25 Haunting Photos Of New York City Murder Scenes Of Decades Past

Weegee’s striking crime scene photos that captured “the details and drama, the humor and the horror, along the city’s streets.”

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1 of 26Mott Street. 1925.Bettmann/Getty Images 2 of 26Mafia kingpin Joe Masseria holds the ace of spades, “the death card,” in his hand following his 1931 murder on the orders of infamous gangster “Lucky” Luciano in a Coney Island restaurant.

Bettmann/Getty Images 3 of 261943Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images 4 of 261916Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images 5 of 26The brown 1968 Buick Skylark, belonging to Robert Violante, parked in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, where Violante and Stacy Moskowitz were shot by American serial killer, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. “Son of Sam”). Moskowitz died after the shooting, while Violante was partially blinded. 1977.NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 6 of 26Murder scene outside an “amusement arcade” in downtown Brooklyn. 1959.Bettmann/Getty Images 7 of 261933Tom Watson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 8 of 26A crowd gathers around the body of John Masseria, Joe “The Boss” Masseria’s brother, as police arrive at the murder scene on 19th Street. 1937. John Tresilian/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 9 of 261916Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images 10 of 26Gangland murder on East 102nd Street. 1937. Bettmann/Getty Images 11 of 261938NY Daily News via Getty Images 12 of 26Bullet holes line the back of the stage at the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated. 1965.Stanley Wolfson/Wikimedia Commons 13 of 26Murder victim and gangster David Beadle, also known as “David the Beetle,” in front of Spot Beer Tavern in Manhattan. 1939. Note Arthur “Weegee” Fellig to the right. Bettmann/Getty Images 14 of 26David Beadle’s murder scene. 1939.Bettmann/Getty Images 15 of 26Watched by a curious crowd, a policeman straddles the body of a murder victim lying on the pavement outside a New York City bar. 1942.Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images 16 of 261940Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images 17 of 26A police officer crouches under the rear end of a taxi jacked up on a crate and garbage can as the dead body of a man who was hit by the cab lies underneath. 1943.Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images 18 of 26Police examine the murder scene of infamous mafioso Albert Anastasia, gunned down in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel. 1957.George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 19 of 26Forensic detectives take the fingerprints of murdered store owner Joseph Gallichio, as he lies on the roof beside his cage of racing pigeons. 12 East 106th Street. 1941. Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images 20 of 26View of a murder/suicide scene in Central Park. 1952.Bettmann/Getty Images 21 of 26George Silva, 19, lies on the steps of a rooming house, dead after inhaling heroin. 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images 22 of 261957Al Aaronson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 23 of 26Crime scene rope stretched across the intersection of Hester and Mulberry Streets in Little Italy, blocking off Umberto’s Clam House, where reputed mobster Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo was killed. 1972.Bettmann/Getty Images 24 of 26Mafia boss Paul Castellano lies dead after being killed in front of Sparks Steakhouse at 46th Street and Third Avenue. 1985. Thomas Monaster/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 25 of 26Body of hooker killed by serial killer Joel Rifkin and placed inside an oil drum is investigated by police. 1992.Ken Murray/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images 26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

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25 Vintage Murder Scenes From Old New York View Gallery

You can’t talk about New York City crime scene photography without talking about a guy known as “Weegee.” The country’s first successful freelance tabloid photographer, Arthur “Weegee” Fellig photographed hundreds of crime scenes in the post-Depression, post-Prohibition era in the Big Apple.

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31 Vintage Crime Scenes Brought To Life In Stunningly Gruesome Color

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31 Vintage Crime Scenes Brought To Life In Stunningly Gruesome Color

Amazing Vintage Crime Scenes Of New York, Then And Now

From Gangsters To Gentrification: 8 New York Mob Murder Scenes Then And Now

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1 of 26Mott Street. 1925.Bettmann/Getty Images

2 of 26Mafia kingpin Joe Masseria holds the ace of spades, “the death card,” in his hand following his 1931 murder on the orders of infamous gangster “Lucky” Luciano in a Coney Island restaurant.

Bettmann/Getty Images

3 of 261943Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

4 of 261916Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images

5 of 26The brown 1968 Buick Skylark, belonging to Robert Violante, parked in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, where Violante and Stacy Moskowitz were shot by American serial killer, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. “Son of Sam”). Moskowitz died after the shooting, while Violante was partially blinded. 1977.NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

6 of 26Murder scene outside an “amusement arcade” in downtown Brooklyn. 1959.Bettmann/Getty Images

7 of 261933Tom Watson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

8 of 26A crowd gathers around the body of John Masseria, Joe “The Boss” Masseria’s brother, as police arrive at the murder scene on 19th Street. 1937. John Tresilian/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

9 of 261916Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images

10 of 26Gangland murder on East 102nd Street. 1937. Bettmann/Getty Images

11 of 261938NY Daily News via Getty Images

12 of 26Bullet holes line the back of the stage at the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated. 1965.Stanley Wolfson/Wikimedia Commons

13 of 26Murder victim and gangster David Beadle, also known as “David the Beetle,” in front of Spot Beer Tavern in Manhattan. 1939. Note Arthur “Weegee” Fellig to the right. Bettmann/Getty Images

14 of 26David Beadle’s murder scene. 1939.Bettmann/Getty Images

15 of 26Watched by a curious crowd, a policeman straddles the body of a murder victim lying on the pavement outside a New York City bar. 1942.Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

16 of 261940Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

17 of 26A police officer crouches under the rear end of a taxi jacked up on a crate and garbage can as the dead body of a man who was hit by the cab lies underneath. 1943.Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

18 of 26Police examine the murder scene of infamous mafioso Albert Anastasia, gunned down in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel. 1957.George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

19 of 26Forensic detectives take the fingerprints of murdered store owner Joseph Gallichio, as he lies on the roof beside his cage of racing pigeons. 12 East 106th Street. 1941. Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images

20 of 26View of a murder/suicide scene in Central Park. 1952.Bettmann/Getty Images

21 of 26George Silva, 19, lies on the steps of a rooming house, dead after inhaling heroin. 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images

22 of 261957Al Aaronson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

23 of 26Crime scene rope stretched across the intersection of Hester and Mulberry Streets in Little Italy, blocking off Umberto’s Clam House, where reputed mobster Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo was killed. 1972.Bettmann/Getty Images

24 of 26Mafia boss Paul Castellano lies dead after being killed in front of Sparks Steakhouse at 46th Street and Third Avenue. 1985. Thomas Monaster/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

25 of 26Body of hooker killed by serial killer Joel Rifkin and placed inside an oil drum is investigated by police. 1992.Ken Murray/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

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25 Vintage Murder Scenes From Old New York View Gallery

25 Vintage Murder Scenes From Old New York

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Why the name “Weegee”? One guess is his paranormal-like ability to get to a scene before the fuzz:

Or the nickname might have something to do with his humble origins:

Regardless of how he got the name, it’s deeply ironic that such a playful-sounding figure was best known for capturing, in vivid black and white, photographs of fresh corpses strewn throughout New York.

Weegee’s pioneering work is indeed still hard to look at today, and is far more gruesome than anything a 21st-century tabloid would run. But it wasn’t artless. As David Gonzalez of The New York Times writes, Weegee eschewed the “just-the-facts approach of routine police crime scene photography” to capture “the details and drama, the humor and the horror, along the city’s streets.”

The gallery above captures a number of Weegee’s photos, along with some taken by other contemporaneous shutterbugs, in addition to crime scene photographs taken in New York City in the decades just after Weegee’s grimy reign.

Is there aesthetic value in a collection so grisly? Author Tristan H. Kirvin, for one, writing about an exhibit of New York crime scene photos in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, says yes — with an asterisk:

If your curiosity is morbid enough, and your stomach is strong — judge for yourself.

Next, see some of the grisliest mob hits of decades past in New York and beyond. Then, see more of the most compelling photographs ever taken by Weegee.

Weegee’s striking crime scene photos that captured “the details and drama, the humor and the horror, along the city’s streets.”#

Weegee’s striking crime scene photos that captured “the details and drama, the humor and the horror, along the city’s streets.”