Murdered For The Oil
In 1920s Oklahoma, the Osage were the richest people per capita on earth. Then, one by one, they started turning up dead.
When oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage Nation of Oklahoma became, per capita, some of the wealthiest people in the world. Then the killings began. Over a stretch the Osage came to call the Reign of Terror, dozens were poisoned, shot, and blown up — for the rights to their own oil.
The System
The government had ruled that many Osage were not competent to manage their own money, assigning them white "guardians" who controlled their fortunes. Those same arrangements gave outsiders a motive — and inheritances gave them a method.
They were killed for the right to their own oil.
The Cover-Up
The newly formed FBI investigated and won a few convictions, but barely scratched the surface. The official death toll names a few dozen; historians believe the true number runs far higher — most cases never investigated, never charged.
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A handful of names made it into the record. Hundreds more, researchers believe, never did.
You've Seen the File.
Dozens — maybe hundreds — of Osage murdered for their oil money while officials looked away. A string of crimes, or a system built to take?
Killers of the Flower Moon — David Grann
The bestselling investigation into the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI.
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