AFFIDAVIT

STATE OF FLORIDA, COUNTY OF _______

Before me this day personally appeared Michael Hoffman who, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

1. I am a retired New York City police officer living in Florida. Before leaving the Force, I attained the rank of Lieutenant. I am making this affidavit to record what I remember about the attack on Kitty Genovese which occurred in the early morning hours of March 13, 1964 in Kew Gardens, NY.

2. The night of the attack I was not quite 15 years old. At the time, we lived in Apartment 216 on the second floor of the Mowbray Apartment House (82-67 Austin Street) in Kew Gardens. My father’s name was Samuel Hoffman and our phone number was HIckory 1-2762. My bedroom was on an outside corner by the building entrance with one window facing the entrance courtyard and the other facing Austin Street. My Austin Street window was across the street from where Kitty was first attacked.

3. The night Kitty was killed, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a commotion outside. What woke me up was yelling - not screams - but yelling voices (both male and female). Since my Austin Street window was only open about a half an inch (it was very cold that night), I could not make out what was being said, or by whom. I opened that window more and could still not make out what was being said. [Page 2 begins here]

4. When I looked out, I saw a person on the ground and a man just standing over the person. I did not see that the man had a knife, I did not see any blood, and I did not I realize that the person had been stabbed. This could be due to the low light (it was dark and under streetlamp lighting that was not very bright), and also, the person was already on the ground. Anyway, thinking it was just a fight or a lovers’ quarrel, and more angry than concerned (I was just awakened and I was a kid), I yelled to them in true New York fashion to "Shut the F*** up!" I woke up my dad and everyone else in the apartment.

5. The man then ran west on Austin Street towards the Long Island Rail Road station. I moved to the courtyard window of my bedroom and watched him until he passed the benches in front of the Long Island Rail Road station. Then I lost sight of him. I went back to the Austin Street window and saw the person slowly get up. I heard what I thought was crying or moaning loudly, a female voice, like she was hurt, but I could not make out any words. That's when my dad came into my room.

6. My father asked what was happening. I said, "This guy just beat up a lady and ran away!". We both looked out the Austin Street window of my bedroom as Kitty slowly went around the corner of the 2 story Tudor Building across the street and disappeared from our sight. There was a drugstore on that corner at the time. (My father never did see the man, just Kitty getting up and going around the corner.) During that time we heard her make faint moaning sounds, but we never heard her scream, cry out or say anything. The way she walked made us think she was either drunk, or had been [Page 3 begins here] beaten up. She walked slowly, holding on to the building wall for support as she did. She staggered. Dad decided to call the police in case she was hurt badly and needed medical attention. Within about 20 seconds after Kitty disappeared around the corner where the drugstore was, we went to the telephone which was in another room, not facing the street.

7. In those days there was no "911". Dad had to dial the Operator and wait for the eventual connection to the police operator. Dispatchers were always busy as a rule and it took a bit to connect, so this did not seem out of the ordinary to us. While my father was on hold trying to get through to the police, I went back to look out my Austin Street bedroom window every minute or so, but I did not see or hear anything more. Eventually, dad got through to the police. He told the dispatcher what we had seen and heard - that a lady was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around". He told the dispatcher her location was "by the drugstore at the LIRR station", and that the lady walked away but appeared dazed. My father was on the phone at least five full minutes, most of it waiting to be connected to the police dispatcher.

8. We then waited by the Austin Street window of my bedroom to see if the police or ambulance arrived so we could call out to them the direction she was headed in the last we saw her. After about 2 minutes, dad said he was tired and he went back to bed. At this point everything was quiet and dark. Nothing was happening. My teenage curiosity wanted me to stay up, but my bed was at that window. I was on the bed and I propped my pillow up so I could see when the cops arrived. That's the last I remember, which is why I missed them getting there, I guess. Dad woke me later that [Page 4 begins here] morning after he happened to look out the kitchen window and saw all the police activity. He told me that there must have been more happening than we saw. That's when we went downstairs and talked to the police.

9. We learned her identity from the police, and that Kitty had gone around to the back of the building across the street (which is where she lived), and that the guy came back to finish her off. That part we didn't see or hear since it in a hallway in the rear of that building. Even though my father gave his name, phone number, and address, the police did not seem to have any notes that we had called the police dispatcher, but they did listen to us. Several of my neighbors were being interviewed at that time and the detectives seemed to not have more time to listen to what we had to say. They did take our statements, but told us that since we didn't see anything of substance (to them), it would be doubtful that we were needed in the future. I remember my Dad telling the police that if they had come when we called them, she'd probably still be alive. For that he got a dirty look from the detective.

10. The newspapers said that a few minutes after the first attack on Austin Street, Kitty was attacked again on the parking lot side of the 2 story Tudor Building, and that she screamed for help. Although we could not see her on that side of the building, we would have heard her if she screamed again. We did not hear anything once she turned the corner by the drugstore. At the time, neither my dad nor I ever thought for a second that this was an attempted murder, or that the man I saw run away would return, find Kitty, and kill her. [Page 5 begins here]

11. I have been told that neighborhood residents at the time said that a lot of early morning noise came out of the Old Bailey bar which was a few doors down Austin Street from where Kitty was first attacked. Personally, nothing from the Old Bailey ever woke me. Once in a while, in the late evening before I went to sleep, there would be a drunk or two merrily singing in the street, but I never was awakened by any problem drunks. But remember, I was only living there a short time. I don't know what problems there were before or after.

12. I worked as a New York City policeman out of the 112nd Precinct although that was years after Kitty was killed. While stationed at the 112, I met an old timer (it’s been too many years to remember his name) who was almost ready to retire. He told me he was on duty in the 102nd Precinct that night and heard the first call go out as a simple assault. It wasn’t even put out as "in progress". The dispatcher sent out a second call escalating the situation after Kitty was found lying in the hallway.

13. I am told that in his book, "Chief!", former New York City Chief of Detectives, Albert A. Seedman, wrote that at the time Kitty Genovese was murdered, the West Virginia Apartments (located at 82-60 Austin Street alongside the Long Island Rail Road parking lot) had an all night elevator operator who would have seen the killer pull up almost directly in front of his door. However, the West Virginian never had a manned elevator that I knew of, and I had been in that building as early as the late 50's with my cousins visiting friends. I've been in all of the buildings on Austin Street, and the only building I knew with an operator (in 1964) was mine, The Mowbray. The rest were [Page 6 begins here] automatic, that I remember. But in any event, the Mowbray was a manned elevator, and it was until at least 1967.

14. I have been told that one of the people interviewed for a 1999 History Channel special on the Kitty Genovese case was a Queens County Assistant District Attorneys who worked on the trial of the killer, Winston Moseley. I have been told that during his interview, he mentioned that there was a night elevator operator in the Mowbray who saw everything from a bay window, but instead of calling the police, he simply went downstairs and went to bed. In my opinion, the idea that the Mowbray night elevator man heard or saw anything is wrong. I knew the night man well, and while I don't remember his name after almost 40 years, I remember enough about him to know if he did indeed see or hear anything, he would have gone out there and got involved.

15. Furthermore, when idle, the elevator man was supposed to sit in a chair in the lobby next to the elevator, even in the wee hours of the morning. It had to be attended all night long since people did come and go periodically in the middle of the night. There was a chair as well in the basement next to the elevator, and I suppose they did use that as well if they wanted to "coop" and not get caught. "Going downstairs and going to bed" does not fit....napping in a chair, maybe. Since the report mentioned that he "went downstairs and went to bed", I put forth the theory that it's where he was to begin with and did not see or hear a thing. If in the basement, even gunshots on Austin Street would not have been heard there! [Page 7 begins here]

16. Also, the front entrance to the Mowbray Apartments was not even with the public sidewalk. It was back at the end of an entrance courtyard. There was a real nice older door and bay windows looking out into the courtyard, not the ones that are there now. But even if the night elevator operator was in the lobby, I doubt that he could have seen anything from there unless he went outside and walked several yards towards the street. The entry courtyard was not well lit, but the lobby was. Seeing out that window was very difficult due to the lighting contrast, and I can attest to this of my own experience. In addition, he would not have a clear view due to the cars parked on both sides of the street...in 1964, parking was allowed on both sides. During my observations of the attack, I did look out my window facing the courtyard several times (with it open), and I did not see or hear anyone in the courtyard.

17. Each of the operators brought a little radio with them to work to listen to when bored. In the quiet of the night (and it always was), the sound of their radio had a gentle but strong sound, that echoed even stronger in the large, marble lobby. You could hear (but not offensively) the radio throughout all the hallways of the building. I never heard anyone complain because it was not seeping into apartments (even the ones on the first floor right off the lobby), and they played soft, classical and symphony type music. So if someone did scream across the street, I would find it difficult to believe that the elevator man heard anything unless he was standing outside to begin with, possibly getting some fresh air. [Page 8 begins here]

19. The foregoing is the way I remember it. I have never suffered from any physical or emotional condition, nor have I taken any drugs or medication that would impair my memory.

Signature of Affiant:



s/_____________________________

MICHAEL HOFFMAN

Sworn to (or affirmed) and subscribed before me

this 15th day of July, 2003

by Michael Hoffman

Personally known: __________________

OR Produced Identification: Driver Lic.

Type of Identification Produced: same

(SEAL)

Notary Signature Daniel L. Hydorn

[Print, type or stamp name of notary public]

Daniel L. Hydorn

My Commission CC929765

Expires April 20, 2004