Free Island of the Damned by Alix Kirsta Page A

sliding into moral anarchy and demanded a clean-up.
    For over two years, from August 1930, the Seabury Commission delved deep into the most secret, often shameful recesses of the city’s judicial and municipal departments. It was a hugely ambitious undertaking, and, as months passed, the net spread. As Judge Seabury began his research into the magistrate’s courts, it became clear that he had to expand his enquiry to include scores of attorneys practising in the lower criminal courts whom he suspected, correctly, of “corrupt, fraudulent, unlawful or unprofessional conduct.” New revelations emerged daily and it was obvious that the dark machinations of the lower courts were a mere curtain raiser before probes of an even more sensational nature unfolded. Still to come was an almost forensic analysis of the workings of the District Attorney’s office, then under the helm of the ineffectual Thomas Crain, and a city-wide examination of every single department of New York: this final marathon probe would culminate in the resignation of Mayor Walker.
    Predictably, as news of the remit of the Seabury Commission spread through the press, Mayor Walker announced that he would not testify; eight Tammany district leaders refused to waive their immunity and testify – announcements interpreted as tantamount to an admission of guilt. However, Judge Seabury was a lifelong foe of Tammany, whose leaders evidently underestimated his commitment to smashing their organisation. Nor had they taken into account the painstaking diligence of Seabury’s team as they unearthed every shred of available paperwork and accounts related to all the city’s departments, and subpoenaed the records of New York’s 2,000 banks and brokerage houses. Seabury had hired a team of the very brightest and most enthusiastic young lawyers to carry out the probes: some were barely out of law school and, being both idealistic and ambitious, were highly motivated by the nature of the work and the honour of working for someone of Judge Seabury’s stature and integrity. Heading the team, as chief counsel, was a leading trial lawyer, Isidor Jacob Kresel, an important member of the New York Bar. After many years as a prosecutor, Kresel knew where the bodies were buried. Since official written records could not be disputed in court, he collected income tax returns, bank pay-in slips, savings accounts statements, property records, mortgage and brokerage statements amongst other files. Over the following two years the Seabury Investigations produced vast irrefutable evidence of bribes, rackets, fraud, embezzlement and other corruption, comprising over 70,000 pages of financial documents and the testimony of 4,000 witnesses including – finally – Mayor Jimmy Walker.
    The Seabury hearings delivered almost daily bombshells, stunning even cynical New Yorkers. Not since 1895, when the Lexow Commission revealed the extent of criminal activity within the city’s police department, had an exposé of such magnitude hit the headlines. Throughout the autumn of 1930, the Seabury Commission heard more than 1,000 witnesses including judges, lawyers, police officers and former defendants. All painted a staggering picture of false arrests, fraudulent bail bonds and unjust imprisonment. Because most of the innocent victims – many of them women – knew no lawyers and could not afford private counsel, they soon discovered that conviction and a prison sentence were a foregone conclusion. The only way out was for money to be paid, through certain conniving attorneys, to crooked court personnel, police, prosecutors and magistrates. The conspiracy proved highly effective. Innocent people either parted with their life’s savings or were jailed – often on Welfare Island. It emerged that fifty one young women had been framed on false charges and illegally imprisoned at a women’s prison in upstate New York.
    Eventually, heads rolled. By Christmas 1930, two judges were removed; three