The Central Park Five

Overview

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

Directed by Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, David McMahon

Top cast

Antron McCray

Self (voice)

Kevin Richardson

Self

Yusef Salaam

Self

Raymond Santana

Self

Kharey Wise

Self

Matias Reyes

Self (archive footage)

Jim Dwyer

Self - New York Times

Angela Black

Self - Kevin's Sister

Ed Koch

Self

C

Craig Steven Wilder

Self - Historian

L

LynNell Hancock

Self - Journalist

C

Calvin O. Butts III

Self - Reverend

R

Raymond Santana Sr.

Self - Raymond's Father

M

Michael Warren

Self - Lawyer

N

Natalie Byfield

Self - Daily News

S

Saul Kassin

Self - Social Psychologist

M

Michael Joseph

Self - Defense Lawyer

David Dinkins

Self - Former Mayor, New York

R

Ronald Gold

Self - Juror #5

H

Humberto Arroyo

Self (archive footage)

Details