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His gang robbed nearly $1 million from at least 40 banks while at the same time hijacking numerous shipments of illegal whiskey being smuggled into the state from the Bahamas. Indeed, Ashley's gang was so effective that rum-running on the Florida coast virtually ceased while the gang was active.
Through escapes and prison releases, the gang – John Ashley, Mathews, Mobley and Clarence Middleton – reunite. And their clash with the law escalates. In one of their last bold crimes, gang members in 1923 rob Bank of $5,000 in cash and $18,000 in securities.
On May 12, 1922, the Ashley Gang robbed the Bank of Stuart for the second time. In September 1923, John Ashley escaped from Raiford Prison and rejoined them. They began robbing South Florida banks at a feverish pace, each time vanishing into the Everglades.
Mar 7, 2016 · If he were alive today, John Ashley might be just another street thug. Instead, the tall man with the glass eye became South Florida's most romanticized gangster.
John Ashley was the head of the Ashley Boys, a notorious gang that committed bank robberies, bootlegging, and murder in Florida in the early 1900s. He escaped from prison three times and taunted Sheriff Robert Baker, who eventually killed him and his gang in a shootout in 1924.
Jan 28, 2022 · Learn about the Ashley family and its associates, who were linked to numerous crimes in South Florida in the early 20th century. See artifacts from their moonshine stills, bank robberies, and final shootout on the Sebastian River Bridge.
Jun 1, 2023 · John Ashley was captured in July 1921, making liquor deliveries in Wauchula in Hardee County. The same year, Ed and Frank Ashley were lost at sea making a run to Bimini. Different members of the gang, now in remnants, robbed a bank in Stuart in December 1923.
