THE MULLENDORE MURDER CASE The Cross Bell Ranch needed $12 million and the Mafia knew where to get it

Hardback. SIGNED. The story of the biggest murder case in the history of northeastern Oklahoma: E. C. Mullendore III, the 32-year old scion of the most famous family was murdered at his home on the Cross Bell Ranch in Osage County, Oklahoma in September, 1970. The author has woven together the Old West and modern crime in this tale of a baronial ranching family, the Mullendores. Their legacy includes participation in the great Oklahoma land rush of 1893, an Indian headright (to oil), and a reputation for savvy business dealings. This reputation took a turn for the worse when the Mullendores, suffering from financial difficulties, resorted to outside sources for money. In response, an unlikely parade of con artists, Mafiosi, and financiers descended like locusts on the sprawling cattle ranch in Osage County. The man responsible for all this was E.C. Mullendore III, the 32yr old heir to the Cross Bell Ranch. His personal problems were familiar ones - troubles with a freely spending wife and a domineering father, too much alcohol, business difficulties, and heavy debts - but on a scale larger than most of us could imagine. They culminated in a mysterious shoot-out at the ranch. On September 26, 1970, E.C. was murdered, shortly after buying $16 million in life insurance. His widow's claim was the largest ever recorded in the history of American life insurance underwriting. It was not one the insurance companies were eager to pay, thus forcing the young widow, E.C.'s creditors (with $12 million worth of claims), and the crotchety Mullendore patriach (E.C.'s father) to take the double-crossed insurers to court. Meanwhile the local sheriff and the private eyes went off in pursuit of some fast-disappearing clues to the murder, which is still officially unsolved. The author, an investigative reporter, has assembled the intertwining details of the doings and undoings of a modern ranching empire. The result is one of the strangest true stories ever spun out of the West - a tragic clash between frontier values and modern life in America. Illus. + List of Characters. 305pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Also includes a tipped-in 'With Compliments' label with 'Happy Birthday 1974 James C. Leake'. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. V.v. lightly foxed edges, o/w Vg+ in sl. sunned vg+ dw. Scarce.