Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind

by Richard J. Tofel

The sudden disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater nearly 75 years ago led to perhaps the most famous missing persons case of the twentieth century. Crater, a justice of New York's state Supreme Court, vanished amid political scandal. Within days, questions arose about Judge Crater's finances and his liaisons with numerous women. A public frenzy about what happened to Crater provided impetus for scrutiny of New York's Tammany Hall political machine―and ultimately for the vanishing of Tammany Hall as well. The cast of characters in this book―the first-ever serious look at the Crater case―includes Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor who named Crater to the bench; Senator Robert Wagner, Crater's mentor, but also the leader with the most to lose from having Crater found; Al Smith, Tammany's ebbing leader and failed presidential candidate; Jimmy Walker, the rogue Mayor of New York City and the darling of Tammany Hall; and Fiorello La Guardia, the crusading reformer who finally came to power on the back of the scandals. Richard J. Tofel's Vanishing Point is a revealing look at New York as the Jazz Age gave way to the Depression, and at one of the most intriguing stories in the annals of urban America.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Historical

236 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2004

Reviews

[David Allen Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

In one of the greatest and still-unsolved mysteries in American political history, on August 6th 1930, New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater, who had recently been appointed by then Governor Franklin Roosevelt, simply disappeared. Despite an investigation by the New York City Police Department that would continue for 50 years, to this day no trace of him has ever been found.

Despite being a part of the New York City Democratic Party Tammany Hall political machine, Crater had a reputation for being competent and rather unremarkable. Disclosures after he vanished revealed him to have many female friends and that he had been involved as a lawyer in several questionable transactions. But for a Tammany Hall politician none of these matters was anything remarkable at all.

Having taken his wife on a summer vacation, Justice Crater returned to the city saying he would be back in a few days, nothing unusual for him. Once in the city however, unusually, he had a staffer cash two large checks and he removed some papers from his office. But then he went to a play and dinner on August 6th and after dinner no one ever saw him again. There was no sign of violence, no one claimed to see anything unusual. Crater simply vanished without a trace.

It took several days before his friends and family realized he was truly missing but when his apartment was searched nothing strange was found. Mysteriously, his panicked wife refused to come home for some time. Weeks later and after several other searches she claimed to have found a note from the Justice in a little-used drawyer. In the note the Justice provided a list of people who owed him money. Some said a scrawl of virtually unreadable writing added "I'm sorry."

Crater's wife lived for some time on the money he had left behind but she ended up not living well. Into this story the author skillfully weaves the story of New York City politics of the early 1930s-- the pending collapse of the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine; the rise and fall of legendary NYC Mayor "Gentleman" Jimmy Walker and the rise of insurgent socialist mayor Fioro La Guardia and the pending rise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Readers will learn a great deal about the NYC politics of the time.

But what of Justice Crater? All things considered, really, only two explanations are plausible. The first is that Justice Crater may have died in the company of one of his female friends who was able to arrange for the body to be removed and hidden away. This is what the author seems to believe. But I think the other explanation, which the author simply fails to explore, is that Justice Crater killed himself in a way that made his body unfindable or friends had it hidden away to save his reputation and his wife's ability to collect on life insurance.

To me the Justice's actions to cash large checks, take papers and leave envelopes behind for his wife to eventually find containing most of the cash and a list of debts he said he was owed along with the possible "I'm sorry" combined with a pending investigation and scandal make it seem like he was a candidate for suicide. It might also explain why in the days after his disappearance other NYC judges stated they knew Crater was dead. It was like society knew something that could not be openly spoken about and to me a 1930 suicide of a high ranking machine judge who may have been under investigation and who had been appointed by the man likely to be the next president of the United States sure fits the possibility. I'm not sure why the author fails to discuss this possibility and to me it is a glaring omissions from an otherwise fine book. I really think that if Crater had been murdered or died with a paramour, over more than 50 years someone at some point would have talked or made a deathbed confession.

At this point we will likely never know what truly happened to Justice Joseph Force Crater but this book at least keeps the story of the mystery alive.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanishing Point is one of only two full-length books about the infamous 1930 disappearance of Joseph Force Crater, the other book being Crater's wife's memoir, The Empty Robe. Studying both books as a unit will reveal much about Crater's disappearance; Mrs. Crater's is more personal, but Tofel's has an objectivity the memoir necessarily lacks. One gets the impression that Tofel really wanted to write about Tammany Hall politics and was just using the Crater mystery as an excuse to do so, as much of his book concerns the life and crimes of various other New York politicians who were only tangentially connected to Crater. But you can easily skip over those parts if they don't interest you.

Tofel's conclusion is that Crater died of natural causes while patronizing a well-known house of prostitution, and his body was disposed of to prevent the scandal that would have resulted. I suppose there is much evidence supporting this theory as there is for any of the many others—that is, none. But no matter what supposition you subscribe to, Crater's disappearance remains an engaging mystery.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's just not a lot of information out there about the disappearance of Judge Crater, which makes it so intriguing. The author does a fine job of presenting what evidence there is, and dealing with conflicting information. The investigation seems to have been mishandled, perhaps intentionally, and no one has ever found out what really happened to Crater. Lots of interesting information about Tammany Hall and how NYC government functioned during that time period of the 20's and 30's.

[Paul Stansfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one covers one of the most famous unsolved disappearances in U.S. history, of Judge Crater in 1930. Some readers have complained that this book is more about the political situation in New York rather than about the disappearance itself. Which is true, but on the other hand, if it were only about the disappearance it would be about 75 pages long! Anyway, I found the book to be fairly interesting overall. Probably as detailed as is possible, for such a mysterious case.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

BORRRRRRRRINGGGGGGGG!

Having watched a History Channel program on Judge Joseph Crater's unsolved disappearance, I thought it might make an interesting read. Boy, did I pick the wrong book. The book was interesting during the middle third when author was discussing Judge Crater. The rest was on New York City corrupt government during the 1920s-30's.

Unless you have to I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tofel is up front about not having much new information to offer about the great mystery of Judge Crater's disappearance. He fills in most of the book with NY political history, which in itself made for a good read.

Two stars because I was uncomfortable with how he sprung his theory on the disappearance at the very end of the book with scant supporting evidence. Fun to read though, and I remember my mother warning me, "Don't go out tonight without identification or you'll disappear without a trace like Judge Crater."

[Donie Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good introduction to the crooked politics of NY City & Tammany Hall, its affect on Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt & the implication that Crater's disappearance might be connected to the buying of judgeships. Possibility that Crater's womanizing with call girls/prostitutes resulted in a heart attack & a madam had his body deep-sixed.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read...a real-life mystery set in pre-WWII New York City.

[Abdo1981 abdo]

english languge

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on a part of history I knew nothing about. Although the book is as much about the corruption of Tammany Hall as it is about the disappearance of Crater.