2019

S1.E1 ∙ The Subway Vigilante

Thu, Mar 07, 2019

Just before Christmas 1984 in New York, Bernhard Goetz opened fire on four young black men on a Manhattan subway train. Fearing he was being mugged, Goetz shot them before jumping off the train and disappearing into the subway tunnel. It all happened as if it were a scene from the Charles Bronson film Death Wish a decade prior. The media quickly dubbed him "The Subway Vigilante." A week later, Goetz turned himself in and confessed that he acted in self-defense. The incident sparked a racial firestorm and resonated with New Yorkers worn down by rampant crime, which remains a concern for the MTA. Was Goetz trying to protect himself, or were his actions racially motivated?

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S1.E2 ∙ Cracks in the System

Thu, Mar 14, 2019

Amid the drug-fueled violence of the crack epidemic, New York City began taking extreme measures to clean up the streets. Suspected drug dealers were arrested in droves, spawning the era of mass incarceration. Now, in 2019, a wave of overturned convictions is exposing the collateral damage of an overeager criminal-justice system.

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S1.E3 ∙ Unsafe at Home

Thu, Mar 21, 2019

Barbara Sheehan and Hedda Nussbaum. Their stories became a window into the frightening realities of domestic violence, as the media questioned how the criminal-justice system handles the cases of battered women. On a cold day in Howard Beach, housewife Barbara Sheehan was arrested for gunning down her husband, a retired NYPD detective. She fired 11 shots with two of his guns while he was shaving in the bathroom. Her defense? Sheehan claimed she had no choice - he would have killed her first. At the trial, Sheehan testified that she was the victim of her husband's relentless physical abuse. The central mystery: Was Sheehan in imminent danger when she pulled the trigger? Her freedom would hinge on how the jury answered that question.

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S1.E4 ∙ Assassination at City Hall

Thu, Mar 28, 2019

He was a rising star, a former police officer and Brooklyn minister turned activist and councilman. James E. Davis was preparing for re-election when he was shot and killed on the balcony of the City Council chamber by a would-be political rival. His untimely death opened wounds from the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy. Almost 16 years after his shocking assassination, how does his legacy inform the political landscape of post 9/11 New York City?

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