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Public Enemy is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society. Terminology is the set of all the terms related to a given subject field or discipline. ...
This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...
For other uses, see Crime (disambiguation). ...
The term was first popularised in April 1930 by Frank J. Loesch, then chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission, in an attempt to publicly denounce Al Capone and other Chicago gangsters. FBI mugshot of Capone, 1931 Alphonse Gabriel Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), popularly known as Alfonso Scarface Capone, was an infamous American gangster in the 1920s and 1930s, although his business card reportedly described him as a used furniture dealer. ...
Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ...
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It was later appropriated by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI who used it to describe various notorious fugitives that they were pursuing throughout the 1930s. Among the criminals whom the FBI called "Public Enemies" were John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker and Alvin Karpis. Hoover in 1961 John Edgar Hoover KBE (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the founder of the FBI in its present form and its director from May 10, 1924 until his death in 1972. ...
Official FBI Seal The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the federal criminal investigative and intelligence agency, which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. ...
This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...
Bonnie Parker Bonnie and Clyde clowning. ...
Kate Ma Barker (birth name Arizona Clark) ( c. ...
Alvin Karpis Alvin Karpis (August 10, 1907-August 26, 1979, born Alvin Karpowicz), nickname Creepy , was a noted criminal in the United States known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. ...
The term was used so extensively during the 1930s that some writers call that period of the FBI's early history the "Public Enemy Era". [1],[2]
Original Chicago usage
Frank J. Loesch first devised the term "Public Enemy" in the title of a list he wrote of Chicago's most prominent and influential gangsters.
The Public Enemies list, as printed in the Chicago Tribune on April 24, 1930, included the following: The Chicago Tribune, formerly self-styled as the Worlds Greatest Newspaper, remains one of the principal daily newspapers of the midwestern United States. ...
All of those listed were reputated to be gangsters or racketeers and most were bootleggers. Although all were known to be consistent law breakers (most prominently in regards to the widely-broken "Prohibition" law banning alcohol) none of those named were fugitives or were actively wanted by the law. The lists purpose was clearly to both shame those named and spur the authorities to prosecute them. Machine Gun Jack McGurn (1905–February 15, 1936) was a key member of Al Capones Chicago-based mafia organization known as the Chicago Outfit, and believed to be the principal assassin and planner of the 1929 St. ...
Jake Greasy Thumb Guzik (May 20, 1886-February 21, 1956) was the financial and legal advisor, and later political “fixerâ€, for the Chicago Outfit. ...
George Clarence Bugs Moran (August 21, 1891 – February 25, 1957) was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster. ...
Joe Aiello Giuseppe Joe Aiello (1891 - October 23, 1930) was a Sicilian-American mobster during the 1920s and early 1930s. ...
Edward Spike ODonnell was the leader of the Southside ODonnells with brothers Steve, Walter, and Tommy ODonnell. ...
Joseph Polack Joe Saltis (18??-1935) was an early Prohibition gangster who, who with Frank McErlane, controlled bootlegging in the Southwest Side of Chicago, Illinois. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ...
A bootlegger is someone who sells an illegally manufactured product. ...
Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ...
In 1933 Loesch recounted the origin and purpose of the list:
- "I had the operating director [of the Chicago Crime Commission] bring before me a list of the outstanding hoodlums, known murderers, murderers which you and I know but can’t prove, and there were about one-hundred of them, and out of this list I selected twenty-eight men. I put Al Capone at the head and his brother next, and ran down the twenty-eight, every man being really an outlaw. I called them Public Enemies, and so designated them in my letter, sent to the Chief of Police, the Sheriff every law enforcing officer".
- "The purpose is to keep the publicity light shining on Chicago's 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". <Bergreen, Laurence (1994). Capone: The Man and the Era. New York: Simon and Schuster.>
Capone's ranking at the top of the list led to his gaining the sobriquet "Public Enemy No.1", a title he would continue to be referred to by newspapers and the authorities until his conviction on tax-evasion charges in 1931. A sobriquet is a nickname or a fancy name, usually a familiar name given by others as distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. ...
The term "Public Enemy" was later further popularised when Warner Bros. released the film The Public Enemy in 1931. Starring James Cagney as a ruthless criminal the films use of the term was clearly inspired by Loesch's original list. The WB Shield used from 2003 to present day Warner Bros. ...
The Public Enemy is a 1931 film noir crime drama in which a good brother tries to turn his bad brother back onto the good path. ...
James Cagney was part of the Legends of Hollywood USPS stamp series. ...
FBI use of the term Later, after the term Public Enemy was popularised by Loesch and the 1931 movie, J. Edgar Hoover and his then fledgling FBI began to use the term widely to describe prominent criminals whom they were pursuing.
However unlike Loesch`s use of the term, the FBI's "Public Enemies" were wanted criminals and fugitives who were already charged with crimes.
As the FBI's website describes:
- "[The] FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice made use of the term, "public enemy," in the 1930s, an era in which the term was synonymous with "fugitive" or "notorious gangster." It was used in speeches, books, press releases, and internal memoranda. However, neither the FBI nor the Department had any type of publicity program which concentrated on a "public enemy" number 1, number 2, etc." [3]
Among those widely-referred to as "public enemies" during this period were John Dillinger, Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, Kate "Ma" Barker, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Lester J. Gillis, a. ...
Charles Arthur Pretty Boy Floyd. ...
References - Bergreen, Laurence (1994). Capone: The Man and the Era. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0684824477.
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