[1][2] An ex-boxer, who once had his jaw broken in the ring, giving him a "lantern-jaw" appearance,[3][4] Carroll served in World War I.

On October 24, 1921, Carroll was arrested for larceny in Council Bluffs, Iowa and remained in jail for nearly four months before his conviction on February 7, 1922.

[1] On April 1, 1927, Carroll's luck ran out when he was convicted of armed robbery in Missouri and sentenced to five years imprisonment at the state prison in Jefferson City.

Carroll soon after traveled to San Antonio, Texas to purchase weapons from gunsmith Hyman Lehman on behalf of Nelson and the others.

Carroll was forced to return when a chance encounter with police turned into a shootout, leaving Detective H.C. Perrow dead.

[1][6] In February 1934, Carroll was sent by Homer Van Meter to Crown Point, Indiana, to deliver a "cash payment" to help break John Dillinger from the local jail.

Three days later, he joined Carroll, Van Meter, Nelson, John "Red" Hamilton and Eddie Green in stealing $49,500 from a bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

[7][8] Nelson, however, shot and wounded motorcycle officer Hale Keith before they made their getaway back to St.

[1][6] Carroll was the wheelman a week later when the gang made their biggest score yet: on March 13, they robbed First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa of $52,344.

The raid resulted in disaster, with Federal agents killing one civilian, Eugene Boisoneau, 35, from the Mercer CCC camp.

When the road turned out to be a dead end, he left the car and escaped on foot while federal agents were arresting the women who had been found at the lodge with the gang.

[1] Carroll remained on the run with Dillinger and Van Meter for almost a month and eventually hid out in a cabin outside East Chicago, Indiana.

On May 19, he and the rest of the gang were indicted by a federal grand jury in Madison, Wisconsin and charged with harboring each other as fugitives.

On Wednesday, June 6, 1934, they checked into the Evening Star Tourist Camp, about five miles south of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The station attendant had noticed a collection of out-of-state license plates in the back seat of Carroll's new bronze-colored Hudson sedan, motor No.

Detectives Emil Steffen and P. E. Walker began cruising about looking for the suspicious vehicle without success and had returned to the station, when suddenly the car was spotted across the street.

Carroll reached for his gun, dropping it underneath the car after Walker had given him a short left to the jaw, knocking him off balance.

Steffen attempted to get further information, but Carroll stated he had no statement to make, or word to send anyone, and that his parents were dead.

In the film he is shown being shot in the back of the head during a disastrous bank robbery in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is then tortured by BOI agents attempting to gain information regarding the gang's hideout.