From the outside, the five boroughs of New York City may seem like monolithic sections. But New Yorkers know that once you zoom in, each is a collection of neighborhoods that can be quite distinct. In the 1970s and ’80s, East New York was a little-known part of Brooklyn and one of the most dangerous places in the nation. In THE KILLING FIELDS OF EAST NEW YORK, Stacy Horn details the history of East New York and how it came to be at the center of a financial and housing scandal that had life-and-death consequences for the hard-working and innocent residents.

"THE KILLING FIELDS OF EAST NEW YORK is a dense and fascinating read, laying bare so many of the issues that continue to plague America’s cities and the ways in which race and class are wielded against people who strive to create healthy communities."

Horn weaves together two related strands of the story of East New York --- the lengthy investigation of white-collar crimes, and the residents impacted by the actions and decisions of those who failed to ethically finance housing there. In the almost literal trenches were church and school leaders, concerned citizens, and righteous investigators and lawyers who took on the challenge of rooting out corruption. Horn follows one family in particular as they moved toward a tragedy that, with more guardrails and less corruption, could’ve been avoided.

The first strand of the book is told in chapters titled “The Destruction of East New York,” which take readers back to July 1966 when racial tensions boiled over in the neighborhood. In the face of increasing violence and a lack of city resources, East New York leaders and residents began to organize, hoping to restore the community to the safe and family-centered area it used to be. These efforts made incremental changes, but East New York was thwarted by political and policy failures at just about every turn. For years, the neighborhood was allowed to become increasingly desolate and dangerous as various investors, bankers and others were making money in criminal enterprises at the expense of the people who lived there.

In the chapters titled “The FHA Scandal,” Horn outlines the ways in which blockbusting and redlining paved the way for predatory financial practices, a litany of white-collar crimes, and the nation’s first subprime mortgage crisis. These chapters follow the crooks that leveraged bad politics, lack of regulation, and inherent fear, classism and racism to get rich, as well as those who worked tirelessly to take them down and bring justice to East New York.

To this day, East New York has a horrifically high homicide rate, the highest in New York City. But on-the-ground efforts to make change in the past five decades have not been without at least some positive results. Still, these improvements can never bring back the many murder victims from when East New York was at its worst.

THE KILLING FIELDS OF EAST NEW YORK is a dense and fascinating read, laying bare so many of the issues that continue to plague America’s cities and the ways in which race and class are wielded against people who strive to create healthy communities. The subject matter is sad, dark, frustrating and complex, but Horn’s coverage shines a much-needed light.