William J. Flynn

William James Flynn (November 18, 1867 – October 14, 1928) was the third director of the Bureau of Investigation from July 1, 1919, to August 21, 1921.

Early life and education

Flynn was born in New York City and began his government career in 1897, after receiving a public school education.

Early career

Flynn began his career as a Manhattan plumber. His first law enforcement job was as an agent in the United States Secret Service. He spent many years combating counterfeiting, which led to his investigation and arrests of Black Hand extortionists and members of the American mafia, many of them associated with the Morello crime family.

Flynn collaborated with New York Police Department Detective Giuseppe "Joe" Petrosino, who was murdered in 1909 in Palermo, Sicily, where he was tracing the backgrounds of the gangsters plaguing New York City. Petrosino's murder was never officially solved, but the author and historian Mike Dash implicates the likely gunman and his accomplice and says there is little doubt that Giuseppe Morello was behind it. Flynn and his operatives built the case that culminated in the 1910 convictions of Morello and his associates and their imprisonment in Atlanta Federal Prison.

Flynn gained recognition in 1911, when he successfully reorganized the New York City detective force. He later returned to the Secret Service as Chief (1912–1917). During World War I he investigated threats of sabotage. In 1915 he investigated espionage involving a German-owned wireless station on the coast of Long Island in Sayville, New York. It was suspected of sending communications related to the war which were prohibited. He enlisted an amateur radio operator named Charles E. Apgar who recorded the transmissions. These recordings provided evidence that led to the facility being seized by the United States government to stop the activity.