FAMOUS CRIMINALS FROM THE 1930s (4 of 6)
Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd – (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934) was an American bank robber. He operated in the Midwest and West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. Like several other prominent outlaws of that era, he was pursued and killed by a group led by Melvin Purvis. Historians have speculated as to which officers were at the event, local or the FBI: known accounts document that local officers Robert “Pete” Pyle and George Curran were present at his fatal shooting and also at his embalming. Floyd has continued to be a familiar figure in American popular culture, sometimes seen as notorious, but also at other times viewed as a tragic figure, partly a victim of the hard times of the Great Depression in the United States.