25 Years in 25 Days (1990): NYC's Murder Rate Peaks

The Brian Lehrer Show | Sep 30, 2014

This fall, the Brian Lehrer Show is marking 25 years of Brian at WNYC with a year-by-year look at stories that mattered from 1989 to 2014. Find the full schedule and lots more here.

A murder victim on Columbus Avenue (Ninth Avenue) in Manhattan, New York City, 1990.
(Barbara Alper/Getty)

In 1990, NYC's murder rate peaked at 2,605 killings. That fall, the New York Post famously ran a headline pleading with new Mayor Dinkins: "Dave, Do Something!" Ray Kelly, former NYPD Commissioner, who was First Deputy Commissioner in 1990, reflects on the height of the violence and one of NYC's greatest successes -- the dramatic drop in crime from the late 1980's through today.

The famous NY Post cover from the fall of 1990 pleading with new mayor David Dinkins to control NYC's soaring crime rate.
(NYPost)

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