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Kate 'Ma' Barker (October 8, 1873, Ashgrove, MO - January 16, 1935). Ma Barker (birth name Arizona Donnie Clark) was a legendary American criminal from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwest gripped the American people and press. Her notoriety has since subsided, trailing behind Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger.
Controversy The actual degree of Barker's own criminality is in doubt. Though her children were undoubtedly criminals and their Barker-Karpis Gang committed a spree of robberies, kidnappings and other crimes between 1931 and 1935, it appears that the popular image of her as the gang's leader and its criminal mastermind is a myth. Though she must have known of the gang's activities and did help them before and after they committed their crimes, there is no evidence that she was ever an active participant in any of the crimes themselves or involved in planning them. Alvin Karpis, the gang's second most notorious member (historically a much more important figure), later said that: "The most ridiculous story in the annals of crime is that Ma Barker was the mastermind behind the Karpis-Barker gang ... She wasn't a leader of criminals or even a criminal herself. There is not one police photograph of her or set of fingerprints taken while she was alive ... she knew we were criminals but her participation in our careers was limited to one function: when we traveled together, we moved as a mother and her sons. What could look more innocent?" Many, including Karpis, have suggested that the myth was encouraged by J. Edgar Hoover and his fledgling FBI to justify his agency's killing of an old lady. She was shot dead when the FBI raided the cottage she was renting with her son Fred at Lake Weir in the Ocala region of Florida on January 16, 1935. It was Fred, who was also killed in the raid, that had been the Bureau's main target. Popular Culture The myth of Ma Barker inspired a novel written by James Hadley Chase, titled 'No orchids for Miss Blandish,' published in 1939, which features a mother in charge of a gangster mob consisting of all of her sons;this was eventually adapted to stage and on screen, though with great difficulty from British censorship guidelines. another low budget film called Bloody Mama 1970. Directed by Roger Corman and starring Shelley Winters as Ma, the movie depicts Barker as a corrupt mother who encourages and organises her children's criminality and is notable for an early appearance by a young Robert De Niro playing the part of Lloyd Barker. Another retelling of the legend occurred in the 1996 movie "Public Enemies" starring Theresa Russell. "Ma Barker and Her Boys," an episode of The Untouchables, pitted real-life Federal Agent Eliot Ness against the Barker clan, and depicts Ness as leading the assault on Ma Barker and her sons at their Florida hide-out. In real-life Ness was not a member of the FBI at the time of the shoot-out, and had nothing to do with the Barker/Karpis case. The story is also probably the inspiration for the 1977 Boney M music single Ma Baker, the character of Pa Stark (Charles B. Middleton) and his sons in the 1938 Republic movie serial, Dick Tracy Returns, the Ma Dalton character in the Lucky Luke series of comic strips, the Beagle Boys characters in the Scrooge McDuck universe, and Anne Ramsey's character Mama Fratelli in the 1985 Richard Donner film, The Goonies, a movie about teenage camaradarie. The pirate chief and her sons in Castle in the Sky movie also may have a connection with her story. She may also have been the inspiration for the character Ma Jarrett in the 1949 James Cagney movie, White Heat and was certainly the inspiration for Ma Barker's Killer Brood and "Ma Parker" on Batman. | ||||||||
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