Amidst a media frenzy, the Lindbergh Law, passed in 1932, increased the jurisdiction of the relatively new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its hard-charging director, J. Edgar Hoover. 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. He was a very famous criminal whom the media delighted in writing about, usually in a sensational manner. Frank Nitti was an Italian born-American mobster and one of Al Capone's main henchmen. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. After two months, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr was discovered near Lindbergh's home, dead from a fracture of the skull. The story focuses on the two gangsters who dominate an unnamed city . His gang was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Whitey Bulger was an Irish-American FBI informant and organized crime boss. An accomplice in John Dillinger's escape from an Indiana jail in 1934, Spark was imprisoned and sent to Alcatraz. Jones ran with Bonnie and Clyde from Christmas Eve 1932 to early September 1933. . During the Great Depression, with much of the United States mired in grinding poverty and unemployment, some Americans found increased opportunities in criminal activities like bootlegging, robbing banks, loan-sharkingeven murder. Al Capone was the child of poor Italian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York and lived the "American dream" in his own way - by becoming one of the most successful gangsters in American history. He was appointed in 1924 to the Bureau of Investigation which in 1935 would become the Federal Bureau of Investigation and remained in control until his death in 1972. Purvis died of a gunshot wound to the head in 1960. Capone lived so lavishly and openly that Chicago newspapers wrote about him in their gossip columns. The criminal syndicate known as the Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, was especially active during the 1920s, '30s, '40s . He was finally shot to death by the authorities in 1934. Since his death, Joe Masseria has been portrayed in several films like The Valachi Papers, Lucky Luciano, Mobsters, and Lansky. He was assassinated in a car-bomb attack. The 1930s were dominated by the Great Depression in the United States and the rise of Nazi Germany in Europe. Al Capone, also called Scarface, was a major gangster during the Prohibition era in Chicago. He was paroled in 1968 and died in Spain in 1979. Amazon Direct. If the Old West Outlaws get a lot of historic attention, a close second are the gangsters of the 1920's Prohibition era and the 1930's Depression period. Those include high-profile criminals wanted by state and federal law enforcement agencies for armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, and other violent crime. Primary Sources: The Great Depression and the 1930s: Gangsters. Its chief,Al Capone, controlled all underworld operations in the Chicago area. Convicted for his alleged role in the Kansas City massacre, he spent time in Alcatraz. Freddie grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, running the streets with the Central Park Gang, whose members included his older brothers Herman, Lloyd, and Arthur Doc Barker, Volney Davis, and Harry Campbell. Sam Giancana was an American gangster. John Dillinger. John Steinbeck, in "A Primer on the 30s . During his 40-year criminal career, he stole an estimated $2 million, and eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison. Eliot Ness was an FBI agent who achieved fame as leader of a team of law enforcement agents known as the Untouchables. If prohibition was what concieved the Public Enemy, then the Great Depression was what gave birth to it. He viewed crime as just another business, one that he happened to be skilled at doing. Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2022. . He served 26 years in Alcatraz, the longest time a federal prisoner spent there. My parents lived through it and in 1956 we didn't throw out the string that held our laundry package together. Dubbed as the "Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills" after the Great Depression, Floyd began to rob banks in order to help . Kelly was an American gangster during the Prohibition era. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/crime-in-the-great-depression. He was a mechanic and armorer for Chicago's underworld and Depression-era criminals, as well as the primary competitor to, Loeser was an American physician and pharmacist, who provided medical care to underworld figures during the public enemy era of the 1930s. He earned his nickname, shortened from Jellybean, from a slang word meaning a well dressed man (or some accounts say it was a reference to the nitroglycerine used in explosives to crack open safes). During the Great Depression, casting gangsters as heroes created a new film genre that symbolized the decay of American society, as well as the fear that traditional values would not survive the . Respect for the government is restored and the crime . if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { John Franzese was a mobster who served as the underboss of the infamous Colombo crime family from 1963 to 1967. He was married to three different women at the same time. 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. Each gang member received a share of the loot in proportion to the level of participation. Pretty Boy Floyd was a bank robber during the Great Depression and very popular with the media at the time. 15. King, the driver of a horse-drawn hansom cab, is killed in a turf war between Vic Toledo's cab company and his competitors. The Karpis-Barker gang was the most violent and successful of the era and Karpis was its defacto leader. In 2005, he once again became the underboss of the crime family until he was convicted in 2011. He cultivated good public relations by donating money to charity, and opening soup kitchens during theDepression. He was listed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted in late 1955, and was apprehended by the FBI that same year. Although estimates vary, most experts believe at least read more, Disenchantment with Prohibition had been building almost from the moment it first took effect in 1920. Keynes advocated government intervention to kickstart economies in a slump. 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. The Great Depression left classical economists stumped as faith in free markets appeared to be misplaced. Also known as Baron Lamm, he was a German-American bank robber. We didn't throw out the brown paper it was wrapped in. They generally calculated business practices rather than personal vendettas, where one gang would line up rival gang members and shoot them down, or make a surprise attack on them, blasting or bombing until their rivals were dead. To this day, the perpetrators' identity remains a mystery. Besides the automobile, they were assisted by new hard-surfaced highways, and the Rand-McNally Road Atlas, which first came out in 1924. Historians have labelled the 1930s as the "Public Enemy" era; a . 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. In reality, a car with Clarence Hurt and E.J. He became a government witness against John Gotti, the Gambino family boss. Though the countrys most famous real-life gangster, Al Capone, was locked up for tax evasion in 1931 and spent the rest of the decade in federal prison, others like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky (both in New York City) pushed aside old-line crime bosses to form a new, ruthless Mafia syndicate. Richetti was an American criminal and Depression-era bank robber. Pg177. A biography of thenotoriousJohn Herbert Dillinger family life, hometown, criminal activities, relationships and more. He was the mastermind in the attempted escape from Alcatraz in 1943. In 1922 he robbed he Denver mint of $200,000. Those include high-profile criminals wanted by state and federal law enforcement agencies for armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, and other violent crime. Hoovers car had been delayed and came up behind them moments later. Sundance Kid was the nickname of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, an outlawand member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. Notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and was regarded as a celebrity gangster. Good-looking and charismatic, he was an enigmatic figure. Sammy Gravano, also known as Sammy the Bull, was initially part of the Colombo crime family and later the underboss of the Gambino crime family. He was known for violence and cruelty in eliminating rival gang members, the most infamous incident being the St. Valentines Day Massacre. Your email address will not be published. Public Enemies Gangsters 10 Famous Depression-era Bank Robbers. American gangsters during the great depression made headlines by committing crimes and killing innocent people. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. Others were far more dangerous and prolific. In fact, the homicide rate exceeded 9.0 in every year from . [6] Hunt, Brian (2012). Edward Eddie J. Adams Kansas bootlegger, John William Anglin and Alfred Clarence Anglin Escaped From Alcatraz, Arthur R. Doc Barker Member of Barker-Karpis Gang, Barker-Karpis Gang Terrorized the Midwest, George Kelly Barnes, aka: George Machine Gun Kelly, Bennie Iva Blanche Caldwell Barrow Barrow Gang Member, Bonnie & Clyde Stars of the Public Enemy Era, Alphonse Gabriel Al Capone Chicago Mobster, Gangsters, Thugs, and Mafia in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Jack Gilbert Graham The Fatal Flight of UA 629, Hells Belle Gunness Black Widow of the Midwest, John Red Hamilton, aka Three Finger Jack, Kansas City Massacre Gangsters vs. the Law, Typhoid Mary Mallon Spreading the Fever, Vernon C. MillerInvolved in the Kansas City Massacre, Joseph P. MoranDepression-era gangster, Giuseppe The Clutch Hand Morello Member of the Morello crime family, Murder, Inc. Part of the Italian-American Mafia, Edna Rabbits MurrayDepression-era Outlaw, Purple Gang A mob of bootleggers and hijackers, Mobster Dutch Schultz & His Hidden Treasure, Benjamin Bugsy SiegelJewish American mobster, Giovanni Johnny Torrio Italian-American mobster. All they wanted was their booze! The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump that affected people of all sorts. In the 1930s, the violence was more desperate as outlaws were determined to have their way at any cost. Mobsters belonged to organized crime rings. The films produced were either "social conscious" dramas that reflected the . He played a major role in the Central Intelligence Agency's plot to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro as the CIA sought his help in their bid to assassinate Castro. He was finally shot to death by the authorities in 1934. Causes of the Dust Bowl Tragedy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1963. On February 14, 1929, seven men were killed in a Chicago garage by five unknown men wearing police uniforms. Often called "Mad Dog" or the "Tri-State Terror", he was an American criminal, burglar, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw. As film historian Jeanine Basinger notes in this clip, "The gangster figure represented somebody at the bottom of the social scale condemned to a life of nothing, who did not accept that as their fate and who found a way to change it, which was through violence." Bonnie & Clyde premieres January 19 at 9/8c on PBS. The Alvin Karpis Story. They followed in the tradition of Western outlaws such as Jesse James, except that after a hold-up, they used cars instead of horses for their getaway. They generally lived in large cities, and most were immigrants, or children of immigrants. During the Great Depression (1929-1939) there were a series of famous gangsters such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Ashley and Al Capone, committing crimes throughout the United States. Frechette served two years in federal prison for harboring hercriminal lover. He had been convicted for a number of crimes, including racketeering and loan-sharking and was serving a 139-year sentence when he died in 2019. . As the era of Prohibition gave way to the Great Depression, the first wave of gangster movies mirrored the growing anger and frustration of many Americans at their worsening economic conditions . Hamilton was a Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger's. Train and bank robber Butch Cassidy was the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Wild Bunch" in the Old West. He was mostly ignored in the 1930s, but his General Theory (1936) laid the . In 1941, Lehman retired from gunsmithing and remained in San Antonio designing custom boots and saddles until his death. [5] Karpis, Alvin (1971). Rate. If the Old West Outlaws get a lot of historic attention, a close second are the gangsters of the 1920s Prohibition era and the 1930s Depression period. Mickey Cohen was a gangster who became involved with the Chicago Outfit before running multiple businesses like casinos, nightclubs, gas stations, and floral shops. The most popular and well-known criminal of all Depression era gangsters, Dillinger personified how the general public identified with criminals who stole from banks and evaded law enforcement. His gang was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Pg 56, 61. He was killed by a shotgun blast in his car, and his murder caused a mob war for 4 years. 4.5. The kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh in 1931 increased the growing sense of lawlessness in the Depression era. They were most famous forbootlegging, but also managed gambling, prostitution, and abortion. Two FBI agents and a police chief arrested him on June 16, 1933. Urban citizens fared little better, yet those who had a nickel to spare spent it at the moves. [2] Duane B. Oyen. 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, Miller was a freelance Prohibition gunman, bootlegger, bank robber, and former sheriff in. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre shocked the American public more than any previous street violence, because it resembled an execution. Captain Matthew Leach headed the Indiana State Police during the Dillinger gang's heyday. The Great Depression began with the Wall Street crash in 1929, and lasted well into the following decades. While the public found their notoriety exciting, the government did not. Introduced to organized crime as a child, he proceeded to become one of the youngest-ever bosses of a crime family at just 26. On June 16, 1933, Herbert and Esther Farmer were involved in the plan that set into motion the. At this time, unemployment in the USA had risen to 25% and many more people were resorting to crime. Al Capone in 1930. Popularly known as the Howard Hughes of the Mob, Paul Castellano was the head of the Gambino crime family. Also known as John Murphy and George McEwen, Duffy was a Polish-American Atlantic City mobster and rival of Maxie "Boo Boo" Hoff during Prohibition. From 1957 to 1966, Giancana was the boss of the Chicago Outfit. The public generally had a positive view of him because when he robbed banks, he would destroy mortage documents, freeing many people from their debts. He died from a stroke in 1947. Politicians continued drinking as everyday people were slapped with charges. PPT. His 70-year prison sentence was commuted to a 5-year sentence, after he became an informant. But most aren't aware of how . ' From 1929 to 1931 the law enforcement team led by Eliot Ness was known as the Untouchables, a nickname given to describe their incorruptiblity while they aggressively enforced Prohbition laws against Al Capone and his gangsters. Many fictional TV and film characters have also been inspired by Whitey Bulger. Bailey was known as The dean of American bank robbers. Its estimated he stole well over a million dollars during his lifetime. The crisis led to increases in home mortgage foreclosures worldwide and caused millions of people to lose their life savings, their jobs read more, The 1930s in the United States began with an historic low: more than 15 million Americansfully one-quarter of all wage-earning workerswere unemployed. 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