November 27, 2019

On Nov. 27, 1934, 85 years ago today, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents gunned down the notorious gangster George “Baby Face” Nelson in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Nelson had been the FBI’s “Public Enemy Number 1,” a label reserved for the most wanted violent criminal in the United States.

George “Baby Face” Nelson was just 25 years old when his life of crime came to a violent end 85 years ago today on Nov. 27, 1934. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

George Nelson was the alias of Lester Gillis, who was born in Chicago on Dec. 8, 1908. Gillis had a rough childhood, leading a criminal gang of juveniles and spending time in reformatory schools. His tender age, slight build, and youthful looks earned him the nickname “Baby Face.” At age 14, he was arrested for car theft and confined in a boys’ home for two years. After his release, his criminal activity intensified. Now known as “George Nelson,” he began robbing banks. Nelson’s bad habits led to prison time in 1931, but he eventually escaped and ran away to the West Coast.

John Dillinger, the leader of a criminal gang that included “Baby Face” Nelson, was the FBI’s original “Public Enemy Number 1.” Federal agents killed him on July 22, 1934. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

Nelson worked with bootleggers (alcohol smugglers) in California before returning to the Midwestern state of Indiana in 1933. There, he took up with the infamous criminal John Dillinger, who had the dishonor of being the FBI’s very first Public Enemy Number 1. Nelson worked with Dillinger’s gang, and he was believed to have killed a number of people, including several police officers and federal agents.

After Dillinger was killed in Chicago on July 22, 1934, the FBI eventually turned its “Number 1” sights on Nelson. On November 27, federal agents cornered Nelson and his partner in crime, John Paul Chase, as they were driving a stolen car in the Chicago suburb of Barrington. Refusing to surrender, the gangsters began a gun battle that killed two agents and left Nelson severely wounded. Nelson died of his wounds that night, and his body was left for the police to recover. Chase got away, but he was arrested a month later and spent the next 31 years in prison.

The 1920′s and 1930′s were years of rising violent crime in the United States. The prohibition of alcohol, enacted in 1920, had encouraged the creation of organized crime to transport and sell illegal liquor. The Great Depression, a global economic slump that started in 1929, saw many people out of work and desperate to make a living—often beyond the limits of the law. The FBI created its highly publicized “Public Enemy” and “Most Wanted” lists in hopes that ordinary citizens could help agents locate dangerous criminals. Aside from Dillinger and Nelson, only two other Depression-era outlaws were named Public Enemy Number 1 by the FBI: Charley “Pretty Boy” Floyd (killed in October 1934) and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis (arrested in May 1936).

January 2, 2018

On Jan. 2, 1942, 76 years ago today, a United States federal court sentenced 33 members of a Nazi German spy ring led by Frederick “Fritz” Duquesne to a total of over 300 years in prison. Duquesne and the 32 others had pleaded guilty or been convicted of espionage in the months leading up to the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II (1939-1945). The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) brought down the spy ring with the critical help of a German-American citizen named William Sebold. The fall of the Duquesne Spy Ring resulted in the largest number of convictions of any single espionage case in U.S. history.

This composite shows the 33 convicted members of the Duquesne Spy Ring. Frederick Duquesne is at the top right. Credit: Library of Congress

William Sebold was a naturalized U.S. citizen who had worked in aircraft and industrial plants in the United States and elsewhere since leaving his native Germany in 1921. During a return trip to Germany in 1939, the German Secret Service asked Sebold to spy for the Nazis on the United States. Alarmed, Sebold reported the spy recruitment efforts to U.S. officials in Germany. The FBI directed Sebold to go through with the Nazi spy training. Sebold would then work as a double agent, pretending to spy for Nazi Germany while actually working for the FBI—an extremely dangerous occupation.

In 1940, after his Nazi spy training, Sebold returned to the United States. He began working among a network of Nazi spies in New York City. Sebold met with Nazi agents at a Manhattan office fitted with a two-way mirror and audio and video recording devices. FBI agents witnessed Sebold’s meetings with Nazi spies. They also altered communications from Sebold and relayed the misleading information to Germany.

Frederick “Fritz” Duquesne. Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation

Sebold’s Nazi contacts included Fritz Duquesne, a South African who had fought against the British during the second Boer War (1899-1902). Duquesne had lived off and on in the United States since 1902, and he was involved in numerous nefarious activities. In 1917, during World War I (1914-1918), he was arrested for insurance fraud and was found to be spying for Germany. Duquesne escaped U.S. captivity in 1919. He was arrested again in 1932, but was released. In the mid-1930′s, Duquesne became involved with pro-Nazi groups in the United States, and eventually resumed spying for Germany.

In 1940, Duquesne began meeting with Sebold. Duquesne relayed schedules of ships bound for England, advised Sebold on sabotage techniques, and passed along information on new U.S. military weapons and equipment. The FBI arrested Duquesne and his co-conspirators in June 1941. All 33 either pleaded guilty to spying for Nazi Germany or were convicted of espionage in court. Duquesne was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was released in 1954 because of failing health, and he died in 1956 at age 78.

In 1942, overseas espionage and intelligence operations were taken up by the newly created Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was established in 1947.