Books and movies including the 1970 film Bloody Mama starring Shelly Winters focus on what some see as the mythical Ma Barker. But the real Barker may have had little to do with Hollywood images and the criminal exploits of her four sons.
The four men were members of the ruthless Barker-Karpis gang that rampaged across the South and Midwest in the 1920s and early 1930s. But there has been little evidence to support claims that Barker herself was some sort of stone-cold criminal mastermind. Daily Mail online article 22nd August 2012
‘Why take banks when you can take the bankers.’ Natural Born Outlaws: Barker-Karpis Gang, Karpis, Discovery 2016
West Plains, Missouri, December 1931: ‘Robbing banks, burglary, whatever would make money.’ ibid. commentator
January 17th 1934: Just hours after the abduction of Edward Bremer junior, St Paul police find his abandoned car. ibid.
He [Karpis] was ultimately paroled in 1968. ibid.
On 16th January 1935 FBI agents surrounded a house in a remote rural area of Florida. A gun battle broke out after warnings had been shouted. Teargas shells were fired. And after forty-five minutes agents broke in to find the inhabitants dead. They had killed two of America’s most wanted criminals: Kate Ma Barker, and Fred, one of her four sons. Great Crimes & Trials: Ma Barker & Other Public Enemies
‘It’s like walking into a time capsule in 1935. The fact that it has this extra history is a really interesting cachet,’ said Mark Arnold, an agent with Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty, who are handling the sale.
He was referring to how Kate ‘Ma’ Barker, who was branded Public Enemy No. 1 by the federal government for a rash of murders, kidnapping and robberies committed in the early 1930s, was killed in the house along with one of her sons in a barrage of bullets from federal agents.
Photos released at the time, believed by some to have been staged, show Barker lying dead in a second-floor bedroom clutching a machine gun.
But the Barker story is the stuff of gangster legend and crime buffs may put a premium on a prime piece of criminal memorabilia.
The house is 2,016 square feet (187 sq meters) with four bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms. The sale includes 9.5 acres shaded by stands of old oak trees and 1.5 acres of sandy beach on Lake Weir.
Books and movies including the 1970 film Bloody Mama starring Shelly Winters focus on what some see as the mythical Ma Barker. But the real Barker may have had little to do with Hollywood images and the criminal exploits of her four sons.
The four men were members of the ruthless Barker-Karpis gang that rampaged across the South and Midwest in the 1920s and early 1930s. But there has been little evidence to support claims that Barker herself was some sort of stone-cold criminal mastermind. Daily Mail online article 22nd August 2012
There was a few people killed in the robberies I was in. They claimed when I was arrested they accused me of killing 14. The Gangster Files s1e5: Alvin Karpis: Myth & Reality
The gang was founded by Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis. ibid. comment
Although the Barker-Karpis Gang were not as notorious as their contemporaries, such as the Dillinger Gang or the Barrow Gang, the Barker-Karpis gang was in fact much more ruthless. ibid.
The Barker-Karpis Gang is renowned for its long-running myth that the activities of the gang were actually run and controlled by the Barker brothers’ mother, Kate. ibid.
The life and death of Arizona Barker, better known to posterity as Ma Barker, has widely captured the imagination of popular society in America for nearly a century. The Gangster Files s1e6: Ma Barker: Myth & Reality, comment
We know for certain that from 1931 to 1935 Ma Barker was an enabler and an accomplice of the notorious Barker-Karpis Gang, one of the most infamous criminal gangs operating in the Midwestern United States. ibid.
Ma Barker was depicted as a very evil crime boss. Hoover in particular depicted her as one of America’s most notorious gangsters who was controlling and building crimes. ibid.
Those who knew Ma Barker personally insisted she had no criminal role. ibid.
BARNES, GEORGE KELLY [MACHINE-GUN KELLY]: The Gangster Files TV -
George Kelly Barnes is better know by his pseudonym, Machine Gun Kelly. He was an American gangster born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1900. Machine Gun Kelly was active as a criminal during the prohibition era. The Gangster Files s1e4: Machine Gun Kelly, comment, Amazon 2023
His fame has been elevated to such an extent that for millions around the world, he has become an American folklore hero. ibid.
He ended up in Alcatraz prison. ibid.
Machine Gun Kelly and his crimes became a favourite subject of the film noir movement. ibid.
He was a rather inept and cowardly windbag who was propelled by unanticipated stardom by his wife.
Machine Gun Kelly, 1958. A double feature with 1958’s The Bonnie Parker Story. ibid.
BARNES, JAMES: Werner Herzog TV - Signs of a Psychopath TV -
Florida currently has 400 inmates on death row … James Barnes is one of them. In 1998 James Barnes was given a life sentence for the murder for his wife. However, seven years into this sentence he confessed to a previous murder which landed him on death row. Werner Herzog on Death Row s1e1: James Barnes, Channel 4 2012
‘The murder became known as the Burning Bed … He picked up a hammer, beat her with the hammer actually killing her and then in an attempt to destroy as much evidence as he could he set the bed that she was on on fire.’ ibid. rozzer
‘It was very ugly, it was very brutal, it was very messy.’ ibid. Barnes
He hinted at the possibility of telling us about two more unsolved cases. ibid.
December 12th 1997 Melbourne, Florida: When Linda Barnes didn’t show up to work, a co-worker called police for a wellness check. Officers found her husband James alone in the house. Linda’s body was stuffed in a bedroom closet. She had been strangled. Signs of a Psychopath s5e7: Heat Will Destroy
James Barnes shoved his wife’s body into a bedroom closet, then spend the next day in the home alone. ibid.
BARNETT, DAVID: I Am a Killer TV -
I agreed to be adopted. I had my own room … But it came with consequence. I think I wanted the world to feel my pain. I didn’t want to exist. I just wanted to die. I Am a Killer s1e2: Overkill
David Barnett stabbed his adoptive grandparents to death. No motive has ever been established. ibid. caption
I was about four or five years old when the Department of Family Services finally caught up with, I guess, my existence. ibid. David
After six months with the Reams, David was returned to the foster care system. At age 8 he was placed in the home of a man named John Barnett. ibid. caption
I started getting hit … I knew something was wrong. He touched me inappropriately … I just wanted to die. ibid. David
After David’s 9th birthday, John Barnett adopted another two boys. ibid. caption
John Barnett’s parents, Clifford and Leona, lived on the same street as their son. ibid.
Within 24 hours, David Barnett confessed to police that he had committed both murders. ibid.
BARNETT, HEATHER murder: viz Miscarriages of Justice: Benguit, Oman
BARONE, CESAR: World’s Most Evil Killers TV -
In February 1993 detectives in Hillsboro, Oregon, were unaware that a serial killer had been active across the city. The murders of four women were being treated as separate cases until a prison in a local jailhouse began bragging to his fellow inmates. The loose-lipped convict was 32-year-old Cesar Barone who had been sexually assaulting and murdering women across Hillsboro for the previous two years. World’s Most Evil Killers s5e17: Cesar Barone, Sky Crime 2021
BARRAZA, ELIZABETH murder: True Crime Recaps 2021 -
January 25th 2019: Someone shot her execution style in her front yard. Now who did it and why? True Crime Recaps: Elizabeth Barraza Theories: Who Did It and Why? Youtube 6.37, 2021
BARROW, CLYDE: see PARKER, BONNIE
BARTLAM, DANIEL: Jo Frost on Britain’s Killer Kids TV -
A horrifying case is carried out by a 14-year-old child … What led Daniel Bartlam to murder a member of his own family? The level of planning and ferocity of the attack makes this one of the most shocking juvenile crimes in the UK. Jo Frost on Britain’s Killer Kids, CI 2017
In April 2011 here in Nottingham, Jacqui Bartlam was brutally attacked and murdered by his own son Daniel in their family home. He was just 14 years old. After bludgeoning Jacqui to death with a hammer, Daniel set her body alight. He had fantasised about killing her for months. ibid.
‘He looked eleven or twelve.’ ibid. reporter
In 2012 Daniel Bartlam was sentenced to 16 years in prison. ibid.
‘The only thing that seemed to have traumatised him is the divorce of his parents.’ ibid. Professor Kevin Browne
BARWELL, NIGEL & THOMAS O’REILLY: viz PAYNE, NICOLA murder
BASS, TIMOTHY: True Crime Recaps 2021 -
The murder of 18-year-old Mandy Stavik … left for dead … 27th November 1989: A volunteer firefighter came across her naked body floating gently in the Nooksack river. True Crime Recaps: Two Cold Cases Solved by DNA, Youtube 33.40, 2021
For 24 years there was no answer … The police started looking at him [Timothy Bass] as a possible suspect. ibid.
BATTEN, IVY murder: viz Miscarriages of Justice: Parsons, Brian