What Happened to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Killers of the Flower Moon Character in Real Life?
Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon is a spitting image of the real-life sociopath named Ernest Burkhart who was involved in the Osage murders. In fact, Burkhart, in real life, was a menace back in the day.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2023 American film that is directed and produced by Martin Scorsese. The film is about the murder of Osage members in Oklahoma. The movie is an absolute masterpiece by Scorsese that received 10 award nominations in the 96th Academy Awards ceremony. Sadly the nominations did not include one for Leonardo DiCaprio, despite his outstanding performance.
That being said, the movie’s lead character, Ernest Burkhart, has surely made people curious enough to want to know about his actual life story.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Character in Killers of the Flower Moon Was a Real-life Sociopath
The 2023 American crime-western film Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is a detailed account of the crimes of Ernest Burkhart. In real life, Burkhart was paroled from jail in 1937, 11 years after the events of the movie. However, Burkhart was jailed again in 1941 because he had robbed his former sister-in-law.
The cycle continued, and he was again released on parole by the government in 1959. The governor of Oklahoma, Henry Bellmon, pardoned him later in 1965 for the case of Osage murders.
After being released from jail, Burkhart went back to live with his brother. From there, he again relocated himself from Osage to Cleveland. He died in Cleveland on the 1st of December 1986 at the age of 94. Being a criminal, the long life must have been painful considering all the guilt he must have had about taking the lives of innocent people.
Ernest Burkhart Was Punished for His Wrongdoings
Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Killers of the Flower Moon, Ernest Burkhart, was a major contributor to the Osage Indian murders. The primary intention behind the murders was to make money out of the Osage people’s oil rights. Is the life of any living being, let alone human, worth some cash? Maybe it was. For Ernest Burkhart.
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Blindly following the unethical conspiracy, Burkhart and his other team members, especially his uncle William King Hale, kept on killing the Osage members using different weapons like poison, bombs, and gun shootings. In total, 21 people were murdered by Burkhart and his team, out of which 18 people were natives of Osage and 3 were non-Osage people.
Involved in such a heinous crime, Burkhart had no chance of being forgiven and was hence convicted and imprisoned by the Oklahoma government. Even though Burkhart was freed from jail in 1966, his entire life became an example of shame. His long life of 94 years was indeed a punishment for him.
