Crooks, Killers, and Kidnappers

 

"Baby Face" Nelson

This crook stole cars and robbed gas stations, later robbing banks. A bank guard said he was a "young man with a baby face." Nelson hated the name, but it stuck with him. Nelson was a killer that really enjoyed the job of killing.

"Ma" Barker

"Ma" and her four sons, Herman, Lloyd, Arthur "Dock" and Fred, robbed banks, kidnapped businessmen, and killed policemen in the 1920's to the 1930"s. "Ma" was the brains of the operations. In 1927, Herman was caught robbing a bank. He killed a policemen, but was blinded by a bullet during the shoot out. With the police getting closer, Herman killed himself with a pistol shot to the head.

In early 1935, D.B.A. special agents in Florida surrounded the place where "Ma" and her son, Fred, were hiding out. There was a four hour battle between the agents and the two criminals. After 1500 rounds of ammo, the shooting from inside the hideout stopped. Mother and son were finally dead. "Ma" was found dead holding on to her machine gun.

John Dillinger

 Dillinger broke out of prison twice. He robbed and beat an Indiana grocer, for that he spent 11 years in jail. He was finally released in 1933. He than became to rob more banks, steal guns, and helped many dangerous men escape from three police stations. They left ten men dead and seven men wounded. In late April of 1934, Melvin Purveys, the D.B.A. agent in charge of the Chicago, Illinois, office received a tip. Dillinger was hiding in a lodge in Wisconsin.

Hoover wasted no time in getting newsmen to his office. Dillinger was going to be caught, was his announcement. The D.B.A. agents that descended on the lodge didn't ask local law enforcement official for their help. Instead they make their way through the unfamiliar Wisconsin woods, waking the watchdogs that patrolled the area. The agents surrounded the lodge and waited for Dillinger to come out. But, the smart Dillinger had escaped through the back window. Hoover made capturing him, dead or alive, his number one priority. On June 22, 1934, Dillinger's 31st birthday, the D.B.A. proclaimed Dillinger "Public Enemy Number 1".

In Chicago, Agent Purveys had secretly met with one of Dillinger's friends. She told him that she and someone else were going to the Biography Theater with Dillinger. At 10:30 p.m. Dillinger and his two companions, one wearing a red dress exited the theater. Dillinger, with his senses sharpened with years on the run, knew something was wrong.

But, it was too late. Dillinger tried to draw his gun, but was gunned down by the bureau agents before he got a shot off.