Unsolved: The Vanishing Judge

0:00Hi everyone, it's Vanessa Richardson. Before today's episode, I want to tell you about another Crime House show, Murder True Crime Stories. Join Carter Roy every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday as he explores history's most notorious murders like you've never heard before. Follow Murder True Crime Stories, available wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Crime House. A New York Supreme Court Justice hails a cab on a summer night in 1930 and no one ever sees him again. No body, no ransom note, just a briefcase, a stack of cash, and a city full of powerful men suddenly pretending they barely knew him. The Tamini Hall machine was built on secrets. This one ran nearly a century deep.

1:02Welcome to Crime House 247, I'm Vanessa Richardson. Twice a day every day we bring you the best, most timely, and gripping cases from across the entire Crime House network, all in one place, right here. And every Tuesday is unsolved Tuesdays, where I bring you two cases that have yet to be cracked and still haunt us today. Now we're turning to the vanishing judge, the second of today's two cold cases, and decades later, it's moving again. New York officially kept the crater case open until 2005, the longest running missing person's case in city history. And in recent years, newly digitized municipal and Tamini Hall records have drawn fresh scrutiny from cold case researchers. The question of who silenced Judge Crater and how is being asked all over again. This community exists because of listeners like you. Want even more? Join Crime House Plus for every episode of Crime House 247, Add Free.

2:03Not only that, but you'll get complete access to an exclusive limited series every month, and early Add Free access to all Crime House shows and bonus episodes. Go to CrimeHousePlus.com or on Apple Podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 247 page. Now, Carderoy breaks down Judge Crater's final 48 hours and the political machine that may have buried the truth. Yamavatt Resort and Casino at San Manuel is bringing hip hop and R&B legends to the stage. That's the Queen of Neo Soul, Erica Badu, September 28th. Catch Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Wutan, clan October 1st. And don't miss multi-grabmy award-winning Nelly October 15th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavatt Theatre dot com. Only at Yamavatt, now celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in must be 21 to enter.

3:07On April 17th, 1930, 41-year-old Joseph Force Crater was sworn in as the newest justice on New York City's Supreme Court. He took his oath in a courthouse, overlooking Madison Square Garden, not far from where his legal career began. Joseph had always been an ambitious person. He graduated from Columbia University Law School in 1916 and worked as a law secretary for New York Justice Robert Wagner, a future senator. Joseph had learned a lot from Wagner and made a lot of powerful friends through him too. Including those in a controversial organization known as Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was a fraternal group like the Freemasons and it was the power behind the Democratic Party in New York City at the time. It was also incredibly corrupt. Tammany had ties to the mob and regularly rigged elections to help get their chosen candidates

4:11in power. Joseph was a member himself. And Tammany had helped propel his career forward more than once. He was so popular with a group that in 1929, he was named the president of the Cayuga Democratic Club, which was an important branch of Tammany Hall. But Joseph wasn't the only prominent member. So was Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York at the time. And when it came time for Roosevelt to fill a vacancy on the State Supreme Court, he looked within his circle and tapped Joseph for the job. It was a highly coveted position with a salary of $22,000 a year, over $400,000 in today's money. Which meant Joseph would be making as much as Roosevelt himself. As soon as he got the job, Joseph hired a small household staff, including a cook, maid, and chauffeur. He was already something of a local celebrity, a well-dressed man about town.

5:15He was often spotted at clubs, Broadway shows, and restaurants in New York City, rubbing elbows with politicians and flirting with showgirls. His nickname on the streets was Good Time Joe. And there were rumors he socialized with known gangsters, Arnold Rothstein, and Legs Diamond back in the 1920s. He wasn't just a party animal though. He ran his own private legal practice and lectured at both New York University and Ford Immuniversity during his time on the State Supreme Court. Joseph ruled on two cases, but his mind probably wasn't on work. Chances were, Joseph was thinking about the future. Joseph's appointment was a temporary one. He'd be serving the remainder of the 1930 term, then would be up for re-election that fall, and the stakes were higher than ever. The public had reached a turning point.

6:17Out the 1920s, Tamini Hall had controlled the elections through bribes and kickbacks, and everyone knew it. Voters were getting sick of the blatant corruption, which meant that every Democrat who had ties to Tamini Hall, including Joseph, would have to play a very careful game to secure their seats. But, Joseph had some time before he had to deal with all that. The courts recessed in June, and Joseph was ready to take a vacation and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. In mid-July, Joseph and his wife, 42-year-old Stella, went to their summer cabin in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. They planned to spend most of their summer there before returning to New York when the court was back in session on August 25th. Stella and Joseph had been married for over 13 years. In fact, Joseph was the lawyer who represented Stella in her divorce from her previous husband.

7:19Friends said their marriage was a happy one, but it was also an open secret that Joseph had mistresses. It's not clear if Stella knew about these affairs. But we know she wasn't as social as he was, and she rarely attended political functions with him. So, there's a good chance they had some sort of understanding and kept parts of their lives separate. This became apparent early into their trip. Although they were supposed to be on vacation, Joseph was often leaving the cabin, which didn't have a phone, to make work calls. After one of these calls in late July, Joseph told his wife he needed to go back to the city. He said he'd be back soon. Stella was used to this sort of thing, so she didn't put up a fight. And Joseph was true to his word. He returned two days later. He never said what urgent business had called him away, and Stella didn't ask.

8:20She was glad to have him all to herself for the next month. But then, a few days later, on August 3rd, Joseph received another phone call. He had to go back to New York again. He told Stella he had to quote, straighten out a few people. On this time, Stella was annoyed. But Joseph promised he'd be back by her 43rd birthday on August 9th. Stella waited. And waited. And waited. On her birthday, she received a gift that Joseph had ordered for her red canoe, but she didn't get what she really wanted. Her husband, the fact that Joseph hadn't contacted her yet, was weird. Although he was gone a lot for work, he always kept Stella updated. So when she still didn't hear from him, she reached out to one of his colleagues. They didn't know where he was. In fact, nobody had seen Joseph for the last week.

9:24But some of his friends had an idea about where he might be. They assumed he was with a mistress. Of course they didn't say that to Stella, especially because they didn't think it was anything serious or that he was in trouble. Good time, Joe, was exactly the type of person you'd expect to disappear from his marriage for a week. But before long, that theory became harder to believe. Eventually, Stella got in touch with someone who had seen her husband. His lockler, Joe Mara. A Mara was surprised to hear that Stella hadn't heard from Joseph. He thought his boss had already gone back to Maine several days ago. Mara had last seen him on the morning of August 6th, and he wasn't the only one. Throughout the day, Joseph had been spotted several times in New York City, but he wasn't acting like good time Joe.

10:25He was acting like a man whose life was on the line. Family blood runs deep. It binds, but getting along is an easy one jealousy and hunger for power take over. Killer Kin from ID explores real cases about family members who turn against one another, unleashing betrayal and violence from the inside. Other investigators, experts and family members try to understand what actually happened and how kinship can unravel into terror. Does evil run in the family? Listen to Killer Kin wherever you get your podcasts. By August 9th, 1930, 43-year-old Stella Crater hadn't heard from her husband Joseph for six days. But a few other people had. Joseph's law clerk Joe Mara and his secretary, Frederick Johnson, both spoke to him in early

11:27August. That's when the judge asked them to meet at his chambers on the 6th. He said he needed help with something, but didn't specify what. It was also the middle of a historic heatwave for New York. After a miserable commute, Mara and Johnson both made it to work before Joseph that day. When he arrived, Joseph seemed on edge. He went straight to his office and shut the door behind him. The two clerks could hear him rummaging around inside, like he was gathering documents from desk drawers and packing them into his briefcase. When he came out, Joseph asked Mara to go to the bank and cash a pair of checks for him. They were worth a total of $5,150, which is about $100,000 in today's money. When Mara returned with the cash, the judge stuffed it into his suit pockets without comment.

12:29After that, Mara accompanied Joseph back to his apartment where they dropped off the documents from Joseph's office. As Mara turned to leave, Joseph mentioned that he was going up Westchester way and would be back in the office tomorrow. Mara didn't think much of the comment. He assumed Joseph was just trying to escape the heat of the city, but the truth was far more complicated. And Joseph's busy day was far from over. About evening at around 6 p.m., Joseph arrived at a Broadway ticket agency run by his friend, Joseph Granski. He asked Granski to hold a ticket for him at a musical called Dancing Partner That Evening. Granski thought it was a strange request. Joseph had already seen that musical 10 days ago. Then a few hours later, Joseph turned up at Billy Haas Chop House, which was one of his

13:33favorite restaurants in Midtown. He was all dressed up despite the heat. He wore a double-breasted suit, bow tie, spats, and a Panama hat. To anyone watching, he looked like he was ready for a night on the town. Before long, an entertainment lawyer named William Klein spotted Joseph at the restaurant. William was having dinner with a showgirl who went by the stage name Sally Lu Ritz. William invited Joseph to join them. He agreed, but didn't seem very excited about it. Like the clerks from Joseph's office, both William and Sally noticed that something was off about his behavior. He didn't speak much. They finished their meal at around 9 p.m. and parted ways. Joseph said goodbye and William and Sally watched as he got into a cab and drove off into the night. But the theater where Joseph was supposed to see Dancing Partner was walking distance

14:36from the restaurant, only two blocks away. Plus, the show had started half an hour earlier. Joseph forced Crater never showed up to claim his ticket, which meant William and Sally were the last ones to see him dead or alive. 19 days later, on August 25th, 1930, the New York Supreme Court convened to find they were one member short. They called Maine to see if Joseph was still at his vacation house with Stella. Well, this whole time, Stella had been hoping he'd just show up. And she probably didn't want to cause a public scandal, so she didn't alert authorities. But when she learned the other justices hadn't heard from him either, it confirmed her worst fears. Something terrible had happened to Joseph. He would have never missed a Supreme Court meeting. His new job mattered too much to him.

15:37On August 28th, she drove back to the city where she and an NYPD detective and several of Joseph's colleagues began a quiet investigation. They hoped to find Joseph without the whole city knowing, but there was no sign of him or where he might have gone. The group finally brought the case to the police commissioner on September 3rd. As word spread about the disappearance, the NYPD began their manhunt, and it wasn't off to a promising start. It had been almost a month since Joseph was last seen. If the trail wasn't already cold, it was at least lukewarm. NYPD detectives tried to put together a timeline of the last day Joseph was seen on August 6th. They interviewed as many people as they could, including his coworkers, other attorneys, and members of the Cayuga Club.

16:38Senator Robert F. Wagner, Joseph's mentor, got back from vacation the same day the investigation started. As soon as he stepped off the steamship, he was surrounded by reporters who asked about his friend's case. Wagner downplayed how close they were. He might have suspected that Joseph's disappearance had something to do with his extramarital affairs and wanted to keep his name away from any scandals. He did confirm that he'd seen Joseph on August 1st, but said that was the last time they spoke. Meanwhile, William Klein, the entertainment attorney, who was one of the last people to see Joseph was a bit more helpful. He told detectives he saw Joseph twice over those last few days. The first was on August 4th. William said that he and Sally, the showgirl, went out to dinner that evening, also at Ha's Chop House. They ran into Joseph there that night too.

17:41That time Joseph was in a great mood. He told William he was heading back to Maine the next day to spend the rest of the summer with his wife. And yet, William said he saw Joseph again at the Chop House two days later. Clearly, he hadn't gone back to Maine. Not only that, but he didn't seem like himself. William told police how Joseph was hesitant to join them, only had one drink, and didn't speak much during the meal. So what had happened between August 4th and August 6th that made Joseph so upset and forced him to rethink his plans? Police suspected it might have to do with Joseph's private life in the long evenings he spent partying with mistresses. Maybe he'd run away with the showgirl. It turned out one of Joseph's trips that summer had been a social one.

18:41When he told Stella he had to leave Maine in July, it was because he'd gone to Atlantic City to party. But that still left his trip on August 3rd, on accounted for. Although it was just a theory at that point, the tabloids had a field day with his double life. When Joseph's colleagues were asked for comment, they acted like they were shocked by his escapades. Like Robert Wagner, these denials came from men who wanted to preserve their own reputations. Everybody knew about good time Joe, and nobody cared until it could affect their careers. Despite the intense public interest, the search stalled out within a week. Detectives were sent to Maine, upstate New York, Atlantic City, and Washington DC, even Canada. Anywhere the judge might have gone after August 6th, but nobody turned up anything concrete.

19:44On September 15th, the grand jury conducted an inquest into judge-creator's disappearance. They wound up calling on 95 witnesses. Many of these witnesses repeated what they told the police and reporters. Robert Wagner and others continued to downplay their relationships with Joseph. At the end of the inquest, after 975 pages of testimony, the question of what happened to Joseph Force-Creator was still a mystery. No official ruling was made. Stella, creator, refused to attend the proceedings. She never gave any reason why, but it's possible it had something to do with another grand jury hearing going on at the same time as her husband's. In early September, before his disappearance was public knowledge, a subpoena arrived on

20:46Judge Crater's desk from the Attorney General's office. Attorney General Charles Tuttle had been investigating any and all links to Tammany Hall corruption that summer. In Joseph Force-Creator was more than a person of interest in this case. He was a suspect in a conspiracy. Back in May of 1927, the mayor had appointed a man named George E. Wald as a magistrate for the city. Like Joseph, he was a member of the Cayuga Club, an important branch of Tammany Hall. And within days of the appointment, George E. Wald had withdrawn $10,000 from the bank and transferred the funds to the personal bank account of Tammany Hall leader Martin Healy. This was clear evidence of corruption. The amount $10,000 was equivalent to a year's salary for a magistrate, which confirmed

21:48that Tammany Hall was still in the business of selling government jobs for money. And despite Joseph's attempts to distance himself from the organization, he was the master of ceremonies at the party celebrating George E. Wald's new position. Not only that, but in May of 1930, three months before his disappearance, Joseph withdrew around $20,000 from his personal bank accounts. Attorney General Tuttle suspected this money was also going to Tammany Hall, a payout for the judicial appointment. But without a paper trail, the evidence was circumstantial. Still, it made people wonder. Had Joseph skipped town to avoid being implicated in Tuttle's investigation? The press thought so. For a while, the phrase, to pull a crater became common slang for disappearing in the same

22:49way that we use ghosted today. But Joseph wasn't the only one pulling a crater. In 1930, Sally Lou Rich, the showgirl who had dinner with Joseph on August 6th, also went missing. This happened right after she gave her testimony to the grand jury. Many papers speculated the two had run off together. Now, there wasn't any evidence to confirm it, but it was possible the answer to Joseph's fate lie between the sheets. While some showgirls got away from powerful men unharmed, they weren't all so lucky. Six months after Joseph's disappearance, a woman named Vivian Gordon was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Vivian told her clients she was a sex worker, but in reality, she was an informant. And around the same time that Tammany Hall was under investigation, Vivian agreed to testify

23:54about corruption in New York City politics, with records of payoffs and names to go with them. But then, on February 25th, 1931, she was found dead in a park. The rumor mill said that one of Joseph's jackets was found in her apartment, and that the men who orchestrated her murder were involved with Tammany Hall. If they had her silenced before she could testify, who used to say they hadn't done the same thing to Joseph? Seven years later, Stella Crater herself alluded to this possibility. For the first time, she told the world why her husband had been called back to the city on August 3rd, 1930. He'd gotten a call from Martin Healy, the head of Tammany Hall. He wanted Joseph to come back to New York immediately to discuss the total investigation.

24:58Democratic politics was at a turning point at the time. Not only was there an upcoming gubernatorial election that fall, but the presidential election was coming up after that in 1932. Tammany Hall was becoming a liability. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York at the time, hoped to nab a seat in the White House, and he was already distancing himself from the organization. If he wanted to gain the popular vote of the country, he couldn't be associated with dirty politics. In fact, as early as 1931, he was taking charge of corruption investigations himself, which meant that Tammany was in fight or flight mode. And there's a good chance that people like Joseph Forrest Crater were faced with a choice. Testify against their corrupt colleagues or go toe-to-toe with the Attorney General. If Joseph chose the first option, it's possible he paid with his life.

26:15Nine years after his sudden disappearance from New York City, Joseph Forrest Crater was declared legally dead in 1939. But the mystery of what happened to him was alive and well. People wondered, did he alope with a showgirl, did he flee to avoid implication and an anti-corruption investigation, was he murdered by gangsters or colleagues? At different points in time, each theory seemed possible, but as more evidence surfaced, some were ruled out. Take the story about Sally Lou Ritz, the showgirl who disappeared in late 1930. Back then, tabloids speculated that she and Joseph had run off together. But the truth was far less traumatic. Sally Lou, whose real name was Ritzie, had gone back to Ohio to take care of her sick father. After that, she decided to leave show business altogether.

27:18As New York papers speculated about her and the judge, she was living a modest life in the Midwest. But while Sally Lou Ritzie may not have known what happened to Joseph, it's possible another woman did. In the early 1950s, a retired brothel madam named Polly Adler wrote a memoir about her experiences in early 20th century New York City. According to a colleague of hers, an early draft of the manuscript contained an account of what happened to Joseph Force Crater. The story goes that Joseph suffered a fatal heart attack during a rendezvous at her brothel. Sally was worried that the death of a prominent politician under her roof would bring unwanted police attention. So she reached out to some underworld contacts who dumped Joseph's body in the Hudson River. It's compelling, but this account has several holes in it.

28:21For one thing, Joseph never had any documented heart issues over the years. People have also pointed out that this story came from second and third hand sources, not Polly herself. And the fact that Polly's publisher decided not to include the anecdote cast doubt on its reliability. But in 1954, a year after Polly's memoir was published, another former acquaintance of Joseph's came forward. Now that he was in his mid 80s and nearing the end of his life, he had a confession to make. He knew what really happened to Joseph Force Crater. The man in question was a retired butcher named Henry Krause. He said that back in 1930, he owned a vacation home in Bronxville, New York, which he frequently let the Cayuga Club use for parties. Remember, the last thing Joseph said to his legal assistant on August 6th was that he

29:23was going up Westchester way. Well, Bronxville is located in Westchester County. According to Krause, he saw Joseph, Tamini Hallboss, Martin Healy, and Tamini member George E. Wold, Barry $90,000 in cash and bonds in the backyard. Krause claimed this happened in early 1930 and that this money allegedly came from a crooked deal involving the municipal building, though he didn't say which municipal building. Krause went on to explain that the same week Joseph disappeared, Krause's brother-in-law was staying at the Bronxville House. Krause tried to call there several times, but no one answered, so Krause drove up that weekend. He arrived to find the house erect. There were liquor bottles everywhere, broken glass, and a large amount of blood in one of the rooms.

30:23Not only that, but the cash in the backyard had been dug up and taken. Not knowing what else to do, Krause cleaned up the mess and went back to the city. When he received a phone call, asking him to meet with Martin Healy. Krause claimed Healy said to deny ever having known Joseph and that if anyone asked to deny knowing anything about the money in the backyard too. The police dug into the story and were able to verify that Krause did know Joseph and owned a home in Bronxville. With that, they renewed the search. Although Joseph was legally dead, they still didn't have a body, and they had a feeling it might be buried at the house in Bronxville. But before they could make any progress, several other concerning details about Krause emerged. According to public records, Krause never had a brother-in-law.

31:28Not only that, but Krause was the one living at the house during Joseph's disappearance, which meant that if there was a potential murder that took place there, Krause was an accessory. Still, maybe that was why Krause made up the story about the brother-in-law and waited so long to come forward. He was worried about getting cut up in a murder investigation. There were a lot of question marks around the former butcher, and by 1959, the authorities had plenty of reason to doubt Krause's legitimacy as a witness. Even so, there was enough public interest that Life Magazine funded a limited excavation of the backyard. They didn't find Judge Crater's remains. That was the last lead for decades. Stella Crater died in 1969. At 70 years old, never knowing what happened to Joseph in place of answers she came up

32:30with her own ritual to honor him. Every August 6th, she went to a Greenwich Village bar, ordered two cocktails, and toasted her late husband. Good luck, Joe, wherever you are. A decade later, in 1979, the NYPD officially closed the missing person's case. It stayed that way for a quarter of a century, but then in 2005, the authorities got an unexpected new lead. A Queen's resident named Stella Faroucci Good had passed away at the age of 91. Her granddaughter had found a tin box among her belongings. It contained several newspaper clippings about the disappearance of Judge Crater, as well as a letter in a sealed envelope labeled, Do not Open Until My Death. Inside were the names of the men who allegedly killed Judge Crater.

33:36Mrs. Faroucci Good's husband Robert, a Parks Department supervisor who died in 1975. Frank Burns, the cab driver who picked Joseph Crater up. And Frank's brother Charles, who was a New York City police officer. According to the letter, Officer Burns also had connections to the infamous Mafia organization known as Murder Incorporated. The letter explained that after Joseph got into that cab on the night of August 6th, 1930, the driver took him to Coney Island. There, the three men killed Crater and buried him under the boardwalk near West 8th Street. The police quickly located the area in which Mrs. Faroucci Good claimed Joseph was buried, but when they arrived, they realized it had already been excavated. It was now the site of the New York Aquarium.

34:38Depending on who you ask, construction crews did find skeletal remains while breaking ground for the aquarium in the early 1950s. However, those are still unidentified. Matching dental records wouldn't work since Joseph wore dentures. Beyond that, DNA tests wouldn't be possible without any living descendants of the judge. He and Stella never had any kids. And as far as we can tell, his closest living relatives are his brother's grandchildren, which isn't a direct enough line for a definitive match. 75 years after it began, the case hit its final dead end. But all these years later, there's no shortage of theories. Maybe Joseph skipped town to escape a corruption investigation, but it's hard to believe that such an ambitious man would abandon ship when he was so close to achieving his career goals.

35:40He was just one election away from securing his seat on the judiciary. From there, the sky would have been the limit. If he was murdered, what are the circumstances and possible suspects? Was he killed by allies within Tammany Hall, who suspected him of turning on them? The rack at the house in Bronxville might indicate that he had had an argument with Martin Healy and the others who thought it was better to silence him than face his testimony. It's possible he never even made it to Bronxville if anything and Stella Fruci Good's letter is true. Maybe he's still under the aquarium, and while her letter didn't name the people who ordered Joseph's death, it does identify as possible killers. To me, that seems like the most likely option. Remember, Joseph socialized with gangsters.

36:41If he'd crossed the wrong person, he could have paid the ultimate price. The disappearance of Joseph Force Crater is one of the most unique in American history. For a man whose primary goal was to achieve true political influence, it's ironic that he created a lasting legacy for himself in his own absence. Thanks for listening to this episode of Crime House 24-7. Be sure to come back tomorrow for conspiracies and the unknown, where I dig into two of the strangest conspiracies and unexplained mysteries out there. And to enhance your listening experience, join Crime House Plus and get every episode of Crime House 24-7 completely ad-free. Along with early ad-free access to all crime house shows, plus monthly bonus episodes, to join go to crimehouseplus.com or if you listen on Apple podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 24-7 page.

37:50Some mysteries have haunted us for centuries. Others are unfolding right now. How does a modern airliner with 239 people on board disappear from the sky without a trace? This is History's greatest mysteries, a history channel original podcast brought to you by Rewind Studios. Adapted from the hit TV show, every episode dives into one of the world's greatest enigmas, the vanishings, the myths, the lost relics, and the unexplained. With contributions from top historians, authors, scientists, and researchers, we separate fact from folklore and evidence from rumor, from unsolved crimes to buried treasure, to the deaths and disappearances of famous figures. These are the stories we think we know, but dig beneath the legend and the truth gets far stranger. Follow History's greatest mysteries, available now wherever you listen to podcasts. If you're looking for another show to check out, listen to Murder True Crime Stories,

38:54another show from Crime House I think you'll love. Join Carter Roy as he digs into History's most notorious murders, like you've never heard before. Follow Murder True Crime Stories, available wherever you listen to podcasts.