Random History Tangents: Public Enemy #1

Written By Jason Coulombe

Welcome to a new series I like to call Random History Tangents where I find myself going down a random Wikipedia rabbit hole and wanting to share it with you. This is post number one fittingly about public enemy #1

How did I get here? I went from the Public Enemy as in the hip hop group to the term Public Enemy #1.

A Public enemy was a term coined by the Chicago Crime Commission chairman Frank J Loesch to denote very dangerous crimes in the height of the “Ganster era” of Chicago.

The Public Enemy #1 label has been given to eight people.

*THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSMENT OF THESE PEOPLE.*

This is just for the education of the reader.

Al Capone: 1930

Capone in 1930

The first person to be given the label was Al Capone in April of 1930 by the Chicago Crime Commission. The man needs no introduction, he was the most notorious Gangster in Chicago during his reign. Leader of the Chicago Outfit of the Italian American Mafia, the gang committed almost every crime under the sun, due to bribes and fall guys no crimes were able to be traced back to Capone until federal agents found that he didn’t pay his taxes. His conviction on tax evasion was the only crime that Capone was convicted of. His sentence of eleven years in prison was the harshest for tax evasion ever given.

Angelo Meli: 1930

Angelo Meli was a gangster and the chairman of the Detroit Partnership of the Italian American Mafia. Born in Sicily, he moved to the US in 1917, settling in Detroit in 1918. He joined the Detroit Partnership and became the chairman in 1927. The Detroit police labeled him public enemy #1 in 1930. He was never arrested for the crimes committed under his leadership; however, attempts to deport him back to Italy fell short. He died in 1969.

John Dillinger: 1934

John Dillinger is one of the most famous bank robbers ever. His gang, the Dillinger Gang, was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations between September 1933 until July 1934. Dillinger was imprisoned in Indiana from 1924 to 1933 for a store robbery. In prison, he learned the ins and outs of bank robbing. The Dillinger Gang’s spree was used by J Edgar Hoover to justify the need for the FBI (Then the Bureau of Investigations BOI) to be in a bigger capacity. Which gave the US the FBI we know today. The BOI in 1934 named Dillinger Public Enemy #1. On July 22nd, 1934, Dillinger was hiding in a brothel in Chicago near the Biography Theater where he later went to see a show. The owner informed the BOI of Dillinger’s whereabouts and went to the Theater to ambush him. As he got out of the show BOI agents tried to arrest him, but he fled into the alleyway and was gunned down.

Charles Arthur Floyd: 1934

Charles Arthur Floyd aka Pretty Boy Floyd was a bank robber in the western and central states a departure from the Midwestern gangsters discussed so far. Right after the death of Dillinger Floyd was named Public Enemy #1. Spending most of his life in and out of prison for crimes such as robbing and murder. Floyd is viewed by some as an Anti-Hero, as he robbed banks, he would burn mortgage papers which would rid people of their debts. On October 22, 1934, Floyd was killed by BOI agent Samuel P Cowley in Ohio.

Lester Joesph Gillis: 1934

Lester Joesph Gillis aka as Baby Face Nelson was a bank robber in the Dillinger gang. After the death of Floyd, Gillis and the remanding Dillinger gang were labeled as Public Enemy #1. On November 27 1934 in a park of the Chicago suburb Barrington the “Battle of Barrington“ to place between Gillis and BOI agents. Gillis was killed along with Cowley the same aganet that killed Floyd.

Alvin Karpis: 1934

The final person labeled in 1934, Karpis holds the distention of the only person named by the BOI (became FBI in 1935) Public enemy #1 to be taken alive after he was arrested in New Orleans in 1936. Karpis was a gangster convicted of robbing and killing. He holds the record for the longest time served at the infamous Alcatraz Island serving time there from 1936 till 1962 when the prison began to close. He transferred to McNeil Island in Washington state where he met Charles Manson (Crime is so connected it is bizarre.) He was paroled in 1969 and wrote his memoir “Public Enemy #1“in 1971.

Charles Lucanio: 1936

Luciano was the founder of the Five Points Gang in New York City and was a major player in the spread of organized crime across the country. He was the first boss of the famous Genovese crime family the largest in NYC. He was named public enemy #1 of New York by DA Thomas E Dewy. Later in 1936 Luciano was arrested and sentenced to 30-50 years however his senate was commuted to deportation after his intelligence service in World War two.

Osama Bin Laden: 2001

The Public Enemy #1 label went unused for 65 years until the September 11th attacks in 2001. Bin Laden was the leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda responsible for many attacks on western countries allied with the United States. The US fought al-Qaeda for years trying to catch Bin-Laden. Bin-Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in a raid on his compound in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. Bid Laden is responsible for the murder of 1000s.

Joaquin Guzman: 2013

The last man to be given the label was the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, “El Chapo. “He is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 34,000 people. The Cartel deals in drugs. Guzman was arrested and escaped multiple times staying captured since 2016 and is being held in ADX Florence a supermax prison. He was given Public Enemy #1 by the Chicago Crime Commission in 2013 the very same organization that started the label in the US.

Jason Coulombe
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