Look Back at New York’s Criminal Past Through the New York Daily News Archives

Tabloid's storied crime photographs comprise a new 'Taste of New York Noir' gallery.

September 4, 2017 5:00 am
New York's Criminal Underworld
William Patrick Farrell screams as he lunges toward a photographer taking his picture in van outside Police Headquarters, March 3, 1955. (Al Amy/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

The New York Daily News has been published in New York City since 1919 and was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. With a constant emphasis on news photography—for 71 years the paper’s slogan was “New York’s Picture Newspaper”—the News has covered every kind of New York City crime, from mob to murder, documenting it all in photos, BuzzFeed reports.

Getty images put together these iconic black-and-white photos into a gallery: “The Taste of New York Noir.”It includes shots from 1931 of Harry F. Powers, a serial killer who was known as the Butcher of Clarksburg. The paper also covered the murder of Albert Anastasia, who ran a gang of hired killers for organized crime called Murder, Inc. in the late 1930s. A News photographer was even there to cover the death of Thomas Bilotti and crime boss Paul Castellano after they were shot to death in a mob hit in 1985 outside Sparks Steak House.

Peruse some of the infamous crime photos from the News below.

New York's Criminal Underworld
Several women and men caught in vice raid being led out of police wagon to be questioned on March 03, 1941. (Breuer/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Police raid and destroy illegal gambling devices, June 23, 1948. (George Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Infamous Murder, Inc. hitman Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles (center) in a police mug shot, November 4, 1938. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Confessed murderer of NYU student Ann Yarrow, William Patrick Farrell screams as he lunges toward a photographer taking his picture in van outside Police Headquarters, March 3, 1955. (Al Amy/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
New York's Criminal Underworld
Edward Metelski (left), who murdered a policeman and was known as the ‘Jersey Dillinger,’ and Paul Semenkewitz sit bruised and bleeding after they escaped from Middlesex County Jail and were captured by police, December 18, 1935. (Fred Morgan/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Convicted muggers John Kerr and Peter Macon charge at New York Daily News photographer Phil Grietzer at the West 68th Street Precinct on Jan. 19, 1955. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Bettmann Archive
New York's Criminal Underworld
Property Clerk Thomas Rosetti (center, wearing black coat and badge) helps the narcotics squad detectives dump illicit narcotics into the Department of Sanitation incinerator, April 24, 1963. (Frank Castoral/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Neil Simonelli (left) and Joseph Annunziata, teenagers who confessed to murdering junior high math teacher Irwin Goodman, as they entered Felony Court with detectives, October 3, 1942 (NY Daily News via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Patrolmen Rubin and Mack check robbery suspect David Perlman who was beaten while resisting arrest, November 4, 1953. (Tom Gallagher/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Assortment of guns, bombs, and ammunition believed to belong to Prohibition-era mobster, hitman, and bootlegger Jack ‘Legs’ Diamond. Detectives Francis McCarthy (left) and Alexander McCoregney are examining the assortment of pipe bombs, pineapple grenades, bullet proof vests, and other crime paraphernalia, October 13, 1930. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Flanked by police, shooting suspect Gerald Charles Wilson leaves Roosevelt Hospital, November 14th 1949. (Phil Greitzer/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Leon Liss, Barney Mortillaro, Milton ‘Shuffles’ Goldberg, Louis Liss, Pasquale Chicarelli, and gang leader Richard Reese Whittemore (l. to r.) in a police lineup, after they were implicated in a jewelry heist, March 25, 1926. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
New York City Police Commissioner William P. O’Brien smashes illegal pinball machines in a warehouse in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, March 30, 1945. (Art Edger/NY Daily News via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Burglary suspect is arrested by two police officers in the Bronx as he descends fire escape, December 19, 1964. (Al Aaronson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images
New York's Criminal Underworld
Mary Louise Truly, a.k.a. Ginger, with narcotics officers Al Spinosa and Jerry Valente after her arrest. Detectives hold Lilac-scented marijuana cigarettes that she was allegedly selling, August 06, 1954. (Tom Baffer/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
NY Daily News via Getty Images

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