The Subway Vigilante Shooting (1984) w/ Leon Neyfakh [Archive Favorite]
This Day
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s August 1st. This day in 1996, a judge ruled that Bernie Goetz still owed his victims millions of dollars in damages as a result of the “Subway Vigilante” incident some twelve years earlier.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Leon Neyfakh to discuss the subway shooting, the media frenzy surrounding Goetz, and the long legal fallout that resulted from the incident.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, Jody here from This Day headquarters. |
| 0:05.5 | We are taking our usual late summer break. |
| 0:08.0 | So for the next couple weeks, we are bringing you some favorites from the archives. |
| 0:12.2 | Maybe you've heard them before. |
| 0:13.3 | Maybe you haven't. |
| 0:14.1 | Either way, we think these are worth spending some time with. |
| 0:16.4 | And thanks to everyone who subscribes to our newsletter who helped vote on which episodes to rerun. |
| 0:22.2 | This is a gentle reminder to subscribe to the newsletter. |
| 0:25.0 | Also spread the word about the show to someone, leave a review, get in touch with an idea for an episode at thisdaypod.com, and most importantly, enjoy the last few weeks of summer. |
| 0:34.7 | All right, here we go. |
| 0:41.3 | Hello and welcome to This Day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan. This day, August 1st, 1996, a judge ruled |
| 0:51.1 | that a man by the name of Bernie Gets still owed one of his victims $43 million |
| 0:56.3 | in damages despite the fact that Gets at this point was completely bankrupt. |
| 1:01.3 | Why did this man owe someone millions and damages? |
| 1:03.6 | Why was he bankrupt? |
| 1:04.5 | Well, many of you will know that name Bernie Gets and the incident some 12 years earlier |
| 1:10.0 | that set all of this off. That incident was on the New York City subway where Gets and the incident some 12 years earlier that set all of this off. That incident was on |
| 1:12.5 | the New York City subway where Gets shot four young black men on a train in Manhattan |
| 1:18.3 | after they allegedly tried to rob him. Gets was almost immediately branded as the subway |
| 1:24.1 | vigilante, the incident becoming a huge flashpoint, a very racialized flashpoint |
| 1:29.1 | in an era of high crime and even higher fear in New York City. But not many people may know that |
| 1:35.4 | much beyond that. They may know the name Bernie Gets. They know the idea of the subway vigilante. |
... |
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