When I'm King of the World . . .
People who say they would have pounded the snot out of Jerry Sandusky had they been alerted by the alleged shower-room assault will remember Kitty Genovese . . . Everybody says he will do the right thing, get involved, put his own ass on the line before or after the fact. But the moment itself has a cruel way of suspending our fearless intentions. Suspended fearless intentions was the fate that befell a pretty, 105-pound, young New York woman named Kitty Genovese, whose walk home from work through her Kew Gardens neighborhood was ended on March 13, 1964, by a serial killer named Winston Moseley. He picked her out at random and stabbed her to death in front of her apartment building during a horrific assault that lasted nearly a half-hour and took place at three locations outside the sprawling building. As many as 38 residents heard all or part of her shrieking, pleading attempt to ward off a man who stabbed her multiple times. Only one of them called police and that was after calling a friend for advice on what to do. None made any attempt to intervene. Some thought it was a domestic dispute and didn't want to interfere.
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So where does this rank on the scale of American tragedies and disruptions in our time? Watergate? Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders? The Lindbergh kidnapping? O.J. Simpson? More recently, the Casey Anthony trial? This is right up there with any of them. And if the media coverage is any measure, it is bigger than any of them . . . One more thing the Trustees could have done: Having failed to cancel the Nebraska game, which they should have done, the money generated by the final home game of this blown-up season should be placed in escrow and distributed to the victims once what will be a torturous and bizarre legal process runs its course. That will be a down payment for the huge hit the university will take when the civil awards start coming down. Fortunately, Pennsylvania trial and district courts are still off limits to TV coverage. We will be spared a Casey Anthony circus.
Interestingly, the usually opinionated Conlin directed hardly any vitriol at Sandusky. Rather, he wrote about the public's reaction and fallout for the school.
There was more, mostly about Franco Harris and the running back's defense of Joe Paterno… but that one is mostly just obscure references.
20 Responses
Yikes
Bill Conlin once reported me to AOL for calling him a fat fuck over email….what a pussy
Maybe we can be cellies. I like it doggy, you?
grasping at straws bro. everyone in the world knows that sandusky is trash – it’s implied and lazy to go on about in an article.
i’d say a columnist allegedly accused of child molestation is fair game to see what he’s written on the issue.
… Or more importantly, what he hasn’t written. Hindsight is usually “cheap”. In this case, I think it makes total sense!! GUILTY!
i mean it would be lazy for him to dedicate a whole article to ripping sandusky. “he shouldn’t have raped those peoples”…well no shit, doesn’t need to be stated. there were a ton more interesting aspects to the sandusky situation to discuss.
@not a douche
That’s the damndest implication I’ve ever read. I did, however, feel like a piece of trash for not helping every person I’ve ever met though. He’s such a great writer. (Cough, not, cough)
Bil has some bad dandruff
mind numbing
Isn’t that the story from the opening of Boondock Saints? And who will be the next public figure to get accused of child molestation charges. My Guess: Sean Hannity
We have no idea what Bill Conlin has been accused of doing, but it is interesting to read what he wrote about another accused child molester. The Sandusky story is interesting because it exposed the corruption and criminality of the Penn State university administration and its football program. I think the Bill Conlin story will just be a very sad and pathetic one.
The circumstances surrounding the “Kitty” Genovese murder have been largely debunked, including the claim that “As many as 38 residents heard all or part”.
Hopefully more people who have been taken advantage of, or otherwise molested as innocent children will come forward. There should be no stigma with turning in these monsters.
I can’t stand Conlin, and never could. Didn’t he just win an undeserved award recently?
Philly.com has published the story
When Conlin wrote that piece, I wonder if he remembered this tough guy who was moved to violence when he found out his daughter had been molested:
“I was going to kill him, I was so furious,” recalled Blanchet’s father, Harry Hasson, now 75. He said he called Conlin in the Daily News newsroom and summoned him to Margate.
“He swore to me that he just touched her leg. Then all of a sudden, he started crying,” Hasson recalled. “He said, ‘I swear to God, I just touched her leg.'”
The dad said the fight went out of him when Conlin started crying like a baby.
What a hack for recycling the cliched Kitty Genovese story. No one really knows what happened that night. Malcolm Gladwell debunked that the story a while ago. Hall of fame writer my ass. Maybe, over Christmas, he can tell a story of Philly fans throwing snowballs at Santa Claus.
Yeah, my guess would be Hannity or Bill O’Reilly. Either way, they’re both going to Hell.
Bill Conlin’s always been a smug pompous ass. It’s unfortunate that children had to suffer at his hand before he got what was coming to him. Rot in hell, Billy.
See, I told you all it wasn’t just a Catholic priest issue… child molestation is far worse in public sector and more high-profile people will be identified during the Sandusky trial.
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