1933
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) became president in March 1933 it seemed likely that J. Edgar Hoover would be fired as director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation because he was unpopular with the new administration. This seems unfair since the Bureau had previously been considered to be nest of corruption and political influence peddling, but Hoover had cleaned it up. He had driven out the bad apples, hired motivated, young men with law degrees and enforced an extremely strict adherence to regulations to ensure that corruption did not have a place to fester. He emphasized efficiency and clear lines of command but while the agents became effective investigators, they had to rely on local police to make the actual arrests, since they were not permitted to carry guns. A wave of celebrity kidnappings, including the Charles Lindbergh case, gave the Bureau more attention and led to calls for a national police force. Furthermore, the recently appointed attorney-general, an elderly senator with a very young wife, suddenly died of a heart attack. The replacement attorney general was in favor of a national police force and Hoover knew that his survival depended on his department becoming the core of such a force.
‘G’ Men (1935)
Directed by William Keighley, starring James Cagney and Margaret Lindsay
An unsuccessful lawyer joins the FBI after his friend is killed while chasing outlaws loosely modeled on John Dillinger’s gang. The outlaws’ crime spree leads to FBI agents receiving permission to carry guns.
The FBI Story (1959)
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring James Stewart and Vera Miles
A veteran FBI agent relates his experience with the FBI from its humble beginnings through its battles with bank robbers, gangsters, Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and communists.
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977)
Directed by Larry Cohen, starring Broderick Crawford and Michael Parks
It follows Hoover during the 48 years that he ran the FBI and examines his willingness to bend the constitution to defend the nation, as well as his refusal to retire and the fear of presidents to openly confront him.

It is a common misconception that the wave of bank robberies between 1933 and 1934 was caused by the Depression. Bank robberies had reached their peak between 1925 and 1932, and the increase was due to technological advances, namely the V-8 car engine and the Thompson submachine gun, which enabled outlaws to outrun and outgun local police. Furthermore, robbing a bank was not a federal crime and police were not permitted to cross state lines.

The science of robbing banks, including the careful casing of a target, specific assignments for each person, and detailed getaway maps, was developed by Herman K. Lamm, whose gang robbed dozens of banks in the 1920s until a bullet ended his career and his life in 1930. 

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow had spent the past year robbing gas stations and grocery stores but were still relatively unknown. However, a family reunion with Clyde’s brother Buck in Joplin, Missouri turned into a shootout on April 12, 1933 when local police responding to a call from suspicious neighbors got more than they bargained for. Two officers ended up dead but the gang’s escape was so rushed that they left photos of themselves, which were published, so they now had to live on the run.
The Bonnie Parker Story (1958)
Directed by William Whitey, starring Dorothy Provine and Jack Hogan
Ruthless outlaw Bonnie Parker leads her sidekick Guy Darrow and his brother Chuck on a rampage across the South-West, robbing banks and leaving a trail of dead bodies.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Directed by Arthur Penn, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway
During the middle of the Depression, a small gang of bank robbers go on a crime spree in the mid-West but as they become more famous, the police make greater efforts to hunt them down.

Experienced bank robbers Alvin Karpis and the Barker brothers kidnapped William Hamm, chairman of the Hamm Brewery, in Minneapolis on June 15, 1933. They had switched to kidnapping because it seemed safer than robbing banks. Hamm was released the next day after his family paid a ransom of $100,000.
Ma Barker’s Killer Brood (1960)
Directed by Bill Karn, starring Lurene Tuttle and Paul Dubov
Ma Barker leads her four sons in a wave of bank robberies and kidnappings, while providing advice for other gangsters.

Pretty Boy Floyd was a successful bank robber in Oklahoma until six lawmen were ambushed and killed in January 1932 and he became a key suspect. After living on the run for over a year, Floyd realized that it was only a matter of time before the police caught him, so he decided to retire. Unfortunately, he was recognized by a local sheriff while having his car repaired, so he took the sheriff hostage and released him when they reached Kansas City during the evening of June 16.
Pretty Boy Floyd (1960)
Directed by Herbert J. Leder, starring John Ericson and Barry Newman
Tells the story of Pretty Boy Floyd, who was involved in the Kansas City Massacre and became a successful bank robber until the FBI finally tracked him down.
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
Directed by Larry Buchanan, starring Fabian and Jocelyn Lane
Pretty Boy Floyd becomes an outlaw after killing the man who murdered his father.

One FBI agent, two Kansas City policemen and an Oklahoma police chief are killed just outside Kansas City’s Union Station on June 17, 1933 during a botched attempt to rescue veteran bank robber Frank Nash, who died as well. It happened so fast that the shooters’ identities were unknown. The FBI immediately took charge of the case even though it did not have jurisdiction, but Kansas City was a den of corruption and the police chief actually refused to launch an investigation since the last thing he wanted was a bright light shined on his comfortable operation. Within a couple of weeks, bank robber and hitman Verne Miller had emerged as the principal suspect, although Floyd’s recent arrival meant that he was also a suspect.

The Barrow Gang is ambushed at the Red Crown Tavern, in Platte City, near Kansas City, Missouri on July 18, and although they escaped, Buck Barrow was too badly wounded to travel far, so he and his wife Blanche were captured six days later. Buck died on July 29 and Blanche was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Tired of robbing banks, Machine Gun Kelly and Albert Bates kidnap Oklahoma City oilman Charles Urschel on July 22, 1933 and free him nine days later in exchange for a $200,000 ransom.
Machine-Gun Kelly (1958)
Directed by Roger Corman, starring Charles Bronson and Susan Cabot
Kelly is a tough talking bank robber who is dominated by his wife. He attracts the attention of the FBI when his gang kidnaps a little girl and her nurse.

Baby Face Nelson’s gang robs its first bank in Grand Haven, Michigan on August 18, 1933 but it is an inauspicious beginning. They barely escape and each person’s share is only $600.
Baby Face Nelson (1957)
Directed by Don Siegel, starring Mickey Rooney and Carolyn Jones
Rising gangster Nelson allies with John Dillinger to oppose Al Capone.
Baby Face Nelson (1995)
Directed by Scott P. Levy, starring C. Thomas Howell and Lisa Zane
After being forced out of Chicago by Al Capone, Nelson becomes a famous bank robber but is finally hunted down by the FBI.

The FBI had its first big victory when it arrested Machine Gun Kelly and his wife in Memphis on September 26, so the public viewed it as the first line of defense in the war against the new breed of supercriminal.

John Dillinger first started robbing banks in June but his career almost came to an end when cooperation between Indiana state police and insurance agents led to his arrest on September 22. However, he was broken out of jail on October 12 by several friends, who had recently escaped from prison thanks to guns smuggled in by Dillinger. Eleven days later, the gang raided an Indiana bank and walked off with $75,000.
Dillinger (1945)
Directed by Max Nosseck, starring Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys
It shows the rise of John Dillinger from petty criminal to bank robber and finally Public Enemy Number One.
Dillinger (1973)
Directed by John Milius, starring Warren Oates and Ben Johnson
Following the death of several FBI agents during the Kansas City Massacre, FBI agent Melvin Purvis vows to capture or kill a number of famous outlaws including Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger.

Verne Miller was found dead in New Jersey on November 29 and he was believed to have been killed by Longy Zwillman’s gang for having attracted too much police attention. With his death, the Bureau lost its primary suspect in the Kansas City Massacre.

1934
Bonnie and Clyde broke Raymond Hamilton and several other prisoners out of jail in January. Infuriated, the prison warden persuaded former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer to lead the hunt for them.

While robbing an Indiana bank with John “Red” Hamilton on January 15, Dillinger killed a police officer who was trying to block their escape. He would spend the rest of his life denying that he had fired the shot but it ended his image as a gentleman bank robber. Not long after, the entire gang was arrested while vacationing in Tuscon, Arizona, where they relaxed so much that they let their guard down. Local police captured Charles Makley, Russell Clark, John Pierpoint and Dillinger one after the other during the evening of January 25.

The Barker-Karpis Gang kidnapped Edward Bremer, the son of the owner of Schmidt Brewery, on January 17. Unfortunately, Bremer’s father was an influential supporter of FDR, who made the kidnapping a national issue. Bremer was released on February 6 in exchange for a ransom of $200,000 only after the family had refused to cooperate with the FBI and negotiated directly with the kidnappers. Although the gang had been relatively careful, they had left behind the lights used to signal the meeting for dropping off the ransom and Dock Barker’s fingerprints were found on the gas cans used to refill the car when they released Bremer. Even though Fred Barker and Karpis had their fingerprints removed, they also became suspects in the kidnapping. 

Several states pressed for the right to prosecute Dillinger, but he was transferred to Crown Point, Indiana because he had killed a detective in that state. However, he managed to escape from the jail on March 3, supposedly by using a wooden gun that had been painted black. Since the rest of his gang was behind bars in Ohio, he joined Baby Face Nelson’s gang and they robbed a bank at Sioux Falls, South Dakota three days later. Hoover had initially been reluctant to have the FBI become involved since its resources were strained by the Bremer kidnapping but the national headlines forced him to make Dillinger the bureau’s priority.

Pretty Boy Floyd became one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives when fingerprints from Verne Miller’s home, which had been misfiled for months, were examined and one of them belonged to Adam Richetti, Floyd’s partner. With a suspect in the Kansas City Massacre, the FBI sprang into action on March 14. At least, Hoover ordered it to spring into action but the Oklahoma office did not have the manpower needed to follow up leads on the Barkers and Bonnie and Clyde, so little progress was made at first.

Alerted that entire Dillinger-Nelson gang was staying there, FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis stormed the Little Bohemia lodge in northern Wisconsin on the evening of April 22 but killed an innocent man named Eugene Boisneau by mistake, while the gang escaped in the confusion. The FBI did manage to capture several wives and girlfriends of the outlaws, but the incident became a national scandal.

By this time the FBI looked like the Federal Bureau of Incompetents. Both Dillinger and the Barkers had disappeared, while no one had seen Pretty Boy Floyd for months and the Kansas City Massacre was still a mystery.

Worse, the next major victory in the war on crime had nothing to do with the bureau. Hamer and five other law enforcement officials ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde near gang member Henry Methvin’s farm in Louisiana on May 23, 1934.

Dillinger received plastic surgery on May 28, losing the dimple in his chin and three facial moles, which enabled him to enjoy the social life in Chicago.

Although Hoover had backed Purvis after Little Bohemia, when Purvis’ agents failed to keep Nelson’s wife and the other women under surveillance on May 31, it became clear that it was time for a change of command and Sam Cowley was sent to Chicago to take charge.

By early July, Dillinger and Homer Van Meter had decided to end their association with Nelson because he was too risky. However, Dillinger was seeing a woman named Polly Hamilton who lived with Anna Sage, a former madam. Faced with being deported, Sage contacted the FBI and arranged to let them know when Dillinger would take the two women to see a movie. Despite careful planning, he figured out it was a trap just as Purvis gave the signal for the agents to arrest him. Seeing him reach for a gun, three agents shot him dead on July 22.

The Karpis-Barker gang had settled in Cleveland and tried to keep a low profile as they waited for the Bremer ransom money to be laundered. Unfortunately, three girlfriends and wives were arrested on September 5 for being drunk and disorderly. Karpis’ underworld contacts managed to delay the investigation long enough for the gang to get out of town before the women cracked and told the FBI everything they knew.

On September 6, Hoover made Cowley the senior FBI field agent with authority over any Bureau office in the nation.

Pretty Boy Floyd and Richetti were found by a local sheriff in Ohio on October 21 after suspicious locals had noticed their campsite. Richetti was captured but Floyd avoided arrest for another day before running into Melvin Purvis with several agents and local police. He was badly wounded and captured but died before a doctor arrived. Worse, he refused to say anything about the Kansas City Massacre. With Floyd dead, the FBI’s resources were concentrated on Nelson and the hunt showed that the Bureau had become much more professional.

The FBI had picked up the girlfriend of Nelson’s partner Johnny Chase and she told them where Nelson’s favorite resort was. It promptly had a stakeout but when Nelson arrived on November 27 he figured out that it was a trap and drove off. However, he had been recognized and several of the agents sent from Chicago saw him which led to a gun battle in which he was fatally wounded, although he lived long enough to kill Cowley and another agent. Nelson’s dead body was found two days later. 

1935
Dock Barker’s new wife could not resist boasting that her husband was a famous bank robber, so he was captured by the FBI on January 8, 1935 and agents found evidence in his belongings that led them to Fred and Ma Barker at a lake house in central Florida. Both Barkers were killed in a four hour long shootout and Hoover labeled Ma the brains of the gang to avoid being accused of murdering a grandmother with no criminal record. The fact that there was no evidence that Ma was involved in the crimes, never mind that she had been the mastermind of the gang, did not deter Hoover.

During 1935, every possible survivor and accomplice of the outlaws was tried and convicted. The public nature of the trials ensured that even if anyone did want to become a bank robber, there would be no more safe havens. Clyde’s former partners were executed, as was Richetti. All of the participants in the Bremer kidnapping were given life sentences and sent to Alcatraz.

1936
Karpis managed to elude the FBI for over a year because the agents were more preoccupied with ensuring that postal inspectors did not find him than actually searching for him. However, he was finally tracked down in New Orleans. Hoover had been criticized for his lack of experience during a senate hearing and he was so embarrassed that he decided to arrest Karpis personally. It seems likely that agent Earl Connelly made the actual arrest on May 1, 1936 but the official FBI version gave all the credit to Hoover.

Now that the War on Crime appeared to be almost over, Hoover was surprised and angered to see that Purvis was receiving most of the media attention. Hoover had reluctantly accepted the attorney-general’s efforts at public relations but the FBI became famous only after the movie G-Men was released and spawned a number of imitators. After being forced out of the FBI, Purvis wrote a book about the FBI that came out in 1936 and earned Hoover’s undying enmity.

The successful pursuit of the outlaws came at the same time as the beginning of the end of the Depression. The country was in a new mood and outlaws like Dillinger were replaced by symbols of law and order, namely Melvin Purvis and then the Bureau itself. The Bureau was believed to be responsible for maintaining public security on a national scale, so its abuse of power was forgiven, which would cause it to commit greater abuses in the future. Once the Bureau had become the leading symbol of law and order, Hoover ensured that Purvis never again re-entered public life.

Books:

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34. Bryan Burrough, New York: The Penguin Press, 2004.

The author grew up listening to stories about Bonnie and Clyde, and decided to write the book because there was no single history of that period, partially because the FBI files had only been released in the late 1980s. His access to previously sealed FBI files means that the story is as much about the evolution of the FBI as it is about the gangsters themselves. It is a superb, one-stop look at that brief period where outlaws seemed to roam free. Ignoring the easy approach of dividing the book into several sections that focus on individual gangs, the story is told in chronological order, which might appear confusing to some readers but serves to show how interrelated the events were. Most of the gangs knew each other and their paths crossed more frequently than I would have thought, which may help to explain why the FBI was so confused in the beginning. Burrough’s attention to detail is impressive, he shows what happened to the main FBI agents, the surviving outlaws who ended up in prison, and their various girlfriends and accomplices. What is odd is that once the War on Crime was over, no one really talked about it. The agents rarely told their families, while the families of the outlaws often preferred to move forward and leave their tainted past behind them.