“…pleaded not guilty…”

April 12, 2026
1940


Brooklyn Eagle, April 12, 1940, p.3


New York Sun, April 12, 1940, p.1


New York Times, April 12, 1940, p.20

Large quantities of books and office records of various garment manufacturing companies were seized yesterday by thirty detectives working under District Attorney William O’Dwyer of Kings County and were brought to the prosecutor’s offices for examination in connection with the activities of the Brooklyn murder syndicate. It was learned that the survey is aimed at finding a motive for certain unsolved killings and to determine whether any of the companies had been compelled to give money to the gangsters. An alleged “contact man” for Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, industrial racketeer, and a wealthy Brooklyn dress manufacturer were held recently in $100,000 bail each as material witnesses in the murder ring inquiry.

Abe (Kid Twist) Reles, Brooklyn gang chieftain, and his henchmen, Anthony (the Duke) Maffetore and Abraham (Pretty) Levene, testified before a grand jury yesterday in the murder of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein, allegedly killed and burned by the murder gang.

It was learned that Mr. O’Dwyer feels that if Reles’s story is corroborated it will require about two years to complete the prosecutions that will result. Reles is reported to object to being called a “squealer” and insists that he was “just a step ahead of the others.”

Angelo (Julie) Catalano was held in $100,000 bail as an eyewitness to the murder of George Rudnick, for which three leaders of the murder ring are under indictment. New York Times, April 12, 1940, p.20

“…was freed yesterday…”

March 9, 2026
1946


New York Times, March 9, 1946, p.14

Frank Pape, 17 years old, of 815 Eagle Avenue, the Bronx, indicted for first-degree murder in the death of William Drach, 4, in October. 1944, was freed yesterday in Bronx County Court, having been declared sane after a year’s treatment by psychiatrists. The youth was adjudged insane at the time of the murder. Pape, who strangled the Drach boy while they were playing, was placed under the supervision of two Lutheran ministers, the Rev. Otto Plagemann of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 156th Street and St. Ann’s Avenue, and the Rev. Henry Schumann of Bethany Lutheran Church, 583 East 163d Street, both the Bronx. The ministers told the court they felt confident they could control the youth.
New York Times, March 9, 1946, p.14

“…not a word was spoken.”

March 8, 2026
1946


New York Sun, March 8, 1946, p.12

After a year in a hospital for the insane, 17-year-old Frank Pape, under indictment for murder in the first degree in the strangling of a 4-year-old child, walked out of the Bronx Court today and broke into a run as he spied his parents and younger brother. He embraced them one by one, clung to them, but not a word was spoken.
New York Sun, March 8, 1946, p.12