11. Lester Gillis became infamous as Baby Face Nelson
In the late 1920s Lester Gillis, who used the alias George Nelson, was developing a budding criminal career by performing home invasions stealing cash, jewelry, and furs, and robbing stores and taverns. Nelson robbed his first bank in April 1930, another in October, and in Chicago that year robbed jewelry from the mayor of Chicago’s wife. It was she who labeled him as having a “baby face” and the sobriquet Baby Face Nelson was quickly bandied about in the press of the day when describing his crimes. Nelson also demonstrated a propensity for violence and committed his first known murder during a botched tavern robbery. By 1932 Nelson had been caught, convicted, and sentenced to prison, though he escaped during a prison transfer in 1932. The following year he robbed a bank in Grand Haven, Michigan.
Nelson decided to form and run his own gang of bank robbers in 1933, on October 3 they robbed the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minnesota, during which Nelson used a Thompson submachine gun to fire indiscriminately at bystanders on the street as they made their escape. In March of 1934, Nelson partnered with John Dillinger to rob the Security National Bank in Sioux Falls, followed a week later by the First National Bank of Mason City, Iowa. After Pretty Boy Floyd was killed Nelson inherited the designation of Public Enemy Number One. Nelson remained on the run with his wife, usually staying at the auto camps which were common in the 1930s. Nelson was finally cornered and killed by FBI agents in November 1934, in a gun battle in which two FBI agents were also killed. Nelson survived the confrontation only to die of his wounds at a safe house a short time later.