Moses Ehrich was an American businessman and underworld figure known as Old Unger who served as a fence

Fence (criminal)

A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...

 to burglars, thieves and shoplifters from his Eldridge Street store throughout the mid to late 19th century. He was indicted four or five times on charges of receiving stolen goods during the administration of A. Oakley Hall

A. Oakley Hall

Abraham Oakey Hall was an American politician, lawyer, and writer. He served as Mayor of New York from 1869 to 1872. He was alleged to have been part of the vilified "Tweed Ring"...

, but always escaped conviction. Ehrich was represented by Hall in later years.

In 1875, Ehrich was indicted for his involvement in the infamous Adams Express safe robbery and was accused of receiving stolen bond

Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

s and an uncut diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

 valued at $800. Released on a $5,000 bond, Ehrich disappeared from the city shortly after the conviction of ringleader Daniel Haurey. In spite of efforts by District Attorney Horace Russell and the New York Police Department, Ehrich escaped to Canada.