Patrick Thomas Crowe (1869 – October 29, 1938), also known as Frank Roberts,[2] was an American criminal who was implicated in the 1900 kidnapping of Edward Cudahy Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska.

Crowe's criminal notoriety as a bank and train robber and as a kidnapper gained him fame across the United States when he began writing and speaking about his exploits in the late 19th century.

According to Time magazine, Crowe's "misdemeanors began with robbing Omaha streetcars in 1890 and included a diamond theft, homicidal attempts, a visit to and escape from Joliet prison, hold-ups and pilfering on railroads".

[3] After his last acquittal in the Cudahy trial, the Omaha Daily News described him as "one of the few really spectacular and truly named desperadoes" of the day,[4][5] while an obituary called him, "one of the most colorful figures in American criminal history".

Soon after he turned 13 his mother died, and Crowe moved to South Omaha, Nebraska, a new town centered on a growing meat packing industry.

[The reporter] found the prisoner not only a fine looking and intelligent appearing young man, but his conversation proved him to be well informed, possessing a good education.

In February 1906, despite the prosecution's 40 witnesses, a firsthand account of a confession to a priest, and no testimony by his defense, Crowe was acquitted by a jury.

[14] In 1920, Crowe ended up at The Salvation Army in New York City working as a nightwatchman at the Hut in Manhattan's Union Square.