during prohibition era of 1920s , 1930s kelly worked bootlegger himself colleague. after short time, , several run-ins local memphis police, decided leave town , head west girlfriend. protect family , escape law enforcement officers, changed name george r. kelly. continued commit smaller crimes , bootlegging. arrested in tulsa, oklahoma, smuggling liquor onto indian reservation in 1928 , sentenced 3 years @ leavenworth penitentiary, kansas, beginning february 11, 1928. reportedly model inmate , released early. shortly thereafter, kelly married kathryn thorne, purchased kelly s first machine gun , went great lengths familiarize name within underground crime circles.
george machine gun kelly led shelby county jail en route memphis airport , oklahoma city trial kidnapping of charles f. urschel, october 2, 1933.
george , kathryn kelly receive life sentences urschel kidnapping, october 12, 1933.
nonetheless, kelly s last criminal activity proved disastrous when kidnapped wealthy oklahoma city resident, charles f. urschel , friend walter r. jarrett. urschel, having been blindfolded, made note of evidence of experience including remembering background sounds, counting footsteps , leaving fingerprints on surfaces in reach. proved invaluable fbi in investigation, agents concluded urschel had been held in paradise, texas, based on sounds urschel remembered hearing while being held hostage.
machine gun kelly s hideout @ 1408 rayner street in memphis, tennessee (2010).
an investigation conducted @ memphis disclosed kellys living @ residence of j. c. tichenor. special agents birmingham, alabama, dispatched memphis, where, in morning hours of september 26, 1933, raid conducted. george , kathryn kelly taken custody fbi agents , memphis police. caught without weapon, george kelly allegedly cried, don t shoot, g-men! don t shoot, g-men! surrendered fbi agents. term, had applied federal investigators, became synonymous fbi agents. couple removed oklahoma city.
the arrest of kellys overshadowed escape of ten inmates, including of members of future dillinger gang, penitentiary in michigan city, indiana, same night.
on october 12, 1933, george , kathryn kelly convicted , sentenced life imprisonment. trial held @ post office, courthouse , federal office building in oklahoma city.
an investigation in coleman, texas, disclosed kellys had been housed , protected cassey earl coleman , casey, , coleman had assisted george kelly in storing $73,250 of urschel ransom money on ranch. money located bureau agents in morning hours of september 27 in cotton patch on coleman s ranch. both indicted @ dallas, texas, on october 4, 1933, charged harboring fugitive , conspiracy, , on october 17, 1933, coleman, after entering plea of guilty, sentenced serve 1 year , 1 day, , casey after trial , conviction, sentenced serve 2 years in united states penitentiary @ leavenworth, kansas.
the kidnapping of urschel , 2 trials resulted historic in several ways. were:
^ cite error: named reference flyer invoked never defined (see page).
^ machine gun kelly . family tree genealogy. retrieved july 13, 2009.
^ fbi: centennial history, 1908-2008. washington, d. c.: government printing office. 2008. p. 24. isbn 978-0-16-080954-5.
^ fee, christopher r.; webb, jeffrey b. (31 august 2016). american myths, legends, , tall tales: encyclopedia of american folklore (3 volumes). abc-clio. p. 310. isbn 978-1-61069-568-8.
^ fbi 100. legend of machine gun kelly . fbi. september 26, 2008. retrieved may 6, 2009.
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