Criminals & Outlaws Codexery

John Dillinger

American gangster whose exploits spurred the creation of the FBI.

Last updated

On multiple occasions Dillinger was incarcerated, and he managed to break out of prison two times.[1]

Key facts and history

Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana.[2] Incarcerated between 1924 and 1933, Dillinger developed a criminal lifestyle and befriended seasoned bank robbers.[3] On October 12, 1933, associates impersonating police officers freed Dillinger from the Lima jail, killing the sheriff.[4] On March 3, 1934, Dillinger escaped from the Crown Point, Indiana jail.[5]

He was fatally shot by law-enforcement officers on July 22, 1934, outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago.[6] During his teenage years, Dillinger often found himself in legal trouble due to physical altercations and minor thefts.[7] Having spent nine and a half years behind bars, Dillinger was granted parole on May 10, 1933.[8] The initial bank robbery Dillinger carried out happened on June 21, 1933, at a New Carlisle, Ohio bank, where he took $10,000.[9]

Authorities apprehended him, and he was subsequently moved to the Allen County jail situated in Lima.[4]

What the cited sources add

The FBI account states Dillinger's mother died when he was three, and he resented his stepmother after his father remarried.[10] The FBI account notes Dillinger, following his father's advice, confessed and was stunned by the harsh sentence, becoming a tortured, bitter man in prison.[10] The FBI account reports that Dillinger cowed guards with what he claimed later was a wooden gun he had whittled during his Crown Point escape.[10] The Historic Twin Cities account states Dillinger and Frechette moved into Lincoln Court Apartment #303 on March 19, 1934.[11]

The Historic Twin Cities account reports that during the St. Paul shootout, Detective Cummings hit Dillinger in the leg, and Dillinger and Frechette escaped via the rear entrance.[11] The Historic Twin Cities account states Dr. Clayton E. May treated Dillinger for four days, giving him injections of anti-tetanus serum and bandaging the wound.[11] The Evelyn Frechette account states she was first identified as Dillinger's companion by Matt Leach, Captain of the Indiana State Police.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Quilligan, "Family remembers "true hero" of Dillinger's story", April 6, 2008; "John Dillinger's body to be exhumed to confirm identity", CBC News, July 30, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Famous Cases & Criminals – John Dillinger", Fbi.gov; Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025; Darimont, "Der Staatsfeind Nr. 1 von Amerika: John Herbert Dillinger; Sein Großvater lebte in Gisingen", Verein für Heimatforschung Wallerfangen e.V.; Grein, "Heimat-Zeitschrift auf den Spuren eines Kriminellen", Saarbrücker Zeitung, 2010-09-02 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025; Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Famous Cases: John Dillinger", Federal Bureau of Investigation (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Girardin/Helmer, Dillinger: The Untold Story (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A Byte Out of History – How The FBI Got Its Name", Federal Bureau of Investigation, March 24, 2006; J. J. Kearns's autopsy report; "Kill Dillinger here", Chicago Daily Tribune, July 23, 1934, p. 1 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025; Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025; Matera, Dary, "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal", Carroll & Graf Publishers, March 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "John Dillinger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bandits Bind Cashier, Clerk and Assistant", Dayton Daily News, June 21, 1933, pp, 1, 5. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Famous Cases & Criminals – John Dillinger", Fbi.gov. facts only, no text reused. fbi.gov
  11. "1934-03-31", Historic Twin Cities. facts only, no text reused. historictwincities.com
  12. "Evelyn Frechette – "Billie" – Johnny's true love". facts only, no text reused. dillingerswomen.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article John Dillinger (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was John Dillinger born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S..

2. In what year did John Dillinger die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1934.

From the source: “After Dillinger's death, Billie was offered money for her story and wrote a memoir for the Chicago Herald- Examiner in August 1934.”

3. In what year was John Dillinger born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1903.

From the source: “John Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, at 2053 Cooper Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, the younger of two children born to John Wilson Dillinger (1864–1943) and Mary Ellen "Mollie" Lancaster (1870–1907).”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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