The NYT created a narrative of citizens watching indifferently as Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered.
It was largely myth. People did call the police, and most of them had no idea how bad the attack was, or where exactly it was.
https://nypost.com/2014/02/16/book-reveals-real-story-behind-the-kitty-genovese-murder/
But two men did watch and do nothing, one out of indifference, the other out of fearful indecisiveness. Their moral heirs live on.
I am aware that the New York Times and others have since tried to walk back the story - to rehabilitate the reputation of the Big Apple.
The link in my earlier post included this from the Times: “While there was no question that the attack occurred, and that some neighbors ignored cries for help, the portrayal of 38 witnesses as fully aware and unresponsive was erroneous. The article grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived. None saw the attack in its entirety. Only a few had glimpsed parts of it, or recognized the cries for help. Many thought they had heard lovers or drunks quarreling. There were two attacks, not three. And afterward, two people did call the police. A 70-year-old woman ventured out and cradled the dying victim in her arms until they arrived. Ms. Genovese died on the way to a hospital.”
All that is left is for the New York Times to report that the murder was “mostly peaceful.”