The last thing most newly elected District Attorneys need upon first taking office is a high profile murder case, but Benjamin Newberg, faced with just such a prospect in 1944, was undaunted.

Just a few weeks after Newberg was elected to succeed Sullivan County's long-time prosecutor William Deckelman, but before he officially took office, authorities culminated a three-and-a-half-year long manhunt by arresting murder suspect Jacob “Jack” Drucker in Wilmington Delaware. Drucker had been on the lam since indictments were handed up in March of 1940 charging him in the ice-pick murder of Walter Sage and four other homicides linked to the activities of Murder, Inc. here in the mountains.

Following his arrest in Delaware, Drucker was transported to Monticello, where he was arraigned on New Year's Eve before County Court Judge George L. Cooke. It had been Cooke who had presided over the trial of Irving “Big Gangi” Cohen in the summer of 1940, which had resulted in Cohen's acquittal. Along with Drucker, Cohen had been charged in the Sage murder, as were three others, including Murder Inc.'s most prolific hitman, Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss. While Cohen had been found not guilty and returned to California to resume his work as a Hollywood film extra, Strauss had been tried on another murder charge and convicted, eventually being put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing on June 12, 1941.

All the while, Drucker had remained in hiding, with law enforcement officials in hot pursuit. Several rumors placed the fugitive in Florida, while one particularly credible report had Drucker having been executed by his mob colleagues and his body dumped in the Neversink River.

Because of his familiarity with the murder, former District Attorney William Deckelman was named a special assistant to Newberg for the Drucker trial. Drucker would be represented by Hyman Barshay, a high-priced New York City lawyer who had unsuccessfully defended Louis “Lepke” Buchalter when that mobster was convicted and eventually executed, and Moses Kove. Adding to the drama was the fact that Newberg, Kove and Drucker had all grown up in Hurleyville, and moreover, in 1938 Newberg had defeated Kove, a Fallsburg town justice, in a close election for special County Judge.

The trial got underway in Monticello in late April, 1944. Jurors selected for the case were Jay E. Osterhout, a Ferndale chicken farmer, Mrs. Betty Cooley of Fallsburg, Mrs. Julia Sheeley of Woodbourne, Mrs. Margaret Knack of Callicoon Center, Theodore Hust, a North Branch farmer, Charles Segar, a Swan Lake farmer, Joseph Komencheck, a Cochecton chicken farmer, Mrs. Tressa Roosa of Woodbourne, David Laverty, a retired ship yard worker from Youngsville, Elston Harris, a Kiamesha carpenter, Arch A. Myers, an Eldred carpenter, and Frank Allison, a Bethel truck driver. Alternates were Philip Weintraub of Woodridge and Fred Benzinger of Westbrookville.

The key prosecution witness turned out to be Albert “Tick Tock” Tannenbaum, former mob strong arm who had grown up the son of a hotel owner in Rock Hill and Loch Sheldrake, and was once one of Drucker's accomplices. Tick Tock had been persuaded to turn state's evidence some years before, and had provided testimony against several of his former colleagues. Newberg had Tannenbaum picked up in Florida, and brought under tight security to Sullivan County to testify. While Tannenbaum was in the county his exact location was kept secret, even from Newberg's wife. Tannenbaum told the court that Drucker had discussed the murder with him and that Sage had been killed on orders from Pittsburgh Phil.

Tannenbaum's testimony proved convincing, and on May 5, 1944, after five hours of deliberation, the jury found Drucker guilty of second degree murder. On May 11, he was sentenced by Judge Cooke to be confined at hard labor in the Clinton State Prison at Dannemora from 25 years to life.

Following the trial, Newberg told the Bulletin-Sentinel newspaper that the reign of Murder, Inc. in Sullivan County had come to an end. “All of the killers in whom we were interested are either in jail or dead,” he said, closing the book on organized crime in the Catskills.

Drucker spent the rest of his life in maximum security prisons, first in Dannemora, later in Auburn, New York, and finally in Attica. He never stopped trying to overturn his conviction, and in April of 1947, shortly after he was transferred to Auburn, his attorney, Barshay, was able to get the four remaining indictments, for which Drucker never stood trial, dismissed by the court. As late as January of 1958, Drucker was still working on his own appeal.

“I was convicted and sentenced in May of 1945 (sic) to a term of 25 years to life for murder in the second degree,” he wrote to the Sullivan County Court Clerk from Attica on the 16th of that month. “Kindly send me certified copies of my indictment and extract of clerk's minutes of the sentence.

“And, if possible, I would like a copy of the judge's charge to the jury. If any expense is incurred, let me know and I will forward the amount to you as soon as possible. Thanking you for same, I beg to remain Very truly yours, Jack Drucker (10969).”

Jacob “Jack” Drucker died in the Attica Correctional Facility in January, 1962. He was 56.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. He can be contacted by e-mail at jconway52@hotmail.com.