Was “Ma” Barker a fabrication by J. Edgar Hoover?

Some say this version of Kate “Ma” Barker is a fabrication. “The most ridiculous story in the annals of crime is that Ma Barker was the mastermind behind the Barker – Karpis Gang,” Alvin Karpis, gangster and one time ‘Public Enemy Number One’, stated in his Autobiography. (The Alvin Karpis Story; 1971).

Karpis went on to describe in his autobiography that “she just didn’t have the brains or know-how to direct us on robbery…” Gang members concurred that when plans were being made, she went into another room to listen to Amos and Andy or hillbilly music on the radio. He went on to say that she went on with Fred because she had no choice and that Fred loved is mother and wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself. (Run the Cat Roads: A True Story of Bank Robbers in the Thirties: L.. Edge: 1981).