The newspapers criticized commissioner Richard Enright and the New York City Police Department for their inability to catch Cooney.

[2] Cooney evaded capture for 65 days, eventually fleeing to Florida after a botched robbery of the payroll office of the National Biscuit Company.

[4] Her first robbery took place on January 5, 1924, when Cooney entered a Thomas Ralston grocery in Park Slope, and asked for a dozen eggs.

[7] The robberies began to attract media attention, with newspapers ridiculing Richard Enright for his incapability to catch the bandit.

As the robberies continued, Enright stepped up his efforts to catch Cooney, naming Mary Cody and Rose Moore as suspects.

[1] The newspapers continued to cover the chase, with the New York Herald and others comparing Cooney to a modern-day Robin Hood.

[11] On March 5, he ordered half of his reserve police force in Brooklyn to aid the detectives in stopping Cooney.

[12] With the search intensifying, the Cooneys laid low for much of the rest of March, even as the news began covering the topic further.

[1] In order to secure their financial well-being, the couple planned to rob the payroll office of the National Biscuit Company warehouse.

[16] The capture of the 'Bobbed Hair Bandit' made the front page of many New York City newspapers, as well as the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Los Angeles Times.

The New York World described the crowd: "Neither Presidents nor Jack Dempsey had attracted such a throng to Pennsylvania station as Celia Cooney, Brooklyn's Bobbed Haired Bandit and her husband, Edward did when they reached this city at 3:30.

[citation needed] Ed Cooney had his fingers smashed in a machine while in prison, and had his arm eventually amputated below the elbow.

[20] In December 2021, true crime comedy podcast My Favorite Murder released an episode covering Cooney's story.