Gangsters. Lovers. Legends.
From New York Times bestselling author and historian Chris Enss, the jaw-dropping Prohibition Era true crime tale of “Machine Gun” Kelly and Kathyrn Thorne, the bootlegging, bank-robbing, husband-wife duo who masterminded one of the most infamous kidnappings in American crime.
How did a small-time, hip-pocket bootlegger become one of the most notorious gangsters in the country? For George “Machine Gun” Kelly, the answer was simple: a woman. Her name was Kathryn Thorne, a charming, strong-minded beauty who, had family connections in the crime world—and big ambitions for the tall, handsome bootlegger. By the time she met Kelly, she was already an experienced criminal herself, divorced twice and ready to marry a man who could give her the posh life she always dreamed of. With that in mind, she bought Kelly his first machine gun. And the rest is history . . .
George Kelly wasn’t a natural-born gangster and never carried a weapon bigger than a revolver. But Kathryn changed all that. Like a mobbed-up Lady Macbeth, she pushed her husband to commit greater crimes, introducing him to her friends in the underworld and convincing him to join in a series of bank robberies. Soon, the Kellys were living large, with a house in Texas, expensive jewelry, the works. But it wasn’t enough, and eventually the couple hatched a daring plot to kidnap oil tycoon Charles Urschel. Their plan worked. They collected the ransom—and captured the attention of the nation, the world . . . and the FBI.
A shocking story of ambition and greed, crime and punishment, Meet the Kellys offers a fascinating portrait of a reluctant gangster named after a machine gun and a scheming moll as driven as Bonnie Parker and Ma Barker. A must-read for true crime fans.
Meet the Kellys Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorn
by Enss, ChrisFormat: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2025-05-27
Publisher(s): Citadel
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Summary
Author Biography
Chris Enss is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 books. Focusing on extraordinary women throughout history, her work has been honored with nine Will Rogers Medallion Awards, two Elmer Kelton Book Awards, an Oklahoma Center for the Book Award, three Foreword Review Magazine Book Awards, the Laura Downing Journalism Award, and a Willa Cather Award from Women Writing the West for scholarly nonfiction. Visit her online at ChrisEnss.com.
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