Joe was born on January 5, 1889, in Easton, Pennsylvania, the eldest of four children of Irish immigrants. Educated at Lafayette College and Columbia University, Joe met Stella, who was married, but they fell in love and with his legal education, he helped her get a divorce, after which they wed.

Joe began his legal career in Manhattan and became involved in the Democratic machine known as Tammany Hall.

On April 8, 1930, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt named Joe as Justice to the New York Supreme Court for New York County.

That summer Joe and Stella were vacationing in Maine, when he received a phone call and returned to New York City, telling his wife he would return before her birthday on August 9.

On August 6 Joe got a ticket for a show called Dancing Partner, a show that he had already seen in previews.

He ate dinner with some friends, and at 9:30 Judge Joseph Crater got into a taxicab, drove off, and was never seen again.

The disappearance of Judge Crater was not reported to the police until September 3, and then it became front page news all across the country.

It was one of the most famous missing persons cases of all time, leading to popular culture phrases like “to pull a Crater”, meaning to disappear.

Even over 30 years later his name would pop up in sitcoms, like for example this scene from The Dick Van Dyke Show, where Rob and Laura discover that they aren’t legally married and rush off to correct that (Season 3 Episode 4):

Now The Bowery Boys are on the case and have given a complete rundown of the facts.