Murder of Chaskel Werzberger
1990 murder in Brooklyn, New York
On February 8, 1990, Chaskel Werzberger, a 56-year-old rabbi, was shot and killed in Brooklyn, New York. David Ranta was wrongfully convicted of the murder, and served 23 years in prison before being released in 2013.
Murder
On the morning of February 8, 1990, a gunman attempted to rob a diamond courier in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The courier managed to escape unharmed. As the robber fled, he approached a nearby car on Clymer Avenue, which Werzberger was entering. The gunman shot him in the forehead, pulled him from the vehicle, and stole the car. Werzberger later died from the wound.
Investigation and conviction
Mayor David Dinkins offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, which caused pressure on the New York Police Department to solve the case quickly. In May 1991, David Ranta was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 37 and a half years in prison.
In 2011, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office launched a review of the case through its newly formed Conviction Integrity Unit.
“Murder of Chaskel Werzberger” enters the record as 1990 murder in Brooklyn, New York. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Murder, Chaskel and Werzberger can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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