“Pretty Boy” Floyd – Oklahoma’s Own Robin Hood? – Podcast
There was only one Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd of Oklahoma, legendary subject of our blazing new doubleheader podcast. J. Edgar Hoover named him FBI Public Enemy #1, John Steinbeck wrote about him in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, Woody Guthrie immortalized him in song. He shot it out with lawmen on the streets of Tulsa and won one of the most famous gunfights in Oklahoma history despite being shot four times. He robbed his hometown bank, where townfolk cheered him on, and he shared his proceeds with and bought groceries for the common people of Oklahoma, who loved and sheltered him.
Join John and KTOK/iHeartRadio star Gwin Faulconer-Lippert for this action-packed doubleheader podcast about America’s most enigmatic outlaw, the legendary “Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills.” It’s the 49th and 50th episodes of our original OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program and podcast. Go HERE to listen to them all! Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History.
Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, #1 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, and Robin Hood of Oklahoma’s Cookson Hills.
The Cookson Hills of eastern Oklahoma, highlighted in green, where Charley Floyd grew up and often returned until the end of his life. Akins, the tiny rural community nearest his boyhood home, lies a few miles northeast of Sallisaw.
J. Edgar Hoover, the enigmatic genius most responsible for building the FBI. Catching “Pretty Boy” Floyd became a raging obsession for Hoover. He would eventually stop at little—if anything—to do so.
The Floyd family—Charley, son Jack Dempsey, and wife Ruby—while living in Tulsa around 1932.
Charles “Choc” Floyd’s funeral at Akins, Sequoyah County remains the largest in Oklahoma history. According to award-winning historian and Floyd biographer Michael Wallis of Tulsa, as many as 40,000 people attended.
Many thanks to Atwoods Ranch and Home, a farm and ranch supply company based in Enid, Oklahoma, for their support of the Red River Institute of History and OKLAHOMA GOLD! Please support them as you are able! Wherever you are, you can order online from thousands of quality products on their terrific website HERE. Atwoods also has 66 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition to farm and ranch supplies, Atwoods stores sell clothing, lawn and garden items, tools, hardware, automotive supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, firearms, and seasonal items.
