A look at the real “Cops and Robbers” of the Depression.

[Les Gillis]

Excellet Bonnie & Clyde Site

http://texashideout.tripod.com/bc.htm

Les

 

[Les Gillis]

Karpis

Have you read either of his books?

His first one Public Enemy #1: The Alvin Karpis Story is definatly worth tracking down a copy.

He gives detailed accounts of their activities and yet he's conveinently away when someone gets killed.

Les

 

[Forgotten Man]

Have you read either of his books?

His first one Public Enemy #1: The Alvin Karpis Story is definatly worth tracking down a copy.

He gives detailed accounts of their activities and yet he's conveinently away when someone gets killed.

Les

I know of his book, would like to read it... but, haven't gotten around picking up a copy.

I found a page about the author, how he met Karpis and such... interesting to be able to sit down with an ex gangster and talk about his life of crime... that must have been interesting!

FM~

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

Banks known to have been robbed by Clyde Barrow:

Les,

I stand corrected. I am afraid I did not do my homework before making the statement about the bank jobs.

 

[HadleyH]

oops double post

 

[HadleyH]

can I name some from the 20s and 30s ? these ones here,were very, very bad boys [huh]




Bugsy Siegel - handsome, debonair and lethal

Machine Gun Kelly

Dutch Schulz, this one was the worst monster of them all, a true psychopath , he wins hands down

 

[Forgotten Man]

can I name some from the 20s and 30s ? these ones here,were very, very bad boys [huh]

Bugsy Siegel - handsome, debonair and lethal

Ah, ya better not call him Bugsy! He'd kill over that one! He prefered to be called Ben or Benjamin... No one ever called him Bugsy... well, not to his face anyway!

Benjamin Siegel was sent out to California in '37 to take care of business... he died in '47... in his home on his own living room sofa.

The movie "Bugsy" is entertaining but, not (as most Hollywood films are) exactly historically accurate.

It's nice to see a gal get in on this conversation! Thanks for your comment!

FM~

 

[Les Gillis]

Banks known to have been robbed by Clyde Barrow:

Les,

I stand corrected. I am afraid I did not do my homework before making the statement about the bank jobs.

No problem, I spend way too much time reading about the 1930s auto bandits...

Les

 

[BigSleep]

If I remember correctly John Dillinger's first stretch in the can was for mugging a grocer. Hit him over the head and took his money. Just another dashing thug. ("Stretch in the can" man I'm slingin' the lingo!)

I think guys like Dillinger and the Barrow gang we more "Outlaws" than someone like Al Capone or Dutch Schultz who truly were "Gangsters".

 

[jamespowers]

Ol' Creepy... start at the start I supose hahaha.

I started this thread, someone else can start the Karpis topic

Here's a photo of him to get things started:

FM~

Hmmmmm..... There is a resemblance between him and one of the Loungers I know. Check past threads to see who.

 

[BigSleep]

Here is an interesting link.

http://texashideout.tripod.com/hats.html

 

[up196]

Ah, yes . . .

Hmmmmm..... There is a resemblance between him and one of the Loungers I know. Check past threads to see who.

I remember that thread well!

 

[jamespowers]

I remember that thread well!

Yep, the resemblance is just scary.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Well, let's talk about the real Karpis... if you please We all know about the look-a-like guy... lol

Karpis was originally apart of Ma Barker's hoods right?... they were baaaad! The kind of thugs that killed if someone was in the way of takin' care of business... cold.

FM~

 

[jamespowers]

Well, let's talk about the real Karpis... if you please We all know about the look-a-like guy... lol

Karpis was originally apart of Ma Parker's hoods right?... they were baaaad! The kind of thugs that killed if someone was in the way of takin' care of business... cold.

FM~

Ok, ok. That is exactly who Karpis was---Except the Barker gang. The guy was more dangerous than Billy the Kid.
There seems to be a theme going about among golden age criminal women.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Ok, ok. That is exactly who Karpis was---Except the Barker gang. The guy was more dangerous than Billy the Kid.
There seems to be a theme going about among golden age criminal women.

Did I say Parker and not Barker? Aw geeeee... shouldn't post right after I wake uplol

Yes, he was a very dangerous person... one of the type that sees nothing wrong with killing... it's sort of part of the business in their minds... someone is in the way, needs to be taken out of the way... cold, cold, cold!

FM~

PS. My mistake has been FIXED!

 

[Story]

A photograph taken long ago in La Salle County that purportedly shows Al Capone and Chicago's then mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson prompted one of the mob boss' relatives to step forward — with anger.

The photograph in question was snapped in December 1930, at St. Joseph's Health Resort in Wedron. The four-foot long, 15-inch wide panoramic shot shows several hundred people standing in front of and on top the resort, including Thompson. The occasion was Thompson's stay at the resort recovering from appendix surgery. It was the presence of another man among the other faces that caught the eye of Chicago mob researcher, author and University of Illinois at Chicago professor John Binder.

Binder said he was "99 percent plus positive" the man is Capone. Besides matching the general physical characteristics of the mob legend, the man also sported the well-known accoutrements: vest, overcoat and pearl gray fedora. One of the things that might have made it 100 percent, however, was missing: a Thompson submachine gun. Several of the men near this figure also wore similar clothes, the informal uniform of the mob under Capone.

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=394843

Chicago professor and mob researcher John Binder is convinced infamous gangster Al Capone is present in this photograph of Chicago Mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson and others, which was snapped Dec. 9, 1930, at St. Joseph's Health Resort in Wedron. The man Binder believes is Capone, is standing on the roof, marked No. 2. The man third from Capone's left, marked No. 3, Binder identifies as Mike Spranze, a Capone henchman. This is a cropped version of the original photo, which shows more people. No. 1 in the larger photo is Thompson.

 

[Stearmen]

Banks known to have been robbed by Clyde Barrow:



9. First National Bank, Stuart, Iowa- April 16th, 1934. Take:$1,500.


There are more that are suspected to be Clyde's work; but the evidence isn't as strong.


Les

Well, this answer a question I have had for years! My parents grew up in Stuart, Iowa during the 30s. My mother always told me the story of her and her sister staying at their aunt and uncles house, when suddenly her uncle Jass ran home yelling Bonnie and Clyde are in town, then grabbed the girls and ran them out to hide in the root cellar! My mother said she was never so scared in her life, the root cellar was damp, dark, and full of spiders, she didn't think about the Barrow gang. Legend had it, the town Watchman saw them and they said "just keep on walking", which he did, he went fishing!

 

[texan]

To answer the poster's original comment, Hollywood (and its attendant authors) have skewered the facts (IMHO) by turning killers into statuatory hero's. I found both Burroughs and Guinn guilty as advocates for the Barrow Gang and Dillinger in both their books. Regardless of Lee Simmon's perverse comments, the Texas Department of Corrections' (TDC) many Ed Crowder's within its walls (then and now) one simply has to go to the Officer Down website, or make a pilgrimage to the locations where these officers were gunned down to let the truth sink in. We all have opinions; mine is as discriminatory as the next. The era is neat and fun to research but authors, reenactors and historians should not try to make these bandits out as anything but the criminal minds they were.