Baby Face Nelson

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Lore & Background

Nelson was born Lester Joseph Gillis, a son of Flemish Belgian immigrants on December 6, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois. He was arrested on July 4, 1921, at the age of twelve, after he accidentally shot a playmate in the jaw with a pistol that he had found. He served over a year in the state reformatory. By the time he met his future wife Helen Wawrzyniak, Nelson was working at a Standard Oil station which doubled as the headquarters for a group of young tire thieves. Nelson fell into association with them and acquainted himself with local criminals, including one who employed him to drive bootleg alcohol throughout the Chicago suburbs. He became associated with members of the suburb-based Touhy Gang. Within two years, Nelson and the gang were involved in armed robbery. On January 6, 1930, they forced entry into the home of magazine executive Charles M. Richter, stealing approximately $205,000 worth of jewelry. Two months later, they carried out a similar robbery at the bungalow of Lottie Brenner Von Buelow, netting approximately $50,000 worth of jewelry. Chicago newspapers nicknamed the group 'The Tape Bandits'. On April 21, 1930, Nelson robbed a bank for the first time, making off with approximately $4,000. He later robbed the Itasca State Bank of $4,600, and stole the jewelry of the wife of Chicago mayor Big Bill Thompson. Nelson committed his first murder of note when he fatally shot stockbroker Edwin R. Thompson. Throughout the winter of 1931, most of the Tape Bandits were rounded up, including Nelson. He received a sentence of one year to life in the state penitentiary at Joliet. Nelson escaped during a prison transfer in February 1932. Aided by his contacts within the Touhy Gang, Nelson fled west to Reno, then to Sausalito, California, where he worked for bootlegger Joe Parente. He met John Paul Chase and Fatso Negri, who later became close associates. In Reno, Nelson first met Alvin Karpis, who introduced him to Midwestern bank robber Eddie Bentz. Teaming up with Bentz, Nelson returned to the Midwest and committed a major bank robbery in Grand Haven, Michigan, on August 18, 1933. The Grand Haven robbery convinced Nelson he was ready to lead his own gang. He recruited Homer Van Meter, Tommy Carroll, and Eddie Green. With these men, Nelson robbed the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minnesota, of $32,000 on October 23, 1933. Witnesses reported that Nelson wildly sprayed sub-machine gun bullets at bystanders as he made his getaway.

Reader's Guide

Baby Face Nelson's significance lies in his role as a violent bank robber during the peak of the American crime wave in the 1930s, and his distinction of having killed more FBI agents than any other criminal. His partnership with John Dillinger, beginning with Nelson's help in Dillinger's escape from Crown Point, Indiana, elevated his notoriety. The FBI's declaration that Nelson and the remaining gang were collectively 'Public Enemy Number One' underscores the threat they were perceived to pose. Nelson's legacy is also marked by the Battle of Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, where FBI agents fatally wounded him. Despite his short stature and youthful appearance—which earned him the 'Baby Face' nickname—Nelson was known for extreme violence, including spraying sub-machine gun bullets at bystanders during a getaway and killing a stockbroker. His criminal career involved multiple bank robberies, home invasions, and murders, and he was associated with the Touhy Gang and later led his own gang. The uncertainty surrounding details of Dillinger's escape and the exact number of participants in some robberies reflects the chaotic nature of the era. Nelson's death on November 27, 1934, ended a brief but bloody criminal career that left a lasting mark on FBI history.

Did You Know?

• Nelson was arrested at age twelve after accidentally shooting a playmate in the jaw with a pistol he found.
• His nickname 'Baby Face Nelson' came from his short stature and youthful appearance, but fellow criminals called him 'Jimmy'.
• Nelson used a .38 Super Colt pistol modified to be fully automatic to kill Special Agent W. Carter Baum at Little Bohemia Lodge.
• He killed more FBI agents than any other criminal.
• Nelson was fatally wounded by FBI agents in the Battle of Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, on November 27, 1934.

Origins in Chicago's Underworld

Lester Joseph Gillis entered the world on December 6, 1908, in Chicago, the son of Flemish Belgian immigrants. His trajectory toward violence surfaced early: at just twelve years old, on July 4, 1921, he accidentally discharged a found pistol into a playmate's jaw, landing him in a state reformatory for more than a year. After his release, he settled into a job at a Standard Oil station in his neighborhood, a location that doubled as the informal headquarters for a crew of young tire thieves locally dubbed the "strippers." Through this circle, Gillis drifted into deeper criminal waters—driving bootleg alcohol through the Chicago suburbs for a local operator and forming ties with members of the suburb-based Touhy Gang. These early associations planted the seeds of the organized criminal network that would eventually carry the moniker "Baby Face Nelson" across the nation.

The Tape Bandits and a Streak of Heists

By early 1930, Gillis and his associates had escalated from petty theft to brazen armed robbery. On January 6, they broke into the home of magazine executive Charles M. Richter, binding him with adhesive tape, severing his phone lines, and stripping the house of roughly $205,000 in jewelry. Two months later, a nearly identical job at the Sheridan Road bungalow of Lottie Brenner Von Buelow yielded another $50,000 in stolen gems. Chicago newspapers christened the crew "The Tape Bandits." The gang's ambitions then turned to banks: Gillis pulled his first in April 1930, walking away with about $4,000. In October, he hit the Itasca State Bank for $4,600, and three nights later lifted $18,000 in jewelry from the wife of Chicago mayor Big Bill Thompson, who later described her attacker as a good-looking young man with dark hair and a "baby face." The spree ended in blood at a Summit, Illinois roadhouse in November, where three were killed, and at a Waukegan Road tavern, where Gillis fatally shot stockbroker Edwin R. Thompson in his first recorded murder.

Forging a Gang and the Dillinger Alliance

After escaping during a prison transfer in February 1932, Gillis—operating under the alias "Jimmy Johnson"—fled west to Reno, where crime boss William Graham sheltered him, before moving to Sausalito to work for bootlegger Joe Parente. There he met John Paul Chase and Fatso Negri, who would become long-term allies. The following winter in Reno, he crossed paths with vacationing Alvin Karpis, who introduced him to Midwestern robber Eddie Bentz. Together they returned to the Midwest, and in August 1933 Gillis pulled a bank job in Grand Haven, Michigan. That heist convinced him he was ready to command his own outfit. Through contacts at the Green Lantern Tavern in St. Paul, he recruited Homer Van Meter, Tommy Carroll, and Eddie Green, then hit the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minnesota, for $32,000 in October 1933, spraying sub-machine-gun fire at bystanders during the getaway. The gang's most consequential act came in March 1934, when members of his crew—Van Meter, Carroll, Green, and John "Red" Hamilton—were suspected of arranging and financing John Dillinger's "wooden pistol" escape from Crown Point, Indiana, binding the two outlaws into a deadly partnership.

Public Enemy Number One and a Violent End

The FBI collectively designated Gillis and his remaining gang as "Public Enemy Number One," a label that cemented his national notoriety. His nickname, "Baby Face Nelson," stemmed from his short stature and boyish features, yet in the criminal underworld his peers simply called him "Jimmy." What set him apart from other outlaws was his extraordinary lethality: no other outlaw of the period claimed as many FBI agents as Gillis. In San Antonio, his gang purchased weapons from underworld gunsmith Hyman Lehman, including a .38 Super Colt pistol modified to fire fully automatically; Gillis used that very gun to kill Special Agent W. Carter Baum at Little Bohemia Lodge. His final chapter unfolded in the Battle of Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, where federal agents fatally wounded him on November 27, 1934. At just twenty-five years old, the son of Flemish Belgian immigrants who had shot a playmate at twelve was gone, leaving behind a legacy defined by an unmatched body count among federal lawmen and a permanent place in the annals of Prohibition-era crime.