The Witness Page #5

and that's one of the ways

that you decide

what course

you're gonna take.

And if those things

aren't accurate

then you could

chart the wrong course.

If Kitty Genovese

is a name

that immediately summons

something to people's minds

then that thing that gets

summoned should be the truth.

So, that's everyone who,

who saw...

These are witnesses.

Witnessed in some way,

at least heard something.

And A.M. Rosenthal's the guy who wrote "38 Witnesses."

- Right.

The truth of the matter is,

38 people didn't see it.

Okay.

Dr. and Mrs. Rubenstein

heard screams, "Help, help

they're killing me."

You know, I often wondered

how much detail

Billy would get into.

"He heard a woman scream

at about 3 o'clock."

So and so did this,

so and so opened the window,

so and so shouted,

so and so...

For what? She's dead.

She's murdered,

you know.

I don't want...

Why do I wanna hear that?

"Standing over her and repeatedly

striking her. The girl then..."

I personally never heard

a story

from my dad's family members

about Kitty.

I think her death

overshadowed her life

for anybody involved with it.

In some ways there was this

hush-hush about her life

because they couldn't talk

about her death.

It probably made it

more traumatic

because they weren't able

to celebrate her life.

They were focusing on her

death by hiding the fact

that she was even alive

to begin with.

I mean, to me,

she's a picture in a magazine.

I know her from things

I read on Wikipedia

or Googled or read randomly

in a book

when I was in high school

in English class

and didn't realize

it was my aunt

until about half-way through.

I know how she died.

- Yeah.

That's the story

I could tell you.

- Inside, dad?

- Yeah.

One more.

As you're beating your head up

against the wall

and having to relive

this murder scene

over and over again, it's like,

you know, you stop and say

"Why the hell

am I doing this?

This is, like, nuts.

I don't know, I guess

the message for me

and why I can't stop until

I feel like it's over.

Yeah, when is it over?

I... I'll know

when it's over.

Let me just describe something

really quickly.

My sister Kitty, for you,

would be

a combination of mom and me.

So imagine that.

Mom and I both get murdered

on the street.

Well, see, I never knew

it was like that for you.

Like, you've never...

I mean, you've never expressed

it in that way.

Right.

So the obsessive part of me

that's gotta get

to the end of it

the end isn't reached yet.

There's see... there's more

bases I'd like to touch.

For instance, like, Kitty

was married, did you know that?

No, I...

No.

My sister was so much more

than her final 30 minutes.

But in our late-night talks,

her life in the city

barely came up.

All I knew was

she worked in a bar.

Was briefly married

to a man named Rocco.

In the past few years,

journalists have revealed

that her roommate Mary Ann

was actually her lover.

If I didn't know something

as important as that

how well did I really

know my sister?

Even though I haven't seen him

since I was 6

I decided to reach out

to Rocco.

"Dear Rocco, I've been working

with a filmmaker

for several years

on a documentary about Kitty."

"At this point, I have

questions about her life

"in New York

after high school

and I think you hold the key

to the answers."

"William, I respect the feeling

expressed in your message

"and I ask you do the same

for mine

which are to respect

my desire for privacy."

"My relations with Kitty shall

remain a mystery forever."

Hi, pops.

What are you doing?

I'm reading through

Kitty's yearbook.

"May we dance forever

on each others' feet"

Love and Stuff, Elsa."

So this is where you went

to high school?

This is where

we went to high school.

And when we played hooky,

we were in that park.

which we did a lot.

Did Kitty have any aspirations

of going to college?

No.

And it's interesting

because she was smart.

But I don't remember her

ever striving for the "A."

Probably 'cause

we were all cut-ups.

Everyone loved Kitty.

She was funny, very witty.

She had an, an enormous

following.

She was a very good mimic

of teachers

particularly

our French teacher.

She would do

the Sid Caesar thing

where she made believe

she was talking French.

To be in Kitty's clique

was a big deal.

We played hooky.

We went to the beach

or here in the park

or smoking on the roof.

And she was the head

of the pack.

So, you first heard

about Kitty's murder...

I remember reading the obit.

It said that she was a barmaid.

- Yeah.

Okay?

And, um, I was, I...

I remember thinking,

"What a pity, what a waste"

that she wound up a barmaid.

- I'm Wally Brosnan, Bill.

- Wally, Bill Genovese.

I was a friend

of Kitty's, too.

- Good. Nice to meet you.

- Hiya, Bill.

- Nice to meet you.

- My pleasure.

Kitty started out

as a bar maid

but eventually she earned

a position as a bar manager.

Her last job was at a tavern

called "Ev's 11th Hour."

Somehow I didn't

imagine this.

The neighborhood's

changed quite a bit.

Neither did we.

We didn't imagine it either.

Big difference.

When did the bar open?

8 o'clock in the morning.

Now, you better

be here at 8:
00.

Or else they'll be

knocking down the door.

Well, what was she like

in there, was she, you know

if there was trouble, did...

did anybody get into fights?

She cut off what's his name,

Harry Allerman

she cut him off, told him

he couldn't come in anymore.

Why, what was he doing,

screamin', yellin'?

Well, you know,

he was just a drunk.

So would you, would you...

Was she like a tough person

to deal with?

- No!

- She was a pussycat.

When, uh, when my

last daughter was born

she came to the hospital

with me.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.

Yeah, she came

to the hospital with me.

She was just...

she was just good

like, she'd goof with ya.

You know, you'd goof with her

and she... right back at you

you know, right back at you.

What was Ev's bar like?

Uh, it was like,

uh, cheers.

Everybody knows everybody else

and everybody's business.

Do you think she liked

working there?

- Oh, she loved it. Yeah.

- Yeah?

Oh, yeah.

That bar was her home.

She was the queen

of the place.

Some of the people at the bar used

to think I was her boyfriend.

But I don't think

the people at the bar

had any idea she was gay.

Hmm.

I don't, in fact,

I'm positive they didn't know about it.

Oh, yeah. Everybody

knew that she was gay.

- Oh, really?

- Oh, yeah. Everybody knew.

And let's put it this way,

she was one of the boys.

I mean, guys used to borrow

money off her.

- Borrow money from her?

- Yeah.

Everybody in there gambled

in one way or another.

Kitty was arrested

for something

or charged with something.

What was that about?

Not that I knew of.

What do you guys

know about that?

No, I don't,

I don't remember that.

What she would do

people would give her bets

to give to the bookie.

Hmm.

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