Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD – Details, episodes & analysis

The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD explores where the police came from.

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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Before the NYPD existed, New Yorkers strongly opposed the idea of an armed police force – until a powerful news publisher changed everything. After a grisly murder takes place, the city’s newspapers sensationalize the story, blame the cops, and a new force is born. But will these cops work to solve the case or will they spend their days hunting something–or someone–else? 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Ed O’Donnell https://edwardtodonnell.com/

Greg Young https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/about-us

Alan Singer https://www.hofstra.edu/faculty-staff/faculty-profile.html?id=1412

Wilbur Miller https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/history/people/_emeriti/miller.php

Jon Wells https://www.jonathandanielwells.com/

Mariame Kaba https://mariamekaba.com/

The Bowery Boys podcast https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/bowery-boys-first/bowery-boys-podcast

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

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Chenjerai takes us back to the summer of 1835, when Black New Yorkers are being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. But their friends and families can’t call the cops, because it turns out the kidnappers are the cops…can a group of Black resistance fighters stop it? 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References: 

Mariame Kaba: https://mariamekaba.com/

Jon Wells: https://www.jonathandanielwells.com/

Wilbur Miller: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/history/people/_emeriti/miller.php

The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War: https://www.amazon.com/Kidnapping-Club-Street-Slavery-Resistance/dp/156858752X

The Congress of Racial Equality: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/congress-racial-equality-core

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New York’s power-hungry mayor weaponizes the police to help him control the city – and bulldoze a thriving Black community for his own real estate profits. The state, fearing that the mayor and his police have become too strong, wage a war for control – and create their own rival force. 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Jeff Broxmeyer https://www.jeffbroxmeyer.com/

Mariame Kaba https://mariamekaba.com/

Leslie Alexander https://drlesliealexander.com/

Gregg Simmons https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4206025/

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The NYPD loves to show off its diversity, but it often hides how hard and long it fought that diversity. Chenjerai takes us back in time to the real story of how the NYPD got its first Black cop – and how decades later, Black cops went to war with the NYPD’s union to push for civilian oversight of the police. But how effective is reform if the police are still only accountable to themselves? 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the Police, about America, and about Democracy.

Voices & References:

Edwin Raymond: https://x.com/edwinraymondnyc

Khalil Gibran Muhammed: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/khalil-gibran-muhammad

Natalie Cherot: https://nataliecherot.com/

Andrew Darien: https://directory.salemstate.edu/profile/andrew.darien

An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Cop-Change-Policing-America/dp/0593653165

The Watchmen: https://www.hbo.com/watchmen

The Congress of Racial Equality: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/congress-racial-equality-core

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New York’s police start to realize that beating up and arresting immigrants is making them distrustful of cops. In response, a police chief has an idea, borne out of his time colonizing the Philippines: control the population by recruiting local community members to police their own people. 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Asad Dandia https://www.newyorknarratives.com/our-narrative

Matt Guariglia https://www.matthewguariglia.com/

Daniel Czitrom https://www.mtholyoke.edu/directory/emeriti-retired-faculty/daniel-czitrom

Albert Samaha https://www.albertsamaha.com/

New York Narratives https://www.newyorknarratives.com/

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s like clockwork: every 20 years or so, a corruption scandal forces the NYPD into the hot seat. But how did this cycle begin? To find out, we go back over a century ago to the very first investigation into the police where the NYPD is put on trial like never before.

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Carol Safir

Daniel Czitrom https://www.mtholyoke.edu/directory/emeriti-retired-faculty/daniel-czitrom

Cait Murphy

Bill Williams, descendant of Clubber Williams

Leslie Cornfeld 

Scoundrels in Law: The Trials of Howe and Hummel, Lawyers to the Gangsters, Cops, Starlets, and Rakes Who Made the Gilded Age

https://www.amazon.com/Scoundrels-Law-Lawyers-Gangsters-Starlets/dp/0061714283

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

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Officers in early New York didn’t just police the city’s vice economy; they profited from it. But when America’s first professional vice fighter Anthony Comstock strong-arms the NYPD into enforcing his vision of morality, he also transformed how and what we police. 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Amy Werbel https://www.fitnyc.edu/creative-nexus/faculty/directory/werbel-amy.php

Bill Williams, descendant of Clubber Williams

Jennifer Wright https://www.jenashleywright.com/

Lust On Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock https://www.amazon.com/Lust-Trial-Censorship-American-Obscenity/dp/0231175221

Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist

https://www.amazon.com/Madame-Restell-Resurrection-Fabulous-Abortionist/dp/0306826798

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

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Horrific race riots erupt when New York City starts to draft soldiers into the Civil War. A mob of white people, who resent fighting for emancipation, direct their rage at the Black community as well as the police… and all hell breaks loose. The NYPD pushes for more firearms – but will they use them to protect New York’s most vulnerable, or subdue them? 

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were and are still impacted by the NYPD are always part of the stories we tell ourselves about the police, about America, and about democracy.

Voices & References:

Ed O’Donnell https://edwardtodonnell.com/

Kamau Ware https://kamauware.com/

Kevin McGruder https://antiochcollege.edu/team-members/kevin-mcgruder/

Daniel Czitrom https://www.mtholyoke.edu/directory/emeriti-retired-faculty/daniel-czitrom

Black Gotham https://blackgotham.com/

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

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"Woop! Woop! That’s the sound of da police! Conscious and Frankie welcome Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika – host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD. Dr. Kumanyika’s podcast is a deeply personal tale of his relationship to policing, the history of the NYPD and its long reaching impact in police departments across the nation. Are the police truly functioning as designed? Does their origin begin and end as slave catching patrols? Today’s conversation brings humor and depth to the exploration of that fraught history.

Listen to Black History, For Real on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. 

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