John Dillinger

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Lore & Background

John Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, at 2053 Cooper Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, the younger of two children. His mother died in 1907, just before his fourth birthday. His father, a grocer and reportedly a harsh man, remarried in 1912 to Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Fields. As a teenager, Dillinger was frequently in trouble for fighting and petty theft, noted for his 'bewildering personality' and bullying of smaller children. He quit school to work in an Indianapolis machine shop. In 1921 his father moved the family to Mooresville, Indiana, but Dillinger's wild behavior continued. In 1922 he was arrested for auto theft. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1923, serving as a petty officer third class machinery repairman aboard the USS Utah, but deserted and was dishonorably discharged. He married Beryl Ethel Hovious on April 12, 1924. Soon after, he and friend Ed Singleton robbed a Mooresville grocery store, stealing $50. Dillinger struck a victim with a machine bolt wrapped in cloth and carried a gun that discharged but hit no one. A minister recognized them and reported them to police. Dillinger's father convinced him to confess and plead guilty without a defense attorney. Dillinger was convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob and conspiracy to commit a felony, and sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison. His father later told reporters he regretted his advice and was appalled by the sentence. En route to testify against Singleton, Dillinger briefly escaped but was apprehended within minutes. Singleton was sentenced to two to fourteen years and was killed on September 2, 1937, when he fell asleep on railroad tracks while drunk. Incarcerated at Indiana Reformatory and Indiana State Prison between 1924 and 1933, Dillinger developed a criminal lifestyle. Upon admission, he said, 'I will be the meanest bastard you ever saw when I get out of here.' His physical exam showed he had gonorrhea, treatment of which was painful. He befriended seasoned bank robbers Harry 'Pete' Pierpont, Charles Makley, Russell Clark, and Homer Van Meter, who taught him how to be a successful criminal. He also studied Herman Lamm's bank-robbing system. His father obtained 188 signatures on a petition for his release, and on May 10, 1933, after serving nine and a half years, Dillinger was paroled. Released at the lowest point of the Great Depression, he immediately returned to crime. On June 21, 1933, he committed his first bank robbery, stealing $10,000 from a bank in New Carlisle, Ohio. On August 14 he robbed a bank in Bluffton, Ohio. Tracked by police from Dayton, he was captured and transferred to Allen County jail in Lima. Police found a document that appeared to be a prison escape plan, but Dillinger refused to explain it. Earlier, Dillinger had helped conceive a plan to enable the escape of Pierpont, Clark, and six other prison acquaintances. Friends smuggled guns into their cells, and they escaped four days after Dillinger's capture. The group—Pierpont, Clark, Makley, Ed Shouse, Harry Copeland, and John 'Red' Hamilton—formed the First Dillinger Gang. On October 12, 1933, Pierpont, Clark, and Makley arrived in Lima impersonating Indiana State Police officers, claiming to extradite Dillinger. When Sheriff Jess Sarber asked for credentials, Pierpont shot him dead and released Dillinger. The four escaped to Indiana and joined the rest of the gang. Dillinger participated with the Dillinger Gang in twelve bank robberies between June 21, 1933, and June 30, 1934. He refused to plan robberies in Anderson, Indiana, because it was a busy factory town with abundant railroad tracks, posing too great a risk of getting stopped by a train and caught. Evelyn 'Billie' Frechette met Dillinger in October 1933 and began a relationship the following month. After Dillinger's death, she wrote a memoir for the Chicago Herald-Examiner in August 1934. On January 25, 1934, Dillinger and his gang were captured in Tucson, Arizona. Dillinger was extradited to Indiana and taken to Lake County jail in Crown Point, charged with murdering police officer William O'Malley, killed during a Dillinger gang bank robbery in East Chicago on January 15, 1934. Local police boasted the jail was escape-proof. On March 3, 1934, Dillinger escaped during morning exercises with fifteen other inmates. He produced a pistol, catching deputies and guards by surprise, and escaped without firing a shot. Conjecture began about whether the gun was real. Deputy Ernest Blunk said it was a real pistol; FBI files indicated it was a fake pistol carved out of wood. Trustee Sam Cahoon believed Dillinger carved it using a razor and shelving. In another version, investigator Art O'Leary claimed to have snuck the gun in himself. On March 16, Herbert Youngblood, who escaped with Dillinger, was shot dead by police in Port Huron, Michigan. After evading police in four states for almost a year, Dillinger was wounded in a gunfight and went to his father's home to recover. His Michigan hideout was in Charlevoix, Michigan. He returned to Chicago in July 1934 and sought refuge in a brothel owned by Ana Cumpănaș, who later informed authorities of his whereabouts. On July 22, 1934, local and federal law-enforcement officers closed in on the Biograph Theater. When BOI agents moved to arrest Dillinger as he left the theater, he attempted to flee but was fatally shot. The lethal use of force was eventually ruled justifiable homicide.

Reader's Guide

John Dillinger's significance lies not only in his criminal career but in his impact on American law enforcement. During the Great Depression, his gang was accused of robbing twenty-four banks and four police stations, and he escaped from prison twice. The media amplified his exploits, portraying him as a Robin Hood figure, which in turn allowed J. Edgar Hoover to use Dillinger as justification for transforming the Bureau of Investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This evolution brought more sophisticated investigative techniques to bear against organized crime. Dillinger's death at the Biograph Theater marked the end of a highly publicized manhunt and symbolized the federal government's growing role in crime fighting. His legacy is a mix of folk outlaw myth and a catalyst for modern federal policing.

Did You Know?

• Dillinger was charged with but not convicted of the murder of East Chicago police officer William O'Malley; it was the only time he was charged with homicide.
• He escaped from the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, on March 3, 1934, using a pistol that may have been real or carved from wood.
• Dillinger's first bank robbery was on June 21, 1933, stealing $10,000 from a bank in New Carlisle, Ohio.
• He was paroled on May 10, 1933, after serving nine and a half years of a ten-to-twenty-year sentence.
• Dillinger's father obtained 188 signatures on a petition for his release from prison.