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Dawn Trent, the widow of Bill Trent, Alvin Karpis’s ghostwriter, kindly lent me thousands of pages of interview transcripts that her husband made with Karpis in the late 1960s; these transcripts are a source of much new information on the period. A former FBI archivist, Susan Rosenthal, provided files on former FBI agents. Thanks as well to historians Glenn Jordan in Monroe, Louisiana; Arch McKinney in East Chicago; Robert Beresford in Wellesville, Ohio; Clyde Woolridge in McAlester, Oklahoma; and Orville Albritton and Bobbie McClain in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

A huge thank-you to the staff at The Grapevine in Quantico, Virginia, who allowed me to spend three days wading through back issues, and to the wonderful archivists at FBI headquarters in Washington. Thanks, too, to the children and extended families of the many FBI men and prosecutors who fought the War on Crime, including Alston Purvis, Melvin Purvis’s son; Samuel Cowley, Jr.; Doris Lockerman; Jared McDade in Ossining, New York; John Davis Rorer; Kristina Metcalfe, daughter of James Metcalfe; Werner Hanni, Jr.; Frazier Reams, Jr.; and the families of John Welles, Jay Newman, John Madala, and Hugh Clegg.

Thanks to the staff at the Chicago Public Library; the Chicago Historical Society; the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul; the Oklahoma Historical Society; the Missouri Historical Society; the J. Evetts Haley Museum in Midland, Texas; the Red River Historical Museum in Sherman, Texas; and the Hot Springs Historical Society in Hot Springs, Arkansas; the federal archives in College Park, Maryland, and Chicago, and Kansas City; as well as the Ohio public libraries in Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Bluffton, Lima, and Dayton; the Indiana public libraries in Muncie, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Peru, Hammond, and Terre Haute; the Texas public libraries in Dallas, Fort Worth, Coleman, Waco, Austin, Houston, San Marcos, and San Antonio; the Iowa public libraries in Des Moines and Mason City; the Missouri public libraries in Kansas City, Joplin, and Springfield; the New Jersey public libraries in Summit, Maplewood, Newark, and Atlantic City; the Florida public libraries in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Ocala, Orlando, and Daytona Beach; the Arkansas public libraries in Little Rock and Hot Springs; the public library in Memphis; the Georgia public library in Albany; and the Wisconsin public libraries in Lake Geneva and Elkhorn.

I could not have attempted this book were it not for the patience of Vanity Fair’s editor, Graydon Carter, who looked the other way when I should have been writing stories for him. Anna Bakolas was a terrific researcher in the early months of this project. Marla Burrough, Doug Stumpf, Steve Swartz, and Jordan Glatt gave invaluable reviews of the manuscript. An-drew Wylie and Jeffrey Posternak at the Wylie Agency remain the best literary agents in the business. This project began as a television miniseries for the Home Box Office network; only after research began did I realize I loved it all too much not to write a book. Thanks to Brian Siberell for guiding me through Hollywood.

At Penguin Press, Scott Moyers always believed in this project and gave terrific advice in winnowing the final manuscript. His trusty assistant, Sophie Fels, kept the trains running on time. Melissa Goldstein ransacked archives across the country to gather the photographs. Thanks as well to my parents, Mac and Mary Burrough, in Temple, Texas, who are never too busy to listen. And as always, my greatest thanks goes to my family, Marla, Griffin, and Dane, who never complain about all the long hours Daddy spends alone in his office.

INDEX

Adams, Joe

Akers, Herbert “Dutch”

Akers, Mrs. Walter

Akers, Walter Lynne

Akron Beacon-Journal

Alcorn, Bob

in Bonnie and Clyde ambush

Bonnie and Clyde pursued by

Alderton, Harold

Aldredge, W. J.

Allison, Leo J.

Al Spencer Gang

Alt, Rudolph

Ambush (Hinton)

American Agent (Purvis)

American Bank and Trust robbery

American Express