United States: Killers of the Flower Moon

I’m still engrossed in my around-the-world challenge. For the United States, I went with Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, a book about the Osage Nation. Like so many Americans, I don’t know nearly enough about our indigenous nations. This is both a Native American story and one about financial fraud, so I was all in.

In the early part of the 20th century, oil was discovered on the Osage reservation in Oklahoma. It made members of the tribe very rich. This, of course, upset a few of their white neighbors. Some conspired to change laws to make it difficult for the Osage to control their wealth. Then, several of the tribe’s members started dying.

It was clear what was going on, but not who was behind it. It didn’t help that the deaths extended to include some of the white people who were investigating. This became one of the very first cases that J. Edgar Hoover took on at the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was finally cracked with the help of undercover agents.

The tribe still receives oil revenues, currently $4815 per quarter per headright. These rights can be inherited, bought, or sold, and about a quarter are now held outside the tribe.