He was born on july 18th, 1895. In his early life, he was a relatively minor criminal. Before beginning his life of crime, he was a student at Mississippi A&M College. He married Geneva Ramsey when he was 19. They had two sons together before getting divorced. As a teenager, he started bootlegging, but later returned to it after several failed attempts at legitimate work. He was caught selling illegal liquor in 1927 and spent a few months in a jail in new mexico. Later, he was arrested again for selling liquor in an Indian reservation. While he was in jail, he became friends with several bank robbers, including Charlie Harmon, Frank Nash, Francis Keating and Thomas Holden. It is believed that he assisted Keating and Holden in escaping prison. After being released in 1930, Kelly moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, with his girlfriend, Kathryn Thorne. There, he was reunited with Keating and Holden. The trio participated in a bank holdup soon after. He continued to travel from state to state robbing banks. According to legend, his wife, Kathryn, gave him a machine gun and gave him the nickname Machine Gun Kelly. She apparently also gave away shell casings from his enterprises to increase his notoriety.
Famous Case
Along with robbing banks, Kelly made several attempts at kidnapping. With his wife and old associate, he came up with a plan to kidnap Charles F. Urschel, a wealthy Oklahoma oil man, and his friend, Walter R. Jarrett, leaving their wives behind. Jarrett was soon released, but they kept Urschel for a ransom of $200,000. The ransom money was delivered on July 30, and Urschel was released the next day. Although he was blindfolded most of the time he was held captive, he revealed a number of clues to authorities. From Urschel’s clues, authorities were able to deduce that he must have been held near Paradise, Texas. Earlier, there had also been a tip that the Kelly’s were involved. Kathryn Kelly's mother, Ora Shannon, lived on a ranch near Paradise. The place was raided and several suspects, including Shannon, her husband, and his son, were arrested on August 12. Bates was caught that same day in Denver, Colorado, on an unrelated charge, but he was found to have money from the kidnapping on him. But the Kellys eluded capture for several weeks. They were discovered in Memphis, Tennessee, and taken into custody on September 26, 1933. They were quickly tried and convicted; both were sentenced to life in prison on October 12. The once-notorious Machine Gun Kelly was mocked on the news as “Pop-Gun Kelly”. He was sent to Alcatraz, home of many notorious criminals, including Al Capone.