



During the first two decades of the 20th century, Charley Floyd was no different than any other boy growing up in those early depression years. Raised on a humble cotton farm in southeastern Oklahoma, Charley farmed and made moonshine as generations of Floyds had done for years prior. However, while sweating in the blazing cotton fields with blistering fingers, this bright young energetic boy was dreaming of something a little better than growing up a moonshiner and small time tenant farmer. The bitter circumstances of the 1920s helped the young, restless Charley Floyd break the family cycle. There was a lot more money to be had by robbing the immoral and ruthless rich. Bank robbery appeared to be the best means of achieving this goal. As with many other Americans during the turbulent infancy of the new country, Charley believed there were only two types of thieves: those who robbed with a six-shooter and those who robbed with a fountain pen. The more banks that Charley robbed, the more he helped the helpless. There were an untold amount of farmers and sharecroppers that Charley bailed out of bankruptcy and farm foreclosure. By robbing banks and destroying mortgages, he catapulted himself into one of the most beloved, celebrated criminals in American history. This tall handsome sagebrush Robin Hood-like character caught more than the desperate farmer's attention. Charles Arthur Floyd (by now "a.k.a. Pretty Boy Floyd") soon became the F.B.I's J. Edgar Hoover's Public Enemy Number One. With fame and notoriety in both the public and private sectors, it seemed that every crime in America was attributed to Pretty Boy Floyd. Charley was often said to have committed multiple bank robberies in several states all at the same time. Pretty Boy Floyd sightings were everywhere. Banks all claimed that they were robbed by the famous robber, all without an ounce of proof. With all this hype and hoopla, J. Edgar Hoover saw this as another opportunity to help with his own rise in pow
Web Video | November 18, 2006

