One thing that makes the world endlessly fascinating is that at any given moment, what we know is just at the tip of the iceberg of what is really going on.
This is especially true when we learn that what often seem like unassuming people actually have a wealth of riveting life experiences rich enough to fill a serious page-turner.
But as surprising as these stories can be to hear in the moment, it's also true that the more curiously sordid eras of the past only achieved their level of infamy because enough people were around to make them significant.
And New York City-based Instagram account @humansofny was lucky enough to meet one of those people.