![Charles Becker 2349131661 20ebb6b9ab o](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Charles_Becker_2349131661_20ebb6b9ab_o.jpg)
The Becker–Rosenthal trial was a 1912 trial in New York City for the murder of Herman Rosenthal, a bookmaker, by
NYPD
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
Lieutenant
Charles Becker
Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...
and members of the
Lenox Avenue Gang.
The trial ran from October 7 to October 30, 1912, and restarted on May 2 to May 22, 1914. Other procedural events took place in 1915.
Five men, including former Lieutenant Becker, were convicted on murder charges and sentenced to death. Each was executed by the state at
Sing Sing prison
Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...
.
History
In July 1912, Lieutenant
Charles Becker
Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...
was named in the ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...
'' as one of three senior police officials involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal, a small-time
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookm ...
and gambler who had complained to the press that his illegal
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
s had been affected by the greed of Becker and his associates. Rosenthal accused the police of demanding a large percentage of his illegal profits as protection in exchange for allowing him to continue to operate.
At 2 am on July 16, two days after the ''New York World'' article was published, Rosenthal was murdered on the street after leaving the
Hotel Metropole at 147 West 43rd Street, just off
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
. He was gunned down by men found to be a crew of Jewish gangsters from the
Lower East Side. In the aftermath,
Manhattan District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...
Charles S. Whitman, who had made an appointment with Rosenthal before his death, said that he believed the gangsters had committed the murder at Becker's behest.
John J. Reisler, also known as "John the Barber", told the police that he had seen
"Bridgey" Webber running away from the crime scene directly after the killing. After he recanted the next week, likely after being threatened by gangsters, he was charged with
perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and other major newspapers covered the murder investigation for months, with the ''Times'' featuring it on the front page, as it led into complex criminal activities. The events were so complex that the
New York Police Department recalled 30 detectives from retirement to help investigate and were said "to know most of the gangsters."
One of the recalled detectives, Detective
Frank Upton, formerly of the "Italian Squad," was instrumental in the July 25, 1912, arrest of
"Dago" Frank Cirofici, one of the suspected killers. He and his companion, Regina Gorden (formerly known as "Rose Harris"), were "so stupefied by
opium that they offered no objection to their arrests," according to ''The New York Times''.
The department then had one of its policewomen,
Mary A. Sullivan, go undercover to gain the trust of Gorden. She befriended the woman as well as other girlfriends and wives of the suspects, which helped to break the case.
Defendants
Convicted and sentenced to death
*
Charles Becker
Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...
(1870–1915), NYPD lieutenant charged with ordering the murder and having protected and extorted from illegal gamblers, executed
*
Francisco Cirofici (1887–1914), aka Dago Frank, gunman, executed
*
Harry Horowitz
Harry Horowitz ( – April 13, 1914), also known as "Gyp the Blood", was an American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City.
Early life and career
Harry Horowitz was born on the Lower East Side of Manhatta ...
(1889–1914), aka Gyp the Blood, gunman, executed
[
*Louis Rosenberg (1891–1914), aka Lefty Louie and Louis Marks, gunman, executed][
*Jacob Seidenshner (1888–1914), aka Frank Muller and Whitey Lewis, gunman, executed
]
Other participants in the case
* William Bourke Cockran (1854–1923), one of Becker's defense lawyers[
* Martin Thomas Manton (1880–1946), one of Becker's defense lawyers at the trial.]
* John B. Johnston (1882–1960), one of Becker's defense lawyers[
* Sam Paul (1874–1927), gambler and owner of the club at which police first thought that the murder was planned.
*Jacob A. Rich (1877–1938), also known as Jack Sullivan and Jacob A. Reich, testified for Becker's defense.
* Jack Rose (1875–1947), aka Baldy Rose, gambler and informant who testified against Becker at the trial]
*Herman Rosenthal, murdered bookmaker and gambler.
* Sam Schepps (?–1936), also known as Schapps, mob informant who testified against defendants at the trial[
* Frank Upton, Detective,] father of Frances Upton
Frances Upton (April 15, 1904 – November 27, 1975) was an American Broadway theatre actress and comedian.
Early life
Upton attended a business college after she finished high school.
Her father, Francis, was a decorated New York City d ...
, actress
* Harry Vallon, mob informant who testified against the defendants at the trial
* Louis William Webber (1877–1936), aka Bridgey Webber, mob informant who testified against the defendants at the trial[
* Charles Seymour Whitman (1868–1947), district attorney, elected in 1914 as governor of New York
*]Jack Zelig
"Big" Jack Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang.
Biography
Born Selig Harry Lefkowitz in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Zelig was a well ...
(1888–1912), murdered before he could testify for the prosecution.
In popular culture
*The British writer P.G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...
wrote a foreword to his novel ''Psmith, Journalist
''Psmith, Journalist'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first released in the United Kingdom as a serial in ''The Captain'' magazine between October 1909 and February 1910, and published in book form in the UK on 29 September 1915, by Adam & Ch ...
'' (1914) that noted the Rosenthal case by way of showing how common gang murders in New York were at the time. He did not discuss the complicity of the police.
*In F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
's novel ''The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...
'' (1925), the fictional gambler Meyer Wolfsheim mentions having been present in the Metropole with Rosenthal moments before the latter was murdered.
*The writer, Viña Delmar
Viña Delmar (born Alvina Louise Croter; January 29, 1903 – January 19, 1990) was an American short story writer, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who worked from the 1920s to the 1970s. She rose to fame in the late 1920s with the publ ...
, wrote about the murder in :
**
See also
* George Samuel Dougherty
References
External links
*{{LOCFC, rosenthalcase/
20th-century American trials
Eastman Gang
1912 in law
1912 in New York City
Murder trials
Murder in New York City
People murdered by Jewish-American organized crime
People murdered by law enforcement officers in the United States
Crimes in New York City
1912 murders in the United States