Mobsters and Their Cars: The early Need for Speed

Mobsters, gangsters or just plain criminals, however you would like to address them from the very early days of the automobile era they used their cars for anything from bank robberies to gangland hits. Their early exploits gave the regular consumer ideas on how to improve the cars that they drove everyday. Did their need for speed, money and power usher in the early car enthusiasts? Some how I just couldn’t see Al Capone washing and waxing his 1928 Cadillac, but it was highly modded out.

Dating back to the Roaring 20’s in the early twentieth century gangsters like Arnold Rothstein and Johnny Torrio drove the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.

These were gangster status symbols. One of the most noteable gangster cars was one that was owned by Al “Scarface” Capone. It was the 1928 Bulletproof Cadillac Town Sedan (VIN #306449)  Talk about a custom automobile. The rear-wheel-drive Cadillac Series 341-A is powered by a 90-horsepower, 341-cubic-inch L-head V-8, mated to a three-speed manual transmission. It has a 140-inch wheelbase and features a beam front axle and full-floating rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. One inch thick glass all the way around. It was painted Green and black just like the 75 Cadillacs given to the Chicago Police Department. It weighed about 3000 pounds. In 1930 Capone purchased a top-of-the-line Series 452 Imperial Sedan which had Cadillac’s powerful 452 cubic inch V-16 engine. Like the 341, the Imperial’s windows were bulletproof, with small circular cutouts to allow gunfire from within; its side doors included ¼-inch steel armor plating. This was one heck of an innovation for its time, but we are talking about Al Capone.

Alphonse Capone was also know to have in his collection a Packard, two Cadillac 351 Saloons that were not armor plated, two McFarlan cars (McFarlan’s were made from 1909-1928 in Indiana), the first he bought in 1924 for his wife Mae and the second he bought in 1926.

Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first President to ride in an armored vehicle, that was in December of 1941. The car was said to have been one of Al Capone’s Cadillacs that were seized in 1932 by the Treasury Department. Capone was charged with income-tax evasion. What a twist of fate if it is true!

Public Enemy Number One: John Herbert Dillinger (Hoosier Hoodlum) who used the cars that he acquired to rob banks. These cars held no societal status or no show of his upward mobility. He used them strictly as tools in his criminal enterprise. John was a bank robber who was credited with 21 bank robberies. He robbed his first bank in 1933 shortly after being released from prison. John’s most famous escapade involved a homemade wooden gun and a stolen police car. Dillinger broke out of the Lake County Jail at Crown Point, IN on 3 Mar 1934. Sheriff Lillilan Holley boasted that her jail was escape proof. John used his wooden gun to get out of the jail area and he stole Sheriff Holley’s Ford V8 and drove it to Chicago. The theft cemented his legend. He would be killed by FBI Agents outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Illinois after watching the movie Manhattan Melodrama on 22 July 1934.

From the inception of the automobile, people have always found a way to improve on the different designs. Gangsters took customization to the next level, as to give them any little advantage in their underworld enterprises.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were technically not gangsters, but just everyday criminals. They robbed banks and moved around a lot. To do so, they did whatever was needed to do get vehicles. The Ford V8 was Clyde’s favorite mode of transportation. During their very short but, tumultuous escapades, Bonnie and Clyde used their cars for getaways, robbing banks and leaving death and destruction in their wake. Their last car was a 1934 Ford Model 40 B Fordor Deluxe sedan, which was stolen from Ruth Warren of Topeka, Kansas.

Clyde was a very skilled driver that could drive himself, Bonnie and their small gang out of just about anything. They had numerous run-ins with law enforcement, but got away on most occasions, except that last time on 23 May 1934.

Below is what a vintage 1934 Ford Model 40 B Fordor Deluxe sedan would have looked like if it were new.

The photo of the Ford shortly after the pair met their end. The car was riddled with more than 100 bullet holes. “The Bonnie and Clyde Death Car” currently resides on display at the Primm Valley Resort and Casino, along with Clyde’s bullet riddled shirt that was signed by Barrow’s sister Marie Barrow.

It has been ninety years since Bonnie and Clyde met their fate, but America and the world still have a love affair with those two. Sadly they were set up to be ambushed by one of their own: Henry Methvin and his father Ivan. Ivan made a deal for his son to be pardoned. Just another example of the phrase “There is no honor among thieves”.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were never interested in using their stolen Fords as status symbols, but as tools to facilitate their criminal enterprises. 1934 was not a good year for the most high profile criminals(Gangsters) of the day, John Dillinger, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, George “Baby Face” Nelson, and Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd all met similar fates during the course of that year. They all had one thing in common, their love of Ford V8’s of one model or another. They used the cars they drove for nothing more than criminal activity. These individuals brought the Ford name to the forefront of society.

There was another name from the Capone era Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti. He was Capone’s right hand man. Using your imagination, you can surmise what “The Enforcer” moniker meant. Like many other mobsters of the time Nitti drove a very nice car. He purchased a Black 1938 Cadillac Limousine that can seat nine. Nitti’s car kind of disappeared for many years after he committed suicide in 1943, but it was found in the early 2000’s parked in an old gas station. The old Caddie made it’s way to Volo’s Auto Museum, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago. It was in rough shape, but still showed why it would be a sought after vehicle if restored.

Frank NItti’s 1938 Cadillac Limo. Photo found on Facebook

There are so many names and cars that were owned by gangsters who used their rides as status symbols of who they were, such as: Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Myer Lansky, Carlo Gambino, and Sam Giancana. Then you have your Fictional Mobsters like Tony Soprano and Michael Corleone. There were a lot of Cadillacs and Lincoln Continentals within that group of mobsters. Those symbols were also associated money, murder and general mayhem.

John Gotti, aka “The Teflon Don” who was a true mobster, but he was not like the Dons of the fifties and sixties. He was young and flashy. He wanted folks to know that he was the head of the Gambino Crime Family. In many ways he drew attention to himself and the family, especially with his collection of status style vehicles that screamed look at me I am a Mobster. His brash nature brought about his court cases, prison and death.

This is such a crazy list, some died of old age and natural causes and others met their demise in other ways. For me this article was a different way to look at two of my passions in life: Gangster history and my enthusiasm for cars.