In later years, Means boasted to friends that he had been accused of every felony in the criminal law books, up to and including murder. Although he had a shady reputation as a detective, in October 1921, Means was hired by the Bureau of Investigation and he moved to Washington, D.C. The FBI was then led by William J. Burns, famous ex-Secret Service man, private detective and friend of Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General in the Harding administration. Burns had employed Means as a detective and thought Means had great skill as an investigator and an extortionist. Despite the protection of his patron, Means was later suspended from the FBI at the insistence of Daugherty, who had become increasingly aware that Means was a loose cannon.