35 Of The FBI's Most Famous Closed Cases - Chapters 4-11



PART II. HISTORICAL TEN MOST WANTED

CHAPTER 4
BILLIE AUSTIN BRYANT 

On November 3, 1969, at 9:30 a.m., Judge Gerhard Gesell told Billie Austin 
Bryant that he "would die in jail, but at the time God so appoints." A 
jury in Washington, D.C., had found Bryant guilty of two counts of first 
degree murder in the brutal slaying of two FBI Agents. The jury had been 
unable to agree on a sentence, and this responsibility was placed on the 
U.S. District Court judge.

On August 23, 1968, Bryant had escaped from the District of Columbia 
Department of Corrections Reformatory at Lorton, Virginia, by crashing an 
automobile through a chain link gate in a temporary fence. He had been 
working on the vehicle in the automobile shop.

Bryant had been sentenced on April 5, 1968, to serve 18 to 54 years in the 
custody of the Attorney General after his conviction in the U.S. District 
Court, Washington, D.C., for bank robbery and assault. This conviction 
resulted from Bryant's participation in approximately six Washington, 
D.C., area bank robberies.

The federal grand jury, Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk, returned 
an indictment on September 9, 1968, charging Bryant with violation of 
Title 18, United States Code, Section 751, as an escaped federal prisoner.

The FBI began an immediate investigation, which included interviews with 
Bryant's family and associates, to apprehend him.

On January 8, 1969, the Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Maryland, Fort 
Washington Branch, was robbed by a man who escaped in a maroon Cadillac. 
Two of the victim tellers identified the robber as Billie Austin Bryant, 
for they remembered him as a customer of the bank prior to his conviction 
for bank robbery in 1968.

The FBI was immediately notified of this robbery and of the tentative 
identification of Bryant as the robber. Bryant's wife was know to reside 
in an apartment in the Southeast Washington, D.C., area. Therefore, three 
FBI Agents proceeded to the vicinity of her residence to determine whether 
the maroon automobile had been seen in the area.

After determining that the Cadillac was not in the vicinity, the Agents 
decided to advise Bryant's wife of the robbery in case Bryant tried to 
contact her. Unwittingly, the Agents passed Bryant's wife descending the 
stairway as they proceeded to her apartment.

In response to a knock by one of the Agents, the door of the apartment was 
partly opened by a man who stated that Mrs. Bryant was not home. The 
Agents identified themselves and asked this individual if they could come 
in and talk to him. The man stated that since it was not his apartment he 
could not invite anyone inside. At this point, the individual began firing 
a gun point blank at the three Agents. After a quick succession of shots, 
he slammed the door. Two of the Agents were struck by the shots, and the 
third fired two shots into the closing door.

The third Agent immediately returned to the FBI car and radioed for 
assistance. The two wounded Agents, Edwin R. Woodriffe and Anthony 
Palmisano, were rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital where they were 
pronounced dead on arrival.

SA Palmisano was born on November 3, 1942, in Newark, New Jersey. He was 
awarded a B.S. Degree in Business Administration from a university in 
Newark. He entered on duty with the FBI on June 27, 1960, and performed 
clerical duties until he was appointed to the position of Special Agent on 
July 10, 1967. SA Palmisano had been assigned to the Charlotte, North 
Carolina, Office before being transferred to Washington, D.C.

SA Woodriffe was born on January 22, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York. He 
graduated from a university in New York with a B.S. Degree in Accounting. 
Before his appointment as an FBI Agent on May 22, 1967, Woodriffe worked 
as a part-time police cadet in a clerical capacity and as a Criminal 
Investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department in New York. Before being 
transferred to Washington, D.C., Woodriffe had been assigned to the 
Cleveland, Ohio, FBI Office.

In a matter of minutes after the shooting, the apartment house was 
surrounded by D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers and FBI Agents. Tear gas 
was fired into the apartment, but upon entry it was determined that the 
individual had made his escape down a tree adjoining the rear of the 
apartment near a bedroom window.

The surviving Agent identified a photograph of Billie Austin Bryant as the 
individual who fatally wounded the two Agents.

An intensive search of the surrounding area was conducted by the FBI, the 
Maryland State Police, the Prince George's County Police, the Prince 
George's Sheriff's Office, and the Metropolitan Police Department in an 
effort to apprehend Bryant. The manhunt by hundreds of FBI Agents and 
local officers included helicopters, dogs, and numerous roadblocks.

On January 8, 1969, warrants were issued charging Bryant with robbing the 
Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Maryland, Fort Washington Branch, and 
with killing the two FBI Agents. On the same date Bryant was placed on the 
FBI's list of "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives."

At approximately 6:50 p.m., on January 8, 1969, a call was received at the 
Metropolitan Police Department from an alert citizen in an apartment house 
on Mississippi Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. This citizen reported he had 
heard noises in the attic above his apartment. He had heard about the FBI 
Agents being shot, and, since the shooting had happened in the immediate 
vicinity, he was suspicious of the noises.

A detective from the robbery squad of the Metropolitan Police Department 
responded to the call. After the detective announced his identity, a voice 
responded from the attic identifying himself as Billy Bryant. Bryant 
stated that he had climbed into the attic and the door had jammed, 
trapping him.

Bryant was placed under arrest and taken to the homicide squad of the 
Metropolitan Police Department. He furnished a signed statement admitting 
the shooting of the two FBI Agents, but added that it was in self-defense. 
His time on the Top 10 list remains the shortest of any fugitive - 2 hours.

On January 28, 1969, a line-up was held at the Metropolitan Police 
Department. The third FBI Agent at the scene of the murders positively 
identified Billie Austin Bryant as the individual who shot and killed SAs 
Woodriffe and Palmisano.

On March 5, 1969, Bryant was indicted by a federal grand jury, in 
Washington, D.C., and charged with two counts of killing a federal officer 
in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1111(a) and 1114. 
In addition, he was charged with two counts of first degree murder in 
violation of Title 22, District of Columbia Code, Section 2401.

Bryant was convicted in U.S. District Court, Alexandria, Virginia, on 
April 10, 1969, of being an escaped federal prisoner and was sentenced to 
serve three years in the custody of the Attorney General. This sentence 
was to begin upon expiration of his current confinement.

On April 14, 1969, Bryant was convicted in Maryland State Court of the 
armed robbery of the Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Maryland, Fort 
Washington Branch. He was sentenced to serve 20 years to run consecutively 
to any time received on federal charges.

Bryant was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder in U.S. 
District Court, Washington, D.C., on October 27, 1969. During his trial an 
expert from the FBI Laboratory testified that bullets removed from the 
bodies of SA Palmisano and SA Woodriffe, as well as a bullet removed from 
a door opposite the apartment, had been fired from Bryant's revolver. 
Three other bullets, which had been removed from SA Palmisano, a door 
molding, and the floor, were found to have been fired from a revolver with 
the same rifling characteristics as Bryant's. He also testified that 
gunpowder residues were found on the dead Agents' coats.

On November 3, 1969, the U.S. District Court judge sentenced Bryant to 
serve two consecutive life sentences in the custody of the Attorney 
General. These sentences were to be imposed, with no possibility of 
parole, at the end of the 18 to 54-year sentence Bryant had been serving 
at the time he escaped from the reformatory at Lorton.

Bryant was immediately transported by U.S. Marshals to the Federal 
Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where he was received on November 4, 
1969.



CHAPTER 5
GERHARD ARTHUR PUFF 

One hour before midnight on a hot, sticky Thursday in 1954, Gerhard Arthur 
Puff was led out of his death cell at Sing Sing Prison and down the 
corridor to the fateful room. He had, earlier that day, eaten two of the 
largest meals ever served at the prison. Now, he was calm as he seated 
himself in the electric chair and assisted in strapping himself in. 
Turning to one of the witnesses, Puff uttered his last words on Earth, 
"Goodbye, Marshal." He was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m.

Gerhard Arthur Puff took his first step toward the electric chair at the 
age of 20 when, in his home city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was arrested 
on June 21, 1934, and convicted on a charge of disorderly conduct. Seven 
years earlier he had come to the United States from his native Dresden, 
Germany, and only the previous month he had been admitted to United States 
citizenship through the naturalization of his father.

Puff's next conviction occurred a year later for stealing domestic 
animals. On August 22, 1935, he was sentenced to serve three concurrent 
terms of one to five years each in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary. 
Several months later he was transferred to the State Reformatory at Green 
Bay.

While at the reformatory, Puff assaulted one of the guards and, on 
conviction, was sentenced to an additional term of one to ten years to 
begin at the expiration of the sentences he was then serving. He was sent 
back to the State Penitentiary in February, 1937, and was discharged on 
May 24, 1939, after serving a total of approximately three years and nine 
months.

Puff was returned to the penitentiary to begin serving a sentence of one 
to nine years following a conviction on December 28, 1942, for assault 
with intent to commit armed robbery. On September 6, 1945, he escaped. 
Fifteen days later he was apprehended in a stolen car and again returned 
to prison. He was discharged on November 19, 1947.

The following June, Puff was found guilty of breaking and entering a 
warehouse at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He was also charged with the 1945 
prison escape, and on the basis of these convictions he received 
concurrent terms of one to four years and twelve to seventeen months, 
respectively. He was again committed to the Wisconsin State Penitentiary 
in June, 1948, and was released on April 25, 1951.

Between prison sentences Puff was employed at various times as a truck 
driver, laborer, farm hand, and machinist helper. He also had experience 
in the printing trade, but to satisfy his fondness for expensive clothes, 
big automobiles, dancing, sports, and gambling, he again turned to crime.

On May 2, 1951, Puff was arrested by the Milwaukee Police Department on a 
charge of armed robbery and was lodged in the Milwaukee County Jail in 
lieu of $3,000 bond. While in jail awaiting trial he became acquainted 
with George Arthur Heroux, a sullen, gun-crazy youth, who was released 
from the jail on August 23, 1951.

On October 17, 1951, an unknown party, acting through a Chicago bondsman, 
posted a $3,000 cash bond for the release of Puff. He was to report for 
trial on November 15, but he did not appear.

Eight days later, the Johnson County National Bank and Trust Company of 
Prairie Village, Kansas, was robbed by two armed men of more than $62,000 
in cash, large numbers of American Express Travelers checks and several 
denominations of Series E, unissued United States Government bonds.

The robbers gained entry to the bank at approximately 8:05 a.m. by forcing 
an employee to open the front door. While one of the outlaws herded bank 
employees into a reception room located near the front of the bank and 
stood guard over them with what was described as a M1-type carbine, the 
other bandit made the cashier open the vault. The loot was collected in a 
muslin bag resembling a pillowcase and bearing the printing of the Federal 
Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri.

The getaway was made at 8:42 a.m. in a cream-colored, late- model 
convertible automobile which was abandoned a few minutes later less than a 
half-mile from the bank. This car had been stolen on November 3, 1951, in 
the downtown business district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the time it was 
abandoned by the robbers, it carried a set of license plates which had 
been stolen in Hollister, Missouri, on November 4, 1951.

Witnesses to the robbery said that both bandits wore white mechanic-type 
coveralls with narrow blue cuffs on the sleeves and light-colored hunting 
caps with upturned earmuffs.

A complaint was filed before a United States Commissioner at Topeka, 
Kansas, on December 3, 1951, charging Gerhard Arthur Puff with 
participating in the robbery. The other person charged with the stick-up 
was George Arthur Heroux. The names of the two were added to the list of 
the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives." 

The search for the bandit pair during the ensuing seven months was intense 
and relentless. Then, on July 25, 1952, George Arthur Heroux was 
apprehended at Miami, Florida.

From clues gained through the apprehension of Puff's criminal associate it 
was determined that Puff might attempt to make contact with persons at a 
certain hotel in New York City. During the night and morning of July 25-
26, 1952, therefore, FBI Agents set up a surveillance at this hotel. 
Agents were strategically located in the lobby of the hotel, in rooms on 
the ninth floor, at the hotel entrance, and in the streets surrounding the 
hotel while FBI radio cars cruised in the vicinity.

The room under observation, Room 904, was registered to a "John Hanson." 
Another room had been vacated that day by a man named "J. Burns." Hotel 
employees identified Burns as Gerhard Arthur Puff. It was felt Puff might 
attempt to contact Hanson with whom he was friendly. In substantiation of 
this a note was found on the bed in Room 904 indicating that "Burns" 
desired to contact Hanson that night or the following morning.

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on the morning of July 26, a new shift of 
Special Agents (SAs) replaced the group on duty in the hotel. Special 
Agent Joseph John Brock, 44, married and the father of three children, was 
placed in charge of this group and he and two other Agents were stationed 
in the hotel lobby.

Shortly before noon two girls visited Room 904, then left the hotel. 
Special Agents in radio cars followed them to another hotel. At 1:20 p.m., 
they returned to the first hotel and again went to Room 904.

Within a few minutes an individual resembling Puff entered the hotel. 
After making a telephone call to Room 904 he went up to the room in the 
elevator. The hotel clerk confirmed the fact that the individual was Puff 
and Agents were alerted.

It was decided to wait for Puff to return to the lobby before arresting 
him. Special Agent Brock took up a position at the foot of a small 
stairway.

Puff did not remain at Room 904 but returned to the first floor in a few 
minutes by the stairway where Agent Brock was stationed. Puff encountered 
SA Brock, shot him twice in the chest, took his gun, then with a gun in 
each hand, Puff made a zig-zagging dash through the lobby, firing another 
shot at converging Agents. Agents outside the hotel called to Puff to 
surrender. He answered with gunfire. Agents posted behind parked cars 
returned the fire and Puff collapsed to the sidewalk. 

He was taken to a hospital for treatment, then to the prison ward at 
Bellevue.

Special Agent Brock was treated by a doctor who appeared on the scene, 
then rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after 
arrival.

On May 15, 1953, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of 
New York, Gerhard Arthur Puff was found guilty of murder in the first 
degree and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Puff's attorney 
appealed the conviction but to no avail and on August 12, 1954, at Sing 
Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, the killer's career of violence came to a 
final, irrevocable end.



CHAPTER 6
WILLIE SUTTON 

Born on June 30, 1901, in Brooklyn, New York, Willie Sutton was the fourth 
of five children. He attended school through eighth grade, then left home 
to secure a job. Sutton's employment included jobs as a clerk, a driller 
and a gardener. His longest continuous employment lasted 18 months. Sutton 
was married in 1929, but his wife divorced him after he was incarcerated. 
He remarried in 1933. Before his death, Sutton co-authored "I, Willie 
Sutton" and "Where the Money Was."

Willie Sutton acquired two nicknames, "The Actor" and "Slick Willie," for 
his ingenuity in executing robberies in various disguises. Fond of 
expensive clothes, Sutton was described as being an immaculate dresser. 
Although he was a bank robber, Sutton had the reputation of a gentleman; 
in fact, people present at his robberies stated he was quite polite. One 
victim said witnessing one of Sutton's robberies was like being at the 
movies, except the usher had a gun. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton 
simply replied, "Because that's where the money is."

On February 15, 1933, Sutton and a confederate attempted to rob the Corn 
Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sutton, 
disguised as a mailman, entered the bank early in the morning. The 
curiosity of a passerby caused the robbery attempt to be abandoned. 
However, on January 15, 1934 Sutton entered the same bank with two 
companions through a skylight. When the watchman arrived, they forced him 
to admit the employees as usual. Each employee was handcuffed and crowded 
into a small room. 

Sutton also executed a Broadway jewelry store robbery in broad daylight, 
impersonating a postal telegraph messenger. Sutton's other disguises 
included a policeman, messenger and maintenance man. He usually arrived at 
the banks or stores slightly before they opened for the day.

Besides being known as an innovative robber, Sutton recommitted in June, 
1931, on charges assault and robbery. Sentenced to 30 years, he escaped on 
December 11, 1932, by scaling the prison wall on two 9-foot sections of 
ladder that were joined together. 

Sutton was apprehended on February 5, 1934, and was sentenced to serve 25 
to 50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 
the machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank. On April 3, 1945, 
Sutton was one of 12 convicts who escaped the institution through a 
tunnel. Sutton was recaptured the same day by Philadelphia police 
officers; this had been his fifth escape attempt at this prison.

Sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender, Sutton was 
transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, Homesburg, Pennsylvania. On 
February 10, 1947, Sutton and other prisoners dressed as prison guards. 
The men carried two ladders across the prison yard to the wall after dark. 
When the prison's searchlights hit him, Sutton yelled, "It's okay," and no 
one stopped him.

On March 20, 1950, Willie "The Actor" Sutton was added to the FBI's list 
of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Because of his love for expensive clothes, 
Sutton's photograph was given to tailors as well as police departments. A 
24-year-old tailor's son recognized Sutton on the New York subway on 
February 18, 1952, and follow him to a local gas station where Sutton 
purchased a battery for his car. The man reported the incident to the 
police who later arrested Sutton.

Sutton did not resist his arrest by New York City Police, but denied any 
robberies or other crimes since his 1947 escape from Philadelphia County 
Prison. At the time of his arrest, Sutton owed one life sentence plus 105 
years. He was further sentenced to an additional 30 years to life in New 
York State Prison following a jury trial in Queens County Court.

Seventeen years later, the New York State penal authorities decided that 
Sutton did not have to serve two life sentences and 105 years. Sutton was 
ill; he had emphysema and was preparing for a major operation on arteries 
in his legs. On Christmas Eve, 1969, 68-year-old Sutton was released from 
Attica State Prison. Ironically, in 1970, Sutton did a television 
commercial to promote the New Britain, Connecticut, Bank and Trust 
Company's new photo credit card program. 

On November 2, 1980, Willie Sutton died in Spring Hill, Florida, at the 
age of 79.



PART 3. ORGANIZED CRIME/GANGSTERS

CHAPTER 7
AL CAPONE

Alphonse Capone, aka Al, Scarface - Contempt of Court

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, of an immigrant family, Al Capone 
quit school after the sixth grade and associated with a notorious street 
gang, becoming accepted as a member. Johnny Torrio was the street gang 
leader and among the other members was Lucky Luciano, who would later 
attain his own notoriety.

About 1920, at Torrio's invitation, Capone joined Torrio in Chicago where 
he had become an influential lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. The rackets 
spawned by enactment of the Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, 
distilling and distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as "growth 
industries." Torrio, abetted by Al Capone, intended to take full advantage 
of opportunities. The mobs also developed interests in legitimate 
businesses, in the cleaning and dyeing field, and cultivated influence 
with receptive public officials, labor unions and employees' associations.

Torrio soon succeeded to full leadership of the gang with the violent 
demise of Big Jim Colosimo, and Capone gained experience and expertise as 
his strong right arm.

In 1925, Capone became boss when Torrio, seriously wounded in an 
assassination attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. Capone 
had built a fearsome reputation in the ruthless gang rivalries of the 
period, struggling to acquire and retain "racketeering rights" to several 
areas of Chicago. That reputation grew as rival gangs were eliminated or 
nullified, and the suburb of Cicero became, in effect, a fiefdom of the 
Capone mob.

Perhaps the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, might be 
regarded as the culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven 
members or associates of the "Bugs" Moran mob were machine-gunned against 
a garage wall by rivals posing as police. The massacre was generally 
ascribed to the Capone mob, although Al himself was then in Florida.

The investigative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Investigation during the 
1920s and early 1930s was more limited than it is now, and the gang 
warfare and depredations of the period were not within the Bureau's 
investigative authority.

The Bureau's investigation of Al Capone arose from his reluctance to 
appear before a Federal Grand Jury on March 12, 1929, in response to a 
subpoena. On March 11, his lawyers formally filed for postponement of his 
appearance, submitting a physician's affidavit dated March 5, which 
attested that Capone, in Miami, had been suffering from bronchial 
pneumonia, had been confined to bed from January 13 to February 23, and 
that it would be dangerous to Capone's health to travel to Chicago. His 
appearance date before the grand jury was re-set for March 20.

On request of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bureau of Investigation Agents 
obtained statements to the effect that Capone had attended race tracks in 
the Miami area, that he had made a plane trip to Bimini and a cruise to 
Nassau, and that he had been interviewed at the office of the Dade County 
Solicitor, and that he had appeared in good health on each of those 
occasions.

Capone appeared before the Federal Grand Jury at Chicago on March 20, 
1929, and completed his testimony on March 27. As he left the courtroom, 
he was arrested by Agents for Contempt of Court, an offense for which the 
penalty could be one year and a $1,000 fine. He posted $5,000 bond and was 
released.

On May 17, 1929, Al Capone and his bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia 
for carrying concealed deadly weapons. Within 16 hours they had been 
sentenced to terms of one year each. Capone served his time and was 
released in nine months for good behavior on March 17, 1930.

On February 28, 1936, Capone was found guilty in Federal Court on the 
Contempt of Court charge and was sentenced to six months in Cook County 
Jail. His appeal on that charge was subsequently dismissed.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department had been developing evidence on 
tax evasion charges - in addition to Al Capone, his brother Ralph 
"Bottles" Capone, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Frank Nitti and other 
mobsters were subjects of tax evasion charges.

On June 16, 1931, Al Capone pled guilty to tax evasion and prohibition 
charges. He then boasted to the press that he had struck a deal for a two-
and-one-half year sentence, but the presiding judge informed him he, the 
judge, was not bound by any deal. Capone then changed his plea to not 
guilty.

On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted after trial, and on November 24, 
was sentenced to eleven years in Federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged 
$7,692 for court costs, in addition to $215,000 plus interest due on back 
taxes. The six-month Contempt of Court sentence was to be served 
concurrently.

While awaiting the results of appeals, Capone was confined to the Cook 
County Jail. Upon denial of appeals, he entered the U.S. Penitentiary at 
Atlanta, serving his sentence there and at Alcatraz.

On November 16, 1939, Al Capone was released after having served seven 
years, six months and fifteen days, and having paid all fines and back 
taxes.

Suffering from paresis derived from syphilis, he had deteriorated greatly 
during his confinement. Immediately on release he entered a Baltimore 
hospital for brain treatment, and then went on to his Florida home, an 
estate on Palm Island in Biscayne Bay near Miami, which he had purchased 
in 1928.

Following his release, he never publicly returned to Chicago. He had 
become mentally incapable of returning to gangland politics. In 1946, his 
physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist, after examination, both concluded 
Al Capone then had the mentality of a 12-year-old child. Capone resided on 
Palm Island with his wife and immediate family, in a secluded atmosphere, 
until his death due to a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947.

BIBLIOGRAPHY REGARDING AL CAPONE
1. "Farewell, Mr. Gangster!" Herbert Corey, D. Appleton-Century Company, 
Inc., New York, New York, 1936

2. "The FBI Story," Don Whitehead, Random House, New York, New York, 1956

3. "Organized Crime In America," Gus Tyler, University of Michigan Press, 
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1962

4. "The Dillinger Days," John Toland, Random House, New York, New York, 
1963

5. "The Devil's Emissaries," Myron J. Quimby, A. S. Barnes and Company, 
New York, New York, 1969

6. "Capone," John Kobler, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, New York, 1971

7. "Mafia, USA," Nicholas Gage, Dell Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 
New York, 1972

8. "The Mobs And The Mafia," Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt, Thomas Y. 
Crowell Company, New York, New York, 1972

9. "Bloodletters and Badmen," Jay Robert Nash, M. Evans and Company, Inc., 
New York, New York, 1973

10. "G-Men: Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture," Richard Gid Powers, 
Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1983



CHAPTER 8
BONNIE AND CLYDE

Clyde Champion Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker, were shot to death 
by officers in an ambush near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, on May 
23, 1934, after one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the 
Nation had seen up to that time.

Barrow was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted for murder, 
robbery, and state charges of kidnaping.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), then called the Bureau of 
Investigation, became interested in Barrow and his paramour late in 
December, 1932, through a singular bit of evidence. A Ford automobile, 
which had been stolen in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, was found abandoned near 
Jackson, Michigan in September of that year. At Pawhuska, it was learned 
another Ford car had been abandoned there which had been stolen in 
Illinois. A search of this car revealed it had been occupied by a man and 
a woman, indicated by abandoned articles therein. In this car was found a 
prescription bottle, which led Special Agents to a drug store in 
Nacogdoches, Texas, where investigation disclosed the woman for whom the 
prescription had been filled was Clyde Barrow's aunt.

Further investigation revealed that the woman who obtained the 
prescription had been visited recently by Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and 
Clyde's brother, L. C. Barrow. It also was learned that these three were 
driving a Ford car, identified as the one stolen in Illinois. It was 
further shown that L. C. Barrow had secured the empty prescription bottle 
from a son of the woman who had originally obtained it.

On May 20, 1933, the United States Commissioner at Dallas, Texas, issued a 
warrant against Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, charging them with the 
interstate transportation, from Dallas to Oklahoma, of the automobile 
stolen in Illinois. The FBI then started its hunt for this elusive pair.


Background

Bonnie and Clyde met in Texas in January, 1930. At the time, Bonnie was 19 
and married to an imprisoned murderer; Clyde was 21 and unmarried. Soon 
after, he was arrested for a burglary and sent to jail. He escaped, using 
a gun Bonnie had smuggled to him, was recaptured, and was sent back to 
prison. Clyde was paroled in February, 1932, rejoined Bonnie, and resumed 
a life of crime.

In addition to the automobile theft charge, Bonnie and Clyde were suspects 
in other crimes. At the time they were killed in 1934, they were believed 
to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries. Barrow, 
for example, was suspected of murdering two police officers at Joplin, 
Missouri, and kidnaping a man and a woman in rural Louisiana. He released 
them near Waldo, Texas. Numerous sightings followed, linking this pair 
with bank robberies and automobile thefts. Clyde allegedly murdered a man 
at Hillsboro, Texas; committed robberies at Lufkin and Dallas, Texas; 
murdered one sheriff and wounded another at Stringtown, Oklahoma; kidnaped 
a deputy at Carlsbad, New Mexico; stole an automobile at Victoria, Texas; 
attempted to murder a deputy at Wharton, Texas; committed murder and 
robbery at Abilene and Sherman, Texas; committed murder at Dallas, Texas; 
abducted a sheriff and the chief of police at Wellington, Texas; and 
committed murder at Joplin and Columbia, Missouri.


The Crime Spree Begins

Later in 1932, Bonnie and Clyde began traveling with Raymond Hamilton, a 
young gunman. Hamilton left them several months later, and was replaced by 
William Daniel Jones in November, 1932.

Ivan M. "Buck" Barrow, brother of Clyde, was released from the Texas State 
Prison on March 23, 1933, having been granted a full pardon by the 
Governor. He quickly joined Clyde, bringing his wife, Blanche, so the 
group now numbered five persons. This gang embarked upon a series of bold 
robberies which made headlines across the country. They escaped capture in 
various encounters with the law. However, their activities made law 
enforcement efforts to apprehend them even more intense. During a shootout 
with police in Iowa on July 29, 1933, Buck Barrow was fatally wounded and 
Blanche was captured. Jones, who was frequently mistaken for "Pretty Boy" 
Floyd, was captured in November, 1933, at Houston, Texas, by the sheriff's 
office. Bonnie and Clyde went on together.

On November 22, 1933, a trap was set by the Dallas, Texas, sheriff and his 
deputies in an attempt to capture Bonnie and Clyde near Grand Prairie, 
Texas, but the couple escaped the officer's gunfire. They held up an 
attorney on the highway and took his car, which they abandoned at Miami, 
Oklahoma. On December 21, 1933, Bonnie and Clyde held up and robbed a 
citizen at Shreveport, Louisiana.

On January 16, 1934, five prisoners, including the notorious Raymond 
Hamilton (who was serving sentences totaling more than 200 years), were 
liberated from the Eastham State Prison Farm at Waldo, Texas, by Clyde 
Barrow, accompanied by Bonnie Parker. Two guards were shot by the escaping 
prisoners with automatic pistols, which had been previously concealed in a 
ditch by Barrow. As the prisoners ran, Barrow covered their retreat with 
bursts of machine-gun fire. Among the escapees was Henry Methvin of 
Louisiana.


The Last Months

On April 1, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde encountered two young highway patrolmen 
near Grapevine, Texas. Before the officers could draw their guns, they 
were shot. On April 6, 1934, a constable at Miami, Oklahoma, fell mortally 
wounded by Bonnie and Clyde, who also abducted a police chief, whom they 
wounded.

The FBI had jurisdiction solely on the charge of transporting a stolen 
automobile, although the activities of the Bureau Agents were vigorous and 
ceaseless. Every clue was followed. "Wanted notices" furnishing 
fingerprints, photograph, description, criminal record, and other data 
were distributed to all officers. The Agents followed the trail through 
many states and into various haunts of the Barrow gang, particularly 
Louisiana. The association with Henry Methvin and the Methvin family of 
Louisiana was discovered by FBI Agents and they found that Bonnie and 
Clyde had been driving a car stolen in New Orleans.

On April 13, 1934, an FBI Agent, through investigation in the vicinity of 
Ruston, Louisiana, obtained information which definitely placed Bonnie and 
Clyde in a remote section southwest of that community. The home of the 
Methvins was not far away and the Agent learned of visits there by Bonnie 
and Clyde. Special Agents in Texas had learned that Clyde and his 
companion had been traveling from Texas to Louisiana, sometimes 
accompanied by Henry Methvin.

The FBI and local law enforcement authorities in Louisiana and Texas 
concentrated on apprehending Bonnie and Clyde, whom they strongly believed 
to be in the area. It was learned that Bonnie and Clyde, with some of the 
Methvins, had staged a party at Black Lake, Louisiana, on the night of May 
21, 1934, and were due to return to the area two days later.

Before dawn on May 23, 1934, a posse composed of police officers from 
Louisiana and Texas, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, concealed 
themselves in bushes along the highway near Sailes, Louisiana. In the 
early daylight, Bonnie and Clyde appeared in an automobile and when they 
attempted to drive away, the officers opened fire. Bonnie and Clyde were 
killed instantly.



CHAPTER 9
JOHN DILLINGER

During the 1930s Depression, many Americans, nearly helpless against 
forces they didn't understand, made heroes of outlaws who took what they 
wanted at gunpoint. Of all the lurid desperadoes, one man, John Herbert 
Dillinger, came to evoke this Gangster Era, and stirred mass emotion to a 
degree rarely seen in this country.

Dillinger, whose name once dominated the headlines, was a brutal thief and 
a cold-blooded murderer. From September, 1933, until July, 1934, he and 
his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men, wounding 7 
others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging 3 jail breaks -- 
killing a sheriff during one and wounding 2 guards in another.

John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in the Oak Hill section 
of Indianapolis, a middle-class residential neighborhood. His father, a 
hardworking grocer, raised him in an atmosphere of disciplinary extremes, 
harsh and repressive on some occasions, but generous and permissive on 
others. John's mother died when he was three, and when his father 
remarried six years later, John resented his stepmother.

In adolescence, the flaws in his bewildering personality became evident 
and he was frequently in trouble. Finally, he quit school and got a job in 
a machine shop in Indianapolis. Although intelligent and a good worker, he 
soon became bored and often stayed out all night. His father, worried that 
the temptations of the city were corrupting his teenaged son, sold his 
property in Indianapolis and moved his family to a farm near Mooresville, 
Indiana. However, John reacted no better to rural life than he had to that 
in the city and soon began to run wild again.

A break with his father and trouble with the law (auto theft) led him to 
enlist in the Navy. There he soon got into trouble and deserted his ship 
when it docked in Boston. Returning to Mooresville, he married 16-year-old 
Beryl Hovius in 1924. A dazzling dream of bright lights and excitement led 
the newlyweds to Indianapolis. Dillinger had no luck finding work in the 
city and joined the town pool shark, Ed Singleton, in his search for easy 
money. In their first attempt, they tried to rob a Mooresville grocer, but 
were quickly apprehended. Singleton pleaded not guilty, stood trial, and 
was sentenced to two years. Dillinger, following his father's advice, 
confessed, was convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob, and 
conspiracy to commit a felony, and received joint sentences of 2 to 14 
years and 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison. Stunned by the harsh 
sentence, Dillinger became a tortured, bitter man in prison.

His period of infamy began on May 10, 1933, when he was paroled from 
prison after serving 8 1/2 years of his sentence. Almost immediately, 
Dillinger robbed a bank in Bluffton, Ohio. Dayton police arrested him on 
September 22, and he was lodged in the county jail in Lima, Ohio, to await 
trial.

In frisking Dillinger, the Lima police found a document which seemed to be 
a plan for a prison break, but the prisoner denied knowledge of any plan. 
Four days later, using the same plans, eight of Dillinger's friends 
escaped from the Indiana State Prison, using shotguns and rifles which had 
been smuggled into their cells. During their escape, they shot two guards.

On October 12, three of the escaped prisoners and a parolee from the same 
prison showed up at the Lima jail where Dillinger was incarcerated. They 
told the sheriff that they had come to return Dillinger to the Indiana 
State Prison for violation of his parole.

When the sheriff asked to see their credentials, one of the men pulled a 
gun, shot the sheriff and beat him into unconsciousness. Then taking the 
keys to the jail, the bandits freed Dillinger, locked the sheriff's wife 
and a deputy in a cell, and leaving the sheriff to die on the floor, made 
their getaway.

Although none of these men had violated a Federal law, the FBI's 
assistance was requested in identifying and locating the criminals. The 
four men were identified as Harry Pierpont, Russell Clark, Charles Makley, 
and Harry Copeland. Their fingerprint cards in the FBI Identification 
Division were flagged with red metal tags, indicating that they were 
wanted.

Meanwhile, Dillinger and his gang pulled several bank robberies. They also 
plundered the police arsenals at Auburn, Indiana, and Peru, Indiana, 
stealing several machine guns, rifles, and revolvers, a quantity of 
ammunition, and several bulletproof vests. On December 14, John Hamilton, 
a Dillinger gang member, shot and killed a police detective in Chicago. A 
month later, the Dillinger gang killed a police officer during the robbery 
of the First National Bank of East Chicago, Indiana. Then they made their 
way to Florida and, subsequently, to Tucson, Arizona. There on January 23, 
1934, a fire broke out in the hotel where Clark and Makley were hiding 
under assumed names. Firemen recognized the men from their photographs, 
and local police arrested them, as well as Dillinger and Harry Pierpont. 
They also seized 3 Thompson submachine guns, 2 Winchester rifles mounted 
as machine guns, 5 bulletproof vests, and more than $25,000 in cash, part 
of it from the East Chicago robbery.

Dillinger was sequestered at the county jail in Crown Point, Indiana, to 
await trial for the murder of the East Chicago police officer. Authorities 
boasted that the jail was "escape proof." But on March 3, 1934, Dillinger 
cowed the guards with what he claimed later was a wooden gun he had 
whittled. He forced them to open the door to his cell, then grabbed two 
machine guns, locked up the guards and several trustees, and fled.

It was then that Dillinger made the mistake that would cost him his life. 
He stole the sheriff's car and drove across the Indiana-Illinois line, 
heading for Chicago. By doing that, he violated the National Motor Vehicle 
Theft Act, which made it a Federal offense to transport a stolen motor 
vehicle across a state line.

A Federal complaint was sworn charging Dillinger with the theft and 
interstate transportation of the sheriff's car, which was recovered in 
Chicago. After the grand jury returned an indictment, the FBI became 
actively involved in the nationwide search for Dillinger.

Meanwhile, Pierpont, Makley, and Clark were returned to Ohio and convicted 
of the murder of the Lima sheriff. Pierpont and Makley were sentenced to 
death, and Clark to life imprisonment. But in an escape attempt, Makley 
was killed and Pierpont was wounded. A month later, Pierpont had recovered 
sufficiently to be executed.

In Chicago, Dillinger joined his girlfriend, Evelyn Frechette. They 
proceeded to St. Paul, where Dillinger teamed up with Homer Van Meter, 
Lester ("Baby Face Nelson") Gillis, Eddie Green, and Tommy Carroll, among 
others. The gang's business prospered as they continued robbing banks of 
large amounts of money.

Then on March 30, 1934, an Agent talked to the manager of the Lincoln 
Court Apartments in St. Paul, who reported two suspicious tenants, Mr. and 
Mrs. Hellman, who acted nervous and refused to admit the apartment 
caretaker. The FBI began a surveillance of the Hellman's apartment. The 
next day, an Agent and a police officer knocked on the door of the 
apartment. Evelyn Frechette opened the door, but quickly slammed it shut. 
The Agent called for reinforcements to surround the building.

While waiting, the Agents saw a man enter a hall near the Hellman's 
apartment. When questioned, the man, Homer Van Meter, drew a gun. Shots 
were exchanged, during which Van Meter fled the building and forced a 
truck driver at gunpoint to drive him to Green's apartment. Suddenly the 
door of the Hellman apartment opened and the muzzle of a machine gun began 
spraying the hallway with lead. Under cover of the machine gun fire, 
Dillinger and Evelyn Frechette fled through a back door. They, too, drove 
to Green's apartment, where Dillinger was treated for a bullet wound 
received in the escape.

At the Lincoln Court Apartments, the FBI found a Thompson submachine gun 
with the stock removed, two automatic rifles, one .38 caliber Colt 
automatic with twenty-shot magazine clips, and two bulletproof vests. 
Across town, other Agents located one of Eddie Green's hideouts where he 
and Bessie Skinner had been living as "Mr. and Mrs. Stephens." On April 3, 
when Green was located, he attempted to draw his gun, but was shot by the 
Agents. He died in a hospital eight days later.

Dillinger and Evelyn Frechette fled to Mooresville, Indiana, where they 
stayed with his father and half-brother until his wound healed. Then 
Frechette went to Chicago to visit a friend--and was arrested by the FBI. 
She was taken to St. Paul for trial on a charge of conspiracy to harbor a 
fugitive. She was convicted, fined $1,000, and sentenced to two years in 
prison. Bessie Skinner, Eddie Green's girlfriend, got 15 months on the 
same charge.

Meanwhile, Dillinger and Van Meter robbed a police station at Warsaw, 
Indiana, of guns and bulletproof vests. Dillinger stayed for awhile in 
Upper Michigan, departing just ahead of a posse of FBI Agents dispatched 
there by airplane. Then the FBI received a tip that there had been a 
sudden influx of rather suspicious guests at the summer resort of Little 
Bohemia Lodge, about 50 miles north of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. One of them 
sounded like John Dillinger and another like "Baby Face Nelson."

From Rhinelander, an FBI task force set out by car for Little Bohemia. Two 
of the rented cars broke down enroute, and, in the uncommonly cold April 
weather, some of the Agents had to make the trip standing on the running 
boards of the other cars. Two miles from the resort, the car lights were 
turned off and the posse proceeded through the darkness. When the cars 
reached the resort, dogs began barking. The Agents spread out to surround 
the lodge and as they approached, machine gun fire rattled down on them 
from the roof. Swiftly, the Agents took cover. One of them hurried to a 
telephone to give directions to additional Agents who had arrived in 
Rhinelander to back up the operation.

While the Agent was telephoning, the operator broke in to tell him there 
was trouble at another cottage about two miles away. Special Agent W. 
Carter Baum, another FBI man, and a constable went there and found a 
parked car which the constable recognized as belonging to a local 
resident. They pulled up and identified themselves.

Inside the other car, "Baby Face Nelson" was holding three local residents 
at gunpoint. He turned, leveled a revolver at the lawmen's car, and 
ordered them to step out. But without waiting for them to comply, Nelson 
opened fire. Baum was killed, and the constable and the other Agent were 
severely wounded. Nelson jumped into the Ford they had been using and fled.

When the firing had subsided at the Little Bohemia Lodge, Dillinger was 
gone. When the Agents entered the lodge the next morning, they found only 
three frightened females. Dillinger and five others had fled through a 
back window before the Agents surrounded the house.

In Washington, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover assigned Special Agent Samuel 
A. Cowley to head the FBI's investigative efforts against Dillinger. 
Cowley set up headquarters in Chicago, where he and Melvin Purvis, Special 
Agent in Charge of the Chicago office, planned their strategy. A squad of 
Agents under Cowley worked with East Chicago policemen in tracking down 
all tips and rumors.

Late in the afternoon of Saturday, July 21, 1934, the madam of a brothel 
in Gary, Indiana, contacted one of the police officers with information. 
This woman called herself Anna Sage, however, her real name was Ana 
Cumpanas, and she had entered the United States from her native Rumania in 
1914. Because of the nature of her profession, she was considered an 
undesirable alien by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and 
deportation proceedings had been started. Anna was willing to sell the FBI 
some information about Dillinger for a cash reward, plus the FBI's help in 
preventing her deportation.

At a meeting with Anna, Cowley and Purvis were cautious. They promised her 
the reward if her information led to Dillinger's capture, but said all 
they could do was call her cooperation to the attention of the Department 
of Labor, which at that time handled deportation matters. Satisfied, Anna 
told the Agents that a girlfriend of hers, Polly Hamilton, had visited her 
establishment with Dillinger. Anna had recognized Dillinger from a 
newspaper photograph.

Anna told the Agents that she, Polly Hamilton, and Dillinger probably 
would be going to the movies the following evening at either the Biograph 
or the Marbro Theaters. She said that she would notify them when the 
theater was chosen. She also said that she would wear a red dress so that 
they could identify her.

On Sunday, July 22, Cowley ordered all Agents of the Chicago office to 
stand by for urgent duty. Anna Sage called that evening to confirm the 
plans, but she still did not know which theater they would attend. 
Therefore, Agents and policemen were sent to both theaters. At 8:30 p.m., 
Anna Sage, John Dillinger, and Polly Hamilton strolled into the Biograph 
Theater to see Clark Gable in "Manhattan Melodrama." Purvis phoned Cowley, 
who shifted the other men from the Marbro to the Biograph.

Cowley also phoned Hoover for instructions. Hoover cautioned them to wait 
outside rather than risk a shooting match inside the crowded theater. Each 
man was instructed not to unnecessarily endanger himself and was told that 
if Dillinger offered any resistance, it would be each man for himself.

At 10:30 p.m., Dillinger, with his two female companions on either side, 
walked out of the theater and turned to his left. As they walked past the 
doorway in which Purvis was standing, Purvis lit a cigar as a signal for 
the other men to close in. Dillinger quickly realized what was happening 
and acted by instinct. He grabbed a pistol from his right trouser pocket 
as he ran toward the alley. Five shots were fired from the guns of three 
FBI Agents. Three of the shots hit Dillinger and he fell face down on the 
pavement. At 10:50 p.m. on July 22, 1934, John Dillinger was pronounced 
dead in a little room in the Alexian Brothers Hospital.

The Agents who fired at Dillinger were Charles B. Winstead, Clarence O. 
Hurt, and Herman E. Hollis. Each man was commended by J. Edgar Hoover for 
fearlessness and courageous action. None of them ever said who actually 
killed Dillinger. The events of that sultry July night in Chicago marked 
the beginning of the end of the Gangster Era. Eventually, 27 persons were 
convicted in Federal courts on charges of harboring, and aiding and 
abetting John Dillinger and his cronies during their reign of terror. 
"Baby Face Nelson" was fatally wounded on November 27, 1934, in a gun 
battle with FBI Agents in which Special Agents Cowley and Hollis also were 
killed.

Dillinger was buried in Crown Point Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.



CHAPTER 10
KANSAS CITY MASSACRE - CHARLES ARTHUR FLOYD (PRETTY BOY)

Conspiracy to Deliver a Federal Prisoner - Adam C. Richetti

Kansas City Massacre

On the morning of June 17, 1933, a mass murder committed in front of Union 
Railway Station, Kansas City, Missouri, shocked the American public into a 
new consciousness of the serious crime problems in the Nation. The 
killings which took the lives of four peace officers and their prisoner, 
are now known as The Kansas City Massacre.

The Kansas City Massacre involved the attempt by Charles Arthur "Pretty 
Boy" Floyd, Vernon Miller and Adam Richetti to free their friend, Frank 
Nash, a Federal prisoner. At the time, Nash was in the custody of several 
law enforcement officers who were returning him to the U.S. Penitentiary 
at Leavenworth, Kansas, from which he had escaped on October 19, 1930.

Nash's criminal record reached back to 1913, when he was sentenced to life 
at the State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, for murder. He was later 
pardoned. In 1920, he was given a 25-year sentence at the same 
penitentiary for burglary with explosives, and later pardoned. On March 3, 
1924, Nash began a 25-year sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary at 
Leavenworth for assaulting a mail custodian. He escaped on October 19, 
1930.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched an intensive search for 
Nash which extended over the entire United States and parts of Canada. 
Evidence gathered by the FBI indicated that Nash had assisted in the 
escape of seven prisoners from the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth on 
December 11, 1931.

The investigation also disclosed Nash's close association with Francis L. 
Keating, Thomas Holden and several other well-known gunmen who had 
participated in a number of bank robberies throughout the Midwest. Keating 
and Holden were apprehended by FBI Agents on July 7, 1932, at Kansas City, 
Missouri. Information gained by the FBI as a result of the apprehension of 
these two indicated that Nash was receiving protection from his underworld 
contacts in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Based on such information, two FBI Agents, Frank Smith and F. Joseph 
Lackey, and McAlester, Oklahoma, Police Chief Otto Reed located and 
apprehended Nash on June 16, 1933, in a store in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 
The law officers drove Nash to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where at 8:30 that 
night, they boarded a Missouri Pacific train bound for Kansas City, 
Missouri. It was due to arrive there at 7:15 a.m. on June 17. Before 
leaving, the lawmen made arrangements for R. E. Vetterli, Special Agent in 
Charge (SAC) of the FBI's Kansas City Office to meet them at the train 
station.

Meanwhile, a number of outlaw friends of Nash had heard of his capture in 
Hot Springs. They learned the time of the scheduled arrival of Nash and 
his captors in Kansas City and made plans to free him. The scheme was 
conceived and engineered by Richard Tallman Galatas, Herbert Farmer, "Doc" 
Louis Stacci, and Frank B. Mulloy. Vernon Miller was designated to free 
Nash, and while at Mulloy's tavern in Kansas City, he made a number of 
phone calls for assistance in the scheme. At about this time, two gunmen, 
"Pretty Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti, arrived in Kansas City, and they 
agreed to aid in the mission.

On their way to Kansas City, Floyd and Richetti had been detained at 
Bolivar, Missouri, early on the morning of the 16th, when the car in which 
they were riding became disabled. While the two were waiting in a local 
garage for the necessary repairs to the car, Sheriff Jack Killingsworth 
entered the building. Richetti, who immediately recognized the Sheriff, 
seized a machine gun and held the Sheriff and the garage attendants 
against the wall. Floyd drew two .45 caliber automatic pistols and ordered 
all parties to remain motionless. Floyd and Richetti then transferred 
their arsenal into another automobile and ordered the Sheriff to enter 
that vehicle. The two, along with their prisoner, then drove to Deepwater, 
Missouri, abandoned that automobile and commandeered another. After 
releasing the Sheriff, they arrived in Kansas City about 10:00 p.m. on 
June 16. There Floyd and Richetti abandoned that automobile and stole 
another car to which they transferred their baggage and firearms. Finally, 
that same night, they met Miller and went with him to his home. There 
Miller told them of his plan to free Frank Nash.

Early the next morning, Miller, Floyd and Richetti drove to the Union 
Railway Station in a Chevrolet sedan. There they took up their positions 
to await the arrival of Nash and his captors.

Upon the arrival of the train in Kansas City, Agent Lackey went to the 
loading platform, leaving Smith, Reed and Nash in a stateroom of the 
train. On the platform, he was met by SAC Vetterli, who was accompanied by 
FBI Agent R. J. Caffrey and Officers W. J. Grooms and Frank Hermanson of 
the Kansas City Police Department. These men surveyed the area surrounding 
the platform and saw nothing that aroused their suspicion. SAC Vetterli 
advised Agent Lackey that he and Caffrey had brought two cars to Union 
Station and that the cars were parked immediately outside.

Agent Lackey then returned to the train and--accompanied by Chief Reed, 
SAC Vetterli, Agents Caffrey and Smith, and Officers Hermanson and Grooms--
proceeded from the train through the lobby of Union Station. At the time, 
both Agent Lackey and Chief Reed were armed with shotguns. Other officers 
carried pistols. Frank Nash walked through Union Station with the above-
mentioned seven officers.

Upon leaving Union Station, the lawmen, with their captive, paused 
briefly; and, again seeing nothing that aroused their suspicion, they 
proceeded to Caffrey's Chevrolet. Frank Nash was handcuffed throughout the 
trip from the train to the Chevrolet, which was parked directly in front 
of the east entrance of Union Station.

Agent Caffrey unlocked the right door of the Chevrolet. When the door was 
opened, Nash started to get into the back set; however, Agent Lackey told 
Nash to get into the front of the car. Lackey then climbed into the back 
of the car directly behind the driver's seat. Agent Smith sat beside him 
in the center of the back; and Chief Reed sat beside Smith in the right 
rear seat.

At this point, Agent Caffrey walked around the car to get into the 
driver's seat through the left door. SAC Vetterli stood with Officers 
Hermanson and Grooms at the right side near the front of the car.

A green Plymouth was parked about six feet away on the right side of Agent 
Caffrey's car. Looking in the direction of this Plymouth, Agent Lackey saw 
two men run from behind a car. He noticed that both men were armed. At 
least one of them had a machine gun.

Before Agent Lackey had a chance to warn his fellow officers, one of the 
gunmen shouted, "Up, up!" At this instant, Agent Smith--who was in the 
middle of the back seat--also saw a man with a machine gun to the right of 
the Plymouth. SAC Vetterli, who was standing at the right front of the 
Chevrolet turned just in time to hear a voice command, "Let 'em have it!"

At this point, from a distance approximately 15 feet diagonally to the 
right of Agent Caffrey's Chevrolet, an individual crouched behind the 
radiator of another car opened fire. Officers Grooms and Hermanson 
immediately fell to the ground. They were dead. SAC Vetterli--who was 
standing beside Office Grooms and Hermanson--was shot in the left arm and 
dropped to the ground. As he attempted to scramble to the left side of the 
car to join Agent Caffrey, who had not yet entered the driver's seat of 
the Chevrolet, SAC Vetterli saw Caffrey fall to the ground. He had been 
fatally wounded in the head.

Inside the car, Frank Nash and Chief Reed were killed by bullets from the 
hoodlums' guns. Agents Lackey and Smith were able to survive the massacre 
by falling forward in the back seat of the Chevrolet. Lackey was struck 
and seriously wounded by three bullets. Smith was unscathed.

The three gunmen rushed to the lawmen's car and looked inside. One of them 
was heard to shout "They're all dead. Let's get out of here." With that, 
they raced toward a dark-colored Chevrolet. Just then a Kansas City 
policeman emerged from Union Station and began firing in the direction of 
one of the killers, later identified as Floyd, who slumped briefly but 
continued to run. The killers entered the car which sped westward out of 
the parking area, and disappeared.

The three survivors--Agents Smith and Lackey and SAC Vetterli--reported 
that the assault lasted possibly 30 seconds. They were uncertain if three 
or four gunmen staged the assault. From their account, it was apparent 
that the two Kansas City Police Officers were killed immediately, followed 
seconds later by Frank Nash and Chief Reed and then by Agent Caffrey, who 
was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

The FBI immediately initiated an investigation to identify and apprehend 
the gunmen. The investigation developed evidence that the scheme was 
carried out by Vernon C. Miller, Adam C. Richetti, and Charles Arthur 
"Pretty Boy" Floyd. The evidence included latent fingerprint impressions 
located by FBI Agents on beer bottles in Miller's Kansas City home and 
identified as those of Adam Richetti, thus helping to link the latter to 
the crime.

Vernon C. Miller, age 37, who had led the killings at Kansas City's Union 
Station on June 17, grew up in South Dakota. He had enlisted in the U.S. 
Army during World War I and received extensive training as a machine 
gunner. Following his release from the Army, he appeared at Huron, South 
Dakota, where he told stories of his heroism in the war. He also 
demonstrated to city officials that he was a crack shot, following which 
he was elected to the position of policeman in 1920. Two years later, he 
was elected Sheriff and was renominated for the position. Before the 
election, however, he disappeared and entered a life of crime.

Miller's criminal record indicated that he had been arrested on April 4, 
1923, and received at the South Dakota Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South 
Dakota, to serve a sentence of two to ten years and to pay a $5,200 fine 
for embezzling public funds. In October, 1925, he was indicted in Federal 
Court, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for violating the National Prohibition 
Act; the case was nolle prossed in January, 1931. Miller then moved to St. 
Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago where he began his association with 
underworld gangs. Miller was reported to have been a hired gunman for 
Louis Buchalter early in his crime career.

Following the Kansas City Massacre, Miller, accompanied by a girlfriend, 
Vivian Mathias, traveled to Chicago and reportedly arrived there on or 
about June 19, 1933. For a few days, he hid out with a member of the 
Barker-Karpis gang. From there Miller reportedly went to New York.

On October 31, 1933, FBI investigation disclosed that Miller was back in 
Chicago at the apartment of Vivian Mathias. The next day, he escaped a 
trap set for him there by the FBI. However, Mathias was taken into custody 
and later pleaded guilty to charges of harboring and concealing Miller.

On November 29, 1933, during the FBI's search for Miller, his mutilated 
body was found in a ditch on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. He had 
been beaten and strangled. Information received by the FBI indicated that 
Miller had been involved in an altercation with a henchman of Longie 
Zwillman, head of New Jersey's underworld mob, in Newark; during the 
argument, Miller had shot the henchman. Another of Zwillman's associates 
reportedly retaliated by killing Miller.

Meanwhile, the FBI's hunt for "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti 
continued. Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, about 29 years old at the 
time of the Kansas City Massacre, had been arrested on numerous occasions, 
the first by the St. Louis, Missouri, Police Department on September 16, 
1925, for highway robbery. He pleaded guilty to that charge on December 8, 
1925, was sentenced to the State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri, 
and released on March 7, 1929. Two days later, on March 9, 1929, he was 
arrested by the Kansas City Police Department for investigation, and on 
May 6, 1929, for vagrancy and suspicion of highway robbery. In both 
instances, he was released. On May 20, 1930, Floyd was arrested by the 
Toledo, Ohio, Police Department on a bank robbery charge and on November 
24, 1930, was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in the Ohio State Penitentiary. 
Floyd escaped enroute to the penitentiary and was a fugitive when he 
became involved in the Kansas City Massacre.

Adam C. Richetti, about 23 years old at the time of the Kansas City 
Massacre, began his criminal career with an arrest in Hammond, Indiana, on 
August 7, 1928, for a holdup. Richetti was sentenced from one to ten years 
in the State Reformatory, Pendleton, Indiana, for that crime. He was 
paroled on October 2, 1930, and discharged from the parole on September 
23, 1931. His next arrest occurred on March 9, 1932, at Sulphur, Oklahoma, 
for bank robbery; he subsequently served a sentence at the State 
Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, from April 5, 1932, to August 25, 1932, 
when he was released and placed on bond which he forfeited. Richetti 
subsequently was sought for jumping the $15,000 bond, and was wanted at 
Tishomingo, Oklahoma, for robbery.

After fleeing from the Kansas City Massacre, Floyd and Richetti made their 
way to Toledo, Ohio, where they met Beulah, also known as Juanita, and 
Rose Baird in early September, 1933. From there the four traveled to 
Buffalo, New York. On September 21, 1933, Floyd and Beulah Baird, using 
the names of Mr. and Mrs. George Sanders, and Richetti and Rose Baird, 
using the names Mr. and Mrs. Ed Brennan, rented an apartment in that city.

The other occupants of the apartment building considered the two couples 
very mysterious inasmuch as they seldom left the apartment, then usually 
for brief visits to the grocery store. During their occupancy, Floyd 
reportedly walked from the front to the rear of the apartment almost 
constantly, an activity that caused much curiosity on the part of the 
other building occupants. The two couples never visited with any of their 
neighbors, though they were friendly toward the neighborhood children who 
sometimes were permitted to enter the apartment. The women occasionally 
threw money from the windows of the apartment to the children playing in 
the street, or offered them candy.

In October, 1934, the couples agreed to return to Oklahoma. Rose Baird was 
given money to purchase a car, and she bought a Ford sedan which was to 
carry them west.

The four began the trip early on October 20, with Floyd driving. A few 
hours later, near Wellsville, Ohio, he skidded the automobile into a 
telephone pole. Floyd and Richetti removed their firearms from the vehicle 
and remained on the outskirts of the town, while Rose and Beulah Baird 
took the damaged car into a Wellsville garage for repairs.

The Wellsville, Ohio, Police Chief, J. H. Fultz, following up on reports 
that two suspicious-looking men were seen on the outskirts of town, found 
the two resting in a wood tract of land nearby. A gun battle ensued. Chief 
Fultz apprehended Richetti after Richetti had emptied his gun at the 
officer. Floyd escaped, but the Police Chief thought Floyd might have been 
wounded.

The FBI and local authorities conducted an intensive search for Floyd in 
eastern Ohio following the above incident. This included interviews of 
numerous persons in the predominantly rural countryside, including doctors 
and hospital personnel whom Floyd might approach if, in fact, he was 
wounded.

Eight of the participants in this search--a squad of four FBI Agents led 
by Melvin Purvis, along with a squad of four East Liverpool, Ohio, police 
officers headed by Chief of Police Hugh McDermott--were jointly patrolling 
a group of roads south of Clarkson, Ohio, in two cars on October 22, when 
they noticed an automobile move from behind a corn crib on a farm. The 
officers had been questioning all persons whom they saw; and in an effort 
to question the occupants of this automobile, they stopped their cars. At 
this point, the vehicle that had attracted their attention drove back to 
its original position behind the corn crib, and a man whom the officers 
immediately recognized as Floyd jumped from the car with a .45 caliber 
automatic pistol in his right hand.

As the officers reached Floyd, he said, "I'm done for; you've hit me 
twice." They took the pistol from his hand and also seized a second gun 
that he carried in his belt. Then two FBI Agents left to summon an 
ambulance to take Floyd to a hospital. They were accompanied by a local 
citizen who had witnessed the encounter. Two other local citizens, 
including the owner of the farm where the shooting took place, also were 
witnesses to the action that had occurred. Floyd died about 15 minutes 
after he was shot.

At the time Floyd was killed, a watch and fob, consisting of a "lucky 
piece," were found on his person. Groups of ten notches were found on each 
of these items - reportedly carved by Floyd as an indication of the number 
of people he had killed.

Rose and Beulah Baird, who were in the Wellsville garage attending to the 
repair of the wrecked automobile when they overheard the discussion of 
Richetti's being taken into custody, had left immediately for Kansas City, 
Missouri. Later they traveled to the home of Floyd's family in Sallisaw, 
Oklahoma, where they attended the funeral of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd.

Adam Richetti, following his apprehension, was returned to Kansas City, 
Missouri, and on March 1, 1935, was indicted by the Jackson County Grand 
Jury on four counts of murder in the first degree. His trial, predicated 
on the indictment charging him with the murder of Frank E. Hermanson, one 
of the police officers killed in the Kansas City, Missouri, Massacre, 
began in Kansas City on June 10, 1935. On June 17, the jury returned a 
verdict of guilty with the recommendation that Richetti be given the death 
penalty. He was sentenced to be hanged. Richetti appealed his conviction, 
but it was affirmed by the State of Missouri Supreme Court on May 3, 1938. 
Subsequently, Richetti's lawyers alleged Richetti to be insane, and a 
hearing was held at which time his sanity was clearly established. On 
August 31, 1938, Richetti was again sentenced to death, this time in the 
gas chamber of the Missouri State Penitentiary of Jefferson City, 
Missouri. He was executed on October 7, 1938.

The four individuals - Richard Galatas, Herbert Farmer, "Doc" Louis 
Stacci, and Frank Mulloy - who, investigation disclosed, had engineered 
the conspiracy to free Nash, were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury at 
Kansas City, Missouri, on October 24, 1934. On January 4, 1935, the four 
were found guilty of conspiracy to cause the escape of a Federal Prisoner 
from the custody of the United States. On the following day, each was 
sentenced to serve two years in a Federal Penitentiary and pay a fine of 
$10,000, the maximum penalty allowed by law.



CHAPTER 11
THE FUR DRESSERS CASE

Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro surrendered to Federal authorities on April 14, 
1938, in New York, after being a fugitive from justice for less than a 
year. During that time every known associate and contact was investigated 
to determine if they were in communication with him. Relentlessly, the 
forces of law and order were seeking to drive him out into the open. 
Shapiro stated the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was hunting him 
wherever he went and under the circumstances it was like being in jail, 
thus he surrendered. On May 5, 1944, Shapiro was sentenced to 15 years to 
life after being found guilty of conspiracy and extortion.

His associate of many years, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, was going to see how 
he made out, Shapiro related to Special Agents of the FBI, before he 
decided to surrender. Sixteen months later Buchalter followed suit, 
bringing to a close a manhunt that covered the continental United States 
and extended into Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, England, Canada, France, 
Puerto Rico, and Germany.

Over a period of years, the activities of this gang had been the subject 
of headline after headline in the Metropolitan dailies. Industrial 
racketeers, never hesitant to enforce their mandates with lead pipes, 
stench bombs, brickbats and bullets, brutality and vandalism equaled that 
of the Huns of old. Millions of dollars were exacted as tribute by the 
paid enforcers of Shapiro and Buchalter. Both had a flair for 
organization, combined with considerable business acumen, rivaling that of 
big business and industrial executives. Their underworld empire extended 
from coast to coast. Associates occupied pinnacles of authority in various 
sections of the country, while others, hiding behind the garb of pseudo-
respectability, nurtured their egos with their ill-gotten gains.

The FBI began inquiring into the racketeering tactics of Buchalter and 
Shapiro in 1932, which led to the indictment of one hundred and fifty-
eight individuals, by a Federal Grand Jury in the Southern District of New 
York, on November 6, 1933. The majority of the persons indicted 
subsequently entered pleas of guilty.


Combating The Rackets

The FBI first began landing blows on far-reaching, well-organized 
interstate rackets, through the penal provisions of the antitrust laws. 
Gradually, public resistance to racketeering stiffened as case after case 
was successfully prosecuted by the federal government, indicating that 
racketeering eventually could be combated once law enforcing agencies were 
armed, properly qualified, and divorced from the vagaries of political 
domination. Experience has demonstrated that no racket can long exist 
without:

political affiliation and protection; 
terrified witnesses who, although willing to do their duty, are confronted 
with the fact that duty performed is meaningless and an open invitation to 
terrorism and brutal retaliation; and 
lackadaisical, haphazard, inefficient, and apathetic law enforcement. 

To invoke the federal antitrust laws the racketeering activity must be of 
such a character as to interfere with and restrain interstate commerce 
generally through the following methods:

(a) creation of monopolies, through the acquisition or merging of 
competing entities;

(b) maintenance of monopolies over competing entities with: 
price agreements; 
limitation of production by agreement; 
allocation of territories by agreement; 
maintenance of black lists; 
the establishment of retail prices through agreements with jobbers and 
dealers; 
furtherance of the above-mentioned items by agreements between trade 
associations; and 
agreements between labor unions and between labor unions which interfere 
with interstate commerce. 

Each individual violation of the antitrust laws is punishable by a fine 
not to exceed $5,000 and imprisonment not to exceed one year. Ordinarily 
the big racketeering cases will involve several separate violations. Two 
cases are particularly significant as the forerunners to racketeering 
activities and which were to culminate in the smashing of the underworld 
empire created by Buchalter and Shapiro.


The Protective Fur Dressers Corporation and the Fur Dressers Factor 
Corporation

The Protective Fur Dressers Corporation consisted of seventeen of the 
largest rabbit skin dressing companies in the country. The membership of 
the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation was comprised of forty-six of the 
largest dressers of furs other then rabbit skins. Both were created early 
in 1932. The purposes and functions of these two combinations were to 
drive out of existence all non-member dressing firms; to persuade all 
dealers to deal exclusively with members of their combinations and prevent 
them from doing business with dealers who were non-members; to eliminate 
competition; to fix uniform prices by agreement; to set up a quota system 
whereby each of the different members received a certain percentage of the 
entire business handled by the members of the combination; to provide a 
credit system enforcing periodic statements; and effectively blacklisting 
any dealer who for any reason would not pay on settlement day. The 
objectives of this combination, naturally, were effected by intimidation 
and violence of the most vicious character directed toward both the 
dressers who would not join the combine and the dealers who insisted on 
doing business with non-members.

The fur dressers openly competed for business prior to the formation of 
these two corporations. The dealers and manufacturers could choose their 
own dressers. However, with the organization of the corporations, each of 
the dealers and manufacturers was notified of this formation and informed 
in no uncertain terms, by committees or individual members of the 
Corporation, that they would have to give all their business to a member 
firm to be designated by the Corporation for each order. They were also 
notified that, effective immediately, prices would be increased and all 
accounts would have to be settled in full each Friday. Naturally, some of 
the dealers and manufacturers continued to give a portion of their 
business to the independent dressers, some openly and others secretly. 
Often they would route the skins to one or more intermediate warehouses or 
have them hauled in private trucks. In nearly all instances, these 
shipments were detected by spotters for the Corporation. Then these 
individualistic dealers were the object of stronger solicitation for their 
business. This solicitation was frequently reiterated and emphasized 
through the medium of anonymous warnings over the telephone. If the calls 
did not have the desired effect, then the individualistic dealers were 
certain to be visited by strong-arm squads, armed with lead pipes and 
blackjacks. They became the victims of personal assaults or their goods 
became the targets of corrosive acids or stench bombs which were thrown 
into their plants. Usually these tactics brought the recalcitrant dealers 
into line and the Corporation had no further trouble from them.

The independent fur dressing establishments in some instances were ordered 
to get out of business. The orders were followed by explosive bombs. An 
investigation conducted by the FBI revealed that Buchalter and Shapiro 
furnished the strong-arm squads and directed their campaigns of 
depredation and violence, for both the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation 
and the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation. Buchalter and Shapiro had little 
contact with the members of the combine, ordinarily their contacts were 
limited to one key member in each group. Buchalter and Shapiro had reached 
the position in life where they could depend upon hired thugs to do their 
dirty work for them. In the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation the contact 
was with its general manager, Abraham Beckerman, who had formerly been the 
manager of a joint council of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 
where he had made the acquaintanceship of Shapiro and Buchalter. Prior to 
his association with the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation, he had never 
been in the fur business. Samuel Mittelman was the president of the 
Protective Fur Dressers Corporation. He was also president of the Queens 
Fur Dressing Company.

The individual members of the Protective, when it was first organized, 
standardized the price for dressing the cheapest rabbit skins at five 
cents each. Later the price was raised until no skin was dressed for less 
than seven cents, with prices ranging up to ten cents. It was established 
by the investigation that the Protective controlled from eighty to ninety 
percent of the business in 1932 and approximately fifty percent in 1933. 
It is estimated that 10,103,827 skins were dressed during the last eight 
months of 1932, and 8,541,255 of the skins were handled by members of the 
Protective. In 1933, the members of the Protective dressed 10,736,874 of 
the 22,127,740 skins handled.

Shapiro and Buchalter became active in the fur industry in April, 1932, 
and continued their activities until the summer of 1933. In April of 1932, 
they were contacted by Abraham Beckerman, who had just become general 
manager of the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation and the Associated 
Employers of Fur Workers, Inc. "For about one and one-half years 
previously," Beckerman told Special Agents of the FBI, "I had been 
personally acquainted with Louis Buchalter, alias 'Lepke,' and with Jacob 
Shapiro, alias 'Gurrah,' and, accordingly, I called one of them on the 
telephone and went up to see them. I explained that there was a certain 
amount of organization work, meaning rough stuff, that would have to be 
done and inquired whether they were in a position to undertake it . . . 
They told me that they would take care of me."

Beckerman then informed them that prior to his association with the Fur 
Dressers Factor Corporation this organization had entered into an 
arrangement for the employment of muscle men to enforce the mandates of 
the combination. The arrangement had been made with Jerry Sullivan, a 
lieutenant of the Owney Madden gang. Subsequently, the organization 
decided they had made a mistake and accordingly, had asked Beckerman to 
get him out. Beckerman then related to Special Agents of the FBI that in 
conference with Buchalter and Shapiro, "They said they thought that Jerry 
Sullivan would probably give a lot of trouble -- that they didn't think I 
could handle him but that they themselves would try to straighten the 
matter out with Sullivan some other way. A few days later, I met both 
Buchalter and Shapiro again in a hotel and they told me that they had 
straightened the matter out with Jerry Sullivan by agreeing to pay him a 
certain proportion of the first money which was to be paid to them by me. 
If they had not undertaken to eliminate Sullivan from the picture, I 
should not have undertaken the job because it would have meant that I 
myself would have gotten in trouble. So far as the pay which Buchalter and 
Shapiro were to receive was concerned, they stated that they would start 
working on a piecework basis but that afterwards they would want to work 
steady and be paid on an annual basis. When I first talked to them, I 
explained that there would be different special jobs. At this first 
meeting, Buchalter and Shapiro suggested that they would expect to receive 
about $50,000 a year. As a matter of fact, after Buchalter and Shapiro 
started to work for us, they were not paid on either a piecework basis or 
on an annual basis, but they were paid in varying amounts from time to 
time whenever the funds were available. Usually they were paid about $2,
000 or $2,500 at a time. The total amount which was paid them for this 
violence from the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation was approximately $30,
000. This money was paid to them in two ways: first, by over-payments 
which were made by the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation to the National Fur 
Skin Dressing Company, Inc. and second, by direct payments from the Fur 
Dressers Factor Corporation."

Shapiro and Buchalter were informed by the contact men as to which fur 
dressers, dealers, manufacturers, and union officials were not cooperating 
with the combination. Then these two saw to it that their men subjected 
the recalcitrant individuals to the intimidation, coercion, and violence 
necessary to bringing them in line. In all, there were more than fifty 
anonymous telephone threats, twelve assaults, four stench bombings, ten 
explosive bombings, one kidnapping, three acid throwings, and two cases of 
arson included in the special service which Buchalter and Shapiro rendered 
to the two combinations. A similar program, of course, was carried on in 
behalf of the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation. Shapiro and Buchalter, 
as previously indicated, did not personally participate in any of these 
acts but directed their operations like generals behind the scenes. 
Shapiro, the cruder of the two, who has been likened by some of his 
associates to a "bull in a china shop," did stumble over the scenery on 
one occasion when in a discussion with Irving Potash, then secretary of 
the Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union, fur department, said "Potash, 
you'll have to deal with me, whether you like it or not."

The Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union was known at the time as the 
left wing, while the Lamb and Rabbit Workers Union was known as the right 
wing, the latter union later becoming an amalgamation of the two 
organizations who employed the services of Buchalter and Shapiro. The 
Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union had as its objectives (in 1932 and 
1933) the complete unionization of shops of fur manufacturers, dressers, 
and dyers. Naturally, some conflict was bound to arise between the 
Protective and the Needle Trade Workers. Then too, the Associated Fur 
Trimmers and Coat Manufacturers, Inc., advocated its members employ only 
duly signed members of the American Federation of Labor, thus bringing 
this Association into direct conflict with the Needle Trade Workers. The 
following statement of one manufacturer reflects the terrorism that was 
typical of the unrest and strife that existed at that time:

"We are fur manufacturers and employ on the average from six to eight 
workers. On the fifteenth day of February, 1933, at about one o'clock, a 
man walked into our place and said he was a worker and was sent to us by a 
man by the name of . . . We asked him what kind of work he wants to do and 
he said he was an operator. I thought it was very strange that he should 
come to us at that time. He looked rather suspicious and he looked all 
round the place and acted strange, but we paid no attention to him and he 
walked out.

About twenty minutes or a half hour afterwards, ten strange men walked 
into our place of business. One man walked straight to the telephone; 
another man stood by the door in the showroom and four men walked into the 
factory. We had at that time about five workers working. Another man 
walked to myself and my partner with his hand in his right-hand pocket, 
pointed at us as if there was a gun in it. Both myself and my partner were 
at the table standing up cutting and this man said, 'put down your knives 
and walk into the stock room quietly and don't make any noise' and at that 
time he was pointing his hand at us, although it was in his pocket, as if 
he had a gun in it. We couldn't understand, but we did as we were 
instructed. Then the rest of the men went into the shop to the workers and 
took from them all the tools and then they started with the tools to cut 
up all the skins that they were working on. Every skin that they could see 
and garments that we made were cut up into pieces and then they took some 
acid and threw it upon the skins. All of this we saw them do. They even 
left the bottle that contained the acid in the place.

The workers were chased in with us into a stockroom and this man with, 
presumably, a gun in his pocket, said 'you better stay quiet and not make 
any noise if you know what's good for you,' and he said 'remember not to 
say anything about what we did here, for if you should recognize us and 
point us out at any time, we will come up and finish you.' After they 
destroyed everything in our place, the leader ordered his fellows to walk 
towards the stairs and he told us to stay quietly for about five minutes 
until they got away, for if we did not, they would come up and hammer us 
to pieces and he said, 'if you say anything, you know what is waiting for 
you' and then he went away."

". . . I got in touch with the Communist leader and I asked him what he 
meant by sending people to destroy my merchandise. He came up to see me 
about four days after that and he said he was sorry that it was done but 
that he was in court and didn't know anything about it. I told him that 
this is a dastardly thing for him to do and I am not going to keep quiet 
about it and he said, 'if you do have any of the union people arrested, 
you will have the union around your neck.' I told him that the union 
people did not do that but it was a lot of gangsters with guns and knives 
and that I certainly could not afford to lose the damage that they have 
done. I asked him what his reason was to send such people up to me. What 
did I do to have him send such gangsters to my place and all he said was 
that 'if you are quiet about it, they won't come again and you will be 
able to work in peace.' He said he was going to make good for the 
machinery and merchandise but they never did.

I did nothing to justify the workers or any gangsters to come up and 
destroy my place. The gangsters that visited me, I am sure, are not fur 
workers. They looked and acted just like a lot of gangsters. Every machine 
was broken, so that we couldn't work and every piece of merchandise was 
cut up and acid spilled on it."

The following incident is also typical of the operations of the 
Protective. This incident has also been summarized in the press. Mr. 
Joseph Joseph, of J. Joseph, Inc., New York City, had been doing a million 
dollars worth of business a year since 1918, by importing rabbit skins 
from Australia and New Zealand. He first encountered difficulties in the 
fur business in the summer of 1932 when the Protective Fur Dressers 
Corporation was organized. At the time the Protective was formed, Mr. 
Joseph was giving some of his work to the Waverly Fur Dressing Company, in 
Newark, New Jersey, which he continued to do until that place was bombed. 
He had also received several communications from the Protective. On May 
14, 1933, while he was at home, sitting on a bench, an unknown individual 
approached him at about 11 a.m., and without saying anything, tore off a 
newspaper which he had wrapped around a bottle of acid and threw the acid 
into Mr. Joseph's face, stating, "Now you've got it." Mr. Joseph was 
unable to apprehend his assailant, who was able to make a getaway by 
jumping into a car driven by a confederate.

Mr. Joseph was considerably burned by the acid and his face was seriously 
scarred.

On May 17, 1933, Mr. Joseph received a telephone call, during which the 
following conversation took place:

Man: "Is this Joseph?"

Joseph: "Yes, who is this?"

Man: "A friend of yours. You got burned with acid."

Joseph: "I know it."

Man: "That comes from the Protective. The next is . . ."

Joseph: "Who are you?"

Man: "Goodbye."

With reference to the Waverly Fur Dressing Company, Newark, New Jersey, 
which plant was bombed in the Spring of 1932, investigation revealed that 
this concern was experiencing no trouble whatsoever and, at the time, 
negotiations were pending whereby the Waverly Fur Dressing Company was to 
join the Protective Fur Dressers Factor Corporation. The Waverly Company 
did all its operations for one customer, handling approximately thirty 
thousand skins a week. Under the agreement whereby it was to become 
affiliated with the Protective, it was to be limited to the handling of 
fifteen thousand skins a week. Because of this arrangement, the Waverly 
Company had withheld the actual consummation of the agreement to join. 
Shortly thereafter, two individuals who were identified as members of the 
Zwillman gang in Newark, appeared at the office of the Waverly plant and 
informed the manager that he had better join the Association. Later, they 
repeated their visit and urged the manager to call Mr. Balk, of the 
Protective Fur Dressers Corporation, and advise him they would join.

On the afternoon of the day the bombing took place, these individuals had 
again called at the Waverly plant and informed them in no uncertain terms 
that they had better call Mr. Balk and join right away. This was not done 
and that night a bomb was thrown into the window of the Waverly Company, 
resulting in considerable damage. The Strand Fur Dressing Company, a fancy 
dressing shop which occupied half of the ground floor and all the second 
floor of the building occupied by the Waverly Company, was also bombed. 
The two individuals who had called were immediately arrested and charged 
with the bombing and the Secretary of the Protective Fur Dressers 
Corporation was arrested as a material witness.

On April 24, 1933, hirelings of Shapiro and Buchalter staged an armed 
attack on the headquarters of the Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union. 
During this attack, two men were killed and many injured. Several of the 
attackers were so badly injured that they were unable to escape. On 
November 1, 1933, they were prosecuted and convicted of felonious assault, 
in the state courts. One defendant jumped his bail of $10,000, which was 
forfeited.

Investigation into this instance of mob violence reflected that a few days 
before April 24, 1933, a large group of men met at a hotel suite 
maintained by the gang. They were told to raid the left wing headquarters 
and break up the meeting. Everyone seemed to know that they were working 
for Buchalter and Shapiro. These individuals were furnished with iron 
pipes wrapped in newspapers and some were armed with guns. There were 
between twenty and thirty in the group.

After leaving the hotel they separated into two groups, one squad 
proceeded by way of Seventh Avenue and the other by Eighth Avenue, meeting 
in front of the headquarters of the Needle Trade Workers at 131 West 28th 
Street. There they rushed the meeting and despite their iron pipes, 
although they did succeed in breaking up the meeting, the two squads of 
hoodlums came out second best. This incident revealed that Buchalter and 
Shapiro's headquarters were maintained in the hotel where the gangsters 
had met and where they had a credit account, known as the "Solomon" 
account. It appeared that whenever anyone came to the hotel and said they 
were with "Solomon" a room would be given them and the clerk would usually 
sign the register himself.

Morris Langer was in charge of the organizational activities of the fur 
workers for the Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union. In February, 1933, 
he attended a conference between representatives of the Needle Trade 
Workers Industrial Union and the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation. At 
this time a representative of the Protective stated that three shops would 
have to be put out of business if the Protective was to control prices; 
that the Needle Trade Workers Industrial Union would have to cooperate. 
This they refused to do because the three shops were union shops, 
whereupon a representative of the Protective took representatives of the 
Needle Trade Workers Union aside and stated they should withdraw the 
workers from these shops or they would have to close, otherwise they would 
bomb the place and make the union pay the expense. On this occasion Morris 
Langer spoke very strongly against the Protective and within a month, on 
March 23, 1933, Langer was killed , as the result of a bomb having been 
placed in the hood of his automobile, after having in the meantime 
received many threats.

At a subsequent meeting, a representative of the Protective referred to 
one bombing which was unsuccessful and again stated the Needle Trade 
Workers Union must withdraw its men to put the shops out of business and 
this time the representative of the Protective insinuated by his 
statements that Langer had been put out of the way because he was stubborn 
and then the representative of the Protective gloated over the fact "that 
'Lepke' and 'Gurrah' were back of their organization."


Prosecutive Action Against the Protective And Fur Dressers Factor 
Corporation

On November 6, 1933, the Federal Grand Jury returned two indictments, each 
in four counts, one charging the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation and 
thirty-three individuals and corporations and the other charging the Fur 
Dressers Factor Corporation and ninety-four individuals and corporations 
with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Both Shapiro and Buchalter were 
named as defendants in these indictments. On November 8, 1936, following 
the trial of the Protective Fur Dressers Corporation, Shapiro and 
Buchalter were convicted on all four counts and on November 12, 1936, each 
received sentences of two years imprisonment and fines of $10,000. On 
December 3, 1936, both Buchalter and Shapiro were released upon $10,000 
cash bond, pending appeal.

On March 8, 1937, the judgement against Shapiro was affirmed, while 
Buchalter's conviction was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. On 
June 5, 1937, the United States Supreme Court denied Shapiro's application 
for review and on June 14, 1937, he failed to surrender to the United 
States Marshal, whereupon a bench warrant was issued for his arrest and 
his bail of $10,000 was forfeited on June 15, 1937.

On July 6, 1937, when the case of the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation and 
others was called for trial, Shapiro and Buchalter failed to appear and 
their bails, in the amount of $3,000 each, were ordered forfeited. Bench 
warrants were issued and Buchalter and Shapiro were declared to be 
fugitives. On September 28, 1936, seventeen defendants entered pleas of 
guilty. On October 16, 1936, six additional defendants entered pleas of 
guilty, and on October 26, 1936, an indictment against two defendants was 
dismissed.

In the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation case, fifty-two defendants entered 
pleas of guilty on November 8, 1937, and on December 16, 1937, after a 
trial before United States District Judge John C. Knox, New York City, 
nine defendants were found guilty.

Shortly after he surrendered on August 24, 1939, Louis Buchalter was 
sentenced to prison on antitrust and narcotics charges. He was later tried 
and convicted on a state charge of murder. On March 4, 1944, he was 
executed at Sing Sing Prison.