The Savage City
Page 49
“My name is Patricia Tolles”: Lefkowitz, Bernard, and Kenneth Gross, The Victims, p. 28; Raab, Selwyn, Justice in the Back Room, p. 14.
Wylie-Hoffert crime scene: Doyle, Patrick, and Sidney Kline, “2 Career Girls Found Savagely Slain,” Daily News, August 29, 1963; “2 Girls Murdered in E. 88th St. Flat,” New York Times, August 29, 1963; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 29–37; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 14–15.
Detective Lynch’s notebook: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 34–35.
“This is not the way humans should die”: Ibid., p. 37.
“We don’t even know”: Doyle and Kline, Daily News, August 29, 1963.
George Whitmore background: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Gerald Whitmore (June 18, 2009); interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 179–196.
“The Negro is a sort of seventh son”: Du Bois, W. E. B., The Souls of Black Folks, p. 7.
“I never did like big cities”: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 179.
“I remember the night, that summer”: Ibid.
“He was mean”: Ibid.
“Sometimes you think they’re all the same”: Ibid.
Pig slaughter incident: Ibid.; interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009).
Sammy Davis Jr. in Wildwood: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 184–185.
“I was a man who had one rule”: Ibid.; More on George Whitmore Sr. from: interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Gerald Whitmore (June 18, 2009).
Lieutenant Parker Johnson: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 193–194.
2. BUSINESS AS USUAL
Detective Phillips and Wylie-Hoffert case: Shecter, Leonard, with William Phillips, On the Pad, p. 384; Talese, Gay, “Air of Fear Grips Sedate East Side,” New York Times, August 31, 1963.
“Responded to a DOA with Kenny”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, pp. 97–98.
William R. Phillips Sr.: Ibid.
“There were many young cadets”: Ibid.
Phillips’s early career: William Phillips, Knapp Commission testimony, October 18, 1971; Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, pp. 50–75; Burton, Anthony, “How to Be a Corrupt Cop & Live to Tell,” Daily News, October 20, 1970; interview with Mike Armstrong (August 12, 2009).
“I jumped out”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, pp. 83–84.
“I told him I caught this guy”: Ibid.
He comes back with ten dollars: Ibid.
“When you first get to a precinct”: Ibid.
The prosecuter looked at Phillips: Ibid.
David Durk: Lardner, James, Crusader; Lardner, James, and Thomas Repetto, NYPD, pp. 265–267, 272–274, 306–307; Levitt, Leonard, NYPD Confidential, pp. 34–35; Maas, Peter, Serpico, pp. 114, 189–93.
Max and Philip Wylie: Tomasson, Robert E., “In the Shadow of Brother,” New York Times, September 23, 1975; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 136–139
Wylie-Hoffert investigation: Cassidy, Joseph, and Henry Lee, “Seek an Ex-Admirer to Throw Some Light on Killing of 2 Girls,” Daily News, 30, 1963; Bigart, Homer, “Killing of 2 Girls Yields No Clue; Police Question 500 in a Month,” New York Times, September 27, 1963; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 1–168; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 1–121.
“There is a complete lack of physical evidence”: Bigart, New York Times, September 27, 1963.
“The police, under intense pressure”: Ibid.
“Career Girls, Watch Your Step”: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 135; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, p. 31.
Heroin in Harlem: Interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2008); Brown, Claude, Manchild in the Promised Land, entire book; Cannato, The Ungovernable City, pp. 527, 534–535; Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), Encyclopedia of New York City, pp. 123–124; Haley, Alex, Autobiography of Malcolm X, pp. 155–156.
“Around 1955, everybody wanted a slick bitch”: Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land, p. 193.
JFK assassination: The books, documentaries, and official investigations of the assassination are voluminous. A presentation of the racial climate surrounding events leading up to November 22, 1963, can be found in Branch, Parting the Waters, pp. 922–927.
“We preach freedom around the world”: Branch, Parting the Waters, pp. 913–916; Eyes on the Prize (PBS documentary).
“I know I should take into consideration”: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 191.
Whitmore parting with mother: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 196.
3. THE BOWELS OF BROOKLYN
Whitmore arrival in Brownsville: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 197–199; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 9–11, 34–35.
“By every number we have”: Connolly, Harold X., A Ghetto Grows in Brooklyn, p. 28; in addition, see Judge, Joseph B., “Brownsville: A Neighborhood in Trouble,” Dissent, September/October 1966.
Whitmore encounter with Patrolman Isola: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); interview with Myron Beldock; interview with Selwyn Raab; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 211–213; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 37–40; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 2–6; Shapiro, Fred C., “Annals of Jurisprudence: The Whitmore Confession,” The New Yorker, February 8, 1969.
Seventy-third Precinct station house: Viewed by author, June 2009. The building still stands, though it is vacant, boarded up, and has the look of a crumbling haunted house. A new Seventy-third Precinct station house opened in 1983, a few blocks from the old location.
Details of Borrero identification of Whitmore: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 222–223; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 18–20; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 35–37; Shapiro, “Annals of Jurisprudence: The Whitmore Confession,” The New Yorker, February 8, 1969.
The “Third Degree”: McGill, T. O., “Third Degree in Police Parlance,” New York Times, October 6, 1901.
Details of Whitmore confession: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009); Roland, Charles, and Mel Juffe, “How Police Broke Wylie Case: Step-by-Step Account,” Journal-American, April 26, 1964; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 215–249; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 14–68; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 41–53; Shapiro, “Annals of Jurisprudence: The Whitmore Confession,” The New Yorker, February 8, 1969.
Whitmore statement taken by ADA Koste: Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 52–58; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 294–322; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 75–116 (Raab, in his book, publishes Whitmore’s statement to Koste in its entirety).
Reporters and photographers feast on Whitmore: Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 63–64.
Whitmore appearance before Judge Comerford: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 343–348. For a detailed profile of Judge James J. Comerford, see Trillin, Calvin, “American Chronicles: Democracy in Action,” The New Yorker, March 21, 1988; The Marcus-Nelson Murders, Universal Studios/CBS Television movie. The scene of the Whitmore character before the arraignment judge in The Marcus-Nelson Murders is taken from actual transcripts of George Whitmore’s appearance before Judge Comerford.
4. “GET THOSE NIGGERS”
Bin Wahad reads newspaper accounts of Whitmore case: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Newspaper headlines: Kanter, Nathan, and Henry Lee, “Confession: Stumbled into Killing Two,” Daily News, April 26, 1964; Federici, William, and Lester Abe
lman, “Cops Had Questions, Say Only He Had the Answers,” Daily News, April 26, 1964; Journal American; Buckley, Thomas, “Youth Is Accused in Wylie Slaying,” New York Times, April 26, 1964.
Bin Wahad upbringing in the Bronx: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
“Back then, before heroin”: Ibid.
Operation 42: Freeman, Ira Henry, “Police Plan Nips Delinquency,” New York Times, August 15, 1956.
Youth gangs in NYC: Bennett, Charles G., “$50,000 Allocated to Fight Teen-Age Gangs in Bronx,” New York Times, May 13, 1955; Schumach, Murray, “Police Seek Curb on Youth Crime in a 5-Year Plan,” New York Times, June 2, 1955; Knowles, Clayton, “Police Head Bars Pacts with Gangs,” New York Times, August 16, 1956; Kihss, Peter, “4 Negro Areas Get Extra Police Units,” New York Times, July 16, 1959.
“The cops who used to patrol”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
“A race riot could cause more destruction”: Kihss, New York Times, July 16, 1959.
Jitterbugging and zip guns: “19 in Teen Gangs Seized in Bronx,” New York Times, November 10, 1957. A fictional but realistic depiction of early 1960s Bronx gang life can be found in The Wanderers (1973), the debut novel by Richard Price.
“I lived not far from Yankee Stadium”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Bin Wahad family background: Ibid.; Bin Wahad, Dhoruba, “The Future Past; A Biostory” (unpublished manuscript).
Morris and McKinley housing projects: Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), Encyclopedia of New York, pp. 568–569.
Bin Wahad experiences in U.S. Army: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Bin Wahad shooting incident and arrest: Ibid.; Richard Moore criminal rap sheet in FBI COINTELPRO file.
“The racism that existed in the prison system”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Description of the Box: Ibid.
Writings of J. A. Rogers: For a cogent analysis of the work of J. A. Rogers, see Sandoval, Valerie, “The Brand of History: A Historiographic Account of the Work of J. A. Rogers,” SCRBC Journal 4 (Spring 1978).
“We declare our right on this earth”: Breitman, George (ed.), Malcolm X Speaks, p. 175.
Whitmore at Bellevue Hospital: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 80–85; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 358–363; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 126–129.
“I have never been in trouble in my life”: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 359.
“I asked Whitmore, ‘Were you beaten?’”: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 349.
Psychiatric assessment: “He is without guile”: Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 360; Shapiro, Whitmore, p. 90; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, p. 127.
Use of “truth serum”: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 361–362.
“It broke every rule of self-incrimination”: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009).
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Branch, Pillar of Fire, pp. 358–359, 387–388.
“This past, the Negro’s past”: Baldwin, James, The Fire Next Time, p. 125.
The riots of July 1964: The most detailed account of the riots in Harlem and Brooklyn is in Race Riots: New York 1964 by Fred C. Shapiro and James W. Sullivan; Montgomery, Paul L., and Francis X. Clines, “Thousands Riot in Harlem Area; Scores Are Hurt; Negroes Loot Stores, Taunt Whites—Police Shoot in Air to Control Crowd,” New York Times, July 22, 1964; interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009); interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2008); Leuci, Robert, All the Centurions, pp. 59–63; Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, pp. 253–255; “Who Pays for Riots,” Time, August 7, 1964; “Gilligan on Duty, Precinct Secret,” New York Times, November 12, 1964.
William Epton: A well-known Harlem activist who espoused a kind of street-corner communism, Epton would eventually be arrested, charged, and convicted for inciting the ’64 riots and conspiring “to overthrow the New York State government.” His lawyer claimed that he was being made into a scapegoat. Johnston, Richard J. H., “Jury Selected in Trial of Epton Resulting from Riots in Harlem,” New York Times, November 27, 1965; Johnston, Richard J. H., “Plan for Revolt Is Laid to Epton,” New York Times, December 1, 1965; Johnston, Richard J. H., “Epton Convicted on Riot Charges,” New York Times, December 21, 1965; Roth, Jack, “Epton Gets Year in Anarchy Case; Harlem Leader Defends Views,” New York Times, January 28, 1966.
“The noise was incredible”: Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009); Leuci, All the Centurions, p. 61.
Tactical Patrol Force (TPF): Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009); Leuci, All the Centurions, pp. 67–68; Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, pp. 254–255, 275; Lardner, Crusader, pp. 173–174, 181.
“There were no social services in these neighborhoods”: Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009).
“They hated us”: Ibid.
“I walked in on a lot of beatings”: Ibid.
Incident on 125th Street with Leuci and two Nation of Islam people: Ibid.
“A young man, barefoot, muscular”: Leuci, All the Centurions, p. 62.
Mayor Wagner on television: Shapiro and Sullivan, Race Riots: New York 1964, p. 158.
“Sure, we make mistakes…You do in a war”: Benson, Barbara, “Why Harlem Riots; Indignities and Sadism at Hands of Police Charged,” New York Times, July 22, 1964; Samuels, Gertrude, “Who Shall Judge a Policeman?: Out of Negro Riots Have Come Persistent Charges of Police Brutality,” New York Times Magazine, August 2, 1964.
“I know there was more than one dead”: Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009).
5. GETTING FLOPPED
Leftow’s preparations for trial: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009).
Revelation that photo was not Janice Wylie: Ibid.; interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 375–377; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 86–88; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 170–173; Zion, Sidney E., “The Suspect Confesses—But Who Believes Him?” New York Times Magazine, May 16, 1965; Shapiro, “Annals of Jurisprudence: The Whitmore Confession,” The New Yorker, February 8, 1969.
Whitmore alibi: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 377–378; Shapiro, Whitmore, p. 95; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 171–172.
ADA Glass meeting with Det. Bulger: Cunningham, Barry, with Mike Pearl, Mr. District Attorney, pp. 95–98; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 368; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, p. 193; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 174–175.
“If George were only being charged”: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009).
Leftow meeting with ADA Koste and ADA Herman: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009).
“I guess you could say I was raised prejudiced”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 126.
“I was about three or four years old”: Ibid.
Police use of the term mau mau: Burnham, James, “From a Cold War Notebook,” National Review, October 29, 1964; McDonald, Brian, My Father’s Gun, p. 16; interview with Brian McDonald (February 4, 2010); interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009).
Malcolm X on the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya: Breitman (ed.), Malcolm X Speaks, pp. 106–107.
Police as protectors against marauding Negro hordes: The role of police as protectors against arriving waves of poor blacks from the South and impoverished Puerto Rican immigrants was touched upon by nearly every ex-cop I interviewed for this book. Most cops viewed the issue in terms of lawlessness and degradation of community standards. To blacks and Puerto Ricans, it seemed as though the police were racists. The police doubtless saw themselves as fulfilling their traditional role as protectors of property, in this case real estate interests and property owners. Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009);
interview with Brian McDonald; interview with Sonny Grosso (April 13, 2009); interview with Randy Jurgensen (February 12, 2010); interview with Robert Daley (January 21, 2010); interview with Eddie Ellis (May 15, 2009); interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2008).
Phillips and Kenny Keller: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 105.
“[Madden] had all kinds of tricks up his sleeve”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 106.
Phillips as “conditions man”: Ibid.
Attitude of Phillips’s wife: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 171.
“We’re working on a big swindle”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 154.
“It’s about eight o’clock in the morning”: Ibid.
“Fun City”: The term “Fun City” was a public relations ploy devised to bolster the image of New York City. The term was embraced by, and became prevalent, during the early years of the Lindsay administration. As the city became more crime-ridden and decayed throughout the 1960s, the term was sometimes used derisively. Cannatto, The Ungovernable City, p. 146; Fun City Revisited: The Lindsay Years, PBS documentary.
Phillips gets “flopped”: Ibid.; Knapp Commission Hearings testimony; Schultz, Ray, “Anatomy of a Murder Trial: The People v. William Phillips,” New York Times Magazine, December 17, 1972; Daley, Robert, Target Blue, p. 402.
“I was completely demoralized”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 174.
Harlem as source of plunder for corrupt police: Interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009); interview with Edwin Torres (April 13, 2009); interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2008); interview with Eddie Ellis (May 15, 2009); Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, pp. 87, 176–186.
“The first thing to do in a new precinct”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 177.
“I got fucked all over the precinct”: Ibid.
Officer Egbert Brown: Ibid.
6. ON THE BUTTON
“I knew I hadn’t done nothin’ wrong”: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009).
Leftow preparations for Borrero trial: Interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009).
Borrero trial: Interview with George Whitmore (April 4, 2009); interview with Jerome Leftow (February 17, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009); Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 418–440; Shapiro, Whitmore, pp. 90–92, 94–103; Raab, Justice in the Back Room, pp. 131–144; Shapiro, “Annals of Jursiprudence: The Whitmore Confession,” The New Yorker, February 8, 1969; The Marcus-Nelson Murders, Universal Studios/CBS Television movie.