Book Review Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and The

Book Review in the 1870s when the Osage Nation had illness, death, or disappearance of various been forced to leave their lands in Kansas members of Molly’s family, as well as other and were relocated to a reservation in Okla- members of the tribe. Grann, through his homa. Decades later, however, some of the research of the logs of guardians, found that largest deposits of oil in the United States the number of wards who died while under were discovered beneath their reservation in guardianship “was staggering” and hinted at Oklahoma, which most people had presumed widespread murder. to be worthless. The Osage collected thou- As we learn about the Osage Nation, sands and then millions of dollars in leases we also learn about the evolution of law and royalties for access to the oil. According enforcement in the early 20th century. to Grann, in 1923 alone, the tribe collected Grann explains that lawmen were still largely more than $30 million, the equivalent of amateurs in 1920. Frontier lawmen were more than $400 million in today’s currency. primarily gunfighters and trackers and had The central characters in this story limited knowledge of scientific techniques, include Molly Burkhart and her family. such as analysis of fingerprints and blood In 1921, Molly had already lost one sister spatter patterns, and were untrained in several years earlier when another sister, forensic methods. There were also no crime Anna, went missing and was later found laboratories. Local sheriff and police depart- dead. Molly and her sisters were registered ments were also underfunded and often cor- members of the Osage tribe, which meant rupt. Private detective agencies sprung up they possessed a fortune. Many members of to fill the void left by local law enforcement, the tribe had multiple cars, large and beauti- and in 1850, Allan Pinkerton founded the Killers of the Flower Moon: ful homes, expensive furs and jewelry, and a first American private detective agency. The The Osage Murders and the staff of servants. Osage often hired private detectives due to Birth of the FBI Each member of the tribe received a the limited interest and success on the part “headright,” which was essentially a share in of traditional law enforcement in discovering By David Grann the tribe’s mineral trust. No one could buy the truth or solving these crimes. While the Doubleday, New York, NY, 2017 or sell the headright; this right could only private detectives were successful in finding 352 Pages, $28.95 be inherited. Federal law also required that some information about the murders of Reviewed by Hannah Laufe guardians be assigned to any American Indi- Osage Indians, county and state officials, due In The Killers of the Flower Moon: The an whom the Department of Interior deemed to intimidation, fear, and corruption, often Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, “incompetent,” which in practice was nearly did not pursue or prosecute these cases. The David Grann recounts the terrible and al- always based on the percentage of Indian Osage Nation urged the federal government most inconceivable story of the injustice and blood of the property holder. The Office of to send federal investigators to assist the violence inflicted upon the Osage Nation. Indian Affairs conveniently determined that tribe when no one had been apprehended or Grann, the author of the Lost City of Z: A many of the Osage were incompetent and charged for the ongoing murders. Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon were forced to have a local white guardian Grann details how President Theodore and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, authorize any expenditure they made, no Roosevelt created the FBI in 1908 to fill uses historical material in conjunction with matter how small. the void in federal law enforcement. In the first-person accounts by current members of The immense wealth of the Osage, 1920s, agents were fact gatherers only, had the Osage to present what the Osage refer to along with the vulnerability created by the no power to arrest, and were not authorized as the “Reign of Terror.” This violent era re- guardianship program, resulted in a feeding to carry guns. The murder of the Osage fers to the inexplicable murders of Osage In- frenzy of exploitation. Many white men, who tribal members became one of the FBI’s dians, which lasted from approximately 1921 were often viewed as upstanding members first major homicide cases under Hoover, to 1926. Grann also provides an account of of the community, including judges and who became the director of the FBI in 1924. the early history of law enforcement in the doctors, used their guardianships to steal Under Hoover’s watch, agents were trained United States and the development of the from and manipulate the Osage. Lawmen in fingerprint and ballistic techniques and FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover. and those who married into an Osage family formal rules of evidence gathering. Hoover In the early 1920s, “the Osage were also preyed upon the Osage. Many Osage also used various modes of public relations considered the wealthiest people per capita tribal members were poisoned to death or in order to advertise the capabilities of the in the world.” This journey to wealth began murdered by other means. Grann details the Bureau. For example, in 1932 the Bureau 82 • THE FEDERAL LAWYER • July/August 2019 worked with a radio program, The Lucky Three Founders Strike Hour, and the Osage murders were The central stories of the book are the inter- featured in one of its first episodes. Grann twined careers of three white, Anglo-Saxon, also describes Hoover’s paranoia and his Protestant men: Paul Cravath, Francis Lynde wish to build the FBI into his own bureau- Stetson, and William Nelson Cromwell. cratic empire. Grann explains that after They were instrumental in the creation of Hoover became the FBI director, he rapidly the now-august firms known, respectively, reshaped the Bureau into a monolithic force. as: Cravath, Swaine & Moore; David, Polk & Grann details how early in Hoover’s tenure Wardwell; and Sullivan & Cromwell. as FBI director, he politicized the Bureau Some of Oller’s sweeping statements and developed a list of perceived enemies, about the role of these men and a handful of including certain Native American activists. others as founding fathers appear to be a bit Grann builds suspense as the story overblown. Therefore, the reader may ask unfolds about the actual perpetrators of the him- or herself: Didn’t the law of business crimes committed against the Osage. While and the business of law both exist in the the FBI was ultimately successful in working aeons before these men came into their with federal prosecutors to convict the per- own? More specifically, didn’t Wall Street, as petrators of the Burkhardt murders, many an institution, require legal services before of the murders or disappearances of Osage Paul Cravath graduated from Columbia Law tribal members have never been solved or School in 1886? Didn’t Herman Melville write explained. What added to this book’s imme- a story about a scrivener at a Wall Street law diacy and intensity is that Grann describes firm more than 30 years before that? how some living Osage tribal members have White Shoe: How a New Yes—however, pre-white-shoe law was a approached him for assistance in discover- Breed of Wall Street different world. The typical “law firm” con- ing what happened to their missing family Lawyers Changed Big sisted of one lawyer, as in Melville’s story, or members. Grann was able to trace, through perhaps two, along with what Oller describes his research, how many of these individuals Business and the as “loosely affiliated clerks.” There were no were killed and discovered the probable American Century filing cabinets, and the operation was limited killers, some of whom are still living. to handling as many legal affairs for as many When reading The Killers of the Flower By John Oller clients as the humans in the office could Moon, one may feel sadness and frustration Dutton, Penguin Group, New York, NY 2019 keep in their heads. Companies in the United as the law failed the Osage Nation, either 424 pages, $30 States before 1890 generally hired outside through corruption or ignorance or because Reviewed by Christopher C. Faille lawyers or law firms only when they wanted of political agendas. While the FBI was able to sue someone or were themselves sued. to bring justice to some individuals, many of “Mr. Untermyer’s firm, though com- A regular relationship with a firm, aimed as the cases remain unsolved. posed of Hebrews, has the reputation much at preventing litigation as at engaging It is very surprising that the story of the of being quite strong and influential.” in it, was a foreign idea. Osage murders was not well known prior to Oller does make a convincing case that the publication of The Killers of the Flower John Oller, the author of this book on the the three men at the center of his book Moon; this is an important event that should creation of the “white shoe” (Waspish and played a key role in changing that world into be included in the American history books Wall Street-oriented) law firms in the late one that looks more familiar to observers of we use to teach our children. 19th and early 20th centuries, attributes the Wall Street ecosystem of today. Further, the above observation to a white shoe the elite firms shifted to a system in which Hannah Laufe is an assistant general coun- lawyer in 1900, which means that the state- they hired associates from the elite colleges, sel at the Government Accountability Office, ment was made early in Samuel Untermy- paid them well enough to work them like where she is responsible for legal issues er’s storied career.

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