The Reno Gang and the Pinkerton Detective Agency

• The Civil War 1861-65 created the conditions for lawlessness while the U.S government was focused on securing Union victory over the Southern Confederacy
• The American Civil War was going on at the same time as many of these events here and often distracted the government
• Gangs, including trained and traumatized former soldiers, ran riot during the lawless conditions after the Civil War
• Former Confederates felt little if any loyalty to the United States authority after the Civil War
• The new railroad network proved a tempting and easy target for armed and desperate robbers in remote areas
• Reasons for lawlessness in the West

  • Civil War conditions
  • Distracted government
  • Former soldiers running riot
  • Former Confederates' lack of loyalty
  • Easy target of new railroad network
• The Reno Gang, led by Frank Reno and John Reno, terrorized people and carried out train robberies
• In 1866, the Reno Gang carried out a train robbery stealing a massive sixteen thousand dollars
• In 1867 and 1868, the Reno Gang struck again, with their fourth robbery netting a massive 96,000 dollars
• The Pinkerton Detective Agency caught John Reno in 1867
• The Pinkerton Detective Agency was founded in 1850 and was a private company that investigated crimes
• Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired by the railroad to apprehend the Reno Gang
• Vigilance committees were groups of ordinary people who set up their own private justice without waiting for official authorities
• The Reno Gang was apprehended by the Pinkertons and later hanged by a vigilance committee without a formal trial
• In 1893, the Anti-Pinkerton Act was passed to control the government's use of private investigators
• The FBI was founded in 1908 and took over some of the investigative work previously done by the Pinkertons
• The Civil War provided the lawless conditions for violent gangs of robbers to thrive


  Such as the Reno Gang
• As federal authority increased, the need for Pinkertons decreased


  Eventually paving the way for stronger federal controls and investigative powers