Fred “Killer” Burke

Fred Burke
"Fred "Killer" Burke
Born	Thomas A. Camp (1893-05-29)May 29, 1893 Mapleton, Kansas, United States
Died	July 10, 1940(1940-07-10) (aged 47) Marquette State Prison, Marquette Michigan, United States
Other names	Killer
Occupation	Gangster, contract killer, armed robber
Criminal charge	Murder
Criminal penalty	Life sentence
Criminal status	Deceased
Spouse(s)	Bonnie (Porter) Burke

"Fred "Killer" Burke (May 29, 1893 – July 10, 1940) was a Midwestern armed robber and contract killer responsible for many crimes during the Prohibition era. He is considered a prime suspect in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.

Fred R. Burke was born Thomas A. Camp, one of eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Wall Camp of Mapleton, Kansas. Teachers considered him as having above-average intelligence and he was a regular Sunday School attendee. Burke's first brush with the law came while still a teenager. At seventeen he was involved in a land-fraud scheme with a traveling salesman. He fled the area to avoid prosecution and became involved with criminal enterprises around Kansas City, Missouri. It was during this time he is believed to have changed his name from Thomas Camp to Fred Burke.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In 1917 Fred Burke chose to enlist in the U.S. Army after being indicted in St. Louis for forgery. America had recently entered World War I, and Burke served as a tank sergeant in France. After his return from overseas duty and discharge, Fred Burke was soon arrested for land fraud in Michigan and spent a year imprisoned there, followed by another year in the Missouri state prison for the pre-war St. Louis charges.
By 1922, Burke was back with Egan's Rats and working with a crew of three fellow war vets in various robberies around the Gateway City, including a "take" of $80,000 dollars from a St. Louis distillery. However, things began to change in 1924 as the top bosses of the Egan gang were jailed. Fred Burke returned to Michigan with his crew where they became associates of the notorious Detroit Purple Gang. Burke, Gus Winkler and the other Egan's Rats refugees, working on behalf of the Purple Gang, were the prime suspects in the March 1927 Milaflores Massacre. However just a few months later a falling out with the Purple Gang led Burke and his associates to relocate to Chicago. Their reputation preceding them, Burke's crew were eagerly welcomed by Al Capone, who referred to them as his "American Boys". Working out of Chicago, Fred Burke and his cohorts were involved in a series of murders and armed robberies as far east at Brooklyn, New York and Paterson, New Jersey and as far south as Louisville, Kentucky. Among them was the murder of Toledo, Ohio police officer George Zientara following a bank robbery in 1928. It would not be Burke's last "cop killing."