Tommy Carroll (criminal)
| Tommy Carroll | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1901 Montana |
| Died | June 7, 1934 (aged 33) Waterloo, Iowa |
| Cause of death | gunshot wounds by police |
| Occupation | Bank robber |
| Criminal penalty | 5 years imprisoment |
| Criminal status | Paroled from Leavenworth in 1931 |
| Spouse(s) | Viola (abandoned), then Jean Angela Delaney Crompton |
| Conviction(s) | Armed robbery (1927) |
Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll (1901 – June 7, 1934) was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A boxer-turned-criminal, he committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a longtime member of the Dillinger gang.
An ex-boxer, who once had his jaw broken in the ring, giving him a "lantern-jaw" appearance, Carroll served in World War I. He was first arrested on January 24, 1920, and served 60 days in the Douglas County jail "for investigation." On October 24, 1921, Carroll was arrested for larceny in Council Bluffs, Iowa and remained in jail for nearly four months before his conviction on February 7, 1922. Sentenced to five years imprisonment, he spent a year in the Anamosa state reformatory before his parole in March 1923.
He continued to have run-ins with the law during the next few years, managing to avoid more jail time. He was twice charged with robbery, first in Kansas City on November 21, 1924 and again in St. Louis on August 11, 1925, and both cases were dropped. The following year, on August 28, 1926, he was jailed in St. Louis for auto theft but released without trial. He was picked up by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma for carrying a concealed weapon on September 15, but the charges were dropped. Returned to St. Joseph, he was arrested for bank robbery on September 29, 1926, and held until his trial and acquittal on January 11, 1927.
On April 1, 1927, Carroll's luck ran out when he was convicted of armed robbery in Missouri and sentenced to five years imprisonment at the state prison in Jefferson City. He was later released on parole but only a brief time as he was quickly rearrested, tried and convicted under the newly passed Dyer Act and spent 21 months in Leavenworth prison until his parole in October 1931.
Carroll disappeared for a year and a half before he was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 17, 1933 for possession of burglar's tools. Carroll was able to negotiate his release and the charges against him were dropped. It was after this experience that Carroll became determined to break into major crime with a skilled team.
Carroll joined the John Dillinger gang sometime in late-1933 and participated in his first robbery with the gang on October 23, 1933, when he joined Baby Face Nelson, Homer Van Meter, John Paul Chase and Charles Fisher in the robbery of $32,000 from a bank in Brainerd, Minnesota. On November 11, he was spotted and pursued by two Minneapolis detectives, managing to escape. Carroll soon after traveled to San Antonio, Texas to purchase weapons from gunsmith Hyman Lehman on behalf of Nelson and the others. Carroll was forced to return when a chance encounter with police turned into a shootout, leaving Detective H.C. Perrow dead.
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