Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd

Born in 1904 in Georgia, Charles Floyd's family moved to Oklahoma when he turned 10. Though he came from a farming family, he learned a different way of life from work crews who came to work on the farm, often including drifters running from the law.

Floyd started out with small time robberies, his first said to be the theft of $3.50 in pennies from the local post office. He married and had a son, but later followed one of the drifters, John Hilderbrand, to find his fortune.

They went on to rob a few small stores and then an armored vehicle. They were arrested and charged. While in prison, he met bank robber Alfred "Red" Lovett and Jim Bradley. After getting out of prison, Floyd traveled with the Bradley gang, hitting a number of banks.

Floyd was caught again but later escaped. Shortly after a shootout left him on his own, Floyd returned to Oklahoma, hit hard by the Depression. He went on a crime spree, robbing the banks, a crusade against those who survived the depression with money in their pockets.


Floyd and fellow gang members were alleged to be involved in a number of shootings while evading police. The most notable one came in June 1933 when he was 29. The "Kansas City Massacre" occurred in an attempt to free prisoner Frank Nash. It ended in the death of Nash and 4 law enforcement officers. The pursuit of Floyd heated up even more after this, though Floyd denied his involvement in the massacre.

In October of 1934, police chased Floyd down in his vehicle where he was shot and killed. "Pretty Boy" Floyd was 30 years old.




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the life and times of the gangster era.
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