Ma Barker
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rv vandalism; also title of "Public Enemies" (apparently there are similar alternate titles, but not simply "Public Enemy 1")
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Kate 'Ma' Barker (birth name Arizona Clark) ( c. 1871—January 16, 1935) was a legendary American criminal from the public enemy era, when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwest gripped the American people and press. Her notoriety has since subsided, trailing behind Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger.
The actual degree of Barker's own criminality is in doubt. Though her children were undoubtedly criminals and their Barker-Karpis Gang committed a spree of robberies, kidnappings and other crimes between 1931 and 1935, it appears that the popular image of her as the gang's leader and its criminal mastermind is a myth.
Though she must have known of the gang's activities and did help them before and after they committed their crimes, there is no evidence that she was ever an active participant in any of the crimes themselves or involved in planning them. Alvin Karpis, the gang's second most notorious member (historically a much more important figure), later said that:
- "The most ridiculous story in the annals of crime is that Ma Barker was the mastermind behind the Karpis-Barker gang ... She wasn't a leader of criminals or even a criminal herself. There is not one police photograph of her or set of fingerprints taken while she was alive ... she knew we were criminals but her participation in our careers was limited to one function: when we traveled together, we moved as a mother and her sons. What could look more innocent?"
Many, including Karpis, have suggested that the myth was encouraged by J. Edgar Hoover and his fledgling FBI to justify his agency's killing of an old lady. She was shot dead when the FBI raided the cottage she was renting with her son Fred at Lake Weir in the Ocala region of Florida on January 16, 1935. It was Fred, who was also killed in the raid, that had been the Bureau's main target.
The myth of Ma Barker inspired a 1970 low budget film called Bloody Mama. Directed by Roger Corman and starring Shelley Winters as Ma, the movie depicts Barker as a corrupt mother who encourages and organises her children's criminality and is notable for an early appearance by a young Robert De Niro playing the part of Lloyd Barker. Another retelling of the legend occurred in the 1996 movie "Public Enemies" starring Theresa Russell.
The story is also probably the inspiration for the 1977 Boney M music single Ma Baker, the Ma Dalton character in the Lucky Luke series of comic strips, the Beagle Boys characters in the Scrooge McDuck universe, and Anne Ramsey's character Mama Fratelli in the 1985 Richard Donner film, The Goonies.
The pirate chief and her sons in Castle in the Sky movie also may have a connection with this.
The legend of Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang are also the inspiration for the band Maylene and The Sons Of Disaster.
Reference
- Look For the Woman by Jay Robert Nash. M. Evans and Company Inc. New York: 1981.de:Ma Barker