Edward Mishkin Yonkers Porn Dealer 1966 United States Supreme Court Case

Described as the "sultan of smut" by police investigators, Edward Mishkin was a porn book dealer based in the Times Square area of New York City. In the 1950s he was arrested for publications that involved sadism and masochism. In 1960 he was convicted in a major porn case that he appealed. His appeal was heard and denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966. Two more cases involving federal obscenity laws were deliberated by the high court at the same time. One of them pertained to John Cleland's 18th century erotic novel of a London prostitute, "Fanny Hill". With a court opinion delivered by Justice William Brennan, the cases served to strengthen censorship in the U.S. in the mid-1960s.