Cretzer-Kyle Gang
| Founded by | Joseph "Dutch" Cretzer and Arnold Kyle |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Portland, Oregon |
| Years active | 1935-37 |
| Territory | West Coast, Midwest |
| Membership (est.) | 6 |
| Criminal activities | Bank robbery |
The Cretzer-Kyle Gang was a Depression-era criminal group led by Joseph "Dutch" Cretzer and Arnold Thomas Kyle during the mid-to late 1930s. Largely active in the West Coast, they were one of the few groups to gain national attention outside the Midwest and also one of the last groups to be captured by the FBI at the end of the decade. Cretzer was killed in a failed attempt to escape Alcatraz resulting in the 1946 prison riot.
Originally formed by bank robbers Joseph "Dutch" Cretzer and Arnold Kyle, and later joined by regular members Milton Hartmann and John Oscar Hetzer, the gang's first recorded robbery was on January 31, 1935, when Cretzer, Kyle and Hartmann stole $3,396 from a bank in Portland, Oregon. At the end of the year, the three men struck again at a branch bank inside the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California on November 29 escaping with $2,765. On January 23, 1936, they stole $6,000 from a bank in Oakland and then returned to Los Angeles the next day to steal another $1,475. The gang remained in Los Angeles County for another six months robbing a number of banks, their biggest jobs netting them $6,100 on March 3 and $1,996 on July 1. However, one of their most successful robberies took them outside the Los Angeles-area when they stole $14,581 from a local bank in Seattle, Washington on July 27.
Soon after this robbery, the modus operandum of the gang changed as Cretzer, Kyle and Hartmann had all been identified by witnesses by this time as having participated in all the gang's robberies. Cretzer was reportedly absent when Kyle and Hartmann robbed $8,000 from another Seattle bank. Similarly, Cretzer was on his own when he walked out of a Los Angeles bank with $2,870 on January 28, 1937. John Hetzer made his first appearance with the gang during this time taking part in the robbery of a Portland bank with Kyle and Hartmann on March 29 which netted $18,195. This would be the gang's most successful bank job to date.
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