Barry Latzer, Do hard times spark more crime? Los Angeles Times (January 24, 2014). His life was straight up to a point he served in the Army in WWI. Four escaped unidentified, but 36-year-old Nicholas "Chaw Jimmie" Trainor was killed during the shootout with the U.S Mint Police. Led by Thomas James Holden (18961953) and Francis Keating (1899July 25, 1978), the gang was active in the Midwestern United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Led by Richard Reese Whittemore, the gang went on a year-long crime spree committing payroll, bank, and jewelry robberies in Maryland and New York before their capture in 1926. But a tiny event called the Wall Street Crash of 1929, changed that forever. Karpis lived high on the dollar, boozing and buying women as he moved around the country. His 70-year prison sentence was commuted to a 5-year sentence, after he became an informant. Over the next several read more, The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the worst economic downturn in modern history. Your email address will not be published. Notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and was regarded as a celebrity gangster. Good-looking and charismatic, he was an enigmatic figure. In 1932 the famous aviator and isolationist Charles Lindbergh reported that his toddler son, less than 2 years old, had been kidnapped. Hamilton was a Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger's. His life inspired the book, (American Mobster Who was a Driving Force Behind the Development of the Las Vegas Strip), (American Gangster and Boss of the 'Gambino Crime Family'), (Italian-American Crime Boss of the Gambino Crime Family), (Crime Boss and Member of the Luciano Crime Family), (Train, Bank Robber and the Leader of a Gang of Criminal Outlaws Wild Bunch), (One of the Most Financially Successful Gangsters in American History), Meyer Lansky, or the "Mob's Accountant, was key to the formation of the, (American Crime Boss and Head of the Gambino Crime Family). FBI agents located the house and on the morning of January 16th they attempted to raid it. As a Wild Bunch member, Sundance Kid participated in several train and bank robberies. In 1935 Bruno Hauptmann was arrested and charged with the crime. His most famous clients were John Dillinger and, Two young men who made national headlines for their unsuccessful attempt to rob the Southern Pacific Railroad's. Penguin Books. Like Dillinger, a woman (the madam of a prostitution house in Hot Springs) eventually turned on Karpis and told FBI agents in April 1936 that Karpis was hiding out in New Orleans. Thousands of people didn't have a job and needed money and food. To this day, the perpetrators' identity remains a mystery. Partly due to his robberies, the. 1930s Era: The Great Depression, Gangsters Bonnie & Clyde, The Dust Bowl and whatever Period Attire you need is in stock now at Dallas Vintage Shop. An Italian-born gangster, Lucky Luciano is regarded as the father of modern organized crime in the US; he served as the first boss of the Genovese crime family. It also became known as the Public Enemies Era when the FBI began to keep "Public Enemies" lists of wanted criminals charged with crimes. Others were far more dangerous and prolific. Hurt stuck a .351 rifle in Karpis face. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. He viewed crime as just another business, one that he happened to be skilled at doing. Dearborn Financial Publishing, 1991 . He played a major role in the Central Intelligence Agency's plot to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro as the CIA sought his help in their bid to assassinate Castro. He lived a long life and became a writer in his later years. Karpis was sent to Alcatraz and spent more years on the Rock than any other inmate. Karpis described his friend: Freddie had a vicious streak. Although popularly known to the press as the "Kissing Bandit" for her habit of kissing male robbery victims, she was known in the underworld as "Rabbits" for her skill as an escape artist. Bailey made light of J. Edgar Hoovers attempt to frame Kate Ma Barker as the brains of the successful Karpis-Barker gang, famously saying, The old woman couldnt plan breakfast. After getting caught up in the aftermath of Machine Gun Kellys kidnapping of Charles Urschel, Bailey was caught by FBI agents while he was sleeping. With it came violence, spawned mostly by bitter gang rivalries in the 1920s. He was known as "Jackrabbit" and "Public Enemy No. He was convicted and executed in 1936 though he proclaimed his innocence until the end. This is an enrichment activity designed to help students understand how the hyperinflation of the 1920's and the Great Depression of the 1930's affected the lives of German citizens. The gang of young toughs committed various burglaries and robberies in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It made millions per year from criminal activities like racketeering, loan sharking, drug trafficking, prostitution, extortion, pornography and illegal gambling. [6] Hunt, Brian (2012). But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The FBI ruled it a suicide. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { The story focuses on the two gangsters who dominate an unnamed city . Since his death, Joe Masseria has been portrayed in several films like The Valachi Papers, Lucky Luciano, Mobsters, and Lansky. Legends state that he bought drugs from the "Golden Triangle" and smuggled them into the U.S. using the coffins of servicemen. The photos show the adverse effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. At the same time, colorful figures like John Dillinger, Charles Pretty Boy Floyd, George Machine Gun Kelly, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker and her sons were committing a wave of bank robberies and other crimes across the country. These many men, though often murderers and outright robbers, were sometimes also involved in the political, social, and economic conditions of the times. He eventually became the leading underworld figure in Wichita, Kansas, during Prohibition, specifically becoming involved in bootlegging and narcotics. He led a small gang during the 1940s and 1950s, ans was referred to by the press as "the modern John Dillinger", and whose activities eventually resulted in his being listed on the FBI's. At least two FBI agents shot him dead in the alley next to the theater. Karpis learned from the likes of Harvey Bailey and methodically planned his jobs (bank robberies and kidnappings were his forte), mapped escape routes, clocked the mileage in between turns, drove the roads ahead of time, and cached cans of gasoline to assist in escapes. The trouble began in earnest four years earlier with the Wall Street crashes of September . By the end of 1934, many high-profile outlaws had been killed or captured, and Hollywood was glorifying Hoover and his G-men in their own movies. New Jersey per capita income fell from $839 . Dary Matera. If the Old West Outlaws get a lot of historic attention, a close second are the gangsters of the 1920s Prohibition era and the 1930s Depression period. Frechette served two years in federal prison for harboring hercriminal lover. Some earned notoriety from a one or a handful of crimes. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre shocked the American public more than any previous street violence, because it resembled an execution. Sutton was a prolific U.S. bank robber. The crisis led to increases in home mortgage foreclosures worldwide and caused millions of people to lose their life savings, their jobs read more, The 1930s in the United States began with an historic low: more than 15 million Americansfully one-quarter of all wage-earning workerswere unemployed. Mobster Danny Greene was an associate of Cleveland-based gangster John Nardi in the 1970s gang war, in which they set off car bombs. During the Great Depression, with much of the United States mired in grinding poverty and unemployment, some Americans found increased opportunities in criminal activities like bootlegging, robbing banks, loan-sharkingeven murder. De Vol was an American criminal, bank robber, prison escapee, and Depression-era outlaw. Seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse in the Saint Valentine's Day massacre of February 14, 1929, supposedly on the orders of his rival Al Capone. But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. They generally calculated business practices rather than personal vendettas, where one gang would line up rival gang members and shoot them down, or make a surprise attack on them, blasting or bombing until their rivals were dead. A gangster of the Great Depressionera, John Dillinger led a group known as the "Dillinger Gang". Criminals became national celebrities, who symbolized the public's lack of faith in society's crumbling institutions. Secrecy and Power, the life of J. Edgar Hoover. The purpose is to keep the publicity light shining on Chicagos most prominent, well known and notorious gangsters to the end that they may be under constant observation by the law enforcing authorities and law-abiding citizens.[1], Newspaper reporters adopted the term and popularized it. He was especially active in Oklahoma, referred to by authorities as "the Fox", and frequently teamed with, Davis was a longtime Oklahoma bandit, and was the boyfriend of. The criminal syndicate known as the Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, was especially active during the 1920s, '30s, '40s . The Chicago Syndicate was the country's largest and most powerful organized crime operation. Joe Masseria was an Italian-American Mafia boss who controlled the Genovese crime family from 1922 to 1931. HG538F86. He was eventually prosecuted and convicted for tax evasion in 1931. Pg 56, 61. Robberies were easier in the Midwest than other parts of the country because small Midwestern towns usually lacked adequate police forces. But after the war he hung with the wrong crowd and began running errands for bootleggers. At this time, unemployment in the USA had risen to 25% and many more people were resorting to crime. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). document.documentElement.className += 'js'; A bank robbing gang, led by Matthew Kimes and Ray Terrill, it was active in the Midwestern United States during the 1920s. c. led to a worldwide depression. As an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw, he committed numerous bank heists in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, and teamed up with George Birdwell and Pretty Boy Floyd during the early 1930s. This era was the worst economic downturn in United States history, and during this period, many Americans became helpless against higher forces. He was threatened by mobster Lucky Lucianos gang and also faced two tax evasion trials. At its depth, the jobless in New Jersey ranged between a quarter to a third of its workforce, with African American unemployed estimated at over half of workers. Al Capone, also known by the nickname Scarface, was one of the most notorious American gangsters who controlled the organised crime in Chicago between 1925 and 1931. Hollywood responded to the Great Depression almost immediately after the crash of 1929. Want to Read. Even at the Depression's depths 60 to 80 million Americans attended the movies each week, and, in the face of doubt and despair, films helped sustain national morale. Sammy Gravano, also known as Sammy the Bull, was initially part of the Colombo crime family and later the underboss of the Gambino crime family. He is considered to have been a driving force behind the dethroning and eventual imprisonment of Al Capone. Gillis was the wife of mobster Baby Face Nelson, and assisted with many of his crime. Nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members, he was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. When the Bureau captured a public enemy, it made for great press. The collapse of the American economic system. (Gangster, Co-Founder & Boss of the 'Chicago Outfit' Crime Family), (Father of the Modern Organized Crime in the United States), (American Mobster Who was Associated with the Lucchese Crime Family), Henry Hill was a mobster from New Yorks Lucchese crime family, who later testified against his former associates. McCollum was an outlaw in Oklahoma during the 1920s, who was nicknamed the "Shiek of Boynton". Jim Clark (criminal) Russell Clark (criminal) Mad Dog Coll. John Dillinger. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was the quintessential gangster, as he embraced both the independence and the lawlessness of the 1920s. Bonnie and Clyde's exploits took place during the Great Depression, when people were beleaguered. He had been convicted for a number of crimes, including racketeering and loan-sharking and was serving a 139-year sentence when he died in 2019. There is some dispute over whether that was true or not. Hell, he said, A fellas gotta sleep sometime.[4] After his arrest he was sent to the new federal prison on Alcatraz Island. He was one of the closest known associates of, A bootlegger based in the southern region of Illinois: Birger's gang, along with the, Fred William Bowerman was an American criminal, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw, who was eventually placed on the FBI's ", Though Bradshaw never attained the fame of fellow. The Prohibition period was certainly the "Golden Age" for Al Capone, who made a fortune in bootlegging, prostitution, and . Brother of Ford Bradshaw and member of the Cookson Hills gang: Suspected in several bank robberies in Oklahoma and Kansas, he was eventually convicted of attempted murder and bootlegging in 1934. The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. John Dillinger (1903-1934) was one of the most notorious of all outlaws during the Depression-era heydays, not least because his exploits and bravado were colourfully exaggerated by the media. The Great Depression. His main claim to fame was his association with John Dillinger. Required fields are marked *. Dillinger evaded FBI agents at his fathers house in Indiana and again at a Wisconsin lake cabin. These are not to be confused with organized crime figures of the same period. Prohibition eventually ends in 1933 through the Twenty First Amendment due to the negative impact on crime and alcoholism. The end of Prohibition in 1933 deprived many gangsters of their lucrative bootlegging operations, forcing them to fall back on the old standbys of gambling and prostitution, as well as new opportunities in loan-sharking, labor racketeering and drug trafficking. But privately, he loved the term and the way it focused the public attention on the most wanted fugitives. Holden was described by a spokesman for the FBI as "a menace to every man, woman, and child in America", and was the first fugitive to be officially listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List in 1950. In reality, a car with Clarence Hurt and E.J. Cunniffe was an American bank robber who planned and successfully carried out the 1926 New Jersey mail robbery, one of the most well-publicized thefts during the 1920s. During the Great Depression (1929-1939) there were a series of famous gangsters such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Ashley and Al Capone, committing crimes throughout the United States. He was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson's. I called them Public Enemies, and so designated them in my letter, sent to the Chief of Police, the Sheriff [and] every law enforcing officer. Whitey Bulger was an Irish-American FBI informant and organized crime boss. Hence they were also called "auto bandits" or desperadoes. This is a list of the Great Depression-era outlaws spanning the years of Prohibition and the Great Depression known as the "Public Enemy" era. Fred robbed a bank in Winfield, Kansas, was arrested, and went to the Kansas State Prison on March 12, 1927. Franzese was 100 years old at the time of his release; he was the only centenarian in federal custody at that time. Even Gangsters Opened Soup . Machine Gun Kelly was a gangster and kidnapper during Prohibition and the early part of the Great Depression. He was finally shot to death by the authorities in 1934. Up until 1929, people tolerated the corruption and greed and vice and the gang-wars and everything else. var googletag = googletag || {}; Its chief,Al Capone, controlled all underworld operations in the Chicago area. Bailey spent 31 years in prison and died at the age 91 in, Basil is best remembered for his involvement in the hoax kidnapping of Chicago mobster Jake "the Barber" Factor, a crime for which, Oregon bank robber: Sentenced to life imprisonment, Barkdoll took part in an unsuccessful escape attempt with, Member of the BarkerKarpis gang, son of Ma Barker. Pg177. Politicians continued drinking as everyday people were slapped with charges. As the era of Prohibition gave way to the Great Depression, the first wave of gangster movies mirrored the growing anger and frustration of many Americans at their worsening economic conditions . Richetti was an American criminal and Depression-era bank robber. While the different groups certainly competed with each other, by the early 1930s they are starting to collaborate more closely because public opposition to gang violence makes them so conspicuous. The outlaws were relatively democratic. The 1930s was a period of famous gangsters such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, and Ma Barker. Bentz was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw associated with several high-profile public enemies during his criminal career. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Many of these criminal gangs were protected by urban politicians and police. Nearly 20,000 unemployed veterans had converged on Washington to demand bonus payments from Congress and President Herbert Hoover. The kidnapping was one of the most highly publicized crimes of the century. Kelly was an American gangster during the Prohibition era. Sicilian-American mobster Angelo Bruno led the Philadelphia crime family for 20 years. d. affected only the German economy. Hoover built the FBI into a modern crime fighting force. He was one of two gang members who were consolidated into the "C. W. Moss" character in the 1967 film. He is best remembered as the final member of the Barrow gang] and whose father, Ivan Methvin, helped arrange their deaths at the hands of a posse headed by Texas lawman, Miller was a freelance Prohibition gunman, bootlegger, bank robber, and former sheriff in. During the Great Depression, crooks like Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Baron Lamm, and Slick Willie Sutton were all well-known. PPT. He was one of the most wanted bandits in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 1930s and co-led a gang with Harvey Bailey that included many fellow. Road to Perdition comes in as the sixth highest . It created heroes of outlaws who took what they wanted no matter the outcome. People blamed Prohibition for this violence, and began to favor its repeal. Vic sends his goons to get King's daughter Princess a new horse but they steal a prized racing horse. Many state police forces were created to hunt down these criminals, and most of them were either killed or captured by 1934. . Each gang member received a share of the loot in proportion to the level of participation. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. At this time unemployment in the USA had risen to 25% and many more people were resorting to crime. The article noted that lawmen expected to link the gang to another Midwest kidnapping. Nash has been called "the most successful bank robber in U.S. history", but he is most noted for his violent death in what has become known as the Kansas City massacre in 1933. Business Fluctuations and Forecasting, chapter 12, The Great Depression, pages 315-353. Some of the most famous images portray people who were displaced from farms and migrated west or to industrial cities in search of work. If prohibition was what concieved the Public Enemy, then the Great Depression was what gave birth to it. He was mostly ignored in the 1930s, but his General Theory (1936) laid the . Most of rural America saw minor problems, like stealing watermelons, overturning outhouses . . Popularly known as the Howard Hughes of the Mob, Paul Castellano was the head of the Gambino crime family. John Dillinger was a gangster and bank robber during the Great Depression. But after the so-called Kansas City Massacre in June 1933, in which three gunmen fatally ambushed a group of unarmed police officers and FBI agents escorting bank robber Frank Nash back to prison, the public seemed to welcome a full-fledged war on crime. While outlaws operated independently of mobsters, they did rely on organized gangs for the tools of the trade -- firearms, bulletproof vests, and armored cars. a. A Texas bank robber and car thief, he was later sent to Alcatraz, where he attempted to escape from the island in 1938. read more. Carlo Gambino was an Italian-American kingpin of the famous Gambino crime family. Sankey was initially a suspect in the, Sawyer was a Depression-era bank robber and prison escapee. John Steinbeck, in "A Primer on the 30s . Out of many other public enemies who died, Karpis managed to survive and live the last years of his life in Canada and Spain. He died from a stroke in 1947. The passage of the 18th Amendment and the introduction of Prohibition in 1920 fueled the rise of organized crime, with gangsters growing rich on profits from bootleg liquoroften aided by corrupt local policemen and politicians. An accomplice in John Dillinger's escape from an Indiana jail in 1934, Spark was imprisoned and sent to Alcatraz. On February 14, 1929, seven men were killed in a Chicago garage by five unknown men wearing police uniforms. Always travelling with him was Kate Ma Barker. . Public Enemies. In the 1930s, the violence was more desperate as outlaws were determined to have their way at any cost. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump that affected people of all sorts. From 1929 to 1931 the law enforcement team led by Eliot Ness was known as the Untouchables, a nickname given to describe their incorruptiblity while they aggressively enforced Prohbition laws against Al Capone and his gangsters. She was killed in a shootout in 1935 and afterwards became known as having been ruthless, controlling her sons' gang and directing their exploits. [5] Karpis, Alvin (1971). beyond the book. Outlaws typically came from rural areas in the Midwest, Southwest, or the West. He played such a prominent role in the American underworld that he was later portrayedin several films, such as Gotti, Witness to the Mob, and The Big Heist. (American Mobster and Head of the Notorious 'Genovese Crime Family'). Jude Law and Daniel Craig also make on-screen appearances. President Herbert Hoover did not do much to alleviate the crisis: Patience and self-reliance, he argued, were all Americans read more, The Great Terror of 1937, also known as the Great Purge, was a brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat. Chase was an associate of several robbers, including her husband, George Chase, and Charlie Mayes. Public Heroes: Ranking the Depression-era FBI agents. Jones ran with Bonnie and Clyde from Christmas Eve 1932 to early September 1933. Marrying the third wife in Hot Springs, Arkansas eventually led to his arrest. These were desperate times, and desperate measures were taken just so you could get by. Guide for Library Research on The Great Depression, https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/thegreatdepression, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Sam Mendes' film Road to Perdition takes place in 1931, during the Great Depression and narrates a mob enforcer (Tom Hanks) and his son (Tyler Hoechlin) seeking vengeance against a mobster who murdered the rest of their family (Paul Newman). The public generally had a positive view of him because when he robbed banks, he would destroy mortage documents, freeing many people from their debts. Roy DeMeo was an Italian-American gangster in the Gambino crime family of New York City. He was also a peripheral member of the BarkerKarpis gang, and this association Karpis later stated had led to Moran's murder by Fred and. Alongside her husband, she was labeled public enemy number one. A new anti-crime package spearheaded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his attorney general, Homer S. Cummings, became law in 1934, and Congress granted FBI agents the authority to carry guns and make arrests. G-Men, Gangsters, and Gators. (shelved 1 time as depression-era-outlaws) avg rating 4.09 280 ratings published 2004. O'Malley was eventually arrested, while Chase escaped. When he was just a toddler he immigrated to the United States with his parents, Gabriele Capone, a barber, and Teresa Raiola, a seamstress. We didn't throw out the brown paper it was wrapped in. He served 26 years in Alcatraz, the longest time a federal prisoner spent there. Although estimates vary, most experts believe at least read more, Disenchantment with Prohibition had been building almost from the moment it first took effect in 1920. In 1933 he bribed a jailer to bring him a saw and a pistol. J. Edgar Hoover used Dillingers death as a way to promote the FBI. Tommy Carroll (criminal) John Paul Chase. Johnson was a New York burglar who was listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted during 1953 for his robbery of a bank robber, who implicated him when he was captured. She was later found dead in her car outside St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. He was married to three different women at the same time. Newspapers, themselves trying to survive, figured out that readers were tired of stories about . "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Lehman was an American gunsmith and armorer. Americans were enduring the fifth year of the Great Depression and the rural population was in an extreme state of suffering that had begun prior to the stock market crash in October 1929. Bootleggers illegally smuggled alcohol to the public, became wealthy, and became public cult heroes during the Great Depression ("Gangsters During the Depression"). After taking $300,000 in kidnapping ransom Barker and gang evaded captured as they moved from Minnesota to Chicago to Ohio. After his release, he spoke about prison reform and consulted with banks on antirobbery techniques. Goetz, who was also known as "Shotgun" George Ziegler, George B. Seibert, and George Zeigler, was a. Though the countrys most famous real-life gangster, Al Capone, was locked up for tax evasion in 1931 and spent the rest of the decade in federal prison, others like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky (both in New York City) pushed aside old-line crime bosses to form a new, ruthless Mafia syndicate. The Great Depression and Crime. And in the U.S. in particular, unemployment during the Great Depression increased not by a mere factor of two, but by a factor of six, ultimately hitting historic highs of about 25 percent in 1933. Callahan was an American outlaw and bank robber during the closing days of the Old West. He was a master evader and escaped the police's attempts to capture him many times. How the mafia crushed it during the Great Depression. (Italian-American Mobster in the Gambino Crime Family of New York City), (American Gangster Who was a Powerful Caporegime in the Genovese Crime Family New Jersey Faction), (American Mobster and Member of Mafia Lucchese Crime Family), Paul Vario was an American gangster belonging to the New York-based, (Italian-American Mafia Boss of Genovese Crime Family), (American Mobster Who Was a Member of the Colombo Crime Family), (Italian-American Crime Boss of the Bonanno Crime Family), (Former crime boss, active in New York City during the 1970s). Ma Barker was the mother of many criminals who belonged to the Barker gang during the Great Depression. Showing 1-17 of 17. Bootleggers were becoming rich on the profits of illegal alcohol sales and violence was on the rise. (4) $2.00. Frank Nitti was an Italian born-American mobster and one of Al Capone's main henchmen. . Particularly popular throughout the decade were gangster films. It continued for ten years. The films produced were either "social conscious" dramas that reflected the . Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like The chapter introduction tells the story of federal investigator Lorena Hickok to make the point that, Most Depression movies, like much of popular culture, tended to, The dust storms that devastated the plains resulted from and more. 15. [3] Publicly, Hoover denied Bureau use and commented that lists were for the reporters. FBI agents and Kansas City detectives waited outside the train station. Burke was an armed robber, contract killer, and primary suspect in the.