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DEPRESSION ERA - MA BARKER

Ma Barker

1871-1935 

DEPRESSION
ERA

Ma
Barker

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Kate "Ma" Barker had four sons by her loser husband George. Herman, Lloyd, Arthur and Fred began their careers with petty crimes, then auto theft, then bank robbery, and then murder. Finally, they hit the big time with kidnapping.

According to the FBI and Hollywood, Ma was the brain behind the Barker-Karpis mob. Edgar Hoover called her "a veritable beast of prey."

However, underworld sources say that Ma was just a dumpy little old lady who took care of her family. Gangmember Alvin "Creepy" Karpis said, "Ma was always somebody in our lives. Love didn't enter into it really. She was somebody we looked after and took with us when we moved from city to city, hideout to hideout…It's no insult to Ma's memory that she just didn't have the brains or the know-how to direct us on a robbery. It wouldn't have occurred to her to get involved in our business, and we always made a point of only discussing our scores when Ma wasn't around. We'd leave her at home when we were arranging a job, or we'd send her to a movie. Ma saw a lot of movies."

When the Barker-Karpis gang kidnapped millionaires William A. Hamm, Jr. and Edward George Bremer, the FBI set their sights on these "public enemies."

On January 16, 1935, Ma and her youngest son Freddie were traced to a cottage hideout in Lake Weir, Florida. After a four-hour gun battle, their corpses were found inside the house. The FBI called her "Bloody Mama."

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western