The Federal Dead List - FOIA Request

Let's be honest.  If you are a professional genealogist or a serious family researcher how many Freedom of Information Act requests have you generated? The a3Genealogy teams average about 25 (or more) a month from one agency or another. Every a3Gen Team uses FOIA requests - the Military, the Lineage, Dual Citizenship, DNA (Ingenes), Forensic / Private Investigator, and the Special Brickwall teams. Researchers are usually quite familiar with the FBI files from 1908 (more effective beginning around 1920) to present. Many have even uncovered FBI files from Fold3.com or other subscription databases.

AGHAST!
You people don't know about the 

FBI RIDs Dead Lists?  

But, when I mentioned the FBI Record Information Dissemination Section (RIDS) Dead Lists the group confessed they were not familiar with it. Then it came to my attention that many did not understand how FOIA requests work. What research tools are generated from our FOIA requests?

FOIA Request FlowChart
Do you have an interesting ancestor who may have caught the eye of the F.B.I.? One Norweigen client had an interesting "public figure" ancestor living in Minnesota. It was interesting to compare her obituary to that in her FBI file.  Be sure to read the NPR piece: Finding FBI Files of the Dead.  Note: My ancestors were clearly under-achievers.

The FBI Record Information Dissemination Section (RIDS) Dead Lists is comprised of a list of people the FBI "understands" are deceased. Basically, the FBI (and other government agencies) creates records while processing day to day operations. So, investigative files and personnel files create a chain of records and indices on the "subject."  Early records can be located at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA, Archives II) in College Park, MD. Researchers may find more recent indices published online by year. For example, the 2015 Dead List may be found on archives.org.

Researchers may also request information on an individual on the List by making a FOIA request to:

FBI RIDSAttn: Freedom of Information Act
170 Marcel Dr
Winchester, VA. 22602

Of course as with all FOIA Requests, proof of death (i.e. obituary) is needed. Remember these are the FBI RID's Dead List files.  So your subject has already been proven dead. Also, remember these files can be voluminous. One of our Philippine War Soldiers request, originally created by a military and Veteran's Administration FOIA, produced a file of over 600 pages. An issue carried on by his descendants had drawn the spying eye of the FBI. Keep in mind that just because the subject is deceased, his file may continue. In this case, the file was created and continued for decades.Yet, much was learned (or supposed) of his life. The NPR piece above notes the issue of "accuracy" in some of the files and reports, but for genealogists, we use this resource to guide us to primary sources and further research.

What Might You Find?
Often I will do a location search (i.e. Kansas City), or code search  ("LCN" or "Pearl Harbor," or Civil Rights") for group topics.  Those who warrant an FBI file are most often infamous, or famous, or possibly or suspected to have engaged in activities that may have be against the state. (Did I use enough caveats there?) However, researchers will find compiled data on the subject. It may include newspaper clippings, interviews, or other source cited background information. It also may include speculation. In many cases, there are associated court cases that can be pulled for additional information.

1. Name Changes

Several years back, the Dual Citizenship team was working on not one, but two, unrelated Italian Dual Citizenship applications. One was from the mid-west the second was east-coast. Both were seemingly dead-ends. Where was grandpa?  It was through entries in the FBI RIDs Dead Lists Index that began the brickwalls to tumble. Not one, but both of our clients, with no known relation or association with each other, were descendants of members of La Costa Nostra (LCN) which is commonly tied to the Sicilian Mafia.

The clients' La Cosa Nostra ancestors not only were noted on the Dead Lists, but aliases names were proffered. Voila! Although eliminated from dual citizenship eligibility, at least family history was learned.

2. In Depth Topical Research

All the time in the world can't replace the research conducted and compiled by the FBI Records held in The Vault. Two years ago while researching for a Civil Rights documentary for one of the History Channel's pieces, we needed more information on our subject. There was not a direct file on the subject that we could locate, but we learned much about him via Claudia Jones' FBI file held in The Vault. Through The Vault, which many records are scanned and online, we were able to use the compiled (yes partially redacted) files that gave us both leads and hints to primary sources on our subject.

3. Association Research
We were successful again when working for the media with "Gangster Era" files  from the 1940's. Our subject was not indexed, but we tied our research to one who was more prominent, yet working and residing in the same circles, to find historical details on an actor's ancestors.

Other Access to FBI Deceased Identification Files
The U. S., F.B.I. Deceased Criminal Identification Files, 1971-1994 is also on ancestry.com.  Again researchers can extract birthplace, death date, and perhaps a note on crime. This information offers researchers where to look next. At a3Genealogy we use this database mostly for our forensic research projects when needed.

Additional Resources

FBI, FOIA/Privacy Act
2017 FBI RIDs Dead List

The Black Vault, FBI RIDs Dead List (2016, partial 2019)

Have fun during this time of "stay-at-home" to enjoy learning new repositories and resources.
Stay healthy and safe!

Kathleen Brandt
a3genealogy@gmail.com

What Wasn't In The Obituary?

Courtesy of Crown Realty

Share your Local House Histories
(Even Contemporary House Histories are Fascinating)

In a time when the world seems to be at a standstill, historical research has boomed. And since I research historical topics as a family and forensic genealogist and contemporary subjects as a Private Investigator the chance to delve into some quirky Kansas happenings was a breath of fresh air. Especially when that fresh air housed man-made scuba diving tunnels.

In the month of March, the a3Gen team has unearthed house and land histories in Johnson County Kansas, Dodge County Kansas, and Jackson County Missouri for clients but most aren't this picturesque. So below I put eight tips to ferreting out house histories:

8 Tips to Start House History Research

1. Obituaries
2. Newspapers
3. Who were the architecture and the builders
4. Trade Magazines
5. Land Deeds / Court Recorder Office be sure to pull contractor permits
6. Zoning Records
7. County and National Historical Record Applications (if applicable)
8. Present and Past owners (if applicable)

The Spirit of Avalon
Yes, one of the houses we researched, was noted for its scuba diving tunnels. Yes, in Kansas! Thanks to Dennis Langley, the founder and CEO of the Kansas Pipeline Operating Company, a 17,755 square foot castle-of-a-house, that I believe is still on the market, was built. Langley's life story is well known in the Washington, DC and Kansas circles. His rise from Hutchinson Kansas Community College (the same community college my mother attended) to Senator Joe Biden's "Chief Speechwriter," to his political influence especially in the state of Kansas to his CEO position is all outlined in his 2017 obituary. Read his obituary here.

Actually, as a Kansas know-it-all, I knew quite a lot about Langley so the only real surprising bit was the family's suggestion of memorial donations to be made to the United Aid Foundation to help orphaned children in Romania. This tie needs to be researched a bit more. But what was most surprising was what was not in the obituary.

What Wasn't In The Obituary
When you are researching the man who built the most lavish and unique castle-like home in your home state, you really don't know what you will find. (Yes, I live in Kansas City, MO now, but my family roots since 1880's is in central/western Kansas). But it's what I didn't find in Langley's obituary that was a bit surprising.

"The Spirit of Avalon," (think King Arthur) the name given to his home, was mentioned only once in his obituary. This legendary home built in 1993 and completed with tunnels in 2000 is estimated to have cost about $30 million. Yet, it was slightly mentioned in the obituary as the future location of "a celebration of his life and friendships." Langley's estate was also mentioned when referring to his favorite past-time which was apparently "pruning his [own] trees." Unfortunately, Langley succumbed to complications from a fatal fall while pruning.

The issue is, we know, or maybe just suspected, that this man had an even bigger passion. The one not mentioned in his obituary. Scuba diving! At minimum he was a well known scuba diving enthusiast.

Sure, you can overlook the size of the house, the requisite tower as every respectable castle should have, or the 15 bronze statues. You can even downplay the hand carved dragon doors, where the dragons have different colored eyes. But the scuba diving tunnels? That's how I learned of Langley years back. Why wasn't his dedication to scuba mentioned?

The main residence and guesthouse were originally built in 1993 by Dennis Langley, who worked in the natural gas business and was a scuba enthusiast. Over a three-year period, he added a series of water-filled tunnels that extended below the house, into the mountain, and around the property, accessed by a series of pop-up holes and grottoes so that divers could enter and exit at various points. (Article: New Haven Register)

Visit this Kansas home here: Dive Into This $11.8M Kansas Megamansion With Subterranean Scuba Tunnels. Note: Be sure to ignore the reference of a mountain. We do not have mountains in Kansas. Well, it may meet a layman's (or Kansan's) use of the word mountain, but falls short of the geologists' classification as a "landform that rises 1000 ft." But I digress...

While we have a bit of a slow period, why not share a special part of your home state? I was honored to be commissioned to do a special project on Langley and the Spirit of Avalon. House histories, even contemporary house histories, are fascinating and fun.

Kathleen Brandt
a3Genealogy@gmail.com