The subway system was New York’s most ravaged symbol of urban decay, deemed un-patrollable and unsafe even for the most street savvy commuter. In 1979, a group of angered residents led by Curtis Sliwa began taking crime prevention into their own hands, donning red berets – looking very much like a gang from a movie released that year ‘The Warriors’ – and calling themselves the Guardian Angels.
Their membership were mostly young men, black and Latino, who had eschewed gang life in their own neighborhoods to better their city. While their presence was oftentimes flamboyant, many New Yorkers grew to feel relieved to see the muscle-y red-beret-wearing youths when boarding the train at night. Soon the Angels, over 500 in total, were out patrolling the city streets, their training and audacity standing in for actual civic authority.
In 1981, photographer Geoffrey Hiller was shooting this story for some European magazines. He bonded with a young Latino man, Apache, who lived in Hell's Kitchen and ended up following him around for several weeks.
(Photos © Geoffrey Hiller)
