John dillinger - Research Paper Example

Introduction With the mention of the John Herbert Dillinger, numerous headlines come to one’s mind. Dillinger was afarm boy from Midwest who became a vicious and notorious bandit of Midwestern banks. He became a very famous celebrity in the world at a period during which virtually helpless against forces that they did not comprehend, numerous Americans considered criminals who got what they wanted at gunpoint as heroes. Many people referred to Dillinger as a modern Jesse James, an apt analogy and indubitable flattering to this American legend, who grew up studying dime novels on Jesse (Girardin, Helmer & Mattix, xvii & 12 and May & Bardsley 1-3).

Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis’ Oak Hill section, a middle-class residential area. His mother died when he was barely three and his father, an industrious grocer, brought him up in an environment of disciplinary extremes, at times harsh and repressive, but permissive and generous at other times. When Dillinger‘s father married another wife six years later, he became devoted to his step-mother who took care of him as if he were her own son. He went to Public school No.

38 but he became tired of school and quit before finishing grade eight and got a job in a veener mill (Kekionga Press, 6). Dillinger quickly lost interest with the job and he stayed out all night most of the times. Bothered that city temptations would corrupt his son, Dillinger‘s father, moved his family to a farm near Mooresville, Indiana, but this did not change him – he started running wild within no time. He later joined the navy, following trouble with the law (theft) and a break with his father.

However, he soon got himself into problems and left his ship after docking in Boston. He went back to Mooresville and in the year 1924, he married Beryl Hovius and finding no job the city, Dillinger joined Ed Singleton, the town pool shark, with whom they made a first attempt to steal from a Mooresville grocer (Girardin, Helmer & Mattix, 13). Unfortunately, they were swiftly seized and he received joint sentences of fourteen years along with ten to twenty years in the Indiana State Prison, but he was released on parole after having been in jail for eight-and-a-half years.

In a little while, Dillinger carried out a bank robbery in Bluffton, Ohio and Dayton police caught and incarcerated him later, three of his gang members freed him by shooting and locking him, his deputy as well as his wife in a cell (Fbi.gov, 5-6 and Kekionga Press, 6). Dillinger and his gang went on carrying out numerous bank robberies, killing police officers, plundering police arsenals and stealing bulletproof vests, rifles, machine guns, revolvers, and ammunitions. On January 23, 1934, Dillinger and his men were arrested again and police sequestered him at Crown Point’s county jail, to wait for trial for East Chicago police officer’s murder.

However, Dillinger frightened the guards with what he later confessed was a wooden gun March 3, 1934, and escaped (May & Bardsley, 1). Dillinger made the mistake of stealing the car of the sheriff and using it to escape to Chicago, thereby committing a federal offense of transporting a stolen vehicle across a state line, against the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act and the FBI started a countrywide search for him. In Chicago, Dillinger went to St. Paul and joined another gang and they went on stealing large amounts of money from banks, among other crimes.

They were able to escape being caught by police for a while (Maccabee, 209). Anna Sage, whose real name was Ana Cumpanas, gave police officers information regarding Dillinger’s whereabouts and on July 22, 1934, he was shot dead and eventually, twenty-seven people were convicted in federal courts for having harboured, assisting and abetting Dillinger and his colleagues in their reign of terror. Henceforth, the Gangster Era started coming to an end (Fbi.gov, 13-32). Conclusion Apparently, Dillinger was very famous the world over.

He stirred mass emotion to an extent seldom seen in America. He robbed with imagination and style, he captured the fancy of the public and dodged and flouted the law at every turn. It is not possible to approximate the number of words detailing his escapades as the figure indubitably goes well into the millions. Works Cited Fbi.gov. Famous Cases and Criminals. (N.d). Web. Girardin, Russell G., Helmer,William J. G. & Mattix, Rick. Dillinger: The untold story. Bloomington, United States: Indiana University Press, 2005. Print. Kekionga Press.

Curious Facts about John Dillinger & J. Edgar Hoover. Abbeville, Louisiana: Lulu.com, 2005. Print. Maccabee, Paul. John Dillinger slept here: a crooks' tour of crime and corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936. Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society, 1995. Print. May, Allan and Bardsley, Marilyn. John Dillinger. (N.d). Web.