Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34Penguin, 2009 M04 29 - 624 pages In Public Enemies, bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI to tell the full story—for the first time—of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and the assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers. In an epic feat of storytelling and drawing on a remarkable amount of newly available material on all the major figures involved, Burrough reveals a web of interconnections within the vast American underworld and demonstrates how Hoover’s G-men overcame their early fumbles to secure the FBI’s rise to power. |
From inside the book
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... police force. His legacy is as complex as the man himself. Before Hoover, American law enforcement was a decentralized polyglot of county sheriffs and urban police departments too often crippled by corruption. By and large, it was ...
... police force. His legacy is as complex as the man himself. Before Hoover, American law enforcement was a decentralized polyglot of county sheriffs and urban police departments too often crippled by corruption. By and large, it was ...
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... police force. On one side were reformers who charged that municipal police were too often corrupt and ineffective, and unable to deal with increasingly mobile criminals who crossed state lines like cracks in a sidewalk. On the other ...
... police force. On one side were reformers who charged that municipal police were too often corrupt and ineffective, and unable to deal with increasingly mobile criminals who crossed state lines like cracks in a sidewalk. On the other ...
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... police departments was spotty; only a few states had introduced statewide police, and those that had had seldom possessed the resources to break a major case. In their place, vigilante committees sprang up across the Midwest. Not that ...
... police departments was spotty; only a few states had introduced statewide police, and those that had had seldom possessed the resources to break a major case. In their place, vigilante committees sprang up across the Midwest. Not that ...
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... police, an experience that left him with a deep sense of victimization. Teaming up with some prison pals, he relocated to Ohio but was arrested after robbing a bank. He jumped out a window on the train ride to prison and fled to ...
... police, an experience that left him with a deep sense of victimization. Teaming up with some prison pals, he relocated to Ohio but was arrested after robbing a bank. He jumped out a window on the train ride to prison and fled to ...
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... police in a truck full of hot poultry, Buck drew a few days in jail and Clyde was released. For a time Clyde tried a series of menial jobs: messenger boy, movie usher, mirror factory worker. None lasted. By eighteen he evidenced the ...
... police in a truck full of hot poultry, Buck drew a few days in jail and Clyde was released. For a time Clyde tried a series of menial jobs: messenger boy, movie usher, mirror factory worker. None lasted. By eighteen he evidenced the ...
Contents
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL | |
BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | |
1 | |
A STAR IS BORN 10 DILLINGER AND NELSON 11 CRESCENDO 12 DEATH IN THE NORTH WOODS 13 AND ITS DEATH FOR BONNIE ... | |
PRAISE | |
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agents apartment appeared arrested arrived asked bank Barker began beside Bonnie Bremer building bullets Bureau called Chase Chicago City Cleveland Clyde Connelley Cowley Crime Dallas detective Dillinger Dillinger’s door drive drove East face files fired Floyd followed four Frank front gang gave Hamilton hand head Hoover Indiana inside John Kansas City Karpis Kelly kidnapping killed knew later leave living looked massacre Meter Michigan minutes months morning moved named needed Nelson never night Oklahoma opened parked passed Paul pistol police prison pulled Purvis reached remained returned road robbery running sheriff shot side station stay stepped stopped story Street talk tell thing thought told took town turned waiting walked wanted watched weeks window