Missouri Outlaw History (Kansas City, Joplin, Jefferson City: elementary school, store, moving)

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WILBUR UNDERHILL JR (1901-1934)
Born in Joplin Missouri
" The Tri-State terror "
Spent 4 years in prison for burglary.
He got out and was caught robbing people in Lover's Lane and spent another 5 yrs behind bars.
In 1926 he killed a customer while robbing a drug store, he was caught but escaped.
He then robbed a movie theatre and killed a deputy and was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He escaped and robbed a theatre of $3oo the same day.
He killed a patrolman who came to question him. During a running gunfight with police he was shot in the neck and locked up in Lansing State Prison. He escaped with 10 other prisoners and they began robbing banks in Arkansas,Kansas,Oklahoma and Kentucky. The law caught up to him and he was shot 5 times and died a week later.

TOM PENDERGAST (1873-1945)
Born in St.Joseph Missouri
He was a corrupt political boss in Kansas City during the 1920s-30s.
Was known for bootlegging,gambling and fixed elections.
He was convicted of tax evasion and spent 15 months behind bars.
He died quietly at his home.


JOHN LAZIA (1896-1934)
Born in New York moved to Kansas City
Crime boss in Kansas City during the 1920s-30s.
Convicted of tax evasion but Tom Pendergast got him off.
He was assassinated in 1934.

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EDWARD O'KELLEY (1857-1904)
Born in Cass County Missouri
He married a relative of Cole Younger and became friends with Jesse James.
He killed Bob Ford in Colorado in 1892.
He was killed by a policeman during a drunken brawl in the streets of Oklahoma City.

THOMAS " SNAKE " KINNEY (1868-1912)
Born in St.Louis Missouri
He started out as a newsboy selling papers on the streets.
When he ran out of papers he would beat up another newsboy and take his papers.
He formed a gang with his best friend,Tom Egan. After a few burglaries and robberies he married Egan's sister and opened a saloon. He then got involved in politics and became Democratic Committeeman of the 4TH ward. He killed a rival named George " Baldy " Higgins but was found not guilty.He began making friends with wealthy St.Louis politicians as a state senator but died from tuberculosis in 1912 at the age of 43.

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THE BOTTOMS GANG 1905-1917
ST.LOUIS MISSOUR
Lead by John " Bad Jack " Williams
Criminal activities included voter intimidation,robbery,assault,illegal lotteries and murder.
They attacked the police and rival gang Egan's Rats.
After many arrests and murders by 1917 they ceased to exist.

THE CUCKOO GANG early 1900s to 1930s ST.LOUIS MISSOURI
Headed by brothers Herman,Roy and Ray Tipton
Extortion,robbery,kidnapping and murder were their specialties.
They stole $2.4 million from a mail truck and received 25 years in prison.
They helped the Shelton gang get rid of the Birger Gang then the Sheltons got rid of the Cuckoo gang.


EGAN'S RATS 1890-1924
ST.LOUIS MISSOURI
Formed by Snake Kinney and Tom and Willie Egan
Known for rigging elections,armed robbery,union busting,railroad theft,bootlegging and murder.
By 1921 Kinney and the Egans were dead and their torpedo William Dint Colbeck took over.
They went to war against the Hogan Gang who they suspected of killing Willie Egan. They defeated The Hogan Gang and turned all their attention to armed robberies instead of bootlegging for their source of income. In 1924 nine key members were sent to prison for mail robbery in Staunton Illinois and the gang had ended by 1925. Members who avoided prison such as Fred Killer Burke and Leo Vincent Brothers spread out across the country applying their trade of murder.

[BioMechanical]

My great great grandfather was a doctor in Southern Missouri, and one night after robbing (I believe it was a train) and running his horse out of gas, Jesse James broke into my grandfather's barn and stole his horse to make his escape. The local paper down there did a story about it years ago. I think my grandmother still has the clipping somewhere.

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When I was looking up some of this stuff on the internet I came across an old photo of about a dozen guys wearing straw hats and all were holding Thompsons and shotguns. They were standing around an old 1920s pickup truck. It looked like a group photo of one of the gangs. They were not identified only that it was in St.Louis. I tried to look at the scenery in the background to see if I recognized where the photo was taken, but hell..that was 90 years ago, nothing but trees. I do know that when Egan's Rats were chased out of the city Dint Colbeck relocated their headquarters to the intersection of St.Charles Rock Road and Pennsylvania. It's where the cemeteries are now but back then there was an old horse track there and they would practice shooting by driving their cars around the track shooting at cans.

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CARL AUSTIN HALL (1919-1953)
Born in Missouri
He was the son of a wealthy St.Louis lawyer.
He and Bonnie Brown Heady kidnapped and murdered 6 year old Bobby Greenlease in 1953 for $600,000 in ransom,the largest ever paid for a kidnapping at that time. They were both executed in the gas chamber at Jefferson City Missouri in 1953.


BOONE MAY (1852-1910)
Born in Missouri
Not a bad guy but said to have had the fastest gun in the Dakotas.
He rode shotgun for an express company and was involved in 8 shootings the first couple of years.
He killed outlaw Curley Grimes in 1879. He went to Santiago Chili in 1883 but fled to Brazil after shooting an army officer. He died of Yellow Fever in Rio de Janeiro in 1910.

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A LIITLE BIT OF INFO ON SOME OF THE EARLY ITALIAN GANGS IN ST.LOUIS,THEY STARTED AROUND 1890


THE GREEN ONES
The gang fled St.Louis after their leader Vito Giannola was murdered in 1927.


THE RUSSO GANG
This was a splinter group of The Green Ones.
It was led by Tony Russo and lasted until 1928.


THE PILLOW GANG
Began around 1910
The leaders;

Pasquale Santino murdered 1927
Carmelo Fresina murdered 1931
Thomas Buffa murdered 1947

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POLK WELLS (1851-1896)
Born in Buchanan County Missouri
He was friends with the James and Youngers growing up.
Won fame as an Indian fighter and knew Kit Carson.
He went on expeditions with Buffalo Bill.
He started a grocery store but failed at it and began robbing banks and trains.
He was caught and sent to prison but killed a guard and escaped. He was caught again and spent the rest of his life in prison. He said he was hung twice by Kansas Jayhawkers, stabbed twice by Mexicans and shot a total of 33 times and that 27 bullets were still in him. He died of Consumption in 1896.


BEN CRAVEN (1861-1950)
Born in Lineville Missouri
When he was a boy his teacher whipped him for beating up other students. He went back to the school at night and broke out all the windows and trashed the inside. He became a bootlegger on the Kansas border and was jailed in 1894 but escaped. He then became a horse thief and cattle rustler and was arrested but escaped. Next he took up robbing banks, post offices and stores. He was caught and served time at Lansing Prison before escaping again.By now there was a large reward on him so he changed his name and hired on in Missouri as a farmhand. He stole a horse and was caught in 1908 and was soon recognized as Ben Craven. He was given a life sentence at Leavenworth. He died in prison in 1950.

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GUS WINKLER (1901-1933)
Born in Lemay Missouri
Started hanging around the Bottoms Gang when he was 13.
He served in the army ambulance corp during WW1.
In 1920 he joined Egan's Rats and then moved to Detroit with Fred Killer Burke and worked with the Purple Gang. They then went to Chicago and hired out to Capone and were suspected in The St.Valentines Day Massacre. They began holding up banks and armored cars and murdering people coast to coast.
Gus was shot 6 times and died in Chicago in 1933.

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ZACK MULHALL (1847-1931)
Born in St.Louis Missouri
He became a cattle rancher in Oklahoma and put on Wild West Shows.
He got into an argument at the 1904 Worlds Fair and shot 3 people.
Was banned from the fair and the shooting was ruled self defense.


3 COPS KILLED IN 1904 ST.LOUIS
They were looking for armed men who beat and robbed passengers on a train from Chicago to St.Louis for the Worlds Fair. They located them at an apartment and a shootout erupted killing officers John Shea,Thomas Dwyer,James McCluskey and train robbers William Morris and Al Rosenauer. Another train robber, Harry Vaughn was captured.