Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 - July 30, 1915) was a New York police officer executed for allegedly ordering the murder of a Manhattan gambler, Herman Rosenthal. Becker was the first American police officer executed for murder and the scandal that surrounded his arrest, conviction, and execution was one of the most important in Progressive Era New York. Image File history File links CBecker. ... July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 158 days remaining. ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving the risk of money or valuables on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity is partially or totally dependent upon chance. ... In the United States, the Progressive Era was a period of reform which lasted from the 1890s through the 1930s. ...

Early Life

Charles Becker was born to a German-American family in the village of Callicoon Center, Sullivan County, New York. He arrived in New York City in 1890 and went to work as a bouncer in a German beer hall just off the Bowery before joining the Police Department (NYPD) in November 1893. Becker first came to public notice in the fall of 1896 when he arrested a prostitute named Ruby Young on Broadway. Young was in the company of the novelist Stephen Crane, who appeared in court next day to refute Becker's allegations against her. German Americans are common in the U.S. Light blue indicates counties where persons of German ancestry form the largest plurality. ... Callicoon is a town located in Sullivan County, New York. ... Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. ... NY redirects here. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... A bouncer is a term for a person who deals with disorderly people in a bar or pub. ... Beer halls are large pubs that specialize in beer. ... The Bowery is a well-known street in Manhattan that more or less marks the boundary between Chinatown and Little Italy on one side and the Lower East Side on the other—running from Chatham Square in the south to Astor Place in the north. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... A view of Broadway in 1909 Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City. ... Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 - June 5, 1900) was an American novelist, poet and journalist. ...

The Reformer

In 1902 and 1903 Becker was one of the leaders of a patrolman's reform movement agitating for the introduction of the Three Platoon System, which would have significantly reduced the number of hours the beat police officer was expected to work. In 1906 he was seconded to a special unit working out of police headquarters to probe the alleged corruption of Police Inspector Max Schmittberger, who had been widely hated within the NYPD since giving detailed testimony to the 1894 Lexow Committee investigating police corruption in New York. Partly as a result of Becker's work, Schmittberger subsequently stood trial, and Deputy Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo was so satisfied with his work that when Waldo became Police Commissioner in 1911 he had Becker, by then a lieutenant, appointed as head of one of the city's three anti-vice Strong Arm Squads. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... Lexow Committee (1894 - 1895). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Al Capone with a Badge

Becker used his position to extort substantial sums, later shown to total in excess of $100,000, from Manhattan brothels and illegal gambling casinos in exchange for immunity from police interference. Percentages of the take were regularly delivered to politicians and other cops. The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ...

In July 1912 he was named in the New York World as one of three corrupt police officers involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal. Rosenthal, a small time Jewish bookmaker, had complained to the press that his illegal businesses had been badly damaged by the greed of the city's corrupt police officers. Rosenthal was gunned down on West 46th Street two days after his story appeared in the newspapers. In the aftermath, the District Attorney, Charles S. Whitman, made no secret of his belief that the gangsters who killed him had committed the murder at Becker's behest. The New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... A bookmaker, bookie or turf accountant, is an organisation or a person that takes bets and may pay winnings depending upon results and, depending on the nature of the bet, the odds. ... Charles S. Whitman (September 29, 1868 - March 29, 1947) served as Republican Governor of New York between 1915 and 1919. ...

Arrest, Trial and Execution

Becker was arrested on July 29, 1912, and tried and convicted of first degree murder that fall. The verdict was overturned on appeal on the grounds that the trial judge, John Goff, had been biased against the defendant. However, a retrial in 1914 reaffirmed his conviction. Although contemporary newspapers were unanimous in asserting his guilt, Becker went to the electric chair in Sing Sing on July 30, 1915, protesting his innocence. After a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, Charles Becker was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, on 2 August 1915. July 29 is the 210th day (211th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 155 days remaining. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Murder is both a legal and a moral term, that are not always coincident. ... John William Goff (January 1, 1848 - November 9, 1924) was an Irish-born lawyer and judge also noted for his support of Fenian rebel movements. ... Alternative meaning: Sing Sing (band) Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a prison in Ossining, New York. ... July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... A requiem is a Roman Catholic mass performed in commemoration of the dead, also known in Latin as the Missa pro Defunctis. ... Located in The Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. ... Housing projects in the infamous South Bronx area. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Personality

Although undeniably a brutal and extremely corrupt officer, contemporaries testified that Charles Becker was also markedly intelligent, particularly by the standards prevalent within the NYPD at that time. He showed little interest in the after-hours drinking activities of his police colleagues, preferring to return home to help his wife, a special needs schoolteacher, mark her pupils' homework. On Death Row, he gained the respect of his fellow prisoners by reading aloud to them for hours at a time from newspapers and Western dime novels. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... For information about the Record company see Death Row Records For information about the computer game see Deathrow (game) Death Row is a term which refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. ... In the United States is the 19th century, a dime novel was a low-priced novel that could be purchased for a dime. ...

Family

Becker's only son, Howard P. Becker, later became Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. A daughter, Charlotte Becker, conceived shortly before his arrest, died in 1913 less than a day after her birth and is buried alongside him at Woodlawn Cemetery. Howard Paul Becker (December 9, 1899 - June 8, 1960) was for many years professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin. ... The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public university located in Madison, Wisconsin. ... Located in The Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. ...

Controversy

Several later authors, beginning with Henry Klein in 1927, have suggested that Becker was wrongly convicted. According to this theory, Becker and his fellow officers had simply stood back and allowed "the street" to "take care of" Rosenthal, knowing that his cooperation would put a huge target on his back. According to this theory, District Attorney Whitman manipulated the evidence to implicate the corrupt Lieutenant, knowing that a guilty verdict for Becker would help his own political career. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Popular Culture

The Becker-Rosenthal murder is the subject of Michael Bookman's God's Rat: Jewish Mafia on the Lower East Side. A thinly fictionalized version of the murder is also described by mob boss Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The cover of the Scribner Paperback Fiction Edition, 1995. ... The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. ... Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an Irish American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories . ...

References

Books

• Cohen, Stanley, (2006) "The Execution of Officer Becker; The Murder of a Gambler, the Trial of a Cop, and the Birth of Organized Crime."
• Klein, Henry (1927). Sacrificed: The Story of Police Lieut. Charles Becker. New York: Privately published.
• Logan, Andy (1970). Against The Evidence: The Becker-Rosenthal Affair. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
• Pietrusza, David (2003) Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf. (contains a detailed chapter on the Becker-Rosenthal case)

Articles

• "Entire force of patrolmen in revolt." April 6, 1902. New York Times.
• "Three Platoon system urged by policemen." August 21, 1902. New York Times.
• "The Strong Arm Squad a terror to the gangs." August 13, 1911. New York Times.
• "My Story, by Mrs Charles Becker." December, 1914. McClure's Magazine.
• "The Becker case: view of 'The System.'" November 11, 1951. New York Times Magazine.

External links

• Killer Cop: Charles Becker by Mark Gado at the CrimeLibrary.com
• Key Figures in Jefferson Market History - Charles Becker by Patty Slezak
• People v. Seidenshner 210 NY 341
• People v. Becker 210 NY 274
• People v. Becker 215 NY 126

Benjamen was here. Mckenzie was here.