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While looking through old newspapers to find stories about family members, I was frequently distracted by interesting items that prompted me to detour from my original purpose. Some of those detours led me far astray. |
| The Barrow Brothers Clyde Barrow's original notoriety came when he teamed with his brother, Buck. Eventually, Clyde would become famous as part of another pair, Bonnie and Clyde, though Buck's wife, Blanche, actually was more interesting than Bonnie Parker. Despite the hype, Clyde Barrow and his associates were strictly small-time outlaws. |
| Bonnie and Clyde These two, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, owe their fame more to a movie than their deeds, though their deaths were spectacular enough to insure they'd be remembered. |
| Boston Billy and Arthur Barry Newspapers and magazines had a strange fascination for jewel thieves, treating them more like fairy tale heroes than the criminals they were. One-time partners Boston Billy and Arthur Barry were perhaps the most famous, Barry because he talked a great game. |
| John Dillinger He wasn't the most successful outlaw of his time, but he became the most famous, a subject of several movies, and no wonder — he death could have been scripted in Hollywood. |
| Harvey Bailey His name could be a character in "It's a Wonderful Life," but Harvey Bailey was perhaps the most successful bank robber of all time. If he had a weakness, it was his fondness for golf. |
| Machine Gun Kelly His real name was George Francis Barnes Jr. and he actually didn't like machine guns. He didn't have much of a criminal career, but he did have a colorful nickname. |
| Verne Sankey His name has been forgotten, but Sankey was the brains behind noteworthy bank robberies and kidnappings, and was America's first most wanted criminal. |
| Leonard Scarnici You won't find his name on many outlaw lists because he primarily was a hit man for New York City mobsters. His big mistake was going to Albany to help plan a kidnapping and then robbing an Albany-area bank. |
| Wilbur Underhill Among outlaws, Underhill was probably the most highly-regarded bad man of his era. He was known as the Tri-State Terror, and with good reason. (I believe the states in question were Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, though Underhill robbed banks in other states as well. |
Verne Miller |
| Waxey Gordon Born Irving Wexler, this outlaw had a long and varied career in crime, but his lasting claim to fame may be the role he played in the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. |
| Gus Winkler Little remembered today, Winkler was a member of gangs in St. Louis and Detroit before he joined Al Capone in Chicago and participated in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He was little liked, partly because he has a big mouth, which sealed his doom. |
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