Samuel Schepps (? – 12 January 1936), also known as Schapps, was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

mobster with the

Monk Eastman Gang The Eastman Gang was the last of New York's street gangs which dominated the city's underworld during the late 1890s until the early 1910s. Along with the Five Points Gang under Italian-American Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, best known as Paul Kel ...

. Schepps ran gambling houses for

Jack Zelig "Big" Jack Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang. Biography Born Selig Harry Lefkowitz in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Zelig was a we ...

as part of his work with the gang.

Biography

On July 16, 1912,

Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 18 ...

was murdered in front of the Hotel Metropole in

. Schepps was identified by coconspirators as the "paymaster" of the plot to kill Rosenthal. Within the week, Schepps had disappeared and was believed to have left New York. He was tracked down and, on August 10, 1912, was arrested in

Hot Springs, Arkansas Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is ...

. Sick and broke when he was caught, Schepps was reportedly happy to return to New York to testify against his accomplices. The fact that Schepps was hiding in Hot Springs was revealed to police by

Harry Vallon Harry Vallon was a New York City gambler and mob informant. He turned state's evidence and testified against the gunman in the murder of Herman Rosenthal and against Charles Becker after a promise of immunity from the district attorney. He testifi ...

, an accomplice in Rosenthal's murder. Vallon, along with Schepps and other

mob informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

s Bridgey Webber and Jack Rose, testified at the Becker-Rosenthal trial. His testimony resulted in the conviction of

Charles Becker Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...

and the four gunmen involved in the murder. Schepps and his brother Nathan later ran an antique and jewelry store, the ''Maison Cluny'', at 437

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd St ...

. In October, 1921, the famed soprano

Lydia Lipkowska Lydia Yakolevna Lipkowska (Russian: Лидия Яковлевна Липковская. Ukrainian: Лідія Яківна Липковська; 10 May 1882 – 22 March 1958) was a Russian operatic soprano of Ukrainian origin who had an active ...

charged Schepps with

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

over his refusal to return two diamonds worth $80,000 that she had pawned to him. Lipkowska said that she had borrowed $12,000 and had left the diamonds with Schepps as security and that he sought $5000 in interest before he would return the jewels. On October 3, 1933, he and Nathan were arrested and charged with forgery in connection with falsified checks worth over $10,000, which they had deposited in their business's bank account. Sam Schepps died on January 12, 1936, in the Fifth Avenue Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schepps, Sam Rosenthal murder case Federal Bureau of Investigation informants 1936 deaths Eastman Gang Year of birth missing