Gangster Hunters

“Impressively researched and perceptive… a welcome reminder of the “unsung crime fighters” who, as Mr. Oller says, “created the modern FBI.””
—The Wall Street Journal

“Prose fast as an Essex-Terraplane getaway car.”
—The Guardian

“Oller has produced another work of dramatic reality and reading that is far superior to Hollywood myth and popular misunderstanding. Gangster Hunters is a fast read with easy prose that keeps the reader hooked.”
—New York Journal of Books

“Oller is especially good at re-enacting what it was like to stake out a high-profile criminal… [A] well-told history.”
—The New York Sun

“Oller’s legendary cast of good guys and bad guys make for a rip-roaring read. Vivid, commanding, and thoroughly researched.”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard, author of Taking London and Killing the Mob

“The War on Crime in the 1930s pitted a still-evolving FBI against criminals whose names still resonate—and, when it was over, the FBI prevailed. Gangster Hunters explains the how and why of it all, and in the process author John Oller proves that fact-based storytelling trumps far-fetched mythology every time. This is the real story—and it’s an incredible one.”
—Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author of Manson and Waco

“The roaring 1930s were the formative years and the glory days of the FBI, as the organization chased such marquee criminals as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover got the credit, but it was the anonymous G-Men pursuing bank robbers, kidnappers, and killers who did the hard and dangerous work. Now John Oller has brought those agents and their perilous exploits to life in a fascinating and meticulously researched history. Gangster Hunters is one blazing thrill ride after another.”
—Doug J. Swanson, author of Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers

“The finest work I’ve read on the subject. Wonderfully written and researched.”
—William J. Helmer, acclaimed 1930s crime historian and author of The Complete Public Enemy Almanac

“Did you think there were no more secrets that the history of the 1930s Public Enemies era hid from view? Think again—John Oller’s Gangster Hunters reveals the unsung young law enforcement heroes who brought down the notorious Barker-Karpis Gang and other infamous scoundrels. A totally excellent story—Gangster Hunters is deeply researched and impeccably told.”
—Paul Maccabee, author of John Dillinger Slept Here

“An entertaining read from start to finish, both for casual readers and fans of true crime.”
—Cindy Matthews, Authorlink

“Full of exciting new primary research and dozens of never-before-seen photos.”
—Thomas Hunt, The Writers of Wrongs