Chris Enss's Blog - Posts Tagged "al-capone"
Pleasing Ma
This is it! The last week left to win a copy of the new book Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Fred Barker sat in a dark corner at Tallman’s Grill in Kansas City, Missouri, enjoying the music of a jazz troupe. He was situated behind a lavishly decorated table loaded with steaks, oysters, and frogs’ legs. He was waiting for his date, Paula Harmon, also known as Polly Walker. She attracted more than casual attention when she finally arrived. The amply built, full-fleshed woman with reddish-blonde hair wore a stylish gown suited for an evening out. A silver fox-fur cape was draped over her shoulders, and on her left hand was a ring studded with eight diamonds. She was twenty-nine years old and had a reputation for treating men with flirtatious condescension, as if they were children.
In spite of objections from friends and family, Fred enjoyed Paula’s company. She possessed an average face, hazel eyes, and a scarred nose, which gave the impression that she had been struck by a heavy instrument. She greeted Fred with a kiss, and he helped her into her chair. The two always had a great deal to talk about; they had a lot in common. Fred liked to shower her with gifts as well, and Paula liked to accept them.
“Girls liked Freddie and he didn’t mind spending money on them,” Alvin Karpis wrote in his memoirs. “But he wasn’t always lucky in the type of broad who hooked him. Paula Harmon turned out to be a rotten choice, though you couldn’t tell that to Freddie when he got stuck on her. Paula was a drunk too.”
Fred wasn’t the first gangster to overlook Paula’s drinking. She was the widow of bank robber Charles Harmon. Charles died from a gunshot wound in the neck he received fleeing the scene of a bank robbery in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Paula, a native of Georgia, earned her living operating a house of ill -repute in Chicago. Patrons referred to her as “Fat Witted” because she had a sharp tongue when provoked.
Paula and Fred met at Herbert Farmer’s homestead near Joplin, Missouri, shortly after her husband died. The Farmers were good friends who helped her through the loss and protected her from questions the police might have wanted to ask her. Fred thought Paula was charming, and she liked the attention he gave her.
After helping rob the bank in Fairbury, Nebraska, Fred made it clear to his associates that he wanted to spend time with a woman, away from the business. Verne Miller’s paramour suggested he reacquaint himself with Paula. Fred and Paula met again in mid-April 1933 in St. Paul and then traveled to Kansas City for a brief vacation. The pair used the alias of Mr. and Mrs. J. Stanley Smith. Mrs. Smith was a housewife, and Mr. Smith posed as a salesman for the Federated Metal Company of St. Louis.
To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother on GoodReads or visit www.chrisenss.com
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Fred Barker sat in a dark corner at Tallman’s Grill in Kansas City, Missouri, enjoying the music of a jazz troupe. He was situated behind a lavishly decorated table loaded with steaks, oysters, and frogs’ legs. He was waiting for his date, Paula Harmon, also known as Polly Walker. She attracted more than casual attention when she finally arrived. The amply built, full-fleshed woman with reddish-blonde hair wore a stylish gown suited for an evening out. A silver fox-fur cape was draped over her shoulders, and on her left hand was a ring studded with eight diamonds. She was twenty-nine years old and had a reputation for treating men with flirtatious condescension, as if they were children.
In spite of objections from friends and family, Fred enjoyed Paula’s company. She possessed an average face, hazel eyes, and a scarred nose, which gave the impression that she had been struck by a heavy instrument. She greeted Fred with a kiss, and he helped her into her chair. The two always had a great deal to talk about; they had a lot in common. Fred liked to shower her with gifts as well, and Paula liked to accept them.
“Girls liked Freddie and he didn’t mind spending money on them,” Alvin Karpis wrote in his memoirs. “But he wasn’t always lucky in the type of broad who hooked him. Paula Harmon turned out to be a rotten choice, though you couldn’t tell that to Freddie when he got stuck on her. Paula was a drunk too.”
Fred wasn’t the first gangster to overlook Paula’s drinking. She was the widow of bank robber Charles Harmon. Charles died from a gunshot wound in the neck he received fleeing the scene of a bank robbery in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Paula, a native of Georgia, earned her living operating a house of ill -repute in Chicago. Patrons referred to her as “Fat Witted” because she had a sharp tongue when provoked.
Paula and Fred met at Herbert Farmer’s homestead near Joplin, Missouri, shortly after her husband died. The Farmers were good friends who helped her through the loss and protected her from questions the police might have wanted to ask her. Fred thought Paula was charming, and she liked the attention he gave her.
After helping rob the bank in Fairbury, Nebraska, Fred made it clear to his associates that he wanted to spend time with a woman, away from the business. Verne Miller’s paramour suggested he reacquaint himself with Paula. Fred and Paula met again in mid-April 1933 in St. Paul and then traveled to Kansas City for a brief vacation. The pair used the alias of Mr. and Mrs. J. Stanley Smith. Mrs. Smith was a housewife, and Mr. Smith posed as a salesman for the Federated Metal Company of St. Louis.
To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother on GoodReads or visit www.chrisenss.com
Dangerous Criminals
Only one day left to enter to win a copy of the new book Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother
along with a Ma Barker gift package which includes a two night stay at one of Ma’s favorite hideout cities, Reno, Nevada.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Cold wind and spitting rain assaulted patrons outside the Rialto Theatre in downtown Chicago in late April 1934. Inside, smartly uniformed ushers escorted excited moviegoers to their seats. They hurried along the plush, carpeted aisles, chattering about the film they were about to see and the violent weather that had threatened to keep them away. The ticket-holders paid little attention to anyone outside the friends or family with them. Ma, Fred, and Alvin were pleased by the moviegoers’ preoccupation. Although the three weren’t trying to hide their identities, they did not want people to take undue notice of them. They sat quietly in their seats, waiting for the movie to begin. A hush fell over the audience when the lights were dimmed and the projector came on. Fred sunk down in his seat, and Alvin draped his arm affectionately around Ma’s shoulders.
A Universal International Newsreel flashed on the giant screen in front of the group. The footage included a press conference of German foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath denouncing France for “destroying at a single blow the result of lengthy negotiations for disarmament,” a report about the death of American sportswriter and editor Joe Vila, and an announcement about the American government’s war against dangerous and criminally prolific gangsters.
A shot of a federal agent reviewing a stack of files appeared on the screen. The names on the tops of the file folders read Charles A. Floyd alias “Pretty Boy,” Homer Van Meter, Vernon C. Miller, and John Hamilton. The agent reached inside a couple of the folders and removed photographs of some of the men. A clip of heavily armed federal investigators racing to their vehicles to chase after thugs followed the criminals’ pictures. “G Men fight to protect citizens from dangerous lawbreakers,” a banner across the bottom of the screen read. “These men are public enemies,” the next banner announced. More pictures were shown—John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Fred Barker, and Alvin
Karpis. “Remember, one of these men may be sitting beside you.”
To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win on this site or when you visit www.chrisenss.com.
along with a Ma Barker gift package which includes a two night stay at one of Ma’s favorite hideout cities, Reno, Nevada.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Cold wind and spitting rain assaulted patrons outside the Rialto Theatre in downtown Chicago in late April 1934. Inside, smartly uniformed ushers escorted excited moviegoers to their seats. They hurried along the plush, carpeted aisles, chattering about the film they were about to see and the violent weather that had threatened to keep them away. The ticket-holders paid little attention to anyone outside the friends or family with them. Ma, Fred, and Alvin were pleased by the moviegoers’ preoccupation. Although the three weren’t trying to hide their identities, they did not want people to take undue notice of them. They sat quietly in their seats, waiting for the movie to begin. A hush fell over the audience when the lights were dimmed and the projector came on. Fred sunk down in his seat, and Alvin draped his arm affectionately around Ma’s shoulders.
A Universal International Newsreel flashed on the giant screen in front of the group. The footage included a press conference of German foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath denouncing France for “destroying at a single blow the result of lengthy negotiations for disarmament,” a report about the death of American sportswriter and editor Joe Vila, and an announcement about the American government’s war against dangerous and criminally prolific gangsters.
A shot of a federal agent reviewing a stack of files appeared on the screen. The names on the tops of the file folders read Charles A. Floyd alias “Pretty Boy,” Homer Van Meter, Vernon C. Miller, and John Hamilton. The agent reached inside a couple of the folders and removed photographs of some of the men. A clip of heavily armed federal investigators racing to their vehicles to chase after thugs followed the criminals’ pictures. “G Men fight to protect citizens from dangerous lawbreakers,” a banner across the bottom of the screen read. “These men are public enemies,” the next banner announced. More pictures were shown—John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Fred Barker, and Alvin
Karpis. “Remember, one of these men may be sitting beside you.”
To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win on this site or when you visit www.chrisenss.com.
Winning Ma Barker
Latasha Sandoval is the winner of the Ma Barker giveaway! She’ll receive a copy of the new book Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother, a gift basket filled with goodies that would make Ma Barker proud, and a two-night stay in one of Ma’s favorite getaway cities, Reno, Nevada.
Another Ma Barker giveaway will be take place in October. Stay tuned.
Visit www.chrisenss.com for more information and to register for the next giveaway!
Another Ma Barker giveaway will be take place in October. Stay tuned.
Visit www.chrisenss.com for more information and to register for the next giveaway!
Gunfight at Lake Weir
Enter now to win a copy of
Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Fifteen federal agents stood in rapt silence outside the home of Mrs. Blackburn and her son in Lake Weir, Florida. Mrs. Blackburn was really Ma Barker. At 5:32 in the morning on January 16, 1935, an investigator had knocked on the front door of the house and shouted, “We are Department of Justice men. Come on out!” He heard naked feet patter along an inside hallway and doors on the second floor of the home opening and closing. The FBI believed Ma and Fred were inside the house but were not certain if anyone else was with them.
The agent who had dared approach the two-story residence walked backwards to a spot behind one of the many oak trees on the property. He exchanged a glance with the other agents under cover around him. Their lips were grim, their hands loose upon their machine guns. No one said a word for several long moments. Finally, Ma responded to law enforcement’s demand that she and her son, Fred come out.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Federal officers,” the lead agent replied.
More time passed; then Ma called out, “All right, go ahead.”
The special agents interpreted the remark to mean that Ma and Fred were going to surrender, but they were wrong. Fred suddenly appeared in the front doorway, bare-headed, in a white shirt and gray trousers, and with a spitting machine gun. As Fred’s bullets crashed toward the agent, Ma’s high shrill voice came like a cry of doom: “Let ‘em have it!” Fred’s machine gun fire was answered by tear gas bombs, rifle fire, and machine-gun fire from weapons in the hands of FBI agents.
Across the way from the white house, Mrs. A. F. Westberry was awakened by the roar of gunfire. It seemed to come from all sides of her house; it was close up, and it seemed to shake the building. In abject terror, she jerked herself to a sitting position as bullets crashed through her closed bedroom door and buried themselves in the head of her bed. She later told newspaper reporters:
“I got out of bed…opened the door a crack, and more bullets came through the window and hit the face of the door above my head. I looked out the window and saw the yard was full of men. From Mr. Bradford’s house across the road there was a lot of shooting. I could see streaks of fire from the guns. I could see the blazes from the men’s guns on the outside. There was a lot of rapid fire like machine guns. My daughter was in bed. I broke open the back window of our room and told her we had to get out. About that time some more bullets came smacking through the dining room window and hit the wall.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Fifteen federal agents stood in rapt silence outside the home of Mrs. Blackburn and her son in Lake Weir, Florida. Mrs. Blackburn was really Ma Barker. At 5:32 in the morning on January 16, 1935, an investigator had knocked on the front door of the house and shouted, “We are Department of Justice men. Come on out!” He heard naked feet patter along an inside hallway and doors on the second floor of the home opening and closing. The FBI believed Ma and Fred were inside the house but were not certain if anyone else was with them.
The agent who had dared approach the two-story residence walked backwards to a spot behind one of the many oak trees on the property. He exchanged a glance with the other agents under cover around him. Their lips were grim, their hands loose upon their machine guns. No one said a word for several long moments. Finally, Ma responded to law enforcement’s demand that she and her son, Fred come out.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Federal officers,” the lead agent replied.
More time passed; then Ma called out, “All right, go ahead.”
The special agents interpreted the remark to mean that Ma and Fred were going to surrender, but they were wrong. Fred suddenly appeared in the front doorway, bare-headed, in a white shirt and gray trousers, and with a spitting machine gun. As Fred’s bullets crashed toward the agent, Ma’s high shrill voice came like a cry of doom: “Let ‘em have it!” Fred’s machine gun fire was answered by tear gas bombs, rifle fire, and machine-gun fire from weapons in the hands of FBI agents.
Across the way from the white house, Mrs. A. F. Westberry was awakened by the roar of gunfire. It seemed to come from all sides of her house; it was close up, and it seemed to shake the building. In abject terror, she jerked herself to a sitting position as bullets crashed through her closed bedroom door and buried themselves in the head of her bed. She later told newspaper reporters:
“I got out of bed…opened the door a crack, and more bullets came through the window and hit the face of the door above my head. I looked out the window and saw the yard was full of men. From Mr. Bradford’s house across the road there was a lot of shooting. I could see streaks of fire from the guns. I could see the blazes from the men’s guns on the outside. There was a lot of rapid fire like machine guns. My daughter was in bed. I broke open the back window of our room and told her we had to get out. About that time some more bullets came smacking through the dining room window and hit the wall.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Waiting for a Grave
Enter now to win a copy of
Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
The bodies of Ma Barker and her son Fred were taken to the Pyle Mortuary in Ocala, Florida, after they were killed in the shoot-out with federal agents. On January 16, 1935, mother and son were laid on stainless steel slabs, their frames covered with sheets from their necks down. Marion County officials and federal agents posed for photographs with the dead gangsters, and reporters negotiated with morgue employees for a chance to see the well-known criminals lying in state.
The deceased outlaws were the town’s top attraction for eight months. Their iced-down bodies, riddled with bullet holes, were still and bloated, waiting for somebody to come bury them. The FBI encouraged the Barkers’ extended stay in Florida, hoping that gang members still at large might drop by to make sure the two gangsters were indeed Ma and Fred Barker. No gang members showed, but tourists came from all over the country to view the bodies.
George Barker, Ma’s estranged husband, was notified of the death of his wife and son on January 17, 1935. The January 18, 1935, edition of the Springfield Daily News noted that George, now sixty-seven, wasn’t interested in hearing about the pair. “I don’t care when and how Fred and Kate are buried,” he told reporters. “I don’t care to have them brought back here. I wouldn’t care to attend the funeral. I’d like to be left out of all this. They chose their path some years ago and I followed mine. I haven’t seen any of them in years.”
George was a solitary man who had worked at a gas station and as a caretaker of a campground in Joplin, Missouri, since he and Ma had gone their separate ways in 1928. An article in the October 14, 1935, edition of the Pulaski Southwest Times reported that George rarely, if ever, spoke to his estranged wife and children. He was visited often by law enforcement agents who speculated that members of the Barker-Karpis Gang might use his home and business as a place to hide from the law. George’s friends and neighbors said he was honest and upright and that his only solace came in knowing that at least one member of the family remained respectable.
“After the Barker boys began to get in ‘big time’ crime they tried to lure their father away from Joplin,” the Pulaski Southwest Times article read. “They told him he would not have to worry anymore about money the rest of his life. George, however, chose to remain in Joplin barely earning enough to live on.”
The government strongly encouraged George to assume the legal responsibility for taking care of burying his family. It wasn’t until George learned that Ma and Fred would be given a pauper’s funeral and laid to rest in Florida that he decided he wanted to bring them home. The problem was he didn’t have money for his estranged wife and son to be transported to Oklahoma to be buried next to Herman. It would take George several months to gather enough funds to get the job done.
In the meantime, George learned that he and another gentleman named Frank Dixon were named co-administrators of Fred’s estate. The money discovered at the Florida home where Fred and Ma were killed had been confiscated by the FBI. The serial numbers on the bills did not match those on the ransom money from the Bremer kidnapping, but the bureau had a reasonable expectation that the cash had been acquired from some illegal activity. The government would not release the funds to Fred’s estate and refused to give George a receipt for it.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother here or at www.chrisenss.com.
Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
The bodies of Ma Barker and her son Fred were taken to the Pyle Mortuary in Ocala, Florida, after they were killed in the shoot-out with federal agents. On January 16, 1935, mother and son were laid on stainless steel slabs, their frames covered with sheets from their necks down. Marion County officials and federal agents posed for photographs with the dead gangsters, and reporters negotiated with morgue employees for a chance to see the well-known criminals lying in state.
The deceased outlaws were the town’s top attraction for eight months. Their iced-down bodies, riddled with bullet holes, were still and bloated, waiting for somebody to come bury them. The FBI encouraged the Barkers’ extended stay in Florida, hoping that gang members still at large might drop by to make sure the two gangsters were indeed Ma and Fred Barker. No gang members showed, but tourists came from all over the country to view the bodies.
George Barker, Ma’s estranged husband, was notified of the death of his wife and son on January 17, 1935. The January 18, 1935, edition of the Springfield Daily News noted that George, now sixty-seven, wasn’t interested in hearing about the pair. “I don’t care when and how Fred and Kate are buried,” he told reporters. “I don’t care to have them brought back here. I wouldn’t care to attend the funeral. I’d like to be left out of all this. They chose their path some years ago and I followed mine. I haven’t seen any of them in years.”
George was a solitary man who had worked at a gas station and as a caretaker of a campground in Joplin, Missouri, since he and Ma had gone their separate ways in 1928. An article in the October 14, 1935, edition of the Pulaski Southwest Times reported that George rarely, if ever, spoke to his estranged wife and children. He was visited often by law enforcement agents who speculated that members of the Barker-Karpis Gang might use his home and business as a place to hide from the law. George’s friends and neighbors said he was honest and upright and that his only solace came in knowing that at least one member of the family remained respectable.
“After the Barker boys began to get in ‘big time’ crime they tried to lure their father away from Joplin,” the Pulaski Southwest Times article read. “They told him he would not have to worry anymore about money the rest of his life. George, however, chose to remain in Joplin barely earning enough to live on.”
The government strongly encouraged George to assume the legal responsibility for taking care of burying his family. It wasn’t until George learned that Ma and Fred would be given a pauper’s funeral and laid to rest in Florida that he decided he wanted to bring them home. The problem was he didn’t have money for his estranged wife and son to be transported to Oklahoma to be buried next to Herman. It would take George several months to gather enough funds to get the job done.
In the meantime, George learned that he and another gentleman named Frank Dixon were named co-administrators of Fred’s estate. The money discovered at the Florida home where Fred and Ma were killed had been confiscated by the FBI. The serial numbers on the bills did not match those on the ransom money from the Bremer kidnapping, but the bureau had a reasonable expectation that the cash had been acquired from some illegal activity. The government would not release the funds to Fred’s estate and refused to give George a receipt for it.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother here or at www.chrisenss.com.
Leave No Fingerprints Behind
Enter now to win a copy of Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
The heat generated by the kidnapping of bank president Edward Bremer—which resulted in $200,000 in ransom being paid after the wealthy man was released on January 7, 1934—chased the Barkers, or what was left of them, into hiding. Those who stayed in the Chicago area adopted easy disguises. Alvin Karpis and Fred Barker felt it necessary to take more drastic measures as they were too well-known to the FBI. In mid-March 1934, Karpis—nicknamed “Old Creepy” because of his expressionless eyes—and Fred Barker went to the secluded office of Doctor Joseph Moran to have their fingerprints altered and faces changed.
Doctor Moran had a respectable practice until he started drinking heavily, became an abortionist, and was eventually sent to Joliet prison. When paroled, Moran was hired as a physician for the Chicago Chauffeurs’ Teamsters’ and Helpers Union and set up practice in a hotel, where he led a double life, treating gangsters as well as ordinary patients.
The night he operated on Alvin and Fred he was a physical ruin. His fumbling fingers did little more than butcher his two patients, who were injected with morphine and sent off to recuperate.
Ma Barker gave them medical attention. Though Alvin was stoical, Fred often screamed from the pain and had to be restrained forcefully. In addition to nursing duties, Ma was completing arrangements with gangster Adelard Cunin, a survivor of the North Side mob in Chicago, to launder the $100,000 the Barker-Karpis Gang received as a ransom for kidnapping W. J. Hamm Jr., the president of Hamm’s Brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota. Adelard had agreed to handle the ransom money from the Bremer kidnapping job as well.
The Chicago branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was made the busiest field office in FBI history by the depredations of numerous well-known gangs, the perpetrators of the Kansas City massacre, and the normal flow of investigations. Melvin Purvis, the Special Agent in Charge, was the nominal chief. However, that spring of 1934 the office on the nineteenth floor of the Bangers Building was also the headquarters of a Special Squad which the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, supervised personally.
Hoover’s dogged concentration on Midwest crime prompted Ma Barker to advise her sons and their outlaw companions to leave the city. She decided it was too dangerous for any member of the Barker-Karpis Gang, disguised or not, to remain in Chicago. Most of the gang scattered. By January 1935, FBI agents had disposed of Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger’s gangs. Ma’s son Arthur had also been seized by authorities.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Enter the giveaway on GoodReads or register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother at www.chrisenss.com.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
The heat generated by the kidnapping of bank president Edward Bremer—which resulted in $200,000 in ransom being paid after the wealthy man was released on January 7, 1934—chased the Barkers, or what was left of them, into hiding. Those who stayed in the Chicago area adopted easy disguises. Alvin Karpis and Fred Barker felt it necessary to take more drastic measures as they were too well-known to the FBI. In mid-March 1934, Karpis—nicknamed “Old Creepy” because of his expressionless eyes—and Fred Barker went to the secluded office of Doctor Joseph Moran to have their fingerprints altered and faces changed.
Doctor Moran had a respectable practice until he started drinking heavily, became an abortionist, and was eventually sent to Joliet prison. When paroled, Moran was hired as a physician for the Chicago Chauffeurs’ Teamsters’ and Helpers Union and set up practice in a hotel, where he led a double life, treating gangsters as well as ordinary patients.
The night he operated on Alvin and Fred he was a physical ruin. His fumbling fingers did little more than butcher his two patients, who were injected with morphine and sent off to recuperate.
Ma Barker gave them medical attention. Though Alvin was stoical, Fred often screamed from the pain and had to be restrained forcefully. In addition to nursing duties, Ma was completing arrangements with gangster Adelard Cunin, a survivor of the North Side mob in Chicago, to launder the $100,000 the Barker-Karpis Gang received as a ransom for kidnapping W. J. Hamm Jr., the president of Hamm’s Brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota. Adelard had agreed to handle the ransom money from the Bremer kidnapping job as well.
The Chicago branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was made the busiest field office in FBI history by the depredations of numerous well-known gangs, the perpetrators of the Kansas City massacre, and the normal flow of investigations. Melvin Purvis, the Special Agent in Charge, was the nominal chief. However, that spring of 1934 the office on the nineteenth floor of the Bangers Building was also the headquarters of a Special Squad which the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, supervised personally.
Hoover’s dogged concentration on Midwest crime prompted Ma Barker to advise her sons and their outlaw companions to leave the city. She decided it was too dangerous for any member of the Barker-Karpis Gang, disguised or not, to remain in Chicago. Most of the gang scattered. By January 1935, FBI agents had disposed of Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger’s gangs. Ma’s son Arthur had also been seized by authorities.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Enter the giveaway on GoodReads or register to win a copy of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother at www.chrisenss.com.
The Bad Mother's Handbook
Ma’s days are numbered. Enter now to win a copy of Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Ma Barker removed a tattered handkerchief from the navy blue pocketbook cradled in her lap and dabbed away a fake tear. The guards on duty at the Oklahoma Prison were disinterested in her supposed grief. Their job was to make sure the inmates at the facility moved efficiently from the visitor’s area back to their cells. Ma watched a pale-faced, stupefied guard escort her son Arthur out the room. It was mid-February 1920, and mother and son had concluded a short visit. A thick, long glass separated the convicts from the civilized world. Here, communication was done using plain, black phones minus a dial wheel, wired from one side of the glass to the other. Arthur and Ma each had their own receiver to talk through as did several other family and friends visiting their loved ones through the glass partition.
The iron-barred doors clanged shut as the last prisoner was ushered out the room. Ma sat stock-still until she heard the guard lock the door behind the inmates. As she turned to get up from her assigned seat, a heavyset guard approached her, and with flinty eyes, looked her up and down. She looked more frumpy than menacing. The coat she wore was big and bulky, frayed in spots, and a few buttons were missing. The tan, bell-shaped hat on her head had seen better days, and her hair underneath it was pinned back in a haphazard fashion. “My boys would be all right if the law would leave them alone,” she told the guard. He had no response and simply led her to the exit of the room, and she shuffled along as little old ladies do.
Two short siren blasts issued from the main building of the jail as Ma exited the complex. She glanced back at the other visitors following after her and at the stone walls topped with snaky concertina wire overhead. Once every guest had left the jail, the heavy steel doors were closed behind them.
A Cadillac sedan pulled in front of the detention center and stopped. Ma abandoned the old lady gait and hurried to the car as though nothing whatsoever was bothering her physically. She pulled off the old coat she was wearing and draped the fur wrap over her shoulders that one of the passengers inside the car handed her through the window. She opened the passenger’s side door and slid into the seat. The June 19, 1959 edition of the Amarillo Globe Times reported that the Jasper County filing clerk who witnessed Ma Barker leaving the prison saw her removing her hat and straightening her hair as the sedan drove away. “In a few moments she transformed from a somewhat feeble grandmother type to a hearty, rather spirited woman,” the clerk described.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Visit www.chrisenss.com
In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.
Ma Barker removed a tattered handkerchief from the navy blue pocketbook cradled in her lap and dabbed away a fake tear. The guards on duty at the Oklahoma Prison were disinterested in her supposed grief. Their job was to make sure the inmates at the facility moved efficiently from the visitor’s area back to their cells. Ma watched a pale-faced, stupefied guard escort her son Arthur out the room. It was mid-February 1920, and mother and son had concluded a short visit. A thick, long glass separated the convicts from the civilized world. Here, communication was done using plain, black phones minus a dial wheel, wired from one side of the glass to the other. Arthur and Ma each had their own receiver to talk through as did several other family and friends visiting their loved ones through the glass partition.
The iron-barred doors clanged shut as the last prisoner was ushered out the room. Ma sat stock-still until she heard the guard lock the door behind the inmates. As she turned to get up from her assigned seat, a heavyset guard approached her, and with flinty eyes, looked her up and down. She looked more frumpy than menacing. The coat she wore was big and bulky, frayed in spots, and a few buttons were missing. The tan, bell-shaped hat on her head had seen better days, and her hair underneath it was pinned back in a haphazard fashion. “My boys would be all right if the law would leave them alone,” she told the guard. He had no response and simply led her to the exit of the room, and she shuffled along as little old ladies do.
Two short siren blasts issued from the main building of the jail as Ma exited the complex. She glanced back at the other visitors following after her and at the stone walls topped with snaky concertina wire overhead. Once every guest had left the jail, the heavy steel doors were closed behind them.
A Cadillac sedan pulled in front of the detention center and stopped. Ma abandoned the old lady gait and hurried to the car as though nothing whatsoever was bothering her physically. She pulled off the old coat she was wearing and draped the fur wrap over her shoulders that one of the passengers inside the car handed her through the window. She opened the passenger’s side door and slid into the seat. The June 19, 1959 edition of the Amarillo Globe Times reported that the Jasper County filing clerk who witnessed Ma Barker leaving the prison saw her removing her hat and straightening her hair as the sedan drove away. “In a few moments she transformed from a somewhat feeble grandmother type to a hearty, rather spirited woman,” the clerk described.
To learn more about Ma Barker and he Barker Gang read Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.
Visit www.chrisenss.com
