Tawana Brawley · Timothy McVeigh · Tennessee Williams

The crime
At first, it seemed like a hate crime — in late November of 1987, Tawana Brawley “was found in a trash bag after having been missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, New York. She had racial slurs written on her body and was covered in feces. Brawley accused four white men of having raped her … (including police officers and a prosecuting attorney).”

Then, it started to seem like filing a false report, failure to appear, contempt…administrative charges leveled at Brawley; her mother, Glenda; and their legal and spiritual advisors, C. Vernon Mason, Alton Maddox, and Rev. Al Sharpton — and aimed at shutting them up.

Then, later, it became a defamation case brought — and won — by Steven Pagones, a county prosecutor Brawley and her team had accused by name of attacking her. (Sharpton paid his portion of the judgment, per The Village Voice, “with money raised by his supporters”; Brawley, who got clocked with a damage award three times the amount of Sharpton’s, didn’t make much headway with restitution and eventually had her wages garnished.)