New York Streets of Blood

On June 11th 1920 notorious bridge player and American Success Story Joseph Bowne Elwell was found murdered in his home. He was found in a chair in his living room with his brains blown out. What makes this murder so mysterious was that the living room was locked from the inside. There was no signs of struggle, no gun, and no fingerprints. The case soon had no suspects as the police uncovered Elwell's life of philandering with women. In this episode we cover the murder of Joseph Bowne Elwell and play detective as I present theories as to who murdered him.

After a bomb was found on a ledge of the Con Ed Building in New York City in November 1940 a sixteen year man hunt would ensue for the Mad Bomber. After World War Two had ended Bombs started being placed around New York City. At first the bombs did not go off because they were poorly made. In the 1950 they started going off but only caused injuries. The final bomb would go off in Brooklyn Theater in 1956.Police were hard pressed to find a suspect. Con Ed had an endless list of disgruntled former employees and nothing helped the police narrow down a suspect. They turned to a phycologist James Brussels who came up with a phycological and physical profile of the bomber. Criminal Profiling is born.This helped them track down George Metesky the man who would be dubbed the Mad Bomber. One of America's first serial bombers. In this episode we explore Metesky's life and why he turned to bombing, The investigation, and how he was tracked down.

Charles Lucky Luciano was born in Italy but raised in New York City. He started as a lowly street gang member and rose to power to become the head of the American Mafia. In this episode we cover Luciano's rise from poor Italian immigrant to the Boss of Bosses. From beating up fellow school kids for money to being a hired gun and bootlegger. To eventually becoming the head of his own mafia family. Luciano would also become the head of the commission. The commission was the governing body of all mafia businesses nationwide and was primarily controlled by the five families of New York City. Listen to this episode as we deep dive into the life and crimes of Charles Lucky Luciano one of New York City's criminal legends.

On July 4th 1914 an explosion randomly went off at an unassuming apartment building on Lexington Avenue. 4 men were discovered dead and dozens more were injured. T he explosion would trigger an investigation into the attempted assassination of one of world's richest men. All of this would stem from one of the bloodiest and deadliest labor strikes in American History. Listen to the episode and the story of the would bomb plot the blew up in the face of its conspirators.

Elsie Siegel was the daughter of a prominent family in New York City. She would teach in Missionaries in lower Manhattan for Chinese people. One day her father received a telegram that she was in Washington D.C A Chinese man worried about his cousin who had not been seen in several days went to get the help of the police. The police officer opened the apartment belonging to the cousin. They would find a room completely empty with only a bed and a trunk. The trunk was bound with rope. When the policeman opened the trunk the found the naked body of a murdered young woman. That woman would be Elise Siegel and a nationwide manhunt would be underway for the suspected killer. The murder would be one of passion and the killer would ultimately get away, despite having his photo in every paper across the nation.

On Easter Sunday of 1937 a mentally deranged man named Robert Irwin would go to the home of the Gedeon family. He would go there seeking one of the daughters Ethel Gedeon, whom he was in love with. After not having the feelings reciprocated and finding out Ethel was married. Robert Irwin murdered the mother Mary Gedeon and the sister Veronica Gedeon. He then killed an innocent man who was renting a room at the boarding house. The murder became greatly sensationalized after lurid photos of Veronica Gedeon were found by the press. The young woman was a model in the big city and was often photographed in flimsy clad. A nationwide manhunt took place to find Robert Irwin but he would turning himself in after confessing to a Chicago newspaper. He was then turned into the New York Police Department. His trail would center on his mental health. This case prompted many reforms in New York States Mental Health Laws. In this episode we go into Robert Irwin's backstory and discuss the lasting effects of his murder.

Benjamin Nathan was a wealthy Jewish Businessman who was a prominent member of the New York Stock Exchange. He owned a home in the city on 23rd street. He also owned a summer home in Morristown, New Jersey. On won fateful night on July 28th 1870 Benjamin Nathan would be murdered in his home. He would be found in his room bludgeoned to death with blood everywhere. The safe was opened and the contents of the safe where thrown about the room. Four people were in the house during the time of the murder but did not hear a violent struggle. The murder drew massive public interest in New York City and the inquest into the murder was making headline. However no one was bought to just for the murder. In this episode we discuss the murder and investigation. I will also present my own theories to who killed Benjamin Nathan.

Political and Religious assassinations can create chaos among entire countries and groups of people of different beliefs and ideology. One such assassination was that of Armenian Archbishop Leon Tourian. In this episode we discuss the murder of the Armenian Catholic Archbishop Leon Tourian. On Christmas eve 1933 while holding a Christmas eve mass at an Armenian church in Washington Heights, 9 men surrounded and killed Archbishop Tourian. I will discuss the events that lead to attempts on the Archbishop's life. Describe how the murder went down based on eye witness testimony. I will also discuss the effects of his murder on the Armenian community in the United States.

In May of 2004 a young Julliard Student named Sara Fox would go for a run and never return. She was reported missing and for days the NYPD and volunteers searched the parks and asked everyone in her Inwood neighborhood if they had seen Sara.Days later volunteers would find a the naked decomposing corpse of Sara Fox. Evidence was limited as were leads. The NYPD struggled to look for suspects. Even when they had a suspect they had no evidence to even make an arrest. In this episode we discuss the disappearance of Sara. The effort took to find her. The investigation into her death. I will even lay out theories of what possibly happened to Sara.

30 years ago in March of 1990 a fire broke out in the Happy Land Night Club in the Bronx. The fire was started by Julio Gonzalez a Cuban immigrant who had a fight with his girlfriend of eight years. During the argument a bouncer kicked out Gonzalez.Gonzalez left and returned with a dollar of gasoline and set fire to the Night Club entrance. The fire trapped the patron in the club because it was blocking the only exit. When the FDNY and other first responders reached the club, they found 87 people dead inside. It was the largest mass murder in the US at the time. What the first responders walked into that night scarred their psyches for the rest of their lives.

In the 1910s emerging Italian gangs were planning to take over the rackets of New York City. You had the Morrello Family Mafia in East Harlem and the Camorra Gangs in Brooklyn. Ironically the two factions would starts as allies in ridding the New York Underworld of its biggest players. After assassinating the competition the Morello's did not settle who would over the rackets in Manhattan. This lead to war with the heads of each gang plotting to kill the other. Eventually the Camorra would gain the up[per hand.It would be short lived as a Camorra snitch would bring the bloody war to an end.

Nancy Spungen was a troubled girl from the Philadelphia suburbs who dropped out of college and moved to New York City. Upon her arrival she became a well known groupie in the city's emerging punk rock scene. She became a known prostitute and junkie among the crowd.In 1978 she met and feel in love with British Punk Rocker Sid Vicious. The two had a dysfunctional relationship which involved heavy drug use and violent altercations. After the Sex Pistols broke up Nancy and Sid set out to make it on their own and they moved to the Chelsea Hotel.On October 11th 1978 Nancy would be found stabbed to death in their residence. Sid would be the prime suspect. In this episode we examine the murder of Nancy Spungen.

Arguably New York City's most infamous serial killers was David Berkowitz a.k.a The Son Of Sam. Berkowitz would terrorize New York City during the 70s. A time where the city was already besieged by violent crime.In this episode we detail the traumatic childhood Berkowitz suffered and the mental psychoses he fell into. How he decided to give himself the name Son of Same. Of course we will detail each murder and how the infamous Son Of Sam was caught.

On February 11th 2004 the body of a young female was discovered in two laundry bags in an alley in Brooklyn just off Palmetto ST. The body was naked and had been dismembered. Investigators later identified the body as 17-year-old Bushwick resident Sharabia Thomas.Then in On February 18, 2005 a body was discovered in two trash bags in the tracks by the Nostrand Avenue train station in Brooklyn. This body unfortunately would not have its head. The body was found by a MTA transit worker. Through finger prints the body was identified as 19-year-old Rashawn Brazell. Unfortunately there are no specifics as to how Rashawn was killed.Both cases would go cold until the NYPD cold case unit ran the DNA evidence through the FBI Database over 10 years later. In this episode we discuss how the NYPD found the killer and how they were able to get a conviction for one of the murders.

Stanford White was an Architect whos work still grace the New York City Landscape. His most famous work was the second Madison Square Garden. He was also a womanizer and was no in some circles for his appetite for young women. He even had a dedicated apartment for such escapades.One woman he would lure to his den of debauchery was aspiring actress Evelyn Nesbit. Stanford white would sexually assault her and take her virginity. Something that would upset her future husband millionaire heir Harry Thaw. June 25, 1906 while stopping in New York Harry Thaw and Evelyn Nesbit would randomly come across White. At a show on the rooftop theater of Madison Square Garden Harry Thaw would murder Stanford White. The trail of the century the papers called it. The murder was so sensational that for the first time in American History the jury had to be sequestered. In this episode we explore the full story behind White's murder. All the details of the trail and the aftermath.

At 3 a.m. on April 10, 1836, Helen Jewett’s body was discovered in her bed. Her skull had three mortal gashes. Her body had been crisped by the fire still smoldering in her mattress. There were no signs of struggle.The investigation would unravel a salacious affair between Helen a 23 year old prostitute and her lover Richard Robinson a 19 year male from money. After being charged with Helen's murder Richard Robinson would be ultimately acquitted. An all white male jury returned a verdict of not guilty after 15 minutes of deliberation. The press was shocked despite eye witness and physical evidence clearly implicating him. The love affair between a boy from money and a prostitute captivated the city and had the local papers sell like hot cakes. In this episode we describe the dysfunctional love affair, the brutal murder, and the sham trial that resulted in a not guilty verdict.

One of America's oldest terror attacks remains unsolved to this day. There are no memorials to the victims of this attack anywhere in New York City. All the evidence that remains of this attack are the damaged buildings that still stand. In this episode we go over the 1920 bombing of Wall Street. An attack that stuck at the heart of America's financial center. We go through the days events and describe the horror the bombing left behind.

Politics is a dirty business, but on one fateful day in 2003 it turned deadly in the chambers of New York’s City Hall. July 24, 2003 Councilman James Davis would be shot and killed in the chambers of City Hall by political rival Othniel Askew. In this episode we take you through the days events and the reaction from the city leaders at the time.

The Mafia has a long history in New York City and some of the earliest mafioso's can be traced to the late 1800s. One of the most influential mob bosses in the early formation of organized crime is Giuseppe Morello. He would start the first scillian american gang and the Morello family would eventually become the Genovese family. In this episode we discuss his life of crime and his murder.

Dog Day Afternoon is a great film starring Al Pacino. However the film is based on a real life bank robbery that took place in Brooklyn. On one hot August Day in 1972 John Wojtowicz and accomplices entered a Chase Bank in Gravesend Brooklyn. What ensued would be one of the craziest bank robbery stories to ever happen in New York City history. The events that transpired would be the inspiration for an academy award winning film. In this episode we discuss the real Dog Day Afternoon Robbery

One of the Secret Services largest an most expensive hunts for a counterfeiter spanned a decade and took place in New York City. The secret Service exhausted all their resources to hunt down a man counterfeiting one dollar bills. The man was able to avoid capture for ten years and so the Secret Service dub the man Mr. 880 after his case file.One day with a lucky break and the held of some young kids. The Secret Service found Mr. 880, it was 70 year old immigrant Emerich Juettner. Listen to the episode to hear how he pulled off his crimes and how he inspired a film about his life that would win an Academy award.

The headline Headless Body in Topless bar would make the New York Post famous. However the details of the crime are not talked about. On this episode we discuss the crime behind the headline. Just as a warning this crime is very graphic and discuss the use of drugs and sexual assault. Learn about a fateful night that would create the famous headline Headless body in Topless Bar.

On November 4th 1928 Organized Crime Lord Arnold Rothstein was summoned to the Park Central Hotel. Under mysterious circumstances the notorious gambler and loan shark was found shot near the hotel service entrance. Two days later Rothstein would die in the in the hospital. The NYPD waited three weeks after his passing to open a murder investigation. The bigger mystery of his personal records that detailed all his criminal dealings were gone. Rothstein was know for paying off dirty cops and politicians, but the records that proved it were gone. On this episode we discuss the life and murder of one of Americas Legends in crime Arnold Rothstein

On December 8th 1980 Beloved Singer John Lennon would be murder outside his home in New York City by Mark Chapman. Join us as we discuss the beloved singer and activist last hours and the after math of his death.

When you look up Martha M Place her place in history is that she was the first woman executed by the electric chair.In this episode we discuss the brutal crime that she committed to be sentenced to death.We also discuss the very details of her execution.Listen Now

In 1841 a beautiful young woman body would be pulled out of the Hudson river in Hoboken New Jersey. The woman would be identified as Mary Rogers a beautiful young working woman of New York City. She was a minor celebrity from her days working in a cigar shop that was frequented by New York's Elite. Her death would be sensationalized in the press and the country would buy papers an an unprecedented rated. Everyone wanted to know who killed Mary Rogers.Her death even inspired famed writer Edgar Allen Poe to investigate and write his investigation as a story. The Murder of Mary Roget was based on this real life murder. Join Us as we walk through The Murder of Mary Rogers The Beautiful Cigar Girl and try to figure out who killed her.

Can murder ever be perfect?One murder in the book of the New York Police Department has been declared that for almost a hundred years. The Perfect Murder of FinkOn the night of March 9, 1929 at around 10:30 pm police would find the corpse of Isidor Fink locked in his apartment. With no murder weapon, no forced entry, and no signs of a robbery,Witnesses could not even give the police much to go on. With no way to begin the investigation the New York Police commissioner would claim the case to be unsolvable.

Judges. Judges in our criminal justice system and judicial branch are considered to be respected figures in society. What happens when one of them mysteriously disappears with no explanation?One New York Supreme Court Justice would vanish from society with no explanation never to be found again. Joseph Force Carter would disappear on August 6th 1930 and earned the title the missingest man in New York. Join us as we chronicle his last days and try to figure out what happened to the judge.

1935 New York City. The city and the nation are gripped by the Great Depression. Unemployment is at all time highsAnd in the March of 1935 the nation's largest city would see another riot in what would become a long list of riots over the centuries. New York City as well as the rest of the Unites States struggled and continue to struggle with Racism and police brutality As we continue to see protest against racism and police brutality. The US and New York City have seen a long list of riots stemming from that issue. However one of the country’s and the city’s first riots against police brutality would oddly occur with no police brutality being committed.This is the story of the 1935 Harlem Riot

On the day of December 12th 1910 New York Socialite Dorothy Arnold would leave her home at 108 East 79th Street to go buy a dress. She would friend, buy some chocolates. Take a walk through Central Park and never be seen again. Her family would waste no effort to find her. The police would turn every stone. She would never be found and her fate would never be truly known.

In the late night of March 20th 1831 two men would break into the City Bank of New York with homemade keys. They would steal $245,000 in bank notes. Equivalent to $52 million in today's money. They would be soon caught by one of New York's Top Law Enforcement officials.

December 22nd 1984 four young black men came down from the Bronx on a downtown number 2 train. They would approach an unassuming white man. Later shots would ring out and leave the young men critically injured. The gunman would jump the track and run to New England. The gunman would later be identified as Bernhard Goetz. Was he a criminal, or was he a hero for the average New Yorker sick of crime. The crime would become one of the most polarizing cases in the city's history.

On October 27th Jimmy Hope would lead a robbery of the Manhattan Savings Institute Robbery. A career criminal would lead a robbery with an estimated take of 3.5 million in bonds. The bonds were never recovered even after his death.

On Decmber 11th 1978 Jimmy the Gent Burke would mastermind the largest and most infamous heist in history the Lufthansa Heist. The robbers would break into the Lufthansa cargo building and steal an estimated 5 million dollars in unmarked cash and jewelry. Sadly the members of the crew would not get to live off their riches as Jimmy Burke would have them systematically killed. Listen to the full story.

On January 2nd 1972 eight men led by professional burglars Robert Bobby Comfort and Samuel Nalo would rob the luxurious Pierre Hotel in New York City. They would steal millions in cash jewelry and other goods. The robbery would become a world record. They did all this without killing or harming a single person.

On September 29th 2016 Julio Nivelo took advantage of a armored truck guards distraction and ran off with a 90 pound bucket of gold. The total worth of the gold was $1.6 million dollars. He evaded authorities until he made it to his home country of Ecuador. He now lives with his mom and none of the money he stole.

O January 10th 2006 police were called to assist a little girl in need of medical attention in Brooklyn NY. They would arrive to find Nixzmary Brown dead after her step father had hit her heard against the bathtub. The medical examiner would later reveal the child suffered extreme abuse and torture. Nixzmary Brown would die at the age of 7. In her home investigators found a chair that she would be tied to and beaten. A litter box with her feces and cat litter in her stomach. Her school reported the abuse to NYC ACS and they investigated the claims the month before. Both the stepfather Cesar Rodriguez and mother Nixzalis Santiago would be sent to prison for the murder of their daughter.

On April 24th 1891 56 year old prostitute Carrie Brown was found murdered and mutilated in her hotel room at the East River Hotel. The crime was very similar to the Ripper murders that terrorized London's Whitechapel District in the 1880s. The papers quickly assume Jack the Ripper has made in to New York. Under immense pressure the NYPD arrest a suspect. Is he Jack the Ripper? Did he Kill Carrie Brown? Listen and find out.