As our colleagues at The Two-Way reported, Tawana Brawley, the central figure in one of the most bizarre and racially polarizing cases in New York City's recent history, has begun to pay part of the more than $430,000 judgment against her.
Brawley accused a group of men of having raped her repeatedly. Among those she accused were several police officers and a prosecutor.
The former prosecutor, Steven Pagones, told the New York Post: "It's a long time coming." Pagones was awarded the judgment in 1998, but said that he would forgive the payments if Brawley confessed that her accusations were a hoax. "Every week, she'll think of me. And every week, she can think about how she has a way out — she can simply tell the truth."
The Brawley case was one of the strangest incidents at a time of high racial drama in New York City 30 years ago, when the city might have seemed like it would combust.
