Moriarty: “When the New York Police Department so quickly begins to turn into the Los Angeles Police Department …”
What does that mean? “LAPD, boo! Hiss!”? Moriarty sounds like some Upper West Side Lefty who has given up on facts and arguments, and no longer bothers even to spout complete slogans. A well-informed reader is not obliged to guess at a writer’s meaning. Even Bob Herbert isn’t that lazy.
“and horror stories of summary executions in Spanish Harlem are listed and the whole series culminates in the torture of a Haitian immigrant in the basement toilet of an NYPD precinct house, well, you have a policy not entirely ordered by the Police Commissioner. You have a Mussolini somewhere in there. Since motive is the first question about crime, who benefited from the miraculous drop in crime? Mayor Giuliani did.”
Have you ever had too much coffee to drink, or too many worries to handle, and lay in bed with your mind racing, 1000 miles per minute? That’s the way Moriarty writes. What “summary executions in Spanish Harlem”?
At least when he refers to “the torture of a Haitian immigrant” above and in a later paragraph, I know that he is talking about the 1997 Abner Louima case. Of course, Moriarty even gets that one wrong. He says that the weapon involved was a “nightstick,” when in fact it was a broken broom handle; more importantly, he insinuates that Louima was an illegal immigrant and that Giuliani had ordered the assault.
I am not aware of any reports saying that Louima was an illegal immigrant. As for Moriarty’s contention that Giuliani had a “motive” in the Louima case, I might be able to follow the man’s “logic,” if I were tripping on LSD, but I’m not.
According to the record and to my knowledge, the August 9, 1997 attack by Officer Justin Volpe on Abner Louima was and remains unparalleled in the history of the New York City Police Department.
Moriarty: “The only plus side was the revelation of New York liberal hypocrisy at its worst. There were no protests about the evolving tyranny until the cops beat up a young Orthodox Jewish man. Only then was a parade organized, with Al Sharpton at the head and the rabbis right behind him.”
What young orthodox Jewish man? The only case I know of that resembles Moriarty’s statement is that of Gideon Busch, a deranged man brandishing a hammer, who in 1999 was shot to death by police, after which Al Sharpton led a protest march. I know of no such “beating.” Is it possible that Moriarty was so lazy and sloppy that he shortchanged his own argument?
Article comments
1 - Ruth Hudson
Truly enjoyed this article regarding Michael Moriarty's writing. The call for accountability and lack of some research for statements he makes was excellent. I'm not a writer, but I'm glad you are. My opinion of him as an actor; he's the best, and a favorite of mine.
Thanks, Ruth