On a tragic Saturday morning, June 17, 1933, the life of 31-year-old White male, Raymond J. Caffrey, a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was cut short in a violent outburst of gunfire that would come to be known as the Kansas City Massacre. Agent Caffrey, along with other law enforcement officers, was at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, to escort a captured fugitive, Frank Nash, who was being transported to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
An informant had tipped off members of the criminal underworld about the transfer, setting the stage for a deadly confrontation.
As the officers and their prisoner were getting into their vehicles outside the station, a group of criminals ambushed them in an attempt to free Nash. The gunmen opened fire, and in the ensuing chaos, Agent Caffrey was struck in the head by a bullet and fell to the ground. Along with Caffrey, Kansas City Police Detectives Frank Hermanson and William Grooms, and McAlester, Oklahoma Police Chief Otto Read were also killed in the shootout. The prisoner, Frank Nash, was also killed during the assault. Agent Caffrey was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead from a skull fracture and the gunshot wound to his head. The entire violent episode lasted a mere 30 seconds.
The subsequent FBI investigation identified the shooters as Vernon C. Miller, Adam Richetti, and the infamous bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd. The plan to free Nash was reportedly masterminded by Miller, a known assassin and friend of the captured fugitive. In the months and years that followed, justice was pursued for the fallen officers. Vernon Miller was found dead in November 1933, the victim of a separate underworld dispute. "Pretty Boy" Floyd was killed in a shootout with FBI agents in Ohio on October 22, 1934. Adam Richetti was apprehended in Ohio after a gun battle with local police. He was tried for his role in the massacre, found guilty, and executed on October 7, 1938. Four other individuals, Richard Galatas, Herbert Farmer, "Doc" Louis Stacci, and Frank Mulloy, were also indicted for conspiring to free Nash and were subsequently found guilty, each receiving a two-year federal prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.
