In the Crown Heights riots Dinkins essentially had the pool lice stand down but then a tape showed up on Ch 2 of cops being forced out of a playground by rock throwing kids.And it wasn’t two cops, it was 10+. Then the PC’s car was overturned. The PC was an import from Houston and had no feeling for his troops. Word spread to the white shirts from the ranks that they would stand down completely, Blue Flu. That and the media images led Dinkins to relent and the word went out to all commands “Take Back the Streets”. But the last two nights are like nothing the NYPD has seen before. It’s violent, widespread, and a blind man could see that it is coordinated.
I was thinking Tammany Hall days, I’m sure even back then something along these lines happened.