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Notorious Lives

John Dillinger

Pretty Boy Floyd

J. Edgar Hoover.

Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives

Baby Face Nelson

by James C. Roberts, Thomas E. Baker

Bank robber

Major offense: Attempted robbery

Active: Arrested in 1931

Locale: Chicago, Illinois

Sentence: One year to life in prison; escaped within one year

Early Life

Baby Face Nelson (NEHL-suhn) was born Lester Gillis in Chicago, Illinois, on December 6, 1908. The courts convicted Lester, a skillful car thief by age fourteen, and sentenced him to serve time in an infamous Chicago boys’ home. Arrested only five months after his release for robbing a department store, Gillis was remanded by the courts back to the boys’ home.

Criminal Career

Released from the boys’ home for a second time in 1926, Gillis returned to Chicago and organized a protection racket with known criminal associates. His exploits captured the attention of Mafia boss Al Capone, who recruited the young hoodlum to work for him as an enforcer. Gillis’s inclination for violence quickly alienated Capone, who preferred peaceful arrangements when possible. Angry and unemployed, Gillis began robbing jewelry shops throughout Chicago. The 1930 robbery of a gem dealer in Wheaton, Illinois, earned Gillis five thousand dollars, his biggest heist so far.

Legal Action and Outcome

Gillis’s arrest in 1931 for the attempted robbery of another Chicago-area jeweler earned him a sentence of one year to life in the Joliet Penitentiary. However, after his arrival at Joliet, a witness identified Gillis as the perpetrator of the Wheaton robbery. A conviction for that crime could have sentenced him to an additional twenty-five to thirty years. On February 17, 1932, while being transported back from a pretrial hearing for the Wheaton case, Gillis managed to escape detectives and fled with his wife, Helen, to California.

Gillis began working for Sicilian mob boss Giuseppe Parente in California, who labeled Gillis with the sobriquet Baby Face, after a popular song. Gillis, not flattered by his new nickname, adopted the alias George Nelson, after a Depression-era prizefighter whom he admired. Nelson quickly grew tired of working for Parente and moved his family to Long Beach, Indiana, with dreams of following the legacy of his idol, bank robber John Dillinger.

Nelson assembled a gang and began robbing banks throughout the Midwest. He eventually formed a partnership with Dillinger, his idol, a partnership that Dillinger would later regret. Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) agents staked outside a Chicago movie house shot and killed Dillinger on July 22, 1934.

Nelson would not get to bask in the limelight of his new status as public enemy number one. On November 27, 1934, FBI agents ambushed his car as he was traveling to Chicago with his wife and longtime friend John Chase. Nelson shot and killed two agents during a violent exchange; however, agents riddled his body with seventeen bullets. Nelson had vowed never to be taken alive; he succumbed to his wounds later that evening. His wife and friend dutifully removed his body from the scene and placed him near a cemetery in Niles Center, Illinois, where he was found the next day.

Impact

Baby Face Nelson remains an infamous name in American history. Remembered mostly for his exploits as a bank robber, he also worked for some of the United States’ most notorious organized crime figures, including the emerging Chicago boss Capone. Nelson’s partnership with Dillinger led to the federal government’s passing new anticrime legislation. The federal statutes specified that bank robbery, the transport of stolen goods, and the flight of a felon across state lines to avoid prosecution are federal crimes. Prior to that time, state agencies could not pursue criminals across state borders.

Nelson is also one of several Depression-era desperadoes whose exploits have left an indelible imprint on American popular culture. Romanticized by some and demonized by others, Nelson’s life has been the subject of numerous books, television programs, and feature films.

Further Reading

1 

Nickel, Steven, and William J. Helmer. Baby Face Nelson: Portrait of a Public Enemy. Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 2002. Provides a factual account of Nelson’s life and times.

2 

Owen, Richard, and James Owen. Gangsters and Outlaws of the 1930’s: Landmarks of the Public Enemy Era. Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane, 2003. Includes biographies of notorious Depression-era outlaws as well as photographs of crime scenes associated with infamous robberies, shoot-outs, and jailbreaks from the public enemy era.

3 

Reppetto, Thomas. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt, 2004. Provides a comprehensive history of the American Mafia.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
Roberts, James C., and Thomas E. Baker. "Baby Face Nelson." Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2007. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLN_1436.
APA 7th
Roberts, J. C., & Baker, T. E. (2007). Baby Face Nelson. In C. L. Bankston III (Ed.), Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Roberts, James C. and Baker, Thomas E. "Baby Face Nelson." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2007. Accessed September 17, 2026. online.salempress.com.