Fred Barker

Frederick George Barker (December 12, 1901 – January 16, 1935) was an American criminal who, along with Alvin Karpis, co-founded the Barker-Karpis gang, which committed numerous robberies, murders and kidnappings during the 1930s.

Barker was the youngest son of Ma Barker, all of whose children were criminals.

Fred Barker was born to George Elias and Arizona Donnie Clark "Ma" Barker in Aurora, Missouri on December 12, 1901.

The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1912.

Barker's older brothers Herman, Lloyd and Arthur were committing crimes throughout his childhood, belonging to a gang of local delinquent youths called the Central Park Gang.

The gang met in the park to plan crimes and Stash their stolen goods.

There, Barker met future members of the Barker-Karpis gang, including Volney Davis.

He was first arrested and imprisoned in 1927 for burglary.

While in prison he met Alvin Karpis.

According to Karpis, Barker was a dominant figure in jail who was able to obtain marijuana and other perks.

Karpis also said he was a "natural born killer" who "never hesitated".

Unlike Karpis (nicknamed "Creepy Karpis"), Barker was known for his personal charm.

He was released in 1930.

After their release, Barker and Karpis joined up to commit a string of burglaries in Kansas, often collaborating with other local criminals.

Several notable gangsters joined the Barkers in various crimes, including Harvey Bailey, Frank Nash, Fred Goetz, and Dr. Joseph Moran.

They were accompanied by Ma Barker and her boyfriend, Arthur Dunlop (sometimes called Dunlap).

Things became difficult for the gang when they were confronted by Sheriff C. Roy Kelly in December 1931.

Karpis and Barker shot and killed Kelly, an act that forced them to flee the area.

The two had also probably killed an Arkansas police chief, Manley Jackson, a month earlier, but had avoided suspicion at the time.

The gang relocated to Minnesota, where, in 1932, Barker, his brother Arthur, Karpis, and Lawrence DeVol robbed Third Northwestern National Bank in Minneapolis.

DeVol killed policemen Ira Leon Evans and Leo Gorski during the escape, while Barker murdered Oscar Erickson, a passing motorist.

Barker and Karpis were also suspected of killing Dunlop, an alcoholic whom they considered to be untrustworthy after someone tipped police to the gang's hideout.

According to other gang members, Dunlop was also abusive to Ma.

Around this time Barker started a relationship with Paula Harmon, widow of bank robber Charles Harmon.

Karpis did not approve of Paula, considering her to be a "drunk" and a "rotten choice, though you couldn't tell that to Freddie".

The gang became nationally notorious in 1933-4, when they organized the kidnappings of local businessmen William Hamm and Edward Bremer.

The crimes were orchestrated by racketeers Jack Peifer and Harry Sawyer with inside information about police activity being provided by corrupt officer Tom Brown, who ran the "Kidnap Squad".

Arthur carried out the kidnappings with a different accomplice each time.

During the Bremer kidnapping, Barker nearly shot dead the victim when the ransom was not paid promptly.

They netted $100,000 for the first victim and twice that for the second.

With the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in pursuit, Barker and Karpis attempted to get plastic surgery to alter their appearance and remove their fingerprints.

The procedure was carried out by Moran, an underworld doctor.

The operations were so painful that Fred asked one of his friends to shoot him to stop the pain, but his friend refused.

Moran disappeared shortly thereafter.

A badly decomposed body was discovered a year later washed up from Lake Erie on Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada.

Police identified it as Moran.

He was killed in a lengthy gunfight with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.

In 1971, Karpis wrote in his autobiography that the identification was mistaken; he claimed that Moran had been murdered by the Barkers and then buried in a lime pit in Michigan.

The most accepted version of the tale is that Karpis and Fred Barker took Moran on a boat ride on Lake Erie, during which they both murdered him.

He was killed either for his botched surgery or for shooting his mouth off about the gang in a brothel.