Organized crime is predominantly a men's world, but there are some women whose penchant for violence, drug laundering and more that have made them infamous crime figures.
Here are a few notable ones over the decades:
(See also Top 10 Richest Gangsters Of All Time)
(See also Top 13 Notorious Mexican Drug Lords)
(See also Top 15 Richest Drug Lords of All Time)
(See also Top 25 Extremely Notorious Gangsters)
(See also 10 Most Powerful Female Crime Lords Ever)
(See also Top 10 Most Notorious Female Drug Kingpins)
20. Evelyn "Billie" Frechette
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| (Evelyn "Billie" Frechette) |
She became infamous as John Dillinger's devoted girlfriend, but Frechette came from an unexpected background for a gun moll. A child of French and Native American descent through the Menominee tribe, she attended Catholic grade school, then went on to graduate from high school. Even with an education, finding work was difficult, which led Frechette to Chicago. After her first husband was jailed for a post office robbery, Frechette met Dillinger, and traveled with him through a cross-country crime spree. The pair survived several shootouts.
She was later convicted for harboring a fugitive, and served two years in prison, during which Dillinger died. Upon her release in 1936, Frechette spun her criminal past into a new career, setting out on a lecture tour called "Crime Does Not Pay." She died of cancer 33 years later.
19. Arlyne Brickman
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| (Arlyne Brickman) |
Born to a Jewish auto dealer/racketeer in 1933, Brickman threw herself into the world of New York's Italian Mafia, having romances with various low-level gangsters and eagerly helping them run drugs. Brickman, who moved into loansharking and bookmaking herself, was raped in the basement of a mob hangout. Her gangster friends refused to avenge her.
The last straw was when a crew threatened to rape her daughter if Brickman didn't pay drug debts from her daughters and gambling debts from her bookmaking partner. She became a government informant in the 1970s and 1980s, wearing wires in exchange for the government paying off the debts. Her work helped convict numerous members of the Colombo crime family.
18. Virginia Hill
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| (Virginia Hill) |
Known as The Flamingo as well as "Queen of the Gangster Molls," Hill became notorious as the girlfriend of Brooklyn mobster Bugsy Siegel. She came from a poor background, telling people she didn't own a pair of shoes until age seventeen. Born in Alabama and raised in Georgia, she moved to Chicago to seek fame and fortune. She found a bit of both working as an accountant for Al Capone.
When she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting ambitions, she met Siegel, for whom she'd soon be lover and courier. He'd later name his Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas after her. But this proved a bust business, bringing an abrupt end to Siegel's career, and arguably his life. He was gunned down in Hill's Hollywood home on June 20, 1947.
Hill was coincidentally out of the house, and claimed, "If anyone or anything was his mistress, it was that Las Vegas hotel. I never knew Ben was involved in all that gang stuff. I can't imagine who shot him or why." Her underworld dealings had her take the stand increasingly as the years went on. In 1961, Hill was found dead in an Austria snowdrift, the victim of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills—although some speculate this too was a hit.
Though Hill never made it as an actress, she did make it to the big screen in 1991, when Annette Bening portrayed her in Bugsy.
17. The Pretty Pants Bandit
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| (The Pretty Pants Bandit) |
Described as an attractive brunette with brown eyes and a habit of carrying two guns, this outlaw known as Marie Baker grabbed headlines in 1933 for a string of shop robberies committed by her Pants Gang. Baker earned her nickname for her bizarre demand to the shops' clerks. Once all other customers had left, this lingering lady would draw her weapons and command, "Take off your pants!" Those too shy to oblige were forcibly helped, with Baker sneering she couldn't be shocked.
The Miami News reports that it was vanity that eventually brought her down. While checking her makeup during a butcher shop heist, Baker allowed a hostage to run free. She was soon caught and booked as Marie Baker. Later, it was uncovered she was in fact Mrs. Rose Durante, who would ultimately serve three years before vanishing into obscurity.
16. Pearl McDonald Elliott
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| (Pearl McDonald Elliott) |
She shared ties with John Dillinger and Harry Pierpont, but Elliott was no hanger-on or gun moll. Instead, she was a notorious madam. She owned a whorehouse in Kokomo, Indiana that boasted police protection. To help keep things at her rural brothel safe, they had a system where she'd shine a flashlight out a window to signal for help should some john get out of hand.
Her establishment also served as a hideout for Pierpont's crew following a 1925 bank robbery. Later, her role as "treasurer" for Dillinger earned her a spot on the 1933 Public Enemies list, which ordered officers to "shoot to kill." Despite her illegal operation and dangerous dealings, Elliott did not die in a hail of gunfire or in prison. She passed away on August 10, 1935, from an illness that may have been cancer. She was 47.
15. Julie Lucas
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| (Julie Lucas) |
Coming back to gangster women who did it for love, we have Julie Lucas. Being the home-coming queen she fell in love with home-coming king and then later married him. The king being Frank Lucas who had turned the city of North Carolina from Harlem to a heroine haven. From their various acts they had gathered enough loot to live a lavish lifestyle that included Mercs and Diamonds. Julie’s loyalty to her husband and his business was proven when she spent five years in prison for it. She was caught again in 2010 when she tried selling cocaine to an informant. Well like they say, old habits die-hard.
14. Helen Gillis
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| (Helen Gillis) |
At 16, Helen Wawrzyniak made a fateful move marrying Lester Gillis, the man who came to be known as Baby Face Nelson. By 20, she had two babies—and a spot on the "shoot to kill" list of Public Enemies, thanks to him. She's regarded more as an accomplice than a gangster in her own right, but Gillis was present at the "Battle of Barrington" in Illinois on November 27, 1934. There, Nelson spotted a cop car, and with Gillis and fellow thug John Paul Chase in tow, chased it down, guns blazing. This led to a shootout that killed Nelson along with two police officers.
Gillis earned her place on the Public Enemies list by harboring her dying husband. She surrendered on Thanksgiving Day. Bitter over Nelson's ugly demise, Gillis testified against Chase, helping secure his life sentence. She died more than fifty years later, but was buried next to her beloved Baby Face in Chicago's St. Joseph's Cemetery.
13. Stephanie St. Clair
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| (Stephanie St. Clair) |
She was called "Queenie" in much of Manhattan, but in her Harlem home she was known only as Madame St. Clair. An immigrant of French and African descent, St. Clair set up her numbers bank ten years after moving to the U.S. and became fiercely protective of her neighborhood. She testified against corrupt cops, getting them fired from the force. Even more impressive, she thwarted the invasion of downtown mobsters once the end of Prohibition sent them uptown in search of new revenue.
With the help of her chief enforcer Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson and an alliance with Lucky Luciano, Madame St. Clair kept the likes of Dutch Schultz out of Harlem. She later gloated when Schultz lay dying from a gunshot wound, sending a note to his hospital bed that read, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." When she retired, St. Clair handed her operation over to Bumpy, who became known as The Harlem Godfather.
St. Clair has been immortalized in two films to date. In 1984, Novella Nelson played her in The Cotton Club. In 1997, she was portrayed by Cicely Tyson in Hoodlum.
12. Opal “Mack Truck” Long
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| (Opal “Mack Truck” Long) |
Believed to be born in Texas, Long earned the nickname "Mack Truck" because of her size (though it's said no one called her this to her face). She was a member of John Dillinger's Terror Gang, brought in as the wife of Russell Clark. A caretaker by nature, Long—who preferred to be called Bernice Clark—happily cleaned the hideout and cooked for the whole gang, who she considered family.
Things soured when her husband was arrested in Tucson, Arizona on January 25, 1934. She attacked the police who made the arrest, and later begged Dillinger for money to fund an appeal of Clark's case. Her demands ultimately ostracized her from the group. That summer she, too, was arrested. She never squealed on her cohorts, yet earned parole by November 1934. She lived out her days in Chicago.
11. Hell-Cat Maggie
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| (Hell-Cat Maggie (Photo: Cara Seymour) |
An early member of the 'Dead Rabbits' gang, Hell-Cat Maggie was an infamous female fighter and criminal personality in Manhattan's Five Points District, taking on fellow gangs like the infamous 'Brewery Boys'. She had her teeth filed into points and she wore long claw-like brass fingernails. She used to hang out in drinking establishments such as "McGurk's Suicide Hall", "Hell's Gate" and the Tub of Blood. Photo: Cara Seymour, who played the character of Hell-Cat Maggie in the 2002 adaptation of 'Gangs of New York'.
10. Ma Barker
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| (Ma Barker) |
Don't let the nickname of this godmother of crime throw you. Arizona Donnie Barker (aka Kate Barker) was considered a merciless matriarch. At 19, Arizona Clark married George Barker and the two went on to have four sons: Herman, Lloyd, Arthur, and Fred. But the Barkers weren't just a family; they were a crime family, pulling off highway robberies as early as 1910.
These heists led to murder, and soon captivated the press and public of the Midwest. But fate took a turn for the Barkers in 1927, when Herman committed suicide to avoid arrest. Shortly thereafter, the other three sons ended up in jail. Arizona faced some lean years, but she reunited with Fred upon his release in 1931, spurring a new crime spree that led to her death and his.
Both were killed when the FBI stormed her hideout in Lake Weir, Florida on January 8, 1935. Posthumously, her role in the Barker gang has been the matter of debate. Those close to the family insisted she could have played no active role in the criminal dealings of her sons, but J. Edgar Hoover called her "the most vicious, dangerous and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade."
The legend of Ma Barker has inspired a slew of malevolent mothers in film and television, from ones seen in the James Cagney gangster classic White Heat to the children's cartoon show DuckTales. But the character of Ma Barker would go on to be played by Jane Crowley in 1959's The FBI Story, Shelley Winters in 1970's Bloody Mama, and Theresa Russell in 1996's Public Enemies.
9. Bonnie Parker
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| (Bonnie Parker) |
Undoubtedly the most famous of the female American gangsters, Parker was half of the iconic crime duo Bonnie and Clyde. The two were notorious bank robbers in the "public enemy era" of 1931 to 1934, when the exploits of outlaws made them celebrities.
Parker was born in Rowena, Texas, where she earned a reputation for being smart and outspoken. She met Clyde Barrow in 1930. Though she was married, the two hit it off immediately. Apart from their robberies and killings, the legend of Bonnie and Clyde grew in part because of a photo shoot they did near their Joplin, Missouri hideout, images that still inspire re-imaginings of their lives. But those lives were cut short in a gruesome shootout with police in 1934. She was 23; he was 25.
Parker has been portrayed by Dorothy Provine in 1958's The Bonnie Parker Story, by Tracey Needham in the 1992 made-for-TV movie Bonnie & Clyde: A True Story, and by Holliday Granger in the 2013 mini-series Bonnie & Clyde. But best remembered is the sultry turn of Faye Dunaway in the two-time Oscar-winning biopic Bonnie & Clyde.
8. Judy Moran
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| (Judy Moran) |
Matriarch of one of Australia's most notorious crime families, Moran's life has been full of murder and mayhem. Her first husband, Leslie John Cole was killed in 1982 and their son Mark was killed in 2000. Her second husband, Lewis Moran, head of the Moran crime family, was murdered in 2004—and their son Jason Moran was killed in 2003.
The killings of her sons and second husband were related to the gangland killings in Melbourne, where dozens of crime organization figures were killed as various factions fought for power. Judy Moran was eventually convicted of killing her brother-in-law Desmond Moran in a cafe. Prosecutors say that she plotted the crime in her home and also hid the disguises of the hit men there. Moran apparently acted out of "retribution, hostility, financial retribution, or all of those reasons."
7. Xie Caiping
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| (Xie Caiping) |
The city of China named Chongqing recently made a crackdown attack on all of the operating dark business and arrested more than 1500 suspects. The jewel in that case was the capture of Caiping. She has been known to be the leader of around 16 man ho’s strong and owned a large string of illegal casinos. Her job was to beat up cops and to bribe city officials plus what ever else it took to keep the cops off of her casino’s and their illegal activities. How good she was at her job is justified with the fact that the criminal round-up included her brother-in-law who was actually an official cop. No wonder she had strong connections.
6. Sandra Ávila Beltrán
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| (Sandra Ávila Beltrán) |
Sandra Ávila Beltrán: Forget a drug kingpin — Sandra Avila became so powerful as the head of a Mexican drug cartel that she was called "La Reina del Pacifico" ("The Queen of the Pacific"). Her love of high fashion and attractive features has hurt the media's fascination with her. Beltran, the niece of a famous drug trafficker, also supposedly rose to power, thanks to some intimate connections: The NY Times reports, "Along the way, she seduced many drug kingpins and upper-echelon police officers, becoming a powerful force in the cocaine world through a combination of ruthless business sense, a mobster’s wiles and her sex appeal, prosecutors say." Arrested in 2007 for drug trafficking, Beltran wasn't extradited to the U.S. until last year.
5. Enedina Arellano Felix
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| (Enedina Arellano Felix) |
Enedina Arellano Felix is the alleged leader of the Tijuana cartel. The Tijuana Cartel is an ultra-violent organization that controls a good deal of the cocaine and marijuana coming into the U.S. from Mexico.
Mexico's Proceso magazine is calling Enedina Arellano Felix the world's first female drug lord today, based on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
The DEA thought, with Benjamin behind bars in San Diego, the worst was over:
"Using violence, intimidation, kidnapping and murder, the Arellano Felix Organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, has been one of the world's most brutal drug trafficking networks," said DEA Administrator Leonhart. "The extradition of Benjamin Arellano-Felix is one of many great victories against this criminal enterprise, which has seen five of the seven Arellano-Felix brothers either arrested or killed. Together with our Mexican partners, we will continue sustained attacks on cartels that threaten our way of life."
4. Rosetta Cutolo
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| (Rosetta Cutolo) |
She is in this list mainly because she is the sister of Raffaele Cutolo, the mob boss of NCO (Nuova Camorra Organizzata) which was (in 1980’s) considered to be the biggest and most powerful crime family in Italy. She took over the business when her brother got caught and cuffed. While he served in prison, she not only followed orders from him but also made her own deals with the likes of mobsters from South America and Sicily. She beat nine murder charges and allegedly attempted to blow up a police station while on the run from authorities for ten years.
3. Maria Licciardi
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| (Maria Licciardi) |
She was the boss of the bosses of the Naples underworld and came to reign after two of her brothers along with her husband were arrested. Under her rule the family business became more lucrative and organized. From 1993 to 2001 she was the head of the Licciardi clan and introducing prostitution into Camorra was perhaps her mainstream contribution.
2. Maria 'Chata' Leon
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| (Maria 'Chata' Leon) |
At the sweet little age of 44 she is the mother to 13 kids. And like all good mothers, in between nap times and changing diapers she single-handedly became the owner and controller of a trans-US-Mexican drug trafficking and human smuggling operation. Now if we are not sadly misinformed, that is not the type of business that allows one to take maternity leaves. Given that, Miss Maria seems to have accomplished quite a lot for herself to say the least.
1. Griselda Blanco
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| (Griselda Blanco) |
Known as a "The Cocaine Godmother," Griselda Blanco was a Medellin drug lord and helped establish the drug trade between Colombia and Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. At her height, Blanco organized the shipment of over three tons of cocaine into the U.S. each year. Part of her legend is that she killed another child at age 11 when his parents refused to pay ransom and that she was responsible for between 20 and 40 murders, including the killing of a three-year-old child.
Blanco also plotted to kidnap John F. Kennedy Jr., opened up a factory to make female undergarments—better to smuggle drugs in the U.S. that way—and gave a hit man a vintage World War II bayonet to kill a rival. Killing her husband was apparently no problem—Blanco shot him when she believed he stole millions in drug money profits (she survived the shots from the Uzi he fired at her).
Arrested numerous times, Blanco was deported back to Colombia in 2004. On September 3, 2012, while leaving a butcher in Medellin, Blanco was shot in the face twice by a man on a motorcycle.