Publisher's Synopsis
They were sent to enforce the law. They vanished into silence.
In the vast, windswept corridors of Prohibition-era Colorado and New Mexico, two federal agents-Dale Francis Carney and Zacchaeus Raymond Sutton-faced more than bootleggers. They confronted a shadow war of organized crime, political compromise, and a government reluctant to confront its own complicity.
On a quiet July night in 1930, Agent Carney was gunned down in Aguilar, his body left bleeding in the dust, his watch frozen at the moment of death. Just weeks later, Agent Sutton disappeared along a desolate road, his last known act a wave to a colleague before vanishing forever.
Both men died in service. Neither received justice.
This immersive true crime investigation reopens the cold case files with cinematic clarity and unrelenting precision. Through declassified Bureau of Prohibition memos, internal testimony, lost affidavits, and never-before-published family documents, The Unsolved Murder of Dale Carney and Ray Sutton reconstructs the events that led to their deaths-and the silence that followed.
From speakeasies and mountain roads to corrupted courtrooms and buried evidence, this is a forensic journey into the heart of a broken system. It examines the criminal dynasties of the Dionisio, Carlino, and Campanella families, who ruled with violence and bribery from the Rockies to the Rio Grande. It investigates the agents' final raids, their compromised informants, and the trials that fell apart in whispers and intimidation.
But this book also gives voice to the women left behind-Frances Carney and Maggie May Sutton-who defied the Bureau's silence and spoke their truths long after the headlines faded. Their grief became protest. Their letters became evidence. Their memory became the spine of this story.
Why this book matters:
It's not just about who pulled the trigger-it's about why no one paid for it.
It challenges the sanitized mythology of the Prohibition era by highlighting systemic failure, not just mob violence.
It honors two men not as martyrs, but as complex agents navigating a war of politics, crime, and loyalty.
What's inside:
A fully reconstructed timeline of events (1929-1968)
Side-by-side theory comparisons: individual hit, coordinated mob retaliation, Bureau cover-up
Internal FBI and Prohibition Bureau memos never before published
"Detective's Toolkit" sidebars to guide readers through forensics, informant handling, and 1930s federal policy gaps
Survivor testimonies and personal letters from the Carney and Sutton families
Companion appendices with maps, trial excerpts, historical newspaper clippings, and forensic breakdowns
Digital Companion Resources directing readers to archival evidence, memoirs, and original law enforcement reports
This book is for:
Readers of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Black Hand, and The Poisoner's Handbook
True crime enthusiasts seeking deep research and narrative intensity
Historians, criminologists, and legal scholars exploring unsolved federal murders
Descendants of law enforcement or organized crime figures during Prohibition
Anyone who believes the truth is still worth chasing-even decades later
In a nation built on law and justice, what happens when both abandon their own?
The road where Sutton vanished is still there. The files on Carney's murder are still redacted. But this book dares to put their stories back on the record. And once you read them, you won't forget their names.
