Title: No place to hide - The Lindbergh Law
Karen - February 27, 2008 02:09 AM (GMT)
One of our questions to Mr. Burrough was about how the enactment of the "Lindbergh Law" affected the war on crime.
We asked Bryan this question:
JDR:The kidnapping and subsequent death of the Lindbergh baby caused a change in Federal law, can you tell us how that affected the new FBI and how it affected the gangs? Why did it make a difference for law men?
BB:The Lindbergh Law, which gave the FBI responsibility for tracking down interstate kidnappers, gave the Bureau its first chance to engage with criminals the country actually cared about. Until its passage, the FBI had never really accomplished anything of note; most Americans had no idea it even existed. The Lindbergh Law made the FBI relevant. Engaging with armed kidnappers transformed the Bureau into a far more professional outfit than it had been, much to the consternation of criminal gangs. For years criminals like Machine Gun Kelly had only hick sheriffs to deal with. In 1933, for the first time, the Kellys of the world found themselves facing a federal police force with seemingly unlimited resources that could track them across state lines. For the first time, there was no real place for criminals to hide. That was the genius of the FBI.
I thought that we should know a bit about what caused the Lindbergh Law and what the enactment of this Federal Law meant to law men back then.
www.charleslindbergh.com
Rather than cut and paste in an entire page, I am including the link to a great site that has a lot of information about the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Read it, skim it, what ever your level of interest is.
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcase.../lindbernew.htm
Below is an except from another wonderful site, read here.
Hoover was functioning against a backdrop of rampant crime rings perpetrated by bootlegging gangsters. Hollywood and popular culture romanticized these figures into lawless heroes. To make his agency respectable, Hoover assembled an elite group of men, white and college-educated, who would represent the Bureau as agents. He demanded conformity and a strict moral code from all of them, demanding them to abstain from alcohol and relations with women. He instituted a training school and effectively made his organization into the symbolic guardian of the country's laws, citizens, and its morals.
He chose to systematically eliminate the glorified gangsters who were, by their mere existence, defaming the government and its laws. The campaign gained momentum in 1933 after a mob gunned down several of Hoover's agents who were escorting bank robber Frank Nash. Popularized as the "Kansas City Massacre," the event led Hoover on a rampage against notorious criminals such as John Dillinger, "Ma" Barker, and "Machine Gun" Kelly. Hoover was also eager to have all kidnapping cases under his jurisdiction. The infamous kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932 produced enough outrage to grant Hoover his wish with the enactment of the Lindbergh Law that same year.
The image of the all-powerful "G-man" who hunted for criminals and sleuthed with the latest technology appealed to the nation's need for a strong, active government during the Depression. Hollywood, radio, the press, and comic strips played on this new image of the government agent. With the F.B.I.'s domestic surveillance records, which often contained damaging information on people of public importance, Hoover could easily wield control over the public image of his agency.
In essence, this is what the Lindbergh law says.:
The Lindbergh Law made extradition proceedings no longer necessary for the crime of kidnapping murder. The law was approved by Congress on June 22, 1932 and on May 18, 1933 FDR signed into effect a harsher Lindbergh Law which made the sending of a kidnap/ransom note across state lines a federal offense. It also permitted the death penalty for kidnapers who took their victims from one state to another and failed to return them unharmed.
We asked Bryan this question:
JDR:The kidnapping and subsequent death of the Lindbergh baby caused a change in Federal law, can you tell us how that affected the new FBI and how it affected the gangs? Why did it make a difference for law men?
BB:The Lindbergh Law, which gave the FBI responsibility for tracking down interstate kidnappers, gave the Bureau its first chance to engage with criminals the country actually cared about. Until its passage, the FBI had never really accomplished anything of note; most Americans had no idea it even existed. The Lindbergh Law made the FBI relevant. Engaging with armed kidnappers transformed the Bureau into a far more professional outfit than it had been, much to the consternation of criminal gangs. For years criminals like Machine Gun Kelly had only hick sheriffs to deal with. In 1933, for the first time, the Kellys of the world found themselves facing a federal police force with seemingly unlimited resources that could track them across state lines. For the first time, there was no real place for criminals to hide. That was the genius of the FBI.
I thought that we should know a bit about what caused the Lindbergh Law and what the enactment of this Federal Law meant to law men back then.
www.charleslindbergh.com
Rather than cut and paste in an entire page, I am including the link to a great site that has a lot of information about the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Read it, skim it, what ever your level of interest is.
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcase.../lindbernew.htm
Below is an except from another wonderful site, read here.
Hoover was functioning against a backdrop of rampant crime rings perpetrated by bootlegging gangsters. Hollywood and popular culture romanticized these figures into lawless heroes. To make his agency respectable, Hoover assembled an elite group of men, white and college-educated, who would represent the Bureau as agents. He demanded conformity and a strict moral code from all of them, demanding them to abstain from alcohol and relations with women. He instituted a training school and effectively made his organization into the symbolic guardian of the country's laws, citizens, and its morals.
He chose to systematically eliminate the glorified gangsters who were, by their mere existence, defaming the government and its laws. The campaign gained momentum in 1933 after a mob gunned down several of Hoover's agents who were escorting bank robber Frank Nash. Popularized as the "Kansas City Massacre," the event led Hoover on a rampage against notorious criminals such as John Dillinger, "Ma" Barker, and "Machine Gun" Kelly. Hoover was also eager to have all kidnapping cases under his jurisdiction. The infamous kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932 produced enough outrage to grant Hoover his wish with the enactment of the Lindbergh Law that same year.
The image of the all-powerful "G-man" who hunted for criminals and sleuthed with the latest technology appealed to the nation's need for a strong, active government during the Depression. Hollywood, radio, the press, and comic strips played on this new image of the government agent. With the F.B.I.'s domestic surveillance records, which often contained damaging information on people of public importance, Hoover could easily wield control over the public image of his agency.
In essence, this is what the Lindbergh law says.:
The Lindbergh Law made extradition proceedings no longer necessary for the crime of kidnapping murder. The law was approved by Congress on June 22, 1932 and on May 18, 1933 FDR signed into effect a harsher Lindbergh Law which made the sending of a kidnap/ransom note across state lines a federal offense. It also permitted the death penalty for kidnapers who took their victims from one state to another and failed to return them unharmed.