liebman's is one of the last.black cherry soda, of course to drink. there used to be lots of places >> the world series is going on. howard cosell is on the air. suddenly, you see a tongue of flame licking up into the sky. and he says, this is the kind of thing that jimmy carter saw, ladies and gentlemen, the bronx is burning. the old image of the bronx as middle class, healthy area had survived up until 1977. this shattered it. >> the bronx was burning like the story, and that stuck. politicians make the bronx a poster child for what was wrong, would always be wrong, would never, we were told, get any better. >> so you now have a slum lord, essentially, snapping up large numbers of buildings? >> that's right. first of all, he takes out a huge fire insurance policy. so he goes to these junkies and he says, you see that empty apartment on the top floor. i'm going to turn my back. you take all of the lead pipes that are in there, but i have one request, please. before you leave, turn on the water. and the water come