The Killing Fields of East New York

The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood

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Pub Date Jan 28 2025 | Archive Date Feb 04 2025
Zando | Gillian Flynn Books

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Description

In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism and true crime, Stacy Horn sheds light on how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly devastated East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood that would come to be known as the Killing Fields.  

On a warm summer evening in 1991, seventeen-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker’s death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying.  

But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin? The answer can be found two decades earlier. In response to redlining and discriminatory housing practices, the Johnson administration passed the Housing and Urban Development Act in 1968. The Federal Housing Authority aimed to use this piece of legislation to help low-income families of color finally achieve homeownership. But they could never have predicted how banks, lenders, realtors, and corrupt FHA officials themselves would use the newly passed law to make victims of the very people they were trying to help, and the devastation they would leave in their wake. 

A compulsively readable hybrid of true crime and investigative journalism, The Killing Fields of East New York reveals how white-collar crime reduced a prospering neighborhood to abandoned buildings and empty lots. Following the dual threads of the hunt for the network of criminals behind the first subprime mortgage scandal and the ensuing downfall of East New York, Stacy Horn weaves a compelling narrative of government failure, a desperate community, and ultimately the largest series of mortgage fraud prosecutions in American history. The Killing Fields of East New York deftly demonstrates how different types of crime are profoundly entangled, and how the crimes committed in nice suits and corner offices are just as destructive as those committed on the street. 

In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism and true crime, Stacy Horn sheds light on how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly...


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Goal: Launch The Killing Fields of East New York as an important work of narrative, investigative reportage and the first nonfiction title on Gillian Flynn's list


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ARC mailing to booksellers, librarians, and readers who prioritize supporting nonfiction and narrative-driven, investigative reportage

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Pitch for most-anticipated non-fiction, investigative journalism, and true crime books

Focus on local interest outlets like WNYC, New York Post, NYT and leverage any local news stories that could provide a spark for discussion

Pitch for true crime genre outlets for fans of urban crime stories

Pitch hidden history and exposing of structural injustice to NPR, NYT, Economist, etc and an emphasis on podcasts like 1A, Hidden History, Slow Burn, Revisionist History, This American Life, etc.

Leverage Gillian Flynn's devoted audience with outreach to her fans and pitch interview

Expand her audience with her first nonfiction title

Consumer Marketing

Social media campaign with explainer video series, utilizing documents, photos and original interviews with subjects where possible

Local interest marketing, such as partnerships with the Museum of the City of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Brownsville Partnership, and more

Feature Gillian Flynn as the publisher at key moments, with messaging about why she wanted to publish this as the first nonfiction title on her list

Gifting to activists, politicians, and influential readers of books such as The New Jim Crow and The Color of Law


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Goal: Launch The Killing Fields of East New York as an important work of narrative, investigative reportage and the first nonfiction title on Gillian Flynn's list


Trade Outreach

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Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781638931225
PRICE $28.00 (USD)
PAGES 320

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Featured Reviews

I received a free copy of, The Killing Fields of East New York, by Stacy Horn, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. So many senseless murders, and crime in East New York, so many crooked people too. This book was eye opening for me to see what those poor people went through. This is such a great read on how horrible people can be when they become greedy.

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The author takes a comprehensive look into how white-collar crime surrounding mortgages back in the 70s led to entire neighborhoods becoming crime ridden and ruined. It’s very informative and in depth. Sadly, it shows that similar crimes are still going on, and not even being prosecuted.

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