Break in the Case

In the final episode of the season, we learn about the hardest jobs for ESU officers. (TRIGGER WARNING: This episode references self-harm.)

Trip Wires and Politics. Once the bombs are discovered, it’s the Bomb Squad’s turn to dispose of them. Meanwhile, the entry team reflects on what just happened.

Bomb Factory. In Part 3 of The Brooklyn Job, a six-man team prepares to enter the suspects’ apartment. If what the informant says is true, and there is a satchel full of bombs in the apartment, they have a 50/50 chance of making it out of the apartment alive.

No Win Situation. In Part 2 of The Brooklyn Job, an Arabic-speaking rookie cop is called in to help translate for the informant. ESU officers prepare for a raid at an apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where two men have been accused of building bombs.

On July 31, 1997, ESU officers get a tip that some people have built a bomb in their Brooklyn apartment, and they plan to detonate it on the subway the next morning. What happens next is known as The Brooklyn Job. In Part 1 of The Brooklyn Job, two MTA/Long Island Railroad cops are approached on the street by a man who doesn't speak English. He has an urgent message, and the word "bomb" does not get lost in translation.

On July 4, 2018, a woman climbed up the base of the Statue of Liberty to protest the detention of migrant children. There was no way for her to get down on her own.

ESU’s rigorous training is nine months long and requires cross training in tactical, medical and rescue work. For trainees, the key to success is knowing their equipment. Or as one officer says, "You gotta be somewhat of a buff to be in Emergency."

Break in the Case, Season 4: Stories from the Emergency Service Unit introduces some of the most highly-trained officers in the NYPD. They’re EMTs. Divers. Hostage Negotiators. SWAT. They put their own lives at risk in the service of others.

The 75th Precinct was a hotbed of crime in the early 90s. In this special episode, officers talk about what it was like to work in East New York back then. We also hear from a present-day Youth Coordination Officer who is trying to improve lives in East New York.

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

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

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.

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. Detective Sergeant Joseph Herbert from the 75 Detective Squad focuses on the hard evidence: fingerprints, ballistics, and the Zodiac's letters.

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.

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.

Season 3 of Break in the Case goes behind the scenes of one of New York City's notorious cases from the 90s, The New York Zodiac Copycat. Look for new episodes every Tuesday beginning April 25, 2023.

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?

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 the Queens prosecutor as they collect evidence and build a counter-narrative to a potential insanity defense.

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.

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 behind the hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of the neck. 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.

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.

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.

The dark web comprises a fraction of the internet. But illegal activity there is increasing. Threatening savings. Damaging peace of mind. In this episode, we’ll meet a detective who fights crime on the dark side, and find out how he moved from online to real life to nab a credit card fraudster.

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.

Welcome back to Season 2 of Break in the Case! Listen as we follow the world’s greatest detectives to crime scenes—some which you may know, some which you certainly don’t. Episodes begin on September 9th and appear every other Thursday.

Police find the severed body parts of a woman in South Brooklyn, and struggle to identify her. UPDATE: In 2022, the NYPD used familial DNA to identify the victim as Jennifer McAllister, from Gravesend, Brooklyn.

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

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.

For two decades, detectives struggled with the Baby Hope case. One day, a tip was called in that changed everything.

Two years into the investigation, detectives are no closer to knowing Baby Hope's real name.

A gruesome discovery by a road crew in Washington Heights sends the 34th Precinct Detective Squad on a hunt for a little girl's identity.

Welcome to Season One of Break in the Case: True Stories by NYPD Detectives. Starting October 29, 2019.