Police and the Empire City, Part 2
On this episode of American Prestige, Part 2 of our conversation with Matthew Guariglia on policing in New York.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek are back with Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and visiting scholar of history at Emory University, for the second part of our discussion on the history of policing in New York City.
We delve further into the NYPD’s efforts at “ethnic policing,” exploring the Italian squads of the early 20th century, how tackling the Mafia anticipated modern-day police efforts at tackling transnational crime, how World War I challenged the idea of police squads recruited from immigrant and minority communities, the NYPD’s relationship with the nascent FBI, and how these past efforts at reform inform contemporary debates.
Listen to the first episode here!
You can find Matthew’s book Police and the Empire City: Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York.
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On this episode of American Prestige, we’re back with Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and visiting scholar of history at Emory University, for the second part of our discussion on the history of policing in New York City. We delve further into the NYPD’s efforts at “ethnic policing,” exploring the Italian squads of the early 20th century, how tackling the Mafia anticipated modern-day police efforts at tackling transnational crime, how World War I challenged the idea of police squads recruited from immigrant and minority communities, the NYPD’s relationship with the nascent FBI, and how these past efforts at reform inform contemporary debates.
Listen to the first episode here!
You can find Matthew’s book Police and the Empire City: Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York at Bookshop.org.

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
We’re putting out, what, an episode a day at this point? But the news roundup must go on. This week: In the Iran war, casualty and displacement figures rise across Iran and Lebanon (1:20), Iran mines and threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz (4:31), Iranian officials threaten to expand the war by targeting financial institutions across the Gulf (7:47), and new supreme leader Mustafa Khomeini delivers his first address (10:27); in Gaza, aid shortages deepen as food supplies run low (16:01); escalating drone warfare hits markets, towns, and civilian targets in Sudan (17:19); in Mali, the U.S. moves to restore counterterrorism cooperation and reconnaissance flights with the ruling junta (22:20); new warnings of conflict emerge in Ethiopia’s Tigray region (24:51); Nepal’s Rastriya Swatantra Party secures a landslide victory in the latest elections (28:26); in Ukraine, the UN accuses Russia of committing a crime against humanity through the forced transfer of Ukrainian children (30:07); far-right politician José Antonio Kast takes office as president of Chile following the end of Gabriel Boric’s term (31:31); in Haiti, human rights groups warn about civilian harm from an expanding drone campaign targeting gangs in Port-au-Prince (34:05); and in these United States, investigations into the Minab elementary school strike raise questions about the use of AI-assisted targeting in U.S. military operations (35:41), plus Donald Trump hosts the first “Shield of the Americas” summit at his Doral resort (39:44).
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