John Herbert Dillinger was an American gangster of the Great Depression. He led a group known as the \”Dillinger Gang\”, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. He was charged but not convicted of the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest.
About John Dillinger in brief
John Herbert Dillinger was an American gangster of the Great Depression. He led a group known as the \”Dillinger Gang\”, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. He was charged but not convicted of the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest during a shootout. Dillinger courted publicity. The media ran exaggerated accounts of his bravado and colorful personality and cast him as a Robin Hood. J. Edgar Hoover used Dillinger and his gang as his campaign platform to evolve the BOI into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, developing more sophisticated investigative techniques as weapons against organized crime. His German grandfather, Matthias Dillinger, immigrated to the United States in 1851 from Metz, in the region of Lorraine, then still under French sovereignty. His older sister, Audrey, was born March 6, 1889. Their mother died in 1907 just before his fourth birthday. He quit school to work in an Indianapolis machine shop. As a teenager, he was frequently in trouble with the law for fighting and petty theft; he was also noted for his \”bewildering personality\” and bullying of smaller children. In 1923, Dillinger’s troubles led to him enlisting in the U.S. Navy, where he was a Petty officer third class Machinery Repairman assigned aboard the battleship USS Utah, but he deserted a few months later when his ship was docked in Boston.
In 1924, he met Beryl Ethel Hovious and the two were married on April 12, 1924. He attempted to settle down but had difficulty holding a job and preserving his marriage. In 1934, he began planning a robbery with his friend Ed Singleton,: 22 who was an ex-vict and uconvict. The two played for the semi-professional baseball team, the AC Athletics, which Dillinger played for. While leaving the scene, the criminals were spotted by a minister who recognized the men and reported them to the police. During the robbery, the two criminals had struck a victim on the head with a machine bolt wrapped in cloth and had also carried a gun, although it discharged, no one hit one. The next day, Singleton pleaded not guilty, but after Dillinger’s father convinced him to confess to the crime, he plead guilty and was convicted of assault and intent to battery with intent to commit robbery. In 1936, he and Singleton robbed a local grocery store, stealing $50 from a store clerk. He then fled to Chicago and sought refuge in a brothel owned by Ana Cumpănaș. In July 1934, local and federal law enforcement closed in on the Biograph Theater, he drew a gun while attempting to flee, but was killed; this was later ruled as justifiable homicide. As BOI agents moved to arrest Dillinger as he exited the theater, he died in a shootout with police officers. His father convinced Dillinger to confess and plead guilty without a defense attorney.
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This page is based on the article John Dillinger published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 21, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
