Murder film resurrected
FRIDAY the 13th, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered. Her killer, Winston Moseley, passed on in prison. Her story, “The Witness,” told on film last year, is being shown again in hopes of Oscar’s Best Documentary. Director James D. Sol
omon: “Watching her murder in Kew Gardens were 38 witnesses who did nothing to help. The story of apathy is our city’s condemnation.”
Kitty’s now-retired brother Bill: “I was 16, 12 years younger than she. We were devoted. My concern became our traumatized mother, a simple 60ish housewife. Kitty was her oldest. Dad went out to work. Mom, now gone, stayed home weeping at the kitchen table. Everyone kept sending clippings, so then, to save mom, all interviews were refused.
“We learned of our trag- edy with a knock on the door. A police sergeant. One of the family identified her body. Growing older, wondering what I’d do if I heard screams at night, the rest of my life focused on it.
“The case’s 8-inch-thick folder was sent to me by the Queens DA. Since 9/11, the ‘see something, say something’ New York is now more conscious of happenings.
“This happened 3:30 a.m. A quiet neighborhood. Her screams awakened people. Avantgarde 5-foot-1, fearless Kitty, used to staying out late, took bets and managed a bar, which spit out at that hour.
Jekyll-and-Hyde personality Mosley, whose wife said he was spiralling downhill, stumbled on her. He said later: ‘I was out to rape and murder a woman that night.’
“Growing older, I collected newspaper stories, dug deeper, became involved in a psychiatric residency, met church groups affected by violent crime. And I began a search into the story. The rest of my life has been colored by it.”
Oscar’s Best Documentary category may include ones about O.J. and An
thony Weiner. Bill Genovese, into religion, men- tal health and physiology, keeps a Buddha with a celtic crucifix in his home. Kitty’s death led to NYC’s 911 emergency system.
The name Genovese conjures up Mafia’s oncefeared family. Any relation and/or any deliberate attempt — for whatever unknown reason — for them to target Kitty?
A gruesome tale. A chilling crime story that kept New York City in thrall half a century ago. But Bill’s answer does not widen. He gives it a simple “no.”