The Vendetta : Special Agent Melvin Purvis, John Dillinger, and Hoover's FBI in the Age of Gangsters

In The Vendetta , author Alston Purvis recounts the story of his father, Melvin Purvis, the iconic G-man and public hero made famous by his remarkable sweep of the great Public Enemies of the American Depression—John Dillinger; Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson. Purvis’s successes led FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover to grow increasingly jealous, to the point where he vowed to bring down Purvis. Hoover smeared Purvis’s reputation, and tried to erase his name from all records of the FBI's greatest triumphs. This book sets the record straight, and provides a grippingly authentic new telling of the gangster era, seen from the perspective of the pursuers. By the end of 1934 Melvin Purvis was, besides President Roosevelt, the most famous man in America. Just thirty-one years old, he presided over the neophyte FBI's remarkable sweep of the great Public Enemies of the American Depression -- John Dillinger; Pretty Boy Floyd; Baby Face Nelson. America finally had its hero in the War on Crime, and the face of all the conquering G-Men belonged to Melvin Purvis. Yet these triumphs sowed the seeds of his eventual ruin. With each new capture, each new headline touting Purvis as the scourge of gangsters, one man's implacable resentment grew. J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, was immensely jealous of the agent who had been his friend and prot'g', and vowed that Melvin Purvis would be brought down. A vendetta began that would not end even with Purvis's death. For more than three decades Hoover trampled Purvis's reputation, questioned his courage and competence, and tried to erase his name from all records of the FBI's greatest triumphs. Alston Purvis is Melvin's only surviving son. With the benefit of a unique family archive of documents, new testimony from colleagues and friends of Melvin Purvis and witnesses to the events of 1934, he has produced a grippingly authentic new telling of the gangster era, seen from the perspective of the pursuers. By finally setting the record straight about his father, he sheds new light on what some might call Hoover's original sin -- a personal vendetta that is one of the earliest and clearest examples of Hoover's bitter, destructive paranoia. Contents......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 1. Legacy......Page 18 2. North to America's Capital......Page 30 3. "Home of the Gods"......Page 42 4. "He Is Possessed of Snap"......Page 54 5. Kidnappers and Crooks......Page 81 6. "The Man You Want Most Is Up Here"......Page 108 7. Surveillance......Page 143 8. The Biograph Theater......Page 163 9. Pleasure and Commendation......Page 186 10. Pretty Boy......Page 231 11. Conkle's Farm......Page 254 12. When the Fall Is All There Is......Page 275 13. Hoover the Hero......Page 308 14. "The Biggest Giant in the World"......Page 335 15. Fathers and Sons......Page 357 Epilogue......Page 376 B......Page 380 D......Page 381 F......Page 383 G......Page 384 H......Page 385 M......Page 387 N......Page 388 P......Page 389 R......Page 392 S......Page 393 V......Page 394 W......Page 395 Z......Page 396 Looks at the life and career of FBI agent Melvin Purvis, who was responsible for capturing such criminals as John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, and argues that his reputation was destroyed by an envious J. Edgar Hoover.