“Killers of the Flower Moon” is a true-crime book by David Grann, and it tells the story of the Osage Indian Nation and the murders of its members in the early 20th century. The Osage were among the wealthiest people in America, but their wealth became a curse, as it attracted greed, corruption, and violence.

The Osage owned vast oil reserves beneath their lands in Oklahoma, and they earned revenue from royalties paid by the oil companies. The federal government had placed the Osage lands in a trust, which made them immune from being sold or lost through the usual means. However, the government overlooked a fatal flaw in the trust, which made the Osage’s fortunes vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation.

White businessmen and lawyers saw the Osage’s wealth as an opportunity to enrich themselves, and they devised ways to obtain control of the Osage’s assets. They persuaded the Osage to hire them as guardians and trustees, who would manage their finances, and then they proceeded to skim off much of the Osage’s income. Some guardians embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others forced their wards into debts or contracts that gave them only a fraction of their due.

The Osage found themselves at the mercy of outsiders who saw them as ignorant and inferior, and who grew wealthy by exploiting them. However, the worst was yet to come. In the 1920s, a series of murders began to plague the Osage, and the death toll rose every year. The victims included women, children, and families, and they were killed in various ways, such as shooting, poisoning, and bombing.

The murders baffled the authorities, who initially suspected that the Osage were killing each other out of jealousy or revenge. However, the Osage believed that there was something more sinister behind the killings, and that they were linked to their wealth and the corruption of their guardians. They hired private investigators and lawyers to look into the matter, but they were met with hostility and obstruction by many of the local authorities and residents.

The case gained national attention, and the FBI was called in to investigate. However, the FBI also encountered resistance and corruption, as some of its agents were in cahoots with the murderers or had personal interests in the case. Eventually, the FBI solved the case, and it uncovered a web of conspiracy and murders that implicated numerous people, including some of the most prominent citizens of Oklahoma.

The “Reign of Terror,” as it was called, claimed at least 24 lives, and it shook the Osage to their core. The killers of the Flower Moon had committed the most heinous and systematic crime against a Native American tribe in American history. The Osage lost not only their loved ones but also their faith in the justice system and the government that had failed to protect them.

The book “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a vivid and haunting account of a forgotten chapter in American history, and it sheds light on the enduring legacy of injustice and racism towards Native Americans in the United States. The book is a testament to the resilience and courage of the Osage, who survived against all odds and whose story deserves to be told and remembered.

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