Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly, born George Kelly Barnes in 1895, was a notorious figure during America's Prohibition era, gaining infamy for his involvement in bootlegging and bank robbery. Raised in an upper-middle-class family in Memphis, Kelly's early life was marred by family issues, including his mother's death and a strained relationship with his father, which led him to a life of crime. After a brief stint in college, he eloped with Geneva Ramsey, but their marriage ended due to his criminal behaviors and alcohol abuse.
Transitioning into a criminal career, he formed a bootlegging gang that operated across several states and was known for bank robberies. Kelly adopted the moniker "Machine Gun Kelly," a name associated with his wife’s influence and his use of a Thompson submachine gun during heists. His criminal activities included a high-profile kidnapping in 1933, which ultimately led to his arrest along with his wife. They were convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy, resulting in a life sentence for Kelly, who died in prison in 1954. His legacy endures as a symbol of the gangster culture of the time and has been romanticized in popular media, reflecting the broader narrative of crime and law enforcement in early 20th-century America.
Machine Gun Kelly
- Born: July 18, 1897
- Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee
- Died: July 18, 1954
- Place of death: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
American gangster
Major offenses: Bank robbery and kidnapping
Active: 1928-1933
Locale: Various midwestern and southern states
Sentence: Life in prison
Early Life
Machine Gun Kelly (KEHL-ee) was born George Kelly Barnes in 1895 in Memphis. Kelly’s father was an insurance executive, and the family was upper-middle-class. Kelly reportedly despised his father for the older man’s marital philandering and extorted automobile privileges and an increased allowance from him. Kelly was involved in bootlegging while he was still a student at Memphis’s Central High School. His mother, Elizabeth Kelly Barnes, passed away during this time, and young George blamed his philandering father for hastening her death. After graduating from high school, Kelly attended Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State University) but dropped out within a few months.
After his brief college career, George met Geneva Ramsey, the daughter of a respected Memphis businessman. The couple eloped, and for a short time Kelly apparently tried to make a legitimate living. He was positively influenced by his new father-in-law, whom he liked and respected. After the older man’s death, Kelly was unable to hold a job, and he regressed into bootlegging activities. Furthermore, his reported drinking and violent rages eventually resulted in a divorce for the couple, who had two sons by then.
Criminal Career
After his divorce from Geneva, Kelly moved to Kansas City and formed a bootlegging gang that spread to multiple states, including Oklahoma, Tennessee, and New Mexico. He began using the name George R. Kelly, dropping the family name of Barnes. He was arrested twice in 1927 for bootlegging and for vagrancy, then sent to Leavenworth Federal Prison in 1928 for selling alcohol on an Indian reservation. After Kelly’s release, he married Cleo Brooks (who went by Kathryn), whom he had met prior to his conviction. The thrice-divorced Kathryn Kelly was said to be the main force behind Kelly’s “Machine Gun” image and nickname. It was reportedly Kathryn who first purchased a Thompson automatic for her husband and boasted to friends of the bootlegger’s supposed prowess with the weapon.
Kelly worked with various accomplices and robbed banks from 1930 to 1932 in Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, and as far west as Colfax, Washington. The last yielded Kelly’s biggest haul as a bank robber, netting him seventy-seven thousand dollars. Kelly’s final bank heist was in November, 1932, when he and two associates robbed a Mississippi bank of thirty-eight thousand dollars. Kelly may also have robbed banks in parts of Mississippi and Texas as well as Chicago, Kansas City, and Denver. Some sources state that Kathryn might have assisted her husband with the planning and execution of some of the bank jobs.
On 1932, Kelly and an accomplice attempted a couple of failed kidnappings. The second one was of an Indiana banker who convinced the gangsters that he could not pay the ransom. The kidnappers released their hostage under the rather ludicrous promise that the victim would later try to raise the money for his ex-captors, which of course he did not.
In July of 1933, Kelly and his bank-robbing partner Albert Bates kidnapped millionaire Oklahoma oilman Charles Urschel. Urschel, blindfolded and stashed at Kathryn’s family ranch in Texas, made keen observations about his whereabouts despite being unable to see. After the ransom was paid and Urschel was released unharmed, he was able to give enough information to authorities to lead to a coordinated sweep and arrest of Kelly associates. By September, 1933, police and federal agents had tracked George and Kathryn to a friend’s house in Memphis.
Legal Action and Outcome
Local police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents apprehended the Kellys in Memphis. It was here that Kelly supposedly uttered his famous plea, “Don’t shoot, G-men!” as he surrendered to the agents. Others claim that Kelly actually surrendered to Memphis police and said instead, “I’ve been waiting for you all night,” or alternatively “I give up, ya got me!” Whatever Kelly said during his arrest, it was the end of his gangster career. On October 12, 1933, George and Kathryn Kelly were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping and conspiracy. Kelly died of a heart attack at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary on July 17, 1954. Kathryn was released in 1958, and her last known residence was in Oklahoma.
Impact
Many believe that Kathryn Kelly was the architect of the “machine gun” image and that Kelly might not have achieved his notoriety without his wife’s passion for public notice. Machine Gun Kelly remains one of the iconic figures of the Prohibition era. The tale of Kelly coining the term “G-Men” (government men) for FBI agents (as romantically portrayed in movies like The FBI Story and G-Men) certainly served to underscore the colorful history of the war between the FBI and the Depression-era public enemies, embedding them in American popular culture.
Bibliography
Barnes, Bruce. Machine Gun Kelly: To Right a Wrong. Perris, Calif.: Tipper, 1991. Barnes’s account of his father’s life sheds a personal light on Kelly, particularly his earlier life and marriage to Geneva Ramsey.
Burrough, Bryan. Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34. New York: Penguin, 2004. Provides a general historical overview of the most famous of the Prohibition-era gangsters. Also reveals the workings of the fledgling FBI as it expanded to meet the challenge presented by the midwestern public enemies.
Hamilton, Stanley. Machine Gun Kelly’s Last Stand. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993. A well-researched, thorough, and exciting account of Kelly’s criminal career and the efforts of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI against the 1930’s gangsters.