History’s most wanted
takes a tour down the dark alleys of history as a new book explores some of the world’s most infamous crimes
AMERICAN bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were the outlaw lovers who became criminal superstars during the Depression era. “It’s for the love of a man that’s I’m gonna have to die,” Bonnie Parker once said, and her words proved prophetic when they couple’s four-year crime spree ended in 1934 in a hail of bullets following a police ambush.
When their Ford motor was towed to town, with the bullets still inside, a crowd of curious onlookers surrounded the car. Spectators collected souvenirs, including pieces of Parker’s bloody clothes and hair.
One man even tried to cut off Clyde Barrow’s trigger finger. Items belonging to the pair, including stolen guns and a saxophone, were also kept by members of the police posse and sold as souvenirs.
The Dallas Morning news issue announcing the deaths sold 500,000 copies and a group of Dallas newsboys later sent the largest floral tribute to Parker’s funeral.
Bonnie and Clyde were not the only bank robbers to meet an untimely end in 1930s America.
Gangster and notorious bank robber John Dillinger was killed by federal agents on July 22, 1934 while fleeing from arrest and, a few months later, FBI agents killed George “Baby Face” Nelson, a bank robber and gangster who was then labelled Public Enemy Number One.
They are all featured in The Crime Book which explores the most notorious crimes in history and the criminal masterminds behind them.
It includes The James-Younger Gang, featuring American outlaw Jesse James and his brother Frank.
They robbed 12 banks, five trains, five stagecoaches and an exposition ticket booth during their crime spree in the wake of the American Civil War. Jesse was later betrayed and shot in the back by fellow gang member Robert Ford in 1882 in order to collect a $10,000 bounty.
In the UK, Irish-born Thomas Blood aimed even higher when he hatched a plan to steal the crown jewels in 1671.
He disguised himself as a fictitious clergyman called Reverend “Ayloffe” while a female accomplice posed as his wife. He flattened the crown and sawed the sceptre in half to make it easier to carry, but he and his gang were quickly caught.
Charles II was impressed by his boldness though and offered him a royal pardon and he later became a favourite at court. Blood later said: “It was a gallant attempt, however unsuccessful. It was for a crown.”
Victor Lustig has been called the smoothest conman that ever lived and one of his biggest scams was to sell the Eiffel Tower in Paris for scrap metal in 1925.
He also swindled American gangster Al Capone in the late 1920s by convincing the Chicago crime boss to invest $50,000 to finance a stock deal, with the promise that he would double his money.
He returned the money two months later apologising that the deal had fallen through. Full of admiration for Lustig’s integrity, Capone rewarded him with $5,000.
Lustig himself once said: “I cannot understand honest men. They lead desperate lives full of boredom.”
American con man George C Parker would have agreed. He sold New York public landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, to wealthy foreign tourists multiple times in the 1940s.
Northern Irish cat burglar Peter Scott committed some 150 burglaries before he was caught in 1952. He went on to steal a $260,000 necklace belonging to Sophia Loren in 1960.
And the one that got away? A man dubbed DB Cooper hijacked a flight from Portland to Seattle in 1971 after passing a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner telling her he had a bomb in his case and demanded four parachutes, a fuel truck waiting for the plane when it landed and $200,000 in $20 notes.
He later put on a parachute and jumped out of the Boeing 727 into the dark rainy night after his demands were met. He left behind the other parachutes and his tie.
A massive manhunt ■ was launched, but he was never found.
A family on a picnic unearthed $5,800 of the money in sand near a river eight years later, but the remaining $144,200 has never been recovered. The DB Cooper hijacking has since become the stuff of legend – he got away with it, no one was hurt and his fate remains a mystery.
THE Crime Book, pictured left, with foreword by Peter James, is out now, published by DK, £16.99. See DK.com for details.