“Hurray for me!”

“HOORAY FOR LOVE (¡Viva el Amor!)”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Helen Ward; Jimmy McHugh; Dorothy Fields; Victor (25011-B); 1935

“HOORAY FOR SPINACH”; Van Alexander and his Orchestra; “Butch” Stone; Johnny Mercer; Harry Warren; Bluebird (B-10158-B); February 16, 1939

Buffalo Currier Express, September 27, 1940

2 TRIGGER MEN
OF MURDER, INC.,
TO DIE IN CHAIR

Goldstein screams as he hears
judge pronounce sentence;
Strauss remains glum

New York, Sept. 26 (AP) – Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein – who once struck terror in his victims’ hearts as executioner for Brooklyn’s bloody murder-for-profit syndicate – screamed today as a judge decreed his death in the electric chair.

“The same to you and members of your family,” he yelled hysterically.

As the 33-year-old Goldstein yammered, beside him sat his fellow-gangster, silent and glum-eyed – Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss, described by the state as a “cruel killer.”

To Die in November

Both were sentenced to die the week of November 4th by Brooklyn County Judge John J. Fitzgerald, for the “contract” slaying of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein on Labor Day in 1939. They were convicted six days ago.

As the clerk asked if he wished to speak before his sentence was pronounced, Goldstein leaped to his feet and cried:

“I want to thank the court for the charge that is sending us to our death and I only wish that the same happens to you and members of your family.

“If you can’t go to your death in a nice way, you might as well go in a bad way. I was found guilty on perjured evidence and if I die, I want to die like a man. Now go ahead.”

Third and Fourth Convicted

Solemnly, the judge decreed the sentence, and as he reached the words, “where during the week of November 4th you shall be – ” Goldstein screamed, “put to death in the electric chair.”

Then, with his voice rising to a screech, he shouted, “Hurray for me. I’ll be better off than a lot of you.”

The convictions were the third and fourth obtained by District Attorney William O’Dwyer, since he began smashing the ring which holds responsible for 83 underworld slayings…

Buffalo Currier Express, September 27, 1940

“Hip Hip Hooray”; Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy; June Richmond; Henry Nemo; Milt Ebbins; Decca (4366 A); 1942

“Hooray, Hooray, I’m Goin’ Away”; Beatrice Kay; Skylar; Mitchell Avres; Columbia (37922); 1947