The Central Park Five poster
Director Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns
Screenplay Ken Burns, Sarah Burns
Writer David McMahon

The Central Park Five

Release Date: 2012-05-24

Duration: 119 minutes

Synopsis

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.

Casting

  • Donald Trump
    Self (archive footage)
  • Al Sharpton
    Self (archive footage)
  • Ed Koch
    Self - Former Mayor, New York
  • Rudolph Giuliani
    Self (archive sound)
  • Mario Cuomo
    Self (archive footage)
  • David Dinkins
    Self - Former Mayor, New York
  • John Gotti
    Self (archive footage)
  • Antron McCray
    Self (voice)
  • Linda Fairstein
    Self (archive footage)
  • Raymond Santana
    Self