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.
