Tammany Hall: Graft, murder and politics in old New York

July 1912. New York is sweltering under the longest heatwave since records began. Small-time gambler Herman Rosenthal is shot down in front of the Metropole Hotel on 43rd Street. Normally, the killing of an insignificant underworld figure like Herman would hardly raise an eyebrow. Such things happen every day. But this murder is different. Herman is already front page news. He'd done the unthinkable. He went squealing to the newspapers accusing a prominent police lieutenant of graft and extortion. The story is a sensation. Now Herman is dead and Lieutenant Charles Becker is in the frame. Everyone from the mayor on down has a vested interest in the case. For the reporter who broke the story it means career making by-lines. For the district attorney it means a stepping stone to the governor's office. For the police commissioner it means disaster and disgrace. For the fixers in Tammany Hall it means political embarrassment in an election year. For the gamblers and gangsters on the street it means a crackdown, a time to lay low, or get out of town. Before it's over the Rosenthal case will rock New York to its foundations and turn justice on its head.Read more