37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector

A Picture History of Kew Gardens ^ | (Updated 24 May 2003) | A Blogger

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Kitty Genovese

What you think you know about the Kitty Genovese case might not be true. According to the March 27, 1964 New York Times: For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab [Kitty Genovese] in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens. ... Not one person telephoned the police during the assault... . The story became a cultural landmark, making infamous the phrase, "We didn't want to get involved." However, the undisputed evidence from the killer's trial and other sources shows that the Times story is mostly wrong.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Click on the Source for the full story. Really a MUST SEE site.

The author argues convincingly that one of the most enduring and damaging legends in American culture may have been a fabrication by the New York Times. Who'could believe a thing like that.

The guest book has this entry:

May 22, 2003
i am a 15 year old student from Australia...My drama class, year 10, is doing a play on the murder of Kitty Genovese... I am now doing an assignment on winston moseley and am looking for further information...
Danielle
roxy_princess_chik@hotmail.com

A fabrication nearly half a century old is still festering half a world away.

[Shermy]

That's very interesting, thanks.

Complaints about the phone system with the police back then are interesting. Perhaps other calls were made but ignored. Or underestimated by the cranky call-taker because they might have been reported as a drunk incident rather than murder.

If such calls were made those police would keep a lid on it and prosecutors had no interest in pointing that out at the trial.

For sure the NYT reporter spiced up the story and put specific knowledge into "witnesses" minds they didn't have.

[Shermy]

That's very interesting, thanks.

Complaints about the phone system with the police back then are interesting. Perhaps other calls were made but ignored. Or underestimated by the cranky call-taker because they might have been reported as a drunk incident rather than murder.

If such calls were made those police would keep a lid on it and prosecutors had no interest in pointing that out at the trial.

For sure the NYT reporter spiced up the story and put specific knowledge into "witnesses" minds they didn't have.

[BCrago66]

I now live just about a mile from Kew Gardens. This is the 1st I heard that the Kitty Genovese crime happened there - it was always in my mind some amorphous place in New York City.

Spooky.

[Steve Eisenberg]

For sure the NYT reporter spiced up the story and put specific knowledge into "witnesses" minds they didn't have.

First of all, remember that a key Timesman here is A. M. Rosenthal, who was the most conservative Times columnist in memory, including Bill Safire. In fact, wasn't Rosenthal fired, about 10-15 years ago, for being too conservative?

Second, the New York Times did not make up the idea that people should have called the police and did not. The Times was just writing up the outrage of the police detectives.

Was the story exaggerated? Yes. Did it have mistakes? Yes, daily papers have no fact checkers and are full of mistakes. But the story was not completely wrong in spirit. There were members of the public who should have called the police but did not because they feared embarrassment should there be no real problem. Also, most likely, several citizens did not call the police because they hoped someone else was -- bad decision, since it appears that it sometimes took several calls to the police to consider a situation high priority.

Bottom line. If my wife or I suspect trouble, we call the police. If the original outrage of the New York detectives, and the Times story, contributed to others being the same, a service was rendered, albeit in a sloppy way.

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting the link.

I hope that a lot of people read those pages.

[viaveritasvita]

God only knows how many lies we've been force-fed by the leftie media in the last 30 years! Wouldn't I love to see every single dadgummed front page story reviewed for accuracy/veracity! AND a front page retraction, too. I detest the lefties with a passion!

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Will the last employee of the Times please turn off the light?

[Seti 1]

During WW2 Ernest Hemingway was famous for sitting in London pubs and Paris bistros while writing first-person accounts of the fighting front.

[Timesink]

You really should post as much of the actual article as possible. I know it's messy HTML, but Freepers are trained not to go look it if's not included in the original post, and this is something that needs to be looked at.

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

This is the New York Times Schadenfreude Ping List. Freepmail me to be added or dropped.

[WaterDragon]

Newspapers and reporters have ALWAYS been biased politically, and reporters have ALWAYS sensationalized everything.

What is evil about the NYTimes is its assumption of a false mantle of objectivity, sobriety and devotion to truthfulness. They sold that bill of goods to the U.S. to set itself apart from other papers, to make itself 'the paper of record.'

Hopefully, that tissue of lies is now beginning to unravel.

[WaterDragon]

It used to be that readers knew the papers were biased and made up most of their stories, or at least, better educated readers knew. When did Americans leave this kind of critical thinking behind?

[Imal]

I still prefer not being lied to, regardless of the motive.

[Irene Adler]

The site contains very interesting and illuminating research concerning this notorious case. I have bookmarked it. Thanks for posting this.

[RusIvan]

During WW2 Ernest Hemingway was famous for sitting in London pubs and Paris bistros while writing first-person accounts of the fighting front.++

Seriously? Never red about that. Can you give the reference?

[Clemenza]

Yep, it occurred near Austin Street and the LIRR station.

What also shocked people at the time is that it occurred in a safe, middle class neighborhood.

[Clemenza]

(Tragic) New York History ping

[Simcha7]

Thank You for posting this article.

Brings back memories of a nice Queens neighborhood.

I was less than 10 years old when this Homicide took place, we lived in Southern Queens, NY.

It was a two bus - one transfer bus ride to Kew Gardens and Queens BLVD.

I do remember that there was a lot of talk of this Crime, and why people did not come forward to help this poor woman.

May Miss. Genovese rest in peace.

Concerning the NY Times, in my opinion, is it really a Surprise to learn that the "truth" has Not ben told by their Reporters and Journalists? And these people have won..."Awards" for selling their Non-Truths, knowing full well that they were Not reporting the Truth and Facts the way it happened. Shame On Them!

Sensationalism sells News Papers, truth does not.

My parents always disliked the NY Times (as this news paper was a Liberal/Left Rag even back then in the 60's).

Even before the latest revelations of blatant journalistic: Corruption, Lies and Clintonian two-stepping spin at the NY Times...Whenever tele-martketers call looking to sign me up for a subscription to receive the Rag I say...It's all the Liberal News Fit for my Dog to make Pee-pee on!

[ChemistCat]

But I have seen video surveillance footage of people getting gas at a service station as someone was shot to death. They finished filling, then drove off, like nothing had happened. You could SEE that they could see what was going on. I guess they figured they were safer if they didnt' show that they saw it--but the police say that they received no calls from citizens. People just walked past the body. Whatever happened with Kitty Genovese, the impulse to "not get involved" remains with us. The Genovese case might have been a lie indeed, and it sounds like it was--a dreadful lie that smeared people who didn't deserve it. Still it does happen.