Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-23


Rosenthal, the gambler, at the Hotel
Metropole in West Forty third street
early in the morning Of July 16. and
of Police Lieutenant Charles Becker's
connection with the removal" This
is Roses confession-"his squear-in
full.
In August, 1911, was part owner OF
a gambling house at 155 Second Ave-
nue.. 1t was raided by Lieut.. Becker
and his strong arm squad. The next
morning at Essex Market court at
First street and Second avenue, I met
Lieut.. Becker, and went up to him and
asked him If it was a fact that he still
had two unserved warrants against
the place. He admitted that he had.
1 then promised to produce the miss
ing men that were named in the war
rants which 1 did, and the warrants
were served on the street In front or
the court. My reason for this was that
/ was anxious to get back and start
not do this with warrants out against
the place, as we all knew 1t was trick
Of men in charge Of raiding squads to
always hold out one or more warrants
of raided place to be used as a
means of again raiding a place II they
resumed operations. without going
through the same process Of securing
evidence over again.
on between Lieut.. Becker and me, we
grew quite chummy, and soon 1 asked
him what disposition would be made
Of the case and he said, well for $500
OOI1OO 1 will guarantee you to have the
case thrown out, but he said you must
instruct your attorney to waive exami-
nation and will take care Of 1t down
town, which I did. I paid him the
5000 in the bar room Of Hirschhorn's
saloon at Second avenue and First
street.
He then said he would like to meet
me again and we arranged for a meet
ing on the following Sunday at 144th
or 145th streets and Broadway as Beck
er then lived in that vicinity. 1 met
him that evening in a taxi cab and we
rode over to the Arrow Head inn, where
we sat and drank and talked. He told
me that he was about to start out on
a long line Of raiding and he also in
tended to get some money for himself.
He said that he wanted to show some
activity first and then start in to get
some money for taking care of some
places and he thought that / would
make him a good man to collect for
him.
Agreed to Accept IS Per Cent of COL
lections.
I agreed to the proposition and the
terms agreed upon was that I was to
get 25 per cent Of all my collections At
that conversation he told me that he
had then in his possession evidence
against a pool room on Third avenue
and Seventy ninth street conducted by
two men, Hoch, Gan ex-policeman) and
Arrnburster. He said on the following
day he would have the affidavit ready
upon which to apply for warrants but he
said you can see these people and If
you can get $500 from them, will de-
stroy the affidavit and go no further
told him l would see them and report
to him.
That night I saw them and explained
the situation to Hoch and Armburster
and arranged to have them meet Beck
er the next day at Essex Market court,
where our case was to be called. They
came there and l introduced them to
Becker, and Becker insisted that he
would talk only to Hoch and together
they walked down First street and had
a talk when Becker returned alone and
said to me, Walk down street, meet
Hoch and he will give you some money" :"
/ walked down, met Hoch, he handed
me a package of money and I returned
and handed it to Becker in Hirsch-
horns saloon, where he was waiting for
me.
then met him a few days later and
he told me to prepare to get busy as
he said he was going to make a cou-
pie of big raids that would force all the
gamblers to sit up and take notice. He
then raided a place on Forty fourth
street and a place on Fffty-second
street, and before the raids he told me
to start out and begin to get keepers of
gambling houses to pay me money for
protection against being raided by the
strong arm squad"
didn't have much standing in the
gambling business and never was
known as a collector or a man who
stood in with the police, so I called on
Bridgey Webber to help me out. He
talked with Becker and Becker told
him to help me, and he started out with
me. The amount of the tariff agreed
upon was to be $500 month. Those
who made payment that night were
Betz street: McDougall street;
Ludin - street; Mccullough on -
street. Blumenthal & Tobin on -
street made their payments direct tc
Becker but secured my 25 per cent as
| had spoken to them about it, but as
said before, they never knew of me
holding such a position before so they
made 1t a point to meet Becker eacf
month alone down town.
Tells of Places Where He Gave Becker
Money.
had Dollar John at 5000, Sam Pau
at $500: Jimmie Beattie at s4O0; Curley
on Tenth street and Fourth avenue a
5000.
/ used to meet him at different places
to turn over what money l had to him
/ used to meet him at my house morn
ings. or at the corner of 10th stree
and Broadway in the Lion Palace cafe
or in the subway station. A place we
met oftener than at any other was the
Union Square hotel, Fifteenth stree
and Fourth avenue, where we alway:
sat in the rear dining room and pass
ed what money 1 collected or talked
over matters with him.