¢¢HOW THE VAGRANTS BROKE MURDER Inc.¢ by JERRY GINSBERG¢¢¢¢(CONTINUATION of "HOW THE VAGRANTS¢BROKE MURDER INC. by JERRY GINSBERG,¢member OL'HACKERS)¢¢ The old Inferior Criminal Courts¢Act provided for the commitment of¢anyone found guilty of VAGRANCY to one¢of the several workhouses or county¢jails "for a definite term not to¢exceed six months." As a rule, the¢sentences meted out for vagrancy were¢for much less time. Happy's¢brother,"Duke" Maione, drew a ninety¢day sentence while Meyer "Mikey"¢Sycoff, who fingered "targets" for¢"hits" received a sixty-day term in¢the workhouse.¢¢ Of course, it was hoped that¢these vagrancy charges would be¢replaced with more substantial¢accusations by the time the terms had¢been served. As time passed, however,¢the prospects of something dramatic¢happening appeared bleak; but when the¢sentences were just about to expire,¢Assistant District Attorney Burton¢Turkus reported that the D.A. received¢the following letter from the Riker's¢Island City Workhouse:¢ "Dear Sir,¢ I am doing a bit here. I would¢like to talk to the District Attorney.¢I know something about a murder in¢East New York.¢ Harry Rudolph"¢¢ Rudolph had a reputation on the¢street as being "off his rocker" but,¢out of frustration, O'Dwyer was¢willing to grant an audience to anyone¢who could even remotely assist the¢investigation. Rudolph hated the¢Brownsville boys, not only because¢they murdered a friend, which he¢claimed to have witnessed, but also¢because they tried to kill him by¢shooting him in the stomach at¢point-blank range. To support this¢story and also to add to his image as¢a "fruitcake," Rudolph raised his¢shirt and exhibited to A.D.A. Turkus¢the disfiguring scars on his abdomen¢where he claimed to have "plucked the¢bullet out with his bare hands." It¢was around this man, and with probably¢a very strong prayer, that the¢flimsiest of homocide cases was built¢against Murder Incorporated's chief¢executive officers, Abe Reles and¢Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein.¢¢ At a hastily called press¢conference, D.A. O'Dwyer announced the¢indictment of Reles, Goldstein and¢Anthony (the Duke) Maffetore, an¢accomplice in the 1933 shooting in the¢back of Alec (Red) Alpert. "Red" was¢"rubbed out" for asking too much for¢the stolen jewelry he tried to fence¢to the boys in Brownsville. With more¢bravado than substance, O'Dwyer¢announced to the press, "This is a¢clean-cut charge. I have an air-tight¢case against these punks and I want¢them to know it right now." As was the¢style in the 30s and 40s, the New York¢Times commented on the dress of the¢defendants at their arraignments.¢ "Reles wore a gray¢double-breasted overcoat and a dark¢suit and Goldstein, a tan¢double-breasted overcoat and dark¢suit. In contrast, Maffatore wore a¢leather windbreaker over a sweater and¢dark trousers. (N.Y.Times, Feb. 3,¢1940) Both Reles and Goldstein had¢attorneys to represent them, but¢Maffatore was unrepresented as he pled¢"not guilty." He, Maffatore, requested¢the court assign a counselor to him as¢he was indigent and unable to afford¢one. It wasn't difficult to figure out¢where the District Attorney would¢concentrate his greatest efforts in¢shoring up the many holes in his weak¢case. So Maffatore got te DA's full¢attention. The next move was one of¢great strategy. It was to split the¢defendants.¢¢ KINGS COUNTY Judge Edwin L. Garvin¢was put asked by D.A. O'Dwyyer to sign¢an order transferring "Kid Twist" to¢the Tombs in Manhattan. "Buggsy"¢Goldstein was sent to the Sheriff's¢jail in Staten Island while "Dukey"¢Maffatore was committed to the Bronx¢County jail.¢ The "breaking" of Anthony "the¢Duke" Maffatore could provide a law¢school class with an excellent study¢in the evils of police interrogation¢prior to the United States Supreme¢Court's decision in MIRANDA v.¢ARIZONA. While the coercion was not as¢physically abusive as that allegedly¢practiced upon Joseph (Joe the Baker)¢Lemirto, it was nonetheless effective.¢"Joe the Baker" with "Dukey", helped¢convict "Happy", "Pittsburgh Phil" and¢the "Dasher" of the icepick stabbing,¢strangulation murder of George¢(Whitey) Rudnick, a potential witness¢against mob boss, Louie Lepke. Before¢testifying for the prosecution, "Joe¢the Baker" spent seventeen days in the¢Queens County jail denying his¢involvement in the Rudnick murder. He¢was then ushered into a hotel room¢across town and supposedly beaten so¢severely by a detective with the quite¢appropriate name of "Joe the Bull"¢that he required hospitalization.¢After that, "Joe the Baker" became¢more cooperative and supplied some¢necessary missing details to the¢Rudnick murder.¢ "Dukey" Maffatore at age twenty¢four, according to all accounts, was¢just a step above being a moron who¢just loved to read comic books in¢between the jobs his murderous bosses¢would send him out on. He had little¢education and left school as soon as¢he was able to obtain his working¢papers at age fifteen. It appears,¢though, that he worked very little¢since then except as an auto thief,¢enforcer and hijacker for the¢Brownsville mob. When he was¢eventually called to the witness¢stand, Maffatore admitted that he¢hadn't done an honest days work in¢nine years and that one of his claims¢to fame was that he had once gone out¢on a job as a driver with Willie¢Sutton, the famed bank robber. That¢adventure ended with his running away¢at the first sight of a policeman.¢ The interrogation of "Dukey"¢began almost immediately without the¢benefit of an attorney which,¢considering his request for one to be¢appointed, would today be in violation¢of his sixth amendment right to¢counsel. Not that it would have made a¢difference to the likes of "Dukey" but¢it would be sixteen years before his¢keepers would be required to advise¢him of his MIRANDA rights as a¢prerequisite to their interrogating¢him. Although A.D.A. Turkus' outline¢of the "breaking" of Maffatore¢represents the only record that¢exists, it makes no effort to cover up¢the obvious unfairness of the¢procedure even in that day. He writes,¢"Dukey received this 'cold-storage'¢treatment-and the loneliness that¢accompanies it.... and no one,¢absolutely no one, came to relieve¢them." No one, that is, until¢Lieutenant Jack Osnato stepped into¢"Dukey's" isolation cell and spoke¢soothingly to him in Italian, and¢then, along with Deputy Chief¢Inspector Mike McDermott played in¢intricate game of "good cop/bad cop."¢Maffatore was asked repeatedly why he¢was sticking with his friends while¢they were making a "sap" out of him by¢his taking the rap. "Why don't you¢think of your wife and kid? They'll be¢evicted soon when they can't pay the¢rent. Reles' family isn't going to be¢thrown out, you can bet that," chided¢McDermott. When their approach met¢with some resistance, the pair¢resorted to base threats, "You got it¢pretty soft in this can...If you keep¢on like you are, I'll see you go to¢Raymond Street [Jail in Brooklyn]¢where there's dirt and bedbugs and¢cockroaches." ¢(CONTINUED in next NEWSLETTER)¢¢ ¢
