The Kansas City Massacre

A mass murder committed in front of Union Railway Station in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1933 shocked the American public into a new consciousness of the serious crime problems in the nation. The killings which took the lives of four peace officers and their prisoner are now known as Union Station Massacre or the The Kansas City Massacre. On June 17th, 1933, federal agents from J. Edgar Hoover’s Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement authorities were transporting escaped convict Frank “Jelly” Nash (pictured above) back to Fort Leavenworth, the prison Nash escaped from three years earlier. Nash’s wife had contacted Verne Miller, a friend of Jelly’s, the day before, informing him of both her husband’s apprehension in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and the government’s plan to put him back behind bars at Leavenworth. Allegedly Miller contacted Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Adam Richetti, who had just recently arrived in Kansas City. The plan was to spring Jelly at the city’s Union Station before he could be transported to the penitentiary. Unfortunately the rescue/escape attempt quickly turned violent. On the morning of the 17th at 7 am as Nash was being loaded into a car outside the train station the three outlaws - at least one of them armed with a sub-machine gun - opened fire from less than 15 feet away on Nash’s escorts. It was over quickly - Nash, two Kansas City police officers, an Oklahoma police chief and a federal agent were dead.


The attempt to free Jelly Nash was soon dubbed “The Kansas City Massacre”. The killers quickly made their escape from the train station parking lot and went on the lam. Hoover was livid and a nationwide manhunt began for suspects Miller, Floyd, and Richetti. Results were not immediately forthcoming. In October, Miller was tracked to an apartment in Chicago but he escaped. On November 29th, his body was found in a ditch outside of Detroit, Michigan, the result of a dispute with a New Jersey crime boss. On October 20th, Pretty Boy and Richetti were involved in a car crash in Ohio. The authorities were alerted and quickly surrounded the two. After a shoot-out, Richetti was apprehended, but Floyd escaped. Two days later, Floyd was again located by authorities at a farm in Clarkson, Ohio. Pretty Boy, attempting to escape on foot across a field, was shot and killed.