Shoe Leather

It’s been 56 years since the Greenwich Village townhouse exploded. Three people died. The rest vanished. The only one left alive to tell the story is Cathy Wilkerson, now 81—still wrestling with what she did, what she believes, and what, if anything, she truly regrets. Episode 6: The Survivor was reported, written, and produced by Chloe Stein and Eleanor Barzun. 

Kathy Boudin is the fourth member of the Weatherman. After running from the flames of the townhouse, she goes into hiding for over a decade. That’s until one day, when she resurfaces in a way that will define the course of her life. Kathy’s revolutionary ideals eventually land her in prison. Was she a hopeless idealist? Or a radical revolutionary? Is her redemption driven by conviction, or by guil...

It’s March 6, 1970. A townhouse suddenly explodes in New York City’s Greenwich Village, killing three of the five people inside. Two escape. Police think it’s a gas explosion at first…until they find explosives in the rubble. Who was in the townhouse that day? What happened to the survivors? And what exactly were they planning?

Ted Gold is one of the five people in the townhouse when the bomb explodes. He's a student at Columbia University. And a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War. But before all that, he's just a witty, New York City kid, who loves the Yankees, Bob Dylan, and Karl Marx.  His friends say he is reliable, fearless and a ladies man. But how does a non violent kid like that end up in that townhouse in Greenw...

Diana Oughton was a straight-A student from a wealthy Republican family, a teacher who seemed destined for a conventional life. But over a decade marked by war, campus activism, and radical politics, she drifts into the orbit of the Weather Underground. What turns belief into action, and how does someone like Diana end up willing to bring the war home?

Terry Robbins is a charismatic, intelligent young man who becomes a leader of the student movement to protest the Vietnam War. But when peaceful protest is not making the progress he hoped for, he's ready to take more radical measures. Terry wants to start a revolution.

Newly crowned as America's Mayor, Giuliani looks set to cash in on his newfound popularity. He shoots for the White House and misses. After disappearing from the spotlight, he decides to make a comeback working for someone who could very well be his last legal client: President Donald Trump. This episode was reported, written, and produced by Deep Vakil and Hope Talbot.

Rudy Giuliani begins his second term as New York City’s mayor riding high — a crime-fighting icon fresh off a re-election win. But as the years unfold, controversies mount, political ambitions clash with personal scandals, and his successes begin to fade. His rise quickly turns into an unraveling — until a national tragedy shifts Giuliani’s fate. Episode 5: King Rudolph, reported and produced by A...

In 1993, Giuliani wins the mayoral election in NYC. He runs on the promise to curb one of the biggest issues for New Yorkers: crime. And, when he wins, he hires a police commissioner who flies too close to the sun. And changes the NYPD forever.

In June 1983, Rudy Giuliani moves back to New York City. He takes a job as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and sets his sights on going after organized crime. He’ll use his time as prosecutor to go after the mob, which earns him a lot of media attention. In May 1989, Giuliani has a new goal-to become the next mayor of New York City. Join us as we try to find out why Giuliani wa...

Why did a young Rudy Giuliani have tea with Haiti's dictator in 1982? To answer that question, we’ll have to go back to 1968 when a 24 year-old Giuliani was just graduating from law school. He was a young, driven lawyer whose sight was set on a political career with the Democratic Party.  But in just 7 years, Giuliani would change cities, change jobs, change political parties and establish what we...

Every New Yorker knows Rudy Giuliani. He was America's mayor, one of the heroes of 9/11. He was President Donald Trump's lawyer. He denied the 2020 election. Giuliani has been a big name in New York City politics since the 1980s. But it didn't start that way. The story of Rudolph William Louis Giuliani starts long before then. On May 28th, 1944. In East Flatbush, Brooklyn. This episode was reporte...

This season on Shoe Leather, a look into the life and career of Rudy Giuliani – one of the most influential politicians in New York City’s recent history.

Amadou Diallo’s name became synonymous with “41 shots”. He was killed in 1999 by four NYPD officers, who fired at him 41 times inside the doorway of his Bronx apartment building. The incident etched his name into public memory through explosive news coverage. But beyond the headlines, who was Amadou Diallo? In “Boli”, we dive into Amadou’s life – from his dreams to his time in New York. We hear fr...

Police said they approached Amadou Diallo because they suspected he was a serial rapist who had been terrorizing the Bronx and Harlem for six years. A judge later blamed the real rapist, Isaac Jones, for Diallo's death. Was Jones really responsible?

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 York City is enraged after the four cops who shot Amadou are acquitted. 24 years later, Khadija Alam and Rachel Kahn ask: Why has no one heard Hip H...

After Amadou Diallo was killed by four white police officers, Yvette Walton decided to speak out. She used to be the only Black woman patrolling the streets in the Street Crime Unit - the team responsible for shooting 41 bullets at the unarmed Black man. After 25 years, she looks back at her story and helps us understand: Why did she decide to blow the whistle?

Two years after Amadou was killed, a local artist named Hulbert Waldroup was commissioned to create a mural honoring him on the street where he lived in the Bronx. But that’s not the mural you’ll see if you drive by today. In this episode, Sara Braun and Dani Morera Trettin uncover the story behind the original mural, its controversial unveiling, and why eventually, a new mural replaced it 16 year...

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 jury voted not guilty. Does justice mean something different depending on where you are?

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 for one of the worst police riots in New York City's history?

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. Turns out, he'd told people he was going to kill her. So, why didn't anyone listen? This episode is “The Butcher of Tompkins Square Park.”

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 Square park riot. Months after the riot, Ralph himself was in deep trouble. In this episode, we hear an NYPD’s perspective of what happened the ni...

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. Neighborhoods that once belonged to artists and punks were lost to developers and yuppies. In this episode, Ryan Kilkenny and Jiayu Liang look at the c...

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-gentrification slogans, and – according to the TV report – even had Satanic beliefs. In this episode, Lindsey Choo and Patrick Hagan set out to learn who Pete...

On the night of August 6th, 1988 a police riot erupted in NYC's 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 covers how one building became the symbol of class warfare in the 80s.