Baby Face Nelson
Bank robber who killed more FBI agents than any other criminal.
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Lester Joseph Gillis, who went by George Nelson and Baby Face Nelson, was born on December 6, 1908, and died on November 27, 1934. He robbed banks and partnered with John Dillinger, notably aiding Dillinger’s escape from the Crown Point, Indiana, prison. After that, the FBI declared Nelson and the remaining members of his bank-robbing crew collectively “Public Enemy Number One.” His nickname came from his short stature and youthful looks, though other criminals called him “Jimmy.” He holds the record for killing more FBI agents than any other criminal. FBI agents shot and killed him during the Battle of Barrington, a gunfight in a Chicago suburb.
Early life
Nelson was born in Chicago to Flemish Belgian immigrants. At age twelve, on July 4, 1921, he accidentally shot a playmate in the jaw with a pistol he had found, leading to his arrest. He spent over a year in a state reformatory.
Gang affiliation
By the time he met his future wife, Helen Wawrzyniak, Nelson worked at a Standard Oil station that also served as a base for a group of young tire thieves known as “strippers.” He joined them and got to know local criminals, including one who hired him to drive bootleg alcohol through Chicago suburbs. This connected him to the Touhy Gang.
Armed robbery
Within two years, Nelson and the gang moved into armed robbery. On January 6, 1930, they broke into the home of magazine executive Charles M. Richter, tied him up with tape, cut the phone lines, and stole about $205,000 in jewelry. Two months later, they pulled a similar job at Lottie Brenner Von Buelow’s bungalow on Sheridan Road, netting roughly $50,000 in jewelry. Chicago newspapers called them “The Tape Bandits.”
Bank robbery
Nelson robbed his first bank on April 21, 1930, taking about $4,000. A month later, he and his gang stole $25,000 in jewelry from home invasions. On October 3, he robbed the Itasca State Bank of $4,600; a teller later identified him. Three nights after that, he stole $18,000 in jewelry from the wife of Chicago mayor Big Bill Thompson.
She described him as having a baby face, dark hair, and wearing a gray topcoat and brown felt hat. On November 23, 1930, his crew botched a roadhouse robbery in Summit, Illinois, leaving three dead and three wounded. Three nights later, they robbed a tavern on Waukegan Road, and Nelson committed his first notable murder, fatally shooting stockbroker Edwin R. Thompson.
During the winter of 1931, most of the Tape Bandits, including Nelson, were arrested. The Chicago Tribune called their leader “George ‘Baby Face’ Nelson,” and he got a sentence of one year to life in Joliet penitentiary. He escaped during a prison transfer in February 1932 with help from Touhy Gang contacts, fleeing to Reno.
There, crime boss William Graham hid him. Using the alias “Jimmy Johnson,” Nelson went to Sausalito, California, working for bootlegger Joe Parente. In the San Francisco Bay area, he met John Paul Chase and Fatso Negri, who later became close associates.
The next winter in Reno, he met Alvin Karpis, who introduced him to Midwestern bank robber Eddie Bentz. Teaming up with Bentz, Nelson returned to the Midwest and robbed a bank in Grand Haven, Michigan, on August 18, 1933. The haul was small, but most of the crew escaped.
The Grand Haven job convinced Nelson he could lead his own gang. Through the Green Lantern Tavern in St. Paul, he recruited Homer Van Meter, Tommy Carroll, and Eddie Green. With these men and two other local thieves, he robbed the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minnesota, of $32,000 on October 23, 1933. Witnesses said he sprayed sub-machine gun bullets at bystanders during his getaway.
He collected his wife Helen and four-year-old son Ronald and left with his crew for San Antonio, Texas. There, they bought weapons from underworld gunsmith Hyman Lehman, including a modified .38 Super Colt pistol that could fire fully automatically. Nelson later used that gun to kill Special Agent W. Carter Baum at Little Bohemia Lodge.
On December 9, 1933, a local woman tipped off San Antonio police about “high-powered Northern gangsters” nearby. Two days later, Tommy Carroll shot and killed Detective H.C. Perrin and wounded Detective Al Hartman. The whole Nelson gang except Nelson fled San Antonio. Nelson and his wife went west to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he recruited John Paul Chase and Fatso Negri for more bank robberies in the spring.
On March 3, 1934, John Dillinger made his famous escape from the Crown Point, Indiana, jail using a wooden pistol. The exact details are disputed.
Roots in Chicago's Underworld
Lester Joseph Gillis entered the world on December 6, 1908, in Chicago, the son of Flemish Belgian immigrants. His trajectory toward a life of crime was, in many ways, set in motion before his thirteenth birthday. On July 4, 1921, the twelve-year-old was arrested after he accidentally discharged a found pistol into the jaw of a friend during play. The incident landed him in the state reformatory for more than a year, an early immersion in the penal system that would echo throughout his short life.
After his release, Gillis found work at a Standard Oil station in his neighborhood, a location that doubled as the informal headquarters for a crew of young tire thieves locals called "strippers." Through this circle he absorbed the rhythms of petty criminality, eventually taking on a role driving bootleg alcohol across the Chicago suburbs for a local operator. These associations deepened into a lasting connection with the suburb-based Touhy Gang, a network that would later prove instrumental in his prison escape and his westward flight. By his early twenties, the boy who had shot a playmate had become a fixture in Chicago's organized underworld.
The Tape Bandits and a Staircase of Violence
By early 1930, Gillis and his associates had graduated from petty theft to brazen home invasions that shocked Chicago. On January 6, they broke into the residence of magazine executive Charles M. Richter, binding him with adhesive tape, severing his phone lines, and stripping the house of roughly $205,000 in jewelry. Two months later they repeated the formula at the Sheridan Road bungalow of Lottie Brenner Von Buelow, netting another fifty thousand dollars in gems. The Chicago press christened the crew "The Tape Bandits" for their signature binding technique.
The group's ambition then turned to banks. Gillis pulled his first bank job on April 21, 1930, walking away with about four thousand dollars. In October he hit the Itasca State Bank for $4,600, and three nights later he lifted $18,000 in jewelry from the wife of Mayor Big Bill Thompson, who later described her attacker as a good-looking young man with a "baby face." The violence escalated sharply in late 1930: a botched roadhouse robbery in Summit left three dead and three wounded, and on a Waukegan Road tavern job Gillis committed his first notable murder, fatally shooting stockbroker Edwin R. Thompson.
Lethality, Legacy, and the Battle of Barrington
Gillis's physical appearance—short in stature with a perpetually youthful face—earned him the moniker "Baby Face Nelson," a label that stuck in the press and public imagination. Among fellow criminals, however, he was simply "Jimmy." What set him apart from other outlaws of the era was an extraordinary and deadly proficiency with firearms. He killed more FBI agents than any other criminal in American history. In San Antonio he purchased weapons from underworld gunsmith Hyman Lehman, including a .38 Super Colt pistol modified for fully automatic fire; he used that weapon to kill Special Agent W. Carter Baum at Little Bohemia Lodge.
His final confrontation came in the Battle of Barrington, a gunfight in a Chicago suburb where FBI agents fatally wounded him. He died on November 27, 1934, at the age of twenty-five, leaving behind his wife Helen Wawrzyniak and their four-year-old son Ronald. The brief, violent arc of his life—from a twelve-year-old's accidental shooting to the most wanted outlaw in the nation—cemented his place as one of the most lethal figures of the Prohibition-era gang landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Baby Face Nelson?
Baby Face Nelson was the nickname of Lester Joseph Gillis, an American bank robber born in Chicago on December 6, 1908. He also used the alias George Nelson and became one of the most feared outlaws of the early 1930s crime wave.
Why did the FBI designate Baby Face Nelson Public Enemy Number One?
The FBI grouped Nelson with the surviving members of Dillinger's bank-robbery outfit and labeled the entire crew as Public Enemy Number One. Nelson's particular notoriety stemmed from his extreme violence and the large number of federal agents he killed during his criminal career.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Baby Face Nelson (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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