G-Man (slang)

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For other uses, see G-Man.

G-Man (short for Government Man) is slang for a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. The word "Government" stands for the United States Federal Government, as opposed to state or local government police agencies.

In FBI mythology, the nickname is held to have originated during the arrest of gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly by agents of the Division of Investigation (DOI), a forerunner of the FBI, in September 1933. Finding himself unarmed, Kelly supposedly shouted "Don't shoot, G-Men! Don't shoot, G-Men!"^[1] This event is dramatized in the 1959 film, The FBI Story, where its somewhat implausible quality is in no way diminished.

The term "G-Man" was also used at least as far back as 1916 in Ireland as a reference to the detectives of the Dublin Metropolitan Police force's "G" Division, whose job it was to collect information on the various revolutionaries within the city.^[2]

1 Popular culture
2 See also
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Popular culture

In 1935, the nickname became fashionable and gained more widespread use with the release of the film G Men starring James Cagney.
In 1936, British crime writer Peter Cheyney introduced G Man Lemmy Caution in his novel, This Man Is Dangerous. Another novel featuring Caution is Can Ladies Kill? (1938).
The J.P. Richardson song "White Lightning" (famously covered by George Jones), contains a reference to the G-Men who were looking for a moonshine still.
In an episode of the television show M*A*S*H, Frank Burns (Larry Linville) is offered a job as a doctor at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was offered the job by a visiting nurse who was a colonel and had pull in Washington. She offered Frank to treat senators and congressmen, to which Frank says, "G-men?" The following line is met with Frank's awe: "I could put J. Edgar Hoover's gallstones right in your pocket!"
In 1934 and 1935, the Detroit Tigers baseball team was known as the "G-Men," as the team went to the World Series both years under the leadership of future Hall of Famers, Goose Goslin, Charlie Gehringer, and Hank Greenberg.
The 1941 Looney Tunes short "Hollywood Steps Out" depicts former FBI chairman J. Edgar Hoover wearing a badge that says "Chief G-Man", and repeating the letter "G" several times when watching a burlesque dancer.
The Spanish rock band Hombres G named themselves after James Cagney's movie G-Men (1935).
In Episode 138 of the Happy Days Series(Fonzies Funeral 1) after Fonzie finds thousands of dollars of counterfeit a Treasurey Agent begins to investigate, and Fonzie on numerous ocassions calls him a T-Man, a spin on the traditional G-Man.
In the Half-Life series of games there are frequent encounters with a mysterious older man in a blue suit. He is never named but fans tend to refer to him by his multiplayer model name of "G-Man".
In the Sopranos episode "The Knight in White Satin Armor" from season 2, the FBI-agent Skip Lipari (played by Louis Lombardi) refers to Pussy Bonpensiero as a Junior G-Man. This is due to the Stockholm Syndrome symptoms Bompensiero is displaying, because of his cooperation with the FBI.
In The X-Files, Fox Mulder often refers to Dana Scully, other agents, and himself as a G-man or G-woman.
In Bones, Dr. Jack Hodgins (played by T.J. Thyne) calls Special Agent Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz) G-man because he works for the FBI
In the video game Psychonauts, there is an area called "The Milkman Conspiracy" which features robots wearing tan trench coats and hats and calling themselves G-Men.
Chris Berman, an ESPN anchor, often refers to the New York Giants as The G-Men.