Summary of 506 - New York Favorites

Overview of 506 - New York Favorites

This episode of My Favorite Murder (Exactly Right / iHeartPodcasts) is a New York–themed "quilt" episode featuring two true‑crime / historical stories: Georgia tells the little‑known “New York Zodiac” serial‑shooter case from 1990–1994, and Karen (with a researched segment from Maren McGlashan) profiles pioneering investigative reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran) and her undercover exposé of Blackwell’s Island asylum. The episode includes context about NYC in the late 20th century, investigative detail, outcomes, and reflections on media and justice. Sponsors, tour/merch plugs and ads appear throughout.

Story 1 — The New York Zodiac (1990–1994)

Summary

• In spring–summer 1990 a series of shootings around the Brooklyn–Queens border targeted vulnerable people (often shot from behind with homemade “zip” guns). Early victims survived except one elderly man (Joseph Procci) who later died.
• Notes were left at scenes referencing zodiac signs (circles with wedges and astrological symbols) and the phrase “This is the Zodiac.” One letter listed victims/dates and tied each to an astrological sign; investigators noticed victims’ birthdays matched those signs.
• Each of the first three shootings occurred about 21 days apart on nights when certain constellations were visible — police consulted astronomers/astrologers and predicted a possible next attack (June 21). The NY Post published details despite police requests not to, causing public panic and heavy, discriminatory stop‑and‑frisk patrols that disproportionately targeted people of color.
• A Central Park shooting on June 21 produced another note and a partial fingerprint — a crucial break.

Investigation, arrest and outcome

• Detectives (notably Michael Cirovolo, Larry Milanese, later Joe Herbert) pursued leads for years. The case stalled and detectives retired frustrated.
• In 1995 hostage situation in East New York: suspect Heriberto (Heriberto/Heriberto Seda) surrendered; his written confession and handwriting matched the Zodiac letters and his fingerprint matched the Central Park letter.
• Officers found at least 13 homemade guns and pipe bombs in Seda’s apartment. Under interrogation he confessed to the Fonte murder (a 1992 case involving extreme stabbing) and to multiple shootings that fit the New York Zodiac pattern.
• Convicted in 1998 of three murders and six attempted murders; serving multiple life sentences at Clinton Correctional Facility (Dannemora, NY).

Unresolved / notable details

• Seda had sent an earlier taunting letter in 1989 that had been dismissed as a hoax. He was also arrested in March 1994 for possession of a homemade gun and fingerprinted, but charges were dismissed before prints were filed—an investigative miss that might have helped earlier.
• Some uncertainty remains: whether Seda systematically asked victims their birthdays (some victims remember being asked; many don’t) or whether the astrological pattern was partly opportunistic.
• The spree included an unknown alleged victim in Highland Park who police could not locate.

Context and implications

• The case illustrates media impact on investigations (publication of letters → public panic), police tactics and racial profiling during emergency responses, and how forensic breakthroughs (fingerprint, handwriting, DNA on a stamp) solved the case years later.
• NYC context: 1990 was a peak year for NYC homicides (2,605), making police resources stretched.

Story 2 — Nellie Bly (Elizabeth “Pinky” Cochran) and Blackwell’s Island

Who she was

• Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran (1864) in Cochran’s Mill, Pennsylvania. After family financial collapse and difficult early life, she became a journalist writing as “Little Orphan Girl,” later adopting the pen name Nellie Bly.
• Ambitious, outspoken, and self‑taught, she left Pittsburgh for New York and landed at Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World.

Undercover exposé: 10 Days in a Madhouse

• Assignment: investigate the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island).
• Nellie checked into a boarding house under an alias, acted erratic so she’d be committed, and was transferred to Blackwell’s Island, where she spent 10 days undercover.
• Her reporting documented systemic abuse and neglect: overcrowding, underfunding, spoiled/insufficient food, ice‑cold communal baths, forced restraint and humiliations, punitive “straight‑back” benches and enforced inactivity, and many patients institutionalized for non‑medical reasons (poverty, language barriers, family convenience, moral judgments).
• Her published series (later collected as 10 Days in a Madhouse) caused public outrage. A grand jury inspected the asylum (administration staged conditions differently during the visit), but the jury still recommended reforms and increased appropriations.

Impact and legacy

• Resulting appropriation: reported $1 million increase (significant at the time; often cited as $1M → ~$32M today), along with ordered changes to care.
• Short‑term reforms followed, but the asylum later again suffered neglect; it was eventually closed within a decade.
• Nellie’s stunt reporting created a national trend of “stunt girls” — undercover female reporters whose exposes helped spur reforms and public attention to social ills.
• Later fame: Bly circumnavigated the globe in 72 days (1889), becoming internationally famous; she continued to do daring journalism (interviews, WWI reporting), married industrialist Robert Seaman and later ran his factories (with mixed financial results), and died in 1922.
• Memorials: “Girl Puzzle” monument on Roosevelt Island commemorates her and the women she exposed.

Notable quote (from her asylum reporting)

• “Take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on straight back benches… give her bad food and harsh treatment and see how long it will take to make her insane.” — Nellie Bly

Main takeaways

• Investigative journalism can directly prompt public sympathy, political action, funding, and reforms — and Nellie Bly is an early exemplar.
• Media coverage and sensationalism can both help (Bly’s series) and harm (NY Post’s Zodiac coverage that caused panic and heavy policing).
• Forensics (fingerprints, handwriting analysis, DNA on postage stamps) remain critical in linking taunting correspondence to perpetrators even when crimes occur years apart.
• Systemic neglect of institutions (overcrowding, misallocation of funds, poor oversight) produces cruelty and long‑term harm; one exposé can spur change, but lasting accountability requires ongoing oversight.
• Historical figures you may not fully know (e.g., Nellie Bly, the New York Zodiac case) can have outsized influence — and often have complex, imperfect legacies.

Episode notes, sources & extras

• Episode guests/credits: Georgia and Karen (hosts); researcher Maren McGlashan sourced the Nellie Bly segment.
• Sources mentioned: Nellie Bly’s 10 Days in a Madhouse; PBS American Experience “Around the World in 72 Days”; Stacey Horn’s Damnation Island; NYT reporting and Netflix’s Catching Killers (for New York Zodiac coverage).
• Logistics: hosts mention live show at Kings Theatre (Brooklyn), merch from Exactly Right store.
• Sponsors/ads in episode: Progressive, Home Depot on Uber Eats, Pretty Litter, PayPal, Netflix promos.

Further reading / viewing (suggested)

• 10 Days in a Madhouse — Nellie Bly (original articles/book)
• PBS: American Experience — “Around the World in 72 Days”
• Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th‑Century New York — Stacey Horn
• News archives: New York Times reporting on the New York Zodiac / Heriberto Seda case
• Netflix: Catching Killers (episode covering the New York Zodiac case)

Stay safe, and if you want a quick refresher later: the episode contrasts two New York stories — a late 20th‑century copycat/astrology‑obsessed serial shooter solved by forensics, and a 19th‑century journalist whose undercover reporting exposed institutional abuse and helped shape investigative journalism.