In this excerpt from Independent Lens documentary The Witness, Bill Genovese, whose sister Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens, New York in a notorious 1964 case that became front page news, returns to scene of the crime with Charlie Skoller, the prosecutor in Kitty’s trial. In this otherwise peaceful residential neighborhood, Skoller describes the brutality of the attack, bringing vividly back to life what became an infamous example of apathy, for how 38 witnesses, according to The New York Times, did nothing to help the victim. “Many of your sister’s neighbors really heard everything that was going on,” he tells Bill as they approach the apartment complex where it happened, “heard the screams, knew that an attack was taking place, and knew that it was a violent attack.”
Premiering Monday, January 23, 2017. Check local listings:
