R. D. Morgan

Wilbur Underhill-the "Tri-State Terror"-is the Boogeyman of Depression-era outlaws in more ways than one. For nearly a decade in the turbulent period of the 1920s and 30s, he was one of the most infamous and feared criminals in the Southwest. Convicted of one of his murders in Oklahoma he was sentenced to life and escaped, killing a cop and receiving another life term in Kansas, and then escaped again, leading ten others in a mass breakout. In the last months of his life, he rose to national notoriety as a prolific bank robber and suspect in the infamous Kansas City Massacre and became the first criminal ever shot down by agents of that fledgling agency which would soon become the FBI.… (més)

The Irish O'Malley Gang represented the final installment of America's great 1930s depression-era "Super Gangs" following in the footsteps of both the John Dillinger and "Ma" Barker/Karpis Gangs. The final version of the outlaw band was the result of the merging of two separate and unique criminal enterprises, one deriving from a rural environment, the second urban in nature. Their story involved a small cadre of hard-nosed underworld hoodlums joined by an army of thrill-starved gangster molls and criminal associates, which eventually evolved into a loosely-knit organization. It's members drifted across the Midwest committing a national headline grabbing kidnapping and several brutal murders as well as looting a dozen banks. Law enforcement dubbed the lawless band the most highly disciplined and efficient of the day. Their bank raids were well-planned and conducted in precise clockwork fashion. Not until the final months of the group's existence did investigators, including J. Edger Hoover's vaunted G-Men, connect the dots and conclude a single group initially dubbed "The Midwest Bank Robbers" was behind the epidemic of bank heists. On realizing this fact, Hoover's boys began tracking the group like the hound and the hare. But, track them they did and with deadly efficiency.… (més)

Oklahoma is a state rich in lawmen and outlaw history, truly the last bastion of the "Old West." The state has a tradition of banditry dating back to the time of the Indian Territory. The following account presents a collection of rare photographs, biographical sketches, and true stories offered in chronological order dealing with the epic battle between the forces of law and order and wrongdoers taking place in a geographic area encompassing the modern state of Oklahoma. This narrative, which represents nearly ten years of research, is presented in two-part form within a single volume. Part I covers the period of 1875-1919, chronicling events taken from the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to statehood and beyond, while Part II covers the period 1920-1941. This work does not represent an attempt to tell a complete history of lawmen and outlaws in Oklahoma. It is merely offered as a series of prime examples of the genre.… (més)