Daily News Gallery Documents New York City's Subway Crime Through the Decades

by Matt Coneybeare

on Mar. 11, 2015 at 2:07 PM

at 2:07 PM on March 11, 2015

1980's: Lisa Sliwa, a member of the Guardian Angels and wife of its founder, Curtis Sliwa, patrols the subway dressed in her uniform with its signature red beret.

2000's: With 9/11 still fresh in the minds of many, cops crowded the entrance to the subway station at Union Square in 2002 after 20 to 30 suspicious packages emblazoned with the word 'fear' were found. Emergency services, the bomb squad and crime scene units were called to the scene.

1960's: It's a scene straphangers today might not recognize. While passengers sit aboard a subway train, Transit Authority Sgt. Len Cancelleri patrols the crowded car to ensure that no one aboard gets mugged.

1960's: Transit Authority Patrolman Harold Reed has his eyes glued on TV monitors that provide different views of the 14th St. subway station in order to alert police of problem areas and deter crime.

1960's: Navigating the underground tunnels constituting New York's subway system could be dangerous business. Here, a man is treated in Grand Central Station after being stabbed on the subway.

1960's: Police officers escort a member of a mob of disorderly youths away from the subway station at Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island.

1970's: Undercover police officer Raymond Barse disguises himself as a female subway token clerk at the Grand Central station in order to halt the recent upsurge in subway armed robberies.

1970's: After a senseless subway attack, 17-year-old music student Renee Katz receives medical attention after her right hand was severed when she was pushed in front of a moving train at the 50th St. station.

1970's: A body is covered and carried away after a patrolman was killed during a shooting at the 8th St. subway station in 1975.

1970's: Despite the more than 40 percent increase in subway fare, this 1975 subway car is still covered in graffiti and littered with trash.

1980's: Transit police officer Emilio Mesa and police dog Blitz ride a graffiti covered subway car.

1980's: A man wearing a crisp business suit pops against this subway car scrawled over with heavy graffiti.

1980's: The writing's on the wall: A tired passenger rests while seated in an empty, graffiti-filled subway car in 1980.

1980's: Members of the volunteer crime fighting organization, The Guardian Angels, patrol a subway car. The group was founded in 1979 in New York City in response to the increase in crime on the subway.

1980's: A member of the volunteer crime-fighting organization, the Guardian Angels, patrols a subway car in the 1980s. The organization was both praised and vilified by the media for its efforts.

1980's: One of Bernhard Goetz's gunshot victims is carried out of the subway by paramedics.

1980's: Police officer Bob Redgrave peers from a car of the N train at the Columbus Circle station on the first night that officers were assigned to each of the 320 subway trains that ran between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. Operation High Visibility was part of Mayor Koch's plan to bolster security and restore public confidence in subway safety.

1980's: Subway riders head to work on a dirty, graffiti-covered train along the Lexington Avenue line in 1981.

1990's: Subway riders walk by a horrific crime scene on the platform of the 125 St. station after an unidentified person was shot, leaving behind a pool of blood and clothing of the victim.

1990's: One of two shooting victims is treated by paramedics at the 34th St. and 8th Avenue subway station following a violent 1996 incident.

1990's: Nice try! A man trying to avoid paying subway fare is caught in the act after getting stuck in the gate while attempting to sneak through. Emergency services had to be called to cut him free.

1990's: A firebombed subway token booth at Kingston and Fulton Street lies in ruins following an explosive incident that shook the station in 1995.

2000's: Police storm the station at 14th St. and 8th Avenue looking for a man that was shot in the leg by an off-duty NYPD officer after the suspect was seen holding a knife.

2000's: A 14-year-old boy was reportedly on his way to school when he was stabbed at the subway station at West 145th St. and St. Nicholas Avenue in 2007. Police tape cordons off the scene, pictured here.

On the heels of Tuesday's fatal shooting in Brooklyn's Borough Hall subways station, the Daily News released this interesting gallery of photos documenting crime in the subway over the past 50 years. Check out the full gallery on NYDN for many more photos from this series.

crime

Matt Coneybeare

Editor in Chief

Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.

Posts by Matt Coneybeare

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