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Most of the Rothstein enterprises were deep in debt. His election bets were calculated to pull him out of a bad hole. Necessarily, he was slow about taking up his IOU's. The trouble was, he had been slow that way before. His tongue could be as sharp in debt as it could be smooth in velvet. The creditors grew restive. They persuaded George McManus, whom Rothstein trusted, to call him over for a "creditors' meeting" one evening last month. Rothstein got the call in the little restaurant and started over to the Park Central Hotel where McManus was registered as "George Richards," in Room 349.
Murder. Some of the Park Central's guests thought they heard a shot. A taxi-driver thought he heard another cab backfire. Anyway, Rothstein was found inside a locked service entrance on the ground floor of the Park Central, staggering, with a bullet in his groin. He declined to say where or by whom he had been shot. He soon died. Outside the hotel, a discharged gun was found, dented by a fall of perhaps three stories. . . .
Muddle. There had been six "big" unsolved murders in New York City in the past 18 months. This looked like a seventh. A storm of reproaches and sarcasm gathered when, after ten days, no arrest had been made. Newspapers hinted broadly at "Protection."
Mayor. A dapper, quick-eyed gentleman in an easy chair at the City Hall—a Manhattanite with sporting instincts not unlike Rothstein's except that his gambling is in votes and publicity—could stand it no longer. Once before, under deadly parallel circumstances, a Mayor of New York had lost caste when a gambler's murderers were brought to justice slowly during his administration.* So Mayor James John Walker called for his Police Commissioner and gave him a certain number of days to get "action."
Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren was a slender, mild-mannered, long-nosed man whom Mayor Walker had called to the most difficult post in any city administration f after he had made a good record as Commissioner of Accounts. There was no intimation that he was not doing his honest best, but the Rothstein case contained dark dangers for Tammany Hall. The city's Republicans began talking about putting up a strong candidate to run against Mayor Walker next year. It became obvious that "for the good of the service," i.e. Mayor Walker's political welfare, Commissioner Warren would be obliged to resign.
McManus. The appearance of Gambler McManus, was the next major development. Through his lawyer he "surrendered" to one of his brother's fellow detectives. He pleaded "not guilty." He was held without bail and District Attorney Banton announced: "We have a beautiful case of circumstantial evidence." Gambler McManus, who refused to talk to Attorney Banton, smiled. He knew that warrants were out for the arrest of Jane Doe, John Doe and Richard Roe—persons as yet uncaught by Attorney Banton but suspected perhaps more than McManus of having actually committed the murder in Room 349. Further apprehensions were still delayed last week. The Grand Jury indicted McManus and one Hyman (''Gillie") Biller, the late Rothstein's "payoff" man, for first-degree murder. Biller remained at large.