The Zebra Murders

A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights

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The Zebra Murders

By: Prentice Early Sanders, Bennett Cohen

Narrated by: Dave Courvoisier

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About this listen

On October 20, 1973, in San Francisco, a White couple strolling down Telegraph Hill was set upon and butchered by four young Black men. Thus began a reign of terror that lasted six months and left 15 Whites dead and the entire city in a state of panic. The perpetrators wanted nothing less than a race war.

With pressure on the San Francisco Police Department mounting daily, young homicide detectives Prentice Earl Sanders and his colleague Rotea Gilford - both African-American - were assigned to the cases. The problem was: Sanders and Gilford were in the midst of a trail-blazing suit against the SFPD for racial discrimination, which in those days was rampant. The backlash was immediate. The force needed Sanders’s and Gilford’s knowledge of the Black community to help stem the brutal murders, but the SFPD made it known that in a tight situation, no White back-up would be forthcoming. In those impossible conditions - the oppressive white power structure on one hand, the violent Black radicals on the other - Sanders and Gilford knew they were sitting ducks. Against all odds, they set out to find those guilty of the Zebra Murders and bring them to justice. This is their incredible story.

Americas

Black & African American

Crime

Criminal & Forensic Psychology

Law

Mental Health

Murder

Personality Disorders

Psychology

Psychology & Mental Health

Racism & Discrimination

Social Sciences

True Crime

United States

Discrimination

Social justice

Health

San Francisco

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Editor reviews

Between October 1973 and April 1974, a group of radical African American men put the entire city of San Francisco in panic. Striking at random, they killed over a dozen people. In The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights, Bennett Cohen examines all the layers from this terrifying and confusing time. Performed with the necessary empathy by veteran narrator Dave Courvoisier, this audiobook examines not only the racially charged murders, but the racial tension and ugliness within the San Francisco Police Department.

Critic reviews

“Offers crucial lessons in how to deal with - and not deal with - acts of terrorism.” - (San Francisco Chronicle)

Most relevant

i struggled to finish it, despite being an interesting topic and time in history