Killers of the Flower Moon

I finished reading the book “Killers of the flower Moon” recently. I always have trouble describing the type of format for this style. For a similar type book think “The Devil in the White City”. Amazon lists it as “Historical Fiction” because the research writes the story while imagining some of the middle parts. ‘Killers’ is part murder mystery and part meticulous research. Focused on the Osage Nation and the murders surrounding the once wealthy tribe members, it brings a lesser known period to life. 

 I was expecting a handful of murders or sad unsolved crimes from a forgotten era. The scale of the killings shocked me, as did their brazen nature. The author, David Grann, links bad federal policy and racist notions about the ‘red man’ to an abundance of cash rich Natives. Those combinations fuel the chaos and greed of a select few. These aren’t murders as much as massacres. In Osage county lives are cheap but "headrights" are like gold.

The Osage were quite rich after the discovery of oil on their land. They leased it to drillers and profited from the royalties oil brought in. This made a handful of them very rich. But due to crooked Federal laws placing a non-native (white) guardian in charge of their allotments, many were swindled. In many cases, native Osage land owners with full royalties on the mineral rights to their property couldn’t even decide what to do with their own money. The fraudulent nature of this whole setup attracts con artists. I’ll leave some of the scheming to the readers to discover. Those who live in and around Osage County in Oklahoma might be aware of the murderous period called the Reign of Terror, I was completely surprised.

The second part of the story is the FBI angle. You have to think of Oklahoma, and most Western states, as barely governable by the local authorities. Although genuine attempts to solve some of these egregious killings were made, they encountered too much resistance and often just gave up. The Bureau finally sent in a team and eventually unraveled some despicable cover ups and sinister plans. It took a long time and a lot of what most of us associate with FED tactics, using low level criminals to turn testimony, making deals and offering protection. J Edgar Hoover enlisted the help of a very capable former Texas Ranger named Tom White, to look into the killings. White was helped by some undercover agents living and working among the Osage.

I guess Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are making this into a movie. Should be fun.