When heroicizing FBI agents, Elliot Ness is the obvious choice. I tend to prefer people who almost achieve greatness or fall from grace, so my FBI hero vote would go to Melvin Purvis. The name alone is worth it. Purvis is credited with the defeat (death) of gangster John Dillinger. Unfortunately, he accomplished this goal after several botched attempts, one of which left two civilians dead. Throughout it all he incurred the ire of J Edgar Hoover and after killing Dillinger, Hoover assigned Purvis to bad cases and foiled Purvis' attempt to find other work. He died in 1960 either by suicide or accidental gunshot wound.
More on Melvin Purvis here.
Purvis was heavily promoted on boxes of the cereal Post Toasties (formerly Elijah's Mana) in the mid thirties. Two box tops would enroll you in his Junior G-man Corps or his Junior G-man Corp, Girls Division. Makes one wonder how in demand the Girl's Division badges were. Was there such a clamor by young girls to hop on the Melvin Purvis brand name that this division needed to be created?
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