{"id":5007,"date":"2012-03-07T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T21:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=5007"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:10:19","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:10:19","slug":"case-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=5007","title":{"rendered":"Case authority"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Falzini \u201991 is one of the foremost experts on the Lindbegh kidnapping case. All photos this page (c) Dustin Fenstermacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Falzini \u201991<\/strong>, the archivist who oversees the New Jersey State Police Museum\u2019s mountain of research connected to the Lindbergh kidnapping, has taken questions and requests from authors, academics, journalists, schoolchildren\u2014even from the plain curious, including two retirees who visit the museum every month to pore over documents and swap opinions.<\/p>\n

History tells us that Bruno Richard Hauptmann was executed in 1936 for the 1932 kidnapping and murder of legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh\u2019s infant son, Charles Jr. Yet interest in this New Jersey-based factual drama has not waned in the 80 years since the Lindbergh baby was abducted, solidifying Falzini\u2019s status as an investigative Sherpa.<\/p>\n

Not that he minds. \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s here for,\u201d says Falzini, referring to the West Trenton, NJ, museum and its 250,000 documents, photographs, videos, and artifacts. Besides, Falzini, an insatiable history buff, is forever curious. \u201cI\u2019m still learning little tidbits,\u201d he says,\u201cbecause I\u2019m always looking at things and thinking, \u2018Oh, look at this…\u201d<\/p>\n

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Above, top to bottom: the ransom note left behind in the Lindbergh\u2019s nursery. It includes the kidnapper(s)\u2019 ransom demand of $50,000 (written \u201c50.000$\u201d); a stack of coffee cups used by Bruno Richard Hauptmann during his 1935 trial; the March 1, 1932, Station Record from the State Police Teletype Bureau at Department Headquarters in Trenton, which references the kidnapping at 10:45 and the numerous phone calls from the press that flooded in 15 minutes later.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Falzini quickly learned why so many people become infatuated with the Lindbergh case when he began working at the museum in 1992.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have mystery, you\u2019ve got the rich and famous, you\u2019ve got the poor, you\u2019ve got the immigrants, the illegal aliens,\u201d he says. The kidnapping and subsequent trial, which took place in Flemington, NJ, were set against a historically rich backdrop that featured the Great Depression and the rise of Adolf Hitler. For Falzini, history is about telling stories, and the Lindbergh case, which he calls \u201cAmerica\u2019s greatest soap opera,\u201d has everything. Even better, the plot keeps thickening.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always finding new things,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause you\u2019re looking at things with new eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

To paraphrase Hauptmann, the book on this 80-year-old case has not closed. Theories abound regarding motivations and participants. Yet despite his expertise, Falzini, author of Their Fifteen Minutes: Biographical Sketches of the Lindbergh Case,<\/em> doesn\u2019t have a theory of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m exposed to so much information, I\u2019m baffled,\u201d Falzini explains. \u201cAnd if I pick one thing I believe, then when someone else comes in [and] I go to help them with their theory, I\u2019m going to be blocked. This way, by taking on their theory for the day, I\u2019m better able to help them, but also, in a selfish way, I get to help myself and learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Gardner, a professor emeritus at Rutgers, visited Falzini\u2019s museum while researching his book The Case That Never Dies<\/em>. \u201cHe knows so much more about the case than anyone else,\u201d Gardner says of Falzini. \u201cHe is able to guide researchers without imposing his views on them. \u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner adds that many archivists consider limiting outsiders\u2019 access to materials part of their job. Falzini, \u201cunfailingly kind and courteous,\u201d actually offers research suggestions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in a beautiful little spot where courtesy exists,\u201d Gardner says.<\/p>\n

Recently, that courtesy was extended to some Hollywood filmmakers. J. Edgar<\/em>, Clint Eastwood\u2019s 2011 biopic of controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, features a segment on the Lindbergh kidnapping. Not surprisingly, Falzini and the museum played a role in what audiences saw onscreen.<\/p>\n

Michael Sexton, the film\u2019s property master, and his assistant, Kevin Shaw, met with Falzini in December 2010. The duo spent eight hours examining the evidence, shooting photographs, drawing sketches, and taking measurements. Several months afterward, Falzini helped Sexton and Shaw over the phone and through e-mail.<\/p>\n

In the end, Hollywood sort of got it right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe props for the movie\u2014the ladder, the wallpaper [in Charles Jr.\u2019s room]\u2014those were all accurate,\u201d says Falzini. \u201cEverything else, well, I don\u2019t know. They screwed up William Allen, big time. They had a white guy portraying him…. I was really annoyed by that, because how could you make such a major mistake?\u201d Allen, one of Falzini\u2019s favorite figures in the case, was the African-American truck driver who discovered the corpse of Charles Jr. several miles from the Lindberghs\u2019 Hopewell, NJ, home.<\/p>\n

But the biggest oversight by the filmmakers? Falzini and the museum were not acknowledged in the movie\u2019s credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why,\u201d Falzini says. \u201cBut it was an honor to work on the film, and I would work with Mike and Kevin again in a heartbeat. They\u2019re both great guys and fantastic to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding his alma mater, Falzini remembers the College as being \u201cthe best time of my life.\u201d He cites professors John Karras<\/strong> and the late Tom Faughnan<\/strong> with teaching him how to write and research, essential tasks in his line of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cA history degree at Trenton State prepares you for anything,\u201d Falzini says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m damn lucky,\u201d he adds. The reason why comes a few moments later: \u201cI\u2019m paid to work on my hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Falzini \u201991 is one of the foremost experts on the Lindbergh kidnapping, which took place 80 years ago this month but continues to fascinate people everywhere. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":5009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-march-2012"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}