This is a list of the Great Depression-era outlaws spanning the years of Prohibition and the Great Depression known as the "Public Enemy" era. Those include high-profile criminals wanted by state and federal law enforcement agencies for armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, and other violent crime. These are not to be confused with organized crime figures of the same period.
Name | Portrait | Life | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Edward J. Adams | 1887–1921 | Bootlegger, car thief, murderer: After being sentenced to life imprisonment, Adams escaped custody twice. He was killed in a shootout with police. [1] [2] [3] | |
George "Dutch" Anderson | 1879–1925 | Anderson and his associates successfully robbed a US Mail truck in New York City of $2.4 million in cash, bonds, and jewelry. [1] [2] | |
John Ashley | 1895–1924 | Florida bandit known as the "King of the Everglades": His gang robbed banks and trains, hijacked rumrunners, and feuded with police in southern Florida until Ashley's death in 1924. [1] [2] | |
Harvey John Bailey | 1887–1979 | Considered one of the most successful bank robbers of the 1920s, Bailey stole over a million dollars. Bailey spent 31 years in prison and died at the age 91 in Joplin, Missouri. [1] [2] | |
Basil "The Owl" Banghart | 1900–1982 | Basil is best remembered for his involvement in the hoax kidnapping of Chicago mobster Jake "the Barber" Factor, a crime for which Roger Touhy and he were eventually proven innocent after nearly 20 years in prison. [1] [2] | |
Lloyd Barkdoll | No image available | 1900–1982 | Oregon bank robber: Sentenced to life imprisonment, Barkdoll took part in an unsuccessful escape attempt with Sam Shockley, Joseph Cretzer, and Arnold Kyle from Alcatraz in 1941. [1] |
Ma Barker | 1873–1935 | Legendary associate of the Barker–Karpis gang [1] [2] | |
Arthur Barker | 1901–1939 | Member of the Barker–Karpis gang, son of Ma Barker [1] [2] | |
Fred Barker | 1899–1935 | Member of the Barker–Karpis gang, son of Ma Barker [1] [2] | |
Blanche Barrow and Buck Barrow | 1911–1988 (Blanche) 1903–1933 (Buck) | Members of the Barrow gang | |
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker [1] [2] | 1909–1934 (Clyde) 1910–1934 (Bonnie) | ||
Albert Bates | 1891–1948 | Bates was the longtime partner of George "Machine Gun" Kelly and participated in the kidnapping of oil tycoon Charles Urschel in 1933. [1] [2] | |
Edward Wilheim Bentz | 1894–1979 | Bentz was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw associated with several high-profile public enemies during his criminal career. He was eventually captured by the FBI and sentenced to Alcatraz. [1] [2] | |
Joe Bergl | No image available | 1901–1950 | A mechanic for Al Capone, he supplied Capone with custom-made vehicles. The vehicles were designed for protection and evasion purposes, and included armor plating, smokescreens, and oil slicks. [1] [2] |
George Birdwell | No image available | 1894–1932 | George Birdwell was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. He was one of the closest known associates of Pretty Boy Floyd. [1] [2] |
Charles Birger | No image available | 1881–1928 | A bootlegger based in the southern region of Illinois: Birger's gang, along with the Shelton Brothers gang, waged war with each other, and the local Ku Klux Klan throughout the 1920s. |
Fred William Bowerman | 1893–1953 | Fred William Bowerman was an American criminal, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw, who was eventually placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1953. He was a party to the disastrous Southwest Bank holdup in St. Louis, Missouri, which was later made into a movie The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery . [2] | |
Ford Bradshaw | No image available | 1908–1934 | Though Bradshaw never attained the fame of fellow Sooner, Oklahoma, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, his small-town bank raids far exceeded those of Floyd during his criminal career. He was killed resisting arrest. [1] [2] |
Tom "Skeet" Bradshaw | No image available | 1911- | Brother of Ford Bradshaw and member of the Cookson Hills gang: Suspected in several bank robberies in Oklahoma and Kansas, he was eventually convicted of attempted murder and bootlegging in 1934. [1] |
Robert "Big Bob" Brady | No image available | 1904–1934 | A known associate of the Bailey–Underhill gang [1] [2] |
Al Brady | No image available | 1911–1937 | Brady was an Indiana-born armed robber and murderer, who became one of the FBI's "Public Enemies" in the 1930s. [1] [2] |
Harold Brest | No image available | 1912–1979 | A Pennsylvania bank robber, he was sent to Alcatraz, and was a participant in Floyd Hamilton's 1943 escape attempt. [1] |
Lester Brockelhurst | 1914–1938 | In 1937, "25 year-old" Bible student Lester Brockelhurst and 18-year-old Bernice Felton were arrested after three murders and multiple robberies in 18 states. Brockelhurst was sentenced to death; Felton was acquitted. | |
Harry Brunette | No image available | 1911–1972 | He was declared a national "public enemy" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation when partner Merle Vandenbush and he robbed a series of banks in the New York City area and kidnapped New Jersey state trooper William A. Turnbull during 1936. [1] [2] |
Fred "Killer" Burke | No image available | 1885–1940 | Burke was an armed robber, contract killer, and primary suspect in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Burke was named America's most wanted man. Eventually imprisoned, he died there of heart disease. [1] [2] [4] |
John Callahan | No image available | 1866–1936 | Callahan was an American outlaw and bank robber during the closing days of the Old West. He eventually became the leading underworld figure in Wichita, Kansas, during Prohibition, specifically becoming involved in bootlegging and narcotics. [2] |
Robert Carey | No image available | 1894–1932 | An armed robber and contract killer, he was considered as a suspect in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. [5] |
Tommy Carroll | 1901–1934 | A boxer-turned-criminal, Carroll committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 1930s, and was a longtime member of the John Dillinger gang. [2] [5] | |
Gerald Chapman | No image available | 1888–1926 | Chapman was known as the "Count of Gramercy Park", and was convicted of several robberies and murders. Eventually considered one of America's top-10 criminals, Chapman was convicted of the murder of police officer James Skelly. He was sentenced to hang and was executed on April 6, 1926. [2] [5] [6] |
John Paul Chase | 1901–1973 | He was a longtime criminal associate of the Barker–Karpis gang and Baby Face Nelson, who later brought him into the John Dillinger gang. Chase was eventually caught and sent to Alcatraz, where he became one of the longest-serving inmates. [2] [5] | |
Vivian Chase | 1902–1935 | Chase was an associate of several robbers, including her husband, George Chase, and Charlie Mayes. However, she is best known for her role in the kidnapping of banker August Luer. Because Luer was not in good health, Chase and her partner O'Malley released him not long after his capture. O'Malley was eventually arrested, while Chase escaped. She was later found dead in her car outside St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. [2] [5] | |
James "Oklahoma Jack" Clark | No image available | 1902–1974 | Clark was a bank robber who stole more than $15,000 from a bank in Clinton, Indiana. Held in an Indiana state prison, he met John Dillinger, Harry Pierpont, and others. He escaped using pistols smuggled in by a visitor, but was recaptured shortly thereafter. He died in prison. [2] [5] |
Jim Clark | No image available | 1902–1974 | Clark was associated with Wilbur Underhill, Harvey Bailey, and Robert "Big Bob" Brady, and remained a public enemy in Kansas until his capture and imprisonment in 1934. [2] [5] |
Russell "Boobie" Clark | No image available | 1898–1968 | He is best known as the "good natured" member of the John Dillinger gang, and participated in armed holdups with them in a three-month crime spree across the Midwestern United States until his capture in January 1934. [2] [5] |
Joseph Cretzer and Arnold Kyle | No image available | 1911–1946 (Cretzer) 1910–1980 (Kyle) | Largely active in the West Coast, they were one of the few groups to gain national attention outside the Midwest, and also one of the last groups to be captured by the FBI at the end of the decade. Cretzer was killed in a failed attempt to escape Alcatraz, resulting in the 1946 prison riot. [2] [5] |
Francis "Two Gun" Crowley | 1912–1932 | Crowley was an American murderer and career criminal. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department in May 1931 viewed by 15,000 bystanders. He was captured and sent to Sing Sing, where he was executed in the electric chair. [2] [5] | |
James "Killer" Cunniffe | No image available | 1896–1926 | Cunniffe was an American bank robber who planned and successfully carried out the 1926 New Jersey mail robbery, one of the most well-publicized thefts during the 1920s. [2] |
Ed Davis | No image available | 1900–1937 | Davis was an American burglar, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw. He was especially active in Oklahoma, referred to by authorities as "the Fox", and frequently teamed with Jim Clark and Frank Sawyer during the early 1930s. [2] |
Volney "Curley" Davis | No image available | 1902–1978 | Davis was a longtime Oklahoma bandit, and was the boyfriend of Edna Murray and an associate of both John Dillinger and the Barker–Karpis gang during the 1930s. [2] [5] |
DeAutremont brothers | No image available | 1905–1959 (Hugh) 1900–1983 (Roy) 1900–1984 (Ray) | Their unsuccessful robbery of Southern Pacific Railroad express train and the murder of all three crew members, known as the Siskiyou massacre, was subject to one of the largest and most extensive investigations in the region. The brothers were eventually identified with the assistance of Dr. Edward Heinrich, and were captured after a nationwide manhunt that lasted four years. [2] [5] |
Lawrence De Vol | No image available | 1895–1936 | De Vol was an American criminal, bank robber, prison escapee, and Depression-era outlaw. He was connected to several Midwestern gangs during the 1920s and 1930s, most often with the Barker–Karpis gang and Holden–Keating gang, and was also a former partner of Harvey Bailey's early in his criminal career. [2] [5] |
Benny and Stella Dickson | No image available | 1911–1939 (Benny) 1922–1995 (Stella) | The Dicksons, husband and wife, turned to crime shortly after their marriage. Shortly after Stella's 16th birthday, they robbed a bank in Elkton, South Dakota, taking more than $2000. Stella earned the nickname "Sure Shot" by shooting out the tires of a police patrol car after a heist in Michigan. Benny was killed by FBI agents in St. Louis. Stella was captured, convicted, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. [2] [5] |
John Herbert Dillinger | 1903–1934 | One of the most famous outlaws of the 20th century, he was known to have offered cab fare to his hostages, many of whom liked him in spite of themselves. [2] [5] | |
Frederick Grant Dunn | 1905–"1958" | Dunn was an American criminal, burglar, and bank robber whose career spanned from 1919 until his mysterious death in 1959. He led a small gang during the 1940s and 1950s, ans was referred to by the press as "the modern John Dillinger", and whose activities eventually resulted in his being listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted in 1958. [2] | |
Martin James Durkin | No image available | 1900–1981 | Durkin was convicted of shooting the first FBI special agent killed in the line of duty, Edwin C. Shanahan. [2] [5] [7] |
Aussie Elliott | No image available | 1914–1934 | An associate of George Birdwell and Pretty Boy Floyd, Elliott was convicted of bank robbery in 1932 and was sent to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where he escaped that same year. In 1934, Elliott died in a gun battle with police near Sapulpa, Oklahoma. [2] [5] |
Elmer Farmer | No image available | 1893–1966 | A member of the Barker–Karpis gang, he was later sent to Alcatraz. [5] |
Herbert Allen "Deafy" Farmer | 1890–1948 | Farmer was an American criminal, who with his wife Esther, operated a safe house for underworld fugitives from the mid-1920s to 1933. On June 16, 1933, Herbert and Esther Farmer were involved in the plan that set into motion the Kansas City massacre, "a pivotal event in Depression-era crimes". With five others, they were convicted of conspiracy to free a federal prisoner, Frank "Jelly" Nash, in January 1935. [2] [5] | |
Charles Fitzgerald | No image available | 1877–1945 | A member of Barker–Karpis Gang and later sent to Alcatraz, Fitzgerald was one of its oldest inmates. [5] |
Jake Fleagle | No image available | 1890–1930 | Fleagle was a member of the Fleagle gang, who achieved notoriety by being the first case that was solved in which a single fingerprint was part of the evidence that led to a conviction. [2] [5] |
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd | 1904–1934 | Floyd was an American bank robber and killer, romanticized by the press and by folk singer Woody Guthrie in his song "Pretty Boy Floyd". Time listed his first robbery as $3.50 in pennies from a local post office at the age of 18. He was arrested and convicted of payroll robbery three years later. [2] [5] [8] | |
Ralph Fults | No image available | 1911–1993 | Fults was a Depression-era outlaw and escape artist associated with Raymond Hamilton, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde Barrow of the Barrow gang. [2] [5] |
Richard Galatas | No image available | 1890–1974 | A known associate of Frank Nash, he was involved in the scheme to free Nash from the FBI's custody in what became known as the Kansas City massacre; he was later sent to Alcatraz. [9] |
Roy Gardner | No image available | 1884–1940 | Gardner was once America's most infamous prison escapee and the most celebrated outlaw and escaped convict during the Roaring '20s. [2] [9] |
Russell "Slim Gray" Gibson | No image available | 1903–1935 | Gibson was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw associated with Alvin Karpis and the Barker gang during the late 1920s and '30s. [2] [9] |
Helen Wawzynak Gillis | No image available | 1908–1987 | Gillis was the wife of mobster Baby Face Nelson, and assisted with many of his crimes. Alongside her husband, she was labeled public enemy number one. She was caught by the police soon after evading them while fleeing the scene of her husband's death. [2] [9] |
Fred "Shotgun" George Ziegler Goetz | No image available | 1896–1934 | Goetz, who was also known as "Shotgun" George Ziegler, George B. Seibert, and George Zeigler, was a Chicago outfit mobster and a suspected participant in the Valentine's Day massacre, in 1929, and Kansas City massacre. [2] [9] |
Eddie Green | 1898–1934 | Green was best known as a member of the John Dillinger gang. He was also associated with Frank "Jelly" Nash, Volney Davis, and the Barker–Karpis gang in his early career. [2] [9] | |
Floyd Garland Hamilton | No image available | 1908–1984 | Brother of Raymond Hamilton, he was the driver for the Barrow gang during the early 1930s. He was the mastermind in the attempted escape from Alcatraz in 1943. [2] [9] |
John "Red" Hamilton | 1899–1934? | Hamilton was a Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger's. [2] [9] | |
Raymond Hamilton | No image available | 1913–1935 | Brother of Floyd Hamilton, he was a member of the notorious Barrow gang during the early 1930s. By the time he was 21 years old, he had accumulated a prison sentence of 362 years. He was executed by electric chair in 1935. [2] [9] |
Thomas J. Holden and Francis L. Keating | No image available | 1896–1953 (Holden) 1899–1978 (Keating) | Led by Thomas James Holden (1896–1953) and Francis Keating (1899–July 25, 1978), the gang was active in the Midwestern United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Holden was described by a spokesman for the FBI as "a menace to every man, woman, and child in America", and was the first fugitive to be officially listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List in 1950. [2] |
Alva-Dewey Hunt and Hugh Gant | No image available | 1897–1978 (Hunt) 1899–1984 (Gant) | A Depression-era outlaw group led by Alva-Dewey Hunt and Hugh Gant, the gang was active during the mid-to late 1930s. Although largely unknown on a national scale, their Midwest counterparts receiving the focus of the media, they were the only gang to operate south of the Mason–Dixon line, and robbed countless banks throughout the Southeastern United States [2] [9] |
Elmer H. Inman | No image available | 1880–1939 | He was an American criminal, bank robber, jewel thief, and Depression-era outlaw. At one time considered Oklahoma's "Public Enemy No. 1", he was a member of the Kimes–Terrill Gang and associated with Herman Barker and Wilbur Underhill, Jr., throughout the early 1930s. [2] |
Eleanor "The Blonde Tigress" Jarman | No image available | 1904–???? | Jarman was involved in a robbery with George Dale and Leo Minneci, in which Dale shot the shop owner. They were all captured, and Jarman and Minneci were sentenced to jail, but Jarman escaped custody and her whereabouts remained unknown. [2] |
Charles E. Johnson | 1907- | Johnson was a New York burglar who was listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted during 1953 for his robbery of a bank robber, who implicated him when he was captured. [2] [9] | |
William Daniel Jones | 1915–1974 | Jones ran with Bonnie and Clyde from Christmas Eve 1932 to early September 1933. He was one of two gang members who were consolidated into the "C. W. Moss" character in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde . [2] [9] | |
Alvin "Creepy" Karpis | 1908–1979 | Nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members, he was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken, and served the longest sentence of any prisoner at Alcatraz (26 years). [2] [9] | |
George "Machine Gun" Kelly | 1895–1954 | Kelly was an American gangster during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most famous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles Urschel in July 1933, for which he and his gang earned $200,000 ransom. [1] [2] | |
John Allen Kendrick | 1897–1960 | He was an American criminal, escape artist, bank robber, and member of the Tri-State gang, whose career spanned four decades. He was listed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted in late 1955, and was apprehended by the FBI that same year. [2] | |
Matthew Kimes and Ray Terrill | No image available | 1906–1945 (Kimes) 1900–? (Terrill) | A bank robbing gang, led by Matthew Kimes and Ray Terrill, it was active in the Midwestern United States during the 1920s. The gang was known not only for their high-profile robberies, but also for their frequent escapes from prison. The members were alleged to have sworn a blood oath to free each other from jail, should they ever be captured, or die in the attempt. [2] [9] |
Jean LaBanta | No image available | 1879–???? | LaBanta was an American criminal, forger, and train robber. Partly due to his robberies, the Southern Pacific Railroad company first began arming its guards. [2] |
Herman K. "Baron" Lamm | 1890–1930 | Also known as Baron Lamm, he was a German-American bank robber. He is widely considered one of the most brilliant and efficient bank robbers to have ever lived, and has been described as "the father of modern bank robbery". [2] [9] | |
Hyman S. Lehman | No image available | 1903–1990 | Lehman was an American gunsmith and armorer. He provided specialized and custom-made weaponry to countless bank robbers and outlaws during the Great Depression. In 1941, Lehman retired from gunsmithing and remained in San Antonio designing custom boots and saddles until his death. [2] |
Clarence Lieder | No image available | 1906–1969 | He was a mechanic and armorer for Chicago's underworld and Depression-era criminals, as well as the primary competitor to Joe Bergl in supplying both mobsters and other criminals with customized automobiles throughout Prohibition and during the early 1930s. [2] [9] |
Wilhelm Loeser | No image available | 1876–1935 | Loeser was an American physician and pharmacist, who provided medical care to underworld figures during the public enemy era of the 1930s. His most famous clients were John Dillinger and Homer Van Meter, who hired him to perform plastic surgery on them. [2] [9] |
Henry Loftus and Harry Donaldson | No image available | 1915- (Loftus) 1910- (Donaldson) | Two young men who made national headlines for their unsuccessful attempt to rob the Southern Pacific Railroad's Apache Limited in 1937. The last major train robbery in the United States, the two have been referred to as "the last of America's classic train robbers". [2] |
James C. "Tex" Lucas | 1912–1963 | A Texas bank robber and car thief, he was later sent to Alcatraz, where he attempted to escape from the island in 1938. [9] | |
Charles Makley | 1889–1934 | [2] [10] | |
Ben Golden McCollum | No image available | 1909–1963 | McCollum was an outlaw in Oklahoma during the 1920s, who was nicknamed the "Shiek of Boynton". McCollum robbed banks in both Prague (where he got away with $3400) and Checotah, Oklahoma ($4700), in 1929. He was captured on the streets of Boynton, Oklahoma, shortly after the Checotah heist. [2] [10] |
Henry Methvin | 1912–1948 | He was an American criminal, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw. He is best remembered as the final member of the Barrow gang] and whose father, Ivan Methvin, helped arrange their deaths at the hands of a posse headed by Texas lawman Frank Hamer in 1934. [2] [10] | |
Vernon C. Miller | 1896–1933 | Miller was a freelance Prohibition gunman, bootlegger, bank robber, and former sheriff in South Dakota, who as the only identified member of the Kansas City massacre, was found beaten and strangled to death shortly after the incident. [2] [10] | |
William "Billy the Killer" Miller | No image available | 1906–1931 | As an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw, he committed numerous bank heists in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, and teamed up with George Birdwell and Pretty Boy Floyd during the early 1930s. [2] |
George Clarence "Bugs" Moran | 1893–1957 | "Bugs" Moran was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. He was incarcerated three times before his 21st birthday. Seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse in the Saint Valentine's Day massacre of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival Al Capone. | |
Joseph P. Moran | No image available | 1905–1934 | Moran was a doctor known for catering to the Depression-era criminal underworld in the early 20th century. He was also a peripheral member of the Barker–Karpis gang, and this association Karpis later stated had led to Moran's murder by Fred and Arthur "Doc" Barker. [2] [10] |
Frank Mulloy | No image available | 1888–1963 | Convicted for his alleged role in the Kansas City massacre, he spent time in Alcatraz. [10] |
Edna "Rabbits" Murray | No image available | 1898–1966 | She was a Depression-era outlaw and partner of Volney Davis' during the early 1930s. Although popularly known to the press as the "Kissing Bandit" for her habit of kissing male robbery victims, she was known in the underworld as "Rabbits" for her skill as an escape artist. [2] [10] |
Frank "Jelly" Nash | No image available | 1887–1933 | Nash has been called "the most successful bank robber in U.S. history", but he is most noted for his violent death in what has become known as the Kansas City massacre in 1933. [2] [10] |
George "Baby Face" Nelson | 1908–1934 | Lester Joseph Gillis, known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Nelson was responsible for the murder of several people, and has the dubious distinction of having killed more FBI agents in the line of duty than any other person. He was shot by FBI agents and died after a shootout often termed the "Battle of Barrington". [2] [10] | |
Phoenix Donald | No image available | 1895–1944 | A member of the Barker–Karpis gang, Phoenix later died in Alcatraz. [10] |
Harry "Pete" Pierpont | 1902–1934 | Pierpont was a Prohibition-era gangster, and friend and mentor to John Dillinger. [2] [10] | |
Adam "Eddie" Richetti | 1909–1938 | Richetti was an American criminal and Depression-era bank robber. He was associated with Aussie Elliott and later Pretty Boy Floyd in the early 1930s, and both Floyd and he were later implicated in the Kansas City massacre. Richetti was executed on October 7, 1938. [2] [10] | |
Verne Sankey and Gordon Alcorn | No image available | 1890–1934 (Sankey) 1905–1982 (Alcorn) | Sankey and Gordon Alcorn were Depression-era outlaws whose successful kidnappings of Haskell Bohn and Charles Boettcher II in 1932 made them two of the most wanted criminals in the United States. Sankey was initially a suspect in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, but was cleared after an investigation by the FBI. [2] [11] |
Harry Sawyer | No image available | 1890–1955 | A member of the Barker–Karpis gang, he was later sent to Alcatraz. [11] |
James Franklin Sawyer | No image available | 1899–1979 | Sawyer was a Depression-era bank robber and prison escapee. Although he was responsible for several bank robberies in Kansas and Oklahoma, he was wrongfully imprisoned for a 1932 bank robbery in Fort Scott, Kansas, and spent almost 40 years in prison before he was pardoned by Governor Robert Docking in 1969. [2] |
Walton Spark | No image available | 1906–1983 | An accomplice in John Dillinger's escape from an Indiana jail in 1934, Spark was imprisoned and sent to Alcatraz. [11] |
William Francis Sutton | 1901–1980 | Sutton was a prolific U.S. bank robber. During his 40-year criminal career, he stole an estimated $2 million, and eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison. After his release, he spoke about prison reform and consulted with banks on antirobbery techniques. [2] [11] | |
Nicholas "Chaw Jimmie" Trainor | No image available | 1886–1922 | On the afternoon of December 18, 1922, five men hijacked a Federal Reserve Bank delivery truck outside the U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado. Four escaped unidentified, but 36-year-old Nicholas "Chaw Jimmie" Trainor was killed during the shootout with the U.S Mint Police. The remaining men successfully escaped with $200,000. [2] |
Wilbur "Mad Dog" Underhill, Jr. | No image available | 1901–1934 | Often called "Mad Dog" or the "Tri-State Terror", he was an American criminal, burglar, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw. He was one of the most wanted bandits in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 1930s and co-led a gang with Harvey Bailey that included many fellow Cookson Hills outlaws, including Jim Clark, Ed Davis, and Robert "Big Bob" Brady. [2] [11] |
Homer "Wayne" Van Meter | 1906–1934 | He was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson's. [2] [11] | |
Huron "Terrible Ted" Walters | No image available | 1913–1971 | An Arkansas bank robber and one time associate of Floyd Hamilton, Walters was sent to Alcatraz and attempted to escape in 1943. He was killed by a Texas Ranger during a hostage situation in 1971. [11] |
Otto Wood | No image available | 1894–1930 | A Depression-era desperado, he was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1894. |
Richard Whittemore | No image available | 1898–1926 | Led by Richard Reese Whittemore, the gang went on a year-long crime spree committing payroll, bank, and jewelry robberies in Maryland and New York before their capture in 1926. [2] [11] |
Alphonse Gabriel Capone, sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1925 to 1931. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage, transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The word is also used to refer to a period of time during which such bans are enforced.
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies.
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger and more complex criminal transactions than an individual criminal could achieve. Gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Gangsters are the subject of many novels, films, television series, and video games.
Charles Arthur Floyd, nicknamed Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. He operated in the West and Central states, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. He was seen positively by the public because it was believed that during robberies he burned mortgage documents, freeing many people from their debts. He was pursued and killed by a group of Bureau of Investigation agents led by Melvin Purvis. Historians have speculated as to which officers were at the event, but accounts document that local officers Robert "Pete" Pyle and George Curran were present at his fatal shooting and also at his embalming. Floyd has continued to be a familiar figure in American popular culture, sometimes seen as notorious, other times portrayed as a tragic figure, even a victim of the hard times of the Great Depression in the United States.
George Kelly Barnes, better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. He is best known for the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933, from which he and his gang collected a $200,000 ransom. Urschel had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation, which eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.
Owen Vincent "Owney" Madden was a British-born gangster of Irish ancestry who became a leading underworld figure in New York during Prohibition. Nicknamed "The Killer", he garnered a brutal reputation within street gangs and organized crime. He ran the Cotton Club in Manhattan and was a leading boxing promoter. After increased attention from law enforcement in New York, Madden moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1935, where he remained until his death from natural causes in 1965.
Richard James "Two-Gun" Hart was an Italian-American sharpshooter and prohibition agent, who was noted for his cowboy style and for being the elder brother of gangsters Al, Frank, and Ralph Capone.
"Public enemy" is a term which describes individuals whose activities are seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, including pirates, highwaymen, bandits, mobsters, and similar outlaws.
Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In media and popular culture, it has variously been referred to as the Jewish Mob, the Jewish Mafia, the Kosher Mob, the Kosher Mafia, the Yiddish Connection, and Kosher Nostra or Undzer Shtik. The last two of these terms are direct references to the Italian cosa nostra; the former is a play on the word for kosher, referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a calque of the Italian phrase 'cosa nostra' into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States.
Ford Allen Bradshaw was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. He was a rival of fellow Sooner, Oklahoma, bandit Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, and although never as nationally well known as Floyd, Bradshaw's small town bank raids far exceeded those of Floyd during his criminal career.
Ralph James Capone was an Italian-American mobster and an older brother of Al Capone and Frank Capone. He got the nickname "Bottles" not from involvement in the Capone bootlegging empire, but from his running the legitimate non-alcoholic beverage and bottling operations in Chicago. Further family lore suggests that the nickname was specifically tied to his lobbying the Illinois Legislature to put into law that milk bottling companies had to stamp the date that the milk was bottled on the bottle. He was most famous for being named by the Chicago Crime Commission "Public Enemy Number Three" when his brother Al was "Public Enemy Number One".
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group.
The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and finally ended nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16, 1919. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933.
Edward Wilhelm Bentz was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. He was associated with several high-profile public enemies during his criminal career, including Harvey Bailey, Albert Bates, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Baby Face Nelson. He was eventually captured by the FBI and sentenced to Alcatraz.
The history of vice in the U.S. state of Texas has been an important part of the state's past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the state's culture and its economy.
The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934 is denoted as Pre-Code Hollywood. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later. Although the Hays office had specifically recommended removing profanity, the drug trade, and prostitution from pictures, it had never officially recommended against depictions of violence in any form in the 1920s. State censor boards, however, created their own guidelines, and New York in particular developed a list of violent material which had to be removed for a picture to be shown in the state. Two main types of crime films were released during the period: the gangster picture and the prison film.
The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers composed predominantly of Jewish gangsters. They operated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1920s of the Prohibition era and came to be Detroit's dominant criminal gang. Excessive violence and infighting caused the gang to destroy itself in the 1930s.
Chicago in the 1930s was one of the major centers of activity in the United States. 1930s Chicago is strongly associated with gangsters and the mafia and speakeasies to provide alcohol following Prohibition. A dark and gloomy time during the Great Depression, many people in the city were unemployed and became dependent on food hand outs in order to get by; many turned to crime as a way to deal with poverty. Many struggling musicians came to the city and found solace in the blues and jazz in the clubs of the city as a way to cope with their grievances. Numerous southern blues and jazz musicians made a name for themselves in the city as they had done in the 1920s. The theater scene in Chicago thrived during this period.
A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The genre is differentiated from Westerns and the gangs of that genre.