How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

New York: Police Department City of New York, Detective Division, August 8, 1939. Circular No. 11. Printed broadside; 14 1/2 x 7 3/4 in. (368 x 197 mm). Wanted poster for Jewish gangster Lepke Buchalter, headed "$25,000 Reward Dead or Alive", with printed facsimile of his fingerprints, a description of appearance, and his mugshot. Creasing from old folds, scattered light stains along same. In mat.

Rare NYPD wanted poster for Lepke Buchalter, head of the infamous Mafia hit squad, Murder, Inc.

For most of the 1930s, Buchalter (1897-1944) operated an independent hit squad for various crime families across the country, referred to in later years as "Murder, Inc." In 1936, he ordered the murder of a Brooklyn candy store owner named Joseph Rosen, whom he suspected of working with New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey. While no convictions were made at the time, Buchalter was soon charged with violating federal anti-trust laws in one of his businesses, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Buchalter became a fugitive for almost two years and by mid-July 1939, Dewey requested a $25,000 reward for his capture, due to a recent string of gang-related murders. On August 25, 1939, Buchalter surrendered to FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover, the result of a surrender deal supposedly facilitated by the help of radio broadcaster Walter Winchell. Buchalter was indicted on charges of narcotics trafficking and extortion, but while imprisoned, he was arraigned and indicted by New York authorities for the murders of Joseph Rosen and three others. He and two accomplices were sentenced to death, and Buchalter was executed by electric chair on March 4, 1944, at Sing Sing Prison.