Notorious Kansas Bank Heists by Rod Beemer

Supposedly he never pulled a job without making detailed plans and perhaps for this reason no one was ever seriously hurt during his heists. Harvey has been credited with almost 30 bank robberies from 1920 to 1932. This was an endeavor that could be handled by single entrepreneurs with perhaps one or two partners. Looking for independent ways to make a big buck, Harvey decided to switch to bank robbing. He wouldn't dry up, though, because he would find himself at the bottom of Lake Michigan. If he (and most of them were men) tried to go independent he found his customers dried up. Harvey found this business plan was particularly lucrative.īut a rum runner had to be tied to a particular gang. A runner would drive to and from Canada - Windsor, Ontairo is just east of Detroit - and unload top-notch hooch where the gang wanted it. A good rum runner knew the back roads to all the major cities. That could be a central warehouse or a local bar. You'd load up your car with booze at the distillery or brewery and deliver it where needed. One job in a well oiled bootlegging enterprise was to be a 'rum runner'. Doing so effectively could be hazardous to your health as Johnny Torrio found out. The problem with bootlegging was to make real money you had to be part of a well-established gang with enough muscle to keep rival mobs out of your territory. But Johnny and Al found you could make big bucks doing just that.īootlegging wasn't the only crime around, but it did help solidify the concept of the celebrity gangster. Starting in 1919 it was illegal to manufacture, sell, or transport alcoholic beverages. That was in the early 1920's and just when Al Capone who at the behest of Johnny Torrio had moved from New York to Chicago. So after he got out he went to the Windy City to look them up and found they were involved in, well, less than reputable enterprise. He served in the Army in World War I and some of his army buddies hailed from Chicago. Harvey got involved in crime almost by chance. Yes, in the 1920's and 1930's Harvey Bailey was one of the nation's most famous criminals. And that's certainly true for Harvey Bailey, once one of the most famous men in the United States and today virtually unknown.Įxcept for crime buffs, of course.

Notorious Kansas Bank Heists by Rod Beemer