Gaston Bullock Means (July 11, 1879 – December 12, 1938)[1] was an American private detective, salesman, bootlegger, forger, swindler, murder suspect, blackmailer, and con artist.

While not involved in the Teapot Dome scandal, Means was associated with other members of the so-called Ohio Gang that gathered around the administration of President Warren G. Harding.

J. Edgar Hoover once called him "the most amazing figure in contemporary criminal history" because of his ability to weave a believable, albeit fraudulent, story.

In 1911, he talked himself into a job with a New York detective firm where he created reports that contained so many clues that they must either be investigated further (at a substantial cost) or denounced utterly.

He "uncovered" plots and counterplots rife with secret documents and skulking spies, all of which required investigation at his usual rate of $100 (gold standard dollars) per day.

The trial was going badly for Means when he declared that he knew the location of a trunk filled with secret documents obtained from German spies.

An Army Intelligence officer was assigned to accompany Means to locate the trunk, which he did, handing it over on the condition that it be sent to Washington intact.

Then, baggage claim in hand, he hurried to Washington, declared he had kept his end of the bargain and demanded the promised letter attesting to his good service.

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.

[citation needed] Although the United States was officially "dry" during the Harding years as a result of Prohibition, illegal alcohol was common.

In the late fall of 1922, Means began selling his services to local Washington bootleggers, with the offer that he could use his connections to "fix" their legal problems with the government.

In 1924, following Harding's death, Congress held hearings on the Justice Department's role in failing to oversee their Prohibition duties under the Volstead Act.

"[3] After testifying before the Brookhart-Wheeler committee, Gaston Means signed an affidavit stating that his entire testimony was false and that he had only given it because senator Burton Wheeler had promised to get the then current charges against him dismissed.

In intentionally sensational testimony, Means implicated both Harding and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon as being part of the cover-up.

The book's status as a bestseller derived in considerable measure from its insinuation that the President had been murdered by his wife, First Lady Florence Harding, with assistance from the couple's personal physician, Charles E. Sawyer.

Means claimed to have the goods on two Soviets intent on wreaking havoc in the United States with $2 million earmarked for that purpose.

Means was contacted by the Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean (owner of the Hope Diamond), who asked him to use his connections in the East Coast underworld to assist in the recovery of the Lindbergh child.

Means later came to McLean at her home again and said he would need an additional $4,000 to pay the expenses of the kidnappers; she had a $6,000 check cashed at one of the banks in Washington and turned $4,000 over to him.

"[3] This time, the heiress called the police, Means was captured, found guilty of grand larceny, and sentenced to serve 15 years in a federal penitentiary but the money was never recovered.

[8] Gaston Means appears in the third and fourth seasons of the TV series Boardwalk Empire, played by Stephen Root.

Means is portrayed as a kind of confidence man who sells information to people like Nucky Thompson, or does the dirty work of politicos like Attorney General Daugherty.