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What a Creep “The Murder of Kitty Genovese”

Season 15, Episode 2

The Real Details & the Aftermath of One of the Most Famous Murders in New York City

The murder of 28-year-old Kitty Genovese made national news when The New York Times on March 27, 1964, claimed that 37 people watched as she was stabbed to death and did nothing to help her. The expression “Bystander Syndrome” was developed partly because of her crime and her death became a symbol of apathy and a lack of community on the rise. None of what we were taught turns out to be true. Today, I will talk about the real Kitty Genovese, police work in the 1960s, the terrible reporting by the Times and other news outlets, and what we can learn from this travesty. 

Trigger warnings: murder, sexual assault, and rape. 

Sources for this episode

Kitty Genovese WIKI

Bystander Effect

AM Rosenthal

American Psychological Association

The Daily Beast

Chicago Tribune

New York Times Winston Moseley Death

The New Yorker

A Crime to Remember Season 2 Episode 1

The Witness (William Genovese) by James D Solomon & Jessica Robinson

New York Times Sophia Farrar Obit

The Guardian

Original NY Times article March 27, 1964

Thirty-Eight Witnesses by A.M. Rosenthal

Kitty Genovese by Catherine Pelonero

Fifty Years After Kitty Genevese by Peter Hellman & Albert A. Seedman 

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