Background
John Dillinger was born on June 28, 1902, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States to John Wilson Dillinger and Mary Ellen "Mollie" Lancaster.
John Dillinger was born on June 28, 1902, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States to John Wilson Dillinger and Mary Ellen "Mollie" Lancaster.
Dillinger studied Herman Lamm's meticulous bank-robbing system.
His criminal career began in 1924 when he and another man made an unsuccessful attempt to hold up a store in Mooresville, Ind. Dillinger was arrested and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years of imprisonment. He was paroled in May 1933 and from then until his death a little more than a year later, Dillinger and his gang went on a rampage of crime. Within four months the Dillinger gang had stolen over $41, 000, mostly by holding up banks and stores. Dillinger was captured in September 1933 in Dayton, Ohio, and taken to the jail at Lima, Ohio. On the day after his arrest, four members of his gang, plus six other men, escaped from the Indiana state prison and went to the Lima jail, where they freed Dillinger and killed the sheriff. In November the Federal Bureau of Investigation named Dillinger "Public Enemy Number One. "For the next five months, Dillinger was able to elude law enforcement officials. During that period, although he was recognized and pursued through several states and wounded in the chase, he stole over $50, 000, killed a man, and was jailed but escaped with the aid of an imitation pistol. Dillinger met his death outside the Biograph Cinema in Chicago, Ill. , on July 22, 1934, at the hands of federal agents who had been tipped off to his whereabouts by the landlord of his girlfriend, who became known as "the woman in red. "
He met Beryl Ethel Hovious. The two were married on April 12, 1924.
