Ma Barker was the mother of many criminals who belonged to the Barker gang during the Great Depression. She was killed in a shootout in 1935 and afterwards became known as having been ruthless, controlling her sons' gang and directing their exploits. There is some dispute over whether that was true or not.

Melvin Purvis was an FBI official who led the manhunts of Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger. J. Edgar Hoover was jealous of the limelight that Purvis attracted which overshadowed him and the rest of the FBI. Purvis died of a gunshot wound to the head in 1960. The FBI ruled it a suicide.

In 1932 the famous aviator and isolationist Charles Lindbergh reported that his toddler son, less than 2 years old, had been kidnapped. After two months, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr was discovered near Lindbergh's home, dead from a fracture of the skull. In 1935 Bruno Hauptmann was arrested and charged with the crime. He was convicted and executed in 1936 though he proclaimed his innocence until the end. The kidnapping was one of the most highly publicized crimes of the century.

Machine Gun Kelly was a gangster and kidnapper during Prohibition and the early part of the Great Depression. He was nicknamed "Machine Gun" because his favorite weapon was a Thompson machine gun. He was arrested in Tennessee in 1933 and died in jail from a heart attack in 1954.

Also known as George Nelson, Baby Face Nelson was a bank robber and murderer during the Great Depression. He was often called "Baby Face" because he was short and looked young. His main claim to fame was his association with John Dillinger. Baby Face died in a shootout with the FBI in 1934.

Eliot Ness was an FBI agent who achieved fame as leader of a team of law enforcement agents known as the Untouchables. He is considered to have been a driving force behind the dethroning and eventual imprisonment of Al Capone. He died of a heart attack at the age of 54.