Baby Face Nelson
“Baby Face” Nelson’s shredded body was discovered today, lying naked in a ditch near Niles, Illinois, after a deadly encounter with 2 FBI agents yesterday, November 27,1934. The FBI agents, Sam Cowley and Herman Hollis, were also tragically killed in the crossfire.
“Baby Face” Nelson, real name was Lester M. Gillis. He went by many other aliases such as George Nelson, Alex Gillis, and “Big George.” He grew up with the Chicago street gangs, which is where his gang members named him “Baby Face Nelson,” despite the fact that he hated it.
By the age of 14 he was stealing cars. In his teens he took part in stealing tires, running stills, bootlegging, and armed robbery. In 1922, he was committed to a boys home for auto theft. Two years later he was released on parole, but returned in 5 months for a similar charge. He meet Helen Wawzynak in 1928, and later married her. In January of 1931 he robbed a bank in Chicago, Illinois, and was sent to prison for one year to life.
He escaped and came to Sausalito, California. There he met John Paul Chase. Nelson worked with Chase as an armed guard for the truck used to transport illegal liquor. Together, they moved to Reno, Nevada, where Nelson had killed a person for being a witness to the United States mail fraud case.
In 1933 Nelson, and his new friends, Tommy Carrol and Eddie Green robbed banks in Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Most of the blame for these went to Dillanger and his gang. A year later Dillanger joined gangs with Nelson.
On March 4,1934, Nelson got in a car accident which was his fault. The other driver got out of his car and started to yell at Nelson, who pulled out his gun and shot the driver three times in the head, and then sped off. Two days later the Dillenger- Gillis gang robbed a bank in Sioux City, South Dakota. The very next day, he robbed another bank in Mason City, Iowa, killing one employee and leaving with $52,000.
On April 22,dozens of FBI agents surrounded the Little Bohemia lodge in Northern Wisconsin, where Nelson and his gang were staying. Each of the gang members escaped except for “Baby Face” Nelson, who stayed to shoot it out with the agents. The FBI, in trying to shoot Nelson, accidentally killed 1 innocent bystander and injured 2 others.
So the main gang that was working with Boyd was not making every much money so they thought of a way to make money. They came up with the idea to steal the body of Lincoln they plan was a group would go to the monument were the body was a steal it then go up North from Springfield and burry it in a shallow grave. Then another gang member would stay in a place near the place and have witnesses that he was in town the night of the crime, then go fishing and find the shallow grave then collecting the reward and ask for the release of Boyd.The first time the gang tried to do it was 4th of July the 200th Anniversary of America but someone in the gang got drunk and talked about it in bar and it got around town so they could not do
While he was in the gang he dropped out of school. In the gang he got in a lot of trouble. He got arrested for the first time in 1957 after a gang fight. From then on he got arrested a lot in 1958 he was Convicted of burglary and given probation. In 1959 arrested for the first time as an adult for unlawful assembly in a raid at a gambling location.
James “Whitey” Bulger was born on September 3, 1929. His life of crime began when he was fourteen years old. When he was fourteen he was arrested for larceny. Larceny is just a different word for stealing. Bulger had also joined the “Shamrocks” street gang by then. Not too long after he was arrested for theft, he got arrested for assault and armed robbery. The judge sent him to a juvenile detention center.
During 1928 through 1933, Dutch and his gang were involved in many turf wars. When Jack "Legs" Diamond was thought to be hijacking Schultz's whiskey trucks, he ended up being dubbed Legs "the Clay Pigeon of the Underworld." By the press (Due to the massive amount of bullets pumped into him) when asked about the murder, Schultz told reporters "Diamond was just another punk with his hands in my pockets." An Irish psychopath named Vincent Coll and his cronies, actually gave Dutch and his gang a run for their money, but never posed as a serious threat. Eventually Shultz's men gunned down Coll in a phone booth.
At the age of sixteen, Clyde dropped out of school to work at Proctor and Gamble. Clyde’s crime streak started with helping his brother steal a small flock of turkeys and transporting them to Dallas to sell for Christmas money. Dallas officers saw the back seat full of live fowl, and pulled them over arresting them both. His brother claimed full responsibility , and they lat Clyde go since he was so small and innocent looking. Clyde soon mat up with a man named Frank Clause. Clyde soon quit his job at Proctor and gamble and began burglarizing small businesses in Dallas, Lufkin, and Hillsboro, Texas. Although Clyde was introduced into the gang by his brother, he soon became accepted and became the leader. Their crime spree started with stealing a couple of cars and burglarizing a few houses.
Lester Joseph Gillis also known as Baby Face Nelson was a notorious bank robber, and a murderer. Nelson was born on December 6, 1908 in Chicago. His parents emigrated from Belgium, while his father worked in the stockyard and his mother Tutored schoolchildren in French. Since nelson’s parents were always busy with work they often left their children unattended, leaving nelson and his brother to roam the Westside of Chicago alone with out having their parents check in on them. Nelson life of crime can be traced to his early teen years, at age 13 he would steal car tires, running stills, bootlegging, and armed robbery (Federal Bureau Of Investigation). Some of the main theories that can prove the reason that lead baby face nelson to enter the life of crime can be linked to Social Structure Theory, Ecological Theory, Rational Choice Theory, and Social Learning Theory.
He took advantage of this and joined some of harry and homers accomplices and they netted about 50,000$ worth of dirty money by multiple robberies allowing him to put the escape plan in motion. Coincidentally, the day harry and homer managed to escape, john was arrested and incarcerated ay the lime, Ohio jail. This happened to be very close to harry and homers hideout so john was quickly broken out of jail by his accomplices. Right after their succsesfull prison break, the gang went off to chigago where they planned and organized one of the most deadly bank robbing gangs in the country. The gang went on a crime spree, robbing banks all over illonoius, Indiana and wesconson. After a while, they decided to move to Arizona due to the police searching all over the Midwest for them. They decided, before they left, to rob the first national bank of Gary, Indiana. This robbery did not end well, it resulted in the injury of his partner and john murdered a police officer during their escape. After arriving in Arizona, the gang was rounded up by police and all were assigned to different states for
Throughout all of American history there have been those who are well known for committing what are classified as deviant or criminal acts. Most of those who are well known by the public for their actions have committed deeds seen as extremely controversial such as being cult leaders, gang or mafia members, terrorists, rapists, or killers. The lists of members for each topic is numerous, however, there are a certain few that are more prominent than others. One criminal that stands out when speaking of killers in particular is Gary Ridgway, or as he is better known, the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgway is the nation’s most abundant serial killer, with the highest murder rate in America’s history (Gibson).
The Mayor’s wife was present and described Nelson as “good looking, hardly more than a boy” with “dark hair and was wearing a gray topcoat and brown felt hat, turned down brim” (Burrough, 2004, p102-103). On January 15, 1931 Gillis, now exclusively going by the name of George Nelson, was apprehended and charged for the robbery of the Itasca State Bank. Gillis was sentenced one year to life in the Illinois State prison. He was later transported to State Penitentiary, Joliet Illinois, on July 17, 1931 to serve his one year to life prison term (Burrough, 2004,
The marriage ended when Gacy was imprisoned for ten years at a correctional institute in Waterloo, Iowa for various sex and violent crimes against young men. In 1971 Gacy was arrested again for trying to rape a teenage boy.
When he got out, he recruited a band of criminals, and they hit every bank in the west. Eventually Henry was wealthy enough to take his girlfriend away from it all, which was his goal from the start. They went to Colorado, where Henry was recognized and arrested. Henry was sentenced, but once again, became a model prisoner, and got released on parole.
In June of 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon, a fifty year old petty thief, drifter, and gambler who had spent much of his life in and out of jail was arrested in Panama City Florida. He was charged with breaking into a poolroom one night in an effort to steal beer, Coke, and coins from a cigarette machine (Goodman 62).
In August 1939 Capone was moved from Atlanta to Alcatraz in San Francisco. Capone’s health took a turn for the worst when he caught Tetiary Syphilis and became disoriented and confused. He was released after six and a half years on god behavior where he returned to Palm Island estate. His wife Mae took care of him until the end. Capone died on January 25, 1947 when he suffered from a cardiac arrest. He was 48 when he died.
Capone was imprisoned in Eastern Penitentiary, where he stayed until March 16, 1930. Not too long after he was liberated for good conduct, but placed on the America's “Most Wanted” list. In 1931 Capone was accused of tax avoidance. He was found guilty and was sentenced to 11 years of prison. In 1934 Capone was transferred from the prison he was in, in Atlanta, to one of the most dangerous prisons in America -Alcatraz- located in San Francisco, California. Capone’s sentence was soon reduced to 6 ½ years, due to good conduct. Capone was released but still couldn’t return to his life of being mobster. He was growing old and was suffering from Syphilis. He became bewildered and unstable. After he was released he retired to a mansion near Miami, Palm Island Palace. Capone died on January 25, 1947 of cardiac arrest at the young age of 48 years old (“Al
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson of Liverpool, England, made international headlines in November of 1994, when they were convicted of murdering James Bulger, age two. The two boys, both ten at the time of the slaying, lured James away from his mother in a shopping mall, took him to a nearby railroad track, beat him brutally and left him to be cut in half by a train (Seifert 56).