Break in the Case

Season 3, Episode 6: New York Zodiac Copycat: The Trial

After the Zodiac’s arraignment for three murders and one attempted murder in Queens, a Queens prosecutor must prepare to counter a psychiatric defense.

Season 3, Episode 5: New York Zodiac Copycat: Only Orion Can Stop the Zodiac

After an East New York man is arrested in the 75th Precinct for attempted murder, the evidence connects him to more sinister crimes.

Season 3, Episode 4: New York Zodiac Copycat: East New York Chaos

One day in June, 1996, a 911 call leads to a shootout and a hostage situation. Detective Sergeant Joseph Herbert is called to his very first hostage job. And then, the unthinkable happens. True to the precinct motto, “Everything happens in the 75,” it all goes down in the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn.

Season 3, Episode 3: New York Zodiac Copycat: Return of the Zodiac

In August, 1994, a new letter from the Zodiac lands on the front page of the New York Post. The Zodiac claims to have shot five more victims in 1992 and 1993, in the same geographic area as his first three shootings. A second Zodiac Task Force is formed.

Season 3, Episode 2: New York Zodiac Copycat: We Need to Put This Fire Out

At Zodiac Task Force headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, tips pour in from across the city. Even the psychics get in on the action. After one of the victims dies from his wounds in the hospital, the case becomes a homicide.

Season 3, Episode 1: New York Zodiac Copycat: “Kid, You’ve Got the Case.”

It’s the summer of 1990, and crime in New York City is at an all-time high. Daily headlines bring fresh stories of random violence and stranger-on-stranger crime. Then, one day in June, someone calling himself “Zodiac” writes a disturbing letter to the New York Post. He claims to have killed three people in Brooklyn according to their astrological signs, and he promises to kill nine more. When the shootings check out, the NYPD forms a Zodiac Task Force. Retired Lieutenant Michael Ciravolo and retired New York Post reporter Anne Murray recount their involvement in the early days of the investigation.

Introducing Season 3

In Season 3 of Break in the Case, we take you behind the scenes of one of NYPD’s most notorious cases from the 1990s, the New York Zodiac Copycat. From 1990 to 1996, a serial killer evades capture while sending taunting notes to the media and the police. For six years, detectives from the Zodiac Task Force follow every lead to the ground. And then, one day, a series of events brings them face to face with the Zodiac. Narrated by Retired Detective Sergeant Wally Zeins, Break in the Case is written and produced by the New York City Police Department and sponsored by the New York City Police Foundation.

SPECIAL EPISODE: The Real Crimes of the Fake German Heiress

Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, came to New York City from Germany in 2014 and quickly became a fixture in the downtown social scene. She claimed to be an heiress with a vast fortune. But she wasn’t quite what she said she was. In August 2017, she was indicted on an array of financial and fraud-based crimes, including Attempted Grand Larceny. In this special episode, the NYPD detective who led the investigation into Sorokin explains her crimes. What did she do, and how did she do it?

Welcome to Season 2 of Break in the Case, the true crime podcast written and produced by the NYPD in conjunction with the New York City Police Foundation. Listen as we follow the world’s greatest detectives to crime scenes—some which you may know, some which you certainly don’t. Season 2 will feature six investigations: New York City’s sole homicide on 9/11; fraud on the dark web; a series of assaults on the elderly; the Emergency Services Unit staring down a 400-pound Bengal tiger locked in a man’s apartment; an innocent woman shot to death outside a Brooklyn hospital; and, the drive-by sniper whose rampage terrified Queens. Episodes begin on September 9th and appear every other Thursday.

Season 2, Episode 7: Queens Sniper (Part 2): Do the People of New York Even Know What Happened Last Night?

Season 2 concludes with the second and last episode of the Queens Sniper story. In Part 2, a suspect is in custody, and the case is upgraded to a homicide. The real work begins for the detectives and a Queens prosecutor as they collect evidence and build a counter-narrative to a potential insanity defense.

Season 2, Episode 6: Queens Sniper (Part 1)

The night of August 26, 2006, a driver went on a six-hour shooting spree that left one person dead, four injured, and a trail of shattered glass and bullet-scarred vehicles across Queens. He shot at pedestrians and cars, and showed a preference for the color red in his targets. The Queens detectives, bosses, and cops who were working that night tell the harrowing story.

Season 2, Episode 5: Two Homicides, One Gun, and a Pink Bag. Who Killed Shalema Gaskin and Steven Evans?

In the early hours of December 11, 2012, Shalema Gaskin was on her way to visit her daughter at Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville, Brooklyn. It was four blocks away from her home, but she never made it there. She was found with a gunshot wound to the back of the neck in the hospital parking lot. A couple of days later, Steven Evans was killed a mile away with the same gun. To this day, no tips have been called in for either case. Detectives are asking for the public’s help to solve this case.

Season 2, Episode 4: Ming the Harlem Tiger

In 2003, the Emergency Service Unit met their match when they discovered a 250-pound Bengal tiger in a man’s Harlem apartment. This is the story of Ming the Harlem Tiger, and the officers who responded.

Season 2, Episode 3: The Man in the Baseball Hat

It's a race against the clock as detectives in the 6th Precinct investigate a series of assault and robbery cases with elderly victims. Here’s how they collared the man that was behind the crime spree.

Season 2, Episode 2: Dark Web Undercover

The dark web is a fraction of the internet. But illegal activity there is on the rise. In this episode, we’ll meet a detective who fights crime on the dark side of the internet, and learn how he went from online to “in real life” to nab a credit card fraudster. We’ll also give you tips on how to keep your financial information safe.

Season 2, Episode 1: Who Killed Henryk? The Unsolved Homicide of 9/11.

Just before midnight, on September 11, 2001, a man was gunned down on a street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. His name was Henryk Siwiak. Despite the best efforts of a police department spread thin by a large-scale terrorist attack, the killer was never apprehended, and the case remains open to this day.

Season 2 Trailer

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"Who is Monique?" focuses on an ongoing, unsolved case. In winter 2015, body parts were found washed up along a rocky beach in Calvert Vaux Park in South Brooklyn. Investigators determined a few key characteristics, but the victim is unidentified to this day. The best lead remains a faded tattoo on the victim's severed calf. It reads "Monique." Who is Monique? A daughter? A partner? The victim herself? To figure out her identity, the NYPD needs your help.

The Gravesend shoreline where body parts were discovered.	(Left) The tattoo found on the victim's leg. (Right) An artist's recreation of the tattoo	A forensic recreation of the victim's face.

Episode 6: Who is Monique?

Police find the severed body parts of a woman in South Brooklyn, and are struggling to identify her to this day.

Baby Hope

Break in the Case: "Baby Hope" takes listeners inside the investigation of the murder of Anjelica Castillo, also known as "Baby Hope." In 1991, a toddler’s body was found stuffed in a cooler off the West Side Highway in Upper Manhattan. With no witnesses and nothing to identify the body, the trail went cold for over two decades, until a massive break reignited the investigation and allowed detectives to at long last bring the man who killed Baby Hope to justice.

Episode 5: In the Box

After hours of interrogation, the truth about what happened to Baby Hope is revealed.

Episode 4: The Girl in the White Dress

For 22 years, detectives searched for the true name of the little girl they called "Baby Hope." Once they found it, it was eight days before they were face to face with her killer.