Desc: Spirits of St. Paul: The Gangster Era: Directed by Brain Crask, Gary Crask. With John Ahern, Sherry Allen, Jim Bateman, Daniel Bell. This award-winning drama depicts The Gangster Era in St Paul in the 1920s & 30s. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly and most notably, Ma Barker's Barker-Karpis Gang and many others were given safe haven by corrupt cops in exchange for their promise to not commit any crimes inside the city limits of St Paul.