Customer Reviews

The Union Station Massacre: The Original Sin of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI

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'Union Station Massacre' is a fast-paced mix of research and reporting by a Missouri journalism professor who persuasively argues that J. Edgar Hoover used the 1933 Kansas City shootings to kickstart the fledgling FBI and essentially frame Pretty Boy Floyd and sidekick Adam Richetti. Whether or not you buy his thesis (which includes a shocking and well-argued scenario of who shot whom), this is fascinating stuff. Also impressive is the portrait of Verne Miller, the golfing lawman-turned-murderer who evidently masterminded, if that's the word, the failed rescue of bank robber Frank Nash at Union Station that day. I couldn't put this book down.

Using the FBI's own files Unger demonstrates how J Edgar Hoover ruthlessly raised the profile of the FBI and turned it into a federal police force. The lawlessness of the Mid West in the 1930's is highlighted as is the general weakness in cross state policing. Following the massacre unable to identify who the real killers were Hoover and the FBI decided to pin the murders on two men, Pretty Boy Floyd and Adam Richetti. These two men may have taken part in the shooting but this is shown, using the FBI's own evidence, by Unger to be highly unlikely. Hoover it seems used the above two men because they were then fugitives from the law being guilty of murder albeit elsewhere ie they were convenient fall guys. Unger shows how the frame-up was committed and who was involved in that frame up. Finally Unger comes up with a new twist to the masscre. At the end of this excellent book I was left with 'Does the end justify the means' - Hoover and his men undoubtedly thought so - me? I'm sitting on the fence.

I usually do not like to read history books, however, as a local I felt I should learn more about the massacre which bears my city's name. I was pleasently surprised by this book. I expected it to be very detailed and a little dry, because that is the nature of your typical history book. However, the details are surrounded by so many other events - i.e. Hoover trying to empower the FBI, outlaws on the run, mafia folk covering their backs. All together makes for a very interesting and insightful look into a bloody massacre.

For decades, people have thought that several unarmed FBI agents were mercilessly gunned down by bloodthirsty Midwestern bandits who were attempting to rescue their friend Frank Nash. Now Kansas City journalist Robert Unger, using a previously unavailable FBI file, tells the true story of what REALLY occured on June 17, 1933. Unger weaves a spellbinding web of the participants and the investigation which followed, in which a meglomaniacal J. Edgar Hoover will stop at nothing to "solve" the case and bring to justice the men he felt responsible. Whether or not Pretty Boy Floyd and Adam Richetti were actually guilty will never be known, but Unger clearly demonstrates that the evidence against them was flimsy at best. But Hoover THOUGHT them responsible, and thats all that mattered. The shocking climax, when Unger tells the true story of the massacre, rings of truth. Every fact in this book can be confirmed in the FBI's own file, which is Unger's primary source. All in all, an outstanding true crime book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the true story behind the infamous Union Station Massacre.

The book is well written, holding my attention throughout. It was read within a week.

This book was not only historicaly accurate and well researched but also very entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Excellent research into the big story of the mid-thirties that was used by the FBI to gain more power, all in the hands of one man, J. Edgar Hoover. Americans tired of sanitized & slanted history will appreciate the "What really happened" angle of this non-fiction read. Unger has done a great job filling in the blanks regarding the beginnings of the most abusive reach of power by a single American, J. Edgar Hoover, in our modern history. Without romantizing or glorifying the violence of the era, Ungers excellent research opens pages that might have been lost forever. A very good read.

Professor Unger is a man of great courage and integrity. His research has been thorough and meticulous. Most of the American public will not believe what they read in this book because they do not want to know the truth. I have been reading true crime books for almost 50 years and this is the best of the best. There is not one scintilla of credible evidence that Charley Floyd or Dave Rigetti were anywhere near the Union Station on the day of the Kansas City "Massacre". Two families were left with the stigma of having a mass murderer in their lineage, while federal agents knew it was untrue and caused the deaths of these two men. The truth is out and this abuse of federal authority will remain an open sore in American criminology until the FBI comes clean. Both Charley and Dave had committed other crimes that warranted the death penalty, but that in no way justifies governmental misconduct at the highest levels.

This book was not only historicaly accurate and well researched but also very entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Mr. Unger has given us all something to think about in this book about the events of and surrounding the Massacre. I live 15 min. from Union Station and have been there many times and have read every thing I could get my hands on about the Massacre and this book is the best by far. Who was with Verne Miller at the Station? I am still not sure but Mr. Unger clears up some of my Questions.