BABY FACE NELSON

'Lester Joseph Gillis' (December 6 1908 – November 27 1934), aka 'George Nelson' but better known as 'Baby Face Nelson', due to his youthful appearance, was a diminutive (5' 4" tall) bank robber in the 1930s.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Lester Gillis began his criminal career stealing cars and spending time with future members of the gang of Roger "Terrible" Touhy. Nelson also worked for a time as an enforcer for Chicago gangster Al Capone, he also fought with Capone's ally and outfit member Anthony Accetturo, and received broken bones for his troubles - he was let go due to being "too violent" for Capone to control. Nelson came to greater prominence in 1934, when he joined the Dillinger gang. In contrast to the dashing John Dillinger, Nelson is the antithesis of popular, Robin Hood-like gangsters of the Depression era. Having a psychopathic bent, Nelson did not hesitate to kill lawmen and innocent bystanders. Paradoxically, though, Nelson was a devoted husband and father who often had his wife, Helen Gillis, and children with him while running from the law.
After John Dillinger's death in July 1934, Nelson became Public Enemy Number One. Nelson was said to have boasted of robbing one bank a day for a month, in order to outdo Dillinger. That never occurred.

Contents

The Battle of Barrington

In popular culture

External links

The Battle of Barrington

A running gun battle between FBI agents and Nelson took place on November 27 1934 outside of Chicago, in the town of Barrington resulting in the deaths of Agent Herman Hollis and Inspector Samuel P. Cowley.
It started when Nelson, Helen Gillis, and John Paul Chase were driving down a road and saw a police car driving the opposite direction. Nelson hated police and federal agents and used a list of license plates he had compiled to actively hunt them at every opportunity. He apparently recognized the car and decided to chase them. Once they both stopped, the shootout started. Nelson and Chase used their car for cover, however, Nelson charged at the police and opened fire. Nelson, though shot 17 times, was still able to steal Hollis's car. Gillis and Chase helped Nelson into the car and with Nelson giving directions, Chase drove away from the scene. Nelson succumbed to his wounds at approximately 8pm that evening and was unceremoniously dumped near a Niles Center (present-day Skokie), Illinois, cemetery.
Gillis/Nelson is buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois. He holds the dubious distinction of being personally responsible for the killing of more federal agents than any other criminal. Besides the aforementioned agents he was also responsible for the murder of Special Agent W. Carter Baum during the Little Bohemia shoot-out.

In popular culture

Nelson has been the subject of multiple films, a 1957 film, ''Baby Face Nelson'', starring Mickey Rooney and a 1995 film of the same name starring C. Thomas Howell. He was portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss in the 1973 film ''Dillinger'' and by Michael Badalucco in the 2000 film ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', in which his character was fictionally portrayed to have a grudge against cows, to be manic-depressive and to have been executed in the electric chair in Mississippi (which he describes as "going off like a Roman candle").

External links

★ FBI famous cases (public domain text)

★ Crime Library biography

★ Grave location for George Nelson