A TIPPING POINT

The Origins of the FBI

Michael Round

June 17, 2009

On October 19, 1930 Frank Nash escaped from the penitentiary in Leavenworth.  Therefore, the FBI as we have come to know it was formed.

This doesn't make sense?

Let's connect the dots.

On the run for 2-and-a-half years, the whereabouts of Nash was discovered:  Hot Springs, Arkansas. Two FBI agents (Frank Smith and Joseph Lackey) and an Oklahoma Police Chief (Otto Reed) apprehended Nash, and drove to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to board a train headed for Union Station (Kansas City) and then on to Leavenworth.

This was June 16, 1933 - late in the day.

The train arrived at Union Station early June 17, 1933.  The contingent was met be a group of local law enforcement officials, who were to secure the area and assist in the transport of Nash to Leavenworth by automobile.

Friends of Nash, however, had heard of the transportation of Nash to the Station, and they, too, were waiting.

A fire-fight ensued.

Nash was killed.  Four law-enforcement officers were killed.

The Union Station Massacre took place today - June 17 - 1933.

This was the era of the Lindberg kidnapping.  Pretty-Boy Floyd.  John Dillinger.  Bonnie and Clyde. 

All crimes were local.

Federal agents had limited ability to make arrests.  Federal agents could not (legally) carry fire-arms.

With the Kansas City Massacre, the FBI was granted broad powers.  It quickly became, literally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But this is not the rest of the story.

Robert Unger researched the entire file of the Union Station Massacre, and wrote a book.  A fascinating book: