The sinister true story behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ the reign of terror of the Osage murders

Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited film ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, is based on The creepy true story of the Osage murders.

The almost three and a half hours of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ delve into the tragic events known as the Osage County, Oklahoma “Reign of Terror,” when dozens of members of the Osage Indian Nation were brutally murdered between the 1910s and 1930s launching the FBI’s first major murder investigation.

The Osage murders represent one of the most horrifying crimes in American history, as well as one of the most demeaning cover-ups of all time. Even today, the American public consciousness remains unaware of the number of innocent lives claimed by greed and racism.but Scorsese’s new film and its spectacular cast promise to shed light on a dark time in American history, enlightening viewers around the world about the injustice and ordeal the victims and their families have endured for decades.

The True Story of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Based on the 2017 essay’Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI’ by American journalist David Grann, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ focuses on members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. A community that, in the 1920s, had the richest people (per capita) in the world thanks to the oil found under its soil. The Osage lived in luxury mansions on land ceded by Thomas Jefferson in the 18th century, considering it “worthless”..

Convinced that the Osages did not know how to properly manage their newfound wealth, the state of Oklahoma established an all-white guardianship program, and even the smallest purchases (like toothpaste) were monitored and required approval. But, for some, this was not enough, and they decided to take action on the matter to taking by force what they considered to be theirs by social and racial status.

The Osage murders, also known as the “Reign of Terror,” were documented in newspapers between 1921 and 1926, but it is believed that the crimes actually began as early as the 1910s when an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched her entire family slaughtered in front of her, including her older sister Anna Brown, her cousin Charles Whitehorn, and her slowly poisoned mother Lizzie Q. Kyle. One by one, more Osage were killed under mysterious circumstances over the next few years. Several men even married Osage women to gain their inheritance rights and then slowly poisoned them to death.and their murders were covered up by forensic reports indicating that they had taken their own lives.

The FBI was in its infancy, but since everyone who investigated the murders was themselves killed, a young J. Edgar Hoover took over the case and turned it into the organization’s first major murder investigation. When the FBI began its investigation, the number of victims quickly rose from two dozen to more than 70.

As Grann’s novel reveals, the murders were not simply the isolated acts of one or two people in a small Oklahoma town, but part of an organized conspiracy of white citizens, lawmen, and legislators that stretched as far as Washington, D.C. . It is said that even members of Hoover’s own investigative team were aware of the true nature of the murders, and they turned a blind eye due to their own greed and racism.

Are Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro’s characters in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ based on real people?

Unfortunately, most of the Osage murders were never prosecuted. But some perpetrators did get convicted, including cattle magnate William Hale, who ordered Kelsie Morrison to kill Anna Brown in order to gain control of her oil rights. William Hale ran a criminal ring known as the “King of the Osage Hills” with his nephews Bryan and Ernest Burkhartwho conspired to obtain the inheritance rights of important tribal members.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale persuaded his nephew to marry Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded member of the Osage tribe, before arranging for his mother, sisters, brother-in-law, and cousin Henry Roan to be killed so Ernest could claim inheritance rights to family and take advantage of their insurance policies.

Mollie had already been poisoned for some time when the FBI began their investigations. Hale, Ernest, and others were tried over the course of several years during the 1920s, and Ernest pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

The rest of the real people who are reflected in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ are the wife of Ernest Mollie Burkhart (lily gladstone), his mother Lizzie Q (Tantoo Cardinal), Texas Ranger Tom White (Jesse Plemons), Assemblyman WS Hamilton (brendan fraser) and prosecutor Leaward (john lithgow).

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ will be released worldwide on October 20, 2023 following its run at the Cannes Film Festival in May and a limited theatrical release on October 6.