Billy the Kid

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The story of Henry McCarty, alias Billy the Kid, who was killed by an ambitious sheriff just weeks after avoiding the hangman's noose by mounting a daring escape from prison. Demonised by the lawman who killed him and mythologised in dime-store romances and big-screen dramas, the true story of the son of poor Irish immigrants in New Mexico who became regarded as a hero by the Hispanic community has often been obscured.