Vernon C. Miller

Vernon C. "Verne" Miller (August 25, 1896 – November 29, 1933) was a freelance Prohibition hitman, bootlegger, bank robber and the disgraced former sheriff of Beadle County, South Dakota. Most infamously, Miller, as the only identified gunman in the Kansas City massacre, was found beaten and strangled to death shortly after the incident.

Born into a family of Scotch-Irish descent in Kimball, South Dakota, Miller moved 35 miles northeast to Huron in 1914 and began working as an auto mechanic. Two years later Miller enlisted in the U.S. Army, seeing action with the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico, launched after the Mexican Revolution repeatedly spilled across the border. After American entry into World War I, Miller served in France with the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). Decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the Government of the Third French Republic for courage under enemy fire, Miller rose to the rank of color sergeant by the 1918 Armistice.

After being discharged from the military, Miller returned to Huron and joined the city's police force as a patrolman. Resigning from the Huron Police Department in May 1920, he ran for Sheriff of Beadle County, eventually winning the election in November. Within two years, however, Miller reportedly tired of the job and fled the area in early 1922 after stealing $2,600 in county funds. Within a year, Miller was tracked down by investigators and convicted of embezzlement on April 4, 1923.

While imprisoned at the South Dakota State Penitentiary, Miller became the warden's personal chauffeur. He was granted parole in November 1924.

By the time of Miller's release, Prohibition was in full effect in the country and Miller readily entered the lucrative, although at times dangerous, occupational field of bootlegging. He was fined $200 for bootlegging by a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, court in October 1925, but had a clear record for several years thereafter.

During the late 1920s, after years of heavy drug abuse and suffering from advanced syphilis, Miller became increasingly unstable, and he was often given to unpredictable bursts of violence. He was indicted on February 3, 1928 for the wounding of two Minneapolis police officers, but the case against him was dropped owing to lack of evidence.

As the end of the decade approached, Miller was widely known as a freelance gunman for Midwest bootleggers and racketeers. Due to Verne Miller's excellent marksmanship, allegedly there was a joke among the gangsters that Miller can "sign" his name with a Thompson submachine gun.

According to declassified FBI files, Miller carried out contract killings for both Jewish- and Italian-American organized crime; including Lepke Buchalter of Murder, Inc., the Purple Gang of Detroit, and the Chicago Outfit of Al Capone.