Bonnie Parker (October 1, 1910 - May 23, 1934) and Clyde Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) were well known outlaws, robbers and criminals who, with their gang, traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during what is sometimes referred to as the "public enemy era (Public enemy)" between 1931 and 1934. Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow in fact preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and committed several civilian murders. They were eventually ambushed and killed in Louisiana by law officers. Their reputation was cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penns (Arthur Penn) 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie and Clyde (film)).

Believed at the time to be a full participant in the gangs crimes, Parkers role has since been a source of controversy. While gang members W. D. Jones and Ralph Fults said they never saw her fire a gun and described her role as logistical, Jones also told investigators that she had fired a pistol at officers "two or three times" when he was deposed under arrest in 1933. By 1968, his recollection was that "during the five big gun battles I was with them, she never fired a gun. But Ill say she was a hell of a loader." Youngest Barrow sister Marie made the same claim: "Bonnie never fired a shot. She just followed my brother no matter where he went." Parkers reputation as a cigar-smoking gun moll grew out of a gag snapshot found by police abandoned at a hideout, released to the press, and published in newspapers, magazines and newsreels nationwide; while she did chain-smoke (chain smoking) Camel cigarettes, she was not a cigar smoker.

Author Jeff Guinn, in his 2009 book Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, explains that it was these very photos that put the outlaws on the media map and launched their legend: "John Dillinger had matinee-idol good looks and Pretty Boy Floyd had the best possible nickname, but the Joplin photos introduced new criminal superstars with the most titillating trademark of all?illicit sex. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were young and unmarried. They undoubtedly slept together?after all, the girl smoked cigars.... Without Bonnie, the media outside Texas might have dismissed Clyde as a gun-toting punk, if it ever considered him at all. With her sassy photographs, Bonnie supplied the sex-appeal, the oomph, that allowed the two of them to transcend the small-scale thefts and needless killings that actually comprised their criminal careers." TOC limit