Adam Richetti was born in
Strawn, Texas, on August 5, 1909, and moved with his family to
Lehigh, Oklahoma three years later. Richetti, although he began drinking heavily at 14, was apparently uninvolved in criminal activity until his arrest for robbery in
Crown Point, Indiana on August 7, 1928, two days after his 19th birthday. He participated in his first bank robbery two years later when he joined Fred Hamner and brothers L.L. and W.A. Smalley in raiding a bank in
Mill Creek, Oklahoma. were killed near
Columbia for which Richetti and Floyd were wrongly accused. driving east in his brother's car (which he stole) until reaching
Clinton, Missouri, where they commandeered another car and took its driver Walter Griffith hostage as well. Both Killingsworth and Griffith were released later that night at
Lee's Summit near
Kansas City. Unknown to either Richetti or Floyd, while they were driving across Missouri, bank robber Frank Nash was being transported by train from Arkansas to Kansas City where his partners attempted to free him from custody. A shootout resulted, referred to as the
Kansas City Massacre, which left Nash and four of his guards dead. Eyewitness accounts were inconsistent and various men were identified in the aftermath including
Harvey Bailey and
Wilbur Underhill.
Vernon Miller, a former sheriff turned outlaw, was identified as the ringleader but his accomplices remained unknown. His trial began on June 13, 1935, during which time a number of eyewitnesses identified him and Floyd despite these witnesses having previously identified other suspects or had been unable to identify anyone at the time of the shooting two years earlier. Three days later, Richetti was found guilty of the murder of police officer Frank Hermanson and sentenced to death. His legal team appealed the court's decision but ultimately failed to get a new trial. Richetti was originally going to be hanged, but was instead executed in Missouri's newly constructed
gas chamber on October 7, 1938. == See also ==