Judge George Washington Olvany (June 20, 1876 – October 15, 1952) was a New York General Sessions Court judge, the deputy

New York City Fire Commissioner The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...

, and the leader of

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

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Biography

He was born on June 20, 1876. He replaced

Charles Francis Murphy Charles Francis "Silent Charlie" Murphy (June 20, 1858 – April 25, 1924), also known as Boss Murphy, was an American political figure. He was also the longest-serving head of New York City's Tammany Hall, a position he served from 1902 to 192 ...

in 1924 as the leader of

. Olvany was the first Tammany Hall boss to have received a college education. A popular story used to describe Olvany was as follows: A Board of Alderman meeting in the early 1900s was interrupted by a youngster who yelled, "Alderman, your saloon is on fire!" All the other Alderman left the room. While acting as the Boss, Olvany used his law firm ''Olvany, Eisner and Donnelly'', to direct other law firms to bring clients before the city's Board of Standards and Appeals. Olvany firm garnered up to $5 million from fees at the point when the

Seabury Commission The Hofstadter Committee, also known as the Seabury investigations, was a joint legislative committee formed by the New York State Legislature on behalf of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to probe into corruption in New York City, especially the mag ...

began investigating at the behest of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. He resigned from

in 1929. He died on October 15, 1952.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olvany, George Washington Political corruption in the United States Leaders of Tammany Hall 1876 births 1952 deaths American political bosses from New York (state) Commissioners of the New York City Fire Department

Biography

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Further reading

External links