Collection Description
The digital images in this collection portray arrested crime suspects, their rap sheets, crime scenes and crime investigation, dating from 1940–1945 and located mainly in Brooklyn. All are part of the
Burton B. Turkus Papers, an archival collection housed in the Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections Room. Turkus (1902–1982) collected and created these documents while he was a Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Homicide Division in the Office of the District Attorney, Kings County (Brooklyn), 1940–1945. The bulk of our portion of his papers focus on this portion of his career. During this time, he investigated and prosecuted key members of the organized crime syndicate based in Brownsville, Brooklyn that came to be known as “Murder Inc."
This collection was donated to the Library by Mrs. Ann Turkus in 2000 and 2007. Other portions of Turkus’ papers were donated to the
Kheel Center at Cornell University and the
Brooklyn Collection of the Brooklyn Public Library, which has digitized the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photograph Collection (1900–1950), including many images related to the investigation and prosecution of Murder, Inc. There is also a “Murder Inc.” collection at the
Municipal Archives of New York City.
More information about our collection is available in the
Burton B. Turkus Papers Finding Aid.
