“Dirty Dozen”
Born on June 12, 1903, John Dillinger took a criminal path while still in school. His mother died when John was three, and his father’s fierce anger became a factor that constantly provoked the boy to protest. Thus, at the school where Dillinger studied, the Dirty Dozen gang appeared, which John collected from his classmates. It all started small: young people were engaged in petty thefts and constantly quarreled. At the age of 16, Dillinger decided to drop out of school altogether and got a job at a mechanic repair shop in Indianapolis.
Convinced that Indianapolis was corrupting his son, John’s father decided to move to the small town of Mooresville, Indiana, before marrying a second time in 1921. But this move did not help the young Dillinger.
His rebellious anger broke out, and already in 1922 he decided to steal a car to boast to his girlfriend. The pirate was identified immediately, and their relationship deteriorated sharply when his father learned of the incident.
In 1923, Dillinger was enlisted in service in the US Navy, where he was a third-class non-commissioned officer in repairing machinery on the battleship USS Utah, but here John was useless. After only five months of service, when Dillinger’s ship docked in Boston, he escaped and hid for several months until he was dishonorably discharged.
“I’ll be the meanest son of a bitch you’ve ever seen”
In 1924, in Mooresville, Dillinger married a 16-year-old girl who had divorced in 1929. Short of money, John decided to go back to the criminal path. But petty theft did not help improve the financial situation. Then Dillinger found an accomplice and decided to rob a convenience store, which unfortunately turned into an accident. Along with his friend, ex-con Ed Singleton, John stole $50 from the safe and mutilated one of the witnesses with a blow to the head with a machine gun. He was arrested the next day and sentenced to 10 years in prison. prison.
Outraged at the world, John said when he moved from the colony to the prison: “When I get out of here, I’ll be the worst bastard you’ve ever seen.” And already as a result, he began to put his plan into practice.
In prison, Dillinger met veteran bank robbers Harry “Pete” Pierpont, Charles Macley and Russell Clark, whom he would help escape from prison after his release, and learned how to be a “successful criminal” from them. And among other things, he began to study the bank robbery system of gangster Herman Lamm, which he would use throughout his criminal career.
Based on Hermann Lamm
Released in 1933, three months after his release, Dillinger, along with his accomplices, “got” his first bonus – the New Carlisle National Bank – by stealing $10,000 from there. Midwest. In total, Dillinger and his accomplices robbed about 20 banks in just one year of their careers.
Originally composed only of Pierpont, Clark, Mackley, Ed Shaw, Harry Copeland, and John “Red” Hamilton, the Dillinger Gang used “Herman Lamm’s military tactics”, which included using roles during robberies. Roles were assigned to all members of the gang: someone was an observer, someone was a driver, someone took people hostage, and someone broke into the safe and committed a robbery. The gang also had the latest weapons for the time, including rifles, revolvers, Thompson submachine guns, and body armor. To get weapons, the gang looted the police arsenal and broke into the police stations. Later, other experienced gangsters joined the group at different times.
Three times Dillinger helped his accomplices escape from prisons or escaped from them himself. Dillinger’s most famous escape is his escape from the Indiana State Penitentiary using a wooden dummy pistol.
Public Enemy #1 and the Great Depression’s Robin Hood
Rumors about the John Dillinger gang spread with unprecedented speed throughout the United States. At the same time, many Americans represented him as a modern Robin Hood, taking revenge on the rich who profited from ordinary citizens. Most of the population hated bankers and accused them of being exploitative in difficult economic times.
President Franklin Roosevelt also recognized John as public enemy #1 and ordered to destroy him at all costs. To catch the criminal, a special group of 40 snipers with intensive training was created to fight the elusive gangster.
Dillinger had to look for options to stay on the run. He underwent plastic surgery in 1934, during which he nearly died. The surgery was performed by John’s old friend, Dr. Performed by Wilhelm Leser. When Dillinger was anesthetized, she overdosed on ether, turned blue, and stopped breathing. His tongue had to be pulled out of his mouth and beaten on his ribs with his elbows to bring him to himself.
Then the procedure was continued under local anesthesia. The doctor removed several moles from Dillinger’s forehead, slightly modified his nose and chin, and bandaged both of his cheeks. Later, the gangster dyed his hair and grew a beard.
And then John asked Leser to remove his fingerprints. During the operation, the doctor burned his skin with acid.
Run away with a hooker and shoot to kill
Meanwhile, almost all members of the Dillinger gang were killed. Constantly escaping the FBI and participating in clashes with the police, John began to consider escaping to Europe with his mistress, prostitute Anna Kumpanash, or “Anna Sage,” as she puts it, when all the wounds on her face healed.
It was only on July 20, 1934, that he turned Dillinger over to the police and said he would meet her at the Lincoln Avenue movie theater in Chicago in two days.
“I know that John Dillinger brutally murdered people, so I decided that I absolutely had to help the police catch him,” the girl later explains.
The public will continue to debate the reasons for his action, wondering if this is really the case. After all, Dillinger rarely killed anyone, and even forbade members of his gang from doing so:
“Never dare to kill a man again, unless, of course, they try to kill you. That’s my law,” said John.
Anna received a prize of $ 5 thousand, dressed in bright clothes, for a meeting with Dillinger, they agreed with the police for their recognition.
When John left the movie theater, the FBI opened fire to kill him. Three bullets hit him, the last bullet hit his head and the back of the neck, breaking his vertebra and it turned out to be fatal.