If you saw last night's episode of "Girls" then you'll know why news of Kitty Genovese's killer's death emerging today is so odd. (The cast attends an interactive play about the notorious 1964 murder that became the poster crime for the "bystander effect..")
Lena Dunham's character notes that the play doesn't address that Genovese was a lesbian, but what would have been more infomative is the fact that the widely held belief that 37 or 38 people heard or saw Kitty get raped and murdered outside her apartment Queens building and didn't call the police has been thoroughly debunked. It seems more likely that a far smaller number of people heard her cries and two of them actually DID CALL the police, but authorities opted not to do anything believing it was a domestic dispute. (Heartbreaking and sickening.) It has since been determined that it was the New York Times' city editor at the time, Abe Rosenthal -- later the monster behind the Gray Lady's reign of homophobia when he became top dog -- who created the "no one did anything" narrative through his shoddy editing of a poorly reported story reportedly driven by a desire to "sell newspapers."
Rosenthal was asked about this damning allegation shortly before his death and essentially said that if it weren't for him, Genovese's name would have been forgotten. (That's your defense?!) And to top it off, he later wrote a best-selling book about the case. Unbelievable.
Lena Dunham's character notes that the play doesn't address that Genovese was a lesbian, but what would have been more infomative is the fact that the widely held belief that 37 or 38 people heard or saw Kitty get raped and murdered outside her apartment Queens building and didn't call the police has been thoroughly debunked. It seems more likely that a far smaller number of people heard her cries and two of them actually DID CALL the police, but authorities opted not to do anything believing it was a domestic dispute. (Heartbreaking and sickening.) It has since been determined that it was the New York Times' city editor at the time, Abe Rosenthal -- later the monster behind the Gray Lady's reign of homophobia when he became top dog -- who created the "no one did anything" narrative through his shoddy editing of a poorly reported story reportedly driven by a desire to "sell newspapers."
Info HERE.
Rosenthal was asked about this damning allegation shortly before his death and essentially said that if it weren't for him, Genovese's name would have been forgotten. (That's your defense?!) And to top it off, he later wrote a best-selling book about the case. Unbelievable.
How The Times first reported the story
In 2004, The New York Times took another look at their original story.
Writer Jim Rasenberger concluded that the piece exaggerated details and had gotten many facts incorrect. Years later he said: "If the story had been reported more accurately, it still would have been a two or three day, maybe even a four-day story, but it would not have been a 50-year story. We would not still be sitting here talking about it today." Read his article HERE.
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