Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation

by Elliot Williams

From CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams, a revelatory account of how one man, four teenagers, and a struggling city collided over race, vigilantism, and public safety . . . exposing the fault lines of a nation

On a dirty New York subway car on December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz shot Barry Allen, Darrell Cabey, Troy Canty, and James Ramseur, four teenagers from the Bronx, at point blank range. Goetz claimed they were going to mug him; the teens claim that one of them had simply asked for five dollars.

Crime was at an all-time high. So was racial tension. Was Goetz, who was white, a hero who finally fought back? Or a bigot whose itchy trigger finger seriously wounded three unarmed black kids and condemned a fourth to irreversible brain damage? By the time Goetz went on trial for quadruple attempted murder, the “Subway Vigilante” saga had become a global sensation, and New Yorkers across race and class were split over whether he deserved decades in prison…or a medal.

In Five Bullets, Elliot Williams vaults back to gritty 1980s Manhattan and reexamines the first major true-crime story of the cable news era. Drawing on archives and interviews with many main characters, including Goetz, Williams presents a masterful and vivid tale that also tells the origin stories of larger-than-life Al Sharpton, a polarizing young local activist rocketing to national prominence; Rudy Giuliani, a rising-star prosecutor with an important decision to make; the NRA, which needed a poster boy for its transition from hunting club to political juggernaut; and Rupert Murdoch, whose new purchase, the New York Post, grew his empire by keeping a scary story in the headlines.

A shocking account of a pivotal moment in our history, Five Bullets demonstrates why, in order to understand today’s debates about race, crime, safety, and the media, it’s imperative to reflect on what went down in the subway four decades ago. As Williams’s powerful narrative reveals, it was not just Goetz on trial, but the conscience of a nation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Crime, True Crime

Audible Audio

Published January 20, 2026

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York City in the 80s was an interesting place. I suppose interesting is doing a lot of heavy lifting in my previous sentence. NYC was a scary place in the 80s. High crime rates, corruption, and filth was easy to find. In the middle of this maelstrom stepped 4 teenagers and one Bernhard Goetz. You may know him as Bernie.

In December of 1984, Troy Canty asked Bernie for 5 dollars on a subway car. Bernie started shooting. Hence, we have the title of Elliot Williams' excellent Five Bullets. One of the most infamous court cases of the 20th century almost literally divided the nation. It certainly divided New York City.

For context, I grew up in the suburbs of NYC. My father was a DEA agent who worked out of Manhattan. So of course, I knew the name Bernie Goetz. However, it's worth pointing out that in 1984 I was only 2 years old. This case was so huge that I can literally remember Bernie's name being thrown around dinner parties as I spied on adults as they went back and forth about whether he was a hero or a whack job.

All of this to say, maybe this story is not as formative for people outside the northeast of the U.S. Luckily, Williams writes such an engaging story that it doesn't matter. This is exceptionally written and well-balanced. The story never slows down and even slight tangents are vital in understanding the setting of the gritty NYC of the 80s. Yes, you will get quick asides on big names like Al Sharpton and Rudy Giuliani, but Williams makes sure to keep his focus on Bernie and this case. Williams' legal background is especially helpful in understanding the twists and turns of the wild trial.

Most importantly, Williams doesn't take the easy way out of the narrative. Any good author, and Williams is one, is going to be honest that you cannot take one side when it comes to Goetz and this case. If you brand Goetz a racist and portray him as a common criminal, then you completely miss the real fear of crime running rampant around the city. If you look at Goetz and see an avenging angel, then you are ignoring some bright red flags that nearly everyone in this story acknowledges, including his own lawyers. This case should make you uncomfortable, and Williams doesn't flinch. You shouldn't either. Make sure you pick this one up.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by the author and The Penguin Press.)

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Bullets is an interesting read that sits in between a true crime easy read and an academic piece of nonfiction. I found it to be a fairly fast read, but I must acknowledge that there is quite a bit of legal topics examined throughout that I found easier than a lay person would, as a criminal defense attorney. (I greatly appreciated the author's repeated shout out to the difficulties and intricacies of both the law and appellate work, as an appellate attorney myself!) Williams examines the case of Bernie Goetz with the perspective of hindsight, and the examination of what America has turned into in the decades since his shootings, but he doesn't go too deep into examining how race played a factor as I would have liked. We learned very little about Bernie himself, other than the fact that he was an annoying bigot (which perhaps that is all there is to know about him). I simultaneously wanted more from this, while also finding myself reading chapter after chapter in each sitting.

Thank you to Penguin Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[vicki honeyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very long and thorough book, nearly a minute-by-minute reenactment of Bernie Goetz' 1980s New York City subway shooting of five black teenagers and his subsequent trial. What I found compelling was not only the meticulous detailing of the shooting, Goetz' disappearance and eventual arrest and the trial, but how the trial divided the city and the country on the race issue. What came to light was the surprising number of people on both sides - black and white - who believed Bernie to be innocent, that he'd defended himself, bringing to light their fears and attitudes towards personal safety rights and the right to bear arms. What I found eye-opening is that this trial was the moment that forever changed the NRA's intent. No longer did the right to bear arms relate only to farmers and hunters rights; citizens forced the NRA to recognize their demand for personal safety in its constitution. Forty + years later we live with the impact of that constitutional change and how it's destroyed and continues to destroy the lives of innocent victims and their families.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be pretty problematic. Williams is very hard on and skeptical of the teens that were shot in this story, and does not grant them the benefit of the doubt in any instance. He is very friendly to Goetz (the shooter) and allows him so much space. He brushes off some hard evidence and also chose to frame more unclear things as facts. He also uses coded language and phrases often for the boys that paint them in a pretty rough light. The tone of his narration is almost cheery and was very off putting. I wanted to like this book but was pretty let down by what I read.

[Paloma Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! I can’t believe I never knew about this. Jaw dropped and appalled at the blatant racism that spewed through that courtroom. If the races were reversed, Bernard Bigot Goetz would not have been treated in the heroic way that he was.