CRIMINAL ARCHIVE

Was Pretty Boy Floyd really pretty? 10 criminals’ nicknames explained

Image: Ye Jinghan

Just like an artist chooses a stage name, criminals have long used aliases to instill fear and avoid capture. These pseudonyms often embody part of the essence of the individual behind the mask, or are related in some way or another to their past.

Let's delve into the stories behind these 10 infamous criminal aliases and the individuals who wielded them.

Image: Miami Police Department

Al Capone, dubbed "Scarface" for the distinctive scar on his face, was one of America's most notorious gangsters during the Prohibition era. He earned the scar during his time in the Five Points Gang of New York. Capone insulted a woman while working in a gang-operated dance hall, only to be viciously attacked by her brother, who slashed his face with a knife. In time, his hair-raising alias became synonymous with organized crime in Chicago, where he ran speakeasies and engaged in bootlegging.

Image: Artur Tumasjan

Frank Abagnale, an American con artist famous for his many frauds against individuals and small businesses during the ‘60s, earned the alias "The Skyway Man" for his audacious scheme of impersonating a Pan Am pilot and using his status to cash fraudulent checks without suspicion everywhere in the world. His life was later portrayed in the acclaimed Steven Spielberg film "Catch Me If You Can."

Image: Indiana State Penitentiary

John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber during the Great Depression, known for his brazen heists and daring escapes from the police. His dangerous exploits earned him the nickname "Jackrabbit" due to his graceful movements during heists, such as leaping over the counter - something he allegedly copied from the movies. The FBI also dubbed him "Public Enemy Number One," and his larger-than-life figure epitomized the glamorization of outlaws in American folklore.

Image: Nastya Dulhiier

The Zodiac Killer, an unidentified serial killer active in California during the late 1960s and early 1970s, earned his alias for his taunting letters sent to newspapers and police, filled with cryptic ciphers and threats and signed under the "Zodiac" pseudonym. Though the police identified a series of potential suspects, the killer behind the letters was never positively identified, leaving behind an enduring mystery surrounding his identity and motives.

Image: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Blackbeard was the nickname of Edward Teach, a notorious English pirate who roamed the Caribbean during the early 18th century. He earned his alias for his fearsome appearance and ruthless tactics. The pirate was described as a tall man with a thick black beard, often braided into pigtails. During battles, he often stuck lighted slow matches under his hat to scare his enemies. However, despite his appearance and reputation, most historians believe that Blackbeard never murdered or harmed those he held captive.

Image: Rob Wicks

John Gotti, a powerful Mafia boss in New York City during the 80s, earned the alias "The Teflon Don" for his ability to evade conviction despite numerous charges against him. His apparent legal invincibility was achieved by intimidating witnesses and buying jury members with the help of the Gambino crime family. However, he was eventually convicted by the FBI after a lengthy investigation, receiving life in prison without parole.

Image: Konrad Summers, CC BY-SA 2.0

Griselda Blanco, a Colombian drug lord known for her ruthlessness, earned the alias "The Black Widow" for reportedly ordering the killing of each of her husbands. Also known as the "Godmother", she rose to prominence in the underworld of Miami during the 1970s and was known for her penchant for eliminating rivals who dared cross her path.

Image: Scott Graham

Meyer Lansky was a key figure in organized crime during the Prohibition era, as he earned his alias "The Mob's Accountant" for his financial prowess in managing illicit enterprises. Lansky’s alias reflected his strategic role in introducing money laundering and offshore banking in 1932 to the American criminal underworld. However, until his death in 1983, he was never found guilty of anything more than illegal gambling.

Image: George Bergman, GFDL 1.2

Ted Kaczynski, an American domestic terrorist and mathematician, gained notoriety as "The Unabomber" for his targeting of universities and airlines with homemade bombs. But before his real identity was known, the FBI internally used the name UNABOM (meaning University and Airline Bomber) to refer to his case. The media soon picked up the FBI identifier and creatively transformed it into the "Unabomber."

Image: Roman Kraft

Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a Depression-era bank robber and folk hero, earned his alias for his youthful appearance and charm. His exploits and story contributed to the romanticized image of the outlaw as a Robin Hood figure, as he was believed to burn mortgage documents during robberies, in theory freeing many people from life-long debts.

Secret codes, decoded

Why pilots say "roger" and 9 other unspoken coded messages

Every line of work has its own secret language. Pilots, nurses, actors, filmmakers, and sailors all use words and signals that mean something very specific to insiders. If you’re an outsider overhearing them, you probably wonder, "What the heck is going on?" Some of these terms are technical, some are funny, and some are just plain absurd. Take why pilots say "Roger" when they don’t mean "yes," or what "S.O.S." really stands for (spoiler: it doesn’t stand for anything). Let’s decode 10 of them.

"Roger" doesn’t mean yes; it means "message received." Early radio operators spelled out letters with code words so garbled static wouldn’t ruin things, and the word for R was "Roger." R stood for "received," so the name stuck. The alphabet changed in 1957, and R became "Romeo," but "Roger" lived on like an old uncle at Thanksgiving. Civilians never learn it because most of us have never radioed a tower.

Surprise: it doesn’t stand for anything. "Save Our Souls" is a catchy myth invented later. In Morse code, S is three dots, and O is three dashes, so the signal is just three dots, three dashes, three dots. It was adopted at a radio conference in Berlin in 1906, took effect in 1908, and was easy to send and hard to mistake. The Titanic famously used it in 1912. Since it isn’t an acronym, those periods in "S.O.S." are technically incorrect.

Imagine a hospital full of patients on oxygen, in surgery, or unable to walk, and then somebody shouts "FIRE!" That’s a recipe for panic. So hospitals use color codes: Code Red means fire, Code Blue means a patient needs resuscitation, and so on. Hospitals began adopting codes in the 1960s, and they still differ from state to state. Patients are often left confused, which is rather the point.

If you hear "Code Adam" over a store speaker, a child is missing. Staff lock the doors and search. It’s named for Adam Walsh, a six-year-old who vanished from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida, in 1981. Walmart introduced the program in 1994, and many other stores followed. Stores use a code instead of a plain announcement so a possible abductor doesn’t panic and bolt.

That graceful sweep of the hands isn’t flight attendant theater. Federal rules require airlines to show passengers where the exits are, and the open-palm, arm-sweeping gesture makes the pointing clear and unmistakable, even in a noisy, crowded cabin. It dates back to the early days of commercial jets in the 1950s and ’60s. Most of us tune it out, usually while hunting for the little bag of pretzels.

Nothing to do with the May 1st holiday. In 1923, it was hard to make out the letter "S" over radio telephone, so "S.O.S." was swapped for "mayday" on cross-channel flights between Britain and France. The word sounds like the French "m’aidez," meaning "help me." It was made the official voice distress call in 1927. Saying it three times keeps it from being mistaken for a message that merely mentions it. Most of us only hear it in movies.

Even though there’s no single worldwide rule, ships do use dim red or blue lighting in some areas at night so crews keep their night vision when they step out on deck, and on European rivers a blue light can flag dangerous cargo. Cruise lines also use soft lighting for ambiance. Naturally, passengers rarely hear about any of it because ship rules are written for crews, not vacationers.

Hand gestures don’t mean the same thing everywhere. Arrests are actually rare, but real trouble is possible. The "thumbs up" is rude in parts of the Middle East. The "OK" sign is an insult in Brazil and a few other countries. In Greece, an open palm shoved toward someone’s face, called the "moutza," is a serious insult dating back to Byzantine times. Americans stumble into this because we assume our gestures are universal. They aren’t.

Actors consider it bad luck to wish each other luck, so they wish a little disaster instead. Nobody agrees on the origin. One theory says performers who bowed or took curtain calls were literally "breaking the leg" of the stage curtain. Another points to German pilots in the 1930s saying "neck and leg break." Either way, it’s an old theater superstition. If you say "good luck" backstage, expect some glares.

On a movie or TV set, "martini shot" means the last setup of the day. The name is supposedly a joke that the next shot will be out of a glass. Its sidekick is the "Abby Singer," the second-to-last shot. It’s named after an assistant director who would call out "this, and one more" so the crew could prepare to move to the next set.