# Crimetown Present podcast: Who is Billy Balls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762 "2019-03-30T12:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/1 "2019-03-30T12:39:46Z")
I have been listening to the new Crimetown Presents podcast, “The Ballad of Billy Balls,” about the 1982 murder of a rock musician in the punkk scene (CBGB, etc.). > **[Crimetown Returns With Series About Mysterious Death And Disappearance.](https://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/crimetown-returns-with-series-about-mysterious-death-and-disappearance/article_3ccab53a-523f-11e9-9d3e-d7c6c9ff3d61.html)** > > The gritty and raw New York of the 1970s and 80s is the setting for the new season of Cadence13’s Crimetown Presents podcast series. The latest season is entitled Crimetown My question—why can’t I find any information about Billy Balls or his murder online? Was it too obscure and too long ago to have left online references? I would have thought that there would have been some scrap of a news story in an archive online. But maybe I’m wrong. Is anyone familiar with this story? Did Billy Balls really exist? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/2 "2019-03-30T14:07:03Z")
I’m not familiar with it, but out of curiosity looked into it a little bit, and it is presenting itself as a real podcast, and by a group that has made real life podcasts before. I can’t find anything about the real story since searching any combination of “Billy Balls” “Rebecca Wright” “east village” “musician” “murder” mainly comes up with the podcast. And if you search the google news for a span of 1/1/82-1/1/83 for “Billy Balls” nothing comes up. I haven’t listened to the podcast, I’m guessing that Billy Balls wasn’t his real name, maybe if his real name is mentioned then a search for that will come up with something. But it also wouldn’t surprise me if an unsolved murder of a poor unknown punk rocker in 1982 barely made a blip in the news at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/3 "2019-03-30T14:12:16Z")
His real name is William Heitzman or Hightsman or Haitsman or something. They have said it but haven’t given the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/4 "2019-03-31T12:32:51Z")
I guess this isn’t a very popular podcast. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/5 "2019-03-31T13:04:48Z")
I enjoyed the original Crimetown podcast, so when I saw your thread I started listening. I haven’t found anything regarding the case on google, but honestly I don’t think an incident like this would warrant much attention at the time, and it’s not like the guy was famous outside his scene. If it is a fake, it’s totally deadpan. As a portrait of a particular time and place, it’s interesting. As a crime story? I’m not sure there’s much there. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogant73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Arrogant73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogant73)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/6 "2019-04-03T00:14:41Z")
Yeah, I’m thinking he’s a real guy and that there’s just no news about his MURDER because of who he was (or who he wasn’t) and when it all went down. There may have been a small news blurb or an obituary under his real name but it may not have made it into digital copy??? I’m thinking that this podcast is going to blow up and get a LOT of fanfare and then maybe we’ll start seeing more info. about who he was and what all went down… At least I hope so. It’s really turning out to be quite intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/7 "2019-06-27T12:12:55Z")
In still listening to this. Several of the mid-series episodes were kind of boring, but the last couple have been riveting. I have mixed feelings about this story. On the one hand it’s about really fucked yo drug addicts who made their own lives and their children’s lives miserable. Yes, one guy might have been somewhat of a talented musician, but he was so in over his head on drugs I don’t think I’d consider him a huge loss to rock and roll. On the other hand there’s a story of how institutional violence can really suck peoplenup for generations. Rebecca’s pain at the loss of Billy in such a violent way really is palpable, even 30-40 years later. And it surely kept her going back to drugs throughout her life, and Io (the narrator) definitely suffered from all that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimetown-present-podcast-who-is-billy-balls/831762/8 "2019-06-27T21:23:26Z")
[This link](https://www.hartisland.net/burial_records/36197-william-heitzman) is to someone trying to gather the stories of people buried in the New York City public cemetery on Hart Island, by posting the names from the burial registry and seeing what the public posts. One could argue that it’s circular that this name from the registry is linked to Billy Balls, but the fact that someone with Billy Balls’s real name was buried around the right time in the NYC paupers’ cemetery from the correct hospital tends to indicate that this is a true story.