Oliver "Ollie" Bridge Garrett (October 14, 1895 – November 14, 1979) was the leader of the Boston Police Department's liquor raiding unit during Prohibition.
[1] On a police salary of $40.36 a week, Garrett managed to bank more than $122,000, owned a $70,000 farm, a Boston town house, and several cars.
[9] On September 20, 1925, Police Commissioner Herbert A. Wilson requested that the civil service commission promote Garrett to sergeant based on his excellent work as an alcohol raider.
Walter Liggett described bootlegging as "the largest and best paying racket" in the city and estimated that the people of Boston spent $60 million in illegal alcohol.
He found Garrett's extensive real estate and business holdings as well as his close association with a known bootlegger to be "suspicious" and "highly imprudent" but did not believe there was enough evidence to bring charges against him.
[10] In February 1929 the owner of the Hotel Ritz claimed that an associate of Garrett's had solicited a bribe from him in exchange for protection from raids.
[5] After finding out about the transfer, Garrett was quoted by several newspapers as saying that he would "blow the lid off the Boston Police Department".
[12] On September 4, 1929, Garrett was scheduled to return from vacation and begin night duty in Beacon Hill.
[13] However, before he was to report for his new assignment, Garrett was thrown from a horse while participating in races at the Marshfield Fair and went on sick leave.
[14] On September 27, Garrett announced his retirement and requested a disability pension for a skull fracture he suffered in an on-duty car accident two years earlier.
[20] Garrett and/or his wife were found to have possessed a 11.5 acre dairy farm in Hingham, Massachusetts, houses in Allston and Newton, Massachusetts, an apartment in downtown Boston, a horse racing stable, a fleet of automobiles (including a Cadillac, Marmon, and Chrysler), diamonds rings, and expensive wardrobes.
[9] On May 2, Boston Mayor James Michael Curley ordered that Garrett's pension be stopped.
[9] On May 29, 1930, Garrett, his wife, and a third co-defendant, Lillian V. Hatch, were indicted for his extorting Hotel Ritz owner John F. Sullivan.
Garrett was charged with 152 counts of conspiracy, extortion, and receiving gratuities from July 1924 to August 1928.
[23] The weekend before the trial was to begin, Garrett evaded two members of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency hired by Foley and became a fugitive.
[35] The city's legal department defaulted by failing to answer interrogatories and in November 1949, Garrett was awarded a $19,492 judgement.