Gun moll

Female companion of a male criminal

A gun moll or gangster moll or gangster's moll is the female companion of a male professional criminal. "Gun" was British slang for thief, derived from Yiddish ganef,[1] from the Hebrew gannāb (גנב).[2] "Moll" is also used as a euphemism for a woman prostitute.[3]

Notable examples

Helen Julia Godman – Passport photo taken in 1919

Prominent, true-life gun molls (and the men they were associated with) include:

  • Beulah Baird – Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd
  • Jean Delaney (Crompton) – Tommy Carroll
  • Phoolan Devi – Indian dacoit, gun moll of Vikram Mallah, later turned into the gang leader after his death
  • Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti – John Gotti
  • Judith Exner – an American woman who claimed to be the mistress of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and of Mafia leaders Sam Giancana and John Roselli
  • Evelyn "Billie" Frechette – John Dillinger
  • Buda Godman (née Helen Julia Godman; 1888–1945)[4] – John Homer T. ("Dapper Jackie") French, member of the Lou Blonger Gang of Denver. A photo of Buda holding a gun is found in Philip S. Van Cise's Fighting the Underworld.[5]
  • Catherine Greig – James Whitey Bulger
  • Maria Victoria Henao – Pablo Escobar
  • Karen Hill – Henry Hill
  • Virginia Hill – Bugsy Siegel
  • Mary Kinder (née Mary Northern; 1909–1981) – Harry Pierpont
  • Opal "Mack Truck" Long – Russell Clark
  • Edna Murray – wife of "Diamond Joe" Sullivan, who was executed for murder in 1924. She then married Jack Murray, who was imprisoned for 25 years in 1925. She then lived with Volney Davis, until they were both arrested for kidnapping in 1935.
  • Mary O'Dare – Raymond Hamilton
  • Bonnie Parker – Clyde Barrow
  • Geraldine "Geri" McGee Rosenthal – Frank Rosenthal
  • Kathryn Thorne (née Cleo May Brooks; 1904–1985) – George "Machine Gun" Kelly
  • Helen Gillis (née Wawzynak; 1908–1987) – George "Baby Face" Nelson
  • Kiki Roberts - Legs Diamond

See also

References

  1. ^ "gun moll", The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2019
  2. ^ "ganef", The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2019
  3. ^ "moll", The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2019
  4. ^ "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949" (database), FamilySearch, March 20, 2015
    "Helen Daniels," DOD – January 7, 1945; citing Death, Queens, New York, New York City Municipal Archives; FHL microfilm (GS Film No.) 2194201, NYC Queens Reference No. 308 (registration/login may be required, but is free)
  5. ^ Van Cise, Philip S. Fighting the Underworld. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1936) OCLC 435739

External links

  • The dictionary definition of gun moll at Wiktionary