Barney Ruditsky



In 1939, future LA private eye and Barney Ruditsky was enmeshed in a bribery scandal stemming from his in the NYPD’s Gangster Industrial Squad, which disbanded in 1933. A former Communist, Maurice L. Malkin, accused Ruditsky and other officers of corruption in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Malkin testified that the furriers union, which was controlled by Communists, borrowed $1.75 million from racketeer Arnold Rothstein to finance a 1926 strike, and that $110,000 of that went to members of the Industrial Squad, including Ruditsky. No action was taken against the officers. Similar charges had been made in 1927 by the American Federation of Labor, and the officers were exonerated.