Kansas City Massacre involving ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd changed the course of the FBI 90 years ago

Ninety years ago, a gang led by “Pretty Boy” Floyd ambushed a group of law enforcement officers as they escorted a Floyd associate out of Kansas City’s Union Station en route to a federal prison.

The ensuing barrage of bullets became known as the Kansas City Massacre, killing one FBI agent — who back then could not carry firearms — as well as three armed members of the Kansas City Police Department. Their captive, bank robber Frank Nash, also died.

Congress allowed agents to be armed

On Tuesday, members of the Omaha Chapter of the Society of Former Agents of the FBI laid a wreath at the grave of the agent killed on June 17, 1933. Nebraska native Special Agent Raymond Caffrey’s gravesite is at Omaha’s Resurrection Cemetery, 7800 West Center Road.

“We didn’t know Raymond Caffrey and the others killed that day 90 years ago, but he carried the same badge that we did or still do.  We should never ever forget him,“ said Weysan Dun, retired Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha Field Office at the ceremony Tuesday.

Caffrey was the third FBI agent killed in the line of duty. His death led, a year after the massacre, Congress to allow agents to carry firearms and make arrests.

Grew up in McCook

Caffrey was born in 1902 in McCook, attended Creighton University and was a member of the Nebraska Bar Association. He had served in Boston and Charlotte before joining the Kansas City office of the FBI.

Floyd was wounded and captured in a shootout with agents more than a year after the massacre near Wellsville, Ohio, according to a historical account by the FBI. 

“I’m done for. You hit me twice,” Floyd reportedly said when taken into custody. He died later at a hospital.

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