Green was the primary perpetrator in one of the most heavily prosecuted atrocities committed by U.S. forces during the Iraq War — the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of three members of her family in Mahmudiyah in 2006. Having been discharged for mental instability before the crimes came to light, he fell outside military jurisdiction and became the first veteran of the Iraq War tried for wartime offenses in a federal civilian court. The case drew sustained attention both for the nature of the crimes and for the legal questions it raised about accountability when military and civilian jurisdiction intersect.

Among the criminals swept up in the Depression-era bank robbing wave, he stands out for one particular distinction: no other individual has killed more FBI agents. Running alongside Dillinger and earning the designation "Public Enemy Number One," his career was short and ended in a suburban shootout in which he was fatally wounded — but not before taking two agents with him in the same engagement.