Virgil Effinger

Virgil Herbert "Bert" Effinger (August 7, 1873 – October 15, 1955) was an American Ku Klux Klan renegade member who became the self-proclaimed leader of the Black Legion in the United States, active mostly in Ohio and Michigan. The secret, white vigilante group was made up of native-born Protestant men, many from the South, who felt threatened by immigration and contemporary industrial society during the struggles of the Great Depression. One-third of the members in Michigan lived in Detroit. Effinger advocated a fascist revolution in the US with himself as dictator.

The Black Legion was rumored in the mid-1930s in the Detroit area to be responsible for numerous murders and attacks on persons and property. It was exposed by prosecution in Wayne County, Michigan for the 1936 kidnapping and murder of Charles Poole, a French-Canadian Catholic organizer for the federal Works Progress Administration organizer. Eleven members were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In related prosecutions after additional investigation, dozens of other members of the Black Legion were convicted of other crimes, and all received prison sentences. Group membership withered under the spotlight and scandals. In 1938 Effinger tried to found a new group but was unsuccessful. He died nearly two decades later in a psychiatric hospital, having always denied membership in the Legion.

Early life Born in Newark, Ohio, Effinger served with the United States Army during the Spanish–American War. Settling in Lima, Ohio after his military service, Effinger worked as a salesman in the town. A strong racist, anti-Semite and anti-Catholic, he joined the Ku Klux Klan and attained the rank of Grand Titan within the movement.

After national scandals in 1925 and growing local political opposition in many areas, the KKK declined in influence in the Midwest and nationally. By that time in eastern Ohio, a paramilitary group known as the Black Guards (later the Black Legion) had been formed to provide security for KKK officers.

Black Legion

Effinger took control in 1931 of the Black Legion; he believed it could be the basis for a network of revolutionary cells. He rewrote history, claiming that the Legion dated to the revolutionary-era Boston Tea Party, rather than the 1920s.

The Black Legion expanded even more in Michigan than Ohio, reaching an estimated membership of 20,000 to 30,000 in the mid-1930s, with one third based in Detroit. They were later found to have been particularly influential in Highland Park, Michigan, with a mayor, chief of police, and city councilman as members, among many others. Their network helped members get jobs and exert political influence.

In May 1936 Charles Poole, a Catholic Works Progress Administration organizer, was shot and killed in southwest Detroit, Michigan by Legion member Major Dayton Dean after being kidnapped by him and a gang of followers. While crimes against non-whites or communists were often ignored by small-town police at the time, offenses for religious affiliation tended to be taken more seriously.

Dean pleaded guilty and testified against other members of his gang and the Legion; he and ten others were sentenced to life in prison. Investigations resulting from his testimony and public outrage about the group led to convictions of dozens of other members for crimes ranging from attempted murder to other murders; they all received prison sentences. With so many leaders jailed, the Black Legion collapsed.

Later years In 1938, Effinger attempted to organize a successor movement, the Patriotic Legion of America, this time admitting Catholics. Effinger was sentenced to two months in jail and fined $200. He died in a psychiatric hospital in Toledo, Ohio in 1955, having always denied any involvement in the Black Legion. He had no criminal record.