CCC
COLBY - Author and former FBI agent William Plunkett is the featured speaker at 7 p.m. on Tue., Oct. 10 as part of Colby Community College's Dr. Max Pickerill Lectures Series. Agent Plunkett's presentation will be in the H.F. Davis Library on campus.
During his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Plunkett was involved in joint counterintelligence operations with the Central Intelligence Agency and investigated national security matters, including counterintelligence, terrorism, and cyber threats. He was an original member of the Cincinnati FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force formed after the September 11 attacks. Plunkett published articles in multiple magazines and has authored three books on the early FBI.
During his presentation, Plunkett shares tales about the Bureau's infancy, from its formation by President Theodore Roosevelt as The Bureau of Investigation in 1908 to intelligence gathering during World War I and the roundup of communists during The Palmer Raids. In 1921, the Osage Tribal murders were investigated, with the next decade bringing the Kansas City Massacre and resulting laws allowing agents the power to arrest and carry firearms.
The birth of modern crime-fighting and the evolution of the early FBI is the focus when he talks about the turbulent Public Enemy era of the 1930s and the demise of John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, the Barker/Karpis gang, and others.
A native of upstate New York and a graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego, Plunkett resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an avid golfer and participates in various charitable law enforcement events.
There is no charge to attend the presentation. The Dr. Max Pickerill Lecture Series is funded annually by anonymous donors. For more information, contact Dr. Linda Davis-Stephens at 785-460-5528.