By Greater Astoria Historical Society
In conjunction with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, the TimesLedger newspaper presents noteworthy events in the borough’s history
Born Bernhard Hugo Goetz on Nov. 7, 1947 in Kew Gardens, Bernie Goetz is best known as the “subway vigilante” who shot four would-be muggers on a New York subway in December 1984. The incident sparked heated nationwide debate on the issues of soaring crime rates in major cities, race, public safety and the limits of legal self-defense. Goetz was found guilty of carrying an unlicensed firearm, and a jury in a civil trial awarded one of the young men, rendered a paraplegic in the shooting, $43 million in damages.
The son of German immigrant parents, Goetz spent much of his youth on his family’s 300-acre dairy farm in Upstate New York. A somewhat idyllic childhood came to an end at age 12, however, when his father pled guilty to molesting two boys. Bernhard and his sister were quickly sent off to boarding school in Switzerland. Goetz returned home in 1965 and went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering from New York University. After a brief marriage, the Queens native settled into an apartment in Greenwich Village and started a small electronics business.
The 1960s, ’70s and ’80s were a time of increasing lawlessness and violence in the Big Apple. By 1981, the city saw a violent crime rate of 1,100 incidents a year for each 100,000 residents. By the early 1980s, New York subways alone were the scene of 14,000 crimes a year, and even the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said he didn’t let his teenage son ride the trains at night. Many New Yorkers were fed up with a seeming spiral into disorder and anarchy.
Goetz claimed that he first fell victim to subway crime in 1981, when three thugs attempted to rob him in the Canal Street subway station. Although one of the assailants was arrested, he spent less time in the police station than his victim and was only charged for ripping Goetz’s jacket. Because he frequently carried valuable electronics for his business, a shaken and traumatized Bernie Goetz applied for a handgun permit but was turned down. Sometime later, he went down to Florida and purchased a 5-shot, .38 caliber pistol.
In the early afternoon of Dec. 22, 1984, an armed 37-year old electronics salesman boarded the subway at 14th Street Station as holiday shoppers hurried about in the unseasonably warm weather above ground. Four young African-American men from the Bronx—Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey and James Ramseur—were riding in the same car, intending to spend the day stealing money from arcade machines. Although accounts differ in precisely what happened next, two of the men signaled each other and approached Goetz, either asking for or demanding $5. Feeling threatened, he drew his gun and fired all five rounds in quick succession. All four young men fell to the floor seriously wounded, and Goetz escaped, turning himself in to police in New Hampshire nine days later.
In 1987, the subway vigilante was found innocent of attempted murder, but spent eight months in jail for illegal firearms possession. Although in 1996 he was ordered to pay $43 million in damages in a civil suit filed by Darrell Cabey’s lawyers, Goetz later commented, “I don’t think I’ve paid a penny on that.”
In the 31 years since the subway shootings, by many measures New York City has become a much safer city, and the incident which propelled Goetz to notoriety is a fading memory and unpleasant reminder of a time some would like to forget. The four young men out for an afternoon of criminal mischief that December day long ago have since faced decades of incarceration and drug addiction. One died of a drug overdose in 2011 on the 27th anniversary of the vigilante incident. Immortalized in Billy Joel’s 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Bernie Goetz has remained in the public eye, running for mayor in 2001 and public advocate in 2005. He is an advocate for issues as diverse as vegetarian public school lunches, marijuana legalization and squirrel safety, and continues to sell electronic test equipment through his company Vigilante Electronics.
Notable quote: “You can’t let yourself be pushed around. You can’t live in fear. That’s no way to live your life.”
For further information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-278-0700 or visit our website at www.astor
