HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender, was raped and stabbed outside the apartment building where she lived in the
Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
neighborhood of
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, United States. Two weeks after the murder, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published an article erroneously claiming that 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack, and that none of them called the police or came to her aid. The incident prompted inquiries into what became known as the
bystander effect The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. First proposed in 1964, much research, mostly in the lab, has f ...
, or "Genovese syndrome", and the murder became a staple of U.S.
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
textbooks for the next four decades. However, researchers have since uncovered major inaccuracies in the ''New York Times'' article. Police interviews revealed that some witnesses had attempted to call the police. Reporters at a competing news organization discovered in 1964 that the ''Times'' article was inconsistent with the facts, but they were unwilling at the time to challenge ''Times'' editor Abe Rosenthal. In 2007, an article in the ''
American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering science ...
'' found "no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive". In 2016, the ''Times'' called its own reporting "flawed", stating that the original story "grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived". Winston Moseley, a 29-year-old
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
native, was arrested during a house
burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
six days after the murder. While in custody, he confessed to killing Genovese. At his trial, Moseley was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death; this sentence was later commuted to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
. Moseley died in prison on March 28, 2016, at the age of 81, having served 52 years.


Victim

Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese (July 7, 1935 – March 13, 1964) was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the eldest of five children of Italian-American parents Rachel () and Vincent Andronelle Genovese. She was raised
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, living in a brownstone residence at 29 St. John's Place in Park Slope, a western Brooklyn neighborhood populated mainly by families of Italian and Irish heritage. In her teenage years, Genovese attended the all-girl
Prospect Heights High School Prospect Heights High School, formerly The Girls' Commercial High School, is a defunct comprehensive high school that served the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City from the 1920s to 2006. Prospect Heights Campus is the col ...
, where she was recalled as being "self-assured beyond her years" and having a "sunny disposition". After her mother witnessed a murder, Genovese's family moved to New Canaan,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, in 1954, while Genovese, who had recently graduated from high school, remained in Brooklyn with her grandparents to prepare for her upcoming marriage. Later that year, the couple wed, but the marriage was annulled near the end of 1954 due to Genovese's sexuality as a lesbian. After moving into an apartment in Brooklyn, Genovese worked in clerical jobs, which she found unappealing. By the late 1950s, she had accepted a position as a bartender. In August 1961, she was briefly arrested for bookmaking, as she had been taking bets on horse races from bar patrons. She and a friend, Dee Guarnieri, were fined $50 each and she lost her job. Genovese held another bartending position at Ev's Eleventh Hour Bar on Jamaica Avenue and 193rd Street in
Hollis Hollis may refer to: *Hollis (singer) *Hollis (name) Places * Hollis, Alaska * Hollis, Kansas * Hollis, Maine * Hollis, Missouri * Hollis, New Hampshire * Hollis, Oklahoma * Hollis, Queens, neighborhood in New York **Hollis (LIRR station), its Lon ...
,
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, and was soon managing the bar on behalf of its absentee owner. By working double-shifts she was able to save money, which she intended to use to open an Italian restaurant. She shared her
Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
apartment at 82–70 Austin Street with Mary Ann Zielonko, her girlfriend since 1963.


Attack

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on March 13, 1964, Genovese left the bar where she worked and began driving home in her red
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
. While waiting for a traffic light to change on Hoover Avenue, she was spotted by Winston Moseley, who was sitting in his parked
Chevrolet Corvair The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, air- ...
. Genovese arrived home around 3:15 a.m. and parked her car in the Kew Gardens Long Island Rail Road station parking lot, about from her apartment's door, in an alleyway at the rear of the building. As she walked toward the apartment complex, Moseley, who had followed her home, exited his vehicle, which he had parked at a corner bus stop on Austin Street. Armed with a hunting knife, he approached Genovese. Genovese ran toward the front of the building, and Moseley ran after her, overtook her, and stabbed her twice in the back. Genovese screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!" Several neighbors heard her cry, but only a few of them recognized the sound as a cry for help. When Robert Mozer, one of the neighbors, shouted at the attacker, "Let that girl alone!" Moseley ran away and Genovese slowly made her way toward the rear entrance of the building, seriously injured and out of view of any witnesses. Witnesses saw Moseley enter his car, drive away, and return ten minutes later. Shadowing his face with a wide-brimmed hat, he systematically searched the parking lot, the train station, and an apartment complex, eventually finding Genovese, who was barely conscious and lying in a hallway at the back of the building, where a locked door had prevented her from going inside. Out of view of the street and of those who may have heard or seen any sign of the initial attack, Moseley stabbed Genovese several more times before
raping Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or a ...
her, stealing
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
49 from her, and running away again. The attacks spanned approximately half an hour, and knife wounds in Genovese's hands suggested that she attempted to defend herself. A neighbor and close friend, Sophia Farrar, found Genovese shortly after the second attack and held her in her arms until an ambulance arrived. Records of the earliest calls to police are unclear and were not given a high priority; the incident occurred four years before New York City implemented the
911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...
emergency call system. One witness said his father called the police after the initial attack and reported that a woman was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around". A few minutes after the final attack, another witness, Karl Ross, called friends for advice on what to do before calling the police. Genovese was picked up by an ambulance at 4:15 a.m., and died en route to the hospital. She was buried on March 16, 1964, in Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, Connecticut.


Police investigation

Genovese's girlfriend, Mary Ann Zielonko, was questioned by Detective Mitchell Sang at 7:00 a.m. on the morning after the murder. She was later interrogated for six hours by two homicide detectives, John Carroll and Jerry Burns, whose questioning centered on her relationship with Genovese. This was also the police's focus when they questioned the couple's neighbors. Initially, Zielonko was considered to be a suspect. On March 19, 1964, six days after the stabbing, Moseley was arrested for suspected robbery in
Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...
after a television set was discovered in the trunk of his car. Moseley's car was searched after a local man, Raoul Cleary, became suspicious when he saw Moseley removing the television from a neighbor's house. Cleary questioned Moseley, who claimed to be a removal worker. However, after consulting another neighbor, Jack Brown, who confirmed that the homeowners were not moving, Cleary called the police. Brown disabled Moseley's car to ensure he could not get away before police arrived. A detective recalled that a white car similar to Moseley's had been reported by some of the witnesses to Genovese's murder, and he informed Detectives Carroll and Sang. During questioning, Moseley admitted to the murders of Genovese and two other women – Annie Mae Johnson, who had been shot and burned to death in her apartment in
South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...
a few weeks earlier; and 15-year-old Barbara Kralik, who had been killed in her parents'
Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the we ...
home the previous July.


Perpetrator

Winston Moseley (1935–2016) was 29 years old at the time he murdered Genovese. He was from Ozone Park, Queens, and worked at Remington Rand as a tab operator, preparing the punched cards used at that time mainly for data input for digital computers. Moseley was married with three children and had no criminal record. While in custody, Moseley confessed to killing Genovese. He detailed the attack, corroborating the physical evidence at the scene. He said that his motive for the attack was simply "to kill a woman", saying he preferred to kill women because "they were easier and didn't fight back". He stated that he got up that night around 2 a.m., while his wife was working nights as a registered nurse, and drove through Queens to find a victim. Moseley saw Genovese on her way home and followed her to the parking lot before killing her. He also confessed to murdering and
sexually assaulting Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
two other women and to committing between 30 and 40 burglaries. Subsequent psychiatric examinations suggested that Moseley was a
necrophile Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ' ...
.


Trial

Moseley was charged with the murder of Genovese, but was not charged with the other two murders he had admitted to. For the police, a complicating factor was that another man, Alvin Mitchell, had also confessed to the murder of Barbara Kralik. Moseley's trial began on June 8, 1964, and was presided over by Judge J. Irwin Shapiro. Moseley initially pleaded not guilty, but his attorney later changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. During his testimony, Moseley described the events on the night he murdered Genovese, along with the two other murders to which he had confessed and numerous other burglaries and rapes. The jury deliberated for seven hours before returning a guilty verdict at around 10:30 p.m on June 11. On June 15, Moseley was sentenced to death for the murder of Genovese. When the jury foreman read the sentence, Moseley showed no emotion, while some spectators applauded and cheered. Shapiro added, "I don't believe in capital punishment, but when I see a monster like this, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch myself." On June 23, Moseley appeared as a
defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
witness in the trial of Alvin Mitchell for the murder of Barbara Kralik. After being granted
immunity from prosecution Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...
, he testified that he had killed Kralik. The trial produced a hung jury, but Mitchell was convicted in a second trial. On June 1, 1967, the
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...
found that Moseley should have been able to argue that he was medically insane at the sentencing hearing when the trial court found that he had been legally sane, and the sentence was reduced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
.


Imprisonment and death

On March 18, 1968, Moseley escaped from prison while being transported back from Meyer Memorial Hospital in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, where he had undergone minor surgery for a self-inflicted injury. He hit the transporting correctional officer, stole his weapon, and fled to a nearby vacant house owned by a Grand Island couple, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Kulaga, where he stayed undetected for three days. On March 21, the Kulagas went to check on the house, where they encountered Moseley, who held them hostage for more than an hour, binding and gagging Matthew and raping Mrs. Kulaga. He then took the couple's car and fled. Moseley traveled to Grand Island where, on March 22, he broke into another house and held a woman and her daughter hostage for two hours before releasing them unharmed. He surrendered to police shortly afterward, and was charged with escape and kidnapping, to which he pleaded guilty. Moseley was given two additional 15-year sentences to run concurrently with his life sentence. In September 1971, Moseley participated in the Attica Prison riot. Later in the same decade, he obtained a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
in prison from
Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...
. He became eligible for
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
in 1984. During his first parole hearing, he told the parole board that the notoriety he faced due to his crimes made him a victim, stating, "For a victim outside, it's a one-time or one-hour or one-minute affair, but for the person who's caught, it's forever." At the same hearing, Moseley claimed he never intended to kill Genovese and that he considered her murder to be a mugging because "people do kill people when they mug them sometimes." The board denied his request for parole. Moseley returned for a parole hearing on March 13, 2008, the 44th anniversary of Genovese's murder. He continued to show little remorse for Genovese's murder and parole was again denied. Genovese's brother Vincent was unaware of the 2008 hearing until he was contacted by reporters for the New York '' Daily News''. Vincent has reportedly never recovered from his sister's murder. "This brings back what happened to her," Vincent had said; "the whole family remembers". Moseley was denied parole an eighteenth time in November 2015, and died in prison on March 28, 2016, at the age of 81. He had served 52 years, making him one of the longest-serving inmates in the
New York State prison system New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
.


Reaction


Public reaction

The murder did not receive much immediate media attention. It took a remark from
New York City Police Commissioner The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department and presiding member of the Board of Commissioners. The commissioner is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the mayor. The commissioner is responsib ...
Michael J. Murphy to ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' metropolitan editor
A. M. Rosenthal Abraham Michael Rosenthal (May 2, 1922 – May 10, 2006) was an American journalist who served as ''The New York Times'' executive editor from 1977 to 1986. Previously he was the newspaper's city editor and managing editor. Near the end of his tenu ...
over lunch – Rosenthal later quoted Murphy as saying, "That Queens story is one for the books" – to motivate the ''Times'' into publishing an investigative report. The article, written by Martin Gansberg and published on March 27, 1964, two weeks after the murder, claimed that 38 witnesses saw the murder, but an error reduced the number of witnesses by one in the headline, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police". It has been quoted and reproduced since 1964 with a corrected headline of "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police". The public view of the story crystallized around a quote from the article by an unidentified neighbor who saw part of the attack but deliberated before finally getting another neighbor to call the police, saying, "I didn't want to get involved." Many then saw the story of Genovese's murder as emblematic of the callousness or apathy of life in big cities, and New York in particular.
Science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
author and cultural ''provocateur''
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
stated that "thirty-eight people watched" Genovese "get knifed to death in a New York street". His June 1988 article in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (later reprinted in his book ''
Harlan Ellison's Watching ''Harlan Ellison's Watching'' () is a 1989 compilation of 25 years worth of essays and film reviews written by Harlan Ellison for ''Cinema'' magazine, the ''Los Angeles Free Press'', ''Starlog'' magazine, and ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science F ...
'') referred to the murder as "witnessed by thirty-eight neighbors, not one of whom made the slightest effort to save her, to scream at the killer, or even to call the police". He cited reports he claimed to have read that one man, "viewing the murder from his third-floor apartment window, stated later that he rushed to turn up his radio so he wouldn't hear the woman's screams". Public reaction to murders happening in the neighborhood supposedly did not change. According to a ''New York Times'' article dated December 28, 1974, ten years after Genovese's murder, 25-year-old Sandra Zahler was beaten to death early Christmas morning in an apartment within a building that overlooked the site of the Genovese attack. Neighbors again said they heard screams and "fierce struggles" but did nothing. In an interview on NPR on March 3, 2014, Kevin Cook, author of ''Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America'', said:
Thirty-eight witnesses – that was the story that came from the police. And it really is what made the story stick. Over the course of many months of research, I wound up finding a document that was a collection of the first interviews. Oddly enough, there were 49 witnesses. I was puzzled by that until I added up the entries themselves. Some of them were interviews with two or three people holived in the same apartment. I believe that some harried civil servant gave that number to the police commissioner who gave it to Rosenthal, and it entered the modern history of America after that.
Two decades after the murder, the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' began an article titled "Justice in the wrong hands" by saying:


Psychological research

Harold Takooshian Harold Takooshian (born 1949) is an American psychologist, scholar, and professor at Fordham University. He is best known as an expert on the Kitty Genovese murder case, having spent many years studying the subject and the role that the "bystand ...
, writing in ''
Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. It began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The ''Psychology Today'' website features therapy and health professionals direct ...
'', stated that: Psychologist Frances Cherry has suggested the interpretation of the murder as an issue of bystander intervention is incomplete. She has pointed to additional research such as that of Borofsky and Shotland demonstrating that people, especially at that time, were unlikely to intervene if they believed a man was attacking his wife or girlfriend. She has suggested that the issue might be better understood in terms of male/female power relations. The apparent lack of reaction by numerous neighbors purported to have watched the scene or to have heard Genovese's cries for help, although erroneously reported, prompted research into
diffusion of responsibility Diffusion of responsibility is a sociopsychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present. Considered a form of attribution, the individual assume ...
and the
bystander effect The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. First proposed in 1964, much research, mostly in the lab, has f ...
. Social psychologists
John M. Darley John M. Darley (April 3, 1938 – August 31, 2018) was an American social psychologist and professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University. Darley is best known, in collaboration with Bibb Latané, for developing theories th ...
and
Bibb Latané Bibb Latané (; born July 19, 1937) is an American social psychologist. He worked with John M. Darley on bystander intervention in emergencies. He has also published many articles on social attraction in animals, social loafing in groups, and the s ...
started this line of research, showing that contrary to common expectations, larger numbers of bystanders decrease the likelihood that someone will step forward and help a victim. The reasons include the fact that onlookers see that others are not helping either, that onlookers believe others will know better how to help, and that onlookers feel uncertain about helping while others are watching. The Genovese case thus became a classic feature of
social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
textbooks in the United States and the United Kingdom. In September 2007, ''
American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering science ...
'' published an examination of the factual basis of coverage of the Genovese murder in psychology textbooks. The three authors concluded that the story was more
parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
than fact, largely because of inaccurate newspaper coverage at the time of the incident. According to the authors, "despite this absence of evidence, the story continues to inhabit our introductory social psychology textbooks (and thus the minds of future social psychologists)." A survey of ten leading undergraduate psychology textbooks found the Genovese case in all ten of them, with eight textbooks suggesting that witnesses watched from their windows as Genovese was murdered, and two textbooks stating that some or most of the witnesses heard but could not see the attack.


Inaccuracy of original reports

More recent investigations have questioned the original version of events. A 2004 article in ''The New York Times'' by
Jim Rasenberger Jim Rasenberger is an American writer, born in Washington, D.C. and living in New York City. He has published three books, and contributed to many publications, especially the ''New York Times'', '' Vanity Fair,'' and '' Smithsonian''. In Februa ...
, published on the 40th anniversary of Genovese's murder, raised numerous questions about claims in the original ''Times'' article. A 2007 study (confirmed in 2014) found many of the purported facts about the murder to be unfounded, stating there was "no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive". After Moseley's death in March 2016, the ''Times'' called their second story "flawed", stating: Because of the layout of the complex and the fact that the attacks took place in different locations, no witness saw the entire sequence of events. Investigation by police and prosecutors showed that approximately a dozen individuals had heard or seen portions of the attack, though none saw or was aware of the entire incident. Only one witness, Joseph Fink, was aware Genovese was stabbed in the first attack, and only Karl Ross was aware of it in the second attack. Many were entirely unaware that an assault or homicide had taken place; some thought what they saw or heard was a domestic quarrel, a drunken brawl or a group of friends leaving the bar when Moseley first approached Genovese. After the initial attack punctured her lungs, leading to her eventual death from asphyxiation, it is unlikely that Genovese was able to scream at any volume. A 2015 documentary, featuring Kitty's brother William, discovered that other crime reporters knew of many problems with the story even in 1964. Immediately after the story broke,
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
police reporter Danny Meehan discovered many inconsistencies in the original article in the ''Times''. Meehan asked ''Times'' reporter Martin Gansberg why his article failed to reveal that witnesses did not feel that a murder was happening. Gansberg replied, "It would have ruined the story." Not wishing to jeopardize his career by attacking a powerful figure like Rosenthal, Meehan kept his findings secret and passed his notes to fellow WNBC reporter
Gabe Pressman Gabriel Stanley "Gabe" Pressman (February 14, 1924 – June 23, 2017) was an American journalist who was a reporter for WNBC-TV in New York City for more than 60 years. His career spanned more than seven decades; the events he covered included th ...
. Later, Pressman taught a journalism course in which some of his students called Rosenthal and confronted him with the evidence. Rosenthal was irate that his editorial decisions were being questioned by journalism students and angrily berated Pressman in a phone call. On October 12, 2016, the ''Times'' appended an Editor's Note to the online version of its 1964 article, stating that, "Later reporting by The Times and others has called into question significant elements of this account."


Creation of 9-1-1

NYC's ''
WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...
'', looking back in 2014, reported on how "An Iconic Murder Helped Create the
9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...
System." A confirming
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
report wrote how "papers and media outlets ran with the story;" they also added "nearly a dozen books" and when it came to film, mentioned "James Solomon's film '' The Witness''" more than once. The report's "The Genesis of 911" section noted that "Up until the late 1960s, there was no centralized number for people to call in case of an emergency."


In popular culture

The story of the witnesses who did nothing "is taught in every introduction-to-psychology textbook in the United States and Britain, and in many other countries and has been made popularly known through television programs and books," and songs. It also now appears that the Kitty Genovese investigation and story was linked to false confessions in other cases. WNYC, PBS and the ''New York Times'' lookback articles referenced in particular one film (''The Witness'') and have noted the cumulative impact of the murder to the development of the 911 system.Before 1968, the only way to reach the police was by dialing '0' to reach an operator in hopes they were not too busy to transfer one's call.


Film and television

* The '' Perry Mason'' episode, "The Case of the Silent Six" (November 21, 1965), portrays the brutal beating of a young woman whose screams for help are ignored by the six residents of her small apartment building. The "get involved" quote is spoken once by Paul Drake and paraphrased by several other characters. * An American television movie, ''
Death Scream ''Death Scream'' is a 1975 American television film, made-for-television crime film, crime drama film loosely based on an actual event concerning the real-life account of "Kitty Genovese, a young woman whose murder was witnessed by fifteen of her ...
'' (1975), starring
Raúl Juliá Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After ...
, was based on the murder. * The ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'' episode "Remand" (1996) is loosely based on the Genovese case, as is the '' Law & Order: SVU'' episode "41 Witnesses" (2015). In the season 1 ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'' episode "The Violence of Summer" (1991), Detective Logan remarks: "It's the post-Kitty Genovese era, nobody wants to look, they think they'll get involved", when lamenting the lack of witnesses to a rape. * The 1999 vigilante film ''
The Boondock Saints ''The Boondock Saints'' is a 1999 American vigilante action thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as fraternal twin brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after ...
'' references Genovese's murder in the opening credits during a church sermon about the indifference of man. * '' History's Mysteries'', episode 15.2 "Silent Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Murder" (2006) on the History Channel, is a documentary of the murder. * '' The Echo'' (2008) is an American remake of the Filipino horror film, and explores the Genovese syndrome with a fictional murder in its place, with diffusion of responsibility amongst the witnesses who saw the murder but did nothing. * The film ''38 témoins'' (2012, ''38 Witnesses''), directed by Lucas Belvaux, is based on
Didier Decoin Didier Decoin (born 13 March 1945) is a French screenwriter and writer awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1977. Biography He is the son of filmmaker Henri Decoin. He began his career as a newspaper journalist at ''France Soir'', ''Le Figaro'' and ...
's 2009 novel about the case and reset in
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, France. * Season 2, episode 1 of the Investigation Discovery Channel's ''
A Crime to Remember ''A Crime to Remember'' is an American documentary television series that airs on Investigation Discovery and premiered on November 12, 2013. It tells the stories of notorious crimes that captivated attention of the media and the public when t ...
'' series, "38 Witnesses" (2014), is about the Genovese murder. * The 2015 film '' The Witness'' reexamines the murder with interviews of both Genovese's and her killer's families. * The 2016 film '' 37'' is a fictional account of the night Genovese was murdered. * Season 5, episode 7 of ''Girls'' (2016), "Hello Kitty" follows the characters as they navigate through an interactive theatrical version of Genovese's murder. * Season 1, Episode 2 of the American web television series ''
Mind Field ''Mind Field'' is an American streaming television series produced exclusively for YouTube Premium, created and presented by Michael Stevens, the creator of the YouTube channel Vsauce. The format of the series is based heavily on that of Vsauce, ...
'' covered the story of Kitty Genovese and the misinformation surrounding it.


Literature

* Genovese's murder inspired
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
's short story " The Whimper of Whipped Dogs", first published in '' Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings'' (1973). * The '' Watchmen'' comic series (1986-1987) by Alan Moore references Genovese's murder as a key influence behind the character
Rorschach Rorschach may refer to: * Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist ** Rorschach test, his psychological evaluation method involving inkblots * Rorschach (character), a character from the comics ''Watchmen'' * Rorschach (comic book), a 2020 comic * ...
's transformation into a vigilante. In the book, Rorschach's mask is fashioned from cloth taken from a (fictional) dress Kitty Genovese had custom made. The ''
Rorschach Rorschach may refer to: * Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist ** Rorschach test, his psychological evaluation method involving inkblots * Rorschach (character), a character from the comics ''Watchmen'' * Rorschach (comic book), a 2020 comic * ...
'' comic series (2020-2021), a distant sequel by Tom King, also references Genovese's murder. * In his book, ''
The Tipping Point ''The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference'' is the debut book by Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little, Brown in 2000. Gladwell defines a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling po ...
'' (2000), Malcolm Gladwell refers to the case and the "
bystander effect The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. First proposed in 1964, much research, mostly in the lab, has f ...
" as evidence of contextual cues for human responses. * Ryan David Jahn's novel ''Good Neighbors'' (2009) is based on the murder. *
Didier Decoin Didier Decoin (born 13 March 1945) is a French screenwriter and writer awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1977. Biography He is the son of filmmaker Henri Decoin. He began his career as a newspaper journalist at ''France Soir'', ''Le Figaro'' and ...
's novel ''Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent?'' (2009; ''Is This How Women Die?'', ) is based on the murder. * In ''Twisted Confessions: The True Story Behind the Kitty Genovese and Barbara Kralik Murder Trials'' (2013; ),
Charles Skoller Charles Skoller (July 26, 1932 - February 17, 2012) was an American prosecutor and author. He was an assistant district attorney for Queens County, New York City and while in that position prosecuted Winston Moseley, the murderer in the infamous ...
, the lead prosecutor from the Genovese murder trial, recalls the events and mass attention surrounding the crime. * ''Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences'' (2014; ) written by Catherine Pelonero is based on this case. * In the book ''"No One Helped": Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy'' (2016), by Marcia M. Gallo, won in the category of LGBT Nonfiction at the
Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...
.


Music

* Genovese's murder inspired folk singer
Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...
to write the song "
Outside of a Small Circle of Friends __NOTOC__ "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" is a song by Phil Ochs, a U.S. protest singer from the 1960s. "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", which was originally released on Ochs' 1967 album ''Pleasures of the Harbor'', became one of Och ...
", released on the album ''
Pleasures of the Harbor ''Pleasures of the Harbor'' is Phil Ochs' fourth full-length album and his first for A&M Records, released in 1967. It is one of Ochs's most somber albums. In stark contrast to his three albums for Elektra Records which had all been folk music, ...
'' (1967) and as a single. This song relates five different situations that should demand action on the part of the narrator – one of them a woman outside being stabbed – but in each case the narrator concludes: "I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends". * Following the
killing of Meredith Hunter Meredith Curly Hunter, Jr. (October 24, 1951 – December 6, 1969), was an American man who was killed at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert. During the performance by the Rolling Stones, Hunter approached the stage, and was violently driven off by m ...
at the Altamont Free Concert in 1969, KSAN put on a four-hour telephone call-in program to discuss the events. A woman who called in gave details about the violent behavior of Hells Angels at the show and said people didn't stop them because "we were all in terror of them". At the concert, she had tried to speak up against the violence, but was warned to be quiet by the people around her, for fear of being beaten. In his response, KSAN's
Scoop Nisker Wes ("Scoop") Nisker (born 1942) is an author, radio Pundit (expert), commentator, comedian, and Buddhist meditation instructor. Nisker was a fixture on the San Francisco original free-form radio station KYLD#KSAN, KSAN in the late 60's and 70's, ...
mentioned the bystander effect and the Genovese story. * The crime inspired singer Ruby Lynn Reyner from the band Ruby and the Rednecks to write the song "Kitty", originally released on the album ''From the Wrong Side of Town'' (2004), also released on the album ''Live Again! at CBGB's''. * The song "Big Bird" by AJJ on their 2011 album ''
Knife Man ''Knife Man'' is the fourth studio album by Andrew Jackson Jihad released by Asian Man Records on September 20, 2011. The album was recorded and mixed by Jalipaz Nelson at Audioconfusion in Mesa, Arizona. Track listing Critical reception Pun ...
'' references the Genovese murder. * Korean indie rock band
Nell Nell is a traditional nickname for Eleanor. Nell is the name of: People Given name * Nell (artist) (born 1975), Australian artist * Nell Blaine (1922–1996), American painter * Nell Bryden (born 1977), American singer * Nell Carter (1948–2003), ...
wrote the song "Dear Genovese" for their album ''Newton's Apple'' in 2014, inspired by these events.


Theatre

* English composer Will Todd's music theatre work, ''The Screams of Kitty Genovese'' (1999), is based on the murder.


See also

*
Crime in New York City Crime rates in New York City have been recorded since at least the 1800s. They have spiked ever since the post-war period. The highest crime totals were recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged, and then declined c ...
*
Death of Cristina and Violetta Djeordsevic Cristina and Violetta Djeordsevic or Ebrehmovich were Italian Roma people, Roma sisters aged 13 and 11 who drowned in the sea at the public beach at Torregaveta in the Metropolitan City of Naples on 19 July 2008. News media circulated photographs ...
(Italy) * Death of Wang Yue (China) *
Murder of Piang Ngaih Don On the morning of 26 July 2016, a Myanmar, Burmese maid Piang Ngaih Don (13 June 1992 – 26 July 2016) was found tortured, starved and beaten to death in a flat in Bishan, Singapore. Her killers were Prema S. Naraynasamy, an elderly woman, and ...
(Singapore) *
Social loafing In social psychology, social loafing is the phenomenon of a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when working alone. It is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combin ...
* Volunteer's dilemma


References

Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography * * * * * * * Includes interview with Mary Ann Zielonko and crime scene photographs. * * * * *


Further reading

* De May, Joseph, Jr. "Kitty Genovese: What you think you know about the case might not be true". ''A reinvestigation by a member of the Richmond Hill Historical Society''. Richmond Hill, NY. This comes in two versions: ** Single page that analyzes and argues with Gansberg's article, with links to other material. ** A 13-page comprehensive summary of the same article. * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Genovese, Kitty 1964 in New York City 1964 murders in the United States 1960s crimes in New York City 1960s trials 1960s in Queens Crimes in Queens, New York Deaths by person in New York City Deaths by stabbing in the United States Incidents of violence against women Journalism ethics March 1964 events in the United States Rape in the 1960s Rape trials in the United States Robberies in the United States Violence against LGBT people in the United States Violence against women in the United States