Talk:Joseph Force Crater

Source?
Can we get a source on Sally Lee Jones' disappearance?

Polar Bear?
The Coney Island Polar Bears claim that “Among early Polar Bear members could be counted … Supreme Court Justice Crater, long famed for his disappearance.” Is there a source for this, and would it be worth mentioning? JDAWiseman (talk) 23:12, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Conflicting Information
The New York Times published an article shortly after the New York Post article cited on this page, which says that: the money Crater took with him was later recovered, not used for an escape; there is no evidence of Crater entering a taxi; and authorities were skeptical of the recent letter's claims (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/nyregion/20crater.html). All of this information should be conveyed on the page. 76.23.157.102 (talk) 01:34, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip; I've taken a step toward updating the section. I haven't seen Tofel's book but it sounds as if the famous story of Crater getting into a cab and waving his hat as it sped away is nothing more than folklore. Some more adjustments are needed. Ewulp (talk) 02:53, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Mrs. Crater's odd comment
I remember seeing a documentary about this years ago where they played a newsreel from some time after the disappearance where his wife said "I believe Judge Crater is dead. Notice I do not say murdered". Is there something about this we could include? It's been speculated about, obviously, as to whether she knew more than she was telling and/or whether she had been threatened or paid off to say something that would "end" the case. Daniel Case (talk) 03:51, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Note to Mrs Crater
Is there any source indicating what the note that was found with the money actually said? I'm curious. Jedikaiti (talk) 18:34, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
 * The first page of the letter is reproduced in "The Empty Robe" by Stella Crater. Barpoint (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 23:29, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Current -dollar equivalent mismatch
In section "Receiving a phone call while on vacation":

"$5,150 (equivalent to about $67,115 in today's funds)"

In section "Legacy":

"Warner Bros. advertised they would pay $10,000 (equivalent to about $167,938 in today's funds)"

I don't know what the equivalent of $1 in 1930 is today, but somebody's math is a little off in one or both of the above sections. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.79.224.1 (talk) 23:52, 19 September 2010 (UTC)


 * The $5150 figure is from 1930, and the $10,000 from Warner Bros. was 3 years later in 1933. The US was in a deflationary period during the 1930's, so the dollar was, in fact, worth more in 1933 than it was in 1930. 65.87.25.155 (talk) 21:53, 13 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Both values were calculated with the Template:Inflation template. You can try it out in the WP:Sandbox. WeeWillieWiki (talk) 00:41, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

The missingest man in Metropolis
Even among a younger audience, the case was well-known enough to be referenced in World's Finest #40 (May 1949) as "Justice Carter who disappeared 20 years ago". Asat (talk) 01:29, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

The Mafia
It's really no mystery. He was in the Mafia's thrall somehow (he owed them, they owed him, etc. etc.) and they murdered him, and the girlfriend that was going to talk to officials about corruption. This is not surprising as it would appear most of New York's "finest" and the judiciary were on the Mafia's payroll back in the 1930's. Lucky Luciano once bragged that the only thing he couldn't fix was a traffic ticket. Ah, the good ol' days. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.138.88.233 (talk) 06:02, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Joseph Force Crater. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100613070713/http://charleyproject.org/cases/r/ritz_sally.html to http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/ritz_sally.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 13:59, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

In popular culture
(Last time I added an entry like this to Wikipedia it quickly got removed despite being completely accurate - on alternative history where Hitler won WW2. So I'll stick it here first to see. Wikipedia - clique or club? This will help me decide and whether to add accurate stuff to any page in future). In the 6th episode of Star Trek : Enterprise (called Terra Nova) they solve the longstanding mystery of the Terra Nova colony disappearance, and then reference how the longstanding mystery of Judge Crater still remained unsolved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr gobrien (talk • contribs) 09:15, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't doubt that it's accurate, but it's so trivial that I really don't think it needs to be in the article. On the other hand, it's no worse than some of the other items there, especially the last four. Station1 (talk) 19:24, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
 * As always, it would be nice, first, to try to source the incident. If it is unsourcable, then, as Station1 says, it's probably too trivial to be mentioned. --regentspark (comment) 19:41, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Possible explanation to Judge Crater's Disappearance
Hello everyone interested in the subject, I recently read The Hoods by Harry Grey, which are the memoirs (written in 1953)of a New York gangster who was active in the 1930s. In chapter 39, he alludes to a Supreme Court Judge whose body he was called in to "take care of" and I believe he is referring to Joseph Force Crater. Of course, the narrator himself admits, in chapter 12, that he will alter the truth a little while telling his story (so as to avoid prosecution, among other things), so he may have decided to take credit for Crater's disappearance while in fact he had nothing to do with it, but I find it strange that the book isn't mentionned in the "Popular Culture" section...? Please forgive me if the explanation is obvious, I am by no means an expert in gangs-related trivia ! 2A01:CB08:B0A:2D00:95B0:2DDA:992E:DFC1 (talk) 11:46, 16 September 2022 (UTC)