Malachi Fallon

Arguably the most corrupt New York warden, Malachi Fallon (1814-1899) ran the dreaded Tombsthroughout much of the 1840s. In exchange for bribes, he allowed wealthy prisoners such privileges as singing canaries, hanging shelves, and fancy wallpaper in their cells. He sold the famous circus promoter P.T. Barnum the exclusive right to make death masks of his most notorious prisoners and allowed rich friends to use the jail for pranks. Fallon would have gladly helped out a newspaper columnist such as Colonel Mann so long as he greased the warden’s palm.

In 1848, Fallon heard about the Gold Rush and left for New York for California. Shortly thereafter he ended up becoming the first police chief of San Francisco. He was removed from office in 1851 under a cloud of suspicion over corruption and wisely stayed away from law enforcement for the remainder of his days--opening a saloon, the Rip Van Winkle.