The years 1933 and 1934 were the height of the Depression. The network of roads and the advance of the automobile made it possible for the first time to cover long distances quickly. Criminals figured this out and, for a time, took advantage of it to keep a step ahead of the local police forces who hadn’t learned to coordinate their efforts.

Burroughs covers the careers of Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, The Barker-Karpis gang, Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger. All of them were active at the same time, and most of them, with the exception of Bonnie and Clyde (who were just a couple of punks who dreamed of the big time), knew each other and worked together in one way or another.

Meanwhile, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI was just a fledgling department with few agents (who didn’t even carry weapons) and a truckload of incompetence. While the gangsters robbed banks, kidnapped rich people and killed law officers, the FBI struggled with growing pangs and finally caught up. Kelly, Dock Barker and Alvin Karpis were captured and served time. Fred Barker (and Ma Barker, who was just an old stupid woman and not the criminal mastermind Hoover portrayed her as), Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, Nelson and Dillinger were all killed, several of them by ambush with no attempt to arrest them.

Interesting connections: Dillinger had a shoot-out with FBI agents at the Manotowish, Wisconsin resort called Little Bohemia, which is right next to Powell Marsh where I’ve been birding a dozen times. Baby Face Nelson killed two FBI agents and was mortally wounded in a shoot-out on Route 14 in Barrington. One of the premiere hang-outs for several of the gangsters was the (no longer existent) Crystal Ballroom in Fox River Grove, less than a mile from my house.

The book was very interesting, although it occasionally bogged down with details of all the lesser gang members and what they did and said and ate. Still, I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys history.