A Renaissance of Mysterious Circumstances

Trailer: Shoe Leather is an investigative podcast that goes behind the scenes of seven forgotten stories that shaped New York City. In Season 1, New York in the 90s, you’ll hear about an unsolved murder, a multi-million-dollar art heist, an Indian mob boss, stole by Shoe Leather

6 min listen

Trailer S2 New York: Drop Dead: In season two, New York Drop Dead, reporters step back into the 1970s. They go beyond the bell bottoms and disco to explore what made this decade notorious in New York’s history. A decade in which the Big Apple went by a far more sinister nickname — Fear by Shoe Leather

4 min listen

The Murder of Bruce Bailey: Bruce Bailey was a tenants rights activist who dedicated his life to fighting landlords on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He was a husband, a father, a graduate of Columbia College, and in June of 1989, he was brutally murdered. His dismembered body was fo by Shoe Leather

34 min listen

A Renaissance of Mysterious Circumstances: “I start with a blank and there’s nothing more horrifying than a blank canvas” — artist Lee Krasner. New York City, December 1990: thieves stole four paintings in a span of five days. Nearly thirty years later, one of the recovered paintings made histo by Shoe Leather

27 min listen

The Abortion Pill: In the 1990’s, one organization dedicated a decade of work to gain FDA approval of a drug that promised to revolutionize abortion in America. Shoe Leather: the Abortion Pill follows the Population Council’s effort to bring mifepristone – and medical abor by Shoe Leather

27 min listen

Nasty Weather: On March 6, 1970, a townhouse in New York City’s Greenwich Village blew up. After unearthing large quantities of dynamite in the wreckage, local officials determined that the townhouse’s basement had been used as a makeshift bomb factory. Three people d by Shoe Leather

26 min listen

The Indian Godfather: In the 1990s, in the shadow of the FBI’s large-scale takedown of New York’s most infamous mafia family, an Indian immigrant was quietly building his own criminal organization. Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa came to the United States from the Punjab region of India by Shoe Leather

33 min listen

Happy Land: On March 25, 1990 eighty-seven people died when the Happy Land Social Club burned. After Julio Gonzalez argued with his girlfriend he bought a gallon of gasoline and set the club on fire. Until the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995 the Happy Land fire was th by Shoe Leather

27 min listen

The Baby Napping: In the late afternoon of February 3, 1990, two-day-old Steven Lyons was kidnapped from a Brooklyn hospital— a feat that seems nearly impossible with hospital security measures in 2020. Now, 30 years later, Shoe Leather reporters, Rachel and Elize, follow by Shoe Leather

33 min listen

The Accident: On a hot summer night in 1991, seven-year-old cousins Gavin and Angela were getting ready to play. Gavin was undoing his bike chain while Angela eagerly stood nearby. Only a few moments separated them from Yosef Lifsh’s car and what would soon become o by Shoe Leather

31 min listen

That’s so 9/10: In 2001, fashion week began with big budgets, colorful collections and extravagant parties. It was a much anticipated season - fashion magazines had predicted it to be the biggest yet. But on the morning of its fifth day all of that changed. In this ep by Shoe Leather

1 min listen

The Other Hijacker: In 1971, Patrick Critton helped rob a bank as part of a Black separatist group and, to escape capture, became the first person to successfully hijack a plane in Canada. He spent 30 years on the run until he was arrested and pleaded not guilty on Sept. 10 by Shoe Leather

55 min listen

The Legend of Guy Fisher and the Apollo Theater: The Apollo Theater — the venue that shaped 20th-century Black music more than any other — shut its doors in the mid-1970s and stayed closed for years. It almost disappeared for good. But a mysterious buyer purchased the theater and reopened it in 1978. A by Shoe Leather

45 min listen

Keep Your Mouth Shut: On the night of July 13, 1977, a citywide power failure plunged New York’s ten million residents into darkness. Chaos ensued. There was looting in every borough, with hundreds of fires set and thousands of arrests — but just one murder. The victim was 17 by Shoe Leather

35 min listen

The Bronx is Burning: During the 1970s – for the whole decade – the Bronx suffered an epidemic of fires and abandonment. This destroyed over 80 percent of the South Bronx housing stock making it look like a bombed out city during World War II. What exactly caused this? Some b by Shoe Leather

43 min listen

Whatever Happened to Robert Davis?: In 1978, Robert Davis was the youngest child to ever be sent to New York’s Rikers Island Jail. He was Black, from the Bronx, and only thirteen. In this episode we look into Robert Davis’s life. We explore his old neighborhood in the South Bronx, his old by Shoe Leather

40 min listen

The Fight for Sydenham Hospital: In the 1970s, New York City was broke. Today, we know the city eventually bounced back, but at what cost? When a city is broke, who pays? by Shoe Leather

41 min listen

The Woman in the Hat: In 1970, Bella Abzug took on an incumbent Democratic Congressman––and won. A tough Jewish lawyer raised in the Bronx, Bella would become one of the icons of second-wave feminism, passing laws that changed the lives of men and women. 50 years after she fi by Shoe Leather

40 min listen

The Almost Mayor: September 11, 2001 was supposed to be primary day in New York City. As the divisive tenure of Mayor Rudy Giuliani was winding down, the city seemed poised to elect a more inclusive mayor. The Democratic frontrunner, progressive Mark Green, appeared to f by Shoe Leather

61 min listen

The Disappeared: On the night of September 10th, Sneha Philip went shopping, then stayed out for the night. In upstate New York, Juan Lafuente rested before a morning commute to Wall Street. A mother in Mexico looked forward to a weekly call from her son, Fernando Molina by Shoe Leather

40 min listen

The Party: On the morning of September 11, 2001, news trucks lined the driveway of Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, N.Y. Reporters were on campus covering one of the biggest stories of the day. A group of football players had thrown a party that triggered a by Shoe Leather

44 min listen

The Miracle Baby: On September 10, 2001, New York City newspapers reported that a newborn baby girl was found alone on a rock in Central Park — with her umbilical cord and placenta still attached. They said the baby was abandoned. And the mother could potentially face cha by Shoe Leather

47 min listen

Who’s Afraid Of Antonio Pagan?: In the 1980s and 90s, controversial City Councilperson Antonio Pagan was loved and hated by the Lower East Side. And while his political career was short-lived, his complicated legacy lives on. 35 years later, we want to know: was Antonio Pagan to blame by Shoe Leather

20 min listen

The Party’s Over: Months after the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot, a TV news report blamed some of the violence from that night on a local punk band called Missing Foundation. Led by artist Peter Missing, the band was known for trashing venues, spreading anti-gentrificati by Shoe Leather

45 min listen

The Butcher Of Tompkins Square Park: Daniel Rakowitz would often wander around Tompkins Square park holding a Bible and carrying a live rooster. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him, or knew of him. In 1989 - Daniel would go on trial for the brutal and complicated murder of Monika Beerle. by Shoe Leather

44 min listen

10-85: Over 400 police officers clashed with 200 civilians on the streets of the Lower East Side, in the late hours of August 6, 1988. Ralph Grasso, a retired NYPD officer, take us back to one of the most notorious nights in New York city history, the Tompkins by Shoe Leather

35 min listen

This Is A Fuckin’ Business: In 1999, when Yasiin Bey (then-known as Mos Def) and Talib Kweli hear about the killing of Amadou Diallo, they know they have to respond. A year later, they release Hip Hop for Respect. The EP features 41 rappers, and it gets released when much of New Y by Shoe Leather

36 min listen

Where The Riot Ended: On the night of August 6th, 1988 a police riot erupted in NYCs Tompkins Square Park — the heartland of punk music, anarchy and activism in the Lower East Side. The riot ended when protesters broke through the lobby of the Christodora House. This episode by Shoe Leather

27 min listen

ACT UP, Fight Back: Andy Velez was a co-founder of ACT UP, a legendary activist group known for its willingness to take practically any nonviolent action to fight AIDS. At the same time ACT UP was making itself known, New York City’s lower east side was changing fast. Neigh by Shoe Leather

20 min listen

The Verdict: In 1999, four white police officers killed Amadou Diallo and were charged with murder. A year later, a jury found them not guilty. The trial took place in Albany — even though the killing happened in the Bronx. 24 years later, we wanted to know why the j by Shoe Leather

20 min listen

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A Renaissance of Mysterious Circumstances

A Renaissance of Mysterious Circumstances

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