Victor Riesel
Encyclopedia
Victor Riesel was an American
newspaper
journalist
and columnist
who specialized in news
related to labor unions
. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated
to 356 newspapers in the United States
. In an incident which made national headlines for almost a year, a gangster
threw sulfuric acid
in his face on a public street in New York City
on April 5, 1956, causing his permanent blindness
.
of Manhattan
in New York City
to Nathan and Sophie Riesel. The family lived in a cold water flat
near the elevated tracks of the New York City Subway
. The Riesels were Jewish
, and their neighbors were primarily Jews and Italian American
s. Victor's father, Nathan Riesel, had helped organize
the Bonnaz, Singer, and Hand Embroiderers' Union, Local 66, of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1913, and held the Card No. 1 in the local union. In time, Nathan Riesel was appointed a staff member of the union and elected secretary-treasurer and then president of the local union. Victor attended elementary school
at P.S. 19 (now the Judith K. Weiss School).
When Victor was three years old, his father taught him to make pro-union speeches and would take his son to rallies and union meetings and have the boy recite the speeches for onlookers. Attending union meetings, indoor and outdoor rallies, and standing on street corners promoting the union formed many of Victor Riesel's childhood and teenage memories. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nathan Riesel successfully opposed Communist Party USA
attempts to infiltrate activists into the local union and turning its purpose to promotion of the party (a strategy known as "boring from within"). Throughout his childhood and teenage years, he saw his father come home bleeding many times after fistfights with communist activists or gangsters. This conflict left a deep impression on Victor.
The family moved to the Bronx when Riesel was 13 years old. Academically gifted, Victor Riesel graduated from Morris High School
at the age of 15. While in high school, Riesel began typing stories about the American labor movement and sending them to English language
newspapers around the world, charging a dollar for publication rights. He typed the same story over and over (sometimes as many as 15 times) to make it look like an original (his goal being to sell the same story to many newspapers rather than many stories to a single newspaper), and earned a significant income from this work.
He enrolled in City College of New York
(CCNY) in 1928, taking classes at night in human resource management
and industrial relations. He worked several different jobs to support himself, and found employment in a hat factory, lace
plant, steel mill
, and saw mill. He was appointed director of undergraduate publications at the college, working as an editor, columnist, and literature
and theatre
critic
. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration
from CCNY in 1940.
During his undergraduate years at CCNY, Riesel began working as a gofer
at The New Leader
. After graduation in 1940, he became the magazine's managing editor.
Two additional events in Riesel's life led him to a career as a labor reporter. The first occurred on March 6, 1930, during a visit to his father's union offices. Riesel saw a man weeping on the stairs because he had no job and his famiy had no food to eat. The second occurred in 1942. Nathan Riesel was now fighting organized crime
influence in his union, and despaired of keeping his local out of criminal hands. Nathan Riesel was very badly beaten by gangsters in 1942, and died five years later (in part due to the injuries suffered during and surgeries related to this attack).
Riesel married the former Evelyn Lobelson after graduating from college. The couple had a son, Michael, in 1942 and a daughter, Susan, in 1949.
He was hired by The New York Post in 1941. His column became nationally syndicated in 1942. He left the Post in 1948 after a change in management, and joined William Randolph Hearst
's New York Daily Mirror
. Within eight years, his column was syndicated in 193 newspapers.
His investigation of Communist Party infiltration of the National Maritime Union
led Representative
Louis B. Heller
to introduce legislation in 1951 to investigate the charges. In 1951 and 1952, Riesel provided Senator
Pat McCarran
with information that led to a Senate investigation into communist influence in the United Public Workers of America
. In 1952, he publicly alleged before the Subcommittee on Internal Security
(led at the time by Sen. McCarran) that Local 65 of the Distributive, Processing and Office Workers of America was controlled by the Communist Party. The same year, he denounced Genovese crime family
boss Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio
for engaging in labor racketeering
. Anastasio sued Riesel for $1 million for libel, but the suit was thrown out of court.
In 1956, Riesel began working with United States Attorney
Paul Williams to rein in labor racketeering in the New York City garment and trucking industries.
(a famous restaurant in Manhattan). Riesel had been reporting on corruption in the International Union of Operating Engineers
and its then-President, William C. DeKoning, Jr. He had recently alleged that DeKoning was conspiring with Joseph S. Fay (a convicted labor racketeer and extortion
ist) to re-establish his father, William C. DeKoning, Sr. (who had recently been freed from prison after serving a sentence for extortion) as president of the union. Although Riesel had received numerous death and other threats over the past few months, he had dismissed them as the work of "cranks."
The attack occurred shortly after a Riesel radio broadcast. Barry Gray
, radio station WMCA
's overnight talk radio
host, had asked Riesel to substitute for him. Riesel invited two IUOE Local 138 leaders who were challenging the DeKonings for control of the local union to join him for the broadcast. The broadcast originated from Hutton's Restaurant at 47th Street
and Lexington Avenue
shortly after midnight on April 5, and concluded at 2 AM. Afterward, Riesel and his secretary went to Lindy's restaurant, located on Broadway
between 49th Street and 50th Street
. They had coffee, and departed Lindy's at 3 AM to walk to the secretary's automobile. Riesel removed his eyeglasses, which he did by habit when in public. A slender, black-haired man in blue and white jacket stepped out of the shadows of the entrance to the Mark Hellinger Theatre
and threw a vial of sulphuric acid into Riesel's eyes. Riesel shouted, "My gosh! My gosh!", and clutched at his face. While the secretary and others rendered assistance and dragged Riesel into Lindy's, the assailant walked calmly away.
The acid struck Riesel's right eye more than the left. Riesel's eyes were flushed with water inside Lindy's, but patrons stopped administering aid for fear of doing further damage. Riesel was taken to St. Clare's Hospital on East 71st Street, where doctors worked to save his vision. Measures to counteract the acid were not taken until Riesel arrived at St. Clare's, 40 minutes after the attack. On May 4, doctors said that Riesel had completely lost his sight (see the right photograph in the infobox, above). In December 1956, Riesel described the amount of acid as a "deluge" which covered most of his cheeks, eyes, and forehead. Portions of Riesel's face (see right photo, above, compared to left photo, particularly the left cheek, jaw line, and jowls; the eyebrows; and the forehead) were permanently scarred as well. Riesel wore dark glasses for the rest of his life to hide his damaged eyes, which many people found difficult to look at.
The Daily Mirror immediately offered a $10,000 reward for information identifying the assailant and leading to his conviction. The Newspaper Guild of New York, New York Press Photographers Association
, Overseas Press Club
, New York Newspaper Reporters Association, and the Society of Silurians (a Welsh
cultural society) immediately raised the reward to $15,000. By week's end, donations from labor unions, radio station WMCA, and other groups had increased the reward to $41,000.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) identified Abraham Telvi
as the assailant in August 1956, but Telvi had been murdered on July 28, 1956, by mobsters for demanding an additional $50,000 on top of the $500 he had already received for the crime. On August 29, 1956, Genovese crime family underboss
Johnny Dio was arrested for conspiracy in the Riesel attack, pled not guilty, and was released on $100,000 bond even though prosecutors later publicly linked him to the Telvi murder.
Joseph Carlino, a Dio associate who had hired Telvi to attack Riesel, pled guilty on October 22, and prosecutors severed Dio's trial from the others. Carlino later testified that Dio had ordered Genovese mob associate Gandolfo Maranti to find a hitman and identify Riesel, and that Maranti had contacted Dominick Bando to assist him in finding the hitman (Bando contacting Carlino, who sought out Telvi). Maranti and Bando were then found guilty (Bando pleading guilty at the last moment). Conspiracy charges against Dio were later dropped despite the convictions. Dio's attorney delayed the trial for nearly five months with motions. When the trial finally began, Carlino and Miranti recanted their pre-trial statements and courtroom testimony, claiming they did not know who had ordered the attack on Riesel. By September 1957, the government no longer sought to prosecute Dio for the attack. Miranti received 8 to 16 years in prison and Bando 2 to 5 years in prison for the acid attack and another five years for contempt of court
. Carlino received a suspended sentence for cooperating with the prosecution, and three other co-conspirators were freed after the judge in their case declared a mistrial. The Daily Mirror paid one witness $5,000 in 1961 for information leading to the identification of Abraham Telvi as the assailant.
The attack on Riesel had significant implications for national American labor policy. President
Dwight Eisenhower (who had seen Riesel on Meet the Press
) told AFL-CIO
President George Meany
that he was so incensed by the attack on Riesel that he intended to introduce legislation designed to root out corruption in labor unions. Clark R. Mollenhoff
, editor of the Des Moines Register
, was so alarmed by the attack on Riesel that he ordered extensive investigations into trade union corruption. Mollenhoff's investigative efforts unearthed much evidence that Teamsters
President Jimmy Hoffa
was engaged in labor racketeering. The attack also convinced Robert F. Kennedy
, then chief legal counsel for the Senate Committee on Government Operations
, to lead an investigation into labor racketeering. Kennedy's investigations (as well as subsequent labor scandals) led to the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management
. This committee's investigations led directly to the passage of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
, which imposed financial reporting requirements on labor unions, limited the power of trusteeships, established many member and employer rights, and created additional unfair labor practice
s governing unions.
The acid attack vastly boosted Riesel's national popularity. He began a regular television program
on WRCA-TV, and a regular weekly radio program on WEVD
. He continued to write his column, typing it himself while his wife read newspapers and wire service
articles to him.
. Initially, his views focused on both fascism
and communism
. As early as 1939, he joined John Dewey
's newly formed Committee for Cultural Freedom
, which was opposed to totalitarianism
in all its forms. In 1941, he told the Union for Democratic Action
that Rep. Martin Dies, Jr.
was intent on establishing a national fascist police force to suppress freedom of speech in the United States.
Riesel's attacks on fascism lessened over the years, and he focused almost exclusively on communism after 1950. Riesel's attacks on communism extended beyond labor unions. He attacked folk musician
Vern Partlow
for promoting communism and undermining American national security with his 1945 talking blues
song "Atomic Talking Blues" (also known as "Talking Atom" and "Old Man Atom"). In 1949, he was named a director of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding Anti-Communist China, a part of the China Lobby
. At least one author alleges that Riesel even cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency
beginning in the early 1950s, providing information on liberal politicians and union leaders. In the early 1950s, he supported a movement to stop the importation of goods from the Soviet Union
into the United States, and for a time longshoremen
on the East Coast
refused to unload Soviet ships due to Riesel's campaign. During the height of McCarthyism
in the early 1950s, he also became interested in purging homosexuals
from federal civil service. He publicly called for a "preventive war" with the Soviet Union in 1951, and demanded that President Harry S. Truman
drop the atomic bomb
on Russia and China
. He strongly criticized Malcolm X
for meeting with Shirley Graham Du Bois
and Julian Mayfield
in the mid-1960s, and accused Malcolm X of fomenting communist conspiracies. In the early 1970s, Riesel became an unofficial advisor to President Richard Nixon
. He supported Nixon in his column, discussed labor union issues and outreach to working-class voters with him personally over the phone, and occasionally met with Cabinet
members. Even as late as 1973, Riesel was defending COINTELPRO
, a series of covert
and often illegal projects conducted by the FBI aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations
in the U.S.
Riesel was intimately involved in the Hollywood blacklist
of the late 1940s and 1950s. He strongly criticized Samuel Fuller
's 1951 Korean War
film
The Steel Helmet
for promoting communism and portraying American soldiers as murderers. He also attacked the 1954 pro-union film Salt of the Earth
as communistic, and implied that the production's on-location proximity to Los Alamos National Laboratory
and the Nevada Test Site
was a cover for Soviet spying on the American nuclear weapons program. Riesel saw it as his patriotic duty to publicize allegations of communist influence made against actors, directors, producers, and others (especially those claims made by conservative actors Adolphe Menjou
and Ward Bond
). As the blacklist lifted, Riesel agreed to allow his column to become a means for blacklisted individuals to admit their offenses, denounce communism, and become active in the motion picture industry again. Along with Hedda Hopper
and Walter Winchell
, he would meet privately with these individuals, assess the sincerity of their penance
, and then work with them to help rehabilitate their careers if he believed they were being honest with him. Riesel was considered fair in his assessments.
Riesel was elected a director of the Overseas Press Club in 1962, and the organization's president in 1966 (he served a single one-year term).
Riesel retired his column in 1990.
Riesel died of cardiac arrest
at his apartment in Manhattan aged 81. His wife, son, and daughter survived him.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
who specialized in news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
related to labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
to 356 newspapers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In an incident which made national headlines for almost a year, a gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
threw sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
in his face on a public street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on April 5, 1956, causing his permanent blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
.
Early life
Riesel was born on the Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Nathan and Sophie Riesel. The family lived in a cold water flat
Cold water flat
A cold water flat is an apartment that has no running hot water.In most developed countries, current building codes make cold water flats illegal, but they used to be common in cities such as Detroit and Chicago, through the mid-twentieth century....
near the elevated tracks of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
. The Riesels were Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, and their neighbors were primarily Jews and Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
s. Victor's father, Nathan Riesel, had helped organize
Union organizer
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers....
the Bonnaz, Singer, and Hand Embroiderers' Union, Local 66, of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1913, and held the Card No. 1 in the local union. In time, Nathan Riesel was appointed a staff member of the union and elected secretary-treasurer and then president of the local union. Victor attended elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
at P.S. 19 (now the Judith K. Weiss School).
When Victor was three years old, his father taught him to make pro-union speeches and would take his son to rallies and union meetings and have the boy recite the speeches for onlookers. Attending union meetings, indoor and outdoor rallies, and standing on street corners promoting the union formed many of Victor Riesel's childhood and teenage memories. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nathan Riesel successfully opposed Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
attempts to infiltrate activists into the local union and turning its purpose to promotion of the party (a strategy known as "boring from within"). Throughout his childhood and teenage years, he saw his father come home bleeding many times after fistfights with communist activists or gangsters. This conflict left a deep impression on Victor.
The family moved to the Bronx when Riesel was 13 years old. Academically gifted, Victor Riesel graduated from Morris High School
Morris High School (Bronx, New York)
Morris High School was a high school in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It was built in 1897. It was the first high school built in the Bronx...
at the age of 15. While in high school, Riesel began typing stories about the American labor movement and sending them to English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
newspapers around the world, charging a dollar for publication rights. He typed the same story over and over (sometimes as many as 15 times) to make it look like an original (his goal being to sell the same story to many newspapers rather than many stories to a single newspaper), and earned a significant income from this work.
He enrolled in City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
(CCNY) in 1928, taking classes at night in human resource management
Human resource management
Human Resource Management is the management of an organization's employees. While human resource management is sometimes referred to as a "soft" management skill, effective practice within an organization requires a strategic focus to ensure that people resources can facilitate the achievement of...
and industrial relations. He worked several different jobs to support himself, and found employment in a hat factory, lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
plant, steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
, and saw mill. He was appointed director of undergraduate publications at the college, working as an editor, columnist, and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...
from CCNY in 1940.
During his undergraduate years at CCNY, Riesel began working as a gofer
Gofer
A gofer or go-fer is an employee who is often sent on errands. "Gofer" reflects the likelihood of instructions to go for coffee, dry cleaning, or stamps, or to make other straightforward or familiar procurements. The term gofer originated in North America...
at The New Leader
The New Leader
The New Leader was a political and cultural magazine begun in 1924 by a group of figures associated with the Socialist Party of America, including Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas, and published in New York by the American Labor Conference on International Affairs. Its orientation is liberal and...
. After graduation in 1940, he became the magazine's managing editor.
Two additional events in Riesel's life led him to a career as a labor reporter. The first occurred on March 6, 1930, during a visit to his father's union offices. Riesel saw a man weeping on the stairs because he had no job and his famiy had no food to eat. The second occurred in 1942. Nathan Riesel was now fighting organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
influence in his union, and despaired of keeping his local out of criminal hands. Nathan Riesel was very badly beaten by gangsters in 1942, and died five years later (in part due to the injuries suffered during and surgeries related to this attack).
Riesel married the former Evelyn Lobelson after graduating from college. The couple had a son, Michael, in 1942 and a daughter, Susan, in 1949.
Journalism career
Victor Riesel's labor journalism career formally began in 1937 when he started writing a regular column on labor union issues.He was hired by The New York Post in 1941. His column became nationally syndicated in 1942. He left the Post in 1948 after a change in management, and joined William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's New York Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...
. Within eight years, his column was syndicated in 193 newspapers.
His investigation of Communist Party infiltration of the National Maritime Union
National Maritime Union
The National Maritime Union was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in July 1937...
led Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Louis B. Heller
Louis B. Heller
Louis Benjamin Heller was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York....
to introduce legislation in 1951 to investigate the charges. In 1951 and 1952, Riesel provided Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Pat McCarran
Pat McCarran
Patrick Anthony McCarran was a Democratic United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until 1954, and was noted for his strong anti-Communist stance.-Early life and career:...
with information that led to a Senate investigation into communist influence in the United Public Workers of America
United Public Workers of America
The United Public Workers of America was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees which existed from 1946 to 1952. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal executive branch employees from...
. In 1952, he publicly alleged before the Subcommittee on Internal Security
United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security
The Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951-77, more commonly known as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and sometimes the McCarran Committee, was authorized under S...
(led at the time by Sen. McCarran) that Local 65 of the Distributive, Processing and Office Workers of America was controlled by the Communist Party. The same year, he denounced Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
boss Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio
Anthony Anastasio
Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio was a New York City mobster and labor racketeer for the Gambino crime family who controlled the Brooklyn dockyards for over thirty years...
for engaging in labor racketeering
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
. Anastasio sued Riesel for $1 million for libel, but the suit was thrown out of court.
In 1956, Riesel began working with 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...
Paul Williams to rein in labor racketeering in the New York City garment and trucking industries.
Acid attack
The most publicized aspect of Riesel's career was an April 5, 1956, attack in which sulphuric acid was thrown in his face as he was leaving Lindy'sLindy's
Lindy's is a deli and restaurant with two locations in New York City, at 825 7th Avenue and 401 7th Avenue . Lindy's is best known for its original incarnation which opened in 1921 on Broadway...
(a famous restaurant in Manhattan). Riesel had been reporting on corruption in the International Union of Operating Engineers
International Union of Operating Engineers
The International Union of Operating Engineers is a trade union within the AFL-CIO representing primarily construction workers who work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics, surveyors, and stationary engineers who maintain heating and other systems in buildings and industrial complexes, in the...
and its then-President, William C. DeKoning, Jr. He had recently alleged that DeKoning was conspiring with Joseph S. Fay (a convicted labor racketeer and extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
ist) to re-establish his father, William C. DeKoning, Sr. (who had recently been freed from prison after serving a sentence for extortion) as president of the union. Although Riesel had received numerous death and other threats over the past few months, he had dismissed them as the work of "cranks."
The attack occurred shortly after a Riesel radio broadcast. Barry Gray
Barry Gray (radio)
Barry Gray was an influential American radio personality, often labeled as "The father of Talk Radio"....
, radio station WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
's overnight talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
host, had asked Riesel to substitute for him. Riesel invited two IUOE Local 138 leaders who were challenging the DeKonings for control of the local union to join him for the broadcast. The broadcast originated from Hutton's Restaurant at 47th Street
47th Street (Manhattan)
47th Street is an east-west running street between First Avenue and the West Side Highway in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs one way along the street, from east to west, starting at the United Nations Headquarters....
and Lexington Avenue
Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)
Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
shortly after midnight on April 5, and concluded at 2 AM. Afterward, Riesel and his secretary went to Lindy's restaurant, located on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
between 49th Street and 50th Street
50th Street (Manhattan)
50th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street runs eastbound from 12th Avenue, across the full width of the island, ending at Beekman Place and carries the M50 bus line, which returns on 49th Street...
. They had coffee, and departed Lindy's at 3 AM to walk to the secretary's automobile. Riesel removed his eyeglasses, which he did by habit when in public. A slender, black-haired man in blue and white jacket stepped out of the shadows of the entrance to the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Mark Hellinger Theatre
The Mark Hellinger Theatre is a generally used name of a former legitimate Broadway theater, located at 237 West 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Since 1991, it has been known as the Times Square Church...
and threw a vial of sulphuric acid into Riesel's eyes. Riesel shouted, "My gosh! My gosh!", and clutched at his face. While the secretary and others rendered assistance and dragged Riesel into Lindy's, the assailant walked calmly away.
The acid struck Riesel's right eye more than the left. Riesel's eyes were flushed with water inside Lindy's, but patrons stopped administering aid for fear of doing further damage. Riesel was taken to St. Clare's Hospital on East 71st Street, where doctors worked to save his vision. Measures to counteract the acid were not taken until Riesel arrived at St. Clare's, 40 minutes after the attack. On May 4, doctors said that Riesel had completely lost his sight (see the right photograph in the infobox, above). In December 1956, Riesel described the amount of acid as a "deluge" which covered most of his cheeks, eyes, and forehead. Portions of Riesel's face (see right photo, above, compared to left photo, particularly the left cheek, jaw line, and jowls; the eyebrows; and the forehead) were permanently scarred as well. Riesel wore dark glasses for the rest of his life to hide his damaged eyes, which many people found difficult to look at.
The Daily Mirror immediately offered a $10,000 reward for information identifying the assailant and leading to his conviction. The Newspaper Guild of New York, New York Press Photographers Association
New York Press Photographers Association
The New York Press Photographers Association is an association of photojournalists whowork for news organizations in the print and electronic media based within a seventy-five mile radius of Manhattan...
, Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
, New York Newspaper Reporters Association, and the Society of Silurians (a Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
cultural society) immediately raised the reward to $15,000. By week's end, donations from labor unions, radio station WMCA, and other groups had increased the reward to $41,000.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) identified Abraham Telvi
Abraham Telvi
Abraham Telvi was a Jewish-American mobster and hitman for New York labor racketeer Johnny Dio, known most notably for blinding crusading New York journalist Victor Riesel with acid.-Biography:...
as the assailant in August 1956, but Telvi had been murdered on July 28, 1956, by mobsters for demanding an additional $50,000 on top of the $500 he had already received for the crime. On August 29, 1956, Genovese crime family underboss
Underboss
Underboss is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss...
Johnny Dio was arrested for conspiracy in the Riesel attack, pled not guilty, and was released on $100,000 bond even though prosecutors later publicly linked him to the Telvi murder.
Joseph Carlino, a Dio associate who had hired Telvi to attack Riesel, pled guilty on October 22, and prosecutors severed Dio's trial from the others. Carlino later testified that Dio had ordered Genovese mob associate Gandolfo Maranti to find a hitman and identify Riesel, and that Maranti had contacted Dominick Bando to assist him in finding the hitman (Bando contacting Carlino, who sought out Telvi). Maranti and Bando were then found guilty (Bando pleading guilty at the last moment). Conspiracy charges against Dio were later dropped despite the convictions. Dio's attorney delayed the trial for nearly five months with motions. When the trial finally began, Carlino and Miranti recanted their pre-trial statements and courtroom testimony, claiming they did not know who had ordered the attack on Riesel. By September 1957, the government no longer sought to prosecute Dio for the attack. Miranti received 8 to 16 years in prison and Bando 2 to 5 years in prison for the acid attack and another five years for contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
. Carlino received a suspended sentence for cooperating with the prosecution, and three other co-conspirators were freed after the judge in their case declared a mistrial. The Daily Mirror paid one witness $5,000 in 1961 for information leading to the identification of Abraham Telvi as the assailant.
The attack on Riesel had significant implications for national American labor policy. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Dwight Eisenhower (who had seen Riesel on Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
) told AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
President George Meany
George Meany
William George Meany led labor union federations in the United States. As an officer of the American Federation of Labor, he represented the AFL on the National War Labor Board during World War II....
that he was so incensed by the attack on Riesel that he intended to introduce legislation designed to root out corruption in labor unions. Clark R. Mollenhoff
Clark R. Mollenhoff
Clark R. Mollenhoff was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, lawyer, and columnist for The Des Moines Register.-Life and career:...
, editor of the Des Moines Register
Des Moines Register
The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. A separate edition of the Register is sold throughout much of Iowa.-History:...
, was so alarmed by the attack on Riesel that he ordered extensive investigations into trade union corruption. Mollenhoff's investigative efforts unearthed much evidence that Teamsters
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
President Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa was an American labor union leader....
was engaged in labor racketeering. The attack also convinced Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, then chief legal counsel for the Senate Committee on Government Operations
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
, to lead an investigation into labor racketeering. Kennedy's investigations (as well as subsequent labor scandals) led to the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management
United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management
The United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management was a select committee created by the United States Senate on January 30, 1957, and dissolved on March 31, 1960...
. This committee's investigations led directly to the passage of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 , is a United States labor law that regulates labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers.-Background:...
, which imposed financial reporting requirements on labor unions, limited the power of trusteeships, established many member and employer rights, and created additional unfair labor practice
Unfair labor practice
In United States labor law, the term unfair labor practice refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act and other legislation...
s governing unions.
The acid attack vastly boosted Riesel's national popularity. He began a regular television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
on WRCA-TV, and a regular weekly radio program on WEVD
WWRV
WWRV 1330 is a Spanish Christian music and teaching station and serves the New York area. It is owned by Radio Vision Cristiana Management.For years 1330 was WEVD, named after Eugene V. Debs, which ran mostly Jewish programming and owned by The Forward. By the '60s they also had 97.9 WEVD-FM...
. He continued to write his column, typing it himself while his wife read newspapers and wire service
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
articles to him.
Anti-communist views
Riesel was a militant anti-communistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Initially, his views focused on both fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. As early as 1939, he joined John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
's newly formed Committee for Cultural Freedom
Committee for Cultural Freedom
The Committee for Cultural Freedom was an American political organization active from 1939 to 1951 which advocated opposition to the totalitarianism of both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in foreign affairs, and promoted pro-democratic reforms in public and private institutions domestically...
, which was opposed to totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
in all its forms. In 1941, he told the Union for Democratic Action
Union for Democratic Action
The Union for Democratic Action was an American political organization advocating liberal policies and the preservation and extension of democratic values domestically and overseas...
that Rep. Martin Dies, Jr.
Martin Dies, Jr.
Martin Dies, Jr. was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. His father, Martin Dies, was also a member of the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:...
was intent on establishing a national fascist police force to suppress freedom of speech in the United States.
Riesel's attacks on fascism lessened over the years, and he focused almost exclusively on communism after 1950. Riesel's attacks on communism extended beyond labor unions. He attacked folk musician
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
Vern Partlow
Vern Partlow
Vern Partlow was an American newspaper reporter and folk singer who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He composed the popular satirical song "Old Man Atom," which was famously banned during the period...
for promoting communism and undermining American national security with his 1945 talking blues
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
song "Atomic Talking Blues" (also known as "Talking Atom" and "Old Man Atom"). In 1949, he was named a director of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding Anti-Communist China, a part of the China Lobby
China Lobby
In United States politics, the China lobby refers to any special interest group acting on behalf of the governments of either the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China to influence Sino-American relations. During most of the twentieth century, the term "China lobby" was usually used...
. At least one author alleges that Riesel even cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
beginning in the early 1950s, providing information on liberal politicians and union leaders. In the early 1950s, he supported a movement to stop the importation of goods from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
into the United States, and for a time longshoremen
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
refused to unload Soviet ships due to Riesel's campaign. During the height of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
in the early 1950s, he also became interested in purging homosexuals
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
from federal civil service. He publicly called for a "preventive war" with the Soviet Union in 1951, and demanded that President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
drop the atomic bomb
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
on Russia and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He strongly criticized Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
for meeting with Shirley Graham Du Bois
Shirley Graham Du Bois
Shirley Graham Du Bois was an American-born author, playwright, composer, and activist for African-American and other causes, as well as spouse of noted African-American thinker, writer, and activist W. E. B...
and Julian Mayfield
Julian Mayfield
Julian Hudson Mayfield was an American actor, director, writer, lecturer and Civil Rights activist.-Early life:...
in the mid-1960s, and accused Malcolm X of fomenting communist conspiracies. In the early 1970s, Riesel became an unofficial advisor to President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. He supported Nixon in his column, discussed labor union issues and outreach to working-class voters with him personally over the phone, and occasionally met with Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
members. Even as late as 1973, Riesel was defending COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
, a series of covert
Covert operation
A covert operation is a military, intelligence or law enforcement operation that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation...
and often illegal projects conducted by the FBI aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
in the U.S.
Riesel was intimately involved in the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
of the late 1940s and 1950s. He strongly criticized Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
's 1951 Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Steel Helmet
The Steel Helmet
The Steel Helmet is a war film directed by Samuel Fuller and produced by Lippert Studios during the Korean War. It was the first film about the war, and the first of several war films by producer-director-writer Fuller.-Plot:...
for promoting communism and portraying American soldiers as murderers. He also attacked the 1954 pro-union film Salt of the Earth
Salt of the Earth
Salt of the Earth is an American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics....
as communistic, and implied that the production's on-location proximity to Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
and the Nevada Test Site
Nevada Test Site
The Nevada National Security Site , previously the Nevada Test Site , is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of the city of Las Vegas...
was a cover for Soviet spying on the American nuclear weapons program. Riesel saw it as his patriotic duty to publicize allegations of communist influence made against actors, directors, producers, and others (especially those claims made by conservative actors Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
and Ward Bond
Ward Bond
Wardell Edwin "Ward" Bond was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm were featured in over 200 movies and the television series Wagon Train.-Early life:...
). As the blacklist lifted, Riesel agreed to allow his column to become a means for blacklisted individuals to admit their offenses, denounce communism, and become active in the motion picture industry again. Along with Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
and Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
, he would meet privately with these individuals, assess the sincerity of their penance
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
, and then work with them to help rehabilitate their careers if he believed they were being honest with him. Riesel was considered fair in his assessments.
Later life
Victor Riesel retired from the Daily Mirror in 1963 but continued to publish his syndicated column. Three men who leased coin-operated pool tables to establishments in California sued Riesel for libel in 1965, alleging that his column on racketeering in the vending industry defamed them.Riesel was elected a director of the Overseas Press Club in 1962, and the organization's president in 1966 (he served a single one-year term).
Riesel retired his column in 1990.
Riesel died of cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
at his apartment in Manhattan aged 81. His wife, son, and daughter survived him.