Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences

by Pelonero, Catherine

  “And you’ll see, though, how his love of Bettye, and his love of the faithful female then came on to the shoulders of Wolfie, his dog, one of his five dogs, the only one who was faithful, because Wolfie wouldn’t even go near a stranger, and if a stranger came near that house, Wolfie would bite that stranger. Only Winston and his family could stay near Wolfie. And so Wolfie was a pet, and Wolfie would even get some extra food if Wolfie had bitten somebody that day.

  “And although Winston would never, never think of even making a cup of tea for himself, he would go out of his way to buy the special food that he liked to make for Wolfie.

  “And you’ll see how he withdrew deeper and deeper and deeper into this shell; wouldn’t even disrobe in front of his own wife; would wash his hands over and over and over again; was so meticulous and careful and clean about himself as to not be able even to stand the tiniest bit of dirt.”

  Sparrow spoke of Fannie Moseley coming to live with Winston. He spoke of how he burglarized homes even though he didn’t need the money. “The psychiatrists will tell you what in their opinion this symbolized when he entered the house and he committed a burglary.”

  Sidney Sparrow then described, without giving the name of the victim, how Moseley had murdered Barbara Kralik in July of 1963 after silently breaking into her home in the dead of night. “And this was a predominantly Negro neighborhood,” Sparrow said. “Winston had come to feel, and you will see this, that it was one of the things that was wrong with the world, the prejudice against the Negro, because he was intelligent, and felt he could have gone much, much further had he not been a Negro.

  “And another thing that was wrong with the world was faithless women, particularly of his own color,” Sparrow said. He then described in detail Moseley’s account of stabbing Barbara Kralik (again, without mentioning the victim by name), further saying that in the darkness of the bedroom, Moseley had thought she was a light skinned black girl. He had intended to rape the girl after stabbing her, Sparrow said, but had quietly fled the house when he heard a voice calling from another room.

  “Well, that was the first time Winston Moseley ever killed anybody, but he began burglarizing—possibly forty or fifty burglaries up till the date of his capture, always in either the predominantly colored or integrated neighborhoods. And he also began raping. Every time, a Negress. He was still venting his spleen on every woman, and he was getting even in cleansing the world of this terrible thing that women can do to man.

  “And when he came upon women—he carried with him a screwdriver rather than a knife, which also the psychiatrists will tell you has some kind of connotation. He would come upon a woman and tell her to come over here and to lie down, and then commit first an act of sodomy, cunnilingus, as it’s known in medicine, and for want of a more apt description, ‘going down on her,’ using a colloquialism, a vulgar colloquialism. He would do that because that became the stimulus to enable him to overcome his own antagonism towards the concept of sex, and to make it possible for him to have sex. And in each of these instances, five, six or eight, however many there were, this was the fashion in which Winston Moseley committed the act of sodomy and rape.

  “Even there,” Sparrow continued, “this abnormality was more abnormal because when one of the victims volunteered to disrobe, Winston told her, ‘No, don’t bother.’ And you’ll find that on no occasion was there violence in any of those acts.”

  Sparrow then gave a gruesome overview of the murder and sodomy of Annie Mae Johnson. “Then he went home and continued his apparently normal existence, except that he now was obviously more brooding, more staring and more a loner, until only a couple of weeks later, and it’s oddly coincident that each of the three times he killed it was on a Friday, it came the night of the Kitty Genovese incident.”

  Stating that by the time Moseley encountered Kitty Genovese “he had already flooded over into a complete hatred of any and all women in the world,” Sidney Sparrow gave details of how he had savaged her, drawing comparisons with the similar horror previously inflicted on Annie Mae Johnson.

  “He went back to the car, moved it, and then came back looking for Kitty Genovese, whom he never knew, who meant nothing to him except that she was another symbol of womanhood.” He told of how Moseley continued his second attack upon Kitty even though he heard people upstairs and heard the door up there opening. “And after he had practically killed this girl,” Sparrow said, “he took this hunting knife which he was using and jabbed it into her vaginal tract and tried to rip the bone apart.”

  Prosecutor Frank Cacciatore shot up out of his seat. “If your Honor please, we’ve gone—I’ve heard—”

  Judge Shapiro interrupted Cacciatore’s protest. “I will permit counsel to continue.”

  “If your Honor pleases—”

  “I will permit counsel to continue,” Shapiro said again.

  “Well, I hope he can prove it,” Cacciatore said.

  Sidney Sparrow resumed, telling of Winston Moseley’s added fury toward Kitty Genovese for deceiving him. “He also was angered that this girl was another faker, a phony as he saw her because she didn’t even have the breasts that she appeared to have. She had not one, but two sets of falsies. And he took one of these falsies, and the doctors will tell you what that signified to him when he put it in his pocket.

  “She had money, and he took that—that wasn’t too important to him—and he left.”

  Sparrow explained how Moseley had been apprehended during the burglary days afterward, of how he had been taken to the police station where he confessed to Kitty’s murder. “And when they asked him if there were any others,” Sparrow continued, “he told them that he killed Annie Mae Johnson. And when they said to him, ‘I suppose you’re going to tell us that you killed the Wylie girl over in Manhattan, aren’t you?’, he said, ‘No, I didn’t do that.’ ‘Well, did you kill anybody else?’ ‘Yes, I killed Barbara Kralik.’ ‘I suppose you’re going to tell us that you also killed the Dupree woman out in Jamaica who was slashed.’ ‘No, I didn’t do that.’

  “And he told them of the three killings that he had done. And they said to him, ‘You didn’t kill Johnson. How did you kill her?’ And he said, ‘I shot her.’ And they said, ‘This woman wasn’t shot; she was stabbed to death. That’s what the medical examiner said.’ He said, ‘No, I shot her to death.’

  “And you will find that subsequently Winston Moseley was charged with the killing of Anna Mae Johnson in this county. Then you will hear the testimony of those members of his family who lived through these parts of his life with him, but not knowing what was happening.”

  Sidney Sparrow concluded the defense opening with references to the psychiatric testimony to come, naming two psychiatrists from Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn who would testify for the defense. “And then there will be Dr. Diamond, Oscar Diamond, who is the Director of the Manhattan State Hospital, and he will tell you of the many hours that he spent with Winston Moseley, and to the extent he’ll be able to,he’ll tell you what all of these things in Winston’s life meant, and how they indicated that Winston Moseley is a schizophrenic, that he is a necrophiliac, an individual prone to vent his spleen and his sex upon dead bodies, that all of this is part of a progressive pattern of deterioration of the mind of this individual who became sick a long time ago, and who finally erupted into this horrible series of atrocities.

  “And after you’ve heard all of this, I am convinced that you will have to feel, as these doctors tell you they do, that this man, in our legal definition, was not responsible for what he did. He may have known well what he was doing at the time, but he did not know that it was wrong.”

  Sparrow then closed with a reminder to the jury. “You promised me, each of you, and you have sworn in your oath that you will apply the law as it exists. And if by reason of insanity Winston Moseley is exculpated from responsibility, it is your obligation to bring that verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.”

  Both sides having completed their ope
ning statements, Judge Shapiro advised the jurors to keep their minds open and not to draw any conclusions until all testimony and evidence was presented to them. Reminding them not to discuss the case with anyone, he recessed court for the day.

  WHEN THE TRIAL resumed the following morning at 10:00 a.m., the prosecution called their first witness: Victor Horan, Kitty’s co-worker at Ev’s Eleventh Hour. Horan gave brief testimony relative to the time Kitty left the bar in the early hours of March 13. Following Horan’s testimony, Cacciatore called Lieutenant John Cashman of the Police Department Engineering Bureau, who presented a chart showing measurements and distances on Austin Street that specified how far each of the forthcoming witnesses had been from the crime scenes. The chart was entered into evidence.

  Robert Mozer took the stand.

  He gave his address: 82-67 Austin Street. The Mowbray.

  “Mr. Mozer, what apartment do you occupy at that premises?”Frank Cacciatore asked.

  “715.”

  “That is the seventh floor?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  After establishing that Mozer had been at home on the early morning of March 13, Cacciatore asked, “And sometime on that early morning did you hear something?”

  “Yes. I heard a girl saying, ‘Help me, help me.’ It wasn’t a scream. It wasn’t a cry. It was more just like a talk like, ‘Help me, help me.’ ”

  “Where were you at that time when you heard this scream?”

  “I was sleeping in my front room right on the street.”

  “That faces on Austin Street?” Judge Shapiro asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cacciatore continued. “Now, did you do something after you heard what you said you heard?”

  “Yes, sir.” Mozer answered. “I got up and looked out the window. This window hadn’t any screen on it. One window had a screen but the other was off. I looked out the window and looked across the street and I saw this girl at the bookstore, kneeling down, and this fellow was over her in a kneeling position.”

  Pointing out the location of the bookstore on the chart, Cacciatore asked, “Is that it, 82-64?” Mozer answered that it was. Cacciatore asked about the streetlamp in front of this store, “Is that where the light is?”

  “That’s right.”

  “All right,” Cacciatore said. “Now, tell us what you saw?”

  “Well, I saw this fellow bending over this girl and she was in a kneeling position and he had her down like kneeling over, bending over her, and I hollered, ‘Hey, get out of there,’ or ‘What are you doing?’ And he jumped up and run. He just run as fast—”

  “In what direction did he run?”

  “I would say that would be northwest, right up Austin Street.”

  “Tell us how he ran,” said Judge Shapiro.

  “He ran like a scared rabbit,” Mozer answered. “He ran real fast. I never saw anybody take off as quick. I mean he was very small and active.”

  Frank Cacciatore referred to the street diagram. “I show you this People’s Exhibit 1. This shows Lefferts Boulevard, is that so?” The witness agreed, then pointed out the direction he had seen the man run.

  “In other words,” Cacciatore said, “up towards 82-40, is that so?”

  “That’s right, up this way past the railroad station, right on up.”

  “And did you lose sight of him then?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Now, did you notice the girl in front of 82-64?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Did you keep looking at her?”

  “I kept looking at her and I watched her,” Robert Mozer answered. “What did she do?”

  “She got up, stood up, and kind of looked around like that and just started walking off.”

  “Walking in what direction?” Cacciatore asked.

  “Around where he ran towards the end of the building. There is a drugstore right there and she turned left.”

  “She turned the corner?”

  “And went and then I couldn’t see her anymore.”

  “Then you couldn’t see her, is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  Frank Cacciatore turned to the defense. “You may inquire.”

  “No questions,” Sidney Sparrow replied.

  The prosecution called its next witness: Andree Picq, also of 82-67 Austin Street.

  “Miss Picq, on the early morning of March 13th of 1964, what apartment did you occupy at that premises?” Cacciatore asked.

  “403.”

  “And during that early morning did you hear something?”

  “Yes. I heard the scream, ‘Help, help,’ three times. The third time I get up quick and look through my window.”

  “Does your window face Austin Street?”

  “Yes, exactly to the bookstore.”

  “Did you look across the street?”

  “Yes,” Picq answered. “I saw a girl laying down on the pavement. That moment she was completely laying down and a man was bending over her and beating her.”

  “You saw a girl lying on the pavement and a man was bending down over her, beating her?” the judge asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And what else did you see?” Cacciatore asked.

  “And then I heard the voice upstairs, suddenly the neighbor screaming something, and the man run away very fast.”

  “He ran in what direction?”

  “Near the bus stop.”

  “Towards the bus stop?”

  “The bus stop, yes.”

  “This would have been the bus stop in front of the West Virginia Apartment house at 82-40 Austin Street, where Moseley had first parked his car. Frank Cacciatore asked if she could describe the man she saw.

  “I could not see the face at all, but I saw he had a dark hat and a coat, he had a three-quarters coat.” She described the man as not very tall, thin and young.

  “Now, did you also see the woman?” Cacciatore asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell us what she did, if anything?”

  “After he run quick, the poor girl get up slowly and she screamed, ‘George,’ and ‘Help,’ and walking slowly toward the drugstore—pharmacy, and up towards the back street.”

  “After that could you see her?”

  “And I could not see her, no,” Picq replied.

  “Did you see anything else? Did you see the man come back afterwards?”

  “I was still at the window, scared, kind of frozen, and a few minutes after, that man came back, walking normally.”

  “The same man?”

  “As if nothing—yes, it did look the same—as if nothing happened, and walking by the parking lot and coming near the door of the drugstore, and opened that door and looked a little bit in the drugstore and walked back and goes to the parking lot. He went to the train station. And then he came out again and left in the back and I did not see anything, but I heard the last two screams, ‘Help.’ ”

  “You heard more screams after that?”

  “The last two, ‘Help, help.’ That’s all I heard.”

  Sparrow had no cross-examination. Before letting Andree Picq leave the stand, Judge Shapiro asked her, “This man that came back that you say was the same man, was he dressed the same way the second time you saw him as the first time you saw him?”

  “It did seem—he had a hat on.”

  Irene Frost, the prosecution’s final witness from the Mowbray Apartments, then took the stand. Frost lived in apartment 204. Cacciatore began by asking her what she had heard on the early morning of March 13.

  “I heard a shriek. I got out of bed, went to the window, and I saw a man and a woman standing across the street. They were standing across the street. By the bookstore. I looked at them for a minute. Nothing happened, so I got back to bed. I happened to look at the clock at the time. It was 3:20.”

  “Can you describe the man that you saw, Miss Frost?”

  “At that time he looked just a bit taller than the girl, but they were standing close together, not
fighting or anything. I got back in bed and I heard another scream. I got back up and went to the window and as I got there, she was kneeling down on the sidewalk and he was running up the street, towards the bus stop.

  “The second time she screamed, ‘Please help me, God. Please help me. I have been stabbed,’ and he ran up the street. I was looking out one window. I have two windows in my bedroom. I went to the other one, so I could look up Austin Street. Then I went back to the front window, and she was on her knees. She got up. Then it looked like she was reaching for her purse. She bent down again and picked something up. I don’t know what it was. She walked down to the drugstore, walked along into the back of that building.”

  “That is when you lost sight of her?” Judge Shapiro asked.

  “Yes, when she went to the back of the building.”

  “I show you this photograph, Miss Frost,” Cacciatore said, presenting a photo of the storefronts in the Tudor building, “and I ask you whether this fairly represents the area as you saw it and as you saw the woman on that early morning?”

  “It was in front of this store,” she replied, indicating on the photo.

  “Is that the bookstore in front of which you say they were standing?”the judge asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And in front of which she was kneeling?”

  “She was kneeling in this area here, nearer the liquor store,” Frost answered.

  “Miss Frost,” Cacciatore continued, presenting a longer shot of the Tudor, “I show you this photograph and ask you whether this fairly represents the physical layout as of the early morning of March 13, 1964?”

  “Yes, sir, this is the corner she went around. I saw her when she disappeared back there.”

  “Now Miss Frost, you say that you saw the girl go along the side of the parking lot after turning the corner of the drugstore, is that right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you saw her walking along there?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Now I show you this photograph, Miss Frost, and I ask you, are you familiar with that area which is the far corner?” Cacciatore asked, indicating the corner of the Tudor building by the Interlude Coffee Shop.