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rrr a Loo. eee eee ee meets cathe ae ee nena Aine amet ened te meee eed atm toe dda ened ee eee cee eee nets ee ee ee ee ee ne Ree ER tee TOA tac OOS ofl, OF se epee ee meen he SUNY RR Patera mine he Semana me + JOHN EDGAR“HOOVER @ @ “a | PEF:CDii Gederal Bureau of Inbestigation z= Washington, B. C. a April 4, 1936. Time —- 9:30 A.M. MEGORAN FOR THE D TO oO Res Edward Wilhlem Bentz. Office, stcting that Serse é 6 Poteet op April 6, 1996 for Atlanta, Gaorsla, for the puree of Stereertag Bentz at the United States Penitentiary at Atlante, in connection with the robbery of the bank atGrand Haven, Michigen. The letter goes on to state that Sergeant Hutson will contact the Atlanta Office in order that arrangements might be made through that office for the Sergeant to interview Bentz in the penitentiary. The letter continues that although we had previously informed Detroit that we thought it was better for state officers to be discouraged from interviewing Bentz, in view of the relations in Detroit with the Michigan State Police, who are very insistent that they talk with Bentz about the Grand Haven ’~case, all we can do is to cooperete with then. . Mr. Whitley seid he can readily understand this situation, despite the fact that Bentz gave us substantially all of the information relative to that particuler robbery, which information was furnished to the Detroit Office. : .However, Mr. Whitley said that thie matter is a source of concern for many reesons. He pointed out that if we start promoting or sponsoring or taking. out state officials from all over the United States to talk to Bents in the. penitentiary, very quickly we are going to offend Bentz and ruin his excellent ; cooperation with us. He said that while he hopes there will not be a repetition ~\, of such requests, he believes the Atlanta Office should go out to the penitentiary *! gnd see Bentz before the Michigan Stete man arrives, and ask Bentz if it be all right to bring the Michigan State men out there to talk about the Grand -- "Haven bank robbery. Mr. Whitley said he is sure Bentz will say yes to this re- quest, perticulerly in view of the fact that his brother, Ted Bentz, is now ser- ving a "bum rap" for this robbery in Michigan. However, our asking him first will certainly put him in a better frame of mind, At the same time, Mr. Whitley said Bentz should be told not to tell the Michigan officer about any case except the Grand Haven robbery. He pointed out that if we do not make this request, and Bentz gets started talking, he will probably tell this Michigan man eve he has told us, which would,of course, be disasterous. _ RECORDED & INDEXED LL. 3 - [0 Mr. Whitley said that the Atlanta Agents sho ca 20 De e prison officials know that Bentz is ing : hd tha: Bentz made this specific request before eft Net ke wf oUt C: that any time they wanted to know anything, he would be pi led to tell thn anything that he might know about it; however, he hsked! that whdteV¢y not to let t a i tenttery officials know that he is “talking td @oPizs Didi RO o) . 243 apa 4 WO APR nd 738 - Se