Kate Baker aka ‘Ma’ Baker
Ma Baker’s gangster story is a bit convoluted, and this is because there are two stories circulating around about who she was and what she did. One thing is for sure, which is the fact that the Bakers were a gang—all of the family, made up of her, her husband, and their kids. where the story differs depending on who you choose to believe.
Back in the 1910s, the Baker gang was known to run countless highway heists and other armed robberies. The first story runs with the idea that Ma Baker was the mastermind behind everything the gang had ever done. This is supported in part by the fact that the FBI’s first director described her as a “vicious, dangerous, and (a) resourceful criminal brain.”According to this, she is one of the most famous gangsters of all time.
The other story is a bit different. It is backed by people who claimed to have known her personally, and it lies on the other side of the spectrum. She was apparently the compelling opposite of the FBI description: she had nothing to do with all the crimes, and she was just an ordinary woman. They also raised the conspiracy theory that the legend of Ma Baker was made up to cover up the police’s traces after they killed the whole family in a raid.
Which is the true story? We will never know!
7 Responses
Yes I have heard of them All
They should make a movie all about these women and how they started especially Stephanie st.clair
I love stories like this
Thank you for this fascinating article about female mafia heads from gangster history. I found it interesting when you mentioned that there are numerous female mafia heads who ran successful crime empires. This read compels me to learn more, so I’ll definitely find a mafia historical site in my area to satisfy my curiosity.
You forgot to include Hillary Clinton
Interesting that they went into the 1990s, and yet failed to mention Hillary Clinton… She had a daughter by a family friend in retaliation for her husband’s multiple infidelities… Everyone that opposed her “committed suicide”, one by stabbing himself in the back 12 times in a public park… And, of course Ron Brown who was about to destroy her Golden Goose, by reporting to Newt Gingrich, when he returns to Washington after giving our Nuclear Missile Guidance System Blueprints to China, in thanks for reElection funds… He died in a plane crash on the way back, in which, as they reported “Everyone died”, but in truth there was only 1 body at the crash site, Ron Brown, with a bullet in the back of his head… The Investigator of the site was moved to a different department, when the cover story made news… 2 years later, she, the Investigator, managed to steal the sealed file and open it live on CNN showing pictures of her and her Assistant at the crashsite, as well as Ron Brown and the bullet hole, for 10 minutes, then it disappeared… The Clintons were still in the Whitehouse…
I don’t know if you would consider Patty Cannon of Sussex County De a gangster but she was a illegal slave trader a serial killer and the co-leader of the Cannon-Johnson gang of Md and De.