Louis "Lepke" Buchalter
Defendant with Jacob Shapiro in the federal fur dressers antitrust cases. His 1936 Sherman Act conviction was reversed on appeal in 1937; he failed to appear in 1937, surrendered to J. Edgar Hoover on August 24, 1939, pleaded guilty to a federal indictment and was sentenced to fourteen years, and was handed to New York for a state trial. The FBI states he was executed at Sing Sing on March 4, 1944.
- Died
- 1944-03-04
- Aliases
- Lepke
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited records state. The photograph is a Library of Congress New York World-Telegram & Sun staff photograph, marked "No known restrictions on publication."
On the record
- 1933-11-06 — The FBI's history page states that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned two Sherman Antitrust Act indictments on November 6, 1933, against the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation and the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation and others, and that "Both Shapiro and Buchalter were named as defendants." An indictment is a charge.
- 1936-11-08 — The FBI's history page states that after the Protective Fur Dressers trial "Shapiro and Buchalter were convicted on all four counts" and that on November 12, 1936 each was sentenced to two years and a $10,000 fine.
- 1937-03-08 — United States v. Buchalter, 88 F.2d 625 (court record): the Second Circuit found "no substantial evidence to overcome the presumption of innocence" as to Buchalter and held: "The judgment as to Buchalter is reversed, but as to Shapiro it is affirmed."
- 1937-07-06 — The FBI's history page and its memorandum of July 5, 1939 state that he failed to appear when the Fur Dressers Factor case was called, forfeited bail and was declared a fugitive.
- 1937-11-08 — The FBI's memorandum of July 5, 1939 records an Attorney General's reward of $2,500 offered on November 8, 1937, after a $5,000 New York City reward of August 20, 1937; the FBI's wanted poster of the same date carries his photograph.
- 1939-08-24 — The FBI narrative "The Furdress Case" (Bufile 60-1501-4266) states that the Director, "unaccompanied, kept the rendezvous," and that "At 10:17 the search ended when "Lepke", wearing dark glasses, disguised with a mustache, kept his word."
- 1940-01-09 — United States ex rel. Buchalter v. Lowenthal, 108 F.2d 863 (court record): "The relator pleaded guilty to an indictment in the District Court for the Southern District of New York and was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment, with a cumulative suspended sentence of ten years." With the Attorney General's consent he was to be tried in the New York Court of General Sessions; the court denied a stay.
- 1944-03-04 — The FBI's history page states: "He was later tried and convicted on a state charge of murder. On March 4, 1944, he was executed at Sing Sing Prison." The state case records are not filed here.
The FBI’s history page calls him “Louis “Lepke” Buchalter,” and the Bureau’s 1939 narrative uses “Lepke” as his name. The Second Circuit’s opinions name him only as Buchalter. The Bureau’s files list further aliases in OCR that has not been checked against the page images, so they are not given here.
The federal record covers the antitrust cases, the fugitive hunt, the surrender and the federal plea. The appeals court reversed his one federal conviction that went to an appellate opinion, for want of proof. The FBI’s history page describes the violence of the fur rackets and attributes its direction to Buchalter and Shapiro; that is the Bureau’s narrative, quoted on its page, and is not a court finding. The FBI says the sentence after his surrender was on “antitrust and narcotics charges,” but no record of the narcotics case has been filed. The murder conviction and the execution were state matters and rest here on the FBI’s statement.
The FBI’s 1935 memorandum on Charles Luciano lists Buchalter among the associates of Benjamin Siegel found in a 1933 investigation, and its 1939 narrative describes his dealings in 1933. Those are the Bureau’s statements. No record filed on this page states a family, a rank, or a role in any organization.
Records
item"The Furdress Case": the FBI's narrative of the Shapiro and Buchalter surrenders (1939)An undated Bureau narrative, file 60-1501-4266, in Part 03 of the Buchalter file: Shapiro's surrender on April 14, 1938, the 1939 negotiations through Walter Winchell, and Buchalter's surrender to the Director at 10:17 on August 24, 1939. The first page is stored here.itemFBI memorandum on the Buchalter and Shapiro fugitive investigation (July 5, 1939)A Bureau memorandum of July 5, 1939, in Part 02 of the Buchalter file, setting out the 1936 sentences in the fur dressers case, Buchalter's failure to appear on July 6, 1937, and the rewards offered for him from 1937 to 1939.itemFBI Vault: Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, Part 01First of four parts of the FBI's Buchalter file: a New York field report of August 1935 on the fur dressers antitrust case, a 1937 letter from the United States Attorney, the November 1937 report that names Shapiro and Buchalter as fugitives, and 1955 and 1956 Bureau summaries.itemFBI Vault: Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, Part 02Second part of the FBI's Buchalter file, 1937 to 1939: a New York report on his background and finances, 1939 report pages, the Bureau memorandum of July 5, 1939 on the fugitive hunt, and a Los Angeles report on a search made in August 1939.
itemFBI Vault: Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, Part 03Third part of the FBI's Buchalter file: the Bureau's narrative "The Furdress Case" ending with his surrender on August 24, 1939, Los Angeles report pages from 1939, a 1956 memorandum, a 1966 Portland memorandum, and pasted newspaper clippings. Page 16 is stored here.itemFBI Vault: Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, Part 04 (Final)Final part of the FBI's Buchalter file, Sub A Section 13: mostly newspaper clippings from August 1939 that the Bureau collected on the New York racketeering grand jury, the combined reward and the search, with later clippings on Shapiro.
itemFBI wanted poster for Jacob Shapiro and Louis Buchalter, 8 November 1937FBI wanted poster for Jacob Shapiro and Louis Buchalter dated November 8, 1937, carrying their photographs. A copy is stored here.itemLouis "Lepke" Buchalter mug shots (FBI)Mug shots of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter published on the FBI's Fur Dressers Case page, captioned with his 1939 surrender and his execution on March 4, 1944. The FBI serves the image; no copy is stored here.itemLouis "Lepke" Buchalter handcuffed to a guard, 1939 (Library of Congress)World-Telegram & Sun staff photograph by Al Aumuller of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter handcuffed to a guard and getting into a van, dated 1939. A copy is stored here.itemFBI memorandum on "Charles Luciana, with aliases" (August 28, 1935)A copy of a Bureau memorandum of August 28, 1935, at the start of the FBI's Luciano file: what the Bureau's files held on him, a reporter's July 1935 account of contacts in which Luciano was said to offer help finding the fugitive Karpis, and his arrest record from 1921 to 1931.