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Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang
Among the most dangerous criminals of the public enemies era was a man who has long hidden in history’s shadows: Tom Brown. In the early 1930s, while he was police chief of St. Paul, Minnesota, Brown became a secret partner of the infamous Barker gang. He profited from their violent crimes, he protected the gang from raids by the nascent FBI—and while he did all this, the gangsters gunned down cops and citizens in his hometown.
Big Tom Brown, 6'5" and 275 pounds, continued to enforce St. Paul’s corrupt O’Connor system, allowing criminals to stay in the city as long as they paid off the cops and committed no crimes within fifty miles. But in the early 1930s, the system broke down: no longer supported by cash skimmed from illegal booze, gangsters turned to robbing banks, and the Barker gang kidnapped two of the prominent citizens who had been complicit in the liquor trade. Brown was the insider who kept the criminals safe—but for highly political reasons, he was never convicted of his crimes.
Timothy Mahoney tells this fascinating story, details how the fraud was uncovered, and at last exposes the corruption of a secret partnership.
Timothy Mahoney, an editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, formerly worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and the Wisconsin State Journal and has also taught journalism and English. He is the author of two novels.
Big Tom Brown, 6'5" and 275 pounds, continued to enforce St. Paul’s corrupt O’Connor system, allowing criminals to stay in the city as long as they paid off the cops and committed no crimes within fifty miles. But in the early 1930s, the system broke down: no longer supported by cash skimmed from illegal booze, gangsters turned to robbing banks, and the Barker gang kidnapped two of the prominent citizens who had been complicit in the liquor trade. Brown was the insider who kept the criminals safe—but for highly political reasons, he was never convicted of his crimes.
Timothy Mahoney tells this fascinating story, details how the fraud was uncovered, and at last exposes the corruption of a secret partnership.
Timothy Mahoney, an editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, formerly worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and the Wisconsin State Journal and has also taught journalism and English. He is the author of two novels.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2013
About the author
Tim Mahoney
21 books5 followersThe Gangster Era pulled me in almost from the moment I began researching it. The first book to come out of that research was "Secret Partners." It's a documented history of the Barker Gang and the police chief who was their protector.
But there were many stories to tell, and not all of them could be throughly documented. So I turned to fiction and am now writing the last in a five-book series that tells the stories of the most infamous public enemies, Alvin Karpis, Fred Barker and John Dillinger. All these stories are based on the true crimes of this fascinating era.
But there were many stories to tell, and not all of them could be throughly documented. So I turned to fiction and am now writing the last in a five-book series that tells the stories of the most infamous public enemies, Alvin Karpis, Fred Barker and John Dillinger. All these stories are based on the true crimes of this fascinating era.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 30, 2020
An excellent history of the Barker-Karpis gang from 1930 to 1935, focusing on their stay in Minnesota. The prose style is breezy and easy to read, while imparting good details.
I wish there had been footnotes and citations.
I wish there had been footnotes and citations.
August 4, 2023
Great book. In-depth history of St. Paul's criminal past during the public enemy era (1920s and 30s), focused on a dirty cop, Tom Brown, and Karpis-Barker gang.
Augments and adds to the book, John Dillinger Slept Here.
Augments and adds to the book, John Dillinger Slept Here.
November 16, 2013
I wrote this review for the newspaper.
If ever a guy was “in cahoots,” it was St. Paul Police Chief Tom Brown. He was in cahoots with Al Karpis, Ma Barker and sons. In cahoots with John Dillinger and his gang. In cahoots with the shady characters who ran St. Paul’s underworld from saloons and city offices.
Brown’s role in some of gangland’s storied heists and kidnappings is the subject of St. Paul author Tim Mahoney’s latest book, “Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang.”
“Police corruption in St. Paul didn’t start with Tom Brown,” Mahoney quickly points out. Other city officials set up the system. But you get the impression that Brown perfected it.
Mahoney takes us beyond the familiar tales of St. Paul’s gangland culture in the 1920s and ’30s and into the civic culture that abetted it. How Brown used his role with the city’s kidnap investigation squad to steer Ed Bremer into the grasp of his kidnappers. How Brown made sure the Barker gang had enough time to flee their hideout with the Hamm kidnapping loot. How Brown just happened to be one of the cops who gunned down gangster Homer Van Meter near University and Marion. Double-dealing doesn’t begin to describe this guy.
It’s a wild romp through a wild city at a time when famous names such as Bremer were not as well-respected as they are today. Where even the seemingly good guys weren’t all that good. Where St. Paul Daily News editors decried corruption in print and dealt with dirty cops in private.
Mahoney digs deep for details, and the narrative suffers for it in places. Readers can get lost in the many names and nicknames and hideouts of gangsters and molls and the changing cast of mayors and police chiefs. I wish I’d had a spreadsheet to keep them all straight.
Still, you can’t go far wrong with a story about corrupt cops and the gangsters they helped with killings, kidnappings and escapes. Mahoney does a fine job of putting Brown at the scene of the crime and showing us how he got away time after time. Along the way, it’s fun to spot familiar landmarks: the old Schmidt Brewery, the Lincoln Court apartments and the federal courthouse now called Landmark Center, where the Bremer kidnappers were brought to justice.
As for Tom Brown’s date with justice, well, his partners in crime could only wish things had worked out as well for them.
If ever a guy was “in cahoots,” it was St. Paul Police Chief Tom Brown. He was in cahoots with Al Karpis, Ma Barker and sons. In cahoots with John Dillinger and his gang. In cahoots with the shady characters who ran St. Paul’s underworld from saloons and city offices.
Brown’s role in some of gangland’s storied heists and kidnappings is the subject of St. Paul author Tim Mahoney’s latest book, “Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang.”
“Police corruption in St. Paul didn’t start with Tom Brown,” Mahoney quickly points out. Other city officials set up the system. But you get the impression that Brown perfected it.
Mahoney takes us beyond the familiar tales of St. Paul’s gangland culture in the 1920s and ’30s and into the civic culture that abetted it. How Brown used his role with the city’s kidnap investigation squad to steer Ed Bremer into the grasp of his kidnappers. How Brown made sure the Barker gang had enough time to flee their hideout with the Hamm kidnapping loot. How Brown just happened to be one of the cops who gunned down gangster Homer Van Meter near University and Marion. Double-dealing doesn’t begin to describe this guy.
It’s a wild romp through a wild city at a time when famous names such as Bremer were not as well-respected as they are today. Where even the seemingly good guys weren’t all that good. Where St. Paul Daily News editors decried corruption in print and dealt with dirty cops in private.
Mahoney digs deep for details, and the narrative suffers for it in places. Readers can get lost in the many names and nicknames and hideouts of gangsters and molls and the changing cast of mayors and police chiefs. I wish I’d had a spreadsheet to keep them all straight.
Still, you can’t go far wrong with a story about corrupt cops and the gangsters they helped with killings, kidnappings and escapes. Mahoney does a fine job of putting Brown at the scene of the crime and showing us how he got away time after time. Along the way, it’s fun to spot familiar landmarks: the old Schmidt Brewery, the Lincoln Court apartments and the federal courthouse now called Landmark Center, where the Bremer kidnappers were brought to justice.
As for Tom Brown’s date with justice, well, his partners in crime could only wish things had worked out as well for them.
February 9, 2017
My parents were raised in St. Paul and it's also where I was born. When my dad was a boy he and some of his neighborhood friends went to the alley where Homer VanMeter was killed and saw the bullet marks in the walls. I still live in a northern suburb of St. Paul and know the location of many places the book provides.
I enjoyed this book and it's one I'll read again. I thought it was an easy read with a good pace, the right length, and enough description of characters and places without becoming cumbersome.
I enjoyed this book and it's one I'll read again. I thought it was an easy read with a good pace, the right length, and enough description of characters and places without becoming cumbersome.
May 3, 2026
A good historical non-fiction book should feel like a fiction book. Especially one that revolves around a story involving a wide range of interesting real life figures. 1930s American gangsters and this all the author can piece together?
Author has no style and barely incorporates any descriptive elements that really put the reader in a time and place. A lot of writing is just throwing random quotes and facts or claims together that have no relation into one paragraph, and sometimes finishing the paragraph with something like “well no one actually knows for sure what is true…” okay then why put it in the book? A good portion of the second half is trial related which is dull and poorly written.
August 7, 2014
This book has a fascinating subject matter, but I feel like the focus was too narrow to do the subject justice. The book spends very little time setting up the context of Prohibition generally, and although the book purports to be focused on Tom Brown and the Barker gang, the narrative in reality is more scattered than that. I feel like a broader, more in depth focus on the corruption in St Paul during that time period would've served the book better. The book is very engaging at times, I just spent a lot of time wishing it would go into more detail
December 21, 2013
Tom Brown Chief of Police in St. Paul in the 1920'sand 1930's took corruption to a new level by inviting the countries worst criminals, John Dillinger, The Barker Gang etc to live in St. Paul untouched by the law...of course at a price. A story about extortion, murder, kidnapping all orchestrated by Chief Brown. This is about a period of time no one was safe on the streets of St. Paul.
April 20, 2015
Well written social history of St. Paul's role in the bootlegging and gangster era. Mr. Mahoney has done his research and presents his findings in an easily readable, fascinating tale of corruption, murder, deceit and bungling.
April 4, 2014
Since I'm from the St. Paul area I found this book interesting but it does get a little bogged down on names/dates/places and reads a little too much like a history text. Still, overall it's an interesting history of the St. Paul area and criminals of the prohibition era.
Want to Read
July 22, 2023Really interesting premise here, but it was so poorly written - the story, people and plot jumping all over the place - that I just couldn't finish it. Too bad. This is a very interesting time in Minnesota history.
January 17, 2014
Learned a lot, but it was written like a history book.
January 8, 2014
Not many books where a person can read about her great grandfather and his trials ( literally) and tribulations.
February 6, 2016
Good history on the shenanigans in Saint Paul around 1930. It sounds glamorous now, but was probably unsettling at the time. This book is very factual written in a reporter's style.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews