August 25th, 1930, was the first day of the New York Supreme Court's fall term. But its newest judge didn't show up for court. Justice Joseph Crater's lifelong ambition was to be a judge. By all accounts, he was ecstatic at his recent appointment to the bench by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. But his seat on the bench this day was inexplicably empty. In fact, no one had seen justice crater in 19 days, when he cleaned out his office, cashed a couple of checks for a fairly large sum of money, had dinner with a friend then got into a taxi, never to be seen again.

He left behind a frantic wife, a veritable harem of mistresses, and a brewing political scandal, but no solid evidence as to where he might have gone, or what might have happened to him. Could justice Crater have been the victim of the political machine, blackmail, or his own hubris? Was this the work of organized crime or a random act of violence? Or did he simply walk away of his own volition and start a new life in Chicago, California, or Canada?

Season 3 has arrived.

Welcome to Vanished: Judge Crater.

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• Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt
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Show Notes & Further Reading

• Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age New Yorkby Stephen J. Riegel 

•  Joseph Force Crater Becomes the Missingest Man in New York@ History
• Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behindby Richard J. Tofel 
• Joseph Force Crater @ Wikipedia