Jesse James, hero or criminal?

Whether there's any truth to it or not I've been told in my younger years that I'm related to this man. If I am I wouldn't claim him as a relative.

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerilla, and leader of the James-Younger gang. Some would say he was a hero, stealing to help the poor when in fact he stole for his own interests and gang. With his brother Frank, they joined the "Bushwackers" which operated in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. They were accused of atrocities against the Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre of 1864.

Jesse James was killed by one of his own gang in 1882. He was 34 years old.