John Joseph O'Connor and the "Layover Agreement"
(One Person's Observations)
Layover Agreement Chronology
December 18, 1912 – November 10, 1913:
In December of 1912 Martin J. Flanagan was appointed acting chief of police. Flanagan, a veteran with eighteen years on the department had previously been an assistant chief of police. He was removed from office in November of 1913 by the board of police commissioners "for the good of the service" along with three other officers. On February 19, 1914 the former chief was convicted of soliciting bribes from houses of prostitution, along with former detective Fred Turner. Flanagan is the only Saint Paul chief of police known to have been convicted of a felony and serve time in prison.
c. 1913 – 1928:
Daniel "Dapper Dan" Hogan, owner of the underworld's Green Lantern Saloon, 545 North Wabasha Street, near West Tenth Street in the city of Saint Paul, and big-time fence of stolen merchandise, took over the go-between job between the police and the criminal element upon the death of William H. "Reddy" Griffin in 1913. Hogan was recognized as the unofficial head of Saint Paul underworld until his car-bomb murder in 1928.
January 1, 1913:
The first policewomen were added to the force. Although matrons had been around for many years, this was the first attempt to utilize females in a more active policing role. It wasn't until the ratification of the Woman Suffrage Amendment in 1920, though, that they were finally able to become authoritative sworn officers... able to make arrests.
January 1914:
In January of 1914 a Ramsey County grand jury final report came out severely criticizing the mayor, county attorney and police commission for lax police methods and failure to vigorously enforce the laws relating to the social evil and the liquor traffic in the city.
c. 1914:
In the early spring of 1914 the familiar horse-drawn police ambulance was replaced by a motorized unit.
June 1, 1914:
A new City Charter was adopted establishing a commission form of government with the Bureau of Police being a part of the Department of Public Safety along with the Bureaus of Fire and Health. This would continue for nearly sixty years, when the city returned to a strong mayor-council form of government (1972). At the same time the comptroller was to be the ex-officio head of the Civil Service Commission, providing a certain amount of job security for public employees. It wouldn't be until 1936 that a Tenure Charter Amendment was passed providing the chief of police with like protection.
June 2, 1914 – May 29, 1920:
In June of 1914 John J. O'Connor was appointed chief of police for the second time by newly elected (first term) Democratic Mayor Winn Powers. Having previously been appointed in June of 1900, O'Connor had a national reputation as being an "innovative administrator".
c. 1917:
The Bertillon system of measurements that had taken mug shots to a new level was now converted over to the Henry Classification fingerprint method.
c. 1918:
The Purity Squad was initiated as a means of scrubbing the city clean of less-than-moral underworld dealings, and to identify and close down gambling dens, speakeasies and brothels.
January 16, 1919:
The Eighteenth U.S. Constitutional Amendment, the prohibition initiative written by Minnesota Congressman Andrew J. Volstead, was ratified in January of 1919, taking effect a year later. This initiative nurtured organized crime syndicates in major cities all across the nation, including Saint Paul, providing them with a ready cash flow.
October 28, 1919:
Congress approves the Volstead Act, providing for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment.
January 16, 1920:
Prohibition begins as the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act make the sale and consumption of alcohol illegal. Bootleggers, by supplying illegal alcohol to the public, became wealthy entrepreneurs.
June 7, 1920:
On May 28th, with Democratic Mayor Arthur C. Nelson running for State Governor, Chief John J. O'Connor announced his retirement, to take place on June 7, 1920. And, although some publications state that he worked until midnight on June 5th, we know that the incoming chief, Thomas E. Campbell, took his oath of office at noon on Monday, June 7th.
Feburary 21, 1921:
A school patrol was formed at Cathedral School, Summit Avenue and Third Street (Kellogg Boulevard) in the city of Saint Paul. This was the first organized school patrol in the nation. A School Patrol display can be viewed in the Police Headquarters lobby.
March 18, 1922 – June 6, 1922:
In March of 1922 Michael Gebhardt was appointed chief of police for the second time, having previously been appointed in November of 1913. Gebhardt estimated in 1922 that seventy-five percent of Saint Paul citizens were distilling moonshine or making wine during Prohibition.
July 3, 1924:
In July of 1924 John J. O'Connor died of natural causes in California.
February 23, 1926:
Officers Killed in the Line-of-Duty: Patrolmen Frederick A. Peitsch18 and John Schultz19 died in the line-of-duty; fatally injured in gunfire by two "bootlegging" suspects in the 800 block of Laurel Avenue, near North Avon Street in Saint Paul's Summit Hill district. The officers were known to be strict in enforcing the prohibition "Dry Laws". The Police Memorial Wall, including bronze plaques for the two slain officers, can be observed in the Police Headquarters lobby.
c. 1928 – 1936:
Harry "Dutch" Sawyer, bootlegger, fence, gangland banker, protégé of fixer "Dapper Dan" Hogan, and the Saint Paul contact for the Dillinger and Barker-Karpis gangs, took over the Green Lantern, and the link between the police and mobsters. Thought to be behind the car-bomb murder of his mentor, "Dapper Dan" Hogan, he was convicted in 1936 for the kidnapping of Saint Paul banker Edward G. Bremer. Other political fixers for the Saint Paul underworld included Leon "the Jewish Al Capone" Gleckman, liquor syndicate head, and John "Jack" Peifer, operator of the Hollyhocks Club Casino, 1590 South Mississippi River Boulevard, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul.
October 29, 1929:
The Great Depression (1929-1939) began soon after the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday), which set Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. One of the cruel features of the period was the growth of organized crime elements within the major cities, including Saint Paul. The decline in respect for the government and distain for banks during this period caused bank robbers to be treated like folk heroes.
c. 1930:
The new Public Safety Building opened at 101 East Tenth Street, between Minnesota and North Robert Streets, centralizing police operations. The four substations were closed. The same year found a one-way police radio service initiated utilizing KSTP's transmitter. Sixteen squads were equipped with receiving sets. Nine years later (1939) two-way radios were introduced and installed in twenty-six squads. By this time the bureau had its own radio transmitter.
January 18, 1930:
Leon Gleckman, known as the "Al Capone of Saint Paul" and the "Bootlegging Boss of Saint Paul", moves into downtown Hotel Saint Paul, which becomes the city's headquarters for corruption and graft.
June 3, 1930 – June 6, 1932:
In June of 1930 Thomas A. "Big Tom" Brown, once a defendant in a Cleveland liquor syndicate case, was appointed chief of police. Brown, a veteran with sixteen years on the department, had previously been a police detective.
c. 1931:
Gangster movies Little Caesar and Public Enemy premier in Hollywood glorifying the financial success of gangsters during a time of economic depression.
September 24, 1931:
Saint Paul liquor czar Leon Gleckman is kidnapped from his home at 2168 Sargent Avenue, near South Cretin Avenue in Saint Paul, and held for ransom. He is released eight days later and soon thereafter one of the conspirators was found murdered gangland style. The others were quickly identified, apprehended and convicted of the kidnapping.
March 1, 1932:
The son of aviator Charles A. "Lucky Lindy" Lindberg Jr. (a Minnesota native) was kidnapped. In response to the crime, Congress passed and President Herbert C. Hoover signed the Federal Kidnapping Act, which made it a federal crime to transport a kidnapping victim across state lines.
April 25, 1932:
The Barker-Karpis gang, tipped off by police, escaped from their hideout at 1031 South Robert Street, near East Bernard Street in West Saint Paul; Chief Thomas A. Brown later implicated in the tip-off (below).
May 3, 1932:
William J. Mahoney is elected mayor of Saint Paul, and promised to eliminate influence of "organized, sinister, and invisible" gangsters.
June 7, 1932:
Police Chief Thomas A. Brown is demoted to detective on suspicion of having warned Barker-Karpis gang of April raid (above). Later, while head of the elite police kidnap squad, he was suspected by the F.B.I. of leaking information to members of the Dillinger and Barker-Karpis gangs and was removed from police service on October 9, 1936.
June 7, 1932 – July 18, 1934:
In June of 1932 Thomas E. Dahill was appointed chief of police. Dahill had previously been an acting chief of police, having been appointed in January of 1930. Dahill was known as a reformer and was chief during the investigation of John Dillinger's robberies. He was a foe of former chief, Thomas A. Brown.
July 25, 1932:
New York crime syndicate Murder Inc. hit men George Young and Joey Schaefer hunt down and kill bootlegger Abe Wagner and his partner, Al Gordon, at West University and North Snelling Avenues in Saint Paul's Midway district.
August 5, 1932:
Saint Paul Police Chief Thomas E. Dahill declares war on "hoodlums" and "gun toters." His efforts are part of a larger campaign to fight against the "Midwestern crime wave."
December 16, 1932:
Barker-Karpis gang robs the Third Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. Two policemen are killed in the shoot-out, and bystander/witness, Oscar Erickson, is murdered by Frederick G. "Fred" Barker after observing them changing a flat tire at Como Park in Saint Paul's North End.
18 Frederick A. Peitsch was appointed patrolman June 11, 1917; and was fatally injured in gunfire by two "bootlegging" suspects Tuesday, February 23, 1926.
19 John Schultz was appointed patrolman (temporary) June 16 1919; was appointed patrolman (permanent) September 1, 1919; and was fatally injured in gunfire by two "bootlegging" suspects Tuesday, February 23, 1926.