BABY FACE NELSON; BLOG # 132; MAY 23, 2014

THE MESSAGE: 

A Story of Criminals in History With Canadian Ties

LESTER GILLIS aka: Baby Face Nelson 

Born December 6, 1908, Lester Joseph Gillis, known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was better known as Baby Face Nelson due to his youthful appearance and small stature.  

THE GILLIS FLAT

Lester Joseph Gillis "something out of a bad dream" was to emerge from the Chicago Stockyards district as Baby Face Nelson, one of the toughest, and definitely the most heartless, of the Depression-era gangsters. Cold and brutal, Nelson went out of his way to murder. He possessed a murderous temper and a willingness to employ a switchblade or a gun without hesitation or remorse for the intended victim.

Little Lester was born to poor Highland Scot immigrant parents Josef and Mary Gillis, from Margaree, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

They  were extremely religious and found it difficult to comprehend and adapt to the American ways of life. It is said that they were pathetically unprepared for the realities of the urban world in Chicago's sanitation canal district.  This district was a composite of freight yards, water towers, viaducts and factories.

The neighbours were generally old-country; the elders didn't understand the walk nor talk of urbanity, but their kids picked it up as their major language. 

In that era of ethnic challenge, nationalities stuck with their own. The area included Maxwell Street, where Jewish tinkers pawned their trade; circling it was the Bohemian artsy culture of the University of Chicago.  First generation kids loved it, speaking the slang of the Jazz hipsters, but always reverting to old-world German, Lithuanian, Irish or Polish at home when they were amongst their families. 

The elder Gillis laboured twelve-hour days, six days a week at the Union Stockyards as a packer in one of the many ice houses along Canal Street. Nationalities didn't matter here, for everybody worked hard for little pay.  Mary Gillis was a woman of great Christian faith, but she had  little understanding of rambunctious boys. She was a bright woman in many respects. In order to supplement income and help feed the family, she took up tutoring French to school children. Unfortunately for Chicago, while her husband toiled late, she allowed her boys the freedom to wander outdoors unchecked.  Lester soon developed as a tough, budding small-time hood. 

In his earliest years, Lester drifted, lost amid the thousands of other young punks in the canal area. He was a small person, at 5 feet, four inches, and often bullied severely by bigger kids. He soon became acclimatized to violence and learned to fight back. Lester  would bloody the noses of anyone who bothered him, regardless of their size, and struck with the ferocity of a cornered, wild beast.

Lester Gillis quickly earned a reputation as someone to avoid at all costs. He swaggered about neighbourhoods, simply looking for trouble. The local police station knew his name and often patrolled the alleys near his home hoping to catch the sandy-haired, dirty-faced young Lester and his buddies in the act of some transgression.  Gillis became adept with a switchblade and developed a reputation as someone who was not afraid to inflict pain.

Lester's parents, together with a district priest and nuns, tried desperately to make him see the danger in his behaviours. Discipline had little effect on Lester's attitude and when his father switched to  a barber's strap he ran away from home. The parents found that tough love was not a solution and welcomed Lester back when he was returned home by the police.  They largely ignored Lester's decision to quit school and it was not long before he realized that home was only a place to sleep.

Lester's association with the Halsted Street Boys consolidated his development as a small-time hood.

By the age of 14, he was an accomplished car thief and was arrested, convicted of auto theft and sent to a boys' home." He was released after 2 years but returned to the streets to continue on his wayward path.

By the time he concluded his second incarceration at the end of 1926, he returned to a new world. The Volstead Act (Prohibition) had been put into effect, outlawing the sale, distribution and consumption of alcohol for, to and by the American public. The criminal element gained a strong foothold in every state of the Union by simply supplying what the American public wanted. In metropolitan cities where the demand for spirits ran especially high, the bootlegger came into vogue and along came Alphonse Capone to Chicago.

AL CAPONE

Capone, a New York thug who had gunned his way up through the underworld ranks, had come west about 1919 to manage the Chicago Underworld. He made liberal use of bribing police chiefs and politicians to acquire virtual ownership of the city.  Moving in on some of the more prosperous, larger unions he consolidated his influence by controlling the votes of the blue collar workers thus  keeping his crooked politicos in office. 

JACK McGURN

Sometimes, however, unions resisted. In these cases, brutal force ensured their compliance. Capone  directed top triggerman, Jack McGurn, to build and manage an army of quick fisted intimidators.  Word spread through underworld channels that big money was being offered to these mob enforcers and Lester, all 5 feet four inches of him, answered the call. He had adopted the pseudonym George Nelson and since his latest parole, had reunited with some of his old Halsted Street crones to develop a protection racket.

To the mob, 'Baby Face Nelson',  at first seemed an excellent choice as enforcer.  When McGurn's forces enlisted him, Lester was thrilled.  He abandoned his protection scheme and went to work for "Big Al" Capone's mob.

BABY FACE NELSON

Lester had tasted blood and liked it. Pocket knife,  revolver, Thompson machine gun, and even a baseball bat were the tools of his trade.  Capone's people were getting nervous because too many procrastinators were winding up dead. Capone himself preferred peaceful arrangements whenever possible.  Many of Lester's victims were close friends of politicians, politicians themselves or members of related mob organizations. Within Capone's world a fine line existed between ally and enemy. This line apparently was not evident to Baby Face.

Because of Lester's ruthless and indiscriminate enforcement tactics, Jack McGurn decided to terminate his employment.  Feeling angry and more comfortable than ever with a gun in his hand,  Lester decided to turn to armed robbery.

HELEN WAWZYNAK

Money was a necessity now more than ever. He had found himself a girlfriend, Helen Wawzynak, and was seriously considering marriage.  Over the next couple of months, the former Capone hit man stole an automobile and hit several stores, mostly jewelry shops, in the Chicago vicinity. 

Just before Christmas, 1930,  Lester struck it rich with a jewellery heist that netted big money at an opportune time with the onset of 'The Great Depression'. Things were looking up once again for Baby Face Nelson.

CAREER AS A BANK ROBBER

Nelson was arrested and sentenced to a prison term of one year to life for  a January, 1931, bank robbery in Chicago. After a year's confinement, he was removed from the Illinois State Penitentiary, Joliet, Illinois, to stand trial on another bank robbery charge in Wheaton, Illinois. On February 17, 1932, Nelson escaped prison guards while being returned to Joliet. After a brief stay in Reno, Nevada, he fled to Sausalito, California. There he meet John Paul Chase, with whom he would be closely associated for the rest of his life.

JOHN PAUL CHASE

DILLINGER

Nelson and Chase joined up with legendary criminal John Dillinger in 1934. Nelson was almost caught that April while he was hiding out with the Dillinger gang in northern Wisconsin. But he shot his way out of the situation, killing an FBI agent in the process. He was with Dillinger during the June robbery of the Merchants National Bank in South Bend, Indiana. A police officer was killed by the gang during the crime.

VIOLENT DEATH

After Dillinger's death, Nelson headed to California with his wife, Helen, and John Paul Chase. He managed to evade capture for several months, but the FBI finally caught up with him in November 27, 1934. Nelson was driving in a stolen car with his wife and Chase near Barrington, Illinois, when they were spotted by FBI agents.  A brief gun battle ensued, which left one FBI agent dead. Nelson Was severely wounded; hit by 17 bullets in the standoff, but he, Chase and his wife managed to escape. On November 28, 1934, he succumbed to his gun shot wounds. Baby Face Nelson was only 26 years old. His body was dumped near the St. Peter Catholic Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois.

THE QUESTION: 

Who played Baby Face Nelson in the 1957 movie?

THE QUOTE:

"I've played some gangster roles, but that's obviously not me. When you're an Italian-American New York actor, it's just an easy way to get cast."-MICHAEL IMPERIOLI

LEMONS TO:

The very late Lester Gillis for not listening to his Mom and Dad

THE CLIP: