The Anderson Tapes

268 Pages·2000·0.91 MB·English

by  Sanders Lawrence

Synopsis:
With clockwork precision, Lawrence Sanders outlines the inspiration,
planning and execution of an ambitious robbery of an apartment building
on New York’s Upper East Side in The Anderson Tapes, the best-selling
thriller that established him as one of the most popular suspense writers
of his generation. The premise is clever — the entire story is told in
surveillance tape transcripts and reports from law enforcement agencies,
each of which seems to be observing some aspect of the situation in
which the robbery takes place. John “Duke” Anderson was recently
paroled from Sing Sing, after serving time on a charge of breaking and
entering. A rich woman picks him up one evening and takes him back to
her apartment, in a small but elegant building on the Upper East Side.
Anderson is intrigued by the situation in the building, seeing it as a
possible target for a large-scale robbery. He needs backing, though, and
he gets it through his contacts with the underworld. What Anderson does
not know is that much of what he is already doing is being captured as
evidence through electronic surveillance. The catch is that the different
entities doing the surveillance are not communicating with each other.
The evidence is assembled and the puzzle solved, after the robbery
takes place and ends violently, by NYPD Capt. Edward X. Delaney. The
Anderson Tapes marks the first appearance in a Sanders novel of
Delaney, a character who will be central to the author’s Deadly Sin series
of thrillers. Sanders brilliantly unfolds the story in short, fact-filled
chapters constructed as police reports and tape transcripts, some of
which are tantalizingly garbled. The Anderson Tapes won for Sanders the
Mystery Writers of America's Edgar as the Best First Mystery Novel of
1970.

The Anderson Tapes
Lawrence Sanders

The first book in the Edward X. Delaney series
Copyright © 1969, 1970 by Lawrence Sanders

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.
— 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

Chapter 1

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
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. Everleigh’s
attorneys on the grounds that David Everleigh did not obtain a court
order, and had no legal right, to implant an electronic surveillance device
in Apartment 3B, despite the fact that he was legal owner of the premises
in question.
It is expected this litigation will eventually reach the Supreme Court of the
United States and will result in a landmark decision.
The following is an excerpt from the transcription made from the Peace of
Mind, Inc., tape recording made at approximately 1:15 A.M. on the
morning of 24 March, 1968.
This is tape POM - 24MAR68 - EVERLEIGH. Those present, Mrs. Agnes
Everleigh and John Anderson, have been identified by voice prints and
interior evidence.
[Sound of door opening and closing.]
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Here we are… make yourself at home. Throw your
coat anywhere.
ANDERSON: How come a classy place like this don’t have a doorman?
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Oh, we have one, but he’s probably down in the
basement with the super, sucking on a jug of muscatel. They’re both a
couple of winos.
ANDERSON: Oh?
[Lapse of seven seconds.]
ANDERSON: Nice place you got here.
MRS. EVERLEIGH: So glad you like it. Mix us a drink. The stuff’s over
there. Ice in the kitchen.
ANDERSON: What’ll you have?
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Jameson’s. On the rocks. With a little soda. What do
you drink?
ANDERSON: Got any cognac? Or brandy?
MRS. EVERLEIGH: I have some Martell.
ANDERSON: That’ll do fine.
[Lapse of forty-two seconds.]
ANDERSON: Here you are.
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Cheers.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
[Lapse of six seconds.]
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Sit down and relax. I’m going to take off my girdle.
ANDERSON: Sure.
[Lapse of two minutes sixteen seconds.]
MRS. EVERLEIGH: That’s better. Thank God.
ANDERSON: Are all the apartments in the building like this?
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Most of them are larger. Why?
ANDERSON: I like it. Class.
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Class? Jesus, you’re too much. What do you do for a
living?
ANDERSON: I work on a folding machine in a printing plant. For a
supermarket newspaper. A daily. Their specials and things like that.
MRS. EVERLEIGH: Aren’t you going to ask me what I do?
ANDERSON: Do you do anything?
MRS. EVERLEIGH: That’s a laugh. My husband owns this apartment.
We’re separated. He doesn’t give me a cent. But I do all right. I’m the
buyer for a chain of women’s lingerie shops.