Home Podcasts Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD

Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD

Audible | Crooked Media 12 Episodes Oct 12, 2026

Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika explores the hidden history of the New York City Police Department, the largest police force in the world. The series traces the NYPD's origins from slavery and rival police gangs to everyday people who resisted its expansion. It examines how policing evolved and what its original purpose may have been. The show is produced by Wondery, Crooked Media, and PushBlack.

Episodes

Listen Now: Audible True Crime – Ghost Story
Listen Now: Audible True Crime – Ghost Story Oct 12, 2026 00:09:18 Audible True Crime is a dedicated podcast feed where we bring you the best podcasts in true crime, with episodes dropping every single week. Just in time for spooky season, we’re releasing a show called Ghost Story, a series about a hidden family secret, unexplainable events and jaw-dropping coincidences. Tristan Redman doesn’t believe in ghosts. But weird things happened in his
Listen Now: My Mom’s Murder
Listen Now: My Mom’s Murder Sep 28, 2026 00:05:18 Lauren Malloy was a baby when her mother, Lori, was murdered in East Providence, Rhode Island. For thirty years, no one told her. Everyone said Lori died of natural causes. Then a stranger sent Lauren a message — and the lie collapsed. Now Lauren is investigating her own mother’s murder. She’s recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with law enforcement, family, childhood friends, and pe
Bonus Episode: The Fall of Eric Adams
Bonus Episode: The Fall of Eric Adams Nov 1, 2024 00:24:02 New York’s Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted and charged by the federal government with corruption, wire fraud, bribery and more. Could we have predicted what kind of mayor Adams would become based on the culture he was a part of in the NYPD? Chenjerai and attorney John Teufel, who has investigated police misconduct, discuss the implications of the indictment and the significance of a fo
Black History, For Real: NYPD's Secret Story | For Real, For Real | 9
Black History, For Real: NYPD's Secret Story | For Real, For Real | 9 Oct 23, 2024 00:42:21 "Woop! Woop! That’s the sound of da police! Conscious and Frankie welcome Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika – host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD. Dr. Kumanyika’s podcast is a deeply personal tale of his relationship to policing, the history of the NYPD and its long reaching impact in police departments across the nation. Are the police truly functioning as designed? Does their
Stay Dangerous | 8
Stay Dangerous | 8 Oct 21, 2024 00:47:53 The NYPD loves to show off its diversity, but it often hides how hard and long it fought that diversity. Chenjerai takes us back in time to the real story of how the NYPD got its first Black cop – and how decades later, Black cops went to war with the NYPD’s union to push for civilian oversight of the police. But how effective is reform if the police are still only accountable to themselv
The American Problem | 7
The American Problem | 7 Oct 14, 2024 00:38:28 New York’s police start to realize that beating up and arresting immigrants is making them distrustful of cops. In response, a police chief has an idea, borne out of his time colonizing the Philippines: control the population by recruiting local community members to police their own people. From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the
The Rotten Orchard | 6
The Rotten Orchard | 6 Oct 7, 2024 00:40:11 It’s like clockwork: every 20 years or so, a corruption scandal forces the NYPD into the hot seat. But how did this cycle begin? To find out, we go back over a century ago to the very first investigation into the police where the NYPD is put on trial like never before.From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were an
The Moral Crusade | 5
The Moral Crusade | 5 Sep 30, 2024 00:39:58 Officers in early New York didn’t just police the city’s vice economy; they profited from it. But when America’s first professional vice fighter Anthony Comstock strong-arms the NYPD into enforcing his vision of morality, he also transformed how and what we police. From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of those who were
They’ve Got Weapons | 4
They’ve Got Weapons | 4 Sep 23, 2024 00:46:53 Horrific race riots erupt when New York City starts to draft soldiers into the Civil War. A mob of white people, who resent fighting for emancipation, direct their rage at the Black community as well as the police… and all hell breaks loose. The NYPD pushes for more firearms – but will they use them to protect New York’s most vulnerable, or subdue them? From Wondery, Crooked Media an
What’s Done Can Be Undone | 3
What’s Done Can Be Undone | 3 Sep 16, 2024 00:40:31 New York’s power-hungry mayor weaponizes the police to help him control the city – and bulldoze a thriving Black community for his own real estate profits. The state, fearing that the mayor and his police have become too strong, wage a war for control – and create their own rival force. From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stor
If It Bleeds It Leads | 2
If It Bleeds It Leads | 2 Sep 9, 2024 00:42:30 Before the NYPD existed, New Yorkers strongly opposed the idea of an armed police force – until a powerful news publisher changed everything. After a grisly murder takes place, the city’s newspapers sensationalize the story, blame the cops, and a new force is born. But will these cops work to solve the case or will they spend their days hunting something–or someone–else? From Wondery
They Keep People Safe | 1
They Keep People Safe | 1 Sep 9, 2024 00:43:17 Chenjerai takes us back to the summer of 1835, when Black New Yorkers are being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. But their friends and families can’t call the cops, because it turns out the kidnappers are the cops…can a group of Black resistance fighters stop it? From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Empire City is made with a commitment to ensure the stories of thos

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