Queens, NY – NYPD Crack Decades-Old Murder of Holocaust Survivor

Queens, NY – The decades-old unsolved murder of an elderly Holocaust survivor has finally been cracked, Queens prosecutors said Wednesday.

Cecil Schiff, who fled Poland during World War II, was strangled in his Flushing apartment during a break-in robbery in September 1980.

Mattison, 49, was arraigned Tuesday for the 73-year-old’s slaying. He faces 25 years to life in prison. “The defendant is accused of strangling a man to death in his own home and eluding justice for more than three decades,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Mattison was 17 at the time of the murder and lived near Schiff, on Kissena Blvd.

The murder happened while Schiff’s family was preparing to celebrate the Rosh Hashanah holy days. His wife, Gertrude, had just left their fourth-floor apartment when, police say, an intruder burst in and beat Schiff over the head with a blunt object, possibly the butt end of a gun.

The elderly man tried to make it into the kitchen to use the phone but collapsed along the way. His bloodied body was discovered by his wife a short time after the 4 p.m. attack.

His killer ransacked the home for jewelry and stole $100 from a billfold. Fingerprints left on a jewelry box were linked to Mattison.

Prosecutors are searching for living relatives of Schiff, whose wife and daughter have since died. Anyone with information about Schiff is asked to call the Queens District Attorney’s Office at 718-286-5866.