Preview

Gangsters In The 1920s Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
927 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gangsters In The 1920s Essay
The Life of Gangsters the 1920s

In the 1920s to the 1930s there was an uproar of gang activity. Most of these gangsters made living in the 20’s a hard time. These gangsters made their lifestyle robbing banks organising prison brakes and killing those who stand in their way. The major and most infamous criminal gangsters of this time were John Dillinger, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd.
One of the most notorious gangsters of all was John Dillinger. The first act that john committed was a petty grocery store robbery and that would put him on a road of getting in and out of jail and chased by cops for a lifetime. While Dillinger was in jail he learned the art of robbing banks from the other inmates. once out of
…show more content…
He started his life of crime at a young age, starting with petty grocery store robbery. During his years at school he was known for having a short temper and always getting into fights with classmates. At the age of 13 he would be sent to St. Charles School for Boys and over the next several years would be in and out of juvenile facilities. Latter in Gillis’s life he changed his name to George Nelson, and to his colleagues on the street he was known as “Baby Face” Nelson. In 1928 he married a girl named Helen Wawzynak. At the time she was only 16 years old. Shortly after that she would be the mother of two of his children. In 1932 Nelson was sentenced to adult prison for robbing a bank, but later escaped while he was being transferred to another holding facility. In 1934 two years after he was arrested for bank robbery he joined up with John Dillinger and became part of his gang. Nelson was later spotted by the FBI in a stolen car with his wife and another member of the gang that Nelson is involved in. While being chased by the FBI he stopped the car and started firing at the agents that were firing back. Nelson took 17 bullets to his entire body, but didn’t die that night. Shorly after Dillinger’s death the director of the FBI named George Nelson as the new public enemy no.1 and one month later killed in a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    during the 1920’s Capone was involved in many brutal acts of violence , he mainly did this towards other gangsters. In 1929 the St. Valentine’s Day massacre took place. On June 5,1931 the federal government had indicted Capone on 22 counts of income tax evasion. When Capone plead guilty and tried to use bribery and intimidation to get less time, but the judge denied, and Capone then he withdrew his plea and took the case to trial. When the judge switched the jury, the jury found him guilty the judge sentenced him to 11 years in…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Born on the 21st of August 1893, George ‘Bugs’ Moran was a famous American mobster, bootlegger and a prominent figure in the North Side Gang that was popular in the Prohibition-era. Born Adelard Cunin, he rose in the mafia ranks to one of the most powerful and feared gangsters in Chicago. He used fear and assassinations (drive-by Shootings) to assert his authority in the dreaded American mob world. Although he was a common gangster, his breakthrough came in during the famous American Prohibition era where he majored in bootlegging. He was actively involved in the distribution and selling of banned alcoholic drinks and beverages. He lived a gangster life often evading the authorities as well as fighting his rivals, the South Side Gang (The Chicago…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    • Known to kill anyone he didn’t like, and was a notorious killer in the…

    • 729 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lester Gillis was burn in Chicago on December 6, 1908. During his early teens he worked on the streets with a gang of friends, doing minor crimes. By the age of 14 he was a car thief and had gotten his nickname baby face by the members of his gang. Nelson's early career included working for a chop shop stealing parts, running stills, and bootlegging. He also did multiple armed robberies.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Al Capone was a complicated man; even though he scammed many people, Capone gave back to his community by creating soup kitchens and other forms of charity. Despite all this he appeared on up and coming gang leader, Johnny Torrio’s, radar. Capone went to Chicago to work for Mr. Torrio. “Capone was twenty-one years old and new in town. He worked in Chicago’s Levee District, south of downtown, a neighborhood of sleazy bars and bordellos, where a man, if he cared about his health, tried not to stay long and tried not to touch anything.” (Eig 3) Capone was a great asset to the gang; after all he had grown up in the business. He was involved with street gangs when he dropped out of school in sixth grade, and worked as a bouncer when he got older. He tended to the bar called The Four Deuces; other times he resorted to his old job and worked the front door, acting as a bouncer. Soon, the Prohibition law came around and Torrio and Capone found themselves in a new…

    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Al Capone" was one of the most famous gangsters in the united states. He created a criminal organization in the 1920s, during the US Prohibition making almost $100,000,000 of illegally gained money annually. he did set up a laundry through which he converted the profits of criminal activities with the purpose of covering their origins.…

    • 55 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alphonse Capone was the most infamous mobster in the 1920s. He was “like any other man. ‘All I do is supply a demand’” (brainyquote.com ). During the prohibition era, Capone was the boss and co-founder of the Chicago Outfit. Although he is known for the horrific things he was involved in, his childhood was not all that amazing either.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The famous Al Capone rose to power in many different ways. First, he took out anyone…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This investigation will explore the question: To what extent did the emergence of the flapper in the 1920’s effect women’s social equality? Specifically the 1920’s to early 1930’s and the transformation of the social role women.…

    • 2220 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The FBI and local chicagoans made criminals targets; Public Enemies. There were about 25 people on that list. Baby face Nelson became Public Enemy number one when another infamous public enemy; John Dillinger, was shot in Chicago by Illinois police. Despite John and Nelson’s close friendship, Nelson was all too eager to replace Dillinger as public enemy number one. Nelson felt he got the credit he deserved when Dillinger was out of the way. Nelson wanted trophies for his malicious acts cruelty. He wanted people to kneel at his feet and worship his criminal resume. Nelson took the title of public enemy with…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Al Capone is one of the most infamous gangsters in American history. Capone was born from an Italian immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York in 1899. He was associated with gangs since he quit school in the sixth grade, in the street gang he associated himself with he met Johnny Torrio, who was the gang leader at the time, and Charles “Lucky” Luciano. At this time many criminals had come from impoverish backgrounds, but this was not the case for Capone. Capone came from a professional and respectable family. It is believed the Capone’s inadequate schooling and violence that he saw at school is what caused Capone to become a criminal (Organized Crime, 1). At the age of 14, Capone was expelled for hitting a female teacher, and he never returned to finish schooling. After this…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin, George Kelly Barnes also known as Machine Gun Kelly live his life as a bootlegger, small time bank robber , and kidnapper who ranged through Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico in the 1920s and '30s(“Machine”). Despite the hostile nickname Kelly was a minor criminal; committing small forms of bootlegging and joining a gang. But his kidnap of 1934 is what made him and infamous mobster . He later did bank robberies along with his wife. They were both sentence for life in prison.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who was the biggest and most daring criminal during the Roaring twenties when bootlegging and was at it organized crime was at its peak? Many would say it was Al Capone. Alfonso Caponi was born in Brooklyn, New York in January of 1899. He was the fourth child of ten children born to his family. Al Capone was a normal kid growing up, that is until he got into an altercation with his 6th grade teacher and afterwards was whipped by his principle. Even though Capone was 14 years-old at the time he never returned to school after the altercation. He eventually moved on to a neighborhood gang where he eventually met his future boss and partner Johnny Torrio.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many issues affecting politics take place behind closed doors. Some of the events that take place which influence political decisions can stem from sociological, cultural, and political issues. American Gangster does a great job of conveying how each of these issues effect different aspects of today’s government.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apush Terms Ch. 31

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    5) Al Capone- grasping and murderous booze distributor; known as "Scarface"; from Chicago; in 1925, he began six years of gang warfare that netted him millions of blood-splattered dollars; branded "Public Enemy Number One";…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays