Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
America’s Greatest Bank Robber? Inside the Life of Pretty Boy Floyd
31 May 2025
Who was Pretty Boy Floyd?
you know the tommy gun you know during the war um the tommy gun become really famous but prior to that like they come out the tommy guns come out like in 1928 they were a big uh a big thing because of like world war one they used them they were trench getters they were made to just destroy trenches and uh and these men brought them home with them and people you know they had them so
they have a Tommy gun and you can't hide that very well.
And yeah, even in the, even in the, the bedrolls, which I was going to say, it's not uncommon for people in that era to walk around with bedrolls because they were, they had nowhere to stay. And you're, you're basically, you're a, like a hobo, you know, you're homeless. And so they were, so it wasn't, it would be like a sleeping bag.
Yeah, exactly. And so they were just hanging out up there at the rock area and, But the men that talked to him, they buy this story. They said, we're just here to check on our pear trees. And I mean, Floyd says, well, if you see the ladies down at the bottom of the hill, send them up. And so they walk away. Well, the men didn't quite buy it. Not all of it.
So what they did is they walked back up towards their house and that house that Floyd and Reschetti are at. Right above them is a house. And it's still there today. It's not in very good shape, but it's there today. That's the home of Lon Israel. And he was just a neighborhood guy. Everybody knew him. And they went and they ran into Lon.
And they said, hey, you know, there's a couple men down over the hill from your house up there hanging out. And they're sleeping up there and they got guns. And so Lon Israel decided, well, I'm going to call the chief of police in Wellsville because that area is actually Wellsville. So his name was John Foltz. Now let's break there for a second, because I gotta tell you about John Foltz.
This guy's a character. You could do a whole story on John Foltz himself. Prior to being a policeman, he would build boats on the river. He was a shanty boat builder. So he actually would build these houseboats along the riverbank, but he would haul the prostitutes up and down the river to different encampments. And as he built the boats, he would take a boat and take the prostitutes around.
And he must have made money doing that. But this is prior to him being a policeman. Right. So, you know, it was kind of odd. Even during Prohibition, I've got pictures. As a matter of fact, I even brought it today. But I have pictures where all the whiskey stills, when they would do the raids of the whiskey stills and the crates and the... barrels.
And since the street in Wellsville by City Hall is lined up with these things. And his job after the tax revenue guys would leave was to destroy all that. And what he would do is go around and sell them back. So he's a character, this guy. And now he's chief of police.
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