For years, a reign of terror
rips through a community of the Osage Tribe, 50 miles
north of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Native Americans are
dying mysteriously. There's no shortage of suspects. In fact, it seems like a
systematic murder plot. (gentle music) In the early-1870s, the American government
drives the Osage from Kansas to the seemingly-worthless
terrain of the Oklahoma Territory. Decades later,
they discover oil. The Osage become the
wealthiest people per capita in the world. (gentle music continuing) Just in 1923 alone,
the tribe earns, in today's money, $400 million. - My mother told me that
her father had seven cars. - [Larry] Then, they go
from being the richest to the most murdered people
per capita in the world. - There were people here who come to kill
Osages for the money. There was so much corruption,
you can't even imagine. And everybody was in on it. - Too many are dying. There's something going on here. (gentle music continuing) (film reel spinning) - [Larry] This rare and amazing
film comes from home movies taken by the Osage chief's
daughter and her husband, most likely the first
and only Native Americans to own a film camera. It captures life in Pawhuska,
Oklahoma, in the early-1920s, a time of wealth
and then murder. The Osage each get oil
shares worth millions. They have houses, multiple
cars, new wardrobes. And then, one by one, the number
of unsolved murders grows. 60 or more, maybe hundreds
of Osage are killed from 1918 to 1931. (somber music) Tell us who some of the
people are in this picture. - Okay, this is my grandfather
Raymond Red Corn, Sr., and this is my
grandfather Clarence Gray. That's my mother's father. - [Larry] Kathryn
Red Corn is an Osage and her family suspects her
grandfather is a victim. - There's a woman that
come from Kansas City who married my grandfather, and that was her main goal
was to have him murdered. We never did prove- My dad said they never did
prove that she murdered him, but there wasn't
anything wrong with him and then he just suddenly died. And there was a lotta
poisoning things going on too, people poisoning people. (sullen music) - [Larry] The wife's
share of the oil rights is worth, in today's
dollars, $16 million. Do you know whatever
happened to her? - No.
- Kinda disappeared. - She just disappeared,
like a lot of 'em did. (sullen music continuing) - [Larry] The government
requires the Osage to have guardians, usually
white attorneys or businessmen, to oversee the money. - [Kathryn] I tell you, that was the biggest
ripoff of the tribe. - And they are at the White
House in this picture. - Right, mm-hmm. - [Larry] The Osage travel to
Washington and ask for help. The 1924 Indian Rights Act
describes the situation as an orgy of graft
and exploitation. - I think another
one at one time said, "We have this wealth and
you won't let us have it, "and yet you have
people to watch over us "and you treat us
like children." - It's insulting.
- It was insulting. These were a proud people. - [Larry] Garrett
Hartness is the director of the Osage Historical Museum. While the Red Corn death
is one of many mysteries that may never be solved, Hartness is cataloging
one family's story that does offer some answers. It's chronicled in
the bestselling book "Killers of the Flower
Moon" by David Grann, which is being made into a
movie by Martin Scorsese. The murders surround the
family of Mollie Burkhart. (somber music) Her sister Anna is found in
the woods, shot in the head. A home explodes,
killing her sister Rita, Rita's husband,
and their servant. Their mother,
Lizzie, is poisoned. Mollie is poisoned
too, but survives. - They did think that
this was not normal, that too many young people
were dying suspiciously. But they couldn't
really do anything because people that
they were interviewed were involved in all of this. - The Bureau of
Investigation sends in agents who are looking for clues in cases that may
be four years old. Records disappear. It seems there's a network
behind this murder spree, but who is the mastermind and
who can these agents trust? J. Edgar Hoover brings in
Agent Tom White in 1925. White doesn't trust the locals and recruits agents
to go undercover. Why did the young
J. Edgar Hoover want someone like Tom
White on this case? - Pawhuska, even in the 1920s with all the oil going on
and everything like that, it was one of the roughest
places in the country. I mean, you had all
these little oil towns and, listen, you had
the worst of the worst: the card sharks, the drinkers,
the robbers, all of it. - And White was an old cowboy- - He was an old cowboy type-
- And he was experienced. - And this was like, in a way,
going back to the Old West. (traffic whirring) - Another old
cowboy, William Hale. He's a cattleman who is
well-liked here in Pawhuska. They call him "King
of the Osage Hills." His nephew Ernest
is Mollie's husband. They promise to help Tom
White find the killers. The strategy: Follow the money. - [Garrett] And there were
25 to 35 Osages dying a year. - Per year?
- Per year. But a lot of 'em between
the ages of 18 to 42. That's a lot. - [Larry] As more
Osage turn up dead, their land and wealth
transfers to their guardians, who are local lawyers
and businessmen. (gentle music) - He was the one
that got her there and helped her outta the car. - Hartness is putting
together a collection of the conspiracy at the
Osage Historical Museum. So, these are the
three that were killed. Her house was blown up,
the mom was poisoned, and Anna was shot. (somber music) The network of assassins
includes petty criminals who use explosives,
guns, and poison. They answer to one man
who is the mastermind, the "King of the Osage
Hills," William Hale. - [Garrett] William Hale
woulda been a narcissist. It was all about him. - [Larry] He put on a good show. People seemed to like him.
- Oh, sure, and narcissists do. He's the good ol' guy. And when it first was
arrested and went into trial, people just couldn't believe it. - [Larry] Hale and
accomplice Kelsie Morrison are convicted in the shooting
of Mollie's sister Anna. Also going to prison,
Mollie's husband, Ernest, who confesses to the conspiracy. - Ernest got really scared. And I think somewhere in
there he musta realized that he was the patsy in
all of this, you know? That he was the fall guy. I think it became a shock
to her there at the very end when he finally just,
it all came out. - [Larry] Are there
whites pretending to love their wives or husbands
just to get the money? Was this all a charade? - Oh yeah, yeah. That was even some
of Hale's schemes was getting people to marry
into some of these families so that then it was another
tap into that vein of wealth. - [Larry] Did the mysterious
deaths among the Osage during the 1920s
include 60 murders? Could it be hundreds? But no way to know for sure. This may escape history,
who was murdered. - [Garrett] Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't know that they'll
ever truthfully know. - [Larry] So, the
wider conspiracy the FBI really did not
solve, is that accurate? - I would say,
yeah, they didn't. As far as they knew, pretty
much, the FBI was done. Those generations
are gone and... Very sad. - And this is my grandfather. - [Larry] So, there will
be no definitive answer about the grandfather
of Kathryn Red Corn. - This is one of my favorites. Look, these guys are brothers,
and one's really traditional and the other one's gone
off probably to Carlisle. (both laughing) - [Larry] Her mission
is cataloging the Osage with this picture project. - I feel bad about
that for Osage people. - [Larry] Have they recovered or are they still
impacted by that? - Well, I think that it
has an effect on people, the way that our
people were treated. - [Larry] What concerns
you the most about that? - Well, that we might lose
our identity as Osage people, and I think that would be bad. I think that... You know your family,
you know who fits where, and that really
makes a difference. - [Larry] Some people
like Mollie Burkhart can't bear to
preserve the memories. She cuts out the face of
her former husband, Ernest, from all her pictures, like this one with
their two children. She later remarries. In 1934, the government
finally declares her competent to handle her own fortune
as any other US citizen. Mollie dies two years later. The trail of evidence
fades over the decades, a haunting memory
for descendants. (subdued music) - The wealth just brought a
lotta sadness and everything. The old-timers would say, "This dividing up
our reservation, "this oil will be the
ruination of our people. "And once we don't
have the oil anymore, "then we will have
happiness again." They just wanted a place to
exist and enjoy the old ways. All the oilmen came in here like Skelly and Getty and the
Phillips and they made money and they lived in fine
homes and drove fine cars, but their family members
weren't murdered. (subdued music continuing) - In 1925, Congress passed
a law prohibiting non-Osage from inheriting oil
rights from the Osage. Decades later, the tribe sued over mismanagement of oil
funds by the US government and, in 2011, settled for
$380 million; a lotta money, but some Osage say it's a
fraction of what they lost. Coming up next on "Backstory," we look at the FBI
files of the famous, including NFL
legend George Halas, and the Native American team
that took on the NFL champs.
