Rosenthal murder case

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Lefty Louis Rosenberg and Gyp the Blood with their captors
Dago Frank funeral after his execution
Charles Becker (center) being escorted to Sing Sing

The Becker-Rosenthal trial was a 1912 trial for the murder of Herman Rosenthal by Charles Becker and members of the Lenox Avenue Gang.[1] The trial ran from October 7, 1912 to October 30, 1912 and restarted on May 2, 1914 to May 22, 1914. Other procedural events took place in 1915.

History

In July 1912, Lieutenant Charles Becker was named in the New York World as one of three senior police officials involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal, a small time bookmaker who had complained to the press that his illegal casinos had been badly damaged by the greed of Becker and his associates. On July 16, two days after the story appeared, Rosenthal walked out of the Hotel Metropole at 147 West 43rd Street, just off Times Square. He was gunned down by a crew of Jewish gangsters from the Lower East Side, Manhattan. In the aftermath, Manhattan District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, who had made an appointment with Rosenthal before his death, made no secret of his belief that the gangsters had committed the murder at Charles Becker's behest.

At first, John J. Reisler, also known as "John the barber," told the police that he'd seen "Bridgey" Webber running away from the crime scene directly following the killing. He recanted under duress from gangsters the next week, and was charged with perjury.[2]

The investigation was covered on the front page of the New York Times for months. It was so complex that the NYPD recalled thirty retired detectives to help investigate; they were said "to know most of the gangsters."[2] One of these old-timers, Detective Upton, formerly of the NYPD "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.[3]

People

  • Charles Becker (1870-1915), police officer involved in the murder, executed
  • Francisco Cirofici (1887–1914), aka Dago Frank, gunman who was executed
  • Harry Horowitz (1889–1914), aka Gyp the Blood, gunman who was executed [1]
  • Whitey Lewis[1]
  • William Bourke Cockran, One of Becker's lawyer at the trial.[4]
  • Martin Thomas Manton (1880–1946), One of Becker's lawyer at the trial.[4]
  • Sam Paul (1874–1927), gambler and owner of the club at which the police first thought that the murder was planned.
  • Jacob A. Rich (1877-1938), also known as Jack Sullivan[5] and Jacob A. Reich, testified for the defense.[6]
  • Jack Rose (1875-1947), aka Baldy Rose, gambler and informant who testified at the trial[7]
  • Lefty Louis Rosenberg[1]
  • Herman Rosenthal, murdered gambler.[8]
  • Sam Schepps (?–1936), also known as Schapps, mob informant who testified at the trial [9]
  • Harry Vallon, mob informant who testified at the trial [9]
  • Louis William Webber (1877–1936), aka Bridgie Webber, mob informant who testified at the trial [9]
  • Charles Seymour Whitman (1868–1947), district attorney [10]
  • Jack Zelig (1888-1912), murdered before he could testify.[11]

In popular culture

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, fictional gambler Meyer Wolfsheim mentions having been present in the Metropole with Rosenthal moments before the latter was murdered.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Defense Rests After Calling Some of Those Who Saw the Murder of Rosenthal". New York Times. November 16, 1912. Retrieved 2010-11-25. "Ex-Magistrate Charles G. F. Wahle, counsel for the gunmen "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz, "Lefty Louis" Rosenberg, "Whitey Lewis", and "Dago Frank" Cirofici on trial before Justice Goff and a jury in the Extraordinary Term of the Supreme Court for the murder of Herman Rosenthal, rested the case of the defense at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon." 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Murder Witness Recants in Fear". New York Times: 1. 25 July 1912. 
  3. ↑ "'Dago' Frank in the Police Net". New York Times: 1. 26 July 1912. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Becker's Lawyers Plan Final Move. Application for Federal Writ of Habeas Corpus Discussed with Condemned Man's Wife. Letter Received by H. T. Marshall from Judge Bartlett Submitted to Counsel". New York Times. July 13, 1915. Retrieved 2010-12-24. "Mrs. Charles Becker had a long conference yesterday afternoon with her husband's lawyers, W. Bourke Cockran, Martin T. Manton and John B. Johnston, in relation to final stops in the fight to save her husband from paying the death penalty for the murder of Herman Rosenthal." 
  5. ↑ "Dougherty Gets Murder Witness". New York Times. July 28, 1912. p. 1. 
  6. ↑ "Becker Witness Dies In The Bronx. Jacob A. Rich Testified at the Murder Trial as Reich and Defended Police Officer. Former 'King of Newsboys' Did Not Get 'Vindication' Until Summer of 1936". New York Times. December 25, 1938. Retrieved 2010-12-13. "Jacob A. Rich, who as Jacob Reich or Jack Sullivan was a chief defense witness in the two trials of Police Lieutenant Charles Becker for the murder of Hefman Rosenthal, died early yesterday in the Home for Incurables, Third Avenue and 183d Street, the Bronx." 
  7. ↑ "Baldy Jack Rose is Dead Here At 72. Police Close File on Rosenthal Murder Case Figure Whose Testimony Doomed Becker". New York Times. October 9, 1947. Retrieved 2010-11-25. "The Police Department's Bureau of Identification closed its file yesterday on Jacob (Baldy Jack) Rose. The lanky informer in the Herman Rosenthal murder case of 1912 died in Roosevelt Hospital on Saturday of an internal disorder. He was 72 years old." 
  8. ↑ "Gambler Who Defied Police Is Shot Dead. Rosenthal Killed in Front of the Hotel Metropole Early This Morning". New York Times. July 16, 1912. Retrieved August 23, 2011. "Half a dozen men loitered in front of the Hotel Metropole in Forty-third Street close to Times Square shortly before 2 o'clock this morning, as persons frequently loiter in that neighborhood, attracting no attention from the few persons who passed through the street or such policemen as were in the neighborhood. ..." 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Becker Informers Now Ready To Flit. Schepps West for Vaudeville, Webber to Europe, Rose and Vallon Won't Tell". New York Times. November 21, 1912. Retrieved 2010-12-10. "Becker's Lawyer Serves Notice of Appeal. Sam Schepps, "Bridgey" Webber, Jack Rose, and Harry Vallon, whose stories convicted Charles Becker and the four ..." 
  10. ↑ "Death Takes Ex-Governor Of New York. Charles S. Whitman, Hanover, Conn., Native Was Elected in 1914". Associated Press in The Hartford Courant. March 30, 1947. Retrieved 2010-03-22. "Charles S. Whitman, 78, former governor of New York, died tonight." 
  11. ↑ "Becker Trial To-day Despite New Murder. Whitman Confident That He Can Convict Lieutenant Without Zelig's Evidence.". New York Times. October 7, 1912. Retrieved 2012-08-15. "The murder on Saturday night of 'Big Jack' Zelig will not delay the trial of Lieut. ... Zelig was one of the State's chief witnesses against Becker ..." 

External links

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