Saint Valentine's Day Massacre Rats, had been the valet of the Chicago hit man Fred Goetz. Bolton was privy to many of the Barker Gang's crimes and pinpointed the Florida hideout of Ma and Freddie Barker (both of whom were killed in a shootout with the FBI a week later). Bolton claimed to have taken part in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Goetz, Fred Burke, and several others. Because the FBI had no jurisdiction in a state murder case, they kept Bolton's revelations confidential, until the "Chicago American" newspaper reported a second-hand version of the bank robber's confession. The newspaper declared that the
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre a true detective magazine during the winter of 1935–36. Georgette Winkeler revealed that her husband and his friends had formed a special crew used by Capone for high-risk jobs. The mob boss was said to have trusted them implicitly and nicknamed them the "American Boys". Byron Bolton's statements were also backed up by William Drury, a maverick Chicago detective who had stayed on the massacre case long after everyone else had given up. Bank robber Alvin Karpis later claimed to have heard secondhand from Ray Nugent about the massacre and that the "American Boys" were paid a collective salary of