Detective Charles Smythe, deputy inspector Seymour Pine and six fellow officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) entered the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in the early hours of Saturday 28 June 1969 little realising they were about to make history.
“Police! We’re taking the place!” they barked, barging their way through the double doors of 51 and 53 Christopher Street as the establishment’s patrons rolled their eyes in exasperation. Another shakedown.
