The Anderson Tapes
Read The Anderson Tapes Online
Authors: Lawrence Sanders
Tags: #Mystery, #Police Procedural, #Police, #Mystery & Detective, #Delaney, #New York (N.Y.), #Fiction, #Men's Adventure, #New York, #Suspense, #Large Type Books, #Mystery Fiction, #New York (State), #Edward X. (Fictitious Character)
THE ANDERSON TAPES
LAWRENCE SANDERS
Copyright
The Anderson Tapes
Copyright © 1969, 1970 by Lawrence Sanders Cover art and eForeword to the electronic edition copyright
© 2000 by RosettaBooks, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information address [email protected] First electronic edition published 2000 by RosettaBooks LLC, New York.
ISBN 0-7953-0232-0
Contents
eForeword
A major heist is about to take place on New York’s Upper East Side, and all the parties involved are under electronic surveillance. The catch is that the surveillance is being done by different agencies and parties, none of which is communicating with the others. Taut and exciting, Lawrence Sanders’
The Anderson Tapes
is a fascinating mystery, entirely told in tape transcripts and official law-enforcement reports — a new-age thriller that uses its distinctive design to build tension and unfold the story in tantalizing detail.
Lawrence Sanders (1920-98) made his first big impression as a mystery writer with
The Anderson Tapes
, published in 1970 and made into a hit film the following year. Sanders has labored as a journeyman writer for technical magazines for more than 20 years, and the success of
The Anderson Tapes
was the beginning of a prolific career. The Mystery Writers of America awarded Sanders the Edgar for Best First Mystery Novel for
The Anderson Tapes
in 1970.
The novel introduced the character of NYPD Capt. Edward X.
Delaney, who would be the central character in Sanders’ next novel
The First Deadly Sin
(1973), another success that spawned a series of three more Deadly Sin novels featuring Delaney. In all, Sanders wrote more than 30 novels (including those under the pseudonym Lesley Andress). His style combines a fine sense of the technical side of the police procedural, a rich sense of character and a crowd-pleasing skill at revealing what the rich and famous are like behind closed doors.
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The Anderson
Tapes
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Author’s Note
The following account of a crime committed in the City of New York on the night of 31 August and the early morning hours of 1 September, 1968, has been assembled from a variety of sources, including: —Eyewitness reports dictated to the author, and eyewitness reports available from official sources, on tape recordings and in transcriptions.
—Records of courts, penal institutions, and investigative agencies.
—Tape recordings and transcriptions made by “bugging” and other electronic surveillance devices, by crime prevention and detection agencies of the City of New York, the State of New York, the U.S.
government, and by private investigative agencies.
—Personal correspondence, speeches, and private documents of the individuals involved, made available to the author.
—Newspaper reports.
—Official reports and testimony which are a matter of public record, including deathbed statements.
—The author’s personal experiences.
It would be impractical to name all the individuals, official and civilian, who provided valuable assistance to the author. However, I am especially grateful to Louis J. Girardi, Managing Editor of the Newark (N.J.)
Post-Ledger
, who granted me a leave of absence from my crime reporting duties with that newspaper in order that I might research and write the full story of this crime, as part of a continuing investigation into the uses and abuses of electronic surveillance equipment by public and private agencies.
Lawrence Sanders
The building at 535 East Seventy-third Street, New York City, was erected in 1912 as a city residence for Erwin K. Barthold, a Manhattan merchant who owned Barthold, Inc., a firm that dealt in rope, tar, ships’
supplies, and marine gear of all types. On the death of Mr. Barthold in 1931, his widow, Edwina, and his son, Erwin, Jr., lived in the house until 1943. Erwin Barthold, Jr., was killed on 14 July, 1943, while engaged on a bombing mission over Bremen, Germany. This was, incidentally, the city in which his father had been born. Mrs. Barthold died six months after the death of her son, from cancer of the uterus.
The house on Seventy-third Street then passed to a brother of the original owner and builder. He was Emil Barthold, a resident of Palm Beach, Florida and shortly after the will was probated, Emil Barthold sold the house (16 February, 1946) to Baxter & Bailey, 7456 Park Avenue, New York City.
This investment company then converted the town house into eight separate apartments and two professional suites on the ground floor.
A self-service elevator and central air conditioning were installed. The apartments and suites were sold as cooperatives, at prices ranging from $26,768 to $72,359.
The building itself is a handsome structure of gray stone, the architecture generally in the French chateau style. The building has been certified and listed by the New York City Landmark Society.
Outside decoration is minimal and chaste; the roof is tarnished copper. The lobby is lined with veined gray marble slabs interspersed with antiqued mirrors. In addition to the main entrance, there is a service entrance reached by a narrow alleyway which stretches from the street to a back door that leads to a wide flight of concrete stairs.
The two apartments on the top floor have small terraces. There is a small apartment in the basement occupied by the superintendent.
The building is managed by Shovey & White, 1324 Madison Avenue, New York.
Prior to 1 September, 1967, for a period of several years. Apartment 3B at 535 East Seventy-third Street had been occupied by a married couple (childless), Agnes and David Everleigh. On or about that date, they separated, and Mrs. Agnes Everleigh remained in possession of Apartment 3B, while David Everleigh took up residence at the Simeon Club, Twenty-third Street and Madison Avenue.
On approximately 1 March, 1968 (this is an assumption), David Everleigh engaged the services of Peace of Mind, Inc., a private investigation agency located at 983 West Forty-second Street, New York. With David Everleigh’s assistance—this is presumed, since he still possessed a key to Apartment 3B and was its legal owner—an electronic device was installed in the base of the telephone in Apartment 3B.
It was a microphone transmitter—an Intel Model MT-146B—capable of picking up and transmitting telephone calls as well as conversations taking place in the apartment. A sum of $25 per month was paid to the superintendent of 534 East Seventy-third Street—the building across the street—to allow Peace of Mind, Inc., to emplace a voice-actuated tape recorder in a broom closet on the third floor of that building.
Thus, it was not necessary for an investigator to be present. The voice-actuated tape recorder recorded all telephone calls and interior conversations taking place in Apartment 3B, 535 East Seventy-third Street. The tape was retrieved each morning by an operative from Peace of Mind, Inc., and a fresh tape installed.
The resulting recordings became the basis of David Everleigh’s suit for divorce (Supreme Court, New York County) on the grounds of adultery (
Everleigh v. Everleigh
, NYSC-148532), and transcriptions of the tapes have become a matter of public record, which allows them to be reproduced here. It is of some interest to note that the verdict of the trial judge, in favor of David Everleigh, has been appealed by Mrs.