Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 JUNE 2016 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com Legends “My half-brother always gets me into trouble” On March 8, 1952, all 15 employees were sitting at their desks at the Manufactures Trust Company at 47th Street and Queens Boulevard. It was a picture perfect scene of diligence as branch manager, Robert Hoffman, and assistant manager, John McCauley, arrived a few minutes late just after 9:30 AM. The officers went right to work as they had an urgent request, as the first order of the day, of a large withdrawal. They led several gentlemen into the cellar vault. As each door was opened, bills were transferred and stacked neatly into a bag. The gentlemen, brandishing revolvers, ordered everyone into the cellar. After telling the employees neither to touch anything nor to call the police for ten minutes - they promptly left. They were not customers, but bank robbers led by the legendary Willie Sutton. Their take was a few dollars shy of cool $64,000. Authorities called it “Willie’s Masterpiece.” On March 10, the Long Island Star–Journal gave readers details on the “Houdini” of the underworld’s career. Sutton, one of the few men to ever successfully escape Sing Sing Prison, did his first bank ‘job’ at the Ozone Park National Bank in 1926. Little was heard of him for weeks, although the Star–Journal noted that he had placed on the F.B.I.’s Ten Most Wanted List and added that “F.B.I. men, working on the Sunnyside holdup, also hinted they would very much like to question Willie about his whereabouts at the time of the $1,500,000 Brinks robbery the previous January.” Later in the month Willie was back in the headlines. The Star- Journal told its readers that his landlady, Mary Corbett, was being questioned by the Queens District Attorney in Long Island City. She stated that “the last time she saw Willie (who went by the name Edward Lynch) was on March 9th, the day after the robbery.” When she saw photos of Sutton in the newspapers after the hold-up, she asked him about it. He said “they were photos of my half-brother, who is always getting me into trouble.” Miss Corbett told police that she and Sutton watched the 1949 Saint Patrick’s Day parade on Fifth Avenue – at a time when the bandit was being sought all over the country. On January 2, 1951, two bandits held up the Woodside Savings and Loan Association. They escaped with $19,400. The robbery followed a pattern similar to the Manufactures heist: they entered the bank through a window in the rear and hid in a conference room until bank employees arrived for work. During that year’s St Patrick’s Parade ipolice reported that kids lining the parade route were chanting “Willie Sutton! – Willie Sutton!” right into the officers’ faces. Not only were bank robbers copying Willie’s technique, but he was becoming a folk hero. Law enforcement vowed to get their man. It took a year, but they did and it led to perhaps the most famous comment ever uttered in Long Island City Court House history.
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