Joseph Aloysius Sullivan (February 17, 1917 – August 2, 2002) was a Major Case Inspector

Inspector

Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...

 for the FBI. Born in Montreal, Wisconsin

Montreal, Wisconsin

Montreal is a city in Iron County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 838 at the 2000 census. The neighborhood of Gile is part of the city; however, it still has its own post office and ZIP code: 54525.-History:...

, he grew up in Hurley, Wisconsin

Hurley, Wisconsin

Hurley is a city in and the county seat of Iron County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,818 at the 2000 census. It is directly across the Montreal River from Ironwood, Michigan.-History:...

. He was involved in a number of highly publicized cases in the sixties and seventies including the Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

 assassination, the murder of United Mine Workers

United Mine Workers

The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...

 reformer Joseph "Jock" Yablonski

Joseph Yablonski

Joseph Albert "Jock" Yablonski was an American labor leader in the United Mine Workers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was murdered in 1969 by killers hired by a union political opponent, Mine Workers president W. A. Boyle...

, the Sterling Hall bombing

Sterling Hall bombing

The Sterling Hall Bombing that occurred on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on August 24, 1970 was committed by four young people as a protest against the University's research connections with the US military during the Vietnam War...

 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

, and the Kent State shootings

Kent State shootings

The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...

. Despite his involvement in such high profile cases, Sullivan is best known for his relentless search to track down the killers of three civil rights workers

Mississippi civil rights worker murders

The Mississippi civil rights workers murders involved the lynching of three political activists in Neshoba County, Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during the American Civil Rights Movement....

, who were brutally slain in Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 in 1964. The character played by Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...

 in the movie Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning is a 1988 American crime drama film loosely based on the FBI investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1964. The film focuses on two fictional FBI agents who investigate the murders...

is loosely based on Sullivan.
Upon Sullivan's passing in 2002, author Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy

Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...

is quoted as referring to him as "the greatest lawman America ever produced."