Eddie Green (criminal)
Encyclopedia
Eugene "Eddie" Green was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw during the 1930s, best known as a member of the John Dillinger gang
. He was also associated with Frank "Jelly" Nash
, Volney Davis
and the Karpis
-Barker Gang in his early career.
Green was considered a highly intelligent criminal and expert "jug marker," widely known to employ tactics such as casing banks and planning escape routes that he drove them prior to a robbery to ensure a perfect getaway. His connections with corrupt politicians and police officials in St. Paul, Minnesota made him extremely useful in setting up safe houses and provide warning from police raids.
with his mother and brothers James and Frank, their father having died when Eddie was three. All three of the brothers became criminals, with Eddie spending time in prison in Wisconsin and Iowa for petty larceny, and eventually St. Paul for the grand larceny of $2,000. After his parole, he occasionally worked in iron mills while becoming a skilled "jug marker," someone who chooses which bank to rob.
Green took part in his first major bank robbery on January 28, 1933 when he joined Earl Doyle, Thomas "Buck" Woulfe and "Dago" Howard Lansdon in robbing a bank messenger in North Kansas City of $14,500. During the robbery, a shootout occurred that left Marshal Edgar Nall and Woulfe wounded. The gang later battled a pursuing posse, largely made up of local residents, and escaped by stealing one of their cars.
Green and his partners fled to Iowa where they stole spare license places from two vehicles and kidnapped two Knoxville police officers, Burt Conrey and John Neuman, before returning to Missouri. Releasing the hostages in Unionville on January 29, they also dropped off Woulfe who was arrested at a hospital in Coffeyville, Kansas
four days later. Woulfe, who had been shot in the groin, died soon after being transferred to the county jail in Liberty, Missouri
.
Three months later, Green joined Jess Doyle, Earl Christman, Frank "Jelly" Nash
, Volney Davis
, brothers Arthur and Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis
to rob a bank in Fairbury, Nebraska
on April 4, 1933. Christman was badly wounded during the robbery and Green drove him to Verne Miller's home in Kansas City to recover. Christman eventually died from his wounds and was buried in an unmarked grave outside town.
Green eventually became displeased with the tactics used by the Barker brothers, and began to seek a new gang, resurfacing as an associate of Baby Face Nelson, late in 1933 and early 1934, along with Tommy Carroll, and Homer Van Meter, and later became a member of the reorganized John Dillinger gang
in early 1934. His first robbery with the group, then including Dillinger, Tommy Carroll
, Homer Van Meter
and Baby Face Nelson
, was on March 6 when they held up a bank chosen by Green in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
for $49,500. Green also provided the gang with an extra gunman, Tommy Carroll
. A policeman was wounded during the robbery.
A week later in Mason City, Iowa
, despite casing the bank with Van Meter beforehand at an estimated $250,000 and using a series of diagrams and planned getaway routes made by Green, the gang grabbed only $52,000, taking 25 hostages to make their getaway possible. Both Dillinger and John "Red" Hamilton
were wounded by gunfire, as well as an innocent bystander, during their escape.
Returning to St. Paul, Green provided a safehouse for Dilllinger and Van Meter. However, the FBI had been on Dillinger's trail for some time, as they were for many Depression-era outlaws, and were getting close to capturing him. On March 31, federal agents raided the hideout and surprised the three, who managed to escape after an ensuing shootout. Dillinger was wounded in the escape and, while Green arranged for medical treatment in Minneapolis, the FBI came up with a lead on Dillinger's benefactor. When investigators were searching Dillinger's abandoned apartment, they discovered a telephone number
which they traced to one of Green's hideouts in St. Paul.
Green and his common-law wife Bessie turned up at the safehouse on April 3. Green left the car and proceeded to enter the apartment when he was ambushed by federal agents, armed with Thompson machine guns, and was shot in the head and shoulder. The FBI defended its actions, amid conflicting reports that Green had either attempted to flee or was gunned down in cold blood, claiming that Green "assumed a threatening attitude ... accompanied by menacing gestures." The FBI would receive heavy criticism from the press in regards to the death of an unarmed suspect, which slowed their investigation of Dillinger.
Green was taken to a hospital in St. Paul where he died from his wounds nine days later. He was delirious for the week before his death, allowing federal agents to record every word he said. Among the information they were able to gain included revealing the existence of the Karpis-Barker Gang, whom they were able to capture within 10 months. His wife, then held in custody for harboring her husband, told the police the names of Dillinger's gang upon her husbands death. She also confirmed that the Karpis-Barker gang was responsible for the January 1934 kidnaping of Edward Bremer, and named all of the gang members along with their girlfriends, leading to the issuing of federal indictments against them.
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...
. He was also associated with Frank "Jelly" Nash
Frank Nash
Frank Nash has been called “the most successful bank robber in U.S. history,” but he is most noted for his violent death in what has become known as the Kansas City Massacre...
, Volney Davis
Volney Davis
Volney Curley Davis was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A longtime Oklahoma bandit, he was the boyfriend of Edna Murray and an associate of both the John Dillinger and Alvin Karpis-Barker gangs during the 1930s.-Biography:Born in Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma, Volney Davis's...
and the Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
-Barker Gang in his early career.
Green was considered a highly intelligent criminal and expert "jug marker," widely known to employ tactics such as casing banks and planning escape routes that he drove them prior to a robbery to ensure a perfect getaway. His connections with corrupt politicians and police officials in St. Paul, Minnesota made him extremely useful in setting up safe houses and provide warning from police raids.
Biography
Eugene Green, born in 1898, lived in Pueblo, ColoradoPueblo, Colorado
Pueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....
with his mother and brothers James and Frank, their father having died when Eddie was three. All three of the brothers became criminals, with Eddie spending time in prison in Wisconsin and Iowa for petty larceny, and eventually St. Paul for the grand larceny of $2,000. After his parole, he occasionally worked in iron mills while becoming a skilled "jug marker," someone who chooses which bank to rob.
Green took part in his first major bank robbery on January 28, 1933 when he joined Earl Doyle, Thomas "Buck" Woulfe and "Dago" Howard Lansdon in robbing a bank messenger in North Kansas City of $14,500. During the robbery, a shootout occurred that left Marshal Edgar Nall and Woulfe wounded. The gang later battled a pursuing posse, largely made up of local residents, and escaped by stealing one of their cars.
Green and his partners fled to Iowa where they stole spare license places from two vehicles and kidnapped two Knoxville police officers, Burt Conrey and John Neuman, before returning to Missouri. Releasing the hostages in Unionville on January 29, they also dropped off Woulfe who was arrested at a hospital in Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city situated along the Verdigris River in the southeastern part of Montgomery County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,295...
four days later. Woulfe, who had been shot in the groin, died soon after being transferred to the county jail in Liberty, Missouri
Liberty, Missouri
Liberty is a city in Clay County, Missouri and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. At the 2007 population estimate, the city population was 29,993...
.
Three months later, Green joined Jess Doyle, Earl Christman, Frank "Jelly" Nash
Frank Nash
Frank Nash has been called “the most successful bank robber in U.S. history,” but he is most noted for his violent death in what has become known as the Kansas City Massacre...
, Volney Davis
Volney Davis
Volney Curley Davis was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A longtime Oklahoma bandit, he was the boyfriend of Edna Murray and an associate of both the John Dillinger and Alvin Karpis-Barker gangs during the 1930s.-Biography:Born in Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma, Volney Davis's...
, brothers Arthur and Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
to rob a bank in Fairbury, Nebraska
Fairbury, Nebraska
Fairbury is a city in Jefferson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,262 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Jefferson County....
on April 4, 1933. Christman was badly wounded during the robbery and Green drove him to Verne Miller's home in Kansas City to recover. Christman eventually died from his wounds and was buried in an unmarked grave outside town.
Green eventually became displeased with the tactics used by the Barker brothers, and began to seek a new gang, resurfacing as an associate of Baby Face Nelson, late in 1933 and early 1934, along with Tommy Carroll, and Homer Van Meter, and later became a member of the reorganized John Dillinger gang
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...
in early 1934. His first robbery with the group, then including Dillinger, Tommy Carroll
Tommy Carroll (criminal)
Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A boxer-turned-criminal, he committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 30s as well as being a longtime member of the Dillinger gang....
, 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:...
and 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...
, was on March 6 when they held up a bank chosen by Green in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...
for $49,500. Green also provided the gang with an extra gunman, Tommy Carroll
Tommy Carroll (criminal)
Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A boxer-turned-criminal, he committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 30s as well as being a longtime member of the Dillinger gang....
. A policeman was wounded during the robbery.
A week later in Mason City, Iowa
Mason City, Iowa
Mason City is the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 28,079 in the 2010 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Gordo and Worth counties....
, despite casing the bank with Van Meter beforehand at an estimated $250,000 and using a series of diagrams and planned getaway routes made by Green, the gang grabbed only $52,000, taking 25 hostages to make their getaway possible. Both Dillinger and John "Red" Hamilton
John Hamilton (gangster)
John "Red" Hamilton was a Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger.-Prison break:...
were wounded by gunfire, as well as an innocent bystander, during their escape.
Returning to St. Paul, Green provided a safehouse for Dilllinger and Van Meter. However, the FBI had been on Dillinger's trail for some time, as they were for many Depression-era outlaws, and were getting close to capturing him. On March 31, federal agents raided the hideout and surprised the three, who managed to escape after an ensuing shootout. Dillinger was wounded in the escape and, while Green arranged for medical treatment in Minneapolis, the FBI came up with a lead on Dillinger's benefactor. When investigators were searching Dillinger's abandoned apartment, they discovered a telephone number
Telephone number
A telephone number or phone number is a sequence of digits used to call from one telephone line to another in a public switched telephone network. When telephone numbers were invented, they were short — as few as one, two or three digits — and were given orally to a switchboard operator...
which they traced to one of Green's hideouts in St. Paul.
Green and his common-law wife Bessie turned up at the safehouse on April 3. Green left the car and proceeded to enter the apartment when he was ambushed by federal agents, armed with Thompson machine guns, and was shot in the head and shoulder. The FBI defended its actions, amid conflicting reports that Green had either attempted to flee or was gunned down in cold blood, claiming that Green "assumed a threatening attitude ... accompanied by menacing gestures." The FBI would receive heavy criticism from the press in regards to the death of an unarmed suspect, which slowed their investigation of Dillinger.
Green was taken to a hospital in St. Paul where he died from his wounds nine days later. He was delirious for the week before his death, allowing federal agents to record every word he said. Among the information they were able to gain included revealing the existence of the Karpis-Barker Gang, whom they were able to capture within 10 months. His wife, then held in custody for harboring her husband, told the police the names of Dillinger's gang upon her husbands death. She also confirmed that the Karpis-Barker gang was responsible for the January 1934 kidnaping of Edward Bremer, and named all of the gang members along with their girlfriends, leading to the issuing of federal indictments against them.