During the early 1930s, outlaws rampaged across much of America, seemingly robbing banks and kidnapping at will. Some of the more famous of these outlaws were Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly and Alvin Karpis and the Barkers, but John Dillinger was undoubtedly the star. A wave of celebrity kidnappings and the murder of four law enforcement officers in Kansas City in June 1933 during a botched attempt to rescue a veteran bank robber made it clear that a national police force was required. Local police were forbidden to cross state lines, so the Bureau of Investigation (later called the FBI), part of the Department of Justice, was an obvious candidate for this national police force. However, it had to pass through a steep learning curve since it was under-funded and its agents were not originally allowed to carry guns. A year later, almost none of the Public Enemies were alive and the FBI had become a national institution. Image Credit: By FBI - www.FBI.gov, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Cast of Characters: John Dillinger-member of the Pierpoint Gang and leader of the Dillinger-Nelson Gang Harry Pierpoint-leader of the Pierpoint Gang, which included John Dillinger, Charles Makley, Russell Clark, Ed Shouse and John “Red” Hamilton Herman Lamm-developed the techniques of modern bank robbers, active in the 1920s Harvey Bailey-veteran bank robber who mentored Machinegun Kelly, Alvin Karpis and Fred Barker Fred Barker-leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang, which included Fred's brother Athur “Doc” Barker, George “Shotgun” Ziegler, Volney Davis, William Harrison, Bryon Bolton, Russell Gibson and Lawrence DeVol Alvin Karpis-leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang, final public enemy to be caught Homer Van Meter-member of the Nelson Gang and the Dillinger-Nelson Gang George “Babyface” Nelson-leader of the Dillinger-Nelson Gang, which included Homer Van Meter, John “Red” Hamilton, Eddie Green, Tommy Carroll, Johnny Chase and Fatso Negri Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd-Oklahoma-based bank robber who became a suspect in the Kansas City Massacre Adam Richetti-Floyd's partner Verne Miller-primary suspect in the Kansas City Massacre, former partner of Frank Nash and Harvey Bailey Clyde Barrow-leader of the Barrow Gang, which included his brother Buck, Raymond Hamilton, Henry Methvin, W.D. Jones and his lover Bonnie Parker Frank Hamer-famous former Texas Ranger who hunted down Bonnie and Clyde George “Machine Gun” Kelly-bootlegger, bank robber and kidnapper Sources: Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34. Bryan Burrough The Dillinger Days-John Toland The Newton Boys: Portrait of an Outlaw Gang-Willis and Joe Newton (as told to Claude Stanush and David Middleton) Herman “Baron” Lamm, the Father of Modern Bank Robbery-Walter Mittelstaedt Baby Face Nelson: Portrait of a Public Enemy-Steven Nickel and William J. Helmer Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd-Michael Wallis Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde-Jeff Gunn The Strange History of Bonnie and Clyde-John Treherne The Tri-State Terror: The Life and Crimes of Wilbur Underhill-R.D. Morgan Taming the Sooner State: The War Between Lawmen & Outlaws in Oklahoma & Indian Territory 1875-1941-R.D. Morgan The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis’s War Against Crime, and J. Edgar Hoover’s War Against Him-Alston Purvis and Alex Tresniowski Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, Anthony SummersJ. Edgar Hoover: Secrecy and Power-Richard Gid Powers
