BUFFALO, N.Y. — It was the era of “The Twist,” Chubby Checker's hit song that the Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke, bishop of Buffalo, declared impure, lewd, and unchristian.
Documents obtained by 2 On Your Side Investigates through a public records request revealed an FBI investigation into an extortion attempt and death threat against the bishop. The investigation was not previously disclosed to the public.
The investigation was sparked by a threatening letter addressed to Catholic Charities and Burke in 1961. Burke contacted the Buffalo Police Department after receiving the letter, requesting a discreet investigation. Police officials then requested the assistance of the FBI to determine the author of the letter.
“Holy family will kill Catholic Bishop Burke in Buffalo city in 1961 year,” the letter read in part.
2 On Your Side asked a former FBI special agent to analyze the 12-page investigation. Kenneth Gray, now a distinguished lecturer at the University of New Haven in the Department of Criminal Justice, said it was a police cooperation case where the bureau used its expertise and national database in an effort to locate a suspect.
“The bureau took the request from Buffalo police serious,” Gray said. “They found fingerprints on the letter, but the fingerprints on the letter were not able to be identified from the records they had at that time.”
The threat and subsequent investigation came as a surprise to Mariam Shannon, the grandniece of Burke, who authored a book about his life.
“They never found this person,” Shannon said. “That was a very frightening threat. The scariest part to me is how the words are misspelled, and the sentences don’t really make sense, but the threats are very clear.”
According to Buffalo Police, any of its records from the investigation have long been destroyed.
Burke died the next year while attending the Second Vatican Council in Rome. His grandniece hopes his legacy is one of a period of growth and prosperity for the diocese.
“How many parishes and how many schools opened during the time, this incredible list, from 1952 to 1962,” Shannon said.
The author of the letter remains a mystery.