Ma Barker

Kate Barker (born Arizona Donnie Clark; October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker (and sometimes known as Arizona Barker and Arrie Barker), was the mother of a few members of the Barker–Karpis Gang during the "public enemy era", when the exploits of criminal gangs in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press. Barker gained a reputation as a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons' crimes. J. Edgar Hoover described her as "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade". She has been presented as a monstrous mother in films, songs, and literature. Those who knew her insisted that she had no criminal role and that Hoover created the allegations to justify her shooting by the FBI in 1935. Later reports consistently conclude that Kate Barker's role in her sons' crimes was largely falsely created by the FBI and newspapers to increase sales.