The Man Who Robbed 24 Banks And 4 Police Stations

he was labeled Public Enemy Number One a criminal more famous than Al Capone Bugsy seagull and Bonnie and Clyde some claim he was a 20th century Robin Hood figure who would rob banks to feed the poor others said he was a menace to society his Legend is one that would continue to grow into a truly extraordinary story that continues to be spoken about to this very day a story that has spawned several films over the years including the 2009 film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp but who was the real man behind the legend how much

of his story is based in fact and how much of it is Fable was he truly a man of the people or a no good robber turned cold blooded killer from his youth to his alleged death join us as we examine the fascinating story of America's most notorious bank robber John Dillinger born on June 22 19 1903 in Indianapolis Indiana John Herbert Dillinger was the youngest of two children to John Wilson Dillinger and Mary Ellen Lancaster unfortunately poor little Johnny would have his first experience with death with his mother's tragic passing just before his fourth

birthday his older sister Audrey and her husband would take care of John for several years until his father eventually remarried in 1912 in his early teens Jon was noted as being a brilliant student who began to take an interest in baseball however his teachers soon took notice of his bewildering personality as young JN would find himself on a treacherous path he would start skipping school stealing and getting into frequent fights Jon no longer found interest in furthering his education and would eventually drop out at 16 he intended to strike out on his own as he

looked to find independence from his father John 's father was known to have a temper and would reportedly strike Young Jon from time to time and Jon Now sought to escape that hostile environment to find his independence Jon would first need to find a job and with most of America's working men were being prepared to fight in World War I Jon found work easily he started a full-time job as a runner for the Indianapolis Board of Trade and another as an assistant at a machine shop called the Reliance Specialty Company however in 1921 Johnny's father

sought to put an end to his independence by relocating the family to morisville Indiana and forcing Johnny to go back to school yet this would not change the young John Dillinger and he would eventually be arrested for auto theft in 1922 after breaking up with his girlfriend in 1923 Johnny would attempt to escape his legal troubles by joining the Navy but he would soon be marked a deserter John was granted a 24-hour leave while the ship was docked in Boston Massachusetts and not feeling like the naval life was for him he left and never returned

now 20 years old John would return to morisville Indiana in 1924 by April of that same year he was married to 16-year-old barl Ethel hovius by this time in his life however Jon had a history of being charismatic and something of a heartbreaker so it came as no surprise that he was far from the perfect husband Jon spent most of his time out with his friends playing baseball and drinking despite the Countrywide ban on alcohol thanks to the prohibition Act One Night in late September 1924 Johnny was out drinking with his friend and ex-convict Ed

Singleton Ed proposes to Jon that they rob the Westend grocery store John agreed and they both hid in an Alleyway it knew the owner of the store and was aware that the owner would walk home from the store every night carrying the day's earnings in a bag the alleyway they were hiding in was along the store owner's rout home and when he neared they mugged him at gunpoint Johnny struck the store owner over the head with a machine bolt wrapped in a cloth and the two men made off with $50 that's just shy of $900

today this is the moment John Dillinger would begin his journey as a living legend however his success was a bitter one as both men were arrested the next day JN was charged with assault intent to Rob and conspiracy to commit a felony which would see him given a sentence of 12 years and a $200 fine four times what he made off the robbery of the store owner now 21 years old John Dillinger would be sent to Pendleton Correctional Facility where he would spend the next nine years of his life he would attemp attempt to escape

prison after only a month but was soon caught hiding amongst packing supplies later he would attempt three more times before the year was out his time spent in prison would prove to be detrimental to Dillinger's advancement as a criminal and bank robber he had gained the respect of fellow inmates after his many Escape attempts and he now found himself rubbing elbows with convicts like Homer Van Meter Russell Clark and Harry Pete Pont all of whom were experienced bankrupt ERS as their friendship grew the warden began to grow more and more weary of Dillinger and his

newly kept company the warden would soon have Homer Van Meter and Harry Pont shipped 200 miles away to Indiana State Prison and out of Dillinger's reach it was soon after that he would receive word that his wife had filed for divorce with his wife and two of his closest friends gone and no hope of Escape Dillinger would spend his time on other activities he would focus his energy on playing in prison sanctioned baseball games with even one game resulting in Indiana's Governor Harry Leslie commenting that Dillinger should be playing in the major leagues during his

parole hearing Dillinger was denied due to his early arrival behavior and Escape attempts but seeing a window of opportunity Dillinger pounced he asked the judge if he could be transferred to Indiana State Prison claiming they had a better baseball team he wanted to join luckily for Dillinger Governor Harry Leslie was on the Pendleton board and agreed to Dillinger's transfer believing baseball would assist in Dillinger's rehabilitation in the summer of 1929 Dillinger would be reunited with his friends vanan meter and Pier Pont at Indiana State Prison and the three men immediately began to scheme about their

lives after prison their plan was simple despite being recently denied parole Dillinger was still the next of them to have another hearing they planned to have Dillinger make parole and come back to break them out he would also befriend one of the greatest robbers of the time German American Bank robber Herman lamb lamb agreed to partake in any future robberies with Dillinger as long as Jon and his friends agreed to break lamb out along with them they agreed and as they awaited Dillinger's parole lamb would teach the men his famous yet systematic bank robbing strategy

known as the lamb technique when may of 1933 finally rolled around Dillinger was a free man however the world he had left when he first went to prison had changed America was now at the height of the Great Depression nearly 13 million people were unemployed 2 million homeless and crime was at a record high Dillinger's plans of intended robbery would ultimately be solidified when he found various newspapers celebrating a multitude of robbers like George Machine Gun Kelly Bonnie and Clyde Charles Pretty Boy Floyd and Al Capone all his Heroes Dillinger returned to morseville with a

small group of Pier pont's men and immediately went to work putting his new knowledge into practice he began robbing banks using the lamb technique he would stake out his location before finally committing The Heist getting to know the intimate workings of the bank by imitating different officials one witness would say they identified themselves as being officials of the NRA in Washington they advised the bank president they were calling on all banks throughout the state in a survey and they were very much interested in how the various codes were operating it was during this robbery spree

he would earn the nickname Jack Rabbit as he was known to dramatically jump onto the counter and famously yell this is a stickup in just a few months month's time Dillinger would Rob roughly $50,000 in total a sum almost worth $900,000 today though he was out robbing Dillinger hadn't forgotten his friends still in prison and began using some of the money from his heists to buy various supplies for the breakout in September of 1933 he began smuggling weapons into Indiana State Prison in boxes marked with an X so his friends would know which boxes to

go for Dillinger knew the plan was in motion and went off to visit a new romance in Ohio it was there that he was apprehended by two detectives who were tipped off about his location by someone who recognized tillinger from a robbery that occurred a month prior in bluon Ohio he was arrested and sent to Allen County Jail in Lima Ohio a few days later back in Indiana State Prison the Dillinger allies had successfully broken out of jail the group had found the guns and forcing the assistant Warden to escort them out of the building

at gunpoint stole a couple of cars and drove off they would spend the next month raiding police stations for guns and ammunition two weeks after the escape on October 12th 1933 Harry Pete Pier Pont Russell Clark and Charles meckley entered the Allen County Jail disguised as Indiana state police officers the first person they encountered was Sheriff sarber who asked for their credentials Pi Pont then pulled out his gun and shot the sheriff at Point Blank Range killing him instantly it didn't take them long to locate Dillinger's cell and release him it was this event that

would see newspapers officially refer to the group as the Dillinger gang it was shortly after his Escape that John Dillinger began a romantic relationship with Evelyn Billy frette John would spoil Evelyn with his lavish gifts like jewelry and cars Evelyn would later be quoted saying he treated me like a lady once the men had reunited with the rest of the gang back in Indiana they immediately returned to robbing racking up several hundreds of thousands of dollars Dillinger and his gang were constantly making the news his face plastered on every local newspaper it was during this

time that the Dillinger fantasy began to take form the public blamed the banks for the depression and robbers like Dillinger were sticking it to them though they reported the facts of the robbery they embellished the idea of who Dillinger was he was painted in the public eye as a folk hero of sorts just like the others who had famously robbed before him the people would read stories about Dillinger as a form of entertainment and soon rumors of his Endeavors grew unchecked although Dillinger was a known associate of the violent and murderous Baby Face Nelson who

was rumored to have killed more FBI agents than anyone else Dillinger's personal reputation ation for avoiding violence only solidified the idea of him as a folk hero in the public eye despite what the papers or public said about him Dillinger had begun to catch the eye of the Bureau of Investigation specifically the head of the Bureau of Investigation Jay Edgar Hoover who at this time was virtually Unknown by name to the general public the FBI had begun a war on crime and notorious robbers like Dillinger and his violent companion Baby Face Nelson were perfect high-profile

targets to pursue to send a message that no one escapes justice so special agent Melvin peris was assigned to lead the charge as pvis and the FBI pursued Dillinger's gang John himself had just committed one of his most famous robberies on the afternoon of January 15 1934 Dillinger and fellow gang member John red Hamilton pull up to the east Chicago Bank in a two-door Ford sit in they readied their weapons and entered the back Witnesses state that Dillinger entered the bank put a bag on the ground in which he produced a machine gun and announced

this is a stickup as Dillinger rounded up the men while women and children were allowed to leave the building unknown to Dillinger and Hamilton the banks vice president had tripped a silent alarm to authorities a few of the first cops on the scene entered the building but were quickly taken hostage by Dillinger after the money was finished being collected Dillinger and Hamilton took the bank's vice president and one of the cops as human Shields however after they exited the bank the other police officer om Ali followed after them he shot at the robbers and missed

Dillinger spun and gunned om Ali down with his Thompson submachine gun then escaped the celebration was cut short however as Dillinger and his men were later caught that same month in tusin Arizona with Dillinger painted as a hero readers did not want to believe that John Dillinger would kill some claimed it didn't fit his usual and suspected that he was falsely placed at the scene of the crime some sources claim he was in Florida during the time of the robbery other reports show that Dillinger was found in possession of cash sharing the same serial numbers

as those stolen from East Chicago Bank during his apprehension whether Dillinger was truly pressed or not for the East Chicago bank robbery is still in debate was is a fact is that Dillinger was brought back to Indiana after his arrest and charged with the Chicago robbery along with om Al's killing Dillinger would later stay to his lawyer I've always felt bad about om Ali getting killed but only because of his wife and kids he stood right in the way and kept throwing slugs at me what else could I do after his sentencing he was transported

to Lake County Jail in crowno Indiana this wasn't any jail however Lake County Jail had a reputation for being escape proof John Dillinger wouldn't let that stop him just two months after arriving at Crown Point John Dillinger escaped prison on March 3 1934 Dillinger and his accomplice Herbert Youngblood lured several prison staff including the warden at gunpoint they locked all the men in inside a holding cell and then took a jail Deputy as a hostage Gunn to the depuy's Head they escaped the building and across the street in a nearby car lot they'd broke into

the sheriff's car and sped away tossing the deputy out of the moving car once they had felt there was enough distance between them and the jail John Dillinger had just escaped the inescapable once word got out of Dillinger's escape the Bureau of Investigation had a nationwide manhunt in place what is most fascinating about Dillinger's Escape is that he was able to do it without killing a single soul not a single shot was fired from his pistol during the breakout but where did Dillinger get the pistol to begin with was it smuggled in by some fellow

gang members from the outside as Dillinger had done for them official reports show that the gun Dillinger used in his Escape was actually a fake it was nothing more than a piece of wood that Dillinger had carved and paint painted with shoe polish to resemble a lifelike pistol shortly after his Escape Dillinger met back up with his sweetart Evelyn frette afterward they would make their way to Street Paul and take up Residence at the Lincoln Court apartments under the Alias Mr and Mrs Helman after eventually meeting back up with fellow gang members fan meter Baby

Face Nelson Eddie green and Tommy Carroll Dillinger and his men began robbing again over for the next few weeks then on March 30 1934 the manager of the Lincoln Court departments in Street Paul reported two suspicious tenants Mr and Mrs Helman to authorities the FBI began a surveillance of the apartment the next day FBI agent and a local police officer knocked on the door of the apartment Mrs Helman opened the door and the FBI agent quickly recognized her as Evelyn frett but but before he could arrest her she quickly slammed the door shut suddenly the

door of the Helman apartment flew open and a machine gun began blasting bullets into the hallway Dillinger and Evelyn frett attempted to flee under cover of the machine gun fire and while they did Escape Dillinger was shot in the shoulder the Dual Ren devow with the rest of the gang at Green's apartment Dillinger was treated for his wound and once he was healthy enough to travel Dillinger and frett traveled back to morisville where they would enjoy a Sunday dinner with Dillinger's family meanwhile agents had located Eddie green and on April 3rd 1934 he was shot

by agents when he attempted to draw a gun on them he died 8 days later in the hospital from his wounds after that they headed to Chicago where frett was arrested by special agents on April 9 1934 Dillinger on the other hand eluded law enforcement once again Dillinger and Van Meter were apparently across the street during the arrest Dillinger wanted to attempt to save frett but Van Meter advised against it so the men turned tail and flood fret would spend the next two years at the federal correctional farm in Milan Michigan Dillinger and his men

would head to a little vacation Lodge called Little Bohemia in Wisconsin from their pursuers once again Dillinger would be recognized This Time by the Lodge's owner he desperately tried to reason with him but the owner wasn't having it soon the owner's wife was able to get word to the FBI it wasn't long after that special agent in charge Melvin pvis and several FBI agents were making their way to Wisconsin as pervis and the Agents arrived at the lodge they soon learned their original plan for a Full Assault was no longer possible as the lodge was

having a busy night the parking lot and grounds were full of innocent pedestrians after taking note of the amount of people the agent spotted a suspicious car blaring loud music they commanded the driver to stop but the music was too loud when the driver continued to drive unaware of the agent commands the agents opened fire on the vehicle once the smoke cleared they realized their mistake they had gunned down an innocent vacationer and wounded two other bystand standers in the vage during the chaos of the shooting Dillinger and his men were able to sneak out

of the back of the building and Escape in some stolen vehicles after fet's arrest Dillinger was growing more and more paranoid that he was easily recognized due to his celebrity-like status in the papers and newly posted wanted posters Dillinger got the idea to disguise himself with the use of plastic surgery through his acquaintances LS Piet and art oi both d linger and Van Meter agreed to have plastic surgery performed on them by one Dr Wilhelm Loser on May 27 1934 at the home of Pet's longtime friend 67-year-old James probasco once in surgery Dr loer removed

several moles from Dillinger's facial region as well as performed work on his nose and Chin additional work was later done on both men to attempt to remove or obscure the tips of their fingerprints using a mixture of Nitric and hydrochloric acid with his surgery complete he took the Alias Jimmy Lawrence by his 31st birthday on June 22 1934 John Dillinger was declared America's first ever Public Enemy Number One by the FBI the following day the federal government promised a $220,000 reward for his capture a little more than $400,000 today by this time in his career

career Dillinger had become a very rich man himself with some accounts estimating his total take to be around half a million dollars translating to roughly $1 million today though he had enormous wealth Dillinger had his eye on one more score on June 30th 1934 Dillinger gathered the remaining members of his gang vaby Face Nelson Van Meter and an unknown accomplice the four men stormed Merchants Nash Bank in South Bend Indiana seemingly just as quickly as the men had started the robbery the police arrived the first officer to arrive was gunned down by Van Meter vaby

face was then shot by a Good Samaritan a local jeweler who heard the commotion unfortunately for him babya face was wearing a bulletproof vest Dillinger and his group snatched a few hostages and began their escape making way with nearly $30,000 which would equate today to $680,000 several bystanders were either injured or killed during the heist Dillinger would later find an apartment with his newest romantic partner Rita paully Hamilton in Chicago where Dillinger intended to lay low indefinitely Dillinger had met Hamilton at a local nightclub where he introduced himself under his Alias Jimmy lence Hamilton had

no idea her new boyfriend was a notorious bank robber during their time time in the city they became friendly with a local named Anna Sage who Hamilton used to work as a prostitute however Sage recognized Dillinger and privately came up with a plan Anna Sage was a Romanian immigrant under threat of deportation but if she could relay her new discovery to the feds maybe she would be allowed to stay in the United States Sage called her contact who was a detective at the Chicago Police Department who then put her in touch with special agent Melvin

per when Sage came into contact with special agent pervish she told him everything she knew about the man she believed was John Dillinger she told the agents that she would sometimes frequent the movies with Dillinger and his girlfriend and agreed to inform them the next time plans were made to go it was only a few days later that Sage called pervis back and informed him that they planned on going to the theater that night however she wasn't sure which movie they would be going to and she told them of the two possible locations the Marlboro

theater or Biograph Theater she told pervis she intended to wear a bright red dress so she could be easily identified at the correct location that night July 22nd 1934 pvis organized two groups of agents to stake out each theater pervis was waiting across from the Biograph Theater and at 8:30 p.m. he spotted Anna sage in a bright red dress walking alongside Hamilton and Dillinger they were seeing a crime drama called Manhattan melodrama starring Clark Gable pervis and his men waited patiently for the movie to end and when it finally did pvis lit a cigar signaling

to his men in the other vehicles as the trio exited the theater Dillinger could sense something was off he pushed his way past his female companions and began to make a break for it as agents moved in surrender demands we ordered and Dillinger responded by pulling out his gun and turning down an alley to make his Escape unfortunately for Dillinger the alley was closed off by authorities the pursuing agents fired at Dillinger hitting him three times the shot that killed him entered the back of his neck severed his spinal cord and exited just under his

right eye just like that Dillinger's year-long robbing spree had come to an end and America's public Enemy Number One was dead several bystanders began to Mill about the crime scene curious about what was going on and who the police had been chasing when rumors spread that the officers killed the legendary John Dillinger they began swarming the body dipping cloths and newspaper into the forming pool of blood around Dillinger's body as keepsakes Dillinger's family buried him on July 25 1934 at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis though dilder was dead and buried skepticism about the authenticity of

his demise grew in the public some suspected that the man who was gone down outside the Biograph Theater that night was actually a Fall Guy allowing the FBI to officially call off what had been proving to be an embarrassing Manhunt after Dillinger's death one man wrote to an Indianapolis newspaper stating why should the law have wanted John Dillinger he wasn't any worse than the bankers and politicians who took poor people's money Dillinger did not Rob poor people he robbed those who became Rich by robbing the poor I am for Johnny and with that we reached

the end of the story of America's most notorious bank robber John Herbert Dillinger don't forget to like the video share it with your friends if you enjoyed it and subscribe to the channel