Lexow Committee

Robert C. Kennedy writes:[2] The Lexow Committee, ironically headquartered at the Tweed Courthouse on Chambers Street, examined evidence from Parkhurst's City Vigilance League, as well as undertook its own investigations.

The Lexow Committee uncovered police involvement in extortion, bribery, counterfeiting, voter intimidation, election fraud, brutality, and scams.

Attention focused on [William] Devery, then a police captain, who stonewalled before the committee by only responding vaguely to questions: "touchin' on and appertainin' to that matter, I disremember."

Charged with accepting bribes, Devery feigned illness and his case never reached trial, although he was temporarily demoted.One newspaper wrote about the hearing that it was "[t]he most detailed accounting of municipal malfeasance in history.

The committee also revealed that when the police did go after prostitutes, they were largely independent street walkers, and even then, Tammany made a profit with its control of the bail system.