Own your piece of American gangster history with our FBI Public Enemies Commemorative Challenge Coins. Each solid brass 1.75 coin is multi-plated and enameled by hand.
This meticulously crafted collection pays homage to several infamous characters from history who gave the FBI a run for their money – but always met their match in the end.
Al Capone
Alphonso “Al” Capone – also known as Scarface – was a notorious gangster during Prohibition in Chicago. His Chicago outfit dealt in criminal activity ranging from bootlegging and racketeering to extortion and brothels. He was deemed “Public Enemy No. 1” after the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre on February 14, 1929, in which seven of his gang rivals were murdered in broad daylight. The FBI convicted Capone of tax evasion in 1931, and he served 8 years in federal prison.
Bonnie & Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow traveled the United States with their gang robbing banks during the Great Depression, capturing the attention of the American press during the “Public Enemy” era between 1931 and 1934. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians. Bonnie and Clyde were killed in 1934 near Gibsland, Louisiana during a police ambush.
John Dillinger
Known for his bravado and colorful personality, gangster and bank robber John Dillinger was cast as a “Robin Hood” type, famous for having escaped jail with a bar of soap carved to look like a gun. In the early 1930s, Bureau of Investigation (BOI) director J. Edgar Hoover used Dillinger’s exploits to turn the BOI into the more sophisticated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While on the run, Dillinger was identified by his escort who was wearing a red dress – known as the woman in red – and died in a shootout with FBI agents in Chicago in 1934.
