legends were about the ‘Satanic panic,’ devil worshiping, heavy mental music, child-pornography and child- slavery rings. There was this child-snatching hysteria and a convergence of fears that drove Staten Islanders into a frenzy.”
And as “Cropsey” takes pains to illustrate, Staten Island itself had already been victimized as a kind of dumping ground for New York City: its garbage was dumped there, its mentally ill were warehoused there, and the borough itself virtually was ignored. “It’s like nowhere else in the world,” Ms. Brancaccio said. “But when you’re not paying attention, bad things are going to happen.”