The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice,   traces the national obsession with true crime to the grisly murder of Emeline & Ann Eliza Houseman on Staten Island in 1843. Author Alex Hortis provides a fresh narrative of the three trials of the accused murderer,  Mary ‘Polly’ Bodine, the first of which took place in the 3rd County Courthouse at Historic Richmond Town. Hortis’ incisive research parses through the facts of the case and the feeding frenzy of newspapers that sensationalized the story, and prosecuted the accused in the court of public opinion.

Join us for an exclusive conversation with Alex Hortis in the 3rd County Courthouse, where Polly’s first trial transpired, 180 years ago. 

This talk is free to the public, but registration is encouraged as space is limited. 

Alex Hortis is a constitutional lawyer and historian of crime. He has appeared on national television as an on-screen personality for AMC’s The Making of the Mob (2015), Hortis has been interviewed on NPR stations across the country and for true crime podcasts. He has also been a featured speaker at the New York Public Library, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Hortis’s first book, The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York (Prometheus, 2014), was praised by Jerry Capeci, the dean of mob reporters, who wrote: “If there’s a better book on the early history of Cosa Nostra in America, I haven’t seen it.” Hortis is a former federal law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review. His writings have appeared in New York University Law Review, New York Law School Review, and in book anthologies on crime. Alex lives with his family in Maryland.

Book Video Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoSBSksHps