John Dillinger

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John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American bank robber, considered by some to be a dangerous criminal, while others idealized him as a latter-day Robin Hood. He gained this reputation (and the nickname "Jackrabbit") for his graceful movements during bank heists, e.g. leaping over the counter, (a movement he supposedly copied from watching it in a movie), and narrow getaways from police. His exploits, along with those of other criminals of the 1930s Depression era, such as Bonnie and Clyde and Ma Barker, dominated the attentions of the American press and its readers during what is sometimes referred to as the public enemy era, between 1931 and 1935, a period which led to the further development of the modern and more sophisticated FBI.

Contents 1 Early days 2 Robbery career 3 Death 4 Was it Dillinger? 5 Trivia 6 Tributes to Dillinger 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early days

Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in Brightwood, Indiana, and grew up in nearby Mooresville. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, but deserted within a few months and was later dishonorably discharged. Dillinger returned to Indiana where he married a local girl named Beryl Hovious and attempted to settle down. However, he had difficulty holding a job and his marriage disintegrated. One night in 1924, while out on a drinking binge, Dillinger and a friend assaulted and robbed a well-known local grocer, Frank Morgan. The buddies were soon captured. Dillinger's friend employed a lawyer and received only two years in jail, while the lawyer-less Dillinger was convicted and sentenced to 10-20 years in prison, despite having no prior criminal record.

[edit] Robbery career

Dillinger embraced the criminal lifestyle behind bars, learning the ropes from seasoned bank robbers like Harry Pierpont of Muncie, Indiana and Russell "Boobie" Clark of Terre Haute. The men planned heists that they would commit soon after they were released. Once Dillinger was released from Michigan City Prison, he helped conceive a plan for the escape of Pierpont, Clark and several others, most of whom worked in the prison laundry. The group known as the "first Dillinger gang" included Pierpont, Clark, Charles Makley, Edward W. Shouse, Jr., of Terre Haute, Harry Copeland, "Oklahoma Jack" Clark, Walter Dietrich and John "Red" Hamilton. Homer Van Meter and Lester Gillis (a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson) were among those who joined the "second Dillinger gang" after he escaped from the county jail at Crown Point, Indiana. Altogether, gangs with whom Dillinger was believed to have been associated robbed about a dozen banks and stole over $300,000, an enormous sum in the Depression era, totaling nearly five million in today's economy.

Dillinger served time at the Indiana state penitentiary at Michigan City, until 1933, when he was paroled. Within four months, he was back in jail in Lima, Ohio, but the gang sprang him, killing the jailer Sheriff Jessie Sarber. Most of the gang was captured again by the end of the year in Tucson, Arizona due to a fire at the Historic Hotel Congress. Dillinger alone was sent to the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana. He was to face trial for the suspected killing of Officer William O'Malley during a bank shootout in East Chicago, Indiana, some time after his rescue from jail. During this time on trial, the famous photograph was taken of Dillinger putting his arm on prosecutor Robert Estill's shoulder when suggested to him by reporters.

On March 3, 1934, Dillinger escaped from the "escape-proof" (as it was dubbed by local authorities at the time) Crown Point, Indiana county jail which was guarded by many police and national guardsmen. Newspapers reported that Dillinger had escaped using a wooden gun blackened with shoe polish.

Dillinger further embarrassed the town, as well as then-42-year-old Sheriff Lillian Holley, by driving off in her brand new V-8 Ford. The press augmented her chagrin with such headlines as: "Slim woman, mother of twins, controlled Dillinger as sheriff." [1]

Incensed, Holley declared at the time, "If I ever see John Dillinger again, I'll shoot him dead with my own gun. Don't blame anyone else for this escape. Blame me. I have no political career ahead of me and I don't care." [2]

Driving across the Indiana-Illinois state line in a stolen vehicle, Dillinger violated a federal law and thus caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. An investigation concerning the facts of the escape was carried out some time later by the Hargrave Secret Service of Chicago, Illinois on the orders of the Illinois governor. The governor and Illinois state Attorney General Philip Lutz eventually chose not to release information because they did not want Dillinger to know of the informants with whom they spoke. As a result the findings about the gun in the escape were never made public, and this, coupled with Dillinger himself actively perpetuating the wooden gun story as an ego boost, is a reason many believe the "wooden gun" escape was real. The truth behind the infamous gun may never be known.

Once out of prison, he continued to rob banks. The United States Department of Justice offered a $20,000 reward on June 23 for Dillinger's capture, or $5,000 for information leading to his apprehension.

In April, the gang settled at a lodge hideout called Little Bohemia owned by Emil Wanatka, in the northern Wisconsin town of Manitowish Waters. The gang assured the owners that they would give no trouble, but the gang monitored the owners whenever they left or spoke on the phone. Emil's wife Nan and her brother managed to evade Baby Face Nelson, who was tailing them, and mailed a letter of warning to a U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago, which later contacted the FBI. Days later, a score of FBI agents led by Hugh Clegg and Melvin Purvis approached the lodge in the early morning hours. Two barking watchdogs announced their arrival, but the gang was so used to Nan Wanatka's dogs that they did not bother to inspect the disturbance. It was only after the FBI mistakenly gunned down 3 innocent Civilian Conservation Corps workers (as they were about to drive away in a car) that the Dillinger gang awoke. Gunfire between the groups lasted only momentarily, but the whole gang managed to escape in various ways despite the FBI's efforts to surround and storm the lodge. Agent W. Carter Baum was shot dead by "Baby Face Nelson" during the gun battle.

[edit] Death

Dillinger's last day of freedom was July 22, 1934. Dillinger attended the film Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theater in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago with his girlfriend, Polly Hamilton, and brothel owner Ana Cumpanas (a.k.a. Anna Sage), who was facing deportation charges. Sage worked out a deal with Purvis and the FBI to set up an ambush for Dillinger and drop the deportation charges against her. When they exited the theater that night, Sage tipped off the FBI who opened fire into the back of Dillinger, killing him. His last words were "You got me!"^{[cite this quote]} Sage had identified herself to agent Melvin Purvis by wearing an agreed-upon orange and white dress, which due to the night lights, led to the enduring notion of the "Lady in Red" as a betraying character. Though she had delivered Dillinger as promised, Sage was still deported to her home country of Romania in 1936, where she remained until her death 11 years later.

Dillinger is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. His gravestone is often vandalized by people removing pieces as souvenirs.

To this day, loyal fans continue to observe "John Dillinger Day" (July 22) as a way to remember the fabled bank robber. Even at the scene of his death outside the theater, several witnesses soaked their handkerchiefs in his blood as a sort of souvenir of the legend. Members of the "John Dillinger Died for You Society" traditionally gather at the Biograph Theater on the anniversary of Dillinger's death and retrace his last walk to the alley where he died, following a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace". Dillinger and his men had a hideout in Langlade county just south of Forest County, Wisconsin along Highway 55, which is now a small bar named Forest Inn.

[edit] Was it Dillinger?

To this day, there are doubts whether Dillinger actually died on July 22, 1934. Some researchers (chief among them famed Chicago crime writer Jay Robert Nash) believe that the dead man was in truth a petty criminal from Wisconsin named Jimmy Lawrence, who had dated Dillinger's sometime girlfriend Billie Frechette and bore a close resemblance to the famed bank robber. Some people who knew him said they did not recognize the body; in fact, Dillinger's father had suddenly exclaimed when first seeing his son's corpse, "That's not my boy!" After all, John Dillinger did receive rather crude plastic surgery some time before his death. Moreover, if indeed the agents did mistake Lawrence for Dillinger, the FBI would have had a strong incentive to cover up such a blunder, since J. Edgar Hoover was on the verge of being fired as Bureau director in the wake of the extensive public outrage over the earlier Little Bohemia incident. An autopsy contained information that was controversial, such as:

• None of his scars were mentioned in the report.
• The corpse had brown eyes. Dillinger's were grey, according to police files.
• The body showed signs of some childhood illness which Dillinger never had
• The body showed a rheumatic heart condition, yet according to the later testimony of Dr. Patrick Weeks--Dillinger's physician at Indiana State Prison--Dillinger could not have suffered from this disease as he was an avid baseball player while in prison and had served in the Navy.

However:

• The body was positively identified as John Dillinger by his sister Audrey, through a scar on his leg received in childhood.
• The mistake concerning the corpse's eyes may have been an error on the part of the coroner, resulting from eye discoloration caused by a traumatic head wound.
• The FBI has at least two sets of post-mortem fingerprints of the dead man. Though scarred by acid, the prints were clearly identifiable as those of John Dillinger.

Yet another disturbing fact remains: The small Colt semiautomatic pistol that Dillinger had allegedly drawn on the approaching FBI agents outside the Biograph (and was for years shown in a display case at FBI Headquarters along with Dillinger's death mask) was not his; it had, in fact, been manufactured five months after Dillinger's death, which supports the claim that the FBI agents, without warning, shot and killed an unarmed Dillinger.

In 1963 the newspaper The Indianapolis Star received a letter from a person called "John Dillinger" with a return address in Hollywood, CA. The letter contained a photo of a man who looked like a more aged Dillinger. When this was ignored, another letter was sent to Emil Wanatka Jr, the proprietor of the Little Bohemia Lodge.

A 2006 Discovery Channel Documentary titled "The Dillinger Conspiracy" examined the legends surrounding his death. Several historians, detectives, and forensic scientists examined the autopsy, the 1963 letter, and Zarkovich's gun to determine the true story behind his death. Ultimately, the show suggested Zarkovich fired the final bullet which did in fact kill Dillinger, and that FBI was complicit in his death.

[edit] Trivia

• Many legends surround John Dillinger. One of the rumors that followed his death was that he had a very large penis (which Hoover later kept in a jar). This legend is the result of the photograph of his corpse; the bulge caused by his arm, stiff from rigor mortis, covered with a sheet; some who saw grainy newsprint copies of the photo mistakenly believed it to be his unnaturally large erect penis.

• John Dillinger is one of the main characters in the series of science fiction books The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, which plays off the rumor that Dillinger was not the man gunned down outside the Biograph. In the trilogy, Dillinger is depicted as having been present at the assassination of John F. Kennedy and aware of who really shot JFK. It is also revealed that the Dillinger of this work is not one man but five -- quintuplets, born before the Dionne Quintuplets.

• An Indiana history, Dillinger, Hidden Truth, contains the facts about the man John Dillinger as told by his wife Beryl Hovious.

• Stephen King wrote a short story called "The Death of Jack Hamilton", printed in Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales, in which Dillinger is a main character.

• He appeared as one of the members of the "Jury of the Damned" in The Simpsons's Treehouse of Horror IV.

• The "Lady in Red" story stems from a poem allegedly chalked on the alley wall where Dillinger was shot:

"Stranger stop and wish me well, Just say a prayer for my soul in hell. I was a good fellow, most people said, Betrayed by a woman dressed all in red"

• Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs dedicated his 1989 short story collection Tornado Alley to Dillinger "in hope that he is still alive."

Over the years, reports have come in of Dillinger deliberately taunting J. Edgar Hoover by making collect phone calls to the FBI HQ in DC as well as sending him Christmas Cards. There can be no doubt that Hoover became irrationally obsessed with apprehending Dillinger to the exclusion of all other duties. At one time, a third of the entire budget for the FBI in 1934 was devoted to hunting down this one man. Hoover was known to have referred to Dillinger by name in the majority of his private correspondence to friends and family in the months leading up to Dillinger's death. After Dillinger was gunned down, Hoover maintained a macabre private museum of Dillinger artifacts including the gun, hat, pocket change and eye glasses that were found on the body that night in Chicago. For the rest of his life, Hoover would refer to these curios with great pride and obvious personal satisfaction.

[edit] Tributes to Dillinger

A hardcore band from New Jersey named the Dillinger Escape Plan was named after Dillinger himself. They have been dubbed the Most Dangerous Band by NME in honor of Dillinger. The same magazine added that Dillinger Escape Plan are 'better than The Beatles'

There is also a punk band from Minnesota named Dillinger Four on Fat Wreck Chords.

The English band These Animal Men recorded a song entitled 'You're Not My Babylon' which was about Dillinger's girlfriend Billie Frechette.

Hip-Hop artist Daz Dillinger named himself in honor of John Dillinger.

In the film Reservoir Dogs, Joe Cabot states that Mr. Blue, one of the robbers, was "Dead as Dillinger." Though Mr. Blue's fate is not shown in the film, in the video game of the same name, he is shot by the police in a movie theater as a nod to Dillinger's death.

In 1974, during his first trip to America, artist Joseph Beuys paid tribute to John Dillinger by reenacting his death outside the Biograph theatre.

Beat writer William Burroughs dedicated his "Thanksgiving Prayer": 'to John Dillinger, in hope he is still alive.'

[edit] References

• [3] On the Lam: Narratives of Flight in J. Edgar Hoover's America, by William Beverly (2003)Nonfiction Top authors:
• "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34" by Bryan Burrough (ISBN 1-59420-021-1) Publisher: The Penguin Press (July 15, 2004)
• "Dillinger's Dupes: Town Seeks To Preserve A Jail Yet Escape A Dastardly Deed" (Chicago Tribune article by Anthony DeBartolo)

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[edit] External links

• FBI's famous cases: "John Dillinger"For best info on Dillinger go to:
• Pictures of postmortem Dillinger, including that featuring the arm in rigor mortis
• Burial location of John Dillenger at Crown Hill Cemetary
• Picture of Tombstone click on link then click on "noted persons" then scroll down to John Dillinger and click on name
• Dillinger's Weapons
• Biography resources dedicated to John Dillinger
• Dillinger, a brief biography