From the early ‘30s until their deaths in 1934, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Champion Barrow, and several of their friends and relatives engaged in a violent crime spree across the Midwest that included auto theft, bank robbery, theft from the federal government, and the murder of more than a dozen people, including many law enforcement officers.

On May 20, 1933, the U.S. Commissioner at Dallas, Texas issued a warrant against Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, charging them with the interstate transportation of an automobile stolen in Illinois. With this authority the FBI joined the hunt for the elusive pair. Barrow and Parker were shot to death by law enforcement officers in an ambush near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934, remembered as one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the nation has seen.

The files here include two different releases. The first is a three-page “Interesting Case” memorandum. Produced in 1934 and revised in 1984, it provided a clear summary of their background, crimes, and law enforcement’s hunt to bring them to justice. It was meant to be used as background for interested journalists, researchers, and FBI employees.

The second release is of a recently discovered Dallas Field Office investigative file on Bonnie and Clyde. First released in 2008, this material consists of 947 pages in four sections. Each section is named as the original file was named and includes all pages that were in that file: