Machine Gun KellyThe 1920s, otherwise known as the Roaring Twenties, was the era of Prohibition banning alcohol and the era of gangsters like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. If it hadn't been for the alcohol ban, I would probably be out of work and very poor. I'd be back on my farm in Tennessee, where I grew up shoveling cow shit and arguing with my drunk dad every night. The first chance Kelly gave me to return to Chicago with him, I took it, enjoying the gang life to the fullest. July 1933 was a very eventful month for me and the rest of the Machine Gun Kelly gang. My name is John Hand, notoriously known as “Hand Gun Johnny,” a name Kelly gave me when I rose through the ranks as his right-hand man. Kelly had made a name for himself robbing small banks and smuggling liquor, but he always wanted more, or his wife wanted more. The boys and I always joked that Kelly's wife, Kathryn Kelly, had always been the mastermind behind all of our theft and smuggling schemes. This plan, whether Kelly plotted it or Katherine plotted it, was unlike anything else we had done before. Kelly has had us monitoring this man for the last month, what time he leaves his house, what time he arrives at his house. We needed to know what time he went to bed and what time he was almost alone in his mansion. His name was Charles Urschel, a wealthy tycoon and businessman, but to us he was just a means to get money. James Connor and I accompanied Kelly when he plotted to raid the rich man's house and kidnap him for ransom. It was a very calm night, with a slight breeze. It was like I could feel the nervousness on my partner's face but for Kelly I couldn't see anything. Just the cold, hard, terrifying look that was always on Kelly's face unless he was with his wife. We waited... middle of paper......hole”. Aside from the harsh conditions the guard imposed on us, life was not bad at Alcatraz. Kelly's cellmate said he would be depressed when he received mail from his family and would regret all the crimes he committed to end up locked up here. I didn't believe him until I got a job in the mailroom. I constantly saw letters from Kelly sent to Urschel begging him to plead his case, I never saw a response to Kelly's letters. No one knows the exact reason but Kelly was transferred to Leavenworth in 1951, leaving me the keys to his large cigarette company. I never really heard from him after his transfer. He is said to have died of a heart attack in 1954. All the gangs and crimes we have committed over the years were due to the prohibition of alcohol and the "prohibition era", it is as they call it. We just called it the Roaring Twenties.