Captain’s Blog

THE BLOTTER: YOU SPILL, WE BLOT

The St. Albans Bank Heist

Handkerchiefs were knotted over their faces. One carried a Thompson sub-machine gun, another an automatic shotgun. The third gripped a revolver in each hand. Thus they pushed through the inner door.

Former ADA Robbed in Office

Five armed men held up Charles Froessel, former First Assistant District Attorney of Queens County, in his law office on the seventh floor of a building at 161-19 Jamaica Avenue,

Teen Kills 12-Year Old Boy

Twelve year old Willie Bender had been tied with a rope and stabbed in the heart by his 15-year old “friend.”

This crime of passion and stupidity paved the way for a generation of detective novels, film noir and insurance claims. As the biggest case in Henry Flattery’s 12 years on the force, the “dumbell murder ” had dividends that paid in spades.

MORE BIG CASES

THE BEAT

21 Wife Deserters Seized in Florida

Mar 12, 1949

Every February, Detectives from the Queens District Attorney’s Abandonment Squad, takes a trip to sunny Florida to end the “vacations” of men who have abandoned their wives and children in the borough of Queens.

Edmond C. Rowan Accidentally Shoots Self

Jan 27, 1947

Dr. Thomas Draper, the family physician, called Henry Flattery immediately after the accident was discovered. 6 decades later, Dr. Draper's son, also Dr. Thomas Draper, became friends with Henry Flattery's granddaughter in Newtown, Connecticut. Read more about one of...

Alarm Out for Saboteurs

Jun 7, 1942

Three men in a late model sedan are believed to be responsible for cutting six cables on telephone poles in Queens. Several of the sabotaged cables are in the vicinity of war plants.