A Very Special Bitch, This Week, Girls, To Remember A Most Significant Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                          Winston Robert Moseley is 79 years old, and may be one of the oldest Bitches Of The Week, if not the oldest. He does, however, hold the distinction of being the longest incarcerated in the New York prison system.  And what he did to gain this fame was something he committed exactly 50 years ago today, girls.

                              Half a century ago, in the wee hours of this early morning, Moseley, who might have gone on to be what we now call a computer programmer--a techno guru, if you will--and who, at 29, was married with children--was out in his car, looking for a woman to satisfy his compulsion to kill.  This resulted in, not only one of the most famous crimes of the last century, but one of the most famous in New York City history.

                              On early morning, March 13, 1964, Moseley hunted down, attacked, raped, and finally killed, a 29-year old bar manager named Catherine "Kitty" Genovese.

                                 That is right, he murdered Kitty Genovese!

                                  When this happened, I was in third grade. By seventh grade, we were studying in social studies class, when I, a suburban Jersey kid, still thought of Queens, as well as all of NYC, as endless rows of tall buildings and sleazy alleyways, where crimes like this took place.

                                     Kitty is the best--and worst--example of someone being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  She was returning home from her job in Hollis, wanted nothing more than to go relax in her Kew Gardens apartment, when the attack happened that changed the course of history.

                                      Her now iconic photo is one of the most haunting ever, and the case continues to haunt everyone--the who cares how many who refused to get involved, their descendants, and anyone who is exposed to the horrible facts behind Kitty's case.

                                       Ten years before, on the fortieth anniversary, the NY Times did an article on the 40th Anniversary of the murder.  "Times have changed," as Ethel Merman once sang!  This article was when we learned that Miss Genovese was--gasp!--actually a lesbian!-- and, in an interview with her still surviving partner, Mary Ann Zielonko, we were reminded by her, how, at the time, "everyone tried to hush that up."

                                        It made no difference what Kitty's orientation was, her demise was so tragic. And so appalling in its public apathy.  Moseley had no idea, I am sure, what orientation she was,  just that she was eligible prey.  So, the case, while historical, can never be called a gay hate crime.

                                           Would it be, had it occurred today?   Not really; unless you could prove the perp had a specific hatred for lesbians.

                                              Kitty's legacy lives on to remind us of the dangers of apathy.  And her killer, this week's winner of the Raving Queen Bitch Of The Week Award, is right where he is, where he will rot, deserving to be kept off the streets.

                                                  This is one anniversary that cannot be called happy.  Half a century later, it is still sad, appalling, and haunting.

                                            Here is the actual murder site of Kitty Genovese. Ten years ago, I tracked down the article's author (or someone interviewed in the article) who told me about that night. Since I was living not far from Kew Gardens, I made a special trek out there, and retraced Kitty's steps on that terrible night.  It is both amazing and chilling how exactly the neighborhood looks as it did in Kitty's time.

                                                And I could not remain there, for long! It was too haunting. Ghosts were all around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!