From 1920 to 1970, detectives were the dominant force in American urban police departments. In American Detective, Thomas A. Reppetto examines detective bureaus rather than just individual detectives. Each chapter offers a behind-the-scenes look at detective bureaus, embryonic or fully formed, in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Boston, the FBI and the Texas Rangers. From grisly murders to high-stake heists, political crimes to high-profile kidnappings, Reppetto takes readers on a journey through criminal justice history in the United States and shows how detectives played a major role in each case. Beginning with the invention of the detective in the mid-nineteenth century, Reppetto profiles famous sleuths throughout time, such as private detective chiefs Allan Pinkerton and William Burns, top commanders like Thad Brown of L.A., public safety director Elliott Ness of Cleveland, and America¿s ¿top cop¿ J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, to name a few. Detectives were the city¿s watchdog before the entire police department took over in the late 19th century to make the city ¿safe.¿ A solid case for the reinstatement of detectives¿ original primary function in police departments, Reppetto¿s book shatters the present-day policing system we take for granted.

List of Illustrations Snapshots from the Lost World of Detectives Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Rise of American Detectives 2. Italian Squads: The Cops Replace the Private Eyes 3. Murder in Hollywood and the Real Los Angeles Detective Bureau 4. The Hall-Mills Murders, the “World’s Greatest Detective,” and the Power of the Press 5. The Big Squads Roll: The Chicago Detective Bureau 6. Eliot Ness Pursues the Butcher, the Ups and Downs of Dr. Sam, and Lone Wolf Gonzaullas Stalks the Phantom 7. The Inspectors Bureau in the City by the Bay 8. New York Mysteries: The Rubel Robbery, the Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the Elusive Willie Sutton 9. The Real Crime of the Century: The Kidnapping and Murder of the Lindbergh Baby and the Rise of Director Hoover 10. America under Assault: Wall Street, a Day at the Fair, and the Murder of Carlo Tresca 11. The Black Dahlia Murder and Parker’s Police 12. The Brink’s Job and the St. Louis Blues 13. A Death in Dallas and the Disintegration of American Detective Bureaus 14. Twenty-First-Century Policing: Reorientation and Restoration Notes Bibliography Index