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23 unusual facts about Sing Sing


American Committee for Relief in Ireland

Jim Larkin, an Irish trade unionist, who had been closely associated with James Connolly in Ireland and with the Wobblies in the USA, was serving a five-year sentence in Sing Sing prison for promoting his socialist agenda.

Baby Take a Bow

After serving time in Sing Sing, Eddie Ellison marries his fiancée Kay, and eventually the two have a daughter they name Shirley.

Carl Panzram

He served time in prisons in Fresno, California; Rusk, Texas; The Dalles, Oregon; Harrison, Idaho; Butte City Montana; Montana State reform School, Miles City Montana; State Prison Montana {"Jeff Davis" #3194}; Oregon {"Jefferson Baldwin" #7390}; Bridgeport Connecticut {John O'Leary}; New York's Sing Sing {"Jeff Baldwin" #75182}; Clinton Correctional Facility New York {"John O'Leary"}; Washington D.C. (#33379); and Leavenworth, Kansas {Carl Panzram #31614}.

D' Fightin' Ones

They decide to disguise themselves in human clothes (with the other person hiding in a suitcase) and hop aboard a bus, but hightail it out of there when the bus is revealed to be headed for Sing Sing.

Douglas T. Kenrick

His father and brother both spent several years in Sing Sing, but he broke the family tradition and went to graduate school to study psychology.

Flagpole Jitters

The Stooges make a reference to Sing Sing Correctional Facility, in which Shemp believes he has hypnotized Moe into thinking he is locked up in the infamous prison.

Frederick George D'Utassy

The place where he was to be confined was the famous Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.

Henry Katz

Henry Katz (born 1892, date of death unknown) was a medical doctor who was sentenced to prison at Sing Sing in June 1943.

James Watson Webb

The term of duress was two years in Sing Sing, but Governor William H. Seward pardoned him before he went behind bars, in return for which Webb named one of his sons "William Seward Webb".

John B. Law

After coaching at Manhattan he became the football and baseball coach at Sing Sing prison from 1932-1935.

John R. Rathom

Rathom waited until just ten days before the election to go public with new and outrageous charges against Roosevelt and another high-profile Navy official, Thomas Mott Osborne, Commandant of Portsmouth Naval Prison, former warden of Sing Sing and the most famous penal reformer of the era.

Killer on the Road

He is sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, and placed into solitary confinement in Sing Sing Prison.

King of New York

Frank White, a drug lord, is riding into New York in a limousine after being released from Sing Sing.

Man on a Ledge

Nick was given a 25-year sentence but escaped from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility one month earlier, after being allowed to attend his father's funeral.

Maniac Cop

Returning to police headquarters, McCrae goes to the clerical room and looks over files relating to Matthew Cordell, a fellow officer who was imprisoned in Sing Sing due to his "shoot first, ask questions later" style of policing, and how close he was to uncovering corruption in city hall.

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing

After his graduation, Conover's story continues as he is assigned to Sing Sing correctional facility.

Paul Flato

Flato was convicted in 1943 of fraudulently pawning $100,000 in jewels that colleagues and clients had entrusted to him, and served 16 months in Sing Sing Penitentiary.

Picture Snatcher

When a woman is scheduled to be executed at Sing Sing, the Graphic News is the only paper not invited.

Porcellian Club

Among its living members are Massachusetts' Governor Leverett Saltonstall, Congressman Hamilton Fish, Yachtsman Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, Poloist Thomas Hitchcock Jr., U. S. Ambassador to Italy William Phillips, Journalist Joseph Alsop, Richard Whitney, now of Sing Sing Prison, of whom all good Porkies prefer not to speak.

Spider Murphy Gang

"Spider Murphy" is also referred to in a song written by Larry Kirwan of the Irish fusion Band Black 47's song, "Forty Deuce." The song appears referential to both the Spider Murphy Gang and to "Jailhouse Rock", for the live version from 2006's "Bittersweet 16" includes a saxophone solo which the singer recalls having heard in Sing Sing prison.

Three Smart Saps

The mobster party in prison is decorated with college-sports-style banners for Alcatraz, Joliet, Leavenworth and Sing Sing, all well-known prisons of the day.

Westchester marble

Westchester marble — or Inwood marble or Kingsbridge marble — originating in Westchester County, New York, USA, and surrounding counties, has long been quarried at Tuckahoe ("Tuckahoe marble"), Sing Sing, Hastings, and Thornwood.

These local marble quarries were the main reason that the state government of New York chose Sing Sing as the site of a new prison in 1825.


Bobby Halpern

He served in three of the most infamous New York prisons, Sing Sing, Attica, and Dannemora.

George A. Brandreth

George Adlington Brandreth (1828 Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England - November 15, 1897 Sing Sing, Westchester County, New York) was an American lawyer, manufacturer and politician from New York

Vincent Alo

As a young man, Alo was convicted of armed robbery and sent to either Sing Sing or Dannemora state prison.