Martin Snyder

Martin "Moe" Snyder (December 6, 1893 – November 9, 1981), commonly known as Moe the Gimp due to his lame left leg, was an American gangster from Chicago, active in the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography Snyder was born and raised on Chicago's southwest side. He was five years of age when he injured his leg in an accident. Snyder left school after the fourth grade and sold papers as a newsboy. He later worked in newspaper circulation, and then moved to a job with the Metropolitan Sanitary District. His second wife was the singer and entertainer Ruth Etting, whom he married in 1922 and whose career he aggressively promoted. Ed Sullivan described Snyder as viewing the world as a battleground in the 1930s. Etting visited England for work in 1936, where Snyder managed to involve himself in a street fight soon after their arrival; this resulted in unfavorable publicity for Etting. Snyder did not contest the divorce; he received a settlement from Etting.

In January 1938, Snyder began making threatening telephone calls to Etting, at first claiming she concealed assets from him when the divorce settlement was made. Snyder was also upset that Etting was now seeing her accompanist, Myrl Alderman. Snyder told Etting he intended to come to California and kill her. When he spoke with his daughter on the telephone, Snyder also threatened her, saying he "would fix her ticket too". Etting obtained both police and private protection, but apparently believed the danger was past when Snyder did not appear soon after his telephone threats; she dismissed her bodyguards.

Snyder detained Myrl Alderman at a local radio station on October 15, 1938. He forced the pianist to drive him to his former wife at gunpoint.

Etting, who said the only gun in the house was hers, was able to go into her bedroom for the gun after the shooting of Alderman. When Snyder saw Etting with the gun, he wrestled it away from her; it fell to the floor where Edith Snyder picked it up and started shooting at her father. Edith's shots did not hit her father, but went into the floor. Snyder's daughter said she shot at her father to save Ruth Etting. (At the police reenactment of the shooting three days later, Edith Snyder wept as she said, "I don't yet know whether I am sorry I missed my Dad or whether I am glad".) Snyder claimed that Myrl Alderman had a gun and shot at him first. He also said that Ruth Etting would not press charges against him because she was still in love with him. Snyder said he was drunk when he made the threatening calls to Etting and at that time, his intentions were to kill Etting and himself.

During Snyder's trial for the attempted murder of Myrl Alderman, Etting and Alderman were married in Las Vegas. Snyder was found guilty and sentenced, but was released on appeal after a year in prison. In January 1940, he won a new trial, but was returned to jail in lieu of bail. In August 1940, Myrl Alderman asked the district attorney to drop further prosecution attempts against Snyder for the 1938 shooting at Etting's request, wanting to move on with their lives.

Later life Snyder returned to Chicago in 1940 and worked in the mail room at Chicago's City Hall. He was still living in Chicago and working in the City Clerk's office in 1972. In 1975, Snyder was interviewed for a Chicago Tribune article about the 1930s, where he claimed the stories about his mob connections were untrue. Snyder said he worked for a song publisher and that he knew various celebrities through that work.

Snyder had at least one child from his first marriage, a daughter, Edith. After her father and Etting were divorced, she remained living with her. It is believed Snyder died in Chicago in 1981.

Portrayal in film Along with Ruth Etting and Myrl Alderman, Snyder sold his rights to his story to MGM for the film Love Me or Leave Me (1955). James Cagney portrayed Snyder in the film, which was a fictionalized life story of Etting, who was played by Doris Day. Snyder was very dissatisfied with the way he was portrayed in the film.