With the Great Depression of the 1930s came a wave of crime. This was not the typical bootlegging of the 1920s and Prohibition era with mobs and mob leaders like Chicago's Alphonso Capone. This was a new wave of crime: notorious bank robbers. We all know the bank robbers of the Wild West, for example the James Younger gang, the Hole in the wall gang led by the butcher Cassidy and many others. The difference now is that modern bank robbers were no longer armed with single-action Colt revolvers and defiantly no longer fleeing on horseback. They were now heavily armed with Colt 1911 automatic pistols, .45 caliber Thompson machine guns, and BARs (Browning automatic rifles). Along with their fully automatic military weapons, they used the mobile car as a source of escape. For the most part these gangsters struck in the heartland of the United States. It was here that the Great Depression had a huge effect on people's lives. Civilians viewed the bank robbers as an act of revenge against the banks. The famous bank robbers of the 1930s did not come from areas where they were known to rob. For the most part, some of the bank robbers were John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson. Many of these men and women had criminal activities when they were younger. They came from all over the United States. John Dillinger was from Indianapolis, Indiana. He was known to be one of, if not the most famous bank robbers of the 1930s. In his criminal career, he has been to prison for two separate crimes. When he first went to prison, he was quoted as saying, "I'll be the baddest bastard you've ever seen when I get out of here" (johndillinger/quote). The second time he was sent... in the middle of the paper ......on different occasions. One story told of gangsters paying off farmers' debts, so they could go back to work and return to their bustling neighborhood. He depicted them as Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. People blamed the banks for the Great Depression. When they learned of the bank robberies they saw it as an act of revenge against the banks for everything they had done to the country. In the 1930s the country was a very unstable place. Many people turned to crime because they saw no other better solution. They couldn't find work and had little to offer, so they embarked on a path in which they saw nothing to lose. When you look back at these men and women seeing what they did, given the situation they were in, and what the people really were was just a product made of the time they were in.