Victor Riesel (; March 26, 1913 – January 4, 1995) was an American newspaper journalist and columnist who specialized in news related to labor unions. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated to 356 newspapers in the United States.Riley, Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists, 1995, p. 265. In an incident that made national headlines for almost a year,Gross, Broken Promise: The Subversion of U.S. Labor Relations Policy, 1947–1994, 1995, p. 138. a gangster threw sulfuric acid in his face on a public street in New York City on April 5, 1956, causing his permanent blindness.
Background Victor Riesel was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City to Nathan and Sophie Riesel.Nissenson, The Lady Upstairs: Dorothy Schiff and the New York Post, 2007, p. 119.Hamill, "The Lives They Lived: Victor Riesel and Walter Sheridan: In Defense of Honest Labor," New York Times, December 31, 1995."The Press: Answer by Acid," Time, April 16, 1956."Mrs. Sopie Riesel," New York Times, May 31, 1966. The family lived in a cold water flat near the elevated railroad tracks. The Riesels were Jewish, and their neighbors were primarily Jewish and Italian American. Victor's father, Nathan, had helped organize the Bonnaz, Singer, and Hand Embroiderers' Union, Local 66, of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1913,Marks, "12 Who Made It Big," Newman Library, Baruch College, no date.See, generally, ILGWU, The Fight's Just Begun: Fifty Years with Local 66, 1913–1963, 1963. and held the Card No. 1 in the local union.Riesel, "Remembering the Crusade," Miami News, March 6, 1947. In time, Nathan Riesel was appointed a staff member of the union and elected secretary-treasurer and then president of the local union."Embroiderers Ratify Call for Walkout," New York Times, August 23, 1929; "Embroidery Strike Likely Next Week," New York Times, September 4, 1931. Victor attended elementary school at P.S. 19 (now the Judith K. Weiss School).
When Victor was three years old, his father taught him to make pro-union speeches and would take his son to rallies and union meetings and have the boy recite the speeches for onlookers.Maeder, "Dark Places: Victor Riesel, 1956," New York Daily News, September 22, 1998. Attending union meetings, indoor and outdoor rallies, and standing on street corners promoting the union formed many of Victor Riesel's childhood and teenage memories. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nathan Riesel successfully opposed Communist Party USA attempts to infiltrate activists into the local union and turning its purpose to promotion of the party (a strategy known as "boring from within").For a history of the "boring from within" strategy, see, generally: Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 9: The T.U.E.L. to the End of the Gompers Era, 1991; Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 10: The T.U.E.L., 1925–1929, 1994. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, he saw his father come home bleeding many times after fistfights with communist activists or gangsters. This conflict left a deep impression on Victor.
The family moved to the Bronx when Riesel was 13 years old. Academically gifted, Victor Riesel graduated from Morris High School at the age of 15. While in high school, Riesel began typing stories about the American labor movement and sending them to English language newspapers around the world, charging $1 for publication rights. He typed the same story over and over (sometimes as many as 15 times) to make it look like an original (his goal being to sell the same story to many newspapers rather than many stories to a single newspaper), and earned a significant income from this work.
He enrolled in City College of New York (CCNY) in 1928, taking classes at night in human resource management and industrial relations.
Career
Riesel worked several different jobs to support himself, and found employment in a hat factory, lace plant, steel mill, and saw mill. He was appointed director of undergraduate publications at the college, working as an editor, columnist, and literature and theatre critic. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from CCNY in 1940.
During his undergraduate years at CCNY, Riesel began working as a gofer at The New Leader. After graduation in 1940, he became the magazine's managing editor.
Two additional events in Riesel's life led him to a career as a labor reporter. The first occurred on March 6, 1930, during a visit to his father's union offices. Riesel saw a man weeping on the stairs because he had no job and his family had no food to eat. The second occurred in 1942. Nathan Riesel was now fighting organized crime influence in his union, and despaired of keeping his local out of criminal hands. Nathan Riesel was severely beaten by gangsters in 1942, and ultimately died from his injuries five years later.
Journalism Victor Riesel's labor journalism career formally began in 1937 when he started writing a regular column on labor union issues.
He was hired by The New York Post in 1941. His column became nationally syndicated in 1942. He left the Post in 1948 after a change in management, and joined William Randolph Hearst's New York Daily Mirror. Within eight years, his column was syndicated in 193 newspapers.
His investigation of Communist Party infiltration of the National Maritime Union led Representative Louis B. Heller to introduce legislation in 1951 to investigate the charges. In 1951 and 1952, Riesel provided Senator Pat McCarran with information that led to a Senate investigation into communist influence in the United Public Workers of America. In 1952, he publicly alleged before the Subcommittee on Internal Security (led at the time by Sen. McCarran) that Local 65 of the Distributive, Processing and Office Workers of America was controlled by the Communist Party. The same year, he denounced Gambino crime family member Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio for engaging in labor racketeering. Anastasio sued Riesel for $1 million for libel, but the suit was thrown out of court.
On February 6, 1953, Riesel spoke with New York University philosophy professor Sidney Hook and others on "The Threat to Academic Freedom" in the evening on WEVD radio.
In 1956, Riesel began working with United States Attorney Paul Williams to rein in labor racketeering in the New York City garment and trucking industries.
Acid attack On April 5, 1956, an assailant threw sulphuric acid into Riesel's face as he was leaving Lindy's (a famous restaurant in Manhattan). Riesel had been reporting on corruption in the International Union of Operating Engineers and its then-President, William C. DeKoning Jr. He had recently alleged that DeKoning was conspiring with Joseph S. Fay (a convicted labor racketeer and extortionist) to re-establish his father, William C. DeKoning Sr. (who had recently been freed from prison after serving a sentence for extortion) as president of the union. Although Riesel had received numerous death and other threats over the past few months, he had dismissed them as the work of "cranks."
The attack occurred shortly after a Riesel radio broadcast. Barry Gray, radio station WMCA's overnight talk radio host, had asked Riesel to substitute for him. Riesel invited two IUOE Local 138 leaders who were challenging the DeKonings for control of the local union to join him for the broadcast. The broadcast originated from Hutton's Restaurant at 47th Street and Lexington Avenue shortly after midnight on April 5, and concluded at 2 AM. Afterward, Riesel and his secretary went to Lindy's restaurant, located on Broadway between 49th Street and 50th Street. They had coffee, and departed Lindy's at 3 AM to walk to the secretary's automobile. Riesel removed his eyeglasses, which he did by habit when in public. A slender, black-haired man wearing a blue and white jacket stepped out of the shadows of the entrance to the Mark Hellinger Theatre and threw a vial of sulphuric acid into Riesel's eyes. Riesel shouted, "My gosh! My gosh!", and clutched at his face. While the secretary and others rendered assistance and dragged Riesel into Lindy's, the assailant walked calmly away.
The acid struck Riesel's right eye more than the left. Riesel's eyes were flushed with water inside Lindy's, but patrons stopped administering aid for fear of doing further damage. Riesel was taken to St. Clare's Hospital on East 71st Street, where doctors worked to save his vision. Measures to counteract the acid were not taken until Riesel arrived at St. Clare's, 40 minutes after the attack. On May 4, doctors said that Riesel had completely lost his sight (see the right photograph in the infobox, above). In December 1956, Riesel described the amount of acid as a "deluge" which covered most of his cheeks, eyes, and forehead.Ranzal, "Riesel, on the Stand, Describes How Acid 'Deluge' Hit His Eyes," New York Times, December 4, 1956.In fact, there was so much acid thrown that some of it splashed back onto attacker Abraham Telvi's face. Telvi's scars made him easily identifiable as Riesel's assailant. When Telvi demanded another $50,000 as compensation for remaining in hiding and staying quiet in the case, the Genovese crime family had him killed. See: Levey, "F.B.I. Solves Riesel Case," New York Times, August 18, 1956; Perlmutter, "Body Is Exhumed In Riesel Inquiry," New York Times, August 22, 1956; "Body of Hoodlum Examined Anew," New York Times, August 23, 1956; "Johnny Dio and 4 Others Held As Masterminds in Riesel Attack," New York Times, August 29, 1956; Perlmutter, "Dio Linked By U.S. To Telvi Murder in Riesel Case," New York Times, August 30, 1956. Portions of Riesel's face (see right photo, above, compared to left photo, particularly the left cheek, jaw line, and jowls; the eyebrows; and the forehead) were permanently scarred as well."Governor Visits Riesel's Bedside," New York Times, April 9, 1956. Riesel wore dark glasses for the rest of his life to hide his damaged eyes, which many people found difficult to look at.
The Daily Mirror immediately offered a $10,000 reward for information identifying the assailant and leading to his conviction. The Newspaper Guild of New York, New York Press Photographers Association, Overseas Press Club, New York Newspaper Reporters Association, and the Society of Silurians (an organization of veteran New York City journalists) immediately raised the reward to $15,000. By week's end, donations from labor unions, radio station WMCA, and other groups had increased the reward to $41,000.