Gaston Means
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Gaston Bullock Means (b. 1879, Concord, North Carolina; d. 1938, Leavenworth, Kansas) was an American private detective, bootlegger, and con artist.
While not involved in the Teapot Dome scandal, Means was associated with other members of the so-called Ohio Gang that gathered around the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Means also tried to pull a con associated to the Lindbergh kidnapping, but died in prison following his criminal conviction.
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[edit] Biography
Gaston Means developed a dubious reputation in his North Carolina home town after his homicide of Maude King. Although Means had shot the victim execution-style, he was acquitted after defense counsel cleverly whipped up local jury resentment against New York lawyers who were assisting the prosecution. In later years, Means would boast to friends that he had been accused of every felony in the criminal law books, up to and including murder.
Although he had a shady reputation as a North Carolina detective, in 1921 Gaston Means was hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and he moved to Washington, D.C. The FBI was then led by Benjamin Burns, a political hack and pal of Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General in the Harding administration. Burns had employed Means as a detective, and knew Means had great skill as both an investigator and an extortionist. Despite the protection of his patron, Means was soon suspended from the FBI at the insistence of Daugherty, who was becoming increasingly aware that Means was a loose cannon.
[edit] Bootleggers' helper
Although the United States was officially "dry" during the Harding years as a result of Prohibition, illegal alcohol was common. In the late fall of 1922, the unemployed and embittered Means began selling his services to local Washington bootleggers, with the offer that he could use his connections to "fix" their legal problems with the government. Some of these "fixes" were made, and the matter became an embarrassing scandal for the Washington "establishment." In 1924, following Harding’s death, Congress held hearings on the Justice Department's role in failing to oversee their Prohibition duties under the Volstead Act.
Means had no trouble testifying against former Attorney General Daugherty, who had fired him from the FBI. Unfortuantely for Means, the congressional investigation also revealed evidence of Means' own role in the illegal issaunce of Prohibition-era liquor permits. Means was indicted for perjury and tried before a jury. In intentionally sensational testimony, Means implicated both Harding and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon as being part of the coverup. Unable to support his own countercharges, and unable to convince the jury of his innocence, Means was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to two years in federal prison.
[edit] Professional con man
During and after his release from the federal penetentiary, Means retained his reputation as the ultimate man who knew all of the secrets. The disgraced detective put this reputation to work in "his" book, The Strange Death of President Harding (1930). The exposé alleged that Harding (who was dead and could not defend himself) had been consciously complicit in all of the major scandals of his administration. The book's status as a best seller derived in considerable measure from its insinuation that the President had been murdered by his wife, First Lady Florence Harding, with assistance from the couple's personal physician, Charles E. Sawyer. Mrs. Harding's alleged motivation was that she had become aware of her husband's corruption and marital infidelity, and wanted to protect his reputation.
Means' accusations seemed to some to be true. The "writer" had learned many facts about the President's sex life from the rumor mill in Washington. However, a 1933 counter-exposé, published in Liberty Magazine, blew the cover off of the dubious book. Part-time journalistic stringer Mae Dixon Thacker confessed that not only had she ghostwritten the book for Means, but also that Means had bilked her out of her share of the book's profits.
Following the Lindbergh kidnapping of 1932, Means attempted the most audacious con job of his career. Utilizing his self-proclaimed familiarity with the East Coast "underworld", Means contacted the Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean (better known as the owner of the Hope Diamond), that he, Means, knew the whereabouts of the kidnapping victim, Charles Lindbergh, Jr.. Means further offered his service as a go-between, and asked for $100,000 to pass on to the kidnappers. The credulous McLean sent Means the money, and Means promptly disappeared for a time. The missing baby (who was later found murdered) did not show up, and the next thing that McLean heard from Means was a demand for another $150,000. This time, the heiress called the police. Means was captured, found guilty of grand larceny, and sentenced to serve 15 years in a federal penetentiary. Means thereupon took up residence in Leavenworth, where he died in custody in 1938.
[edit] Sources
- Dean, John; Schlesinger, Arthur M. Warren Harding (The American President Series), Times Books, 2004.
- Ferrell, Robert H. The Strange Deaths of President Harding. University of Missouri Press, 1996.
- Mee, Charles L., Jr. The Ohio Gang: A Historical Entertainment. M. Evans, 1991.
