from a finished roll

to a new core is
called a turnover.

Here, Tom Monfils is applying
a two-sided tape to the core.

The tape is used
to make the sheet stick to
the core during a turnover.

Tom is dressed
for his television appearance

with a safety breakaway
paper tie.

NARRATOR: This is
the only surviving footage
of Tom Monfils at work.

Is there anything
we can say about Tom
based on these images?

Was he a happy person?

Did he feel accepted
by his peers?

What were his plans
for the future?

We'll never know the answers
to these questions,

because on
November 23rd, 1992,

a missing person search
at James River Paper Mill

in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
would conclude

with the discovery
of his corpse.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[INDUSTRIAL CLATTERING]

[BUBBLING]

RANDY WINKLER: It appeared
to be a homicide immediately.

There was, uh...

a large hematoma
on Tom's head

that was very evident
of a blow of some sort.

The fact that there was
a rope around his neck,

and the weight...

I mean...

uh...

There's no way that...

that was going to be ruled
anything else other than that.

We have to go
with what we have now

as the truth.

And the truth is that,

you know, these six men

are guilty of murdering
Tom Monfils.

[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING]

[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

MIKE PIASKOWSKI: Well,
I was born and raised
right in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Just, if you want
a quiet town life,

that's a good place to live.

Hard-working
blue-collar community.

First thing I did was
I worked for the railroad.

I worked on
the section crew,

and then
I left the railroad

and worked
for an auto-glass specialist.

And then I enlisted
in the Army.

And then we came down
on order for Vietnam.

Because I didn't
go on to college,

uh, I think
joining the military
made me grow up.

My girlfriend, when I went
in there at the time,

her name
was Margie Craning.

You know,
when I first got out
of the service and,

you know, she was there
waiting for me and...

we started making plans
to get married.

Actually, she got pregnant
and we got married...

quicker because of that.

I wanted to build a house.

I wanted to get a decent job
with benefits, you know,

the health insurance
and retirement plans

and all those things.

Took the job
that came first.

And it just happened
to be a union mill.

Papermaking was probably
the largest industry there.

INTERVIEWER: What...
What kind of paper?

Mostly towel and tissue.

Uh, ass wipe, [CHUCKLING]
for lack of a better term.

BRIAN KERHIN: Green Bay is
the toilet-paper capital
of the world.

And the
James River Paper Mill,

it's just off of downtown,
on the East side of downtown.

These were not, um,

mills out on the outskirts
of town

in some industrial complex.

James River is downtown.

It's very close
to the police station.

It's very close
to the newspaper building.

It's close to
the courthouse.

It is part of the town.

CAL MONFILS:
And everybody knows
what's going on in that mill

whether it's...
gossip or truth.

In a sense, it was
like, you know,

hitting a lottery

when, you know,
when you were
accepted and...

and you had this job
at the mill,

because you really were
set for life,

if you were okay
with doing that type of work.

You know,
it paid good benefits.

It was a job where you could
raise a family.

If only dad worked, you could
raise a family in Green Bay.

KEITH KUTSKA:
My name is Keith Kutska.

I am one of the six defendants

in the Tom Monfils
homicide case

from the James River Paper Mill
in Green Bay.

INTERVIEWER: How would you
describe Kutska to someone
who hasn't met him before?

PIASKOWSKI: How would
I describe Kutska?

Oh.

He looks like
the Frito Bandito.

Big, heavy mustache.

I don't want to call him
a bully, but...

If he could tease you
in any way
'cause you were...

a little bit different
than the other...

You know,
you got to pay your dues
before you can get to be

in the same level
as everybody else.

So, you...
you tease somebody

to find out what level of...
where they're at.

WINKLER:
I think it was on the...

night of November 10th.

Kutska and
another gentleman

measured out some wire.

One person needed 200 feet,

and they measured out
200 feet.

And then,
Kutska needed 16 feet

to wire something
in a smokehouse.

KUTSKA: Lots of guys often
took home scrap items

from the mill
without written permission.

WINKLER: Monfils saw that,
knowing that

if somebody got
caught stealing,
they'd lose their job.

[MALE OPERATOR OVER TAPE]

[TOM MONFILS SPEAKING]

My brother calling...

calling in Keith Kutska
for stealing the cord. I...

You know, that was for...
that was spite.

He was trying to get
Keith Kutska in a little bit
of trouble. I mean...

Whether that little piece
of scrap cord left the mill
or not,

it really didn't matter
to my brother, you know?

DENIS GULLICKSON:
The mill and its workers work
a swing shift,

and it's a heavy toll.

They were proposing to go
to four 12-hour workdays.

And, you know, obviously,
like everything else,

some guys had
no opinion, you know?

Other guys were
absolutely adamant

they had keep things
the way they were.

CAL: I believe
that's probably the reason
my brother made the call.

You know?
He really wanted
the 12-hour shift

where, basically,
you would have
more time off.

And...
and several people
wanted that.

And Keith Kutska,
you know,
was against it

'cause, you know,
he had been there a long time.

He was set in his ways.

WINKLER: Kutska goes
to leave work that day,

and the guards tell him
to open his bag.

He said,
"No, I'm in a hurry."

They said "No. You need
to open your lunch box."

"No, I'm in a hurry."
And he bolts.

He goes to work
the next day

and is called
into a disciplinary meeting

and is given four days
of suspension without pay.

KUTSKA: I was upset
and dumbfounded

that anyone in the mill
would put my job

and my family's well-being
in jeopardy

for something as common
and minor

as taking a piece of wire
from a dumpster.

I later learned
that Tom himself

had often taken items
from the mill,

very likely
also without permission.

GULLICKSON:
One of the managers says

a call came from inside
the mill to the police
from an hourly employee.

And Keith Kutska now knows
that someone he works with

called the police
about that wire in his bag.

KUTSKA: I learned
that the police recorded
all 911 calls.

When I called the police,
they helped me
get the recording.

WINKLER:
On the tape, he said,

"I want to
remain anonymous."

You cannot release
any information

about a person
once they say that.

A voice recording, well,
it's a giveaway.

So, he confides in
the Green Bay Police Department

and the district attorney,
telling 'em that,

you know, "I called this in"

and, you know, "The guy is
coming to get the tape."

[TOM SPEAKING]

[MALE OPERATOR SPEAKING]

He makes
a total of five calls

to the Green Bay
Police Department

in the week leading up
to his disappearance.

[TOM SPEAKING OVER TAPE]

[MALE OPERATOR SPEAKING]

They were told
to go get the tape,

hold it as evidence
and not release it.

And he just didn't do it.

He just...

didn't bother to get up
out of his chair

and walk 50 feet,
grab the tape and...

That would've been
the end of it.

KUTSKA:
When I left the station
with the recording,

I didn't know
who the caller was.

I had my suspicions,
but I didn't know.

When I played the recording,
I heard Tom's voice.

If the Green Bay
Police Department,

in an effort to protect

the identity of the person
on the tape,

had simply released

a written transcript
of the call,

we wouldn't be sitting here.

PIASKOWSKI: Tom was sitting
right there by the door

with his knees up
on the counter,

and he was reading
a newspaper.

Within less than a minute,

Keith Kutska walked in
and he had a tape,

small cassette tape player
in his hand.

He calls me, "Piaskowski."

He said, "Piaskowski,
name that tune."

-[CLICKS]
-[TOM SPEAKING ON TAPE]
I'd like to report

an employee theft

which is gonna occur
at James River.

He set the tape player down
in front of Tom.

-[OPERATOR ON TAPE]
Did you notify your security?
-[TOM] No, I didn't.

PIASKOWSKI: Tom looked up
over his left shoulder

and he had just
a total expression
of disbelief and awe.

And his mouth just
was gaping open

and his eyes were
really wide and...

"Do you admit that's you?"

Tom said, "What?"

Like he didn't understand
the question.

"Are you admitting that
that's you
on that police tape?"

Tom said, uh,

he admitted it.
He said "Yes."

KUTSKA: He didn't give us
a good reason

why he reported me
to the police,

but I wanted him
and others at the mill
to know

that we knew what he did.

Kutska started saying,

berating him a little bit,
"What'd you do that for?

"We were talking
like good friends,

"five minutes later,
or ten minutes later,
or whatever.

"If you had a problem,
why didn't you say
something to me then?

"That's malicious."

And he, very indignantly,

turned around
and walked out of the room.

I don't swear often.

On occasion I do,
but I don't swear often.

But I said, "I just don't
fucking believe

"that you would do that.
We're family.
We're friends."

You know?
"We're a union."

I took my readings
and I was gone
for five or ten minutes,

and then I walked back
to the control room.

I looked up
and Tom was at the controls,

starting the 7:35-ish
turnover.

TRAINING VIDEO NARRATOR:
After a roll is as large
as is desired,

a new roll is started
with a second core.

This on-the-run process
of transferring the sheet

from a finished roll
to a new core
is called a turnover.

Here, Tom Monfils is applying
two-sided tape to the core.

PIASKOWSKI:
He goes to the left
and runs the crane

that lifts the big roll
of paper out and they move it
out of there like that.

Well, I can't see
any of that happen anymore,

because there's
a big control panel

in right my line of vision
from sitting

in the control room
where I was sitting.

And I never saw Tom again.

And that's a fact.

WINKLER: Monfils just
magically disappears.

I'm sure that
if the TV show4400 would've
been around at the time,

they would've said
he was abducted, you know.

They... [BLOWS RASPBERRY] Gone.
You know? [CHUCKLES]

Because it was...
they wanted it
to appear just that way.

PIASKOWSKI: I looked down
and Tom wasn't around.

There wasn't anybody
by my machine.

And there should be.

If Tom's not around,

I'll get him in trouble.

I immediately grabbed
the phone and I called
the office

and I got a hold
of the foreman.

He said, "What's going on?"

I said, 'Well, there's
a whole bunch of shit going on.

"You better
get down here fast."

Well, I wanted
to get him down here

so he showed up
before Tom showed up.

Tom would have
egg on his face,

and I'd be able to say, "See?"

The more and more time went by
without finding any answers,

the more and more,
uh, serious it got.

STEVE STEIN:
I thought it was weird.

I was like, "Wow.

"Where the heck would he go?"

[FAINT WHIRRING]

The buzz around the mill
was that he had left,

or walked off
the premises.

They didn't realize
he was still in the mill.

PIASKOWSKI:
At 7 o'clock, they said,

"Well, let's stop
at Carla Jean's
and iron this out,

or figure this out,
or something.

Lepeck said,
"What if Monfils is
in the parking lot

"and he's got
a deer rifle with him?"

You know?
We both stepped away
from Kutska,

you know, joking,
kind of like that.

And I went
to the middle of the road,

and I said, you know,
followed the joke along,

I said, "Yeah.
Hit the dirt or start running.

"Just like in 'Nam
or something."
I said to him.

[IMPERCEPTIBLE]

STEIN: They were
talking about shutting
all of the machines down

and starting to drain
the pulp vats
and stuff like that,

just to start
checking to see,

-because they couldn't
find him anywhere.
-[BUBBLING]

And they asked me
if I would do it.

And I said I would do it.

I actually did it
because I couldn't
believe it.

I was, like,
"Well, I got to see this,

"because I don't
believe that...

"that he's in this tank."

He was in there.

PIASKOWSKI: Well,
my very first thought was

they found him
in the tissue chest.

The tissue chest had
to be empty.

He was just
hiding in there.

I said, "Well,
that's where he was."
You know?

And then they told me
he was passed away, dead,

and I couldn't believe it.

That's... that's insane.

That's crazy.

[MACHINERY WHIRRING]

Just...

hard to... hard to accept,

you know, that something
like that could happen

in our little mill,
our little...

family.

[MACHINERY WHIRRING]

STEIN: The atmosphere
in the mill became

like you were walking
on eggshells.

KERHIN: Everybody, at first,
was really angered
at the Police Department

for being so foolish
to give a voice recording.

Had it not been released,

I don't think
there would've been a homicide.

STEIN: Well, I believe
it was the day after that
they found Tom, uh...

they came to my house.

First thing they said was,
"We're here

"because we believe
you killed Tom Monfils."

And I was like...

"Uh... wait a minute.
I wasn't even there."

And then they proceeded
to tell me how I snuck back
into the mill

and I did this,
and I did that,

right in front of my family,
right in front of my kids.

"We've got enough on you
to get you fired
from your job."

"Your family loves you,
but they're not gonna
love you

"when they find out
what kind of a scumbag
you are."

INTERVIEWER:
So it wasn't just,
like, one officer?

This was a system-wide...

Well, it was one
in particular.

He's quite a piece of work.

We're talking
about Randy Winkler.

Randy Winkler came to my house
one Sunday afternoon.

He came up and he says,
"Steve, you never signed

"your affidavit
from yesterday."

And I said, "Sure I did."

He said,
"No, you never signed it."

And I said,
"Yeah, I signed it."

"No. You never signed it."

He says, "Here, just sign it
quick," he says.

"I'll get on my way."

I was ready to sign it.

I had it on my workbench.
I was ready to sign it

and my wife came out
and she says,

"Steve, what are you doing?"
And I said,

"I'm going to sign this."

And she says,
"Well, did you read it?"

And I said,
"No, I didn't read it."

And Randy was like,
"No, no, no.

"Just let him sign it.
I got to get going."

He had it written down
that I told him that
Mike Piaskowski told me

that he knew what happened.

And I said,
"I never told you that."

"I never told you that,
'cause Mike's never said
that to me."

He grabbed that paper.

He got so mad, he ripped that up

and he swore at me

and he pointed
his finger at me.

And he says,
"I'm gonna get you.

"I'm gonna
implicate you somehow."

Thank God for my wife.

She... she...

Uh, 'cause I was
ready to sign it.

WINKLER: I think I was...

I was meant to be a cop.

My dad was a farmer.

And one particular night,

my dad was stopped
by a state trooper.

And he had
a tail light burnt out.

And it was dark.

And the trooper went
to his trunk of his car,

pulled out a screwdriver
and a light bulb,

changed the light,
put it in

and away we went.

And I just thought
that was the coolest thing.

He could have...

just, "Nah,
I'm not even going
to bother," you know?

You know, or given him
a warning

to have him fix it himself,
or something like that.

But instead, no, he actually
took an effort and...

and did something good
for somebody.

That's when I made
the decision
I wanted to become a cop.

Because I wanted
to be able to help people.

I started out
in the patrol division.

I started out
walking a beat.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Walking a beat was
one of the most
fantastic experiences

I've ever had.

Walking into the bars
on Broadway...

Today Broadway is
nothing like it was

back in the '70s, you know?

You had to
earn your respect

when you walked into a place,
you know?

You couldn't be...

hard.

If you walked into a bar
and they were shooting craps
on the bar,

rather than bust 'em,
or arrest 'em for it,

you just looked out
the window,

and when you looked back,
the dice were off the bar.

They didn't disrespect you

and you didn't

have to do things
that you didn't want to do.

When you get
into detectives,

it becomes
much more serious.

You have to be...
very, very careful

that you have
the right person.

You definitely don't want
to accuse anyone
of something that...

or point 'em out,
even as a suspect

in something
that they didn't do.

PIASKOWSKI:
She wanted time.
She wanted space.

You know, how they, uh...

I didn't know
about the boyfriend.

I was suspicious,
but I didn't know.

I think deep down,
I always thought that...

that she'd come back.

She's still with the guy.

And he's yet to have a job.

A decent job. Huh.

He's a loser. Nice guy.

One of those friendly kind,
you know, and...

drummer in a band.

Just be totally honest
with you,

I wasn't
totally faithful either.
Uh...

So I was willing
to put the past behind us.

Once it came to light,

when she said that
she wanted a divorce,
that...

I was willing to do whatever
it took to make it right.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

PIASKOWSKI:
Steve Stein and I went
to Murphy's Pub,

had a fish dinner and...

and drank a little bit
too much that night.

I was kind of drowning
my sorrows,

so to speak like that.

And then I ended up
having a...

an interview with the police
the next morning,
and I was quite hungover.

Not a wise decision
to get drunk like that.

I'm foggy and I'm not
feeling good. I'm...

Stomachache, or headache,

or whatever I happen to have
at the time, or both.

I liked the guy.
[CHUCKLES]

He's, you know, anybody
with a name like Randy,

it's not Randall,

or Ed, it's Eddie.
You know?

Anybody with an "ie" on,
it's very endearing, I think.

I didn't learn
what kind of a guy
he truly was

until I found out
how he thinks.

He thinks a little strange,
in my opinion.

WINKLER: You get to know
these people and almost,
um...

want to be friends
with them, you know,

and... that can...

But you can't.
You can't do it.

You can't allow
your judgment
to be clouded.

You know, I always would
try to get them in

and get them to tell you
a lie right off the bat,

so that you can tell
when they're lying to you.

INTERVIEWER: How do you get
someone to tell you a lie?

Have you ever stolen
anything from work?

Probably but, I don't...
Yeah, right.

-You don't... [LAUGHS]
-[LAUGHS]

You know... And no,
I never did. You know?

And, well, everybody has.

Life in a paper mill is
pretty mundane.

I mean, it's...

You know,
it's the same thing

day after day
after day after day.

Now, this day...

is an exciting day.

Keith Kutska,

on Friday night,

had already called
everybody in the mill

and told 'em
he's got the tape.

He played it to a few of 'em
over the phone,

told everybody to come up
and listen to it.

Uh, now, this is
a big, exciting time.

Big excitement.

Big thing happening
in the mill.

It's not the mundane...

average everyday thing.

All those people
that were there

now have lapse of memory.

Mike Piaskowski
can't remember

"Did I do this or did do that?

"Well, I assume I did this,
and I assume I did that,

"and I probably would
have done this,

"and I might have done that.

"But I'm not sure.
And if somebody
said I did it,

"I probably did it,
but I may not have
done it."

PIASKOWSKI:
Winkler's sitting,

his face inches
from mine, sideways,

screaming at me, the spit's
coming in my face, you know?

And I'm thinking,

you know,
I'm in my own mind,

I'm looking down
at this situation
that I'm sitting in,

thinking, "They've got
to go through this stuff."

Sooner or later,
they'll realize

they're barking
up the wrong tree.

And they'll go bark
somewhere else.

Then Winkler will
slam the table

and he'll do
all kinds of gyrations

and try to
get you excited,

try to make you stumble,

uh, try to confuse you.

WINKLER:
Yeah, I'm not a bad cop.

I'm not a bully,
or a... [CHUCKLES]

uh, a hard person to talk to,
you know? It's...

I can get stern at times
when... when I need to.

"Come on, tell me."

You know?

Get pointed
with questions and...

"Come on. I know
that's not the truth.

"I need the truth from you.

"Now just tell me the truth."

"Don't tell me that.

"I know that's a lie."

Or, you know,
even stronger than that.

"I know you know this.
Just... just come out...

"It's not going to hurt you
to tell us the truth."

I'm close.
Personal touching,
you know,

in your space, you know?

And it's hard
for you to avoid me,

because you're going to,
you know, you're...

you're right with me,
you know?

And I'm right with you,
you know? So...

And that's how it's done.

CAL: The first time
the medical examiner said
how he died,

you know, it was two words,

"Ligature strangulation."

KLEMM: He had
injuries to his scalp.

He had a skull fracture.

He had a fracture of the jaw.

He had injuries
to his abdomen.

We know
that Tom Monfils was alive,

at least briefly,

at the bottom
of the pulp vat.

Uh, pulp is the raw material
that goes into making paper.

It's wood and liquid.

He had that in his lungs.

So he was alive in the vat.

He had the weight attached
around his neck with a rope.

And Helen Young
described him

as having both suffocated
and been strangled.

Once he entered the vat
with the weight
around his neck,

he was never coming out.

There was
no way out for him.

When you look at
what happened
to Tom Monfils,

you understand why people were
reluctant to come forward.

WINKLER: People really want
to distance themselves
from that case.

Most people wanted
to stay away from it,

you know,
at arm's length, because...

it was obvious

it was not going
to turn out good

for whoever did
the investigation.

Somebody...

had to grab the reins
and let's go.

Let's get something done.

And finally
I just said I'll do it.

That I'm going to take it over.

I'll take lead on it.

And I think there was, like,

thirty sighs of relief
in the room. [LAUGHS]

"Finally, some idiot took it."

[LAUGHS] You know, so...

And that was me, I guess.

JOHN ZAKOWSKI: You don't have
to have an eyewitness.

You don't have
to have a photograph.

There's a jury instruction
that says
circumstantial evidence

is many times more powerful
than direct evidence.

And over our many years
in the D.A.'s office,
I think that's true.

Circumstantial evidence
is used

to describe the totality
of the evidence.

They are all
pieces of evidence.

They're all
pieces of a puzzle.

And, so they...

You put together
all of these pieces
in the puzzle.

Let's say it's a portrait
of Abe Lincoln,

and it's a 100-piece puzzle

and you've got 96 pieces.

Well, you might have
four pieces missing,

but after
all these pieces
are together,

you can figure out
who it is,

you can figure out
what happened.

You can figure out
the truth.

INTERVIEWER:
When did you start
taking personal notes

of, like, just things
you were thinking,
noticing?

Uh, I think
my attorney told me that.

"Whenever you hear anything,
write it down."

'Cause it can only help you.

Especially if you got
a Polish memory like mine.
So...

PIASKOWSKI:
"February 22nd. 8:55 p.m.

"Al said
the mill was setting up

"Winkler with an office
for the interviews again.

"He commented,

"'This only proves
that the police are lost.'"

"October 24th, 1993.

"Tom's paranoia might've
caused him

"to plan a possible suicide.

"Getting a rope
and weight ready,

"maybe placing them
on the catwalk
above the chests.

"Did the cops check out
the area above the chests?

"Did they take any photographs
of those areas?"

"Rumor mill at James River.

"Possibly Tom Monfils had
the goods on someone else

"in a major way,

"and those persons took
advantage of the situation?"

KERHIN: It's the hard thing
to help people comprehend

twenty years later,
talking about it,

is what two and
a half years...

no answers meant.

It happens in November,

and you go
a whole another year,

and a whole another year.

Who haven't we talked to

and what is the question
we haven't asked?

What is the question
we should be asking
of what person?

ZAKOWSKI: In this case, I think
that was understandable,

that any law enforcement
felt more pressure.

They felt more pressure.

They felt
like they were under the gun,

especially once
that tape was released.

WINKLER: And I had
some allies, um,

in the mill,

and I needed
their... their support.

And that person said, [SIGHS]

"You know,
I don't think you're
ever going to solve this."

And that was like...

That was like
a knife in the heart.

[KELLNER READING]

AMANDA WILLIAMS: I had
gotten off the school bus

and there was
a car in the driveway,

and a gentleman stepped out

and came around
the back of the car.

He introduced himself
as being Randy Winkler,

and said, "I need to talk
to you about your parents."

I knew the name
as far as he was an officer,

and that kind
of freaked me out, saying,

"I need to talk to you
about your parents."

I thought something happened,
you know, kind of thing,

and I was really
kind of scared.

He kind of stood between me
and going into the house.

And he was just talking
to me about, you know,

"What has been said
around your house?

"Have you overheard things?

"Do you know
things that are going on?"

You know, and so on
and so forth.

And it was just... [SIGHS]
Like, he was very persistent,

very kind of in-my-face,
very abrupt
and kind of brash.

He followed me
into the house.

What I said
obviously wasn't
what he liked,

because it...

his body language changed.

Instead of being
leaning towards me,

he leaned back
and like, crossed his arms
across his chest.

He was probably in there
for about two hours

where he was
just talking to me about this.

Have I been privy

to conversations
between my dad and Keith?

Have I talked to him
about dad and Pie?

And, you know,
do I know the things

that happened between my mom
and these men?

And... everything...
It was just like, "Seriously?"

LAWYER: Do you recall
that you waited one day
for Amanda Kellner

-to come home from school...
-[WOMAN COUGHING]

LAWYER: ...at her home?

No, I do not.

LAWYER: You recall
that you were waiting there,

she came home from school

and you followed her
in the house?

No.

Do you remember
that you stayed there

an hour or two?

-No.
-You don't remember

asking her questions
about conversations

that she had
heard her parents have?

No, I do not.

You remember
Mr. Kellner telling you

to leave his children
out of your efforts

to obtain information
from him?

No.

You don't remember
he was angry

that you had
involved the children?

I never involved
his children.

EARL KELLNER: We had
a day planned.

We were going to go bowling

or, I don't remember,
bowling,

or a movie, or just something
you know, for my birthday.

Just me,
my dad and my sister.

And he came home and he...

he was different.

We took a walk outside.
We went to our backyard.

He said that
there are some things
that are going on.

He said, "And I have
to do some things
and say some things."

And he said,
"I have to do this

"to keep the family safe.

"I have to keep
the family together."

He thought
that the phones were bugged,

that the house was
being watched. Um...

He pointed down the road.

There was
always a car sitting there.

And, since this all started
and he said,
"They're watching us."

"I'll do anything
for you and your sister."
Um...

He said that,
"No matter what happens,

"I always want you
and your sister
to be together."

"You know, I'm trying
to keep you guys safe."

You know?

"I didn't fight
your mom for this long
for custody of you guys

"to have you taken away
for something like this."

"I want you
to look after each other."

And as a... as a kid,

that quite honestly scared
the daylights out of me.

WINKLER: I sat him down
and I had this...

I had it all set up.
It was a...

make-it-or-break-it move.

I pulled out
this little receiver

that would be like
in a phone.

Two little...
paper clip...

Sorry, not paper clip,

but little clips soldered to it.

And I said, "You know...

"you can walk into a bar,

"go and make a phone call,

"place this inside,

"finish making
your phone call,

"hang it up,

"and yet you can hear
everything that's said
in that bar."

His mouth dropped open.

He got pale white,

and at that point I knew

that he had
a lot of information

that he wasn't telling us,
or hadn't told us in the past.

And I just said
to him, you know,

"You either can tell us
what happened,

"or we can play these tapes
and see what happens there."

You know?

Trying to indicate to him,

or make him think
that if he didn't...

didn't cooperate,

that he could possibly be
charged with something.

WILLIAMS: He spent a lot
of time in the police station.

I think it was two days

that he was
questioned and questioned

and presented
with that written statement

stating he had to sign it,

you know, for threats
of losing his job,

losing his home,

because he's gonna
go to jail.

And losing his kids.

I mean, that's...
that's not okay.

[KELLNER READING]

It was the Fourth
of July weekend.

Keith got drunk and was
talking about what happened

the morning
Monfils was killed.

He had us role-play

using his wife,
my wife and me,

and said we were
different people.

[LAUGHING]

Keith said he put Rey Moore
and Mike Hirn
up to harassing Monfils.

He watched Hirn push Tom
while he was making

his last entry
in the production log.

They had him,
trapped by the bubbler.

He said one of the guys came
up behind Tom
and hit him in the head.

Keith sent Moore
to pick on Monfils,

because Monfils was White
and Moore was Black,

and if Monfils said anything,

they would say
he was prejudiced.

Rey had the tape
and was shaking it at him,

telling him he couldn't deny
that he made the phone call.

Piaskowski, Basten,
and Johnson were

all standing around
yelling at Tom.

Keith said he was
just enjoying the show.

Keith repeated
these things to me
several different times.

ZAKOWSKI:
Once that information was

discovered and brought
to our office,

then we were
able to start looking

towards actually
issuing charges.

KELLNER: I've read
this 12-page statement

and find it true
to the best of my knowledge,

and I sign
of my own free will.

Brian A. Kellner.

The role play just doesn't
pass the smell test.

It will involve
all of these people
surrounding Tom.

It will involve
one of the men saying,

"Oh, there's a weight
and a rope over here.

"I'll go get that."

It will involve two
of the men carrying
Tom's unconscious body

across an entire warehouse,

unsupported by
any eyewitness

and unsupported
by physical evidence
of any kind.

And then, and probably
most unbelievably,

get themselves squared away

emotionally, spiritually,

mentally, to return
to their workstations

and work out
the rest of their day

without so much
as a case of the jitters.

STEIN: You know,
it's hard enough to get a guy

to throw $3 or $5

in the retirement kitty
when a guy retires.

But, jeez, just ask me
to kill somebody for you,

and I'll go along with that.

This is the Fox Den bar
outside the town of Abrams.

It's actually
in the town of Morgan,
where on the July 4th weekend,

Keith Kutska, Brian Kellner

and their two wives gathered
here inside the bar.

And, according
to the criminal complaint
filed against Kutska,

what they did was
reenact the confrontation

that Kutska and others had
with Monfils

on the day
in which he was killed.

Well, let's go back
to Kellner's statement
for a second.

Here's somebody in the bar.

He's saying,
"You're Tom Monfils.

"I'm going to be Mike Hirn.

"You're Rey Moore.
And then you're behind him.

"You're over here.
You're Piaskowski,"
and so on,

with specificity.

And then draws on a napkin

where everybody was
in the number 9 coop

and draws arrows

as to where Moore goes out
this way, we go out this way.

That's somebody that's
really telling what happened.

WINKLER: As soon
as I got the warrant,

we had teams set up.
I got on the radio and I said,
"All units, it's a go."

And they swooped him up
and brought him in.

Keith Kutska, Rey Moore,

Mike Piaskowski,
Mike Johnson,

Mike Hirn, Dale Basten.

PIASKOWSKI: The thing
that we feared was happening.

That we were being
arrested and charged.

We'd talk and they would be,
you know,

just almost like thumbing
their nose at you.

They're real...

cocky for another word,
you know.

And just...

sit back and think nothing was
going to happen to 'em,

that they were untouchables.

And we were able
to prove 'em wrong.

We believe
we do have enough evidence

to go into court
and obtain a conviction

by proof beyond
a reasonable doubt.

I'm happy this day happened.

There was
a lot of happy people today.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Thomas Monfils' mother
Joan Monfils says

her family had to be patient

and just take it
one day at a time.

Our feelings...

go out to the families
of the defendants.

I'm sure
that they must be feeling today

like we felt for the last two
and a half years.

Why now?

Because we have
enough evidence.

People wonder
why has it taken so long.

We did not have the evidence
to come forward.

WINKLER: Mr. Monfils was
confronted not once,
but a second time.

And we believe it was after
that second confrontation

that the decision was
made to, um...

if you want
to put it this way, um,

get rid of the evidence

and thereby
putting him in a vat.

ZAKOWSKI: Certainly,
the Kellner statements

and other statements
which Mr. Kutska made
to other people

helped supply
some major pieces
of the puzzle

which we had to have
before going forward.

WINKLER: There's still
more evidence out there.

There are people
that know things that

may have been afraid to come
forward up to this point.

We appeal to their sense
of decency,

not only for the family
but for the community,

but 'cause it's
the right thing to do,

to please come forward
and share that information.

MAN 1: I think they did
the right thing, yeah,
by waiting and...

I know it was
rough for the family, but...

I always said
if you do something wrong,

it's just a matter of time
before they get you anyway.

MAN 2: Actually, I would
be quite relieved

that they finally
found somebody.

Um, it's not surprising
it took this long.

I mean, you gotta expect
things like this to take time.

You got to find the hard facts
and, you know, nail them.

WOMAN: I was happy
that they got the people,

because...
[CHUCKLES IN RELIEF]

justice is finally
being done for him.

[MAN 3 SIGHS IN RELIEF]
It's a relief.

I'll tell you, I'm happy.

I had some... I can't...

There's no words.

I mean, I'm shocked.

I'm happy with the family.

ZAKOWSKI: This is it.
This is our one chance.

You know? We got to...
we got to get it.

KERHIN: And you had
six defendants,

and most of them had
two attorneys.

A couple of them
only had one.

But, you know, so there were
11, 12, 13 defense attorneys.

MALE REPORTER: When these
six suspects make their way

into court come Monday morning,

it will be
under very tight security.

Security like we have
never ever seen before

here in Brown County.

Context is everything.

I mean, if you did not see
these men in the courtroom,

and hear what they were
being accused of,

they looked like any six men
you'd find
anywhere in Green Bay.

They looked like any six men

that my father would
have been friends with

from his factory
where he worked.

CAL: The one thing
I did not like in court was

the fact that
you had two sides

to the courtroom.

You had the side

that was like,
for Tom Monfils.

And then you had the side,

you know, of the men being

you know, accused...
of the murder.

And it was just odd
because so many people

on the other side
of the courtroom, I knew.

I went to high school
with them

and they were
relatives, or friends,

or family
of one of the six men.

FEMALE NEWSREADER: Most
of the people coming to watch
the trial are

family members of the victim
and the defendants.

Most know the routine by now

and plan on coming back
throughout the next month.

How long it takes,
it doesn't really matter.

Just, you know...

just so somebody
pays for this.

NEWSREADER: Even
high-school students

like Eileen Matuszak are
sitting in.

Matuszak is learning
about the court system.

I just pick it up
along the way, I guess,

by watching and observing.

NEWSREADER: There are
some here who don't have

any legal interest in the case.

It's an unusual case.

I mean, six... What is it?
Six men, tried for one crime?

It's unusual for Green Bay.

MALE NEWSREADER: And
for the first time in either
the civil or criminal case,

Tom Monfils' widow,
Susan, showed up in court

with her attorney,
Bruce Bachhuber,

but she rushed out of court
saying she didn't want to talk.

Neither did
the two defendants out on bond,

Mike Piaskowski
and Dale Basten.

REPORTER: May I ask you
how you think
it's going so far?

No comment.

GULLICKSON: If ever
a scene were constructed

to look like the Monfils Six,

or a half dozen union thugs,

there it was.

KERHIN: They were called
the Monfils Six

over and over again
by most of the media outlets.

They're called the Monfils Six.

MALE NEWSREADER:
The men known
as the Monfils Six.

The fate of the Monfils Six.

KERHIN: And they were
lumped together,

and the decision to try them
all together was clearly

a key moment in the case

and has kept them
tied together.
"Monfils Six."

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
The defendants
in the Tom Monfils' murder case

sat together
for this week's hearing,

but they will probably fight
to have separate trials.

It was a fight to get it

where all six defendants were
tried at the same time.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
But District Attorney
John Zakowski says

it's a better use of resources
to try them together.

We'll certainly fight
a severance motion

'cause I just think
it makes more sense

for all the defendants
to be tried at once.

Well, first of all,
a joint trial is

going to save
taxpayer money.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think
that if they had been
tried separately,

that you could have
gotten convictions?

No.

PIASKOWSKI:
Like, I knew Basten.

I knew of Rey Moore.

Uh, I knew of Mike Hirn.

Kind of knew him,
'cause he worked
at the paper machines.

But I never
really "knew him" knew him.

Michael Johnson,
I knew who he was.

INTERVIEWER: At the time,
were you convinced
that they were all innocent?

Well, we... No. Throughout
our own investigation,

you know,
we looked at each one of 'em

as if each one of 'em
could have done this

or these two could have
done something.

In fact, I helped
with Mike's defense.

My assignment was to look
at Mike Hirn

and see whether
Mike Hirn was a...

could have done it.

So, you know,
if we've got that strategy,

they all have that strategy.

Mike Hirn's attorney was...

His defense seemed to be
that, you know,

all the other five guys
are guilty,

but his defendant was not.

My client is hanging
out there alone.

I think that's pretty clear
if anybody's listening
to the evidence.

Everybody's protecting
everybody else.

At least they're all saying
they're together.

And my guy isn't.
My guys hanging out there

in the... on the edge,

holding on with
his fingernails,

and I'm going to make sure
the jury gets that message.

This wall of silence
that has come into this case...

is the envy of the mafia.

It is incredible.

So, you know,
we were actually, uh...

defending ourselves
against him as well.

And again,

that's that joint trial issue,
which is unfair.

INTERVIEWER:
It's fascinating to hear

about these attorneys basically
eating each other alive

-during the whole thing.
-Yeah.

It was a difficult job
for all the attorneys. Um...

They...

They did have
a difficult case.

INTERVIEWER: But do you think
they had a fair trial?

Oh, yes.
They definitely had
a fair trial.

ZAKOWSKI: There's always,

from a prosecutor's
perspective,

an advantage and a utility

in having a joint trial,

because it's
for judicial economy,

judicial efficiency,

witnesses don't have
to testify more than once.

You don't have to have
two juries being impaneled,
or more.

So in almost every case
involving co-defendants,

if it's possible,

if, legally, you have
the means to try them together,

we will seek a joint trial,

and we did that
in this case as well.

The case is exactly
what we thought it would be.

Um. They have no evidence.
The state has no evidence.

They try to bring up a lot
of... throw up a lot of dirt.

But nothing involving
the events of that day

that tie our client in any way
to this supposed crime.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Prosecutors say this is
their strongest witness.

Brian Kellner.

I think that they'll find
the case is

really, frankly,
not that complex.

It's a simple matter
of whether they accept

what Brian Keller
told them now.

Everybody except Rey went out
the front door of the coop

and down towards
the number 7 paper machine
where Tom was.

Rey went out the back door
of number 9's booth.

And that they confronted Tom
by the bubbler.

MALE NEWSREADER:
Kellner places all six
suspects at the murder scene,

talked specifically

about Rey Moore screaming
at Monfils

and Mike Hirn shoving him
in the chest.

KELLNER: Three more
standing behind him.

And Mike Hirn walked...
go up in front of him and...

[PAPERS SHUFFLING]

KELLNER: ...they were shaking
a tape in his face, saying

"We got you now." You know?

"There's no way
you can deny this."

MALE NEWSREADER:
According to Kellner,

Dale Basten,
Michael Piaskowski,

Michael Johnson and Kutska were
also in that control room.

Kellner says Kutska told him
what happened next.

This was going on
and Mike Hirn was

right up in Tom's face

and gave him a shove.

And sometime during that

time period there, whatever...
how long it took, that...

one of the guys gave him a slap
upside the back of the head.

He said he was...
he was hit in the head.

-Yeah.
-LAWYER: And did...

And did Mr. Kutska say
where he was hit in the head?

Um, top back.

If Kellner is believed,
then everybody else is lying,

they're lying
to cover up their crime.

If one fall,
they should all fall.

GULLICKSON:
That Fox Den roleplay

which was
introduced against Kutska

could never have
been introduced
against the other men.

It was hearsay.

They couldn't have a trial
against five of the six of us,

uh, without having
a joint trial,

because they didn't have
any direct evidence against us.

Just for us laypeople
to think

that, um,
they'd grab up six people,

and you would...

by inference and by presence,
be guilty of anything

thrown at any other person
in that room.

I understand this only applies
to Keith Kutska.

[SNICKERS] There are
the other five men
seated in the same room.

That's the scenario
under which
these men were tried.

ZAKOWSKI: I think...
well, whether they...

at this point, I should...
I should backtrack.

If they had been
single trials...

I don't know if...

if, in fact... I don't...
I don't know to what extent...

um, I'm not certain
of what extent

those... the other statements
may or may not have been...

We would have argued
that they were.

It, uh, could be used.

But the argument was that
of a single trial is appropriate

and that at the single trial,

those statements
against Kutska can be used

against the other
co-defendants.

PIASKOWSKI:
Even if the judge says
to the jury,

"Now, you don't apply
this evidence against...

"uh, these four defendants,
just against these two."

Or "Just this one
against these five."

You know?
The bell has been rung.

You can't un-ring a bell.

ZAKOWSKI:
This is a whodunit case.

What? Where? When?

Who? You've got to find out
who is responsible

for the death
of Thomas Monfils.

Closing argument,

my former boss used
to say it was

Christmas tree time.

For almost four hours
this morning,

the District Attorney made
his plea for justice.

John Zakowski, beginning
his closing arguments,

defending his case
and the credibility
of his witnesses.

And that was always
my favorite part
of doing a trial,

because you could
be yourself,

and you could
explain yourself,

and you could present

what you thought was
important to a jury.

And you could do it
in different ways.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this case involves

the murder
of Thomas Monfils.

It involves
a second confrontation

during the morning hours
of November 21st, 1992.

WINKLER:
What I think happened
on November 21st 1992,

the day
that Tom Monfils
was murdered.

First, he's confronted
in the coop.

ZAKOWSKI:
He's got to admit that
it's his voice on that tape.

The tape itself isn't
going to be enough.

No, he didn't admit to it.

They confronted him.
Mr. Kutska was civil.

And now the union can't
even do anything?

Do you think they were
just gonna let it lay?

And they weren't going to do
anything at that point?

And they had to go
and confront him

to get him, to be able
to bring those union charges.

WINKLER: All the guys that were
in the number 9 coop,

watching what was
going on, came out

surrounded Tom Monfils,
were yelling at him.

ZAKOWSKI: And they met him
by the bubbler.

And they began
yelling at him.

One of them had a tape,

and they had the tape

and they were
shaking it in his face.

And Hirn
was right in his face,
and Morrison...

"What's your fucking problem?"

At 7:34,
Mike Hirn comes up to him,

gives him a shove...

causing Tom to make a mark
at 7:34

that indicates
something happened.

We know Monfils worked
at 7:34 turnover.

And we know that
Piaskowski calls him

and is missing about 7:50.

But before the 7:56,

that's when
those rolls kicked off.

The logic is,
Monfils was killed

between 7:35 and 7:50
in that short period of time.

[MACHINERY WHIRRING]

As they're yelling,
Rey Moore reaches over

and hits Tom Monfils in the head
and down he goes.

ZAKOWSKI:
What could have been used
to hit him?

A wrench? Board? A Pipe?

The word was that he hit him
with a knockout wrench.

ZAKOWSKI: We know that
Monfils was severely beaten.

-It wasn't a one-man job.
-[BEATINGS AND GROANS]

Thirteen separate injuries
to Thomas Monfils.

There was severe bruising
to the head, fractured skull,

contrecoup injury,

deep bruising in the neck

consistent with
this kind of motion,

bruises to the chest
over the rib area,

fractured jaw and, of course,
a knee to the groin.

Now, he's lying
on the ground,

in front
of these six defendants.

What do you think
happened next?

What do you think was
going through their minds?

What we argue to the jury,

and what I think people forget
is the motive in this case.

If you are participating,

or part of a beating
of a fellow co-worker,

you're gonna be fired.

You're going to
lose your job.

And one of the exhibits
that we used was

how much money these people were
making in the mill.

Piaskowski, 72,000.

I think Johnson
was over 70.

Basten, over $100,000.

Now, back in 1992,
that was darn good money.

If Tom Monfils survives,
they get fired.

They lose their jobs.

And here you've got
a snitch,

who's laying there bleeding.

And if you don't
get rid of him,

you're going to
lose your job.

And I think that, in a matter
of minutes, if not seconds,

they said, "We've got
to get rid of him,

"or we're gonna lose
that $100,000-a-year job."

ZAKOWSKI: What do you think
this body is telling us?

What are we supposed
to glean from this?

Mr. Monfils is telling you,
"Look at this.

"Look at me!
Look what they did to me!

"They're hurting me.

"They're killing me.

"I didn't commit suicide.

"My God, I've got
a wife and two kids.

"When I heard about that tape,

"I went out
and I worked that day.

"It took more than one person
to do this."

That's what
his body is telling us.

ZAKOWSKI: He was killed
when he was placed
in the vat,

because his lungs inhaled
the pulp,

and so he was
still breathing.

So it's the operation
of putting him in the vat

which is the first-degree
intentional homicide.

INTERVIEWER: The one
that I've had a hard time

maybe getting in my head is

the evidence that really gets
Mike Piaskowski,

that really ties him to this.

Can you go over that
a little bit more with me?

Rope and weight.

Rope and weight.

There was a rope
that had duct tape around it

that was found attached
to Monfils and this weight.

And that came
from the number seven coop.

There's rope
all over that mill.

But behind in this dark recess
of the number seven coop,

there were two jump ropes

that, you know, made
makeshift jump ropes

with this duct tape.

It is in a dark part
behind the number seven coop.

There's no traffic there.

There's no reason
to walk through.

If you're from
another part of the mill,

the only people
that would have access

to that would be
in that number seven coop.

And the only person
that had access
to that rope, well...

Pete Delvoe was busy
working on the machine.

Dennis Servais was
in the coop

and later kept occupied
by Mike Hirn.

And Monfils was beaten up.

The only person left
is Mike Piaskowski.

ZAKOWSKI: In closing,
ladies and gentlemen,

you know, there's a saying
up there on the wall.

"Justice, the hope
of all who suffered,

"the dread of all who wrong."

Now, I'll tell you, I've used
that once before in a case,

and God willing, I'm sure
I'll have an opportunity again.

But there will never be
another case

where that saying
means as much

as this case.

On behalf of the state,

on behalf of this community,

and on behalf of the family
of Thomas Monfils,

I implore you,

don't let them
get away with it,

like they have
for two and a half years.

Don't let them get away
with murder.

They're all involved.

And not to hold them
accountable,

each one of them accountable
for what they did.

It wouldn't be fair.

It wouldn't be right.

And it wouldn't
be the truth.

Please return
with a verdict of guilty

as to each
and every defendant.

Thank you.

REPORTER: Whenever
the verdict comes down,

Action 2 News is going to cut
into the programming.

Whatever we have on the air,
we're breaking into it

and you are going to get
live coverage of the verdict.

This trial has been
such a long one

that some of the regular
courtroom observers have

brought along
their own seat cushions.

These benches can get
pretty hard to sit on

all-day long for five weeks,

and now,
they continue to wait.

They plan to camp out here
in the courthouse

until the jury's decision
is in.

I hope I'm in the courthouse
when the verdict comes out.

PIASKOWSKI: I felt doomed.
I really did.

It was just
an inner feeling, um...

deep down, secretly hoping
that, you know,

the jury would see it right

and thinking maybe they'll
convict Keith Kutska

and maybe not us.

It was interesting
because, you know,

as this trial is going on,
the O.J. trial is going on.

I remember when
the O.J. Simpson
verdict came...

came in during the course
of that trial,

I think it was during
the noon hour.

We were in the media room,

and they came back
with a not-guilty verdict.

And we thought,
"What kind of mountain
do we have to climb?"

given what the evidence was
in that case.

My opinion is the same opinion
as half the world.

O.J. Simpson was guilty.

Uh, guilty as sin.

But the California jury
let him off.

And I think this jury may have
had in the back of its...

in the recesses
of their mind that

"We're not going to let
the O.J. verdict

"kind of thing happen here
in Green Bay."

[IMPERCEPTIBLE]

MALE REPORTER:
This is Judge
James Bayorgeon,

the Outagamie County judge

who's been covering
the case.

We apologize for the hum
coming from the courtroom.

Some of
the technical facilities

with so many cameras here,
emit some hum.

MALE REPORTER:
The verdict's handed
to the judge right now

by the bailiff as he walks
off camera.

Judge James Bayorgeon
carefully looking
at each one...

Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, I ask

that you listen to the reading
of the verdict.

MALE REPORTER:
And here he goes.

"State of Wisconsin versus
Keith Kutska.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant,
Keith M. Kutska,

"guilty of the offense

"of first-degree
intentional homicide,

"party to the crime

"on or about
November 21, 1992,

"as charged in the information,

"Here at Green Bay,
Brown County, Wisconsin,

"this 28th day
of October 1995, grand jury.

"State of Wisconsin versus
Michael Piaskowski.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant,

"Michael L. Piaskowski guilty
of the offense

-"of first-degree...
-[WOMAN SCREAMS]

"...intentional homicide."

"Mike Piaskowski, guilty"
and Lisa screamed.

And we weren't supposed to
make any noise.

And...

I collapsed down here,

and we weren't supposed
to do anything

so we're weeping.

What I remember is
"Michael Piaskowski,
guilty."

"Oh, no. Mikey, no."

You know? It was
her right behind me.

"State of Wisconsin versus
Reynold Moore.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant,
Reynold C. Moore

-"guilty of..."
-[WOMAN SCREAMING AND WAILING]

"...first-degree
intentional homicide,

-"party to the crime..."
-[WOMAN SCREAMING]

JUDGE: Remove her, please.

-GUARD: You're out of here.
-[WOMAN WHIMPERS]

REPORTER: One person ordered
being removed from
the courtroom right now.

That is Rey Moore's wife

and daughter being removed
from the courtroom right now.

-Three guilty verdicts.
-If any further demonstrations,

I'll clear the courtroom
before I proceed.

"State of Wisconsin
versus Michael Hirn.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant, Michael Hirn,

"guilty of the offense

-"of first-degree
intentional homicide..."
-[WOMAN CRYING]

"...party to the crime
on or about
November 21st, 1992,

"as charged
in the information

"dated at Green Bay,
Brown County, Wisconsin,

"this 28th day
of October, 1995.

"State of Wisconsin versus
Dale Basten.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant, Dale N. Basten,

"guilty of the offense

"of first-degree
intentional homicide,

"party to the crime on or about
November 21st, 1992."

"State of Wisconsin
versus Michael Johnson.

"We, the jury, find
the defendant, Michael Johnson,

"guilty of the offense

"of first-degree
intentional homicide,

-party of the crime...
-REPORTER: That's it.
Guilty verdicts...

JUDGE: ...November 21st, 1992.

REPORTER: ...for
all six defendants.

PIASKOWSKI:
I lost faith in mankind.

I couldn't believe that society
was giving up on me that way.

It was terrible.

Um...

We were sentenced to life

for something we didn't do.

CAL: I was just glad
it was going to be
out of the media.

As selfish as that sounds,

I was just happy.

I thought, "Finally.
It's done." You know?

"I don't have
to listen to it anymore."

WINKLER:
I just wanted to go up

and personally shake
his hand and... um...

[BREATH TREMBLING]

I walked
in the D.A.'s office and...

and they all applauded me.
[BREATH TREMBLING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

PIASKOWSKI:
Minutes and hours...

and days go by so slowly.

The immediate time goes
so slowly.

But before you know it,
a year has gone, you know?

And then two years.

You've got to put
your mind into this...

space-y state, in a sense,

just to kind of
deal with it.

INTERVIEWER:
How do you keep
from losing it?

In prison?

Uh, you don't want
to know. [CHUCKLES]

Probably felt about the same
or maybe worse

than when I went to Vietnam.

At least when
I went to Vietnam,

I was...

I had a lot of bravado
and training.

I had no training for what was
going to come on in prison.

I got a phone call.

The guard of our cell block
got a phone call

and they came out,

and that happens only
on super rare occasions.

And then I got on the phone
and they announced

that my father had
passed away.

[BREATH TREMBLING]

And... [CLEARS THROAT]

Hmm.

And, um...

It was sad. It hurt.

Um...

I think the guards
were there...

I think
the guards were there to...

prevent...

a person that gets information
like that from going off.

Uh, they wanted to be
at the ready, so to speak.

And I didn't let it
hit me that way,

uh, 'cause that's not me.

I...

[EXHALES]

[INHALES]

I developed
an attitude for a while,

um, because what
the system did to me,

to my family, to my father.

They took away
our lives together

in his final years.
That's...

I was pretty bitter
for a while.

INTERVIEWER: How long
did that last for you?

Uh...

It's still there.

It's smaller,
but it's still there.

As some...

cop friends of mine
have said,

you know, Tom Monfils wasn't
the only victim in this...

in this case.

There are a lot of victims,
including me.

I worked very hard
on that homicide

and put in...

way too many hours

and put in
too much of myself.

And...

it took its toll on me.

And, so...

I got ill after.

It just... It all added up

and it just got
to be too much.

And, so I took
some time off.

KLEMM:
Brian and I also covered
the federal civil trial,

uh, that Susan Monfils brought
against Green Bay

and the police
for releasing the tape.

And it was all about police

and whether they had
created additional danger,

whether they had placed
Tom Monfils in danger

by releasing the tape.

At the end of it,

Susan Monfils and her children
were awarded about $2 million.

WINKLER:
When I got back to work,

um, I was assigned to work
with the civil attorneys

who were representing the city
against the civil suit.

And I was telling 'em
the truth.

Telling 'em what I was
gonna have to testify to.

If what... asked in court,

this is what
the answer is going to be.

And they didn't want that.

They didn't like
what they heard.

I got threatened
in the hallway

by the attorney
representing the city,

that I better not say

what he thinks
I'm going to say.

And then, you know,

against his better wishes

I did say
what needed to be said,

what the truth was.

INTERVIEWER:
What was that truth?

There was a question
as to...

whether the tapes were
still in existence,

because I believe
the city claimed

that they were
no longer in existence
and, um...

and I knew that
they were.

INTERVIEWER: But wasn't it
public knowledge

that the tape was released?
So how...

Yeah.

Hmm.

I'm getting in real...

untouchable territory.

You can't do an investigation
and find out only the things
you want to find out.

Then you find out
other things.

And you don't want
to know 'em,
but you know 'em.

And when it comes time
to have to testify to them,

you can't say,
"I don't remember."

Or you can't say,
"I don't want to."

You have to tell the truth.

And the truth is
going to be damning.

And... And...

not what
other police officers
want to hear,

not what
administration wants
to hear,

not what
the mayor wants to hear.

They wanted me
to be a good old boy

and not do anything
that would

incriminate the city,

that would show
the city liable.

They didn't want to be sued.

They didn't want
to have to pay anything,

and that's understandable.

But they also have to admit

that they did something wrong.

When that happens,

that's the only thing
you can do.

When you do something wrong,
you admit it and move on.

You learn from it.

I got back to work and...

when the chief
put out an order

that no one was
allowed to talk to me.

They moved my desk
to the one right in front
of the captain's door,

so the captain could see me
at all times.

You know?
And they let me know that.

You know? "That's why we're
putting you here,
so we keep an eye on you."

I retired
on October 31st of 1997,

I believe it was.

It was an agreement
between myself and the city,

and I took
a Duty Disability retirement.

Probably four years ago, I...

I would have been
very reluctant to talk to you

about this,
or about anything,
you know.

I was
still guarding myself,
but...

you know,
I don't feel that way now,

and chips will fall
where they fall.

CAL: I was glad
it was over with.
I was happy.

My parents could
move on now.

You know?
And I guess at that time

I just thought,
"Well, they gambled."
You know?

They thought there was
no evidence against them.

So they all gambled.

And, you know...

But then shortly after that,

it's like,
"Well, that makes no sense."

And then, you know,
I started to research

a little more on my own,
talking to people and...

and, you know,
every day that goes on,

it's harder and harder
to believe.

This wasn't a group
of six drifters

that came through town
and had nothing to lose.

I mean,
they had everything to lose.

And they did
lose everything.

They wouldn't have been
smart enough to pull it off.

You know?
Now you may hate to say it,

but a few of them wouldn't
have been smart enough
to pull it off.

You're going to tell me
that these simple people
outfoxed the police?

That they didn't leave
any evidence anywhere and...

All we can go on is a lot
of common sense, really.

And, you know,
what human nature is,
I mean...

I find it impossible to believe
that you're gonna have
six people commit a crime,

within a three-four
minute period,

that didn't go
to work that day
planning to harm anybody.

They didn't
premeditate this,

there was
no prior planning.

And yet, they are going
to stick to it to this day.

It's pretty obvious to see
that it really doesn't add up.

INTERVIEWER: What was it about
this case that grabbed you?

STEVE KAPLAN: The lack
of evidence.

There was no direct evidence
of a beating and a murder.

There was nothing
in the history of any
of the six suspects,

then defendants,
now convicted,

um, not defendants,

that suggested to me
in any way they were violent.

Every time I looked at it,
it made no sense,

and I started to see,

particularly as I read
the news clippings

back in real time
from theGreen Bay paper,

I could see the pressure
on the police, on the D.A.

Somebody had to pay
for this,

the death of Tom Monfils.

And it just struck me...

um...

uh, as odd
that you would just say,

"Well, I don't want
to look at the possibility

"that this may not have been
a murder at all."

You know...

everybody calls it...
It's the "Monfils Six."

It's the "Monfils case."

And we know
the least about Tom.

CAL: He was my big brother.

He was also, in a sense,
almost a parent to me.

INTERVIEWER: And what was
the age gap
between you and Tom again?

CAL: Ten years.

Where a lot of people are
just kind of,

"Ah, that's
my little brother.

"Go away.
You're pestering me."

You know? It wasn't
like that at all.

I mean, if there is
any picture of a holiday

of the family together,

it's always my brother
and myself sitting
next to each other.

And then he had left
for the Coast Guard

for quite a few years.

STEIN:
And he was telling me,
you know, some stories

about when he was
in the Coast Guard
and stuff like that.

His thing
in the Coast Guard was

recovering people's bodies
that had committed suicide

from jumping off
of bridges,

and railroad trestles,
and...

And the way
he described it,

how they would just shackle
themselves to this weight

so they couldn't
get away from it.

And they were going down.
And he says, "Well, they...

"When they wanted
to kill themselves,

"they knew
that they weren't gonna...

"they weren't gonna get
all them chains unlocked
and opened up and..."

And then when I found out
he had a rope around his neck

and a weight
at the end of it and stuff,

I was just like, "Man.
That's almost like the stuff
he was describing to me."

[BELL RINGING]

CAL: I was driving with Susan.
It was just me and her,

and we were all making
funeral arrangements.

And we'd just left
the cemetery

and we were going
to a floral shop

that was
in the neighborhood.

So we had just pulled
in the lot, and it was noon.

The noon news comes
on the radio and says

that, you know,
Tom was found with a rope

and a weight tied
around his neck.

And we hadn't known that.

You know, Sue had
obviously already known

that he had passed away,
that he was found in the vat.

When she heard
about this rope and weight,

she just keeled over
in the passenger seat

and stared at the floor
for a period of time,

and then said to me,
"Take me to the bank."

We went to the bank
and she wanted to go

in her security deposit box,
which she did.

And she was just back there
15 to 20 minutes.

And then she came out.
And then we ended up,
from there,

we went to
my sister's house.

I'm just wondering,
what was she looking for?

Was she heading there to see
if there was a note in there?

INTERVIEWER:
Did you ask her at the time?

No, I didn't.

KAPLAN:
What are you looking for
in the safe deposit box?

Are you worried about...

Do you want to look
at the insurance policies

to see if there is
a suicide exclusion?

Because now you've made
the same connection

that a lot of guys have
made at the mill

that he died
in the exact manner

that he used to talk about
people killing themselves,

committing suicide
by drowning

with heavy objects
tied to them.

CAL: We went to the bank,
and of course,
I stood there and waited.

You know, I didn't
go in with her.

She was in there
15-20 minutes,

and then we got in the car

and we drove
to my sister's house.

It was just an odd thing.

KAPLAN:
Susan Monfils had
a conversation

with Tom's mother,
Cal's mother also.

CAL: She sat at my mom
and dad's house,

saying at the kitchen table,

saying that
he committed suicide.

She repeated it
several times.

And then there was
some talk

about some notes
that she had found

above the ceiling tiles
in her bedroom.

KAPLAN:
Susan Monfils testified

that after Tom's death,

she had pushed up
a ceiling panel,

I think in the bedroom.

Because she was thinking
about doing some renovations.

And down fell
a business card

from the Green Bay Police,

and there were
names written on it

of police officers.

And she was then asked,
"Well, what did you do with it?"

"I burned it."

Sue knows a lot more

than she ever said.

And there's really
nobody in the family
that disagrees with that.

KAPLAN: And then
the question was the knots.

What are the knots?

We find a guy living
in the Minneapolis suburbs

who spent, I think
it was at least four years
in the Coast Guard,

and then
the bulk of his career

in the U.S. Merchant Marine.

And he looks
at the rope knots

that were tied
first around Tom's neck,

and then to the handle
of that 50-pound weight.

And he says those are
two-half-hitch knots.

And those are taught
in the Coast Guard.

Then Cal told me
that he had

obtained knots
from Tom's house
after Tom's death.

He went looking for knots,

and he found knots
that his brother had tied.

They were with a cord,
kind of a thin cord,

tied around nails.

And he had,
in the courtroom,

at the July 2015 hearing,

he had photographs
of those knots,

and he also had
the knots themselves.

They're the same knot

that was tied
around Tom's neck

and to the rope handle.

There are seven people
on the planet

who matter in terms
of knot tying.

The six defendants
and Tom Monfils.

Of the seven, the only one
who was shown to have

the ability and propensity

to tie that
two-half-hitch knot
is the guy

who was in the Coast Guard,
Tom Monfils.

Then I read
Dr. Young's testimony.

I read her autopsy report.

It made no sense to me.

She ruled out suicide
and ruled in homicide

on the basis
of a variety of assumptions.

"Well, these injuries
could only have been
caused by a beating

"before he was
put into the vat,
or entered the vat.

How she could
know that was beyond me.

It just made no sense.

Every one
of those injuries
could've been

suffered in the vat.

There is no injury here
that tells me

that it could only have been
inflicted by a beating.

He had
a two-inch-long
skull fracture,

the edges
of which were parallel,
3/8 inch wide,

and 1/16th
of an inch deep.

At his deposition,

the lead engineer
for the mill said

that with
the blades rotating,

Mr. Monfils, particularly with
this 50-pound weight would've

been physically sucked

into contact with the blades.

The police never took

physical possession
of the blades,

but they measured them.

They measured the edge

as 3/8 inch wide.

The exact width
of this fracture.

And the thought
that the police didn't know

that the dimensions
of that fracture

just exactly match the width
of those rotating blades is

a bridge too far
for me to believe.

The most logical inference
you can draw,

if we're going
to draw inferences,

let's draw this one.

Tom Monfils had
made up his mind

that his life was
not worth living.

The last person
to see him alive
is Pete Delvoe,

a worker at the mill.
And Pete says

he saw Tom walking
toward the airlock entrance

to the number seven coop.

Now that airlock entrance
leads to that coop,

and it also leads
to the storage room

where Tom's jump rope was
hanging on a railing.

The first couple of times

that Pete Delvoe was
interviewed, he said,

"I saw him walking
into the number seven coop."

Later on, he said,

"Well, I think that's where
he was walking,

"'cause that's where
the guys would have gone

"after finishing a task
on the number seven machine."

But we know Mike Piaskowski

and Dennis Servais were
sitting there at that time,

and both Dennis and Mike said,
"He never came in here."

He had to have gone
through the other door

in this... that was
connected to this airlock

that led to what was called
the three-four storage room

where the rope was
hanging on a railing.

And we also know

that the 50-pound weight was
sitting on the floor

right by the entrance
to that airlock.

So Tom clearly knew
where that weight was.

Anybody who worked on seven

knew where that weight was.

There was no evidence

that only
Mike Piaskowski knew

where this rope
and the weight were.

He picks it up
by the handle,

walks through the airlock,

goes through the door
to the storage room,

takes his rope
off the railing,

and proceeds unnoticed.

And this was
an isolated area

now that he is in,
in the mill.

He ties one end
of that jump rope
around his neck,

the other end
to the handle of that weight.

Uh, and he knew that he needed
the 50-pound weight

to keep himself submerged

so that he would not do
what a normal person
would do,

which is to fight to...

struggle to the top
of the surface and breathe.

INTERVIEWER:
Do you think that...

Sue would ever say
if she knew anything else?

I don't think so.

I think if, you know,

one person can
hold it inside.

But not six.

REY MOORE: The truth is
going to come out.

I mean,
it may not be today.

It may not be tomorrow.
It may be five years from now.

But the truth will come out.

And when
the truth comes out,

and my kids can walk
with their head held high

and know that
the world knows

that their father is
not a murderer.

Then it'll be worth it.

I brought that tape to work.

I played that tape.

It was no secret.

That was all I did.

I had no knowledge

that anybody was
going to kill Tom.

NEWSREADER: Michael Johnson,
serving his sentence

in another Tennessee prison,
tells what he saw.

You know, people weren't
throwing things around,

or stomping on the floor,

or banging their fists
on the table or...

It didn't seem like that kind
of an atmosphere to me.

You know? I didn't see
any violent reaction at all.

People were just
interested in it.

I mean, you know,
they wanted to
listen to it.

You know, what was on it?

Myself and the other men
are innocent men

convicted by
state-sponsored perjury,

coerced by
Detective Randy Winkler,

and forced into the mouth

of Brian Kellner
through threats.

Um...

Threats and intimidation.

That's fundamentally against
the principles

this country is founded on.

There is no other evidence.

PIASKOWSKI:
I was in the gymnasium
doing some extra work.

One of the sergeants
from cell block one
hollered out.

"Hey, Piaskowski,
come here once!"

He asked me if I...

if I was the guy
with the Monfils case.

And I said "Yeah." He says,
"Well, you're on TV right now.

"The judge has
made a decision.

"You're going
to want to see this."

And in
the sergeant's quarters,

there were several guys there
like that.

And they're all like,
"Yeah, yeah.
You're going home.

"You're going home."

Mike's appeal
had been granted.

[MIMICS SCREAMING
IN EXCITEMENT]

I scream, I scream!

I'm at work
and I'm screaming.

I didn't know
what they were
talking about.

And he said, "Yeah,
they've got it on TV.

"It'll be coming on again
in a minute."

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
A huge decision
from a federal judge

in Milwaukee today,

overturning
the five-year-old conviction
of Mike Piaskowski.

In this 25-page decision,

Federal Judge Myron Gordon says
there is no evidence

tying Mike Piaskowski
to the murder of Tom Monfils.

Probably the best day
of my life,

short of
my daughter's birth

and my marriage
and all those usual things.

Best unusual day of my life.

You only get probably
one miracle in your life.

And I've had it.

And Mike's had it.
Whatever.

We've had it.

PIASKOWSKI:
And the first thing
I wanted was

a Whopper, of all things,
if you think about it.

Anything...
I'm craving a Whopper.

INTERVIEWER:
How was that Whopper?

It was very good.
Very, very good.

TV HOST:
What else do you find
that you appreciate?

Oh.

The toilet seat.

Metal eating utensils.

A glass glass.

A ceramic coffee cup.

Little things like that.

On my left forearm,

I have the date and exoneree.

I don't know if you guys can
see it or not, but it's...

[INTERVIEWER LAUGHS]

But it's here.

See if you can
get it in there.

ZAKOWSKI:
No, he wasn't exonerated.

He was not exonerated.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.
What is the... Correct us.

He was mistakenly let go.
That's what...

I asked one of the justices
who I respect,

"What about the rope
and weight?"

And he said,
"What rope and weight?"

And I'm thinking,
"Well, are we talking
about the same case?

"Did you read
the same transcript?"

It's my understanding
that the way it was presented

was that Mike Piaskowski was
guilty of the murder

and not guilty of conspiracy
to commit murder,

which is what the crime was
that he was charged with

and found guilty of.

They were charged
with party to the crime

of first-degree
intentional homicide.

This was
a collective group act,

and that's what
they were charged as.

It wasn't that all six of them
tied the rope around his neck,

or threw him in the vat.

It was that they are all part
of this sequence of events.

He didn't hear

half the evidence
against Piaskowski.

About the rope,
the weight,

the significance
of his testimony,

tying himself to Kutska
and being there at the time

that he was beaten

and then having
the same motive.

So he wasn't...
In our opinion,
he wasn't exonerated.

He was released.

If he did do it,
he's gotten away with it.

And if he didn't do it,

the other five should be
with him and gotten out
as well.

Why is that...

Why is there justice
for just Piaskowski?

KAPLAN:
In February of 2014,

my partner, John Lundqvist,

who was willing to help me,

um, with the burdens
of this case,

he interviewed Brian Kellner.

And during
the course of the...

the one hour or so
he spent with Brian,

Brian says to John

there was never
any conversation

by Keith on that occasion
at the Fox Den Bar

about Tom Monfils, period.

Nothing.

Not even
a hypothetical conversation.

It simply never happened.

It was all made up.

[KELLNER READING]

WILLIAMS: He should have
stuck up for himself,

or fought for help
somewhere, somehow

to try to get this.

But when...

you're a person
who loves your children

and doesn't want
to see them taken away

and put in foster care,

or God only knows where...

you know,
desperate times sometimes

make you do
desperate things,

such as sign
a piece of paper.

KAPLAN:
John leaves Minneapolis

and he's made it, I think,
just to Wausau or just beyond,

uh, just east of there,

and I get a phone call
from Mike Piaskowski saying

Brian had died that morning.

You know, it...

It was unfortunate

that...

he lied.

It was unfortunate
that by the time he was

ready to cleanse himself
as it were,

and try to make amends

for what he had done,

that, um, it was too late.

He died.

So that was tragic

for many, many reasons.

There's so much judgment
that goes with this,

so many opinions,

it's hard to be associated
with any part of this

and not have
some kind of stigma.

I don't raise a flag of
"I'm Brian Kellner's daughter,"

you know, kind of thing.

I don't...

I talk about my dad.

But I don't talk about this
for my dad, you know,
kind of thing.

I talk about my dad
as being my dad.

Not as being, you know,
the key witness
in the Monfils case.

He was my father first
before he was a witness.

WINKLER: I think back...

My career ended abruptly.

Not the way
I intended it to end.

But until that point,

I had the most
fantastic life.

[CAR APPROACHING]

I did experience...

being a cop.

I lived my dream.

Short, but I lived it.

Throughout this
entire process,
I think I've been...

um...

labeled as the one
that solved this case.

But it wasn't me alone.

I just either got the...

got the credit,
or the blame.

[LAUGHING] Depends
on how you look at it.

I won the lottery.

I don't know how else
to put it.

The legal system in our country
is the best in the world,

except for
the death penalty.

It's the best in world,
but it makes mistakes.

And this again
is another one.

And when they make a mistake,
it's a horrible one.

In the big picture,
you know,

the huge mistake
they made in our case,

and against me in particular,
the system worked.

The appeals system allowed me
to regain my freedom.

It's a mistake.

Things happen.
Things happen.

Unfortunately, the mistake
continues for my co-defendants.

You have to keep that light
at the end of the tunnel,

remain faithful
in the system.

If you lose hope,
you might as well
lose your life.

'Cause a life without hope
of some kind is
a pretty shitty way of life.

CAL: I haven't seen
Tom's children in...
20 years.

I think
my daughter is 24,

and she doesn't even know
who they are.

She's never met 'em.

All right.
I shouldn't say that.
Younger, she's met 'em,

but she has
no recollection of it
at all.

[INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION]

CAL: And I think
it's very hard for people

to understand
where I'm coming from.

See, people, they immediately
jump to conclusions

and think, oh,
like I'm a sellout.

Or like "Oh, my God,
that's terrible."

Like, "He's with those guys,"
you know?

If I really thought
any of these guys had
anything to do with that,

outside of
playing the tape,

you know, a little
verbal harassment, I...

you know, I'd have
no use for the guys.

You know, I am...
I am for the death penalty.

If you can prove it,

I am an
eye-for-an-eye person.

But...

this just doesn't add up.

If everything was reversed
and Tom was in jail right now,

my family would be
as vocal as anybody

and trying get him
out of prison

and prove his innocence.

INTERVIEWER:
What do you think Tom would
want at this point?

I don't know.
That's a tough...

That's a tough question.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:
Dale Basten is now serving

his life sentence
at Green Bay Correctional.

Well, I'll be 60
on my next birthday.
So...

I don't know what to say.

I suppose I have
a very good chance

of dying in prison.

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING]