04x07 - The Man in America

[bunniefuu]

Tonight, a missing person's case

that nearly derailed

a presidential campaign.

Imagine the repercussions.

It might bring down

the Democrats

and FDR with them.

It dominates mainstream media

for over five decades.

The keys to the lab are pulling

a Judge Crater on us.

Probably the equivalent

of a Jimmy Hoffa

or even Amelia Earhart.

Now we examine the top theories

behind the so-called

Missingest Man in America.

Crater knows

where all the bodies are buried,

and sometimes

you just know too much.

He's never tried

to shake down a heartless thug

like Legs Diamond.

He's in over his head.

And Tammany Hall bigwigs

silence him

so he cannot testify.

Will a deathbed confession

finally solve the mystery?

When I opened the box,

it was in a sealed envelope,

it said "In Reference to

Judge Crater's disappearance."

What really happened

to New York City's notorious

Judge Joseph Crater?

At 9:15 p.m.,

41-year-old

State Supreme Court Justice

Joseph Force Crater

steps out of a chophouse

on West 45th Street.

He's been dining

with a couple of friends

and says that he's running late

to a Broadway show.

So, he leaves the restaurant,

hops into a cab, heads west.

From that moment,

he's never seen

or heard from again.

Now, people go missing

all the time,

but when it's Judge Crater,

it's a big deal.

Because, at this point,

Joe Crater has just hit

the political primetime,

as it were.

He's a big up-and-comer

who was recently

appointed to the New York

State Supreme Court

by then-Governor

of New York State,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

That appointment is

only for the rest

of a vacated term,

and by the time

of his disappearance,

Crater is actually

gearing up

for an election of his own.

If he wins re-election

in November,

the sky's the limit.

It's an election

that's crucial for Judge Crater

and for FDR.

And this is great,

because the opportunity

to ride the coattails of FDR

meant that you would have

unlimited potential.

A lot of people believe that,

once FDR is president,

Crater will be a nominee

to the United States

Supreme Court.

And he's kind of

a man-about-town in New York.

He knows all the cops,

he knows all the politicians.

He knows the Broadway producers,

the dancers.

He is a widely-known

celebrity in the city,

and at the time,

if you're a New York celebrity,

you're a nationwide celebrity.

The disappearance

of Crater is huge.

It's probably the equivalent

of a Jimmy Hoffa

or even Amelia Earhart.

Now, Crater's wife Stella is

going through his rolodex

and calling up

every political bigwig

that she can get her hands on

to find out if any of them know

what happened to him.

It's even possible

that FDR might've gotten a call.

But Stella's pleas aren't

taken seriously at first.

Crater is kind of a ladies' man,

and it's not uncommon for him

to sometimes be gone

for several days at a time

with other women.

He's nicknamed

"Good Time Joe."

He's gone off on benders

and disappeared for a while

in the past, where they've had

to cover for him before.

It was an open secret that

he had a few women on the side,

so one of the first things

that people think

seems to be

the most obvious one.

Maybe

he just took off

with one of his mistresses.

Leading up to the disappearance,

on August 2nd,

Crater and his wife Stella

go to their vacation home

in Maine

to stay there till the 25th

until court comes back

in session.

But a day later, on August 3rd,

Crater receives a phone call

and then tells his wife Stella

that he has to head back to,

quote, straighten

some fellows out.

Now, she assumes

it's just some business

or a legal issue,

but he promises

to be back by her birthday

on August 9th.

Stella's birthday comes

and goes on the 9th,

and Crater is a no-show,

he's nowhere to be found,

and she's a little worried

because she's not used

to her husband breaking

personal promises to her.

And Stella's calling around

to all these powerful men

to try to figure out

what happened to her husband,

and powerful men will do

what powerful men normally do.

They're gonna cover up

for their friend.

Now, his friends tell her,

don't worry about him,

I'm sure he's fine,

he's probably just super-busy

with work

or some other commitments.

They honestly don't

really know where he is,

but they're just assuming

that he's off

with one of his girlfriends,

and they would gladly

cover for him,

because they would assume that

he would do the same for them

when they're cheating

on their wives.

The upcoming election

is also a factor.

Now, Crater's friends are

all involved in politics,

in one way or another,

so they're either working

on their own campaigns,

or they're hoping

that Crater wins his election

in three months' time

so that they can

just ride his coattails.

Crater's a key part

of the ticket

that the Democrats hope

will get FDR re-elected

as governor, as long

as there are no scandals.

And it's apparent

if he wins there,

he will be a shoo-in

for the nomination

for the presidency

of the United States.

In 1932, any Democrat's going

to b*at Herbert Hoover.

But this Crater business could

sink the whole thing.

So, better to keep it quiet.

They hope Joe will

turn up soon enough.

But Stella's not convinced

and starts investigating

on her own.

Mrs. Crater sends

her chauffeur,

Fred Kahler, back to New York

to look for the judge.

What he finds is unopened mail,

and he can't get

into the apartment.

Furthermore, he tries

to talk to a bunch

of Crater's colleagues,

but they discourage him

from looking too hard,

and this information

drives Stella crazy.

Why does no one want to find

where her husband is?

What is going on?

When Judge Crater

doesn't show up for work

on August 25th,

an astonishing 19 days

after he was last seen

in public,

it's clear something is wrong.

At this point,

even Joe's buddies

have to accept

that he's missing.

It's been 19 days.

Crater was obsessed

with the law.

He loved it,

so if he didn't show up

on August the 25th,

there's got to be

a very good reason.

So now a real

investigation begins.

But, because

we're dealing with a lot

of high profile politicians,

the NYPD wants

to keep this investigation

a bit more

on the hush-hush side.

So they quietly

start interviewing witnesses.

The police speak

to William Klein,

who dined with Crater

the night he went missing.

William Klein is an attorney

for the Shubert family,

the most powerful theater empire

in the entire country

at the time,

and Klein connects

important people, like Crater,

to Shubert's slate of showgirls

in exchange

for professional favors.

They actually ask Klein

if he thinks that

Crater may have disappeared with

one of his girlfriends.

And Klein says,

"Actually, yeah."

According to Klein,

Crater is taken

with one dancer in particular

He'd been out with Elaine

as many times as he could

in those few weeks

before his disappearance.

She's described

as an attractive blonde

with a Southern accent,

and he bought her

lots of gifts and jewelry.

William Klein has watched

Joe Crater go out

with several showgirls,

but Elaine is

clearly special to him.

She's got a power over him,

and it may be that

she may have seduced him

into leaving his entire life

behind for her.

Detectives try

to track down Elaine Dawn.

But when they arrive

at her apartment,

she's nowhere to be found.

So, now Crater's gone,

and his main squeeze is gone.

Something is really wrong here.

In the meantime,

the Crater family hires

a private investigator,

and he speaks

to Crater's assistant,

Joseph Mara.

Mara was at work with Crater

the day before he disappeared.

And Mara stated that it was

a very strange and unusual day.

Crater is in his chamber

all morning,

rifling through files,

putting documents in boxes,

and even destroying

some documents.

He has Mara cash

two personal checks for him

totaling over $5,000,

which is about $90,000

in today's money,

which Crater just casually

puts in his coat pocket.

Then he and Mara haul

about eight boxes

and briefcases

and put them into a taxi cab

to take them to Crater's

New York City apartment.

According to Mara,

it's really clear that

his boss is preparing

something big.

So Mara's looking

at Crater like,

what's going on with this guy?

Something is clearly wrong here.

Within a few days,

an anonymous source leaks

Crater's story to the press,

and the philandering

judge becomes

front page news nationwide.

You know how a scandalous story,

like the O.J. Simpson trial

or Jeffrey Epstein

gets so big that it touches

almost every aspect

of pop culture?

This is the same thing

that happens with Judge Crater.

Even in 1930,

the top comedians at the time

are dropping jokes about Crater

in their acts.

Radio hosts are

making fun of him.

Groucho Marx famously quipped,

"Judge Crater,

call your office."

- Oh, hi, Mel.

- Sally.

Well, Judge Crater returns.

The phrase "pulling a Crater"

became synonymous

with anyone who runs off

and disappears.

This is a nightmare for anyone

that's in Crater's orbit,

but the media is loving this.

Okay, you've got

a sex-obsessed judge,

you've got

the city's top showgirls,

you've got some

of the top politicians

all entangled in this.

Imagine the repercussions

if this thing scandalizes FDR.

So it's up to the police

to kind of quell

this media firestorm.

On September 4th,

Police Commissioner

Edward Mulrooney

holds a press conference.

Commissioner Mulrooney

comes out and says, look,

clearly the guy

planned this, okay?

Look, he's taken files, right?

He's cashed checks.

He decided to voluntarily

leave on his own, okay?

This is not a police matter,

because there's no crime here

other than dereliction of duty.

It's clear that he just ran off

with a showgirl.

There's nothing to be

terribly seriously investigated.

Everyone can move along.

Nothing to see here.

But before long,

Mulrooney's theory falls apart.

It turns out

Judge Crater doesn't run off

with Elaine Dawn at all,

she's actually found

at a local hospital.

She has an illness

described as

rheumatism brought on

by an acute case of gonorrhea.

Now, she does confirm

that she and Crater

had seen each other,

but she insists

that it was only casual.

The last time she had seen him

was on August 4th,

two days before

his disappearance,

at a place called Club Abbey.

So, now investigators are

almost back at square one

in their hunt to determine

where Judge Crater is

and who he might've

run off with,

but I say "almost" because

they're not quite done

with Elaine Dawn just yet.

In August, 1930,

famed politician Joseph Crater

enters a New York City taxi cab

and vanishes into thin air.

Police initially suspect

he's run away

with his new mistress,

Broadway dancer Elaine Dawn.

"Good Time Joe" has run off

with women before,

but that's

not the case this time.

Now, Elaine is still

in New York,

hospitalized with an illness.

But police suspect that

she still might know more

than she's actually letting on.

At the time Crater disappears,

some of the showgirls

in New York

and Elaine may be one

are at the whim

of the men in their lives.

They're passed around

among the city's political

and business elite.

Apart from Judge Crater,

Elaine Dawn has

what she describes

as a boyfriend

some would say pimp.

While Elaine's in the hospital,

this guy's threatening

producers of the show,

claiming lack of income

while she's sick.

The police entertain the idea

that he and Elaine

are extortionists.

Detectives dig deeper

into Elaine and her boyfriend.

They ask around

to the nightclubs they frequent.

They ask around

to the Broadway circle

that Elaine is a part of.

And everybody says

that Elaine and her boyfriend

are completely harmless.

She may have dated Crater

a few times,

but it's highly unlikely

that she's involved

in any sort

of rackets or schemes.

But the work by police

isn't entirely wasted.

While they're digging around

in these nightclubs,

they actually hear about

another person of interest.

The barflies tell police

that there's another dancer

in Crater's life.

And around that same time,

they receive an anonymous letter

directing them

to the home of June Brice.

The letter states that Brice is

an intimate friend

of Judge Crater's.

She may also have been

one of the last people

to see him alive.

Several folks claim

that June has plans with Crater

after his dinner

at the chophouse.

According to them,

despite making up a story

about heading

to a Broadway show,

Crater is actually heading

to June's midtown apartment

the night he disappears.

Based on information

from Crater's assistant,

detectives think this visit may

be more than personal.

Remember, Joseph Mara says

that Crater was cashing checks

that's equivalent

to about $90,000

on the day of his disappearance.

Mara also tells detectives that,

when he and Crater

finish packing up the boxes,

he has Mara take the boxes

down to a taxi,

while Crater is waiting

at the top of a stairwell,

hiding behind some columns.

When Mara signals

that the taxi is ready,

Crater runs down the stairs,

glances around fearfully to see

if anybody is watching him,

and then immediately jumps

into the cab.

Crater is known

as kind of a happy guy.

He's charming,

he's witty, he's upbeat.

But on this day,

he's very sullen,

he's very quiet,

he's very pensive.

This is not really

the behavior of a man

who's ready to escape

into his dream life.

Detectives know that Crater is

preparing for something

on the day that he disappears.

But, if the money

isn't for him and for his lover

to enjoy on vacation,

what is it for?

Maybe Crater isn't running away

with a woman

but from one.

He definitely has a lot to lose.

And he definitely has

his fair share of scandals

that somebody could

blackmail him about.

Police suspect that

June Brice may be involved

in an extortion plot

against Judge Crater.

But they're unable

to locate her.

Brice is nowhere to be found,

which is suspicious

in and of itself.

But an investigator

does find a woman

who was June's roommate

in August of 1930

and corroborates the story

that Crater did indeed

go to June's apartment

that night.

The roommate says that

June's been carrying

a dreadful secret

about Crater, and her life's

actually been

threatened over it.

According to the roommate,

like many of these

showgirls, Brice has

a boyfriend who is

kind of a scary guy,

and he also visits the apartment

the night that Crater is there.

She states that June's boyfriend

threatened Crater

with exposure

of their relationship

unless he paid them $5,000.

On August 6th,

Crater arrived with the money,

but the boyfriend ups it

to $50,000.

Crater balks;

and the boyfriend

works him over,

before ultimately k*lling him.

Now here's the thing,

the roommate didn't

actually see this happen.

She heard some of it

before leaving

the apartment that night

and was later told by June

the rest of the story.

So, it's hearsay for now.

Brice's mother also provides

some secondhand details.

In a newspaper article,

June's mother stated that

Crater and June were acquainted,

and that Crater assisted June

in getting parts

in Broadway plays.

June also told her mother

that a man she was,

quote, "supposed to marry"

was k*lled in an accident.

Could this have been Crater?

And, if so, where is the body?

Thanks to this fresh evidence,

June Brice is called by

the Manhattan District Attorney

to testify

at a grand jury hearing

in late 1930.

From the fall of 1930,

the D.A. keeps

an open grand jury

on the Crater disappearance.

Any and all witnesses are

subpoenaed to testify

as they attempt to build a case

for what happened.

Various people

associated with Crater

have already appeared,

but at the time

authorities still have

no idea what happened.

So June Brice is

their first chance

to potentially cr*ck the case.

They feel strongly about

this robbery-homicide angle

and are eager to prove it.

But June's gone.

She has fled her apartment

with an unknown man.

June bounces from hotel

to hotel for weeks,

constantly changing her name.

By the end of September,

she's admitted

to a neurological hospital

with a nervous breakdown.

But to be clear,

nobody knows this at the time.

So, to the authorities,

she's just missing.

It takes the Crater family's

private investigator

several years to finally

find her in the mental hospital.

By this time, Brice is

in no condition to testify.

The P.I. states

that she's barely coherent

and really can't

provide any details.

When asked about Crater,

she responds,

"We must not remember

the things that make us mad."

The problem is

that June herself lacks

the mental capacity to verify

any of this information

or fill in the blanks.

Investigators have hearsay,

they have speculation,

but that's it.

Based on her mental illness,

police decline to investigate

June Brice any further.

June Brice's testimony

probably never

would have held up in court.

But the extortion theory is

the one that seems to be

the most accepted today.

It certainly fits

with his demeanor

and his actions on August 6th.

He knows he's in trouble,

he's preparing for it,

but he's unable to escape it.

The problem with this theory is

that the famous Judge Crater

has a ton of people

in his orbit.

If he's gonna get k*lled,

is it really gonna be

the June Brice or Elaine Dawn

types that mastermind it?

When you start to uncover

the other folks

he's hanging out with,

you soon realize several of them

are much more likely

to commit a m*rder.

And one already has.

In early 1930,

Judge Joseph Crater is

well-respected nationwide

as a New Deal progressive

with strong ties

to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

But after his disappearance

on August 6th,

a seedy dark side

of his life is revealed.

Crater cheats on his wife

with multiple showgirls,

and he has an active social life

in New York's

speakeasy nightclubs.

Keep in mind, this is during

the height of Prohibition.

But the city's elite

have no problem

finding alcohol to imbibe

in many of the city's

illegal bars.

And Crater's favorite is

a place called Club Abbey.

Club Abbey is

a Jazz Age burlesque club

that's new

on the New York scene.

Abbey features

a drag-queen emcee

named Jean Malin,

comedians like Jimmy Durante,

and in between,

there's plenty of dancing

by Broadway showgirls.

It's a brand-new place

on 54th Street,

and it's where

everybody wants to be.

Club Abbey gets its alcohol

from one of New York's

most notorious

Prohibition-era gangsters,

Jack "Legs" Diamond.

Legs Diamond starts

his life as a gangster

when he becomes a bodyguard

for Arnold Rothstein.

Now in case you don't know,

Rothstein is most famous

for fixing

the 1919 World Series.

And when he is k*lled in 1928,

Legs Diamond takes over

most of his bootlegging

operations in Manhattan.

His nickname "Legs" has

two meanings.

One is that he's a good dancer.

It's also a play on words

on the amount of times

he's been able to outrun

the police or his enemies.

He's already survived

two attempts on his life.

And in 1929, he sh**t and kills

two men in his club,

but isn't charged.

Legs operates

out of a few speakeasies,

but by the summer of 1930,

he's spending almost

every night at Club Abbey.

And he's running a pretty nasty

scheme on the side there.

A scheme that may have ensnared

Judge Crater

and gotten him k*lled.

At Club Abbey, Legs Diamond has

a cohort named Vivian Gordon.

And she used to be a showgirl,

and now she's turned

into a professional prost*tute.

Vivian Gordon is a swindler,

who gets even more aggressive

after two years in prison.

She's known to be

hellbent on revenge

against cops and judges,

the men who she feels

took everything from her.

And at Club Abbey,

with the help of Legs Diamond,

she can get that revenge.

Vivian and Legs set up

a routine where she meets

clients at the Abbey

and then brings them back

to her house,

where Legs is waiting.

Together, they shake

their victims down for

everything they can get.

They run this scheme

all the time,

and Judge Joe Crater

is right in their wheelhouse.

Crater's fellow

Supreme Court Justice,

Louis Valente,

looks further into this.

Judge Valente hires

investigators

to track Crater's movements

on August the 6th.

His investigators find

evidence that

Crater was

at Club Abbey that night.

Valente believes that

this is critical evidence,

and he takes it to the press

to run with it.

According to this theory,

Judge Crater

first meets Vivian Gordon

at the Abbey

on the night of August 4th.

They head back to her place

for a night of pleasure,

and afterwards,

Legs Diamond shows up

to squeeze Crater

for some extra cash.

But it's not just cash

that he's after.

Crater's famous,

and everybody knows

who he is,

including Legs Diamond.

There's a case coming up

on the docket

that Legs needs

to have dismissed

in order to protect

his business interests.

So he threatens Crater's career

if he doesn't cooperate.

Crater promises

to look into the case.

So the next day, on August 5th,

Crater has lunch

with another judge

from the Supreme Court.

He's trying to feel out the odds

of getting rid of the case

without attracting attention,

but the odds are not good.

Crater realizes

that he can't deliver

what Diamond is asking for.

Now he has to figure out

how he's gonna break the news

to him, and it's not

a very easy task.

At this point,

Legs Diamond has k*lled

at least two people

that we know of.

According to Crater's assistant,

the judge collected

more than money on August 6th.

He also took several case files

home from his office.

These files may pertain

to Diamond's case.

And he knows he can't

get the case tossed

because of all the poking around

being done by investigators.

So, he brings these papers home

as a sort of insurance policy.

He knows he might need it.

That night,

Crater returns to Club Abbey,

and he tells

Legs and Vivian that

there's no way he can get

this case dismissed.

There's just too much

of a spotlight on it.

But as a consolation prize,

here's $5,000

to smooth things over.

Legs won't take no

for an answer, okay?

He demands Crater to try again,

but Crater himself is

a bigshot with a big ego,

and he fights back.

Crater tells Diamond

he has all these files

that ties Diamond

to criminal behavior.

He has these documents

at a secure location,

and if he doesn't

take this payoff,

he's going to make

these documents public.

Judge Crater's worked

in politics

for many years at this point.

But he's only ever really

worked with other politicians

or small-time crooks.

He's never tried to shake down

a heartless thug

like Legs Diamond.

He's in over his head.

The New York press runs

with this theory,

suggesting that both Legs

and Vivian m*rder the judge

and make sure that

the body is never found.

Despite the tabloids'

enthusiasm, it's a good story,

but there's not

a lot of proof to it.

That is, until February of 1931,

when Vivian Gordon is found dead

in a Bronx park.

Vivian's m*rder*d the day

after she offers to testify

against the corrupt officials

that have ruined her life.

She's willing to risk her life

to bring them down.

When she's found dead,

an anti-corruption sentiment

rises to a boiling point

in New York City.

Her m*rder is the biggest story

since Crater disappeared.

Governor Roosevelt requests

the records himself

and demands a thorough

police investigation.

When police search

Gordon's apartment,

they find a treasure trove

of diaries and documents

connecting her to the city's

most powerful figures.

Vivian kept lists of her

blackmail schemes with Diamond.

And there on paper,

clear as day,

Judge Crater is written down

as one of her clients.

The diaries don't say

anything about his death,

but the press doesn't care.

The press is

eager to make connections

between the two most famous

news stories of the time.

When Crater's name is found

in Vivian's diary,

the press explodes

with all kinds of speculation.

The press also loves

a good mafia story.

I mean, who doesn't, right?

And there are so many legends

surrounding Legs Diamond,

it's very hard

to tell fact from fiction.

But it turns out,

there was no evidence

that he is involved in any cases

to be heard

by the Supreme Court.

In fact, when he disappears,

Crater only has one trivial case

pending on his docket.

Crater's name is

in Vivian's diary.

She may very well have

blackmailed him.

She was extorting

a lot of people.

But just because

she's extorting somebody

doesn't mean she m*rder*d them.

When Judge Joseph Crater

disappears in August, 1930,

New York Governor

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is

in the thick of campaigning

for re-election.

As November approaches,

a rival politician

makes a shocking accusation.

If true, it sheds

a whole new light

on what happened

to the missing judge.

During Judge Crater's time

in New York politics,

the Democrats work closely

with an organization

that's known as Tammany Hall.

Tammany Hall dominates

both New York City

and state politics

for more than a century.

Its name becomes synonymous

with corruption

under infamous leaders

like Boss Tweed.

They do plenty of good things

for the people of New York,

but, ultimately, they are

a corrupt organization.

But if you're a Democrat,

working with Tammany

is how you win elections.

By the late 1920s,

Tammany has woven its way

into every level

of New York politics.

And in 1929,

Judge Crater becomes president

of a key Tammany branch,

the Cuyuga Club.

A lot of New York voters are

tired of the blatant corruption,

so the 1930 elections are

a pivotal point.

For once, the Republicans have

a good sh*t of winning

a number of top seats

from the Democrats,

especially the one for governor.

FDR's main rival is

Republican prosecutor

Charles Tuttle.

Tuttle is on a crusade

to expose judicial corruption.

Prior to Crater's disappearance,

his whole office of attorneys

and investigators are

looking into evidence

of judicial corruption

rumored to be running rampant

among Tammany Hall's

main players.

And if Tuttle can make the case,

it might bring down

the Democrats

and FDR with them.

Judge Crater is

potentially a key witness.

When Tuttle looks

into the Cayuga Club,

he learns something interesting.

Tuttle finds evidence that

the Cayuga Club is actually

selling government jobs.

If you're connected

to Tammany Hall,

they can help you get appointed

or elected

to a political position.

In return, you pay them

one year's salary.

Tuttle has proof

of one of these payments:

a $10,000 bribe that was paid

to Tammany Hall boss

Martin Healy

by attorney George Ewald

for his position

as a city magistrate.

Tuttle's evidence certainly

implicates Judge Crater, too.

As President of the Cayuga Club,

Crater has to be aware

of what's going on.

I mean, he even serves as

master of ceremonies

at George Ewald's

celebration dinner

when he becomes magistrate.

The corruption might

go even further.

There is also

circumstantial evidence

that Judge Crater may have

purchased his own position.

When Crater is appointed

to the New York Supreme Court,

it is one of the highest-paid

positions in the state.

He is paid a salary of $22,000.

It's the same as the governor's

and a lot less work.

It's the most coveted seat

in New York politics,

and it speaks to the ability

of Joe Crater to manipulate

and maneuver himself

into that position.

Tuttle wants to know

how he got this job.

One month after his appointment,

in May of 1930,

Crater withdraws $22,000

from various bank accounts.

Which is exactly

one year's salary.

Tuttle has no direct proof

that this money went

to pay Tammany Hall,

but while he's out

publicly campaigning

against the Democrats,

he strongly suggests

that it did.

And this scandal could have

even gotten Judge Crater k*lled.

Tuttle's belief is

that Crater is at the heart

of the Tammany Hall

kickback scheme.

And when Tuttle's investigation

closes in on Crater,

and they're going

to call Crater as a witness,

Tammany Hall bigwigs

silence him

so he cannot testify.

How high does this go?

Is FDR aware?

Is FDR involved?

Obviously, this could go

very bad for the Democrats

if some massive

"Trial of the Century"

is opened.

Although Crater's disappearance

is a thorny issue

for Tammany Hall,

it's far better

that he goes this way

than testifies against them.

Tuttle can't prove this theory.

But Crater's own wife offers

some support.

There's a big mystery about

who calls Crater on August 3rd,

which causes him to travel

back to New York City.

At the time, his wife Stella

does not reveal anything useful.

But, in 1937,

Stella tells a magazine

his purpose of the visit was

to advise Tammany boss

Martin Healy

about the Tuttle investigation.

Stella is sure

that the Tammany case is

behind her husband's

disappearance.

She's not the only one.

In 1954, an acquaintance

of Crater's,

Henry Krauss,

makes an extraordinary claim.

Krauss calls

an old detective friend of his

and says that he has

something he wants

to get off his chest

before he dies.

He thinks he knows

what happened to Judge Crater.

Back in the '30s,

Krauss has a vacation home,

which he frequently let

Crater use for parties.

Many of those parties were

co-hosted by Martin Healy.

Krauss claimed that,

in early 1930,

the two men buried

$90,000 in the backyard.

But in mid-August,

after Crater's disappearance,

Krauss visits his vacation home

to find the place in shambles.

There are broken glasses

strewn about,

there are

liquor bottles everywhere,

and when he walks into

the kitchen, he says, quote,

"There's nothing there

but blood."

And the box in the backyard has

been dug up and taken.

A week later, Martin Healy

sets up a meeting with Krauss.

Healy warns him that there

might be some trouble coming.

He tells Krauss that he needs

to deny knowing Crater,

and that he should deny that

they were ever at his house.

Krauss goes along

with his demands.

And when the detective starts

peppering him with questions,

Krauss just keeps repeating

that Crater is dead

and he thinks that

he is buried at the house.

The police were able to verify

part of Krauss's story.

Their investigation showed

that Crater had written

at least two checks to Krauss.

And Krauss did indeed have

a Westchester home.

Krauss's 1954 revelations

revive public interest

in the case.

Life Magazine funds

an excavation

of the home's backyard.

Unfortunately, they don't

find Crater's remains.

And that's about as far as

the authorities can take things.

Some evidence may still bear out

that this theory is correct,

but until

that evidence surfaces,

it's impossible to prove.

When Stella Crater loses

her husband Judge Joseph Crater,

on August 6th, 1930,

she frantically calls

his colleagues looking for him.

But what she neglects to do

raises some eyebrows.

Stella Crater doesn't

officially report

her husband missing

to the police

for four weeks.

And you could

maybe chalk that up

to everyone hoping that

he's just out having an affair.

But four weeks is

a pretty long time.

And after she does

finally file the report

and police start investigating,

she doesn't seem

too keen in helping them.

And this, combined with

some other suspicious behavior,

has many theorists wondering,

what if Stella is involved

in her husband's disappearance?

This is basic police work 101.

When someone goes missing,

you look at the spouse.

Stella is doing nothing to help

avoid any kind of suspicion.

For the early part

of the investigation,

Stella remains up in Maine.

But the D.A. vows

to bring her down to testify

in front of the grand jury.

Mrs. Crater refuses,

quite steadfastly, to cooperate

with the investigation at all.

The D.A. sends her

a list of questions instead.

The way she answers

the questions are vague,

ambiguous,

and maybe in some ways a lie.

For instance, she stated

that she didn't know her husband

was missing until August 25th.

But there's evidence

showing that,

for weeks prior,

that she was calling

many people, wanting to learn

of his whereabouts.

At first,

Stella's not a suspect.

They just think she might

have more information.

But after she lies to the D.A.,

all bets are off.

That puts her right in

the investigators' crosshairs.

Police already have

one motive in mind,

and that's Crater's

many affairs.

Most people assume

that Stella must have

had some idea

that Crater wasn't faithful.

But neighbors report

a screaming match

between the couple a few days

before he disappears.

Maybe there was

finally some last straw

that Stella couldn't handle.

Suspicious, police continue

to track Stella's whereabouts.

Stella stays in Maine

for months,

specifically to avoid

having to testify

in front of the grand jury.

After hearing

from nearly a hundred witnesses,

the grand jury releases

a 1,000-page report

that essentially says

they have no idea what happened.

A week after

the grand jury is dismissed,

on January 18th, 1931,

Stella finally returns

to the city

and announces that she's made

an incredible discovery.

Stella states

that she opened a drawer

in her bedroom and found

four manila envelopes

left for her by her husband.

There's $6,690 in cash.

There's Crater's will,

leaving everything to Stella,

and four life

insurance policies.

There's a handwritten list

of people who owe Crater money

and how to collect that money.

And one of the debts is

$2.3 million.

The envelopes also contain

a supposed letter

from Crater to his wife.

The handwriting is hasty,

it's messy, you know?

Like he's moving quickly

and he's under a lot of stress.

He writes a few times that

all of this is confidential,

and she's not to tell anyone

about these envelopes.

It's signed, "Love, Joe."

Then, right below that,

is a little note.

Now, the words aren't

completely clear,

they either say "am very weary"

or "am very sorry."

But either way,

it seems Crater is

saying goodbye

and is apologizing

for what he's about to do.

This all paints a very

convenient picture for Stella.

It looks like Crater is trying

to take care of his wife,

before either disappearing

or maybe committing su1c1de.

Stella's discovery is met

with skepticism.

There have been, at this point,

no fewer than

four different searches

of the apartment

by police officers,

and no one had found

any of these things.

There's no way the police

missed those envelopes.

But Stella wants them

to believe that they did.

She makes excuses why

the police may have missed it.

She stated that

the drawer was sticky,

or maybe the key was

stuck in the lock.

Meanwhile, a detective recites

from memory all the contents

that was in that dresser.

He gets every single item right,

except for those envelopes.

In 1931, police look

into the phone records

from Crater's

New York apartment.

And after his disappearance,

there shouldn't be any.

I mean, Stella's been up

in Maine the whole time, right?

Wrong.

She made a one-day trip

on August 25th

she didn't notify the police.

Could this have been

when she was

planting special evidence?

There are two very classic

motives for m*rder:

love money.

And it seems

that Stella had both

going on for her

at the same time.

But if she k*lled her husband,

or more than likely had

someone else do it

for a share of the money,

it seems that

she got away with it.

Police have a lot of suspicion,

but their evidence

is circumstantial.

It's pretty tenuous.

For years,

Stella refuses to speak

to reporters or detectives.

She lays low until 1939,

when she sues

to have her husband

declared legally dead,

in order to collect

his life insurance.

Stella hires

a private investigator

to prove that Crater has

been m*rder*d.

She tries to collect

on a double indemnity policy

that would be payable

if he'd been m*rder*d.

She's half successful

and half not.

She is appointed executor,

he is declared dead

the double indemnity claim

is denied.

She settles with the insurance

company, and she gets

about two-thirds

of the value of the policy.

She also finally consents

to an interview with the press.

She makes it clear

that she believes

Crater was m*rder*d

by Tammany Hall

because of his involvement

in the George Ewald

kickback scheme.

I mean, what did you expect

a confession?

In 1979,

after nearly five decades

of active pursuit,

the NYPD finally closes

the infamous Judge Crater case.

The case still warrants

the occasional

late-night joke on television

or a 60th or 70th anniversary

retrospective in the papers.

But largely, this most famous

of missing persons cases

falls out of the public eye.

That is, until 2005

when it comes roaring back.

In April, 2005,

a Queens, New York woman

named Barbara O'Brien

discovers a letter

among the possessions of her

recently deceased grandmother.

a letter which may

close the case

on a 75-year-old mystery.

My grandmother unfortunately

passed away,

and I was the executor

of her will.

And I went into her papers

to get her will out,

and I came across a metal box.

And I opened the box,

and that's when I found

a letter in a sealed envelope,

And on the front

of the envelope, it said,

"In reference of

Judge Crater's disappearance."

In the letter,

she said that her husband,

which was my grandfather,

Robert Good,

told her about

the missing judge.

According to the letter,

Judge Crater was

m*rder*d by a police officer.

Robert had a lot of connections.

He knew cops, he knew crooks.

A lot of them hung out

in his backyard

and went drinking with him.

He was neighbors

with the Burns Brothers.

These guys all have

kind of a little relationship.

Growing up, I do remember

the Burns living behind us.

Frank was a taxicab driver,

and his brother Charles Burns

was a police officer.

And they used

to come over a lot.

One night, Frank comes over,

he tells my grandfather

what happened

on August 6th, 1930.

He told my grandfather

that he picks up

the judge at the steakhouse,

and he drives him

to Coney Island,

when he met up with his brother.

The judge gets out of the car,

and they wound up k*lling him

and burying him

underneath the boardwalk pilings

at West 8th Street.

I mean, wow.

Right? It's been a lifetime

of no answers in this case.

And now, here's

a direct confession

to Crater's m*rder

it even mentions

the location of a body.

Unfortunately,

when the letter is

revealed to detectives in 2005,

the potential burial sits

directly under

the New York Aquarium.

Apparently, when they build

the aquarium in 1956,

there are reports

of some bodies being found

during construction.

It is New York after all.

But those bodies are

reburied in unmarked graves,

and we don't know

where they are.

Could Crater be one of them?

If we can't find the body,

let's try to corroborate

the story.

Do the Burns brothers

really exist,

and are they connected

to Crater?

It turns out that Charles Burns

is a real New York City cop,

and on August 6th of 1930,

he is assigned

to the Coney Island precinct.

There is also a record

of a 32-year-old Frank Burns

who drives a cab at that time.

At least the characters

check out.

But why would these two guys

want to k*ll Crater?

Barbara O'Brien believes

she knows the answer.

I think that it was mob-related

and went all the way back

to Legs Diamond.

Because she had mentioned

in her letter,

Legs Diamond put the hit out

on Judge Crater.

She believes that Legs Diamond

tried to bribe Crater

to have a case tossed,

but Diamond was unsuccessful.

After that, Legs knows that,

if Crater lives,

he may be sent to prison,

so he hires Charles Burns

to take care of Crater.

There's a lot

of speculation that

Charles Burns was

on the mob's payroll.

In addition to this case,

he's conspicuously

on the scene of another mob hit.

On November 12, 1941,

a mafia hitman turned-informant

named Abe Reles is

under police protection

at the Half Moon Hotel

in Coney Island.

That day,

he's supposed to testify

at a high-profile trial

against the mob.

He does not testify because,

even though he was

in police protective custody,

he flies

out of a window and dies.

According to reports

that come out in 2005,

one of Reles's police bodyguards

is Charles Burns.

Charles Burns was

actually the one

guarding his room the night that

he supposedly jumped

to his death.

Well, other theories think

that he was pushed to his death.

Back then, there was

a lot of corruption.

Whether it was with the police,

with the mob.

There was just

a lot of corruption

going on back then.

This might also explain the

kind of lackluster investigation

into Crater's

disappearance overall,

because the police

may have known

that their own men

were involved.

There was a ton of collusion

between cops and the mob

in New York in 1930, so

it's not outside

the realm of possibility.

One thing that

one needs to remember

in this entire investigation

is that the police are

more part of the problem

than they are

part of the solution.

So, taking

the police investigation

as having been conducted

in good faith,

I think, misreads

the historical record.

Everyone thinks

they have a theory

on what happened to him,

everybody thinks

they have the real story.

With her grandmother's letter

serving as new evidence,

Barbara hopes to finally

resolve the Crater case.

I'm hoping that

they reopen this case.

My grandmother passed away,

and she left that envelope.

Of course, that was

her way of telling me

she wanted something

done with it, she didn't want

to take it

to her grave with her.

So, I would just like

to try and

follow through with it,

and that's what I've been doing.

And I'm hoping

to continue doing it

until, at least,

we have a little bit

more answers.

Barbara O'Brien plans

to keep digging

into Judge Joseph Crater's

disappearance.

But without a body or any other

physical evidence of a crime,

the case remains unsolved.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."