Ma Barker

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Kate "Ma" Barker , actually Arizona Donnie Clark (born October 8, 1873 in Ashe Grove , Missouri , † January 16, 1935 in Oklawaha , Florida ), was an American criminal . She was an accomplice and allegedly the matriarch of a gang that committed numerous murders and bank robberies in the 1930s .

Life

The house on Lake Weir where Ma Barker and her son Freddie were shot by the FBI in 1935.

Kate Barker was born Arizona Donnie Clark in Missouri in 1873. In the early 1890s she married George Barker and changed her name to Kate Barker. The couple had four sons: Herman (1893-1927), Lloyd (1897-1949), Arthur (1899-1939) and Fred (1901-1935). After the father left the family, Barker and her sons went to Tulsa around 1915 , where the family home quickly became a focal point for criminals. The Barker brothers committed a variety of crimes, including car theft, kidnapping and robbery, for which they were sentenced to prison terms. Ma Barker became known for harassing parole boards and various prison officials for the release of her sons. Son Fred was released from prison in 1931, and together with his fellow prisoner Alvin Karpis , the Barker Karpis gang was formed , which was considered to be extremely violent. The FBI tried to get hold of the gang, which they succeeded in January 1935. When Arthur "Doc" Barker was captured, a map of Florida was found that was used to find Ma Barker and her son Freddie in a house on Lake Weir, Marion County . The two criminals were killed in a 45-minute exchange of fire.

Ma Barker was long considered the head of the Barker-Karpis gang. J. Edgar Hoover , then director of the FBI, called Ma Barker's gang the worst criminals the FBI had ever hunted. Karpis, however, stated in his autobiography that Ma Barker's role was limited to disguising the gang as a harmless mother-and-sons tour group; she had no part in the crimes themselves. He and other critics accused the FBI of exaggerating Ma Barker's role in order to show a success in the fight against crime and to justify the killing of an old woman.

Representations in popular culture

The publicly distributed picture of Ma Barker was the template for the crime films The Merciless Killer (1960) and Bloody Mama (1970). The latter was directed by Roger Corman ; the main role of Ma was played by Shelley Winters . The film portrays Barker as a depraved mother who encourages her children to commit crimes and organizes them. The young Robert De Niro appears as Lloyd Barker in the film. Even Mark L. Lester filmed the story of Ma Barker in 1995 under the title of Public Enemy with Theresa Russell and Eric Roberts in the lead roles.

The myth of Ma Barker was the model for several fictional characters. These include Ma Beagle , the mother of the Panzerknacker gang (in the English-language original Beagle Boys ), Ma Parker in the Batman television series and Ma Dalton , the mother of the Daltons in the Lucky Luke comics. The song Ma Baker by the pop group Boney M. from 1977 is also inspired by Ma Barker.

literature

  • Mike Mayo: American Murder: Criminals, Crimes and the Media . Visible Ink Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-57859-256-2 , pp. 17-19 .
  • David S. Kidder, Noah D. Oppenheim: The Intellectual Devotional Biographies: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Acquaint Yourself with the World's Greatest Personalities . Rodale, 2010, ISBN 978-1-60529-088-1 , pp. 305 .

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Mike Mayo: American Murder , p. 17 (English)
  2. ↑ Mike Mayo: American Murder , p. 18 (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d Kidder, Oppenheim: The Intellectual Devotional Biographies , p. 305 (English)
  4. ↑ Mike Mayo: American Murder , p. 19. (English)
  5. ^ Henry M. Holden: FBI 100 Years: An Unofficial History . Zenith Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-61060-718-6 , pp. 75 f . (English)
  6. ↑ Ma Barker in the Crime Library (English)
personal data
SURNAME Barker, Ma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barker, Kate; Clark, Arizona Donnie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American criminals
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Ashe Grove , Missouri, United States
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1935
Place of death Oklawaha , Florida, United States