Post by Mathius Young

July 16, 1912, members of the Lenox Avenue Gang, including leader Harry “Gyp the Blood” Horowitz, & top lieutenants Jacob Seidenscher, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, Francesco “Dago Frank” Cirofici kill prominent New York gambler & police informant Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal. This early 20th-century New York City street gang was considered 1 of the most violent gangs of the pre-Prohibition era. It was based in Harlem in upper Manhattan, around 125th Street, in what was then a predominately Jewish neighborhood. Rosenthal, who had complained to the press about police extorting too much of his profits. Horowitz, Seidenshner, Rosenberg, & Cirofici drove to the Metropole Hotel, & after Rosenthal left, about 2 a.m., they shot him several times & fled. The gangsters were seen by dozens of witnesses, & were quickly arrested. When questioned, they told police that they were hired by New York Police Department Lieutenant, Charles Becker, who had ordered Rosenthal's death, after he informed on Becker. John J. Reisler, also known as "John the Barber", told the police that he had seen "Bridgey" Webber running away from the crime scene. After he recanted the next week, after being threatened by gangsters, he was charged with perjury. The New York Times & other major newspapers covered the murder investigation. The events were so complex, that the New York Police Department recalled 30 detectives from retirement, to help investigate & were said "to know most of the gangsters." Detective Frank Upton, formerly of the "Italian Squad," was instrumental in the arrest of Cirofici. He & his companion, Rose Harris were “so stupefied by opium, that they offered no objection to their arrests.” The department then had 1 of its policewomen, Mary A. Sullivan, go undercover, to gain the trust of Harris. She befriended the woman, as well as other girlfriends & wives of the suspects, which helped to break the case. They were each later convicted of the murder & sentenced to death. They were executed at Sing Sing on April 13, 1914. With the loss of these leaders, the gang disbanded entirely, within several months. On July 29, 1912, Becker was arrested. He was tried & convicted of 1st-degree murder that fall in a trial presided by John Goff, who was "intensely biased against Becker" & whose charge to the jury was slanted toward conviction. The verdict was overturned on appeal, & the court ruled for a retrial, but in 1914, Becker was convicted again & sentenced to death. He was the 1st police officer, in New York, to receive that penalty. On July 15, 1915, Becker was convicted, & Whitman, who was then governor of New York, signed Becker's death warrant & attended the execution, at Sing Sing Prison on July 30, 1915. The process took 9 minutes, appearing to cause the man intense agony. For years afterward, it was described as "the clumsiest execution in the history of Sing Sing." Becker is the "only policeman to be executed for murder in the history of the U.S."