Record
Hearing
1951-03-15
U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, via Internet Archive
Kefauver Part 7: further testimony of Frank C. Bals on the police detail guarding Abe Reles (15 March 1951)
Recalled in New York, Bals said the detail guarding Reles came directly under him, that he was not present when Reles fell, that Reles was "one of the chief witnesses" in the Murder, Inc. case, and that he refused a request for records about the death and retired. Pp. 1112-1113.
- Date
- 1951-03-15
- Kind
- hearing
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Rights
- A hearing print of the United States Senate, published by the Government Printing Office. A work of the United States Congress, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The Internet Archive item marks it not in copyright.
Bals was recalled on 15 March 1951 during the committee’s New York sessions; the date comes from the contents page, which places that day at pages 1085 to 1198. Most of his testimony concerns his police career and pension. The Reles passage is at printed pages 1112 and 1113.
He said that in 1940 he was assigned to the district attorney’s office and “did work on Murder, Inc. The results of that were that there were seven men electrocuted in Brooklyn” (printed page 1112). Asked by counsel Rudolph Halley about a dispute with Mayor LaGuardia over records “involved in the unexplained death of Abe Reles,” he said he had no dispute, but that a communication came through which he felt he could not answer without revealing confidential material; asked whether he “flatly refused,” he answered: “That’s right; and I retired” (printed pages 1112 and 1113).
Asked whether he was in charge of the detail guarding Reles, he said: “That came directly under me, yes, sir.” He said he was not physically present when Reles fell, and that the men under him were. Asked whether Reles was the chief witness in the Murder, Inc. case, he said: “Well, he was one of the chief witnesses. … Tannenbaum is a better witness than Reles” (printed page 1113). These are his answers under oath. Counsel’s phrase “unexplained death” is a question, not a finding.
