Burton F. Becker was the police chief of Piedmont, California in the early 20th century and Kailiff of

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

No. 9 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

.Cray, Ed, ''Chief justice: a biography of Earl Warren'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997. pp 52–57. Accessed March 21, 2012, a
Google Books
/ref> He was elected Sheriff of

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

in 1926. As sheriff, Becker offered protection to illegal gambling operators and bootleggers in exchange for bribes. In 1930, after years of investigation by Alameda County District Attorney

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...

, he was tried and convicted on corruption charges, removed from office and sent to San Quentin Prison.Warren, Earl. ''The Memoirs of Earl Warren''. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977. p 101. Accessed March 21, 2012, fro
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/ref> After serving time in San Quentin, he was paroled in February of 1934 and pardoned by California Governor

Frank Merriam Frank Finley Merriam (December 22, 1865 – April 25, 1955) was an American Republican politician who served as the 28th governor of California from June 2, 1934 until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of the Great Depress ...

in 1936.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing People from Piedmont, California American police chiefs American police officers convicted of crimes American Ku Klux Klan members convicted of crimes American prisoners and detainees Alameda County sheriffs Criminals of the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American criminals California politicians convicted of crimes {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub Prisoners and detainees of California Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons