Lewis J. Valentine
Encyclopedia
Lewis Joseph Valentine was the New York City Police Commissioner
from 1934 to 1945, under Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia
during the Murder, Inc.
era. He was the author of an autobiography Night stick: The autobiography of Lewis J. Valentine. He was Police Commissioner of New York for eleven years, longer than any other previous person in that position. Time magazine credited him with cleaning up the department so that New York City had one of the most honest police departments in the nation.
New York City Police Commissioner
The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department, appointed by the Mayor of New York City. Governor Theodore Roosevelt, in one of his final acts before becoming Vice President of the United States in March 1901, signed legislation replacing the Police Board...
from 1934 to 1945, under Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia
Fiorello H. LaGuardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia was Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a liberal Republican. Previously he was elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930. Irascible, energetic and charismatic, he craved publicity and is acclaimed as one of the three or...
during the Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
era. He was the author of an autobiography Night stick: The autobiography of Lewis J. Valentine. He was Police Commissioner of New York for eleven years, longer than any other previous person in that position. Time magazine credited him with cleaning up the department so that New York City had one of the most honest police departments in the nation.