By: Treshawn Ross

In the early 1900’s to 1935 St. Paul was known as a safe haven for gangsters and criminals.

How it started– This system was known as the “O’Connor Layover Agreement”, named after the police chief at the time (John O’Connor). The key conditions of this agreement were that the criminals had to check in with police when they arrived in the city, they had to pay bribes to city officials, and lastly they agreed not to commit major crimes in St. Paul during their stay.

Gangsters who thrived under the O’Connor system– John Dillinger and “Babyface” Nelson both hid in St. Paul after their numerous bank robberies. Alvin Karpis and his gang of kidnappers also used St. Paul as a hideout. The bootlegging kingpin of the city Leon Gleckman used St. Paul not only as a hideout but a headquarters from the St. Paul Hotel.

The degradation of the O’Connor system- In 1930 Chief O’Connor retired from the police force. This left Tom Brown as his successor. Tom Brown portrayed himself as a righteous lawman who would fight crime; this allowed him to obtain the vacant police chief position. Tom Brown disposed of the O’Connor system. Instead of upholding the previous order, he allowed violent crimes by the gangsters hiding in St. Paul to go unpunished. This inevitably raised the city’s crime rate and brought more attention.

The Fall- After a famous shootout with the Karpis gang, Tom Brown was demoted after being questioned by the public and the mayor about how the gang escaped. He still retained a high office in the police department and after numerous scandals relating to the John Dillinger and Karpis gangs he was put under investigation. He was publicly disgraced but faced very little punishment. The FBI then began to hunt down the murderous gangs in the city, killing John Dillinger and many of his associates. Alvin Karpis was arrested for his crime and he served his sentence in Alcatraz. Many other corrupt officers were laid off and this led to reform and less corruption in the St. Paul police force.