Barnett Ruditsky was born Barnett Ruditsky in the East End of London, England, the son of Phillip Ruditsky and Blooma Marin. His father was a boot finisher. Little is known about Ruditsky's childhood, and much of his later life remains shadowy. As a child he was taken by his parents to South Africa, back to England, and around 1908 to New York. He grew up on the East Side of Manhattan.
In 1916 Ruditsky served in the U. S. Army on the Mexican border, and during World War I he served in France. After the war he returned to New York and in 1921 joined the New York City police force. In August 1923, while patrolling in a tough West Side Manhattan district, the slightly built Ruditsky manhandled a large, athletic suspect who resisted arrest. The local magistrate was impressed, Ruditsky was cited for bravery, and the New York Times complimented him. In 1924 he was promoted to detective.
In 1926 the Ruditskys celebrated their third wedding anniversary at a late-night supper club. On their way home, accompanied by a friend, they spotted a holdup in progress in a confectionery store. Ruditsky drew his pistol and charged into the store to confront two robbers, one of them armed. When the gunman pointed his pistol at Ruditsky, the detective knocked the robber out with the butt of his own weapon. His wife picked up the robber's gun. The unarmed robber dashed out the door, and as Ruditsky followed, he ordered his wife to guard the disarmed robber. He chased the second robber a block and a half and caught him, much to the surprise of onlookers, who called a police patrol wagon.
In 1928 Ruditsky arrested the "poison ivy" gang in a Turkish bath on Second Street. Shortly thereafter, working with Detective Johnny Broderick, he rounded up the "pear buttons" gang on the West Side. Broderick and Ruditsky became leaders of a special antigangster squad assigned to combat organized crime throughout New York City. Ruditsky fought against such men as Jack ("Legs") Diamond and Arthur ("Dutch Schultz") Flegenheimer. He was responsible for arresting Abe Reles ("Kid Twist"), who was sent to prison but later reemerged to become a key figure in Brooklyn's Murder, Inc.
In 1941 Ruditsky retired after twenty years on the force. During World War II he was an army officer assigned to a unit that guarded prisoners in North Africa. In 1943 he was wounded by shrapnel. After the war Ruditsky became a private detective, and in 1948, following press reports linking him to organized crime, he moved to Los Angeles. There he was a co-owner of Sherry's Cocktail Lounge and Restaurant, a Sunset Strip hangout for underworld figure Mickey Cohen, who in July 1949 narrowly escaped a late-night shotgun assassination in front of the restaurant.
During these years Ruditsky was also co-owner of a travel agency with George Jessel and George Raft. As a private detective for and against Hollywood stars, the most famous and bizarre episode of Ruditsky's career occurred in 1954, when film star Marilyn Monroe was divorcing baseball star Joe Di Maggio. Di Maggio hired Ruditsky to spy on Monroe either, as Di Maggio later claimed, to obtain a reconciliation or to gain evidence that would so besmirch her reputation that she could not collect alimony. According to later testimony, Di Maggio heard that Monroe was spending the night in a borrowed Hollywood apartment; he concluded that his estranged wife had a lover and with the support of Frank Sinatra urged Ruditsky to expose her adultery.
Accompanied by several men, one armed with a camera, Ruditsky kicked down the door of the apartment--and amid popping flashbulbs and terrorized shrieks found in bed a lone woman, who was not Monroe. He had broken into the wrong apartment. The "Wrong-Door Raid" became a Hollywood legend, was sensationalized in Confidential magazine, and revealed that private detective Ruditsky had no state license.
In April 1959 Ruditsky's memoirs of his exploits as a police detective during Prohibition became the basis for an NBC television series, "The Lawless Years. " James Gregory played the role of Barney Ruditsky in a show that Variety praised for its technical accuracy, its attention to detail, and its ability to capture the spirit of the 1920's. Although the series played for only fifty-two episodes in two seasons, it spurred an imitator, "The Untouchables, " which became one of the most popular shows on television. Ruditsky continued as a technical consultant for police and detective movies and television shows. He died in Los Angeles.
During his 20-year career on the force Ruditsky was among the NYPD's prominent "celebrity detectives" of the 1920s and 1930s. Ruditsky was associated with many criminal cases during this period, most notably, ending with the break up of Murder Incorporated in 1940. As a private detective he was prominent due to his association with gangland figures such as Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel and his investigation of film star Marilyn Monroe, the latter resulting in the infamous "Wrong Door Raid" in 1954. Ruditsky also served as a technical advisor on a series of crime films for 20th Century Fox in the mid-1940s and eventually became involved in creating "The Lawless Years" (1959–61).
On February 18, 1923, Ruditsky married Mollie Feiner; they had one son. His second wife, Reggie Darryl, died in September 1957 at the age of thirty.
