When people think of gangster’s molls, they often picture glamorous women. Other stereotypical assumptions are that the molls were dutiful housewives who looked after the family and turned a blind eye to the activities of their husband’s. However, the gun molls of the 1930s played a very active role in the criminal activities of the Mafia and disproved all the stereotypes associated with them.
Media attention first focused on the gun Molls of the Public Enemy gangs. However, the inner-city molls often remained behind the scenes because crime figures in major cities, such as Chicago and New York were rarely photographed. There was a spotlight on the women in the Midwest Crime Wave throughout 1933 and 1934. The wife of Machine Gun Kelly, Kathryn Kelly, attracted a lot of attention during her Federal kidnapping case. Bonnie Parker also gained notoriety as the moll of Clyde Barrow. Photographs of her smiling while cradling her boyfriend’s cigars and guns made front page headlines. Most molls played it differently to Parker and Kelly, though, as they believed their value lay in saying behind the scenes and keeping a low profile. In 1933, the mobsters’ female associates became of great importance to the FBI and other officials. They interrogated them and used the same level of brutality they would with male criminals. The Kansas City Massacre in June of this year is what prompted the FBI to investigate the women. They were often held for up to two weeks, deprived of sleep, starved and beaten. Throughout the 1930s, the gun molls were worker bees for their partners and far from the stereotypes often attached to the women in the mafia. They rented apartments for hideouts, packed ammunition, opened safety deposit boxes to stash loot, bought getaway cars and often worked as a go-between. Beth Green was one of the most famous women in the Mafia during this decade. She was the common-law wife of Eddie Green. The FBI’s interest in her extended beyond her role as a gun moll to her business acumen and intelligence. Unlike other women who were coaxed to provide information, Beth Green negotiated with the FBI. There was one significant difference between the molls of the Public Enemy gangs and those in the Chicago Outfit or the New York Mafia families. The women in the Public Enemy gangs usually survived. However, those who were involved with syndicate mobsters were often strangled or shot after their interrogation from the FBI. Those who were not murdered by their associates or lovers would often flee in fear of their lives. This shows that the lives of the gun molls in the 1930s were very different to the picture painted in the movies. They worked hard, were very involved in the criminal activities and often lived in fear of interrogation followed by death. |
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