The Crime Castle: Murder and Mayhem in New England

On May 2, 1935, the Boston Traveler published an article comparing the career of two professionals: the first, Rhode Island-born James Howard McGrath, represented moral certitude and industry, a model citizen by all appearances. Extolling the virtues of this industrious youth, the article described McGrath’s brief, though impressive, career. Named his state’s district attorney nearly a year earlier, the “small, trim, quiet-spoken” young man was fast becoming a political phenomenon.[1] Elected city solicitor of ethnically diverse Central Falls in 1931, McGrath, according to the Traveler, had proven himself an able attorney and politician.

The second man, Carl Emil Rettich, was an archetypal felon “with the best of his life behind him.” Unlike McGrath, Rettich had been drawn into a web of intrigue and murder in November 1914 when, at seventeen he overheard a plot to kill New York wholesale poultry dealer Barnet Baff. Operating in the seamy “Jewish underworld,” which dominated “some 80 percent of the live poultry moved to market” in the New York metropolitan area, Rettich earned the reputation as a crafty, though reliable, accomplice after refusing to reveal the identity of Baff’s murderers.[2]

Rettich was further implicated in the 1924 slaying of New Jersey bootlegger Frank D’Agostino. He also amassed a fortune in the trade of illegal liquor during Prohibition. Despite the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933, in an effort to avoid excise taxes, Rettich continued to manufacture and sell homegrown spirits, and, with accomplices George and David Press, commanded a fleet of five trucks and four automobiles which transported liquor throughout the Northeast.[3]

At the same time, the elusive Rettich, who captured the imagination of Rhode Islanders, contributed greatly, albeit unwittingly, to the success of young J. Howard McGrath.

The two crossed paths when McGrath began a relentless pursuit of Carl Rettich and his accomplices following the January 1935 robbery of a United States mail truck in Fall River, Massachusetts, and the subsequent murder of low-level gang member Andino Merola that April. The case linked the New England and New York crime syndicates through the activities of New Jersey-born Rettich, whose foray into liquor trafficking in 1933 led him to Rhode Island to partner with infamous bootlegger, Danny “the Gentleman Farmer” Walsh. Rettich was suspected of orchestrating Walsh’s kidnapping and murder in February 1933, but was never convicted, and Walsh’s body was never found.[4]

McGrath was one of two Federal prosecutors. The other was Francis Ford, who later earned fame as prosecutor in the United States vs. Dr. Spock at the height of Vietnam War. McGrath and Ford determined to prove that Carl Joseph Rettich carefully planned and executed the Fall River heist in January, that he ordered the murder of Andino Merola the following April, and that he was responsible for the slaying of Danny Walsh. They also suspected him of other unsolved murders, namely, the torture and killing of “Legs” Carella, found the previous year in an alley in Foxboro, Massachusetts, and the killings of Ray Hacking and John Capara, also discovered in 1934.[5]

Historians have attributed the rise in criminal activity in the 1920s and 1930s to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on January 16, 1919. (Rhode Island and Connecticut were the only states not to adopt the amendment.) When it came into effect a year later, the transportation and sale of alcohol was in most cases illegal. In a speech a year after this event, District Attorney McGrath blamed “the basis of the wake of crime and racketeering” on “the 18^th Amendment and its accompanying Prohibition laws of the several states.”[6]

Disregard for the law ran rampant in New England in the decade following the passage of Prohibition. Numerous accessible inlets on the shores of Narragansett Bay offered bootleggers a natural setting to smuggle whiskey, rum and other spirits into Rhode Island from British and other non-U.S. supply ships lying offshore. For criminals like Carl Rettich, already fleeing authorities in New York, the move to Rhode Island was an ideal alternative to the fast-paced, competitive Mid-Atlantic. In the smallest state of the union, Rettich could more easily become an undisputed underworld leader.

While rum and prostitution rings flourished during the Depression, Rhode Island developed an unsavory reputation that lured some nefarious characters within its borders. As McGrath observed in his 1936 address, “for years the criminal element took refuge in the fact that the criminal machinery of the Federal government was ineffective to cope with them.”[7] Following the lead of other officials, McGrath demanded a more centralized, transparent machinery to confront society’s indifference to law enforcement.

Less than a year after President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed McGrath as United States District Attorney on January 24, 1934, and only one month before the famous Brink’s mail truck robbery, Attorney General Homer Cummings held an important conference on “Crime in America.” The conference was held at Memorial Continental Hall in Washington, D.C. Former Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley set forth the “purpose” of the gathering: to establish “effective cooperation in the sphere of crime prevention and criminal law enforcement among the federal, state and local governments, as well as the effective assistance of all agencies, official and otherwise, which can participate in a sustained national movement to deal with the crime menace.”[8]

The Crime Conference raised pressing issues. The first was how to streamline and centralize prosecution of criminal activity; the second was articulated by Secretary of State Henry Stimson who warned that crime must be “strip[ped] … of its false glamour;” and, finally, that law enforcement agents must be prepared for the increasing sophistication of crime.[9]

No case emphasized these points better than the prosecution of Carl Rettich and his gang. Bringing together local, state, and federal officials, the case illustrated the successful merger of agencies at each level of the federal infrastructure. President Roosevelt reiterated these concerns, and in turn set forth the raison d’etre for the gathering: to centralize the present haphazard organization of criminal prosecution and to educate the public on the need for a more streamlined system of administering the law.[10]

In calling the meeting, Cummings laid the groundwork for the expansion of federal control to counter rampant criminal activity that had overtaken the country. The Rettich case was one of many examples of such lawlessness. Nonetheless, this case stands apart from others in that it precipitated the transformation of Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts from a decentralized, burgeoning crime hub, to a center of law enforcement.

The resultant federal crime package proposed by President Roosevelt included laws to grant the federal government authority: to capture fugitives from justice, to levy excise taxes on machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and rifles, and, most importantly, to amend the so-called Lindbergh Law [The Federal Kidnapping Act of 1933], which made the transport of individuals across state lines a federal crime. This new bill gave the Federal Bureau of Investigation jurisdiction to intervene in kidnapping cases following a one-week waiting period. The penalty for such a crime was death.[11]

McGrath proved a fitting representative of the new legal officer prototype: proactive, energetic, and relentless in the pursuit of justice as outlined in the Cummings conference. McGrath’s appointment also illustrated the merger of machine politics and criminal prosecution enhancing the reputation of the political party in power—in this case, the Democratic Party. For McGrath, good politicking, and pandering to high profile superiors, would be his ticket to national prominence.

As United States District Attorney, McGrath set as his goal the successful closure of several unsolved criminal cases, including, but not limited to the disappearance of Danny Walsh, Rhode Island’s “Gentleman Bootlegger,” in February 1933. Walsh, one of the notorious “Big Seven,” of the “bootleg syndicate” whose members included Johnny Torrio, head of the Chicago mob territory, had fought for control of the entire Northeast.[12] In an assertion to the Press on April 27, following Massachusetts and Rhode Island law enforcement officials’ search of the Rettich’s home in Warwick, Rhode Island—which became known as “The Crime Castle— McGrath speculated,

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that [the basement of the Crime Castle] was the place that Danny Walsh was killed … He was an intimate friend of Carl Rettich … Rettich was one of the last men to have been seen with him … [13]

McGrath was not alone in his rush to judgment. The area’s daily newspapers, namely, the Boston Globe, the Boston Traveler, The Boston Herald, The New York Times, and The Providence Journal issued hypotheses from other law enforcement agents linking Rettich or one of his gang to the unsolved murders.[14]

Nonetheless, McGrath saw in this case a potential gateway to fame. His successful prosecution of Rettich set him up to rise to national office. Federal and state officials, including Rhode Island Governor, Democrat Theodore Francis Green and his protégé McGrath, reasoned that McGrath’s cooperation with state and local authorities and with the newly-established Federal Bureau of Investigation in prosecuting Rettich and his gang would enhance his reputation and that of his party.

In 1934, Carl Rettich, under the pseudonym Charles Ryerson, moved to a twenty-room estate in Warwick, Rhode Island, formerly the summer residence of Providence Opera House Proprietor Felix Wendelschaefer. Purchased by Rettich and business partner George Press in 1928, the mansion had been prime port for liquor trafficking to and from Boston, New Jersey, and New York during Prohibition.

According to local historian Donald D’Amato, the building was a testament to a bygone era and enhanced the property values in the neighborhood. It served as a respectable hideout for the notorious Rettich and Ryerson, the latter of whom had moved to the area to care for his elderly father.[15] Located on Greenwich Bay, in an area known as Warwick Neck, the Wendelschaefer estate abutted the Warwick Country Club and stood a short distance from the private home of wealthy U.S. Senator Peter Goelet Gerry.[16] The mansion contained secret rooms that functioned as storage for contraband stolen during the infamous mail truck robbery of January 23, 1935.

Rettich relocated to Rhode Island at the invitation of “Gentleman” Danny Walsh. The two new business partners brokered several lucrative connections in liquor trafficking along Narragansett Bay. Walsh, an accomplished horseman, owned a large estate on the water in southern Rhode Island, in Charlestown, where he maintained several stables. Affable and politically savvy, Walsh hosted high society gatherings and cultivated friendships with entertainers, law enforcement agents, and other dignitaries. His popularity was likely due in part to his talent for quenching their insatiable thirst for illegal spirits.

The introduction of Rettich to the mix was Walsh’s undoing. Rettich’s arrival in Rhode Island set in motion a tale of intrigue, mayhem, and corruption that struck at the core of Federal and State law enforcement agencies. Rettich saw in Walsh’s enterprise both an opportunity to escape his dubious circumstances in New York, where he was under suspicion for the unsolved murder of mobster Frank D’Agostino in 1924, and a chance to reap the benefits of the “gentleman bootlegger’s” lucrative market, an enterprise that was the envy of illicit traders throughout the Northeast.

Following Walsh’s disappearance in 1933, authorities immediately suspected Rettich, who had much to gain from his partner’s demise. With Walsh removed, the sly, unscrupulous Rettich could now assume full control of the enterprise. In February 1933, Walsh had been seen at the Bank Café in East Greenwich with Rettich, two unidentified men in vehicles registered in New York, and another elusive figure, known simply as “Wireless.” A ransom note issued shortly following Walsh’s disappearance demanded $40,000 for his return. At a hearing that July, a waitress testified that Walsh and Rettich appeared in good spirits, but a second, unnamed, witness disagreed, claiming that the two were engaged in a heated exchange over unpaid bills totaling close to $30,000. According to later testimony, Rettich paid Walsh the $30,000, presumably to settle an outstanding business debt. Police Captain Alfred Stevens of Providence believed Rettich disposed of his popular partner to reclaim his money and gain full control of the business. Ledgers, presented to the grand jury by District Attorney McGrath, revealed that both maintained meticulous independent records of each transaction, using initials or code names, suggesting a growing unease in their partnership.[17]

The new criminal of the twentieth century was no simple outlaw. Rettich, the mastermind of the Fall River mail truck heist, was an example of the modern bandit: cold, calculating, and exact in his business transactions and in his criminal undertakings.

With the end of Prohibition in January 1934, Rettich searched for a different way to take in huge sums of illicit cash. He came up with a plan. In October 1934, Rettich ordered small-time bookmaker Andino Merola and pharmacist/gambler Joseph Fisher to chart the course of Herbert B. Reid, employee of Green Brother Trucking Company. They discovered that each morning at 7:45 A.M, Reid dutifully delivered parcels of bills and coin from the United States mail drop at the train station to the B.M.C. Durfee Trust Company, two blocks away on North Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts.

With scrupulous accuracy, Fisher and Merola secretly stalked Reid, plotting his route to and from the bank each morning. They drew a detailed map of the route to the train station, and then returned to their Warwick Crime Castle headquarters to report their findings to Rettich. Fisher, however, soon committed a fatal error. He recruited Providence native and lifelong pal Herbert Hornstein, Brown University Class of ‘32 and a compulsive gambler, to organize the minutiae necessary for the success of the operation.[18]

Merola and Rettich were apprehensive, given the Brown graduate’s flimsy criminal record. Hornstein’s reputation paled in comparison to the more seasoned members of the gang. Each Rettich associate had proven his mettle; professional New York criminals Sonny McGlone, Joseph Harrigan, and Tommy Dugan had committed robberies and murders throughout the country, and Providence entrepreneurs Fisher and Merola had stood up for Rettich in the past. In comparison, Hornstein had to his credit several unpaid debts and a brief stint in prison for a stolen microscope. It was not an impressive rap sheet for the high-level crime that was about to transpire.

Hornstein never met with Rettich directly, instead receiving his orders through Fisher and Merola. In the original plan, the robbery would take place in December 1934. The three plotted a route for the mail truck from the railroad station to Oak Grove Cemetery, located in the exclusive section of Fall River known as The Hill, where they planned to dump the truck and transfer the cash to a stolen Plymouth sedan. The second leg of their journey would begin at the cemetery. Merola was to drive the Plymouth to the waterfront, where they would board a boat in dry dock. Fisher directed Hornstein to secure a registration for the Plymouth under the alias “Frederick Powers,” license plate number #122823. In the meantime, Hornstein rented a room in the city, hid the stolen vehicle in a pre-appointed garage nearby, and purchased three burlap bags, a brown cap, and blue lumber jackets at small town establishments.[19]

A change occurred in December 1934, when hired New York gunman Charles Harrigan was delayed. Rettich postponed the heist to January 1935. As a result, Fisher had Hornstein rent a different room at 51 North Main Street, Fall River, and secure a new set of plates under the alias “Peter Dubois.”[20] Fisher apprised Hornstein of another change in plan—the use of a second “hide truck” to conceal the stolen cash instead of the boat, the owner of which had become suspicious.

With the details of the operation settled, Hornstein agreed to chauffeur Fisher and Merola to the Crime Castle in Warwick, Rhode Island, a few days before the heist. Although Hornstein never spoke to Rettich, the former later testified that on the eve of the robbery he observed three New York “gunmen” sitting in Rettich’s living room: Dugan, McGlone, and Harrigan.

The month of January 1935 experienced some of the coldest days on record in New England. On January 22, the National Weather Bureau warned of impending snow, which began to fall by 8:00 A.M. the following morning.[21] The dipping temperature and bleak conditions that followed, however, did not deter Carl Rettich and his gang of thugs from committing one of the spectacular crimes of the decade.

On the morning of January 23, 1935, Herbert B. Reid followed his usual course, arriving for work on time and immediately heading to the garage where his truck was parked. For the last two years, he had proven himself a trustworthy and reliable employee. Driving to his typical pick-up point at the train station, he waited for the Boston and Newport trains, which arrived at 8:17 A.M. According to his later testimony, he accepted the five packages of bill and coin from railroad employee Henry F. H. Arnold and secured the bags evenly on the tailboard of his truck, then drove to the front of the B.M.C. Durfee Trust Company, a few blocks away.

Climbing from North Main Street up the incline, he spotted some men, possibly four or five, in a black Plymouth sedan. The driver, later identified as Joseph Fisher, pulled up alongside Reid’s truck, and swerved to prevent Reid’s passage. After ordering Reid to stop, Fisher directed two of the four robbers, Thomas “Irish Tommy” Dugan, and John “Sonny” McGlone to hijack Reid’s vehicle, while Fisher would follow in the Plymouth.

When they reached Davol Street, near the waterfront, they forced Reid into the rear of the sedan, bound and gagged him, taped his eyes shut and placed burlap over his head. The thieves then abandoned the automobile with Reid still tied down, stole the packages of coin and bills, and drove to Somerset, Massachusetts, the next town to Fall River. When he was confident that his assailants had left the scene, Reid loosened the bandages around his hands, then carefully removed the tape from his eyes and bound feet. Running toward the main road, he discovered the two vehicles: a truck and a sedan. At 8:45 A.M., Reid flagged down motorist Sidney Ainsworth who volunteered to drive him to the North End Police Station.

Fall River Police Captain William O’Brien, a twenty-eight- year veteran of the force, interrogated Reid at 9:20 A.M., and then sent Reid to the exact location where the robbers had left him bound and gagged. O’Brien later investigated the scene himself, and upon inspection of the sedan, discovered a fully loaded .38 caliber Colt revolver. He brought both the weapon and the vehicle to headquarters. He was able to trace the registration for the mail truck but could not initially identify the Plymouth.

Following the robbery, print media exploded with headlines about the search for the notorious gang members who had boldly robbed the U.S. mail. The newspapers emphasized the pervasiveness of lawlessness that plagued the Northeast, stating that the more professional criminal had become more judicious, and the danger more insidious. Newspaper reporters highlighted Rettich and his gang’s resourcefulness, describing Rettich’s carefully laid plan, from his gang’s painstaking efforts to plot Herbert Reid’s steps from pick up to delivery, to their success in securing stolen vehicles. Even more astounding and troubling was Carl Rettich’s ability to conceal his identity from Warwick Police and his unsuspecting neighbors while he conducted illicit activity at the mansion on the banks of East Greenwich Bay. The only clue provided that January, which might possibly identify the thieves, came from amateur criminal Herbert Hornstein, posing as lodger Peter Dubois.[22]

After tracing the stolen money to the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, Federal authorities issued an all-points bulletin for the thieves. The Fall River Herald reported the activity of acting Inspector Joseph Jette, who closely examined the Plymouth sedan for possible clues, but the 11.7 inches of snow that fell between January 23 and 24 stymied the investigation as it buried much of the evidence.

Nonetheless, the Herald reported that inspectors, while failing to identify the thieves, accounted for the Plymouth, which was registered to one “Peter Dubois” of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They further determined that Dubois had rented a room from Mrs. Ida Horvitz ten days before the robbery. This information eventually led them to Herbert Hornstein.

Fisher gave Hornstein $20.00 and advised him to “take it on the lam.” Hornstein complied, hiding out at the Statler Hotel in Boston, until Fisher paid him $400.00 and ordered him to leave Boston.[23] He and Fisher agreed to communicate via Fisher’s sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Morris Ruben, of Brighton, Massachusetts.[24] With this choice each committed a fatal error: Fisher, for issuing stolen cash to Hornstein, and Hornstein for carelessly spending the marked currency, as well as later boasting of his role in the robbery.

1. Howard McGrath, only recently appointed United States District Attorney, was engaged in pressing political matters that January. As Rettich and his gang prepared for the heist, Governor Theodore Francis Green, Lieutenant Governor Robert “Fighting Bob” Quinn, Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, and McGrath had wrested control of the Rhode Island General Assembly from the Republicans for the first time in the state’s history. After years of domination by conservatives, the historic coup enabled Lieutenant Governor Quinn to push through reform legislation that had been blocked by political rivalry.

McGrath was also engaged in other duties, related to his role as United States District Attorney. He and Federal “G-men” had been closing in on Andino Merola, who had been implicated in an illegal gambling ring, and the burglary of an automobile, among other crimes.[25]

On the morning of April 26, 1935, a break in the robbery finally occurred. Andino Merola’s dead body was found slumped across the floor of a Chevrolet sedan on the banks of Lake Pearl in Wrentham, Massachusetts. With a .38 caliber bullet lodged in his left temple, and another piercing his left side, Merola had been dead mere hours when passerby Otis Swett, an engineer, first noticed the parked car.[26]

Theories abounded as to why Merola had been murdered. Federal officers speculated that Merola had been pressing Rettich for an equal share of the stolen cash and, when none was forthcoming, Merola had confessed his role in the bank robbery to the authorities, prompting Rettich to mark his partner for a hit. The unnamed assailant drove Merola to an area roadhouse, plied him with alcohol, and then “rubbed him out” after they reached Lake Pearl, the ideal “secluded spot” to slay a possible stooge.[27]

The small-time racketeer and bootlegger Andino Merola, a Providence, Rhode Island resident, accomplished more in death than in life. His corpse and a Chevrolet sedan served as clues that tied Merola to Carl and his gang.[28] Merola’s death and the testimony of several key witnesses eventually implicated Rettich and his gang in the burglary of the Fall River Brink’s truck.

Swett’s notification to Wrentham Police Chief Perlay Dexter set in motion a series of events that led to the capture and conviction of Rettich and his five accomplices in the robbery of the mail truck that previous January. The news media from across the country immediately latched onto the story, and following interviews with several local, state, and federal officers, theorized that Merola was “the victim of a gangland ride.”[29]

At the time of his murder, Merola had been missing for twenty-four hours. Subsequent testimony from those who either spoke or met with him before his fateful demise revealed in the few days prior to his death, Andino Merola had concluded that he was a marked man. He had appeared optimistic only a few days earlier, according to Providence law enforcement officers, who reported seeing Merola emerge clean-shaven and well-manicured from a local barbershop. They also spotted Merola and Rettich in a Providence hotel the night before the murder. But Merola’s affable demeanor had changed noticeably by the time he made a frantic call to his wife, just three hours before the shooting.

Following Swett’s notification to the police, Merola’s body was transported to a Foxboro, Massachusetts Hospital. There, medical examiner Dr. Carl Richardson called in noted specialist, Dr. Timothy Leary of Boston. Leary concluded that the splattered blood on the driver’s seat, window, and door handles of the vehicle indicated that the body had been moved to the rear floor of the automobile following the shooting. By the following week, medical examiners determined that Merola had been drugged with chloral hydrate and suffered the effects of advanced alcoholism.[30]

Since Merola and Rettich had been under surveillance for suspected crimes in the area, postal Inspector John J. Breslin of Boston, United States District Attorney J. Howard McGrath, fifty additional inspectors, Providence and Massachusetts police, and Federal “G” men were able to obtain a warrant to conduct a massive search at Rettich’s Crime Castle headquarters. Thanks to their combined efforts, especially the work of Lieutenant Ernest F. Stenhouse of the Rhode Island State Police, who directed the Crime Castle search, their probe unearthed some startling finds.

After eight hours of tapping walls and combing each floor carefully, the workers discovered four freshly whitewashed posts, which, when scraped of paint and rust, unearthed a large screw. Turning it revealed a stairway leading to a subterranean floor. Armed police searched each room and unearthed $6,000 worth of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, a bootlegging still, and traces of blood, which McGrath erroneously claimed to be Walsh’s. A few days later, sixteen FERA workers discovered a five-gallon can of nickels and a fourteen-inch strong box filled with bills, bringing the grand total of stolen cash discovered to $20,096.85. Accompanied by armed guards, the strong box was taken to the Federal building, where police would later match the serial numbers with those of the stolen Fall River currency.[31]

The most notorious gang member, however, was still missing. Rettich’s sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Steele, and Rettich’s father, Emil, all residents of the Warwick mansion, stated that they had not seen “Carlie” for a few days.

District Attorney McGrath saw in this case an opportunity to earn a solid reputation among legal professionals. Following the initial inspection of the Crime Castle, at noon on April 26, he and police authorities placed an all-points bulletin for Carl Rettich and Joseph Fisher. Previously incarcerated for complicity in a botched attempt to build the aerial bomb that killed his brother in 1934, Fisher had recently been held again for a traffic violation, but upon his release, he was named a participant in the robbery.

 

In the meantime, on April 29, 1935, a rainy, somber Monday, former racketeer, and human trafficker, thirty-two- year- old Andino Merola was lowered to his final resting place at St. Ann’s Cemetery in the west end of the state following a solemn requiem Mass. A soloist, accompanied by a fifteen-piece band, sang “Nearer My Soul to Thee.” Not one underworld figure was present at the service, but Providence Police were stationed in the heart of Federal Hill to direct traffic and stand watch for any siting of known racketeers as the procession drove from Providence to Cranston.[32]

Merola’s death was ruled a homicide from a “pistol wound of head.” None of the Massachusetts or Rhode Island authorities could verify the exact time and place of his demise, although they suspected Rettich had “put the finger” on him.[33] McGrath later corroborated the story, and further revealed that the prime suspect in the murder, Carl Rettich, had fled Providence en route to New York, shortly after Merola was killed.[34]

The day after Merola’s funeral, at 4:45 P.M., still in New York, Carl Emil Rettich decided to give himself up. Rettich’s long-time legal-counsel, Joseph Fitzpatrick, as well as J. Howard McGrath, boarded a train to New York to retrieve him. Fitzpatrick, who had convinced Rettich to give up, had formerly served as United States Assistant District Attorney for the State of New York. Upon his arrival in Rhode Island, Fitzpatrick fainted, but refused assistance when McGrath tried to call for an ambulance. Rettich, the tough mastermind of the robbery, was reduced to tears at the sight of his friend’s collapse. During his initial interrogation, Rettich had to face McGrath without the aid of his faithful ally, and the relentless examination continued until well after midnight.[35]

Fitzpatrick’s spell inadvertently aided in McGrath’s investigation, as Rettich, who presented a strong, cold-hearted public appearance, was now vulnerable before the young McGrath and his team of interrogators. Fitzpatrick, at home recuperating, sent his associate Mortimer W. Newton to represent Rettich during the latter’s arraignment.[36]

Even so, Rettich, told reporters that he was “innocent of all these charges,” and informed them that he was happy to return to Rhode Island after a pleasant trip to New York. Within three minutes, Rettich found himself being “grill[ed]” by District Attorney McGrath. Following intensive questioning of Rettich, McGrath contacted Chief Inspector John A. Sullivan of the New York City Police Department and called for the arrest of thirty-five-year-old Charles Harrigan and “Irish Tommy” Dugan, the latter a member of the deadly Dutch Schultz gang. Harrigan was laid up in Mount Sinai Hospital after a barroom brawl on April 12, but was subsequently transported to Rhode Island, along with Dugan, who was nabbed when he paid Harrigan a visit. Dugan, confident of his ability to elude the “coppers,” claimed that his only knowledge of the “crime factory” was what he read in the newspapers.

In addition to the Fall River robbery, Harrigan and Dugan were implicated in a host of other murders and robberies, including Harrigan’s infamous theft of an American Railway Express vehicle in Perth Amboy in October 1934.[37] The well-dressed Dugan, whose rap sheet included eight previous arrests, responded to an interview by a Boston Globe journalist, saying, “I don’t know nothing about anything, see.”[38] He denied knowledge of the Fall River robbery and claimed that he could not identify Merola’s assailant. Nonetheless, Federal officers had also associated Dugan as one of many “bad men” from Manhattan who were complicit in a Brooklyn heist that yielded over $420,000 from an armored car, but not one eyewitness came forward to identify him at the time.[39]

Officials justified the $125,000 bail, the highest to date required by the state of Rhode Island, by the magnitude of the crime: “On January 23 Rettich put the life of Herbert B. Reid, driver of the mail truck in jeopardy, by the use of loaded pistols, and during said assault did steal registered mail packages containing $129,000.” The bail warrant was signed by United States Commissioner Edwin C. Jenney of Boston and submitted to United States Attorney Francis J. W. Ford, who then expedited the document to prevent Rettich’s release on bail and probable flight.

After the police “round[ed] up” the Rettich gang, Assistant United States Attorney Joseph J. Hurley of Boston stated that the Federal government would arraign them for the alleged kidnapping and killing of Andino Merola, and the Fall River Brink’s truck theft. By employing the Lindbergh Law, which stated that assailants who kidnap and murder their victims and then cross state lines were subject to Federal prosecution, U.S. District Attorneys Ford and McGrath were confident that they had amassed enough evidence to charge Rettich and his gang. Therefore, they began preparing for the subsequent trial, which took place in the Federal District Court in Boston, Massachusetts.[40] Undoubtedly, McGrath also saw another chance at fame as this case generated much media attention.

Impounded evidence relating to Rettich’s felonies included a diamond bracelet, appraised at $2,500, a wristwatch, and a man’s diamond ring, worth $600 and $400, respectively. Hidden in a strong box, the jewelry matched items sold at the Magnolia Branch of the Hodgson Kennard Company in Boston, which was robbed of these items on July 6, 1934.[41]

On the heels of Hornstein’s detailed confession, Ira Steele’s taut narrative, and Joseph Fisher’s impassioned admission of guilt after his original plea of not guilty, Rettich’s testimony seemed flimsy. Claiming ignorance of the robbery until after the fact, he also maintained that he had no knowledge of the strong box filled with money whose serial numbers matched those stolen by the robbers. Finally, District Attorney Ford, in his cross-examination, forced Rettich to recant and admit ownership of the strong box. When asked about his relationship with Merola, Rettich stated that he had met with him “a number of times” in March and April, the last time “at the Biltmore in [his] room” at approximately 3:00 P.M. Later that same day, Joseph Fisher claimed that he had “committed” the crime “by himself.” Fisher also accused the driver of exaggerating the crime, stating that Herbert Reid “ma[de] it [the mail truck robbery] look like a real hold-up.”[42]

District Attorney Ford prosecuted the case, detailing the part played by each assailant. Ira Steele, Rettich’s brother-in-law and caretaker of the Crime Castle property, implicated the gang for the Fall River robbery, stating that he saw Merola, McGlone, Harrigan, Dugan, Rettich, and “two other men” at the Crime Castle the night before the heist.

According to Joseph Fisher, Merola had received $30,000 of the $129,000, and the two allegedly hid the money on the grounds of Rettich’s property attempting to unload the evidence. Fisher also said that Merola had buried the can of nickels since “it was suspicious to have them on your person at that time.”[43]

Counsel for the defense, William Scharton, tried to appeal to the jury’s emotions by directing their attention not to Rettich, Fisher, or the hitmen, but to Herbert Hornstein, the “rat.” In an impassioned indictment, Scharton cried, “Christ had his Judas. The United States had its Benedict Arnold, and Fisher had his Hornstein.”[44]

In the end, despite the histrionics exhibited by Fitzpatrick and Scharton on behalf of their clients, the attorneys were unable to avoid the guilty verdict rendered by the jury. Rettich, McGlone, Fisher, Dugan, and Harrigan were each sentenced to twenty-five years in a federal penitentiary. Rettich’s hold over his public did not end with his confinement, however. In East Cambridge, a prison guard was accused of spending “an unnecessarily long period of time” talking with Rettich. This, coupled with rumors of a prison break, led the G-men, Massachusetts State Police, and United States Deputy Marshals to guard the jail particularly closely, but no break was attempted.

Rettich was transported to Atlanta State Penitentiary in Georgia on July 22 and later moved to the newly constructed maximum-security prison at Alcatraz, in San Francisco, in October, where he remained until 1943, at which time he was transferred to Leavenworth, Kansas.

On July 11, 1935 the News Tribune extended its congratulations to the government for its “victory in the trial of Carl Rettich and his subordinate gangsters…”, singling out U.S. District Attorney J. Howard McGrath, Postal Inspectors John J. Breslin, Thomas P. Cronin, and Benjamin G. Hadfield, the Chiefs of Police, and U.S. Attorney Francis J. W. Ford, the latter who is said to have “directed the court-room climax with flawless skill.” In the final analysis, wrote The Tribune, “a group of bad men [were] going to jail because they foolishly thought they could beat this tireless opposition.”[45] Writing five years later, after McGrath had announced his decision to resign as United States District Attorney to campaign for Governor of Rhode Island, Postal Inspector James Breslin commented,

I shall never forget your personal interest and hearty cooperation in the famous “Rettich” Case … I do feel that without that personal interest that you manifested and the cooperation which you extended, we might have failed in our efforts to bring to justice the criminals who were responsible for that heinous crime.[46]

The celebrated trial of Carl Emil Rettich and his accomplices did not directly affect the political scene in Rhode Island, but Rettich’s incarceration was proof enough for Rhode Island that the Democratic Party could be successful in protecting them from the evils of gangland murder and robbery.

As for Rettich, he managed to convince his jailers of his transformation. Deemed thoroughly rehabilitated, he was released at 9:00 A.M. on May 1, 1950, nearly a decade earlier than his sentence mandated. Upon thorough evaluation, the warden judged Carl Emil Rettich physically and psychologically sound and no longer a threat to society.[47] The “brains” of the Fall River mail heist, with an IQ of 85, lived with his wife in Tampa, Florida, until his death in 1973.[48]

1. Howard McGrath’s promising career received a welcome boost from the Carl Rettich case, and he time and again referred to Rhode Island’s role in successfully capturing and convicting the notorious gangster. Still, criminal activity in Rhode Island did not end with Rettich’s confinement. While McGrath, Ford, and the F.B.I. Investigators were able to prove that Rettich masterminded the Fall River robbery, they failed to implicate him in the murders of Merola, Walsh, Carrella, and the others. In fact, although evidence had resurfaced in 2016, providing brief hope to Rhode Island police that the unsolved murder of “Gentleman Farmer” Danny Walsh had been solved, to-date, the identity of the murderer[s] has yet to be found.[49]

Notes

[1] “Rettich and Prosecutor are Study in Contrast,” Boston Traveler. May 2, 1935, 6.

[2] David Chritchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931 (New York: Routledge, 2009), 73.

[3] “Mystery Blonde Linked with Mob: 15,000 Go to Warwick for Glimpse of Villa,” Boston Globe May 6, 1935; John I. Taylor, Jr., “Bay State Man Sought in Slaying of One Gangster: Watch for Him in Worcester,” Boston Evening Globe May 2, 1935, 1; “Postal Robbery Hearing Finished,” Providence Journal May 10, 1935, 2.

[4] Danny Walsh, local bootlegger, was supposedly kidnapped. Rumors that his body was encased in cement and tossed off the coast of Block Island persisted, and his disappearance has never been solved. “Authorities Find Huge Arsenal in Warwick House,” The Providence Journal April 28, 1935.

[5] “Nearly Score of Crimes Declared Near Solution in Merola Slaying Raids,” Providence Sunday Journal April 28, 1935.

[6] “Blackstone Forum Radio Address,” Folder, “Crime Situation, Blackstone Forum,” October 16, 1936, J. Howard McGrath Papers, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Independence, MO.

[7] James Howard McGrath, “Broadcast Crime,” J. Howard McGrath Papers, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Independence, MO.

[8] Patrick Hurley, “Opening Session,” Proceedings of the Attorney General’s Conference on Crime December 10-13, 1934.

[9] Henry L. Stimson, “An Address by Honorable Henry L. Stimson, “Proceedings of the Attorney General’s Conference on Crime, 11.

[10] Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “An Address by His Excellency Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” Proceedings of the Attorney General’s Conference on Crime, 18-19.

[11] Kenneth O’Reilly, “A New Deal for the FBI: The Roosevelt Administration, Crime Control, and National Security,” The Journal of American History. 69, no. 3. (December, 1982): 642; “U.S. Officials to Seek Death for Rettich: U.S. to Invoke Lindbergh Law,” Boston Globe May 2, 1935.

[12] Edward J. Murphy, “Danny Walsh, What Happened: 25 Years after his Mysterious Disappearance State’s Most Intriguing Mystery Still Unsolved,” Providence Sunday Journal February 2, 1958.

[13] “Nearly Score of Crimes Declared Near Solution in Merola Slaying Raids: Authorities Find Huge Arsenal in Warwick House,” Providence Sunday Journal April 28, 1935.

[14] The workers who had been searching the Warwick Neck home of Carl Rettich, better known as the Crime Castle, diverted their attention in late April to a small patch of land in search of Danny Walsh. Their pursuit yielded “coagulated blood” found beneath the porch. “Walsh’s Body Sought Near Hideout of Gang after Tip by Prisoner,” Providence Evening Bulletin May 1, 1935.

[15] Don D’Amato, “Warwick Neck’s ‘Crime Castle,’” The Providence Journal 1985, 59.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Apparently, Rettich paid Walsh the $30,000, and Walsh held a gathering as Rettich’s rite of passage for “making good” on his debts. “Bandit Gang ‘Finger Man’ Received Degree at Brown,” The Evening Bulletin May 1, 1935; Murphy, “Danny Walsh- What Happened,” The Providence Journal. (see above)

[18] “Pin Murder on Rettich Gang,” The Boston Post May 1, 1935.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Rettich had originally secured a boat, where the cash would be hidden, but its owner became suspicious, and, following Harrigan’s delay, decided to change plans. As a result, Hornstein had to obtain new license plates, since the new date was set in January. With the start of a new year, the previous registration had expired. “U.S. v. Rettich: #12953,” The National Archives, Waltham, MA.

[21] “Weather Claims about 50 Lives,” The Fall River Herald January 22, 1935, 1; “Testimony of Charles Wood,” U.S. v. Charles Harrigan. #12953,” The National Archives, Waltham, MA.

[22] Alfred J. Monahan, “Net Tautens as Mobmen Talk: Rettich Held in $125,000 to Avert Release- Steele Freed Under Heavy Guard: Gangdom Picks Pair for Death,” Folder, “Clippings, 1935-1940,” May 1, 1935, The Boston Globe, 1, 12. J. Howard McGrath Collection. Special and Archival Collections, Providence College, Providence, RI.

[23] Fisher could not obtain the money from Rettich for a few weeks so he instead borrowed the cash from his sister Helen. “Testimony of Joseph Fisher,” “Testimony of Herbert Hornstein,” United States of America vs. Carl Rettich, Thomas Dugan, Charles Harrigan and John McGlone, # 12953 and #12956. National Archives, Waltham, MA.

[24] “U.S. Outlines Case Against Rettich Gang,” The Providence News-Tribune June 25, 1935.

[25] “Mail Robbery Linked with Merola Slaying,” Providence Journal April 27, 1935.

[26] Ibid.

[27] “Pin the Murder on Rettich Gang,” The Boston Post May 1, 1935.

[28] Merola was a small-time thief; fined $400 for stealing two automobiles, he also figured prominently in an illegal gambling ring as a “strong-arm man.” “Mail Robbery Linked with Merola Slaying,” Providence Journal April 27, 1935.

[29] Ibid.

[30] “His death was ruled a homicide.” Trace Mail Loot to Rettich Gang,” Boston Post May 7, 1935; “Medical Examiner’s Certificate of Death: Andino Merola, Norfolk County, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Waltham, MA.

[31] “Walsh-Rettich Link is Found in Seized Ledgers,” Providence Evening Bulletin May 9, 1935.

[32] “Merola Buried as the Band Plays,” Providence Journal May 1, 1935.

[33] Charles Simmons, “Czar Put on Scene of Mail Robbery: Federal Agents in Hub Accuse Mansion Head,” Boston Traveler May 1, 1935, 1.

[34] “Officials Hoping to Pin Merola’s Death on Rettich,” Providence Journal May 2, 1935, 1.

[35] Ibid.

[36] “Rettich in Custody: Faces Long Grilling,” The Boston Globe April 30, 1935.

[37] “Rettich Surrenders Here; $10,000 More Fall River Loot Dug Up at Warwick,” Providence Journal April 30, 1935, 1; Rettich in Custody; Faces Long Grilling,” Providence Journal April 30, 1935.

[38] Nat A. Barrows. “Hospital Visit Nets Gangster,” Boston Globe May 1, 1935.

[39] Ibid.

[40] “Finish Roundup of Rettich Gang: 24^th Arrest Made – Leaders Will Face Indictment for Murder and Kidnapping,” The Boston Post May 2, 1935.

[41] “Valuable Gems Discovered in Secret Vault,” Daily News May 3, 1935.

[42] Rettich also asserted that Dugan and McGlone stayed at his home three days prior to the robbery, that Merola and Fisher asked him to borrow his truck “to move furniture the next day,” and that he stayed at “the wireless station … four or five hours” while the crime was being committed. Edward J. Kelley, “Carl Rettich Denies He Took any Part in Mail Truck Robbery: Says He was in Warwick in Business Conference at Time of Crime,” The Providence Journal July 4, 1935, 1.

[43] Edward J. Kelley, “Rettich Trial Nears Close; Jury to Get Case on Wednesday,” Providence Journal July 6, 1935.

[44] “Edward Fitzgerald, “Fitzpatrick Calls Hornstein ‘Judas’ in Plea for Rettich,” News-Tribune July 9, 1935; Chester M. Potter, “Hornstein Bitterly Scored; U.S. Drops Case against Rubins,” Providence Evening-Bulletin July 9, 1935.

[45] Of note, the Tribune, owned by wealthy Democrat, Senator Peter Goelet Gerry, neighbor of Rettich, and mentor of J. Howard McGrath, served as the Democratic Party sounding board. “An Inspiring Victory,” Providence News-Tribune July 11, 1935.

[46] “Letter from James Breslin, Post Office Inspector in Charge, to J. Howard McGrath,” September 6, 1940, Folder, “Resignations,” Special and Archival Collections, Providence College, Providence, RI.

[47] The correction’s officer noted Rettich’s “Dull-Normal intelligence, mental age 13 years and 7 months; I.Q. 85,” and recommended “maximum supervision.” Admission Summary: Carl Rettich, Reg. #46638-A,” August 3, 1935, United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia; “Memorandum to the Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, Alcatraz, California,” May 18, 1943, Department of Justice, San Francisco Penitentiary, San Francisco, CA.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Tom Mooney, “Mystery Solved, Remains Could Be Lost Rum Runner, Bones Found Near Church Could End 83-year Saga of Danny Walsh,” Providence Journal December 16, 2016.