Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her Kew Gardens apartment 50 years ago, on March 13, 1964. File photo
Five decades after Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender living with her girlfriend in Kew Gardens, was murdered, the notorious 1964 crime that captivated the nation’s attention has again landed in the spotlight with two major books being published on the 50th anniversary of the crime.
Journalist Kevin Cook’s “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, The Bystanders, The Crime that Changed America” takes a critical look at the hysteria that surrounded what quickly became known as the “bystander effect” after the New York Times reported that 38 eyewitnesses did nothing to stop the crime – a claim that has since been refuted.
Unlike Cook’s book, playwright Catherine Pelonero’s “Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and its Private Consequences,” focuses on the personal repercussions of the murder, including of Genovese’s friends.
Winston Moseley, who had been living with his family in South Ozone Park at the time, was convicted of repeatedly stabbing Genovese outside her apartment on Austin Street on March 13 when she was returning from her job at a nearby bar.
The murder originally grabbed headlines when the Times reported that 38 people, including neighbors of Genovese, had heard the young woman’s screams for help but did nothing – prompting even psychology students to study what became known as the “Kitty Genovese Syndrome,” or big city residents’ resistance to getting involved during crimes.
The notion that numerous people could have done something but opted not to has since been challenged, and Cook notes the 38 eyewitnesses detail likely stemmed from a police clerical error.
A New York City native, Genovese had decided to remain in Queens when her family moved to Connecticut in the mid-1950s. She was working at Ev’s Eleventh Hour Bar on Jamaica Avenue and 193rd Street at the time of her murder.
By Anna Gustafson
