A book of poetry handwritten by Bonnie Parker and a watch belonging to Clyde Barrow are among items from the outlaw Texas couple being offered at auction.
RR Auction will offer the items Saturday in Boston. Parker and Barrow were shot to death by lawmen in Louisiana in 1934 following a massive manhunt.
The auction house says Parker wrote the poetry in the bank book while in jail. Auction house executive vice president Bobby Livingston says half the poems appear to be original compositions.
In this July 23, 2019, photo provided by RR Auction, a book of poetry belonging to Bonnie Parker is shown. A book of poetry handwritten by Parker and a watch belonging to Clyde Barrow are among items from the outlaw Texas couple being offered at auction. (AP PhotoRR Auction, Nikki Brickett)
Other items being offered are a Bulova watch Barrow wore when he was killed, a draft of a Dallas police "wanted" poster for Barrow and a shotgun confiscated after a 1933 shootout in Joplin, Missouri, in which two lawmen were killed and the gang sped away.
In this May 9, 2019, photo provided by RR Auction, a watch belonging to Clyde Barrow is shown. A book of poetry handwritten by Bonnie Parker and a watch belonging to Clyde Barrow are among items from the outlaw Texas couple being offered at auction. (AP PhotoRR Auction, Nikki Brickett)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
