Bela Gosztony was a Hungarian bootlegger who was active in Weimar era Germany.
Biography[]
Bela Gosztony was born in Hungary, the brother of Sandor Gosztony, and he later settled in Berlin, where he partnered with nightclub owner Edgar Kasabian to smuggle 35,000 bottles of arrack per year during the 1920s. In April 1929, Kasabian confronted Bela over his brother Sandor's switching of arrack for cheap booze, leading to customer complaints; Kasabian punished the Gosztony brother's duplicity by feeding Sandor's tongue to Gosztony, who initially believed it to be octopus. In September, Bela and Sandor had their revenge by sabotaging a spotlight during the filming of Demons of Passion, produced by a company that Kasabian had invested great sums in; the spotlight killed the lead actress Betty Winter, and, when it was determined that her death was not an accident, it nearly ruined the Babelsberg Film Studio financially and almost resulted in Kasabian's mansion being seized by the bank. Sandor Gosztony also murdered the lighting technician Felix Krempin, who had bailed out on the sabotage misison at the last minute, to prevent him from being interrogated by detective Gereon Rath. Police investigator Leopold Ulrich traced the bullet back to the Gosztony brothers and blackmailed them into continuing to murder people associated with Demons of Passion to create a media sensation, and Ulrich attempted to frame Kasabian's lieutenant Walter Weintraub for the murders. However, Ulrich was apprehended by Rath after telling an imaginary press conference about his scheme to frame Weintraub, and Rath and the homicide squad used this information to arrest Sandor, who was murdered by Kasabian and Weintraub while in police custody.
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