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A review by catherine_the_greatest
Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the Fbi, 1933-34 by Bryan Burrough
4.0
[a:Thomas Mullen|43391|Thomas Mullen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1266939716p2/43391.jpg] recommended this book at the end of [b:The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers|7162346|The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers|Thomas Mullen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328771588s/7162346.jpg|6783245]. Although I didn't especially enjoy Mullen's fictional tale, this detailed factual account was great.
Using FBI files from that time period, finally opened to the public in the late 1980s, along with additional interviews and research, Burroughs gives a chronological big picture. Instead of just focusing on Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, the Barker Gang or Bonnie & Clyde as most biographers have, Burroughs has compiled all their stories, intertwined with those of the men of the fledgling FBI who tracked them.
What I found interesting:
*how much law enforcement has changed with the introduction of a federal police agency
*how corrupt many cities' police departments were -- probably that is just my naivete and there is still just as much corruption, just more carefully concealed
*how many narrow misses & ridiculous mistakes the FBI suffered in their attempts to apprehend the criminals
*how much Mullen borrowed from actual historical criminals in creating the Firefly brothers, truth being just as crazy and interesting as fiction
Using FBI files from that time period, finally opened to the public in the late 1980s, along with additional interviews and research, Burroughs gives a chronological big picture. Instead of just focusing on Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, the Barker Gang or Bonnie & Clyde as most biographers have, Burroughs has compiled all their stories, intertwined with those of the men of the fledgling FBI who tracked them.
What I found interesting:
*how much law enforcement has changed with the introduction of a federal police agency
*how corrupt many cities' police departments were -- probably that is just my naivete and there is still just as much corruption, just more carefully concealed
*how many narrow misses & ridiculous mistakes the FBI suffered in their attempts to apprehend the criminals
*how much Mullen borrowed from actual historical criminals in creating the Firefly brothers, truth being just as crazy and interesting as fiction