Nelson G. Gross
Encyclopedia
Nelson Gerard Gross was an American
Republican Party
politician
who served in the New Jersey General Assembly
and as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee
. His political career ended in 1974 when he was convicted on federal charges involving the 1969 campaign of Governor William T. Cahill
. After his prison term he went on to a lucrative business career as a real estate developer and restaurateur, before being kidnapped and murdered in September 1997.
to Albert S. and Rose (Nelson) Gross. He attended Teaneck High School
and Yale University
. After graduating from Columbia Law School
he joined the law firm run by his father Albert in Englewood, New Jersey
. He married Leah Binger in 1953. After a divorce, he married Edyth Noel Love, a Guggenheim
heiress, on August 26, 1960.
After briefly serving as an assistant United States Attorney
, Gross became involved in the Bergen County
Republican Party organization, then controlled by Walter H. Jones. In 1961, at the age of 29, he was elected to a term in the New Jersey General Assembly
. In 1966 he took over as chairman of the Bergen County Republican Committee, engineering a coup to replace Jones, his former mentor.
Gross supported Richard M. Nixon over Nelson Rockefeller
in the 1968 Republican presidential primaries
. New Jersey Senator Clifford P. Case
had launched a "favorite son
" candidacy, with the aim of delivering the entire slate of New Jersey delegates to Rockefeller. Gross foiled this plan, managing to get 18 of the state's 40 delegates to support Nixon, thus helping to ensure Nixon's nomination at the Republican National Convention
.
Gross served in 1969 as Coordinator on International Narcotics Matters in the Department of State
and was sent by Secretary of State William P. Rogers
to Uruguay
.
In 1969 Gross supported William T. Cahill
in the Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey
. He organized support for Cahill in Bergen County, which proved to be critical in the primary election. After the primary Gross was rewarded by being named Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee
by Cahill.
Gross resigned from the chairmanship in April 1970 and announced his candidacy for United States Senator, with the backing of Governor Cahill. Cahill's support helped him win the Republican primary, but he lost in the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Harrison A. Williams
, by about 200,000 votes.
In 1971 Gross was appointed by President Nixon as special assistant for international narcotics control in the office of the Secretary of State
. In early 1973 he returned to New Jersey to practice law.
began investigating irregularities involving campaign finances during Cahill's 1969 gubernatorial campaign. Gross was indicted in May 1973 on five counts of tax fraud and perjury. He was charged with advising businessman William H. Preis to conceal a $5,000 campaign contribution as a tax-deductible business expense and then telling Preis to lie to a federal grand jury
. Gross was convicted on all five counts in March 1974.
After several appeals failed, Gross surrendered to federal authorities to begin a two-year prison term in June 1976. He would eventually serve just over six months of the term.
, a restaurant converted from an old ferry moored off the shoreline of Edgewater, New Jersey
. He was a principal in the Jinep Corporation, which held the lease on a 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) waterfront lot in Edgewater, with tenants including a tennis club, a movie theater, a motel, a strip mall and an office building.
Gross and his wife Noel maintained homes in Saddle River, New Jersey
; Bridgehampton, New York
; and Palm Beach, Florida
. Though Nelson Gross had abandoned his political career, Noel Love Gross remained active in Republican party politics. During the Reagan
administration she was a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations
, and she later served on the Republican National Committee
. She is a long-serving commissioner and former chairwoman of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
and the Hudson River
.
Three teenagers from Washington Heights, Manhattan
, one of whom worked as a busboy at the Binghamton, were arrested for the robbery and murder of Gross, eventually pleading guilty to the crimes. They admitted to abducting Gross at gunpoint, forcing him to drive to a bank to withdraw money, and then killing him in a secluded spot along the Henry Hudson Parkway. Two of the accomplices were given the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while a third, who had entered into a plea agreement, was sentenced to 17 years.
Dinah Lenney
, Gross's daughter by his first wife Leah, wrote a memoir about her father's murder, Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, published in 2007 by University of Nebraska Press
(ISBN 978-0803229761).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who served in the New Jersey General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
and as Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee
New Jersey Republican State Committee
The New Jersey Republican State Committee is the affiliate of the Republican Party in New Jersey. The Committee was founded in 1880. The party is led by Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee Sam Raia of Saddle River, New Jersey.-Membership:...
. His political career ended in 1974 when he was convicted on federal charges involving the 1969 campaign of Governor William T. Cahill
William T. Cahill
William Thomas Cahill was an American Republican Party politician who served as the 46th Governor of New Jersey, from 1970 to 1974, and who represented New Jersey's 1st congressional district in the U.S...
. After his prison term he went on to a lucrative business career as a real estate developer and restaurateur, before being kidnapped and murdered in September 1997.
Political career
Gross was born in 1932 in Teaneck, New JerseyTeaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
to Albert S. and Rose (Nelson) Gross. He attended Teaneck High School
Teaneck High School
Teaneck High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, which is part of the Teaneck Public Schools district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. After graduating from Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
he joined the law firm run by his father Albert in Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
. He married Leah Binger in 1953. After a divorce, he married Edyth Noel Love, a Guggenheim
Guggenheim family
The Guggenheim family is an American family, of Swiss Jewish ancestry. Beginning with Meyer Guggenheim, who arrived in America in 1847, the family were known for their global successes in mining and smelting . During the 19th century, the family possessed one of the largest fortunes in the world...
heiress, on August 26, 1960.
After briefly serving as an assistant United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
, Gross became involved in the Bergen County
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
Republican Party organization, then controlled by Walter H. Jones. In 1961, at the age of 29, he was elected to a term in the New Jersey General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
. In 1966 he took over as chairman of the Bergen County Republican Committee, engineering a coup to replace Jones, his former mentor.
Gross supported Richard M. Nixon over Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
in the 1968 Republican presidential primaries
Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1968
The 1968 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1968 U.S. presidential election...
. New Jersey Senator Clifford P. Case
Clifford P. Case
Clifford Philip Case was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives and the State of New Jersey in the United States Senate .-Biography:Clifford P. Case was born in Franklin Park in Somerset County, New Jersey...
had launched a "favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
" candidacy, with the aim of delivering the entire slate of New Jersey delegates to Rockefeller. Gross foiled this plan, managing to get 18 of the state's 40 delegates to support Nixon, thus helping to ensure Nixon's nomination at the Republican National Convention
1968 Republican National Convention
The 1968 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968....
.
Gross served in 1969 as Coordinator on International Narcotics Matters in the Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
and was sent by Secretary of State William P. Rogers
William P. Rogers
William Pierce Rogers was an American politician, who served as a Cabinet officer in the administrations of two U.S. Presidents in the third quarter of the 20th century.-Early Life :...
to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
In 1969 Gross supported William T. Cahill
William T. Cahill
William Thomas Cahill was an American Republican Party politician who served as the 46th Governor of New Jersey, from 1970 to 1974, and who represented New Jersey's 1st congressional district in the U.S...
in the Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
. He organized support for Cahill in Bergen County, which proved to be critical in the primary election. After the primary Gross was rewarded by being named Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee
New Jersey Republican State Committee
The New Jersey Republican State Committee is the affiliate of the Republican Party in New Jersey. The Committee was founded in 1880. The party is led by Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee Sam Raia of Saddle River, New Jersey.-Membership:...
by Cahill.
Gross resigned from the chairmanship in April 1970 and announced his candidacy for United States Senator, with the backing of Governor Cahill. Cahill's support helped him win the Republican primary, but he lost in the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Harrison A. Williams
Harrison A. Williams
Harrison Arlington "Pete" Williams, Jr. was a Democrat who represented New Jersey in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate . Williams was convicted on May 1, 1981 for taking bribes in the Abscam sting operation, and resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1982...
, by about 200,000 votes.
In 1971 Gross was appointed by President Nixon as special assistant for international narcotics control in the office of the Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
. In early 1973 he returned to New Jersey to practice law.
Conviction
In early 1973 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New JerseyUnited States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. Paul J. Fishman was sworn into office as U.S. Attorney on October 14, 2009 after having been nominated by President Barack Obama. He succeeded Ralph J. Marra, who served as Acting U.S....
began investigating irregularities involving campaign finances during Cahill's 1969 gubernatorial campaign. Gross was indicted in May 1973 on five counts of tax fraud and perjury. He was charged with advising businessman William H. Preis to conceal a $5,000 campaign contribution as a tax-deductible business expense and then telling Preis to lie to a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
. Gross was convicted on all five counts in March 1974.
After several appeals failed, Gross surrendered to federal authorities to begin a two-year prison term in June 1976. He would eventually serve just over six months of the term.
Business career
After Gross was paroled in December 1977, he returned to Bergen County, managing a real estate business and operating the Binghamton FerryboatBinghamton (ferryboat)
The Binghamton is a retired ferryboat that operated from 1905 to 1967 transporting passengers across the Hudson River between Manhattan and Hoboken. She was built for the Hoboken Ferry Company of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and was designed to carry 986 passengers plus vehicles....
, a restaurant converted from an old ferry moored off the shoreline of Edgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 11,513...
. He was a principal in the Jinep Corporation, which held the lease on a 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) waterfront lot in Edgewater, with tenants including a tennis club, a movie theater, a motel, a strip mall and an office building.
Gross and his wife Noel maintained homes in Saddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 3,152. Saddle River has the second-highest per-capita income in the state...
; Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton is a hamlet in the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,381 at the 2000 census....
; and Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
. Though Nelson Gross had abandoned his political career, Noel Love Gross remained active in Republican party politics. During the Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
administration she was a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and she later served on the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
. She is a long-serving commissioner and former chairwoman of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Kidnapping and murder
Gross went missing on the morning of September 17, 1997. He was last seen driving his BMW on River Road in Edgewater near his restaurant, the Binghamton Ferryboat. Other men were seen in the car with Gross as he drove to a bank near the restaurant and withdrew $20,000. A weeklong manhunt ensued, ending with the discovery of Gross's slashed and bludgeoned body on a wooded embankment between the Henry Hudson ParkwayHenry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
and the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
.
Three teenagers from Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
, one of whom worked as a busboy at the Binghamton, were arrested for the robbery and murder of Gross, eventually pleading guilty to the crimes. They admitted to abducting Gross at gunpoint, forcing him to drive to a bank to withdraw money, and then killing him in a secluded spot along the Henry Hudson Parkway. Two of the accomplices were given the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while a third, who had entered into a plea agreement, was sentenced to 17 years.
Dinah Lenney
Dinah Lenney
Dinah Lenney is an American actress and writer. She is the author of Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, a 2007 book about the murder of her father, Republican Party politician and businessman Nelson G. Gross.-Biography:...
, Gross's daughter by his first wife Leah, wrote a memoir about her father's murder, Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, published in 2007 by University of Nebraska Press
University of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
(ISBN 978-0803229761).
External links
- Biographical information for Nelson G. Gross from The Political GraveyardThe Political GraveyardThe Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 224,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information.-History:...