Background
Gaffey was born in County Roscommon, Ireland near Ballinasloe in 1893, moved to San Francisco at the age of twenty and joined the police department in 1921.
Gaffey was born in County Roscommon, Ireland near Ballinasloe in 1893, moved to San Francisco at the age of twenty and joined the police department in 1921.
In 1954, he disbanded the "super" vice squad claiming that prostitution, gambling, and bookmaking in San Francisco had dropped to an "irreducible minimum."
After goading by the San Francisco Examiner, he decided in 1954 to “clean the homosexuals from the streets” and joined forces with Federal Police I4 to clamp down on five taverns and connect “sex deviates” to the corruption of minors, believing that public morality directly translated into criminal regulation. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.
