Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Man Convicted of Killing Satmar Rabbi May Be Released This Week

A man jailed for 21 years for the murder of a prominent Satmar rabbi might not actually be guilty, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

David Ranta, sentenced to 37.5 years in a maximum-security prison in May 1991 for the violent murder of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, may be released as early as Thursday, the report added.

Werzberger, an Auschwitz survivor, was shot in the head on February 8, 1990, as an innocent bystander to an ongoing robbery. Faced with the outrage of the Satmar community in Williamsburg, authorities felt extra pressure to find the killer, the Times reported.

But in the decades since Ranta?s conviction, The New York Times wrote, ?nearly every piece of evidence in this case has fallen away.? A number of witnesses disclosed that they had lied on instructions from detectives, or to protect their own interests.

Detective Louis Scarcella and his partner, Stephen Chmil, the Times added, ?broke rule after rule? according to legal documents and reports from the trial.

According to one investigator, the detectives allowed two dangerous criminals to ?leave jail, smoke crack cocaine and visit with prostitutes in exchange for incriminating Mr. Ranta,? the report stated.

One key witness in the case said that one detective had told him who to identify in a lineup. Another crucial to the case ? a convicted rapist ? revealed that he had named Ranta in order to cut a deal.

Ranta, now 58, release may come about, in large part thanks to an investigation conducted by his lawyer, Pierre Sussman. Asked by The New York Times how he survived in prison, he answered he wasn?t sure he really had.

?I?d lie there in the cell at night and I think: I?m the only one in the world who knows I?m innocent,? he said. ?I came in here as a 30-something with kids, a mother who was alive. This case killed my whole life.?

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.