Justice for Sale

Martin T. Manton was a corrupt federal appeals court judge in New York who was convicted in 1939 and sent to prison. At the time, this was a hugely important story: Manton, a papal knight and friend of FDR, was considered the highest-ranking judge in the United States outside of the Supreme Court, and was nearly named to the high court himself. Yet his story has never been told in book-length form before, and never with the benefit of such exhaustive research.

More than just a biography, Justice for Sale examines Manton's misconduct in the context of the culture of corruption and organized crime that permeated New York City during the Tammany Hall era. Scores of others-- leading corporate tycoons, Wall Street lawyers, bankers, accountants, and another federal judge, as well as a rogues' gallery of gangsters, fixers, bag men, and con men--participated in Manton's crimes. The book profiles these unscrupulous and often colorful characters as well, along with the enterprising anti-Tammany reporter and politically ambitious district attorney (future Governor Thomas E. Dewey) who brought Manton down. Justice for Sale culminates with the sensational federal prosecution and trial--held in the same courthouse where Manton once reigned--that gripped the nation and finally put this "merchant of justice" behind bars.