Tom Brown (police officer)

Tom Brown
Brown c. 1935
Born	Thomas Archibald Brown (1889-02-07)February 7, 1889 West Virginia
Died	January 5, 1959(1959-01-05) (aged 69) Minnesota
Occupation	Police officer
Known for	Police corruption

Thomas Archibald Brown (1889–1959), known as "Big Tom", was the mobbed-up police chief of St. Paul, Minnesota during the Great Depression. Brown presided over a period of unbridled political and police corruption in which he both collected protection money and planned both armed robberies and kidnappings with Jewish-American organized crime, the Barker-Karpis gang, and the Dillinger Gang.

After tipping off the Barkers about their imminent arrest in West Saint Paul, Brown was demoted from chief of police to the head of the Kidnap Squad, from which he continued to assist criminals. After arranging the and , Brown was further demoted to detective and, in an unsuccessful effort to restore his reputation, he personally killed his former criminal associate, Homer Van Meter. Brown was finally dismissed from the police force for corruption, but, despite the best efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he was never indicted or prosecuted for his crimes.

Early career[]

Brown was born in West Virginia into a family of German-American^[1] coal miners. He stood 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) and was too tall to work in the mines, so he worked as conductor for the Great Northern Railroad before settling in St. Paul in 1910. He worked at various jobs before joining the Police Department as a traffic patrolman in 1914. In 1919, Brown was promoted to Detective.^[2]

St. Paul's police already had a reputation for tolerating the presence of criminals in the city. developed the so-called "O'Connor system" in which criminals were protected from arrest and extradition so long as they committed no crimes while they were in the city. The system attracted big-spending gangsters who supported other lucrative businesses, particularly illegal speak-easies.^[3]

Brown achieved local fame after killing escaped murderer Edwin Rust in a gunfight. He was appointed to the "Purity Squad", which was supposed to identify and close down illegal gambling casinos, speak-easies, and brothels. He quickly learned to build contacts with the criminals who ran them and to extort protection money in return for advance warnings regarding to the Purity Squad's raids. In 1926, he was arrested for stealing a large quantity of alcohol that had been confiscated in a raid.^[4] The same year, Brown was suspended for 30 days when a Federal judge ordered him extradited to Ohio with Leon Gleckman and the Gleeman brothers to face charges of conspiracy and liquor smuggling.^[5] He was subsequently reinstated.

The Purity Squad became notorious for its repeated failure to find any illegal activity during raids, and a board of inquiry was moving toward dismissing Brown. The dismissal was suddenly withdrawn, however, probably due to pressure from corrupt politicians with links to local crime bosses, particularly Jewish-American organized crime boss Leon Gleckman, who was often termed "The Al Capone of St. Paul".^[6][7]

Chief of Police[]

In June 1930, Leon Gleckman engineered Brown's appointment as chief of police.^[8]

Brown's daughter, Vera Peters, later recalled, "I'll never forget when my father was nominated to be police chief. He came home to tell my mother that he was going to get three hundred dollars a month - which was a big sum in those days... My father was the first police chief in the new police station, so he took us to the station to have our photos taken like they did with criminals."^[9]

To the public, Brown depicted himself as a racket-buster and a fearless crime-fighter. Soon after his appointment, Brown declared war on Chicago organized crime figures who were allegedly investing in Minnesota's bootlegging and slot machine rackets, vowing, "St. Paul will not tolerate any gangsters... This is an open statement. There is nothing concealed. To all gangsters who may be in St. Paul, get out and stay out."^[10]

In reality, speakeasy owner and FBI informant Frank Reilly informed his handlers about, "a number of people who had contributed large sums to Brown's campaign", including Dillinger Gang leader Homer Van Meter, who had donated $1000. "It was further understood that after he was appointed Chief of Police they were to be allotted certain rackets in St. Paul. During Brown's term it was impossible to run anything without paying off, and according to Reilly, it got to such a point where the various candy companies complained that they were not allowed even to install their merchandise boards in various stores without paying protection."^[11]

Police officers Charles Tierney and Joseph Dahill also told the FBI that, during Brown's 1930-1932 term as Police Chief, Leon Gleckman was granted a monopoly on illegal gambling and ran it from his suite at the St. Paul Hotel.^[12]

Gleckman was kidnapped by rival racketeer Jack Peifer, and Brown worked hard for his release. The ransom was paid, but one of the kidnappers was later found shot dead by an unknown assailant. Brown took the ransom from the man's safe;^[7] he later claimed that he stored it at police headquarters, but it was never located.

Brown's tenure as chief came to an end when he became involved with the Barker-Karpis gang, who had come to St. Paul at the invitation of Gleckman's rival Jack Peifer. The gang committed a series of robberies until a neighbor recognized them from pictures in True Detective magazine. Brown delayed responding to the information, and he or one of his associates tipped them off. They cleared out believing that Ma Barker's lover Arthur Dunlop had informed on them, and they shot him and dumped his naked body. The Dunlop murder sealed Brown's fate as chief, as the publicity led to questions about how the gang had gotten away. He was dismissed as chief by the new mayor, who was elected on an anti-corruption ticket. However, he remained a member of the force.

Later police career[]

After his dismissal, Brown attempted to get elected as sheriff of Ramsey County, Minnesota. According to FBI informants, members of Dillinger's gang, particularly Homer Van Meter, paid $1500 into Brown's election campaign, but he was unsuccessful.^[13]

Despite suspicions against him Brown was appointed to the newly formed Kidnap Squad. With prohibition over, local criminals turned to new sources of income. Racketeers Jack Piefer and Harry Sawyer suggested that the Barker-Karpis gang should move into kidnapping. They kidnapped wealthy businessman William Hamm. Brown informed them of plans by police to trap them. The ransom money was successfully collected, and a cut given to Brown. Another kidnapping followed. Edward Bremer, a local businessman, was snatched on his way to work after dropping his daughter at school on January 15, 1934. The FBI became actively involved. When it became evident that leaks were coming from the local Kidnap Squad, Brown was isolated from the investigation.

Homer Van Meter was repeatedly shot by Brown as he lay on the ground

On August 23, 1934 Brown was involved in the killing of former ally Homer Van Meter at the corner of Marion Street and University Avenue in St. Paul. Van Meter was lured to a supposed meeting, but was confronted by four police officers who were waiting for him, led by Chief of Police Frank Cullen. All were heavily armed with rifles and Brown carried a Thompson submachine gun.^[14] The officers later claimed Van Meter ignored their command to stop and fled into a nearby alley, where he fired twice on the officers with a .45 caliber pistol.^[15] Chief Cullen, armed with a rifle, held his fire as a bystander walked past, but the remaining officers opened fire on Van Meter, who fell dead.^[15] He was 27 years old.^[15] Brown continued to fire at Van Meter as he lay prone; the impact of the bullets ripped off one finger and nearly severed a thumb and finger of the right hand.^[15][16] The body was found to be armed with a .45-caliber Colt automatic pistol. The number and severity of Van Meter's wounds were attributed to the use of the Thompson submachine gun.^[15][16] Van Meter's family later said that their kin had been used for "target practice".^[14]

By this time Brown was under investigation by the FBI. Many of the kidnappers had been arrested and detained by the beginning of 1935. A great deal of information about Brown's involvement given by minor gang members Edna Murray and Byron Bolton. As a result, Brown was dismissed from the force. However, as most of the evidence was hearsay, Brown was not arrested or charged. He challenged his dismissal, but the evidence of his corruption was considered sufficient to justify it.

Personal life[]

He married Mary Rafferty, and the couple had four daughters and one son.^[17] The Brown family lived in a two story white stucco house 759 East Maryland Avenue in St. Paul.^[18]

In keeping with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on disparity of cult marriages, Mary Brown raised their children as Catholics, while her husband remained a Baptist.^[19]

In an interview with Paul Maccabee, Brown's daughter, Vera Peters, recalled her father as a strict disciplinarian, "of the old German feeling that kids should be seen and not heard."^[20] Peters also recalled, "We knew what was right and wrong in my family. When my brother Jim was engaged to be married, he still had to be home by eleven!"^[21]

Later life[]

Brown moved away to open a liquor store. He continued in the profession for some years, but was later arrested for non-payment of tax and for operating without a license. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but the sentence was suspended. He died of a heart attack in 1959.

References[]

Sources[]

Mahoney, Tim, Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang, Minnesota Historical Press, 2013