with groceries through Prospect Park, in Brooklyn. Unnamed police sources told McAlary that she made up the story, because she wanted to promote a rally about violence against lesbians. McAlary's police sources said there were inconsistencies in her story, and a lack of physical evidence. The police department later discovered DNA evidence, but no arrests were made at the time. McAlary accepted the original police account of events, and wrote three columns about it, including one headlined, "Rape hoax the real crime." The woman sued McAlary for libel, but the case was dismissed because McAlary had been relying on information from the police. In 2018, using advanced modern techniques, the New York police matched the DNA to James Edward Webb, who by then had been convicted of serial rape and was serving 75 years to life in prison for those other crimes. The statute of limitations had expired for prosecution of Webb for the 1994 Prospect Park case. Both the newspaper and the New York City Police have formally apologized to the woman for "letting her down." McAlary's idols were New York journalists Jimmy Breslin, Murray Kempton, and Pete Hamill. During his reporting of the Louima case, McAlary was being treated for colon cancer. He left a chemotherapy session after getting a tip about the assault. He died on Christmas Day 1998, at age 41, eight months after winning the Pulitzer. He was a resident of Bellport, New York, at the time of his death. Representation in other media In The Paper (1994), a film directed by Ron Howard, a columnist named McDougal and played by Randy Quaid may have been based on McAlary. The columnist also had a cameo role in the film. Dan Klores wrote the play The Wood, based on McAlary's life, which premiered at Manhattan's Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in August 2011. Nora Ephron wrote the play Lucky Guy, also about McAlary, which opened on Broadway in a limited run on April 1, 2013, starring Tom Hanks, the playwright's longtime friend and film colleague. Books by McAlary Non-fiction: Buddy Boys: when good cops turn bad (1987) Cop Shot: the murder of Edward Byrne (1990) Good Cop, Bad Cop: Detective Joe Trimboli's heroic pursuit of NYPD Officer Michael Dowd (1994) Novels: Cop Land: based on the screenplay by James Mangold (1997) Sore Loser: a Mickey Donovan mystery (1998) References External links 1957 births 1998 deaths American male journalists