RIP Louis Greenblott

[H2O Man]

The Broome County (NY) District Attorney who prosecuted the "mobsters" caught in the 1957 raid of the Apalachin home of Joseph "the Barber" Barbara died Thursday. Louis Greenblott, a graduate from Binghamton Central High School, would serve as the Broome County DA from the late 1950s to the early '60s. In 1962, he became the Broome County judge, and several years later, he served on the NYS Supreme Court.

This November 14th marks the 50 year anniversary of the bust. I'll try to link the Wikipedia article on the affair. Until then, FBI director J Edgar Hoover had denied that there was any significant "organized crime" in this country. Having about 100 bosses from at least three countries meeting at the rural upstate home took the air out of Hoover's position.

Louis Greenblott had moved to California after he retired, somewhere around 1980. I think the man was a hero. His family had been threatened in 1957-58, and he still did the right thing. He was 88 years old.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachin_Meeting

[Richard Steele]

1. RIP Mr. Greenblott.

[Me.]

2. Distinguished

A K & R along with a wish there were more like him.

[H2O Man]

3. Often something

like this enhances one's career. For Louis Greenblott, it may not have. Although he served with distinction as the senior associate justice in the state's second highest court, when he tried in 1974 to get the republican party's nomination for a position on the NYS Court of Appeals, the highest court in this state, the party did not back him.

A Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin article today quotes his son as saying that his father found the political process "painful." It's a shame.

[Me.]

4. Ah Yes

The good old NYS republicon party. Thank God Pataki is gone.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. K&R

[Me.]

6. A Good Day For A

:kick:

[Cooley Hurd]

7. A bit of history that I knew little about!

As always, thanks, H20 Man, for the enlightenment!:thumbsup:

However, LCN has NOTHING on America's First Crime Family, the BFEE. ;)

[H2O Man]

10. It was shocking

for the American public at that time.

One of my extended family members from Apalachin (who frequently reads DU, and infrequently posts as "Mr. Baggins") was here for the afternoon and early evening. We were discussing how many of the famous names in organized crime were there that day. It was the "who's who" of that era.

[rosesaylavee]

8. I never have understood the fascination

of the Sopranos television show or the Godfather movies. I despise the mob, the syndicate, the family, whatever they want to be called. All my life I have heard of countless senseless and cruel deaths perpetrated by these thugs. The Chicago area is riddled with them. I don't believe for a minute that Hoover didn't know they existed. This incident, being so public, probably made it hard for him to deny it and cover for them any longer.

Thank God for this man. This is the kind of character that makes our country great - someone who is willing to fight an entity so much more powerful than him with the only weapon he had available. The Rule of Law.

[H2O Man]

9. I agree.

Judge Greenblott was the type of man that society should be watching programs about and admiring.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

11. Justice loses another champion.

RIP Mr. Greenblott

[bulldogge]

12. Organized Crime

It would seem that according to Hoover it is only a matter of how you define "organized crime". Had he simply taken a look around D.C. he would have been shocked to realize many elected officials fit the bill.

As far as an individual such as Greenblott is concerned though this man obviously was putting his neck on the line in the most literal sense. How many of us can really say that in similar circumstance we would be willing to risk the lives of not only ourselves but our loved ones as well to do what above all else is right. Greenblotts decision shows the sort of courage we would all like to think we have buried somewhere deep inside us.