John Herbert Dillinger Jr., born June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis (Indiana, United States) and died July 22, 1934 in Chicago (Illinois, United States), was a famous American gangster and bank robber of the Great Depression. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations. He twice escaped from prison and was also charged (without being convicted) with the murder of an East Chicago police officer whom he shot after he shot his bulletproof vest during a shootout. He is sometimes compared to a "Robin Hood" by some authors.
During the years 1933-34, Dillinger was the most popular criminal of the Great Depression2, including compared to more violent criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, Baby Face Nelson or Pretty Boy Floyd. These gangsters monopolized the headlines of the American press and captivated tabloid readers from 1931 to 1935. Newspaper articles were peppered with exaggerated accounts of Dillinger's bravery, daring, and colorful personality. This period also spawned the development and refinement of FBI investigative techniques. Indeed, the government having ordered a federal intervention, J. Edgar Hoover was able to develop a better organized FBI (then called DOI for Division of Investigation), with effective investigation methods against organized crime. Hoover thus used Dillinger and his gang in his campaign to launch the FBI and retain its leadership.
After escaping police in four states and lasting almost a year, Dillinger, injured, briefly returned to his father's house for treatment. Back in Chicago in July 1934, he found refuge in a brothel run by Ana Cumpanas. Attracted by the bonus and the promise of being able to stay legally in the United States, she ends up warning the authorities. On July 22, 1934, the police and the Division of Investigation (FBI) surrounded the Biograph Theater cinema. Federal agents, led by Melvin Purvis and Samuel P. Cowley, wanted to arrest Dillinger as he walked out of the session. But he pulled out a gun and tried to flee, and was shot four times.
Youth
John Herbert Dillinger Jr. was born in the Oak Hill neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the younger of the two children of John Wilson Dillinger (July 2, 1864 - November 3, 1943) and Mary Ellen “Mollie” Lancaster (1860–1907)6. His paternal grandfather Matthias Dillinger was born in Gisingen, a district of Vaudrevange in Saarland, before emigrating from Metz in Lorraine to the United States in 1851. His parents were married on August 23, 1887 in the County of Marion, in Indiana. Dillinger's father was a grocer, known as a tough man. Dillinger's sister, Audrey, was born on March 6, 1889. Dillinger's mother died in 1907 shortly before her fourth birthday.
Dillinger was educated to the equivalent of college. He got into a lot of trouble with the law for fights, petty theft, and was spotted for his confusing attitude and molesting smaller children. He left school to work in a machinery sales shop. Although he worked hard, he stayed out all night partying. His father, afraid that the city would corrupt him, moved his family to Mooresville, Indiana. But, despite his new, more rural life, he was arrested in 1922 for stealing a car and his relationship with his father deteriorated. These problems led him to enlist in the NAVY, but he deserted a few months later when his ship had docked in Boston.
Dillinger then returned to Mooresville where he met Beryl Ethel Hovious (born August 6, 1906). They were married in Martinsville, Indiana on April 12, 1924.
Crime
Dillinger was unable to find a job and began planning armed robberies with his friend Ed Singleton. As they left the scene, they were recognized by a priest who reported them to the police. They were arrested the next day. Singleton pleaded not guilty, but Dillinger's father convinced him to confess to the crime, and he pleaded guilty. He was convicted of armed robbery with intent to steal and conspiracy to commit a crime. He was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison for his crimes. His father confessed to journalists that he regretted this trial and considered the sentence to be unfair. He implored the judge to shorten the sentence, without success. En route to prison, Dillinger briefly escaped his captors before being caught.
Dillinger embraced a criminal career behind the bars of Indiana State Prison. It was there that he met many criminals, learned his trade and improved his specialty:bank robbery. Upon his release on May 10, 1933, he quickly relapsed into crime, unable to find work due to the onset of the Great Depression of 1929. He was arrested on September 22 for bank robbery.
Dillinger engineered the Pierpont escape. This escape was made possible by the introduction of weapons into the prison by Dillinger's friends. These weapons arrived in the laundry room where six men worked, whom Dillinger had convinced to join him. During this escape, two guards died. From this escape was born the first Dillinger gang.
The multiplication of bank attacks in various states made the situation untenable. Also the BOI (Bureau of Investigation), ancestor of the FBI, decided to identify the criminals even if it was not their responsibility. Indeed, at that time, attacks on banks in several states were not federal crimes, and so it was the local jurisdiction that was responsible for the investigation. The multiplicity of Dillinger's crimes in several states changed American legislation.
After spending almost a year on the run from the police, and hiding in Florida, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, Dillinger was injured while escaping in a confrontation with the police, and took refuge in the house of his father in order to heal himself. He returned to Chicago in July 1934, where he committed his greatest misdeeds. He was discovered by the police, informed by a prostitute.
On July 22, police and the FBI surrounded the Cinema Biograph Theater in Chicago, where Dillinger had gone to see a gangster movie, Public Enemy No. 1, starring Clark Gable. Dillinger was accompanied by Anna Sage, the famous woman in the red skirt and white T-shirt, whose color of clothing enabled the Chicago police to identify Dillinger. FBI agents, led by Melvin Purvis, shot him as he left the theater.