John Dillinger was serving his sentence for assault and robbery at the Indiana State Prison when he was released on parole after only eight years into his sentence of a maximum of 20 years in prison. Life behind bars didn’t deter Dillinger from committing crimes, and he robbed a bank soon after his release. He was apprehended a couple of times but was able to escape prison, and that was when he and his gang pulled a string of bank robberies, as reported by the FBI. The gang would case out banks and prepared their movements with maps and landmarks, even going as far as killing anyone who got in the way (via PBS). To avoid detection, Dillinger and another gang member underwent plastic surgery in 1934 and soon after, the authorities declared him “Public Enemy No. 1”.
In July 1934, a friend of Dillinger’s tipped the authorities of his whereabouts in exchange for leniency in her own case. According to History, the felon was exiting the Biograph Theatre in Chicago when FBI agents ordered him to surrender, but he ran and was shot dead. Reports indicated that the agents had cause to shoot, as Dillinger had used his gun, and two civilians were wounded as a result. There were rumors that Dillinger was not the one who was killed in the shootout, as the dead individual’s physical appearance had differences from Dillinger’s. However, it was known that he went through great lengths to conceal his identity, and even used acid on his fingers to remove his fingerprints.
