RAGTIME COP: INSPECTOR HAYES OF THE NOTORIOUS TENDERLOIN

Ragtime Cop is a historical detective story centering on a famous New York Police Inspector who was involved in a sensational scandal mentioned in "THE GREAT GATSBY." It's a richly detailed tale of the New York underworld and upperworld and the cops who cared for them, including a popular Police Lieutenant, Charles Becker, who got the electric chair for his troubles. Rhinelander Waldo, the Police Commissioner whom Jimmy Cagney portrays in the movie, "RAGTIME" (1980), plays a large role in this history. Inspector Cornelus Hayes, in whose Fourth Inspection District much of the mayhem occurred in 1912, is the great grandfather of the author, so his story is told with personal insight. The New York press hyped up the scandal about police corruption and the wages of gambling, which included the murder of a gambler and the execution of a cop. Herman Rosenthal was the unfortunate gambler whom F.Scott Fitzgerald referred to in his 1925 novel. The contemporaray media-- newspapers, photographs and silent movies-- illustrate how public clamor affected the lives of the rich and famous in Ragtime. The debate about the DA's deliberate framing of Lieutenant Becker is discussed using historical references. This book also proves the innocence of The Ragtime Cop, Inspector Hayes, using the testimony of "Lieuetenant "Honest Dan" Costigan-- Lieut. Becker's fellow "Strong Arm Squad" leader to break up the gangs of New York-- and Inspector Titus, who said they were "Waldo's words, not Hayes's." The involvement of Deputy Commissioner "Honest Jim" Dillon, the star of "SPARROW COP"-- the book about the author's other great grandfather in the NYPD in 1912-- is told. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 which Inspector Hayes took charge of the investigation leads to his Hollywood connections-- from John Wayne to A Star Is Born-- beginning with Viola Dana, star of "THE CHILDREN OF EVE" (1915) about the Triangle fire and other movies by Bernard Durning, (the brother of Inspector Hayes's son-in-law, Harry M. Durning of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration). A Broadway musical, "TENDERLOIN" (1960), even features songs about Inspector Hayes!. This shows how The Ragtime Cop, who had been a household name in Ragtime became a legend in American culture.