- My paternal grandfather, Philip Ziegler, AKA: Crookedneck, Sam Ziegler, Ziggie, Philip Abrams, Philip Seigel, Philip Zeigler.
- On November 6, 1916 (four years before my father was born), my grandfather and a crony named Finkel were arrested by Officer O’Toole for Burglary 3rd. On January 19, 1917, they were sentenced by Judge Rosalsky to an Indeterminate term in the New York Penitentiary. Coincidentally, the judge was director of the Hawthorne School, where Finkel had gone: “Now you have thrown away the opportunity of your life, Finkel.” My Jewish grandfather put down his religion as Catholic.
- On April 23, 1918 (two years before my father was born), my grandfather was arrested in The Bronx by Officers Armstrong and Brunchner for Burglary. On May 5, he received a suspended sentence by Judge Gibbs in Bronx County Court.
- On November 1, 1919 (one year before my father was born), my grandfather was arrested in the 33rd Precinct, Manhattan, by Officer Gamble, for Assault and Robbery. On November 3, Magistrate Douras discharged him.
- On September 17, 1922 (my father was almost two-years-old), Officer Lamour arrested him for burglary in the 39th Precinct. The next day, Magistrate Oberwager discharged him. The following day, Officer Lamour arrested him again for burglary in the 39th Precinct. Three days later, Magistrate Oberwager again discharged him.
- On December 6, 1922 (my father was two-years-old), my grandfather was arrested for Grand Larceny. On December 9, the charges were dismissed.
- On December 9, 1923 (my father was three-years-old), my grandfather was arrested in The Bronx for Burglary. The charges were dismissed.
- On August 4, 1924 (two months before my father’s fourth birthday), using the name Philip Seigel, my grandfather was arrested by Officer Reilly from the Safe and Loft Squad in Manhattan for Attempted Robbery in the 1st degree. On November 21, 1924 (a month after my father’s fourth birthday), he was sentenced to four and a half years at Sing Sing by Judge Collins of the Court of General Sessions.
- Sometimes my grandmother took my father along to visit his father “in college.”
- On August 12, 1928 (two months before my father’s eighth birthday), spelling his last name Zeigler, my grandfather was arrested in Saratoga Springs as a Suspicious Person. Three days later, the charges were dismissed.
- On December 6, 1928 (two months after my father’s eighth birthday), again spelling his last name Zeigler, my grandfather was arrested in Manhattan by Officers Casey, McGuire, Braunworth, Hastings, and Levine from the Safe and Loft Squad for Burglary and possession of Burglars Tools. On February 26, 1929, he plea-bargained to Judge Mancuso of the Court of General Sessions and was sentenced to an Indeterminate term at a Penitentiary.
- My grandfather’s burglars tools included: “four jimmies, two braces, sixteen bits, one hammer, one saw, one screwdriver, one flashlight, one wrench, and two punches.”
- On May 24, 1932 (my father was eleven), using the name Philip Abrams, my grandfather was arrested for Robbery; the charge was dismissed.
- On April 18, 1933 (my father was 12), spelling his last name Zeigler, my grandfather was arrested in Toronto for attempted shopbreaking. The charge was withdrawn.
- On April 27, 1933, spelling his last name Zeigler, he was arrested in Brooklyn for Assault and Robbery by Officer McNally from 62nd Squad; on May 2, Magistrate Haubert dismissed the charges.
- On September 20, 1933 (three weeks before my father’s 13th birthday), spelling his last name Zeigler, Officer Dolan, et al, arrested my grandfather for Homicide and Robbery in connection with a bank heist gone wrong. My grandfather was associated with a gang headed by Leonard Scarnici; the gang was also suspected in the O’Connell kidnapping in Albany and questioned in the Lindbergh kidnapping. Eight days later, Magistrate Ford dismissed the charges against my grandfather for lack of evidence (though it may be that he turned on Scarnici).
Leonard Scarnici was executed on June 27, 1935. His last words—as he chewed gum and puffed on a cigarette—were: “All I want to say is I want to send a message to the people in Albany, people who double-crossed me up there. I still say I’m a better man than they are. I thank you, warden.”
- On November 24, 1935 (six weeks after my father’s fifteenth birthday), my grandfather was arrested by Officers Cassidy, Casey, Maguire, and Reynolds from the Safe and Loft Squad in Manhattan for Burglary at the Jewelers Exchange in the Bowery. It was called “the most ambitious jewel plot in metropolitan history”—two million Depression dollars.
- In newspaper articles my grandfather and his cronies were described as “looking considerably the worse for wear” “after a thorough interrogation which included the most severe ‘mussing up’ given to prisoners at headquarters for years.” Police described “the mob as one of the most dangerous aggregations of all-around crime experts in the east.”
- According to an editorial in The Nation, this wasn’t a case of some rogue cops letting loose: “In compliance with Commissioner Valentine’s recent order to “muss up” all tough and vicious thieves and gangsters, the New York police on November 23 administered an unmerciful beating to six safe burglars arrested while attempting to break into the upper floors of the Jewelers’ Exchange at 82 Bowery.” The New York Times reported that “the six attempted to fight off their captors in the dark, and when taken to police headquarters soon after showed welts and bruises from the efforts of the detectives in subduing them.”
- On January 14, 1936, nineteen years after first appearing before Judge Rosalsky, my grandfather, in General Sessions, was sentenced by Rosalsky to five years in Sing Sing. (My grandfather is third from the left—with the handkerchief—in the courtroom photo on top.)
- There’s more, but I don’t have access to subsequent records.
- Around 1951 (I was about four), my grandfather showed up by surprise and drove me to Coney Island. My father was furious because his father was such a bad driver. The following year, my grandfather was killed in a car wreck in Waycross, Georgia.
I hope this will be a book of 500 pages
Posted by: Mitch Sisskind | September 17, 2017 at 09:29 PM