In the annals of crime, there have been many notorious female gangsters. But a unique subset of these women was involved in organized crime as nuns. Although their crimes were not necessarily motivated by their faith, these women wore the habit while breaking the law.
Here are 7 Notorious Nun Gangsters:
Mary Boland: This famous nun had a knack for stealing valuable pieces of jewelry from her employers. She also had a penchant for fleeing her jail cells when arrested and was noted for escaping police custody on at least four occasions.
Rosemary Kennedy: Sister Rosemary Kennedy was an escape artist who donned nun costumes multiple times to flee jail. She escaped custody at least three times while dressed as a nun, including once while being transported via airplane.
Linda Benson: This famous nun criminal was known as “The Bad Nun” and lived up to her reputation by running over two people with her car during a bank robbery. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her crimes and died in custody in 1999.
Sister Mary Ellen Tracy: After shooting her lover during an argument, Tracy fled to Mexico where she worked as a teacher for several years before being extradited back to the United States. She served ten years in prison and was then
Just in time for Halloween, it’s the 7 most notorious nun gangsters. While they may seem like an unlikely group of criminals, nuns have a long history of running crime rings. So put on your wimple and make sure your rosary beads are properly concealed: here comes some bad sister action.
1. Sister Mary Joel
Nuns are often associated with the most positive things in life. They’re known for their hospitality, their charitable work, and their love of children. But that doesn’t mean that every nun is a saint on Earth. In fact, some nuns have been involved in some very shady activities — and we’re not talking about those naughty schoolgirls who get punished in the convent parlor.
The following nuns were all members of different gangs at one point or another, and they were no strangers to crime. They made headlines for everything from murder to bank robbery to drug smuggling (and swallowing), and proved that even these holy women are capable of committing shocking crimes.
I did the research on this one, and Nuns don’t seem like they would be good gangsters. It seems like they would be a little too nice to really get involved in the mafia. I’d love to see one of these nuns beat up a guy with a ruler though, that would be pretty cool.
I’ve been trying to think of a good costume for Halloween but nothing seems right. I know it’s still early, but it takes me awhile to come up with good ideas. I think that I might go as a nun this year, but chances are that someone else will have the same idea as me. I guess there is not much you can do about that though; if two people like the same thing then both of them should go for it. The only issue is that if there are too many people with the same costume then it gets kind of lame.
My last few costumes have been pretty good, but sometimes I want to try something new. Last year I went as Spider-Man which was great because I could climb on walls and things like that. All in all it was a fun costume because lots of little kids thought that I was actually Spider-Man and were amazed by me being able to climb on walls.
Nuns have always been associated with goodness and piety. They are women who do God’s work, helping the poor, feeding the hungry and providing shelter to those in need. These seven nuns have taken a different route to get there.
Forget everything you know about nuns because these sisters of the cloth are not what they seem. You see, these nuns are members of the Mafia and they don’t play by God’s rules. They’re tough, ruthless and they don’t take any lip from anyone. They commit crimes that would make even the most hardened mobster blush.
Check out this list of seven Mafia Nuns that you won’t see in Sister Act:
This Halloween, if you’re looking for a costume that will truly scare the living-day lights out of your community, consider dressing up as a nun. There is nothing more terrifying to the non-Catholic than a woman in a habit.
As you can see from this gallery of famous nuns, these women are not afraid to get their hands dirty. They are not afraid to break the rules, to buck authority and to ditch their habits when needed.
That said, here are my picks for the baddest nuns in history:
1. Sister McPherson — Sister McPherson was one tough bird. She was a traveling evangelist who founded her own church, The Church of the Foursquare Gospel. After she died in 1944, her church continued to thrive and it now has over 8 million members worldwide!