reno-blog
Frank Reno

Indiana’s Reno Gang carried out a crime wave across the Midwest in the years after the Civil War.  Train robbery, counterfeiting, burglary and safe-cracking, extortion, arson—the outfit engaged in a number of criminal activities.

For a couple of years, they managed to stay out of jail, primarily by hiring top lawyers and bribing officials. At least twice they murdered men who were ready to testify in court against them.

Citizens finally got fed up with the lack of justice and took matters into their own hands, lynching 11 gang members (including Frank Reno, in photo) in 1868.

Related Articles

  • Frank Reno

    The Reno Gang grabbed $97,000 in a May 1868 train holdup near Marshfield, Indiana. But…

  • Jason Brevoort Brown was an opportunist, a lawyer and politician in Indiana during the last…

  • Indiana’s Reno Gang had a last hurrah on May 22, 1868.  They held up a…