PAUL MACCABEE:

Paul Maccabee, a public relations professional with an avid interest in crime history, spent 13 years conducting the research that culminated in his book, John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crook's Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in 1995. Prior to concentrating upon this book, Maccabee wrote investigative feature articles for a weekly entertainment newspaper, the Twin Cities Reader, for which he was awarded a Page One Award from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists. Earlier investigations into the criminal side of the Twin Cities resulted in an article on Isadore Blumenfeld, aka Kid Cann, a Minneapolis racketeer, published in the November 1991 issue of Mpls. St. Paul.

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The papers constitute Maccabee's research files on the gangster era of the 1920s and 1930s in the city of St. Paul. His book focuses on the personalities, places, headline news, little known events, and corrupt police practices which made St. Paul a safe city for criminals and their associates.

The collection includes Maccabee's research and interview notes, correspondence, and photocopies of newspaper, magazine articles, and book excerpts. Also included are photocopies of FBI, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and St. Paul Police Department investigation records, and photocopies of federal and state prison and court records. The collection also contains Maccabee's correspondence, requests, and appeals with the United States National Archives and Records Administration, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the release of Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and Bureau of Prisons records. These records comprise the sources used as Maccabee's primary research sources.

Investigation records and case files obtained through Maccabee's FOIA requests may include reports and memoranda, wanted posters, autopsies, wire tap transcripts, witness statements, trial transcripts, and indictments. Prison records may include mug shots; arrest and fingerprint identification records; admittance, transfer, or parole records; administrative correspondence; visitor registers; prisoner correspondence; social, psychiatric, and medical evaluations; disciplinary actions; and work assignments. Documents within these records date from the late nineteenth century through the 1940s and, in some cases, even through the late 1970s.

To supplement information contained in published and primary sources, Maccabee conducted an extensive number of interviews with the family members, friends, neighbors, associates, and co-workers of individuals on both sides of the law who participated in events of the era. These interviews are summarized in the form of notes within Maccabee's research collection.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Restrictions:

Collection materials may only be used at the Special Use table. Consult the reference staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Maccabee, Paul. St. Paul Gangster History Research Collection. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,297

Processing Information:

Processed by: Monica L. Manny, June 1996

Catalog ID number: 990017331090104294

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The Introductory Materials comprise two files: Aids to the Files and Drafts. The Aids to the Files contains photocopies from Maccabee's book used by the Minnesota Historical Society staff in preparing his research collection for public use. This file contains photocopies of the book's table of contents and portions from its epilogue, including Maccabee's "Rogues and Reformers Gallery" and his "Twin Cities Crime Chronology." This file provides a working key to the various personas and events that appear in the subject files. Also included within this file is a partial source listing from Maccabee's book used by the processor in arranging and describing the research collection. The Drafts file contains a map of crime sites across the north central states, which was not used in the final publication, as well as a draft version of Maccabee's acknowledgements.

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The Subject Files are arranged in a straight alphabetical order by file title. Subjects include topics, persons, and places. Topical files (i.e. bank robberies; breweries; police clean up/raids) primarily contain news clippings and magazine excerpts. Well-known crimes, such as the Kansas City Massacre or the robbery of the Northwestern National Bank and Trust Company, may be found as topical headings within this series. Files on named individuals (i.e. John Dillinger, Dan Hogan, John J. O'Connor, Jack Peiffer, etc.) contain Maccabee's research and interview notes, his correspondence, and photocopies from FBI, St. Paul, and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation files, as well as federal and state court and prison records. To assist researchers, files on particular persons are listed as the individuals were identified in either the book's index or its list of primary interview sources. Individuals not identified in Maccabee's book are listed under Maccabee's original filing. Names have been qualified by either the occupational description given in Maccabee's index or by references included within the book or the research collection's interview notes. Files on named places include both street addresses and establishments. Place files primarily contain interview notes and clippings.

Materials within each file are arranged in the following order: 1) Maccabee's research and interview notes; 2) Maccabee's correspondence; 3) photocopied records (i.e. birth/death certificates, investigation files, case files, etc.); and 4) clippings. No attempt was made to arrange the clippings, as dates and sources are not always evident.