Public Enemies_ America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI - Bryan Burrough [251]
“Are you Richard Tallman Galatas?” one of the agents asked. They drew their guns.
Galatas looked up. He gave the agents a long, appraising glance. “I knew this was coming,” he said. “But I never in the world would have surrendered.” Then he turned and continued painting.
Dick Galatas and his wife were taken to the Bureau office, then, on orders from Washington, held incommunicado in Agent Magee’s apartment. Like Vi Mathias, no court or attorney was notified of their detention. Hoover broke the news to Cowley. “I stated [to Cowley] that I intend to have Galatas held by our Division until we are able to obtain some information,” Hoover wrote an aide. “[W]e know he is the key man and he may clear up many doubts in our minds and may confirm some of the information already in our possession.”2 In a call to Dwight Brantley, the Oklahoma City SAC, Hoover said, “[I]n my estimation, this is the solution of the Kansas City Massacre case.”3
By the time of his arrest, Galatas was a broken man. Handcuffed to a chair at Agent Magee’s apartment, he answered questions in a listless monotone, freely admitting his role in the massacre conspiracy. At one point, when asked why he did it, Galatas sighed.
“Because I was crazy,” he said.4
He had been running ever since. St. Louis. Reno. Sacramento. Los Angeles. Finally, New Orleans. Galatas swore he had no idea who Verne Miller’s partners were. What he told the agents instead, though no one in the FBI especially cared, was the genesis of the events that led to the massacre, and thus indirectly to Hoover’s War on Crime.
It started after he purchased the White Front Cigar Store that spring, Galatas said. He took bets in the back, and it was common knowledge that he kept the proceeds at his home. For that reason, Galatas said, he was in constant fear of being kidnapped. That May two muscular men from Chicago paid him a visit and asked if he would help persuade city officials to let them distribute Blue Ribbon Beer in the town. Galatas demurred; he didn’t like the pair’s looks. A couple of nights later the men returned and strongly suggested Galatas accompany them to the Eastman Hotel. Galatas went along, but became frightened when he saw the men were carrying guns. When they stepped into the hotel elevator Galatas slipped out just as the doors closed, ran back to the White Front and hid. He thought the men wanted to kidnap him.
A day or two later one of the Chicago men appeared at the White Front. With him was Frank Nash, whom Galatas had met but barely knew. Galatas suspected Nash was the brains behind his would-be kidnappers. Frightened, he briefed his friend Dutch Akers, the Hot Springs chief of detectives, and suggested they find a way to turn Nash into federal authorities. It was Akers, Galatas assumed, who had called the FBI.ed Once Nash was arrested, Galatas explained, he feared “the mob” would suspect him of having set Nash up. He went out of his way to help Frances Nash, Galatas insisted, in order to avoid any such suspicion.5
An interesting tale, but it got the FBI no closer to Pretty Boy Floyd. Hoover ordered in reinforcements. On Monday, September 24, Agent R. G. Harvey in New York was dispatched to New Orleans. One of Hoover’s assistants, Ed Tamm, told Harvey to “go to work” on Galatas, because “he is yellow and, of course, there is a way to deal with people like that.”6 Tamm made it clear to Harvey that he would need to get rough with Galatas. “What we want,” Tamm