12. Judge Crater’s disappearance led to the phrase “pulled a Crater”
Joseph Crater was a New York State Supreme Court justice whose disappearance led to the slang phrase “pulled a Crater” in reference to someone not showing up where and when expected. Crater vanished after dinner with friends at a New York restaurant. Although witnesses gave conflicting accounts of his departure from the restaurant it was generally agreed that he left in a taxi. His wife, who was in Maine expecting his return from New York, reported him missing after ten days had elapsed. Crater vanished in early August, 1930, but his missing status was not reported to the police until September 3, which made the story a widely reported news item in the New York papers. The investigation revealed Crater had destroyed several files in his office and emptied his safe deposit boxes, as well as having a clerk cash checks for large amounts of money just prior to his disappearance.
The investigation revealed links between Crater, New York showgirl June Brice, an expensive call girl named Vivian Gordon, and through the two women gangster Legs Diamond. It was revealed the Crater also had connections with Arnold Rothstein, the gangster and gambler widely believed to have been the man who provided the money used to bribe the Chicago White Sox to throw the 1919 World Series. A grand jury investigation into Crater’s activities and disappearance returned an open verdict, failed to determine whether Crater was alive or dead, or whether he had been involved in any criminal activity. Although there were later claims that Judge Crater had been killed by a bodyguard for Abe Reles of Murder Incorporated, no hard evidence was ever found, and no trace of Judge Crater was reported after his departure from the New York restaurant in 1930.
