John Dillinger Public Enemy Number One by -=HaCk_HaCkER=- John Dillinger John Dillinger, born in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 22, 1903, was appointed Public Enemy Number One by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
For a little over a year in the 1930's John Dillinger and his gang swept through the mid-west committing extremely violent murders and crimes. They were all part of a crime wave still unmatched in our modern history. Many bank robberies were committed by the Dillinger gang, resulting in some wild and outrageous chase scenes. Most interesting and death defying were his daredevil prison escapes, and sometimes very gory "Tommygun" fights between the cops and Dillinger.
During his first term at Indiana State Prison for a bank robbery, he was schooled by its most dangerous inmates. In return for their teachings on how to be an almost flawless criminal Dillinger said "when I am free I will make you some escape plans" (if the escape plans were as daring as his, the FBI or law enforcement don't know).
English: Grave of bank robber John Dillinger Jr.
Mug shot of John Dillinger
English: Biograph theatreFrom an amateur whose robberies often looked like something out of the comics, he quickly straightened up and became an expert criminal.
John Dillinger's early publicity was an attempt by the police to provoke some problems in the gang such as jealousy towards John. The police used this tactic in an effort to force the gang members to turn against Dillinger. When the press printed false accusations such as "John turned on the gang and told the cops their next plan," John got irritated and soon lived up to threats.
His daredevil escape from Crown Point, his avoidance of heavy gunfire from FBI agents at Little Bohemia Lodge and his countless bank robberies made his name commonly used by the public.
He avoided lawmen of several different states and the growing power of the FBI until the fire at the Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona, where Dillinger was staying. The next day the firemen who saved him and his gang were asked to identify Dillinger and the gang as wanted criminals. Dillinger was arrested and extradited by plane to Chicago where he was placed in the county jail at Crown Point. A month later he stunned the city by escaping from prison with a fake gun he carved from an old broomstick and blackened with boot polish.
On July 22, 1934, five months after his daring escape, he was exiting the Biograph Theater in Chicago with two young women - one of them dressed in a signal red dress. She had been threatened with deportation by the FBI if she did not reveal the whereabouts of John Dillinger that night. When Dillinger and the women came out of the theater, the FBI didn't give him a chance to surrender and shot him to death right there.
Bibliography Dillinger, The Untold Story, G. Russel Girardin & William J. Helmer, Indiana University Press, 1994.
The 1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Version 7.0, Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995.
Microsoft Bookshelf, 1992, The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia University Press, 1991.
Public Enemy Number 1, Compuserve, AltaVista Search Engine, Key words "John Dillinger", web address is: http://wildat.Arizona.edu/-wildcat/papers/old-wildcats/Spring95/January/January19,1995_2_m.html The Seattle Times, Sharon Boswell & Lorraine McConaghy, Seattle Times Co., May 19, 1996.
John Dillinger wanted poster
English: Onlookers watch a reenactment of the fire...
Little Bohemia Lodge