GANGSTER OF THE PROHIBITION ERA. George Kelly Barnes

Background Info. He was born in July of 1895 in Tennessee He married Geneva Ramsey at age 19, they had two children together before divorcing. He was a student at Mississippi A & M College Nickname: “Machine Gun Kelly” (MGK) He married again (Kathryn Throne) Died in He was raised by a wealthy traditional family. He was a “wild child” in school.

Criminal Career His career began in his late teens, early twenties as a bootlegger. He was then arrested several times, notably in 1927 and He made connections with several other criminals while in prison. After getting out of prison he began participating in multiple bank robberies, kidnaps, and bootlegging as always. His famous crime is when he kidnapped wealthy oil man, Charles Urschel and held him for ransom of 200,000 dollars. It was executed successfully at first but the police were tipped off and after avoiding the police for several weeks, Kelly was caught. Urschel and other victims were able to identify Kelly to provide sure evidence to the police.

Prison Kelly and six others involved were sentenced to life in prison. Originally, his sentence was served at Alcatraz; but he was later transferred to Leavenworth prison in Kansas. He died there of a heart attack in 1954.

Quotes "Nothing is worth this." - George "Machine Gun" Kelly, on his years in prison

Deviance I believe that Kelly should have been punished as a symbol of crime deterrence. He was a huge crime symbol of his era and his sentence should be an example to others. If he were to be let out I believe that the U.S. would lose faith in the prison system. He already had a second chance being let out of prison previously.

Theory I believe that Machine Gun Kelly was a part of the differential-assoc. theory. He originally made a name for himself as a bootlegger. After going to prison, he was influenced by his surrounding inmates. He developed ties with them in prison. Upon returning to society, he participated in more serious crimes such as robberies and kidnapping. I believe that the connections he made led him to do so. These inmates opened Kelly’s eyes to an entirely different crime game. “While incarcerated, he made friends with several bank robbers-including Charlie Harmon, Frank Nash, and Francis Keating, and Thomas Holden-and is believed to have helped Keating and Holden escape.” He reunited with Keating and Holden after being released from prison and participated in a bank hold-up with the pair. These people took young Kelly under there wing. They made him into the famous gangster he was. They made a group which is why I believe this theory is true for Kelly.