The Underground Terror: NYC's Subway Violance Epidemic
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." — Isaac Asimov
The New York City subway system, once a symbol of urban efficiency and connectivity, has devolved into a labyrinth of fear and bloodshed in 2025. What began as isolated incidents has escalated into a relentless wave of slashings, stabbings, and unprovoked attacks, leaving commuters trapped in a cycle of vulnerability. Drawing from police reports, eyewitness accounts, and a deep dive into criminal justice data, this investigation uncovers the systemic failures fueling this crisis: lenient bail policies, unchecked repeat offenders, and a disconnect between official statistics and street-level reality. As ridership surges amid economic pressures, the underground has become a hunting ground for the deranged and the desperate.
What kind of place has a "serial slasher" passing through its criminal justice system, without ever being stopped?
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) October 14, 2025
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An alleged serial slasher was arrested in connection with an attack on a straphanger coming out of a subway station on the Lower East Side Monday… pic.twitter.com/MGCUXDU28c
The year started ominously. In February, a 61-year-old straphanger was punched and slashed on a Queens J train near Jamaica Center, suffering wounds that required hospitalization. Days later, two separate slashings during the evening commute—one in Manhattan, another in Brooklyn—highlighted the randomness of the violence. By March, the tally mounted: a man slashed in the head with a large knife on a Brooklyn subway, blood staining the platform as responders rushed in. The NYPD seized over 700 blades in transit by month's end, a 190% spike from 2023, signaling an arsenal lurking beneath the city.
Spring brought no respite. In April, MTA officials touted subway safety amid a "historic" dip in crime, but the streets told a different story. Felony assaults rose 9% year-over-year, up 55% since 2019, even as ridership lagged. By May, a knife duel erupted in the West 4th Street station during rush hour, with two Bronx men arrested after brandishing blades in a chaotic brawl. Vital City, an urban policy think tank, analyzed NYPD data revealing that felony assaults now outnumber robberies for the first time in decades, driven by erratic behavior and mental health crises post-pandemic.
South Bronx, on a train one stop away from the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station.
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) October 14, 2025
• Apparently he had been following the ranting lady.
• It seems he had just been assaulting a different woman, who the ranting lady is seen speaking to for a few moments.
• It could be that he… pic.twitter.com/DiCMrwBF8Z
Summer's heat amplified the mayhem. August saw a flurry: a 21-year-old slashed in an unprovoked attack on a No. 6 train in the Bronx, followed by a knife-wielding thief slashing a straphanger on a D train. Two victims were cut by strangers hours apart—one in the Bronx, another in Manhattan. Teens, aged 14 and 16, were charged with stabbing another youth on a northbound 6 train. A masked assailant repeatedly slashed a woman on a No. 3 train after she refused to hand over her bag. MTA's claims of safety clashed with reality; despite deploying 1,000 more officers, assaults exploded by 119% since 2019, rapes by 440%.
September intensified the terror. Times Square, a tourist hub, was rocked by violence: an off-duty FDNY firefighter allegedly beat a stranger, amid slashings nearby. A bus worker was stabbed by a deranged woman at Port Authority. Luis Pallchisaca, with two open cases, slashed a rider's throat on a Queens train, later claiming amnesia. An MTA worker, 64, was slashed in the neck by a man walking the tracks in Crown Heights. Repeat offenders like Kenny Mitchell and Michael Wilson, with over 5,000 arrests combined, roam free, embodying a "kid gloves" approach decried by law enforcement.
October capped the horror. A stranger slashed a man leaving a Lower East Side station during morning rush. Demitri Marshall, 32, with seven priors, was cut loose by a judge only to knife a 27-year-old across the face. Another attack: a man slashed and another pushed onto tracks at 57th Street. X posts from riders and analysts paint a grim picture: violent crime up 43% since 2019, murders 80%, despite official claims of declines.
nypost.comPolice at the scene of a subway slashing in Lower East Side, October 2025.
Digging deeper, the root causes emerge. Bail reform since 2019 has allowed recidivists like Marshall—arrested multiple times yet released—to strike again. Mental health experts point to post-COVID frayed nerves, with assaults outpacing robberies. Governor Hochul's National Guard deployment and NYPD surges yielded mixed results: overall crime down 18% in Q1 2025, but assaults up 20.8% in some categories. Ridership rose 13% in January, yet perception of danger persists, with 4% of city violent crime occurring underground.
Political finger-pointing abounds. Critics blast "defund the police" echoes, while officials like Mayor Adams tout progress amid chaos. X users decry migrant-related violence and socialist policies exacerbating disorder. Yet, data shows random animus, not organized crime, drives the spike.
bloomberg.com National Guard presence in NYC subways amid rising violence, 2025.
Solutions? MTA plans platform barriers at 100 stations by year's end, brighter LEDs, and clinician-led mental health teams. But without addressing recidivism—offenders with 33+ arrests beating victims to death—reform remains superficial. As one law enforcement source noted, "This kid gloves approach isn't cutting it."
The subway's veins pulse with the city's lifeblood, but in 2025, they're hemorrhaging. Until accountability replaces excuses, New Yorkers ride at their peril.
Does everyone understand that this already isn't being treated as a real crime, and that the situation is about to get worse?
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) October 11, 2025
The police are only supposed to be the front line, and they are supposed to be backed up by the DA. When the DA doesn't do his/her/its job, the case is… pic.twitter.com/m3Xn4ElHwE
Mamdani's pivot toward centrism—courting NYPD unions and promising "rigorous" safety outcomes—feels like election-year theater. At a Vital City event, he dodged direct questions on prisons, pivoting to school safety agents vs. nurses. Yet his record screams otherwise: Voting against anti-crime budgets, protesting new jails, and glorifying "decarceration" as public health. If elected, his judge picks could institutionalize this chaos, appointing ideologues who view bail as oppression and detention as "white supremacy."
New Yorkers, wake up. Mamdani's mayoralty wouldn't just spike crime—it would embed a pro-criminal judiciary for generations, turning the city into a revolving door for predators. As one X post put it: "Weak men create hard times." The Big Apple risks rotting from the core.
Art Vendeley
Art Vendeley