Brownsville est le plus souvent considéré comme la «capitale du crime» de New York[1]. En 2009, le quartier comptait trois meurtres sur 10 000 habitants (un taux de mortalité plus élevé que les quartiers voisins). En 15 ans, entre 1990 et 2005, les cas de meurtre à Brownsville–Ocean Hill ont bondi de 63% (à 22 meurtres en 2005); les vols à 79 pour cent (597 en 2005); et les agressions dans la rue ont diminué de 51% (562 en 2005). Le taux de criminalité à Brownsville a décliné de la même manière que dans les villes aux alentours[2],[3].
(en) Kirsch, Jonathan. «"Mickey Cohen’s colorful life of crime"»(Archive.org • Wikiwix • Archive.is • Google • Que faire?) (consulté le ), The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Meyer Harris Cohen was born in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in imperial Russia, immigrated with his family to the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn and reached Los Angeles’ Jewish point of entry in Boyle Heights in 1915.
(en) Fyvush Finkel Remembers the Yiddish Theaters in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Wexler Oral History Project, Yiddish Book Center: Fyvush Finkel, z"l—comedian, actor, and singer—describes attending and performing in the Yiddish theaters as a child in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York.
(en) Alter F. Landesman, Brownsville: The Birth, Development and Passing of a Jewish Community in New York (Bloch Publishing Company, 1971), p. 260: Other Seminary graduates who lived in Brownsville, and became leaders in American Jewish life are ... Dr. Solomon Grayzel, eminent Jewish historian...
(en) Joseph Tepper, Greg "Jocko" Jackson, Brownsville's "unofficial mayor" dead at 60, New York Daily News (3 mai 2012): "BROOKLYN is mourning the loss of Greg "Jocko" Jackson, the 'unofficial mayor' of Brownsville. Jackson, who served as the manager of the Brownsville Recreation Center for 15 years ... grew up playing basketball at the Brownsville Recreation Center on Linden Blvd. and made it all the way to the NBA.
(en) Caramanica, Jon. "Sean Price, Rapper With Deep Brooklyn Roots, Dies at 43", The New York Times. Sean Price, a rapper who for two decades embodied the rugged essence of peak-era Brooklyn hip-hop, died in his sleep on Saturday morning at his home in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.... 'The best rapper in Brownsville,' he boasted in a 2009 song, as if that were still the most important thing to him.
J.A. Thomas, Wendell E. Pritchett, C.F. Moss et M. Vater, Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto, University of Chicago Press, coll.«Historical Studies of Urban America», , 333p. (ISBN978-0-226-68446-8, présentation en ligne)
A.F. Landesman, Brownsville: the birth, development, and passing of a Jewish community in New York, Bloch Pub. Co., (lire en ligne)
Confrontation at Ocean Hill-Brownsville; the New York school strikes of 1968, Praeger,
H.L. Dubowsky, A Community Study of Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, Hy L. Dubowsky, (lire en ligne)
R. Glauber, All Neighborhoods Change: A Survey of Brownsville, Brooklyn, U.S.A., (lire en ligne)
(en) Urban renewal in Brownsville; the management of urban renewal in Brownsville area 15, 1960–1973, New York (State); State Study Commission for New York City; Housing and Development Administration Study Group, (lire en ligne)
K.T. Jackson, J.B. Manbeck et Citizens Committee for New York City, The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Citizens for NYC, coll.«The neighborhoods of New York City», , 274p. (ISBN978-0-300-10310-6, lire en ligne)