Eunice Carter - Part 1

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome to the Almost Immortal History Podcast. I'm your host Ryan Powers. Many

[00:00:12] of us know the stories of famous criminals like Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, or the famous

[00:00:17] lawmen who helped bring them to justice. Though many might not know the story of the lawyer

[00:00:22] who was most responsible for bringing down the most powerful mob boss in the world,

[00:00:26] Lucky Luciano, making the streets of New York safer and nearly propelling her boss to the American

[00:00:31] Presidency. This story would be memorable regardless of who it was about, but because this particular

[00:00:37] lawyer was one of the only black female lawyers in 1930s America, her story is one of the most

[00:00:43] remarkable of them all. So sit back and enjoy the story and focus on today's episode.

[00:00:48] New York City prosecutor, Eunice Hutton Carter.

[00:01:05] In the bitter cold New York City evening of February 1, 1936, 165 policemen stood ready for a

[00:01:12] dangerous covert raid. The operation was so secretive that only a select few knew anything about it.

[00:01:18] To avoid tipping anyone off, the officers themselves were to dress in plain clothes and were not

[00:01:23] told in advance where they were to go. At precisely 8 p.m., the policemen left the Woolworth building at

[00:01:28] 233 Broadway Manhattan in unmarked cars. Once on the road, they each had a sealed envelope directing

[00:01:35] them to their location and objective. The envelope's contents strategically placed the officers

[00:01:40] across the city, all to strike at the same exact time of 9 p.m. Their specific objective that evening

[00:01:47] was to raid dozens of brothels. Their larger objective was to arrest, detain and question the

[00:01:52] women working in the brothels to uncover who was behind their operation. Coordinating the radio

[00:01:58] calls to the police was not the police chief nor police of any kind but a lawyer. And this lawyer

[00:02:04] was unlike just about any other lawyer in the country. Eunice Hutton Carter was a New York City

[00:02:09] prosecutor and one of the most famous people in the country. She was one of 20 prosecutors on the

[00:02:15] team of special chief prosecutor Thomas Dewey, future New York governor and two-time nominee for

[00:02:20] president of the United States. The fact that Carter was the only female lawyer among the 20 was

[00:02:25] beyond impressive and nearly unheard of. What made her role astounding in precedent setting

[00:02:31] was that she was one of only a handful of black women lawyers in the entire country. Let alone

[00:02:36] one to have one of the most important and high profile opportunities anyone could imagine.

[00:02:41] But as extraordinary an achievement as her presence was on that task force,

[00:02:45] what made Eunice Carter exceptional wasn't merely her gender or skin color in a white male-dominated

[00:02:50] society but rather her mind and tenacity. After overcoming simultaneously two of the most

[00:02:57] challenging barriers one could face in 1930s America, Carter was leading the raid from Dewey's

[00:03:02] Woolworth building 14 floor headquarters. She had that honor because Carter herself conceived

[00:03:08] the plan for the raid. The women she and her colleagues would interrogate that evening were

[00:03:12] small fish and were to be treated with respect. Who she hoped they would help connect the dots too

[00:03:17] and bring down was no less than the most powerful mafia crime boss in the United States

[00:03:22] and perhaps the world, Charles Lucky Luciano. If it seemed unlikely if not improbable

[00:03:29] that she should find herself in this moment one needed only to know the story of Eunice

[00:03:34] Hunt and Carter to know she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

[00:03:39] A little girl was born in Atlanta, Georgia on July 16th, 1899 to William and Addy Hunton.

[00:03:46] Though the little girl did not get a name until several weeks later, William and Addy Hunton

[00:03:50] did this because they had already lost their first two children in impency and were understandably

[00:03:55] shaken and superstitious about their newest baby. Weeks later once William and Addy felt their daughter

[00:04:00] was safe, they proudly named her Eunice Roberta Hunton. 90 years earlier, William's father and

[00:04:07] Eunice's grandfather, Stanton, had been born a slave in Virginia in 1809, though he would not

[00:04:13] remain one. He first attempted escape and was quickly caught. He tried again and was caught again.

[00:04:20] Undeterred, he tried a third time and succeeded in crossing into the free state of Pennsylvania

[00:04:25] before slave catchers captured him and sent him back to Virginia. Years later in 1837, Stanton was

[00:04:31] finally able to purchase his own freedom and went to Ontario, Canada where he found professional

[00:04:36] success married and had seven children. Because of Stanton's success, William Hunton grew up very

[00:04:42] differently than his father and he took good advantage of that. Education and work ethic were of

[00:04:47] paramount importance to Stanton for all his children. As a result, William attended private school

[00:04:52] and was sought after for employment upon graduation. After a stint working for the Canadian

[00:04:57] government, William went to work for the YMCA and was sent to Norfolk, Virginia. Rather than a

[00:05:02] free black Canadian struggling in the American South, he thrived. He grew the YMCA's presence

[00:05:08] throughout the region, founded a YMCA newspaper, and met and married Addy Wates. Originally from Norfolk,

[00:05:14] Addy's parents had also been slaves but by the 1880s had, like Stanton, built a successful life

[00:05:20] for themselves and their family. As talented and bright as William Hunton, Addy attended the Boston

[00:05:25] Latin school, the first public school in America, boasting no less than Benjamin Franklin as a

[00:05:30] former attendee. After graduation, Addy became a teacher and writer and returned to Norfolk where she

[00:05:36] met William. Addy was pregnant with Eunice when the Hutton's moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1899,

[00:05:42] where racial tensions were at an all-time high. The euphoria of the Emancipation Proclamation

[00:05:47] end of the Civil War and ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the 1860s

[00:05:53] had given way to a backlash of violence against black citizens and laws passed that created the

[00:05:57] policies of separate but equal. Georgia at the turn of the century was particularly ugly,

[00:06:03] leading the country and lynching along with other acts of violence and intimidation.

[00:06:07] The Huntons were of course affected by all of this but because of their success in growing

[00:06:11] prominence, we're able to live in an upper-middle class mixed-race neighborhood. Thanks to her parents,

[00:06:17] her neighborhood and her school, Eunice Hunton was somewhat insulated from the Egliness

[00:06:21] around her but by no means unaware. By 1906, the Huntons were thriving. A baby boy, William

[00:06:29] Alfius Hunton Jr., to be known as Alfius, had joined the family in 1903. Eunice was a percocious

[00:06:35] and highly intelligent 7-year-old. Unfortunately, 1906 also was the time Atlanta's racial tensions

[00:06:42] were at a boil which spilled over into one of the largest race riots in American history that fall.

[00:06:47] On the evening of September 22nd, an angry white mob of hundreds than thousands began pulling

[00:06:53] black citizens off city trolley cars and beating and killing them. From there they went to local

[00:06:58] barber shops and even black neighborhoods and pulled black men, women, and children from their homes.

[00:07:04] The official death toll was reportedly around 25-30 but those who were there say it was much higher.

[00:07:10] The Huntons' neighborhood was also under attack, though fortunately the rioters stopped just

[00:07:15] short of their house, regardless Atlanta was no longer safe. The Huntons packed up and moved north.

[00:07:22] They settled in Brooklyn, New York which they intended to be a short-term move until they could

[00:07:26] return to Atlanta someday but they never did. New York City became Eunice's home and would forever

[00:07:32] shape her destiny. Throughout Eunice's childhood, her parents were away more than they were home.

[00:07:38] William was on the road nearly all the time and while Adi was home more, her profile continued to

[00:07:44] sort to such an extent that she went from having Eunice and Alphia's bored with different families

[00:07:48] at different points to actually appointing legal guardians for the children during Adi and William's

[00:07:53] absence. Whether through a combination of genetics or overwork, Williams' health declined

[00:07:58] throughout Eunice's teenage years. What was first thought to be fatigue was eventually diagnosed

[00:08:03] as tuberculosis, but Eunice's senior year of high school the end was near and William finally succumbed

[00:08:09] on November 29th, 1916. The family grieved in their own ways. Eunice and Alphia's poured

[00:08:16] themselves into their studies, she arising fresh men at Smith College in Massachusetts and he

[00:08:21] a top-of-class high school student. Adi focused on her work traveling and lecturing for the YWCA.

[00:08:27] In 1918, she was one of the only black women allowed to travel to World War I's western front in

[00:08:32] France to assist the black troops of the American Expeditionary Force. She would later write a book

[00:08:37] on her experiences titled Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces. The book

[00:08:43] became a commercial success. Back at Smith College, Eunice blossomed. She was viewed as outgoing and ambitious,

[00:08:50] if not a little frosty to some of her peers. She was an honor student and excelled on the debate team.

[00:08:55] She even had the chance to meet and befriend the then governor soon to be Vice President and

[00:09:00] President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. He was a friend and advisor, Eunice said. Coolidge

[00:09:06] would let her use the library in his house near the college when he was away and always happy

[00:09:10] to receive her and offer her counsel when he was in town. Eunice Houghton graduated Smith College

[00:09:15] in 1921, it's only the second woman in the college's history to receive a bachelor's and master's

[00:09:21] degree in just four years. Her first job at a school was as a teacher at Southern University in

[00:09:26] Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which she did not enjoy. She was back in New York by 1923 and ready for

[00:09:33] a new challenge. Eunice immersed herself in New York City's intellectual society in the 1920s.

[00:09:39] She began to write and offer reviews for local and national African-American publications.

[00:09:44] Not only was she published, but was admitted into the prestigious International Riders Guild,

[00:09:49] where she would befriend world-class writers like Langston Hughes. Her first year back,

[00:09:53] she also met Harry Hopkins, fated to be President Roosevelt's most trusted aide a decade later.

[00:09:58] Hopkins in 1923 was the head of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association.

[00:10:03] He was so impressed by Houghton he asked her if she would lead an effort to bring the first

[00:10:07] free dental clinic to Harlem. Eunice accepted and was a tremendous success. The clinic opened a

[00:10:13] year later thanks to Eunice's fundraising, recruiting, organizing, and political skills. During

[00:10:18] her efforts, she met a dentist from Barbados, named Lyle, Carlton Carter. Carter had immigrated

[00:10:23] to the United States in 1915 and had developed one of the most successful practices in the city.

[00:10:28] Their courtship lasted a year until they were married on November 26, 1924.

[00:10:34] The following year, the new couple moved to Harlem and their son, Lyle Carter, Jr. was born.

[00:10:39] While happy with their growing family, Eunice was not content as just a new wife,

[00:10:43] mother, and popular member of New York society. Her ambition made her restless and searching for more.

[00:10:49] She found a temporary outlet for that restlessness helping her mother.

[00:10:52] Addy Huntons career continued to flourish and she was now one of the leading voices in the Black

[00:10:57] community working with organizations like the NAACP, YWCA, and traveling all over the world.

[00:11:03] Eunice's parents had always provided her magnificent examples of what was possible with hard work

[00:11:08] and dedication. Even in an American society that was anything but equal. But loved them as she did,

[00:11:14] Eunice did not merely want to live in her parents' shadows, she wanted to make a name for herself.

[00:11:19] To that end, she enrolled in Fordham Law School in the fall of 1927.

[00:11:24] It was always something I had a hidden desire for and intended to do, she said.

[00:11:28] When Eunice was eight years old, she told a friend she wanted to be a lawyer to quote,

[00:11:32] make sure the bad people went to jail. Studying the law was an ambitious choice even for one

[00:11:37] as ambitious as Carter since there were no Black lawyers in the New York bar in 1927.

[00:11:43] The American Bar Association had not allowed a Black lawyer since 1912.

[00:11:48] Fordham had one of the more progressive admission policies in the country toward Black women

[00:11:52] and minority students, but even still they constituted a very small percentage.

[00:11:57] Undeterred, Eunice worked hard and as always her talent and intelligence were apparent to all.

[00:12:03] In what should have been a three-year program, Eunice took a year and a half off in the middle

[00:12:07] to care for Lael Jr. who had fallen ill but recovered. While she took time off from school,

[00:12:13] she did find time to help campaign for local Harlem candidate Hubert Delaney for Congress,

[00:12:18] Fiorela LaGuardia for New York City Mayor, and former Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover for

[00:12:23] President, Hoover one LaGuardia and Delaney running against Tamini Hall Democrats lost.

[00:12:29] Carter returned to Fordham, graduated in 1932 and passed the bar the following year.

[00:12:35] She was now one of only a handful of Black women lawyers in the entire country.

[00:12:39] She opened her own law practice in Harlem not far from her husband Lyle's dentist office.

[00:12:44] Then less than a year into her practice, Eunice was approached with a unique offer

[00:12:48] to run for political office herself. The Republican Party needed a candidate that they knew

[00:12:53] would likely lose to the incumbent Tamini Hall Democrat to make a good showing,

[00:12:57] to help the other candidates on the ballot and hopefully enrode for future candidates.

[00:13:01] Carter was the perfect candidate for the party, well known in the district, successful,

[00:13:06] highly intelligent, and when she wanted to be, very outgoing and vivacious. She also was a Black

[00:13:12] woman from Harlem and a member of a political party that was starting to lose Black voters

[00:13:16] to the New Deal policies of the Roosevelt administration. Eunice, knowing the long odds,

[00:13:21] was still thrilled to take on the challenge, knowing that a strong showing or even an expected loss

[00:13:26] would do little but enhance her credentials, especially with the newly elected mayor after

[00:13:30] his second attempt, Fiorrella LaGuardia. Though a funny thing happened as the campaign unfolded,

[00:13:36] it started to seem as if Eunice might win. She worked tirelessly to meet the voters and share

[00:13:42] her platform. The newspapers took notice and even endorsed her. The New York age and their

[00:13:47] endorsement described Carter as exceptionally well qualified, and listed the reasons why they

[00:13:52] supported her as, quote, her platform is practical, she would be the first Black woman to attain

[00:13:57] such a position, and lastly, she can't do less than the men have done. Carter drew crowds all over

[00:14:03] Harlem, including one that drew more than 5,000 people at an AME Zion church. She's a convincing

[00:14:09] speaker, not thunderous but impressive claimed a Baltimore male in newspaper. As election day

[00:14:15] approached, most thought she would win, but on election night it turned out she was about 1600

[00:14:20] votes short. Despite her strong campaign, the Tammany Hall candidate she ran against had one

[00:14:26] of the strongest get-out-the-vote efforts in the country, and despite LaGuardia's victory the

[00:14:30] year before, the popularity of FDR and the New Deal would continue to sweep Democrats into office

[00:14:35] in 1934 and for years to come. Initially shaken by the laws,

[00:14:40] Eunice threw herself back into her law practice, and she didn't have to wait long for her next step.

[00:14:46] Mayor LaGuardia, grateful for Carter's state assembly run and seemingly impressed by the near

[00:14:50] victory of what was once viewed as a certain loss, appointed Eunice to a new commission.

[00:14:56] Race riots had broken out in Harlem in 1935, and as part of his response, LaGuardia formed a

[00:15:01] commission to propose solutions. The group was made up of men and women, black and white.

[00:15:06] What made LaGuardia's commission unique was it was believed to be the first American city

[00:15:11] multi-race commission formed with the majority being black, not white members.

[00:15:17] In the same year, Mary McClaude Bethune, founder of Bethune Cookman University and the United Negro

[00:15:23] College Fund, asked Eunice to become a founding member of Bethune's latest effort, destined to become

[00:15:28] another framed American institution, the National Council of Negro Women. Carter had spent several

[00:15:34] months at Bethune's Daytona floor to home two years earlier recovering from surgery for a

[00:15:38] hysterectomy and the two had grown closer ever since. Carter's work on LaGuardia's commission

[00:15:43] and Bethune's council continued to elevate her profile locally and nationally.

[00:15:48] At 36 years old in 1935, this increased recognition put her squarely on the radar of the most

[00:15:54] powerful players in New York politics. At the same time that Carter's star was on the rise,

[00:16:00] a more sinister element had also risen across America and most especially in New York City,

[00:16:05] organized crime. Beginning with Prohibition in 1920, American gangs increased their profits

[00:16:11] and their power like never before through the illegal sale of alcohol called bootlegging.

[00:16:16] They offered the illegal alcohol through speakeasies and private sales to a public that was

[00:16:20] clamoring for it. More money allowed them to bribe more local politicians, law enforcement and

[00:16:26] journalists to look the other way. By the time Prohibition ended in 1933, gangs were so prominent

[00:16:32] prevalent throughout American society, they were at once feared but also romanticized. Despite the

[00:16:38] thousands of murders that occurred through these gangs each year, Hollywood produced movies

[00:16:42] and newspapers printed story after story glorifying mob bosses and bank robbers. With the onset

[00:16:48] of the Great Depression, combined with Prohibition, many Americans could more easily identify with the

[00:16:52] stories of a John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde than they would have before. Paradoxically,

[00:16:58] the nation also revered the lawmen and the nascent FBI who were tasked with bringing these criminals

[00:17:02] to justice. Eliot Ness had brought down Al Capone in Chicago after years of compone seeming untouchable.

[00:17:09] Ness and his colleagues succeeded where others had failed not by arresting Capone for his most

[00:17:13] heinous crimes of murder and racketeering but of tax evasion. But what was occurring in New York City

[00:17:19] by 1935 was more violent, more organized, and more difficult for anyone in law enforcement to

[00:17:25] bring down. Organized crime was one of the most lucrative businesses in the country, making the

[00:17:30] mob bosses some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the country. From 1890 through 1920,

[00:17:36] the most powerful gang of New York was called the Five Points Gang which consisted of some of the

[00:17:40] former members of the original gangs of New York like the dead rabbits. In the early part of

[00:17:45] the 20th century, future mob bosses like Al Capone and Johnny Torio were members of the Five Points

[00:17:50] Gang before they moved to Chicago to develop their own criminal empire. At the same time Capone and

[00:17:56] Torio were members, a teenager named Salvatore Lucania joined the Five Points Gang. An immigrant from

[00:18:02] Sicily, Salvatore was born in 1897 and emigrated to New York City in 1906. In trouble at an early age,

[00:18:09] Salvatore, who now went by Charlie Luciano, was not only involved with the Five Points gang but met

[00:18:15] and befriended his future associates in close friends, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello.

[00:18:21] Together, these four rose to the ranks of the New York Mafia scene of the 1920s, taking part in

[00:18:27] turf wars on behalf of their bosses and then eventually plotting their downfalls.

[00:18:32] Luciano earned his nickname Lucky and part because he survived a violent hit on his own life

[00:18:37] from his former employer Joe the Boss, Maseria in 1929. Two years later, Lucky Luciano would have

[00:18:43] his revenge orchestrating the assassination of Maseria and clearing the way for Luciano to make history.

[00:18:49] Having been through the non-stop Mafia turf wars on the past 20 years,

[00:18:53] Luciano sought to organize and structure the mob to focus it more on earning money

[00:18:58] and less on trying to take each other out. To do this, he called on his friends like Lansky,

[00:19:03] Siegel and Costello, and former associates like Al Capone to create an organization dubbed

[00:19:08] the Commission, comprised of the heads of all the major crime families throughout New York and

[00:19:13] Chicago. While Lucky could have taken the title of the Boss of Bosses as his predecessors had done,

[00:19:19] Luciano saw the wisdom of a more collaborative approach. In doing so, he became not only the most

[00:19:25] powerful mob boss in the country if not the world but the father of organized crime in America.

[00:19:32] With the Commission in place, organized crime soared in New York City,

[00:19:35] there was hardly a business that didn't pay one of the Mafia families a fee for its protection

[00:19:40] or some other service that was forced upon them. Anyone not willing to pay the fees

[00:19:44] was either intimidated, beaten or killed. The millions that were made helped the Commission

[00:19:49] bribe city officials, police, newspaper reporters and anyone else they needed help from.

[00:19:55] By the mid-1930s, New Yorkers and the press were desperately seeking someone or something

[00:20:00] to address the growing crime and corruption of their city. Unfortunately, Manhattan's district

[00:20:05] attorney was part of the problem, not the solution. The aptly named William Dodge was a

[00:20:11] temmany Democrat who had won election the year before by promising to clean up the corruption.

[00:20:16] But once in office, Dodge's public statements did not match his actions. While under pressure

[00:20:21] to do so, he did appoint a grand jury in 1934 to bring indictments against the underworld.

[00:20:26] He assigned the most junior prosecutors and only ever sought indictments against the smallest

[00:20:31] of fish, never taking on the main players. Fed up by the months of low to no impact indictment

[00:20:37] request in actions, the grand jury in March of 1935 in a remarkable, if not unprecedented move,

[00:20:44] refused to hear any more cases brought by Dodge's office. Rather than this runaway jury quickly

[00:20:50] being replaced, this story quickly made its way to the press an outrage over Dodge's handling

[00:20:55] of the matter ensued. New York Governor Herbert Layman agreed with the outrage and gave Dodge an

[00:21:00] ultimatum. Choose a special prosecutor from a list of four names provided by the governor or

[00:21:06] risk an investigation into Dodge's office for corruption. Dodge relented, but unfortunately none of

[00:21:12] the four seasoned prosecutors selected wanted anything to do with the appointment as they all viewed Dodge

[00:21:17] as toxic and still in charge. These rejections opened the door for a young 33-year-old prosecutor named

[00:21:24] Thomas Dewey. Dewey was born and raised in the small town of Ovaloso, Michigan by his father George,

[00:21:29] a newspaper owner and his mother Annie who instilled in Thomas a healthy respect for common sense

[00:21:35] and the man or woman who possessed it. A leader from an early age, Dewey at age 13 managed a

[00:21:41] newspaper and magazine business with nine other boys all working for him. After serving as president

[00:21:46] of his high school class, he graduated from the University of Michigan undergraduate in 1923

[00:21:51] and Columbia Law School in New York City in 1925. Dewey's quick 10-year ascension included high

[00:21:57] profile stints as a federal prosecutor and in private practice for one of the city's top firms.

[00:22:03] Despite his success in New York City, Dewey, his wife Francis and two sons, lived 65 miles north

[00:22:09] of the city on a farm they named Dappelmeer. While Dewey was wildly successful in the high stakes

[00:22:15] grind of the city, his heart and soul remained as a small town kid with small town values.

[00:22:20] My farm is my roots, he told a reporter. I work like a horse five days and five nights a week

[00:22:25] for the privilege of getting to the country on the weekend. Despite his age, what brought Dewey

[00:22:30] to the attention of Governor Lehman and many others by the early 30s was Dewey's efforts in

[00:22:35] tackling corruption in the city, specifically against known mobsters like Waxi Gordon. An associate

[00:22:41] of Arnold Rossstein who famously helped fix the 1919 World Series, Gordon ran Rossine's East Coast

[00:22:47] operations. Gordon made millions every year while paying next to nothing in Texas. Dewey and his

[00:22:52] task force worked tirelessly to uncover the proof that would put Gordon away. Gordon kept his

[00:22:57] illegal money in more than 200 bank accounts, none of which were in his name, so Dewey and his

[00:23:02] team sifted through more than 200,000 deposit slips to connect the dots and show how Gordon had done it.

[00:23:08] Once Dewey had the proof he needed, an indictment and trial followed. Dewey was the youngest man

[00:23:14] to prosecute such a case from the southern district in New York City history. He so thoroughly

[00:23:19] presented and argued the case that the jury found Gordon guilty on all counts in less than an

[00:23:23] hour's deliberation. The judge himself was so impressed with Dewey's performance, he told him

[00:23:29] and the entire courtroom quote, never in this court or any other court has such fine work been

[00:23:35] done by government attorneys. If ever again I hear the criticism that there are no longer enthusiastic

[00:23:40] and able young men in the government, I shall refer them to the speaker in this case.

[00:23:45] With Governor Layman now turning to Thomas Dewey in 1935, Dewey, in part political shrewdness

[00:23:52] and in part courageousness, told Layman he too would not accept the role unless several conditions

[00:23:57] were met. Overall and most importantly, Dewey said he would have to operate completely independent

[00:24:03] from district attorney Dodge in perception, reality, and physical location. To that end,

[00:24:09] Dewey would need to receive his own budget that he was in complete control of. He would get to

[00:24:14] hire and fire his own staff and he would select his own office location. Layman agreed to all terms.

[00:24:21] Except in the job, Dewey chose his location first, Manhattan's famous Woolworth building on Broadway,

[00:24:27] known as the Cathedral of Commerce and until 1930 the tallest building in the world. Former

[00:24:33] tenants included Columbia Records, Nicola Tesla, and just a few years earlier for several hours

[00:24:38] each week, Eunice Carter herself as a Fordham Law student on the 26th floor.

[00:24:43] Thousands of lawyers applied to work on Dewey's team. After all, it was one of the most prestigious

[00:24:48] and high profile opportunities in the country whose every move would be chronicleed on radio

[00:24:53] stations and in newspapers throughout New York and the country.

[00:25:03] If that wasn't enough, being in the throes of the Great Depression, there were so many

[00:25:07] looking for work, there were thousands of incredibly talented lawyers willing to work for a small

[00:25:11] fraction of what they'd once made just to have a job. Dewey interviewed hundreds of candidates

[00:25:17] himself. He spent all day each day interviewing, only to find his elf work, dozens more candidates

[00:25:23] lined up outside of the Woolworth building hoping to throw their hat in the ring too.

[00:25:28] Over the span of a few months he hired 20 prosecutors and a total staff of 76.

[00:25:34] Dewey prided himself on being able to spot talent and his instinct proved right.

[00:25:39] Among his 20 prosecutors, William Rogers went on to become both Attorney General and then Secretary of

[00:25:44] State. Frank Hogan became District Attorney of Manhattan, and most others became some of the top

[00:25:50] lawyers and judges in the country. Dewey also prided himself on hiring a diverse workforce,

[00:25:56] and while 19 of his 20 prosecutors were white men, they were politically diverse, six Democrats

[00:26:01] and seven Republicans, as well as religiously diverse, with Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant lawyers.

[00:26:07] And despite all of that being ahead of its time for the 1930s, what got the vast majority

[00:26:12] of the headlines was Dewey's hiring of Eunice Hunt and Carter on August 5th, 1935.

[00:26:18] Of the 20 she was the 10th lawyer hired. I hired Mrs. Carter the first day I met her said Dewey.

[00:26:24] She has made good and commands the respect of the bench of the city.

[00:26:28] Dewey lauded his 20 prosecutors as, quote, the ableist group of lawyers in the country.

[00:26:34] Indeed, Dewey's eye for talent was matched only by his ability to engender loyalty.

[00:26:39] No one from the original staff was let go or left the effort at any point.

[00:26:45] Just as he had with his list of requests to take the job of special prosecutor,

[00:26:49] so too did Dewey leave nothing to chance when it came to his team's ability to do their jobs.

[00:26:54] He outfitted each window of the 14th floor of the Woolworth building with heavy blinds so

[00:26:58] that no one could look in from a nearby building with a telescope to see whom they were speaking with.

[00:27:03] Dewey hired his own stenographer to ensure against any leaks of testimony given by witnesses.

[00:27:08] Papers in the office trash cans were burned daily.

[00:27:11] Phone lines that cannot be tapped were installed.

[00:27:14] The building's staff was investigated to ensure they were accounted for,

[00:27:17] and rotating undercover police were positioned as patrons throughout the building

[00:27:20] to watch for any potential underworld figures.

[00:27:23] In short, nothing was left to chance.

[00:27:26] Once Dewey had his team and his approach in place, it was time to speak to the public and ask

[00:27:31] them for help. Dewey addressed the nation in a radio address on July 30 to lay out what he

[00:27:37] envisioned the effort to look like. He stated clearly that the fight was not just his or his

[00:27:41] teams but every Americans. It was against organized gangs of low-grade outlaws who lacked either

[00:27:48] the courage or the intelligence to earn an honest living, do he said. They succeed only so long as

[00:27:54] they can pray upon the fears and weaknesses of disorganized or timid witnesses.

[00:27:58] They fail, he continued, when business and the public awaken to their own strength stand up and fight.

[00:28:05] Do we implored citizens to take action? If you have evidence of organized crime, bring it to us.

[00:28:11] The rest is our job. We will do our best.

[00:28:15] Encom they did. By the thousands in person to the Woolworth building, by phone or signed and

[00:28:21] anonymous letters. As with all please for information, much of what the team got were dead ends,

[00:28:27] but Dewey had promised not only anonymity but action and results. So his office took

[00:28:32] each complaint seriously. The staff was organized into a divide and conquer approach.

[00:28:37] Some focused on tips about bribes paid to public officials. Others focused on tips about policy

[00:28:43] rackets or numbers games or any other racket that was built on organized crime pressuring

[00:28:47] local business. But the largest number of tips by far were those about prostitutes and brothels.

[00:28:53] Dewey had made clear that his office was not after vice crimes. After all, there was a

[00:28:59] vice squad to handle those, and more importantly there had never been a connection between organized

[00:29:03] crime and prostitution. Prostitutes and brothels operated independently and came and went over the

[00:29:08] years. Still, someone had to take the statements and pursue the leads if they were any. And that job

[00:29:15] felt a unis Carter. Carter never said how she felt taking the one area of focus that Dewey had made

[00:29:20] clear he wasn't keen on prosecuting. I didn't give up a good law practice to chase after prostitutes

[00:29:26] where Dewey's exact words. Still, Carter pursued the task where their typical tenacity and attention

[00:29:31] detail. She also had some familiarity with the world of local prostitution. During her time in solo

[00:29:37] practice, she found herself trying cases in the same courts that were also trying these same

[00:29:42] prostitutes and madams. It was that familiarity coupled with hundreds if not thousands of

[00:29:47] statements and tips from concerned citizens that allow Carter to begin to see a pattern emerging

[00:29:52] from hundreds of seemingly disparate complaints. In addition to the statement to the concerned

[00:29:57] citizens there were tedious records kept from the women's court cases. Each prostitute,

[00:30:03] madame or booker's case was transcribed by the court under index cards, thousands and all.

[00:30:08] Carter had every box load of these index cards brought to her desk at the Woolworth building

[00:30:13] and she painstakingly went through each and every one of them looking for patterns and patterns

[00:30:18] did begin to emerge. When Eunice's research started, Dewey and the team's primary criminal

[00:30:24] target wasn't initially Luciano but Dutch Schultz. Even though Luciano was more powerful,

[00:30:30] Schultz was the more visible the crime bosses. Dewey and Schultz were also well acquainted since

[00:30:35] Dewey had already pursued Schultz on tax evasion in his prior role with the US Attorney's office.

[00:30:40] While Dewey took down Waxi Gordon in that role, he was unable to convince the jury to do

[00:30:45] the same with Schultz. Now armed with more of a mandate and resources, Dewey was leaving no

[00:30:50] stone unturned and finding proof of Schultz's illegal activities. Dutch Schultz, well aware of how

[00:30:56] close Dewey and his team were getting, asked Luciano in the commission for permission to kill Dewey.

[00:31:02] Luciano said no to Schultz. Killing someone as high profile as Dewey would bring way too much

[00:31:07] attention on all of them and would surely backfire. Not one to take no for an answer, Schultz unwise

[00:31:13] ly ignored Luciano and began quietly plotting the hit on Dewey anyway. Dewey already had around

[00:31:19] the clock protection after an anonymous caller to Dewey's wife, falsely told her she needed to come

[00:31:24] down to the morgue to identify her husband's body. So Schultz had Dewey tailed for weeks

[00:31:29] and learned his routine down to the minute. With that knowledge, Schultz decided the hit would take

[00:31:34] place at Dewey's local pharmacy which he frequented each morning while a security waited outside.

[00:31:39] The hit was set for October 25th, 1935. Unbeknownst to Schultz, Luciano learned that Schultz was moving

[00:31:46] forward with the Dewey assassination against the wishes of the commission. To Luciano, Schultz had

[00:31:52] now crossed a line you did not cross. The proposed hit on Dewey was bad enough, but going against

[00:31:58] the wishes of the commission could create a breakdown in the structure and order of things that

[00:32:02] wouldn't be good for any of them. Luciano called an emergency meeting of the commission and said

[00:32:07] they should take out Schultz before he could take out Dewey. All were in agreement with the exception

[00:32:12] of Luciano's friend, Meyer Lansky. Lansky profedically suggested that Schultz was Luciano's cover.

[00:32:19] If Dutch has eliminated Lansky, you're going to stand out like a naked guy who just lost his

[00:32:24] clothes. Two days before the hit on Dewey was to take place, Schultz went to one of his favorite

[00:32:30] haunts, the palace shophouse in Newark, New Jersey for dinner. When he got up to go to the bathroom,

[00:32:35] three hitmen entered the restaurant and took out Schultz's security detail.

[00:32:39] Schultz emerged from the bathroom and was either shot by the hitmen or one of his own men who

[00:32:44] lay dying on the restaurant floor. Schultz would linger another day until he too died in a nearby hospital.

[00:32:51] While Dewey was the face of the prosecutors and under the greatest threat, it's hard to imagine

[00:32:56] that the other team members didn't face threats or intimidation as well. Eunice never said

[00:33:01] whether she had come under threat, though she had sent her son Lyle Jr. to Barbados earlier

[00:33:05] that year to live with his grandparents and wouldn't send form to return until her time on the case was over.