"No One Helped"

M. Gallo Marcia

Description

In "No One Helped" Marcia M. Gallo examines one of America's most infamous true-crime stories: the 1964 rape and murder of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese in a middle-class neighborhood of Queens, New York. Front-page reports in the New York Times incorrectly identified thirty-eight indifferent witnesses to the crime, fueling fears of apathy and urban decay. Genovese's life, including her lesbian relationship, also was obscured in media accounts of the crime. Fifty years later, the story of Kitty Genovese continues to circulate in popular culture. Although it is now widely known that there were far fewer actual witnesses to the crime than was reported in 1964, the moral of the story continues to be urban apathy. "No One Helped" traces the Genovese story's development and resilience while challenging the myth it created. "No One Helped" places the conscious creation and promotion of the Genovese story within a changing urban environment. Gallo reviews New York's shifting racial and economic demographics and explores post-World War II examinations of conscience regarding the horrors of Nazism. These were important factors in the uncritical acceptance of the story by most media, political leaders, and the public despite repeated protests from Genovese's Kew Gardens neighbors at their inaccurate portrayal. The crime led to advances in criminal justice and psychology, such as the development of the 911 emergency system and numerous studies of bystander behaviors. Gallo emphasizes that the response to the crime also led to increased community organizing as well as feminist campaigns against sexual violence. Even though the particulars of the sad story of her death were distorted, Kitty Genovese left an enduring legacy of positive changes to the urban environment.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Nueva York
• Local history
• True crime
• History of the Americas
• New York

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 11 août 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801455902
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

“No One Helped”

“No One Helped”

Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy

Marcia M. Gallo

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2015 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2015 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2015

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gallo, Marcia M., author.  No one helped : Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the myth of urban apathy / Marcia M. Gallo.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8014-5278-9 (cloth : alk. paper) —  ISBN 978-0-8014-5664-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Genovese, Catherine, –1964. 2. Murder in mass media. 3. Murder— New York (State)—New York. 4. Bystander effect—New York (State)— New York. I. Title.  HV6534.N5G35 2015  364.152'3092—dc23 2014039464

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood îbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover images: Kitty Genovese circa 1963.New York Daily NewsArchive/ Getty Images (top left); map of Kew Gardens, Kew Gardens Civic Association, Inc. (right); apartment buildings on Austin Street in Kew Gardens, theNew York Times(bottom left).

To Spouse A, with love

Acknowledgments

Contents

Prologue: A New York Story

1. Urban Villages in the Big City

2. Hidden in Plain Sight

3. Thirty-Eight Witnesses

4. The Metropolitan Brand of Apathy

5. The City Responds

6. Surviving New City Streets

7. Challenging the Story of Urban Apathy

Epilogue: Kitty, Fifty Years Later

Notes Selected Bibliography Index

ix xiii

1 19 45 69 96 118 147 169

179 199 209

Acknowledgments

Many people helped, in many ways, with the creation of this book. Dur- ing the last seven-plus years, which have taken me from Wilmington, Del- aware, to New York City to Las Vegas and back too many times to count, I received exceptional support and encouragement during a remarkable journey of discovery. My îrst acknowledgments are to Mary Ann Zielonko and Angelo Lan- zone for reliving painful moments, telling poignant stories, and providing intriguing insights into the woman they both loved. I also had the privi- lege of meeting and talking briey with two of Kitty Genovese’s brothers, William and Vincent, and I thank them for sharing their memories. I am indebted to Rob Snyder for his belief in this project from the start, his knowledge of New York City history, and his introduction to Michael J. McGandy at Cornell University Press, who is an exceptional editor and a joy to work with. At Cornell, Michael and an extremely competent team that includes Mahinder Kingra, Kitty Liu, Max Porter Richman, Ange Romeo-Hall, and Amanda Heller shaped a manuscript into a polished