Clarence Lieder was a mechanic and armorer for Chicago's underworld and Depression-era criminals, as well as the primary competitor to Joe Bergl

Joe Bergl

Joseph P. Bergl was a mechanic who supplied specially designed vehicles for Chicago's underworld including Al Capone's Chicago Outfit to Depression-era outlaws George "Machine Gun" Kelly and members of the Barker Gang....

. Owner of the Oakley Auto Construction Company, located at the corner of Division and Oakley Streets in Chicago's North Side, Lieder competed with Bergl in supplying both mobster and other criminals with customized automobiles throughout Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

 and during the early-1930s.

A longtime friend of bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson

Baby Face Nelson

Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...

, Lieder also hid John Dillinger

John Dillinger

John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...

 and Homer Van Meter

Homer Van Meter

Homer "Wayne" Van Meter was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.-Early life:...

from authorities after being unable to use their usual Chicago safehouses in early-1934. Shortly after Dillinger's death, Lieder closed his operations and left Chicago in July 1934, disappearing from public record thereafter.