FBI agents were waiting for Gerhard Puff, a German-born bank robber who had earned a place on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, when he arrived at Manhattan’s Congress Hotel on July 25, 1952. In an effort to avoid arrest, Puff shot and killed Special Agent Joseph John Brock and fled the hotel.
The shooting continued on the street. Puff was shot, allowing officers to apprehend him.
At trial in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Puff was found guilty of first-degree murder on May 15, 1953, and sentenced to death. After his appeal was rejected, he was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing on August 12, 1954.
The Federal Death Penalty Project 