Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set (90 page)

As soon as Becker, in response to the priests’ prayers, uttered the words “Lord have mercy on us,” five burly guards seized Becker and sat him in the electric chair. They immediately tossed heavy straps around his knees, ankles, wrists, elbows and chest, and tightly secured them with buckles. Not able to move anymore, Becker mouthed the words, “Oh Lord, assist me in my last agony. I give you my heart and soul.”

Two guards slapped a leather cap down on Becker’s head and began screwing in the electrodes on the front and back of Becker’s head and over his temples.

Standing behind and slightly to the right of Becker was the official executioner; a grim, shaven man, dressed in gray and about 30-years-old, whose name was not released to the press. The executioner was to be paid $100 -  $50 for executing Becker and $50 to execute a Negro named Sam Hayne, who was to follow Becker into the electric chair.

At 5:43 a.m., Dr. Charles Farr, the doctor in charge of the execution, motioned to the executioner. The grim man dressed in gray pulled down the electricity lever, which trust 1,850 volts and 10 amps into Becker’s body. Becker stiffened straight from the initial shock, and the crucifix slipped out of his hand. A guard caught the crucifix before it hit the ground. The muscles of Becker’s head and neck swelled outward, as Father Cashin and Dr. Farr stood solemnly on rubber mat just feet away from the electric chair. The doctor stood quiet and grim, but Father Cashin’s lips moved precipitously in prayer.

The first shock lasted about a minute. Dr. Farr then stepped forward, ripped open Becker’s coat and tore open his shirt. Exposed for all to see was a picture of Helen Becker, pinned to the inside of Becker’s shirt and close to his heart. Dr. Farr applied his stethoscope to the middle of Becker’s chest.

Becker’s heart still beat strongly.

The executioner pulled the lever down a second time. This shock lasted only 10 seconds - five seconds longer than is usually required for a man’s second jolt. Dr. Farr moved forward again, this time removing Becker’s leather cap.

His second stethoscope examination revealed a slight heartbeat.

A third shock was administered; Becker’s body heaved forward and then fell limp. Dr. Farr made his third examination, and at exactly 5:55 a.m., he said in a loud voice, “I pronounce this man dead.”

Immediately after Becker’s execution, the press assembled outside the execution room. Warden Osborne then proceeded to read a statement by Becker that Becker was not allowed to say in the execution room. It read.

Gentlemen: My dying declaration:

I stand before you in my full senses, knowing that no power on earth can save me from the grave that is about to receive me. In the face of that, in the teeth of those who condemn me, and in the presence of my God and your God, I proclaim my absolute innocence for the crime of which I must die. You are now about to witness my destruction by the State, which is organized to protect the lives of the innocent.

May Almighty God pardon everyone who has contributed in any degree to my untimely death. And now, on the brink of my grave, I declare to the world that I am proud to have been the husband of the noblest woman who has ever lived – Helen Becker. This acknowledgement is the only legacy I can leave her.

I bid you all goodbye; Father I am ready to go. Amen.

                                                                      CHARLES BECKER

After Warden Osborne finished reading Becker’s dying declaration, Father Cashin was asked by the press, “From your experience with condemned men, isn’t it your belief that a condemned man always confesses in the hours before his execution?”

“Invariably,” Father Cashin said. “Usually the confession comes after the sacrament has been given. Becker maintained his innocence to the end.”

Father Cashin said after he had administered the holy sacrament of Extreme Unction (the last rites) to Becker, he had asked Becker, “Are you guilty by word, or deed or by any manner whatsoever of this crime?”

Becker firmly answered, “Father, as I stand on the brink of the grave, I am not.”

CHARLES BECKER’S FUNERAL

Charles Becker’s body was
transported to his home in the Bronx and arrived later that same afternoon. His coffin was carried up the steps of the apartment building and laid to rest in the living room for one day of viewing.

Helen Becker, her rage for Governor Whitman, his actions and his inactions, still stewing, commissioned a local engraver to construct a five-by-seven-inch silver plaque for her husband’s coffin. She took full responsibility for this herself, and she made it clear her husband had not requested such a plaque be placed on his coffin.

The plaque read:

CHARLES BECKER

MURDERED JULY 30, 1915

BY GOVERNOR WHITMAN

District Attorney Francis Martin of the Bronx read about the plague in the newspapers. He immediately rushed to police headquarters, where he met with Inspector Joseph Faurot and first Deputy Commissioner Leon Godley. They determined that this plaque was illegal, and as a result, Inspector Faurot and Captain Wines rushed to the Becker residence to see if such a plaque actually existed. When they saw the plaque for themselves, they informed Helen Becker that the plaque was criminally libelous and had to be removed immediately. When Helen Becker refused, Inspector Faurot unscrewed the plaque himself, put it into his pocket, and he and Captain Wines exited the premises.

District Attorney Martin explained his actions to the press, “While I have sympathy for Mrs. Becker, as I would for anyone in trouble,” Martin said, “I could not, as District Attorney, permit the Governor to be libeled.”

District Attorney Martin insisted he had not been given any direct orders from Governor Whitman to remove the plaque.

From the moment Becker’s body was returned to his home, a curious crowd began forming outside. On August 2, when Becker’s coffin was being transported from Becker’s home to St. Nicholas of Tollentine Church three blocks away, there was an estimated three thousand people gathered around the cordoned-off area from Becker’s home to the church. Becker’s pallbearers were five members of the police department: Lieutenant James Brady, Captain John Bourke, Lieutenant Patrick Shea, patrolmen John O’Connor and John Ferrick; and former police officer Joseph Shepard.

As the pallbearers carried Becker’s coffin toward the church, scores of people broke through the barricade. Policemen used their clubs to beat back the rioters, and it took  five minutes for order to be restored so the pallbearers could continue their journey.

After Becker’s coffin reached the church and his funeral mass began, an estimated 10,000 people surrounded the area near the church. There were seats for 700 people inside the church, but it was estimated at least twice as many had piled inside.

Outside the church during the service, battles ensued between the police and a belligerent crowd, and more police enforcements from the High Bridge Police Station were summoned to the scene. In front of the church, people were jammed so close together, women began to faint.

While the funeral services were taking place, a wagon containing floral tributes pulled up in front of the church. One large floral arrangement was a large cross made of lilies, bay leaves, and asters. Large purple lettering across it said: “Sacrificed for Politics.” On the cross was pinned a large envelope with the inscription, “From a Friend.”

Another large floral arrangement had the words, “To the Martyr, with sincere sympathies.” A third floral arrangement, sent by former inspector Alexander “Clubber” Williams, who had instructed Becker in Becker’s early years as a policemen on the proper use of the billy club, read, “In sympathy and respect to Charlie.”

When the funeral mass ended, the long trip to Woodlawn Cemetery began. The hearse that contained Becker’s coffin was pulled by two black horses and followed by five black carriages; the first of which carried Helen Becker and her brother. They arrived at Woodlawn Cemetery at 11 a.m.

As the flowers were taken off the wagon to be placed near Becker’s grave, cemetery officials were ordered by the police to pull letters off the floral arrangement which said “Sacrificed for Politics.” When they had finished their task, all that read was “S O P.” The floral arrangement that read “To the Martyr, with sincere sympathies” was also altered as to make it meaningless.

Immediately after Charles Becker’s body was buried, Mrs. Becker told the press she had nothing to say today, but would issue a statement in a few days.

That statement never came.

Helen Becker returned home after her husband’s funeral, not only heartbroken, but dead broke. She had used up all her husband’s ill-gotten gains to pay for his numerous defense lawyers, who did not work cheaply.

Helen Becker continued to live on her meager teacher’s salary, and she eventually became an assistant principle in a northern Manhattan public school. She retired in the mid-1940s and lived until 1962 - 50 years after her husband’s conviction for the murder of Herman Rosenthal.

Although she had been proposed to many times, Helen Becker never remarried. As to why she never accepted any future proposals of marriage, she often said, “I prefer to remain a widow in memory of a man who was put to death by the great state of New York for a crime he did not commit. He was not an angel; he never made a pretense of being one. He was just an ordinary human being, and that is why I loved him so.”

CONCLUSION

The $64,000 question is
: Did Lieutenant Charles Becker order the murder of Herman Rosenthal? Or was he framed? And if Becker was framed, who did the framing, and why?

The answer to the first question, to me, is self-evident. Charles Becker did not order the murder of Herman Rosenthal. Yes, Becker was a lout, a ruffian, a crooked cop, and much worse, and he certainly had the makeup to be a murderer if that’s what Becker thought was in his best interest. But that doesn’t mean Becker ordered Rosenthal’s murder.

As for the motive, some people might say Becker had plenty of reasons to want Rosenthal dead. I say it was in Becker’s best interest to keep Rosenthal alive.

Let’s examine the facts as we know them.

It was obvious that Becker and Rosenthal were partners in an illegal gambling house, and at the time of his death, Rosenthal had already informed on Becker in the most open of forums – the New York City press. Killing Rosenthal would not have undone the damage Rosenthal had already wrecked on Becker and his career. Keeping Rosenthal alive was the best thing for Becker, since it would give Becker a chance to discredit the gambler and possibly clear his own name in the process. Becker had a lot of pull in law enforcement and in Tammany Hall. It is not inconceivable that Becker could have walked away from Rosenthal’s accusations unscathed.

And surely, Becker was not a stupid man. If Rosenthal were to be killed just hours before he was to visit District Attorney Whitman’s office to make a formal affidavit against Becker, Becker would be the first person to come under suspicion. This fact made Becker the perfect pigeon for a frame.

Who else who stood to gain if Rosenthal were croaked?

Bald Jack Rose certainly fits that description. With Rosenthal out of the way, Rose, and his pals Harry Vallon and Bridgey Webber presumed they would be standing pretty in the Tenderloin. With the competition from Rosenthal’s gambling house out of the way, these three creeps probably figured they would rake in the fallen crumbs from Rosenthal’s gambling residue. As events further unfolded, they were chased from the Tenderloin instead, by irate members of the underworld, who, by nature, despised informers.

Let’s assume for a moment that Rose arranged Rosenthal’s murder without Becker’s knowledge. It could have been the perfect crime if Rose and his pals weren’t so stupid.

Why rent a car for the murder; a car that could be traced back to Rose? Efficient killers would have stolen a car to do the dirty deed. And surely, if Becker were arranging Rosenthal’s murder he would have been intelligent enough to make sure the killers didn’t use a rented car. Once the owner and the driver of the murder car (William Libby and Louis Shapiro) were caught, and they were caught quickly, the entire scheme fell apart.

This is where Rose used his ingenuity; his ability to survive. As soon as Libby and Shapiro were arrested, Rose knew he was in deep unless he came up with a plan. Rose decided to turn chicken ship into chicken salad by first turning himself in. Soon, Webber and Vallon were sitting in the same Tombs prison cell next to Rose, so they could plan and scheme to their heart’s delight.

Behind bars was where Rose transformed himself from a dumb murderer into a smart witness; a witness against Becker, whom was dumfounded; first when Rosenthal was killed, and again when he was arrested for Rosenthal’s murder. Bridgey Webber, Sam Schepps, and Harry Vallon, out to save their own skins, backed up Rose’s play, and this was the start of the demise of Lieutenant Charles Becker.

Rose also knew he had two aces in the hole; two men who wanted Rose’s story to be true for their own personal ambitions - District Attorney Charles Whitman and newspaper columnist Herbert Bayard Swope.