Gun moll#In fiction

{{About|2=the 1938 film|3=Gang Smashers{{!}}Gang Smashers}}A gun moll is early 1900s slang for the female companion, girlfriend or mistress of a male professional criminal or mob leader. Some gun molls were themselves gangsters and they were accomplices in criminal activities.File:BonnieParkerCigar1933.jpg's pose with a cigar and a revolver cultivated her portrayal in the press as a 'cigar-smoking gun moll'.]]

Terminology

They may also be called a gangster moll, gangster's moll or mob moll.

"Gun" was British slang for thief, derived from Yiddish ganef (גנבֿ).{{citation|url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=gun+moll|title=gun moll|work=The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company|year=2019}} "Moll" is also used as a euphemism for a woman prostitute{{citation|url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=moll|title=moll|work=The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company|year=2019}} or it may be the "second element from nickname of Mary, used of disreputable females since early 1600s."

{{cite web |author= |date= |title= Gin moll|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/gun%20moll |website=www.etymonline.com |location= |publisher=EtymOnline |access-date=8 March 2025}}

Historical examples

File:Helen Julia (Buda) Godman -1919.jpg

Notable gun molls (and the men they were associated with) include:

Beulah Baird – Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd
Jean Delaney (Crompton) – Tommy Carroll
Phoolan Devi – Indian dacoit, gun moll of Vikram Mallah, later turned into the gang leader after his death
Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti – John Gotti
Judith Exner – an American woman who claimed to be the mistress of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and of Mafia leaders Sam Giancana and John Roselli
Evelyn "Billie" Frechette – John Dillinger
Buda Godman ({{nee|Helen Julia Godman}}; 1888–1945)[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WGK-WWW "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949"] (database), FamilySearch, March 20, 2015
"Helen Daniels," DOD – January 7, 1945; citing Death, Queens, New York, New York City Municipal Archives; FHL microfilm (GS Film No.) 2194201, NYC Queens Reference No. 308 (registration/login may be required, but is free)
– John Homer T. ("Dapper Jackie") French, member of the Lou Blonger Gang of Denver. A photo of Buda holding a gun is found in Philip S. Van Cise's Fighting the Underworld.Van Cise, Philip S. Fighting the Underworld. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, (1936) {{OCLC|435739}}
Catherine Greig – James Whitey Bulger
Maria Victoria Henao – Pablo Escobar
Karen Hill – Henry Hill
Virginia Hill – Bugsy Siegel
Mary Kinder (née Mary Northern; 1909–1981) – Harry Pierpont
Opal "Mack Truck" Long – Russell Clark
Edna Murray – wife of "Diamond Joe" Sullivan, who was executed for murder in 1924. She then married Jack Murray, who was imprisoned for 25 years in 1925. She then lived with Volney Davis, until they were both arrested for kidnapping in 1935.
Mary O'Dare – Raymond Hamilton
Bonnie Parker – Clyde Barrow
Geraldine "Geri" McGee Rosenthal – Frank Rosenthal
Kathryn Thorne (née Cleo May Brooks; 1904–1985) – George "Machine Gun" Kelly
Helen Gillis (née Wawzynak; 1908–1987) – George "Baby Face" Nelson
Kiki Roberts - Legs Diamond

In fiction

File:Gang Smashers Poster 1938.jpg, also known as Gun Moll, is about racketeering in Harlem.]]

In film noir movies about crime, the gangster's moll is usually an attractive, blonde — often a variant of the bimbo stereotype — who may be a former showgirl. The gangster often uses the moll as a "trophy" to boost his status.

Examples include: