It may sound like something out of a comedy movie, but one of Iowa’s most unusual crime sprees involved a product found in nearly every kitchen—butter.
During the height of the Great Depression in 1936, an organized group of thieves known as the “Iowa Butter Gang” carried out a string of burglaries targeting rural creameries across the state. With food prices high and jobs scarce, butter had become a valuable commodity, making it an attractive target for criminals.
Between April and August of 1936, the gang burglarized 17 creameries across Iowa, stealing more than 20 tons of butter along with cheese and eggs. The stolen butter was worth approximately $15,000 at the time—more than $300,000 in today’s dollars.
Communities hit by the thefts included Palmer, Fenton, Britt, Kimballton, Coulter, Hampton, Hubbard, Randall, Nashua, Masonville, Dumont, Oran, and Afton.
One of the gang’s biggest heists happened on July 8, 1936, when thieves broke into the Palmer Creamery and made off with 3,443 pounds of butter in a single night.
Investigators later discovered the gang had a surprisingly sophisticated operation. They specifically targeted isolated creameries, breaking in after dark before loading the butter into trucks packed with dry ice to keep it from melting during transport. Authorities believed the stolen butter was taken through Omaha, Nebraska, where it was sold through criminal middlemen before eventually making its way into legitimate grocery markets—possibly as far away as New York City.
The crime spree finally came to an end after months of work by local sheriffs, the newly formed Iowa State Patrol, and even volunteer vigilantes. Investigators arrested six men and one woman from Omaha who were connected to more than 30 dairy thefts across Iowa. Officers also recovered 70 tubs of stolen butter, much of it traced back to a creamery in Wesley.
The story wasn’t quite over. One of the gang members, Byron Green, attempted to restart the butter theft operation in 1941 after being released from prison. His comeback was short-lived, as authorities caught him while trying to steal butter from another Iowa creamery.
Today, the Great Iowa Butter Heist remains one of the strangest chapters in Iowa history. It serves as a reminder of just how difficult life was during the Great Depression—when something as ordinary as butter became valuable enough to fuel an organized crime ring.
