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Clifford Mitchell arrested
A note on the Magistrate's Court affidavit recorded the value of the goods found on the men as $50; the typewritten narrative on the form noted that the goods found on Mitchell were worth "around $20," so those found on Shavos would have been worth around $30.
Mitchell and Shavos are two of only nine men identified in the sources as having been arrested away from the stores they allegedly looted, a group making up one third (9 of 27) of the arrests for which that information is known (27 of 60).
Mitchell and Shavos were charged with burglary in the Harlem Magistrates Court on March 22, the last individuals arrested during the disorder to be arraigned in that court. The magistrate sent both to the grand jury, which on April 4 dismissed the charges against Mitchell and sent Shavos to the Court of Special Sessions to be charged with a misdemeanor. That outcome indicated that the grand jury had declined to charge Shavos with burglary, a felony, likely because of a lack of evidence he had broken into the store. Given that goods had been found in his possession, the charge against him would have been petit larceny, a misdemeanor, as the goods allegedly found in his possession had a value less than $100. There is no evidence of the outcome of that prosecution. Shavos' criminal record included an arrest as a disorderly person in Jersey City in June 1932, with no recorded disposition, while Mitchell had no record. While his record could conceivably have influenced how Shavos was treated, it would not explain the charges against Mitchell being dismissed. That outcome likely indicated a problem linking the clothing allegedly found with Mitchell either to him or to Levy's store.
The only newspaper coverage of the looting are stories in the Home News, New York Evening Journal, Daily Mirror, and Daily News reporting Mitchell and Shavos' appearance in the Magistrates Court. The stories in the Home News and Daily Mirror identified Levy and the store; the other two stories simply noted that the men had been held for the grand jury.
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This page references:
- New York Penal Law, § 404, 407: Burglary in third degree.
- District Attorney's Closed Case Files, 204039 (1935) (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Harlem Magistrates Court docket book
- "Two More Victims of Harlem Riot Die," New York Daily News, March 23, 1935, 15.
- "Bronxite Dies in Hospital of Injuries He Received During Harlem Rioting," Home News, March 23, 1935, 3.
- "Plan to Indict More in Riots," New York Evening Journal, March 23, 1935, 5.
- "Second Man Dies in Harlem Riot," Daily Mirror, March 23, 1935, 6.