Before Bonnie & Clyde: Ranger Hamer Tames the Wickedest Boomtown

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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

ABOUT BOOMTOWN

The true story of the corrupt and violent town of Borger, Texas in 1927―and the legendary Texas Ranger tasked with taming it.

Just a year after the town of Borger, Texas was founded, the press called it "the wickedest in the state" for good reason. The town, sprung into existence overnight to support the oilfields, was a second chance for many residents but had also become a lawless haven for bootleggers, pimps and gamblers, run by a crooked city hall.

That environment attracts some of the most unsavory characters in prohibition America, including a gang of murderous bank robbers who head into Borger to spend their money on booze, gambling and prostitutes. In the span of weeks, the gang kills three law enforcement officers, bringing the worst heat imaginable: legendary Texas Ranger Captain Frank Hamer, years before he will lead the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. His arrival threatens to break even this hardest boomtown in America―if it doesn't kill him first.

What follows is one of the most thrilling and violent untold stories from the era of gangsters, lawmen and vice. Author Joe Pappalardo brings to life a town previously lost in the haze of history.

JOE PAPPALARDO BIO

Joe Pappalardo is a non-fiction author and an award-winning contributor at magazines including Popular Mechanics, National Geographic & Texas Monthly. His work has also appeared in Smithsonian Air & Space and American Way magazines, and he has been a guest on C-SPAN, CNN, CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor, MSNBC and Fox News. He's appeared on several television programs on the History and Science channels.