Edgar and Melvin and John

These are the most famous of crime fighting men,

Edgar and Melvin and John.

What? Edgar and Melvin but surely not John!

Yes, Edgar and Melvin and John.

But Edgar and Melvin were men of the law,

And John the worst villain that you ever saw!

But for enduring fame you needed them all:

Edgar and Melvin and John.

Although it's not really true to say that John Dillinger was responsible for turning a rather minor and not always effective bureaucratic investigative division into the most powerful, efficient, (and some might say feared) crime fighting organization in the world, he very well may have been the last straw that effected that transformation.

Americans, as Oscar Wilde said, take their heroes from the criminal classes. Although intended as a typical Wildean bon mot, that's not really too far from the mark. Crime dramas have always been popular. You can go back as early as the Greek playwrights like Euripides and Aeschylus, and as recent as 2009, there was a movie about John Dillinger. Of course as in most movies those about Johnnie have much stretching of the facts (for one thing John Dillinger did not look anything like Johnnie Depp), but in the story the stretching sometimes had to be the other way around. Some of the truth about Johnnie (as he was called) is so outrageous that the scriptwriter had to under-exaggerate. The movie showed Johnnie capturing three guards and prison officials during his most famous jailbreak. It was at least ten and some writers have counted as many as seventeen.

One of Johnnie's biographies has labeled him the first celebrity criminal. Perhaps. But you have to remember that before him we had Al Capone and before Al you had Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Belle Starr (and her namesake nephew Henry), Billy the Kid, Bill Doolin, Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton, Black Bart (yes, there really was a Black Bart), Johnnie Ringo (celebrated in Lorne Greene's popular but inaccurate and self-satirizing song), Jack Slade (written about in Mark Twain's Roughing It), and you can go on and on.

But it was the tales of Jesse James that first became part of America's criminal worship. On February 13, 1866 a gang of men, probably with Frank but not Jesse, rode into Liberty, Missouri and robbed the Clay County Savings Association at gunpoint. They got away with $60,000 - a fantastic amount in the day. The bank robbery at Liberty was also noteworthy not only since it was the first daylight and gang-busters type bank robbery in America, but it was marked by the pointless killing of a college student from William Jewell College, George Wymore, as the robbers made their getaway.

We read that Johnnie loved the stories about Jesse. And possibly such reading did indeed have a negative developmental influence (to use today's psychobabble) on the young man since bank robbing is what became Johnnie's speciality. On the other hand there were plenty of kids who read about Jesse and his gang and didn't grow up robbing banks and killing people.

John Herbert Dillinger was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 22, 1903. Today the name is inevitably pronounced "DILL-in-jer" with a soft "g". However, some newscasters of the time pronounced the name with a hard "g" as in "grrrrr" which seems to have been the preference of Johnnie's ancestors.

Johnnie's dad, also named John, was a grocer whose wife had died when Johnnie was just three. However, despite Johnnie's musings that the lack of a mother is what made him such a bad person, his older sister, Audry, was very much a surrogate parent.

Depending on you believe, Johnnie's childhood was either marked by him organizing a gang of hoodlums who stole from businesses and beat up on little kids or that he was a perfectly normal kid, perhaps a bit high spirited and fond of pranks. Writers have also commented on Johnnie's dad saying that he always believed that sparing the rod spoiled the child and how John, Sr. would would flail away at his often miscreant son. But in later life, Johnnie always expressed affection for both his father and stepmother whom John Sr. married when Johnnie was about nine and John Sr.'s attitude was quite typical for the time. Even today you hear some parents saying if we beat our kids more things wouldn't be so violent.

No, Johnnie's real trouble was he just had a built-in lack of respect for authority and an aversion to hard work. When Johnnie was in his teens, his dad decided to get out of the grocery business and move the family to a farm close to Mooresville about ten miles south-southwest of Indanapolis. This was far enough from the city to get Johnnie bored with farm life and close enough for him to keeping getting into trouble with the urban crowd. He dropped out of school at age 16 and began to work at various jobs. When he wanted to, he could be a good and hard worker. His best job was that as a machinist where his boss said he was a fast and accurate worker and everyone like him. He was also a good baseball player and would play on teams with older men, including a local resident named Ed Singleton who will be a lamentably important figure in Johnnie's ultimate career choice.

John, Sr., though, was concerned about the late night hours his son was keeping. But Johnnie said he was just hanging out with the guys. That's true enough. He was hanging out with the guys - and the pool hustlers and, if the medical records of various institutions are to be believed, making whoopee with the professional ladies of Indianapolis.

Johnnie seems to have started his life of real crime much like his contemporary Clyde Barrow, mostly pilfering local business and petty theft. John's dad got more and more concerned and we read things at the Dillinger home weren't too pleasant. One day his dad wouldn't let him use the family car, so Johnnie just went out and stole one.

After Johnnie ditched his car - evidently he just drove around for bit - he was wandering around and was stopped by a cop who asked what Johnnie was doing (other accounts say it was two cops). Not providing a satisfactory answer, Johnnie was hauled to the police call box, protesting all the way. But while the patrolman was calling in his report, Johnnie hightailed it from the scene. Some accounts have the cops finding a gun on Johnnie and then firing their guns at him after he as he made his break. Either or both stories could be true. By now Johnnie was a truculent resentful adolescent who would have no hesitation to feel like a big shot carrying around a heater. And in those days, policemen shooting at fleeing suspects was then common at all levels of law enforcement. However, as we'll see, both policies could be hazardous for the health of innocent by-standers and the reputation of the wielders of the weapons.

Johnnie, now seventeen, realized things were too hot in Indianapolis and without telling anyone (yet) decided to enlist in the Navy. Strictly speaking Johnnie needed parental permission. But at that time unless you were still in knickers (the American clothing, not the British type, which we're pretty sure Johnnie did not wear), recruiting officers rarely checked on their applicants' age. Soon Fireman 3rd Class John Dillinger was serving aboard the USS Utah.

Well, you shouldn't be surprised that Johnnie didn't do so good in the military, either. Certainly military discipline was not to his liking but more to his distaste were the long hours of shoveling coal to fire the boilers (at this stage, diesel power was the rarity). When the ship docked in Boston, Johnnie took unauthorized shore leave and found himself hauled in to court martial. Slapped with a fine and ten days in the brig, after he got out Johnnie went AWOL again. That netted him an additional five days in solitary.

We have to admit that in many ways Johnnie didn't seem too smart. After he got out of the brig the second time, he soon went AWOL again. This time it was a failure to return from authorized shore leave. After two weeks or so, he was officially listed as a deserter, a status he maintained until events took care of his military status.

Back in Indianapolis, Johnnie told his dad he had received a medical discharge for a heart murmur. Soon, on April 12, 1924. Johnnie married Beryl Hovius. Johnnie was nearly 21, and John, Sr., was relieved that his son was settling down.

The usual story was Johnnie had trouble finding work, and his life with Beryl started to get a bit rocky. But Johnny married Beryl a full five years before the Great Depression. More likely, working at real job simply bored him, and Johnnie simply preferred quicker ways to make ends meet.

Johnnie now teamed up with Edgar Singleton, his former team member on the Mooresville baseball team. Ed, though, was a no-account loser who somehow impressed the younger man as an experienced and intelligent man of the world. Meeting with Edgar was bad luck for Johnnie and on September 6, only five months after Johnnie got married, the two men planned to stick up an elderly grocer named Frank Morgan. Rather than being robbed at the store (as some accounts make it), it seems Frank was walking along the street possibly heading off to the barbershop after work. Johnnie and Edgar had decided Frank would have his day's receipts, and they could rob him and get away. The plan was Johnnie would do the actual stick-up and Ed would wait nearby in a getaway car. No sweat.

Of course, neither Johnnie nor Edgar expected Mr. Morgan to fight back. During the struggle, Johnnie whacked Frank on the head with an iron bolt wrapped in a handkerchief and which caused his gun to discharge. The sound not only alerted the neighbors but scared Johnnie so bad that as he ran away, worried he might have killed Mr. Morgan.

Johnnie might have gotten clean away except he began asking around whether anyone knew if Mr. Morgan was all right. Since no one knew that anything was wrong, people got suspicious and word got back to the police about Johnnie's solicitous concern. So Johnnie was hauled in and charged with armed robbery and assault.

Visiting Johnnie in jail, John, Sr. sadly told his son if he was guilty he should 'fess up. Johnnie, feeling a bit remorseful and thinking yes, honesty is the best policy, admitted his guilt. He also ratted on Edgar, who deserved it and was soon arrested. The older man got a lawyer and managed to get a fairly light sentence with a minimum of 2 years. Johnnie, who confessed without counsel, was slapped with 10 to 20, the maximum.

Johnnie, like most crooks, was a great rationalizer. If the judge had cut him some slack, he said, then he would not have turned to the bad. But John, Sr. also blamed himself for telling Johnnie to confess rather than getting his son a proper lawyer. But when you get down to it, Johnnie just liked being a crook, and all this trouble was no fault but his own.

Even though he was 21 years old, Johnnie was sent to the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton, which was intended for youthful offenders. This sentence should have been to his advantage because the reformatory did have an enlightened administrator who sought to rehabilitate his charges. But Johnnie kept breaking the rules, not realizing, as Edgar did, that good behavior could be rewarded with an early release. Three failed escaped attempts added another eighteen months to his already lengthy sentence.

In 1929, Johnnie was transferred to the Indiana State Penitentiary, dubbed "Michigan City" after the city of its location, Michigan City, Indiana. As usual with Johnnie, you can take your pick as to the reason. One account is he asked be transferred because he wanted to play on the prison baseball team. That's not very likely and a better guess is he wanted to stick close to a friend who had been sent to Michigan City, a more experienced criminal named Harry Pierpoint. An even better guess is Johnnie's continued violations of the rules and his relatively advanced age (he was now 24) are what really got him sent to the Big House.

It was at Michigan City that Johnnie finally wised up. Or perhaps we should just say he adopted the pragmatic approach. He quit trying to escape and began to obey the rules. He became known as a model prisoner and when his parole hearings came up had some good citizens vouch for his character, including his former victim, Frank Morgan. He was paroled in May 1933, after serving only nine years - actually less than the minimum of his original sentence.

In addition to his friend, Harry, Johnnie had met other men, some his age and some older. They told Johnnie that bank robbing was more lucrative than sticking up citizens. On the other hand bank holdups were best run as a corporate enterprise, and Johnnie decided these men would be a great board of directors, stockholders, and employees. Once it was clear that Johnnie would be released first, everyone made plans for them all to get out.

In addition to Harry, who was a rather serious minded individual, Johnnie met Homer Van Meter. Homer was considered a bit of a "bug" by his fellow inmates because of his clownish behavior that alternated with surly and at times volatile anger. The others in the bunch were John Hamilton, Walter Dietrich, James Clark, Russell Clark, Edward Shouse, Joseph Fox, Charles Makley, John Burns, and Jim Jenkins. All these men were hard timers and a good chunk of them were serving life terms. So by escaping they felt they had nothing to loose, and boy, were they ever wrong.

Johnnie knew that Jim Jenkins had a sister, Mary Longnacker (also spelled Longnaker and Longnacre) who lived separated from her husband and was not too far across the border in Dayton Ohio. After his release, Johnnie called on Mary and told her that her brother and others were planning to break out of jail. Mary agreed to let them use her apartment as a hideout, and she and Johnnie soon began to regard each other with something other than professional esteem. But in between his visits to the friendly Mrs. Longnacker, Johnnie realized he couldn't get his friends out of jail for free and so he started to raise some introductory capital for their new enterprise.

As the ever inverting pyramid of multiplying corporate executives shows, there is never a dearth of crooks, and Johnnie soon met up with a fellow heister named Harry Copeland. The two men started a series of robberies, generally netting a couple of thousand or so. That wasn't quite enough for an IPO and on September 6, 1933, they made their best haul to date at the Massachusetts Avenue State Bank in Indianapolis. The exact figures of Johnnie's stick-ups tend to be a bit uncertain and possibly inflated. But this one netted something like $25,000, and Johnnie figured they had enough of the ready (to use Howard Hunt's phrase) to implement the breakout.

At this point, Johnnie concocted one of the most stupid, ridiculous, and asinine prison breaks in the world. There are a couple of versions as to what happened. One is that Johnnie decided to wrap some guns up in cloth, possibly camouflaging the packages with sand covered tar paper and would toss the packs over the prison walls so that Harry and the rest would pick them up. Another story is that the plan didn't work because some other inmates found the packs and turned them over to the guards. So Johnnie switched to Plan 2 and decided to hide the guns in boxes of thread that were being sent to the prison shirt factory. Once they had the guns, the gang would grab a guard and force him to make it look like he was leading a legitimate work party. Then they would go to the administration offices, commandeer a car, and then just drive out the bloody gate.

Whatever the method they used to get the guns, the stupid plan worked like the proverbial charm. On September 26, 1933, the men took their guns and captured the guard in the prison shirt factory. They made their way to the offices, and at one point Harry, who could be a rather vindictive person, was about to plug one of the guards. But he was restrained from doing so by John Hamilton who knew 1) they didn't want to waste any time and 2) killing a guard would make things even worse for them. Then they walked outside, got into some cars, and drove away.

Any breakout of a prison is a serious matter but when you have ten of the worst hoodlums not only break out, but do it by securing weapons - and weapons smuggled in at that - you have, well, an embarrassing situation for the state authorities. The captain of the Indiana State Police, Matthew Leach vowed he would capture John and his gang come hell or high water. Matt, by the way, was a very smart man and a good cop although he had a tendency to stutter.

Although methods for fighting crime were becoming modernized and increasingly efficient, it was still possible for crooks to commit a crime and be miles away before the police started after them. And indeed, Matt always seemed to arrive at the scene of Johnny's crimes in time to see the last of the dust settle after the cars sped away. There is even the story that Johnnie would call up Matt with taunting messages commenting on Matt's speech problems. In any case, the publicity Matt was reaping in his to goal to get Dillinger was more bad than good.

Now we may be getting ahead of ourselves, so we'll briefly turn our attention to a 39 year old Washington attorney named John Edgar Hoover. Edgar, as he was known to his few friends, was a fast riser. In 1933, he had been the director of what was then called the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation for nine years. The Bureau of Investigation itself - BOI for short - had only been around since 1908 and was charged with investigating violations of federal law. Unfortunately, there really wasn't much for Edgar to do at this time because there just weren't that many federal laws for people to break. But Edgar would soon take care of that.

Edgar was born January 1, 1895. In school he was a good student, and when he got out of George Washington University School of Law in 1917, he needed something to do. He wanted to stay in Washington and so he joined the federal civil service. It was now World War I, and among Edgar's first assignments was identifying people who Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer said should be jailed without trial. The individuals who incurred Mitchell's displeasure included black civil rights leaders, people who objected to the US entering the war, and people Mitchell just didn't like. Edgar also found that the people his boss didn't like were the same people he didn't like, and he was quite happy in his job.

It's easy to make Edgar seem a bit strange by pointing out he kept living with his mother all her life. But his dad died when Edgar was 26 and having a surviving parent living with one of the kids was not unusual. Edgar also kept pet dogs, and we suppose a man who likes pooches can't be all bad.

Edgar is a man whom we politely say has a "mixed" legacy. William Webster, who replaced Clarence Kelly as FBI director (and who had replaced Edgar), testified that if you consider Edgar's overall accomplishments - and William was very careful to make sure we understood this was the overall accomplishments - it was "outstanding". From 1924 to his death in 1972, Edgar had indeed presided over the creation of the world's most efficient law enforcement agency. But William added there had been problems with Edgar that he didn't need to go into.

Well, William may not have needed to go into them, but we probably should. When you get down to it, Edgar just out and out hated the US Constitution, or at least the parts that granted civil liberties and due process. Edgar believed that we would never have a country of True American Liberty unless we eliminated non-mainstream beliefs and lifestyles. Of course, non-meainstream meant being different than the stereotypical image of the family later embodied by the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and later by the Huxtables.

However, Edgar had a lifestyle which was a bit non-mainstream itself. Edgar never married and had an extremely close relationship with another DOI agent, Clyde Tolson. The two men always socialized together and even went on vacations together. It was also known by the cognoscenti that if you invited Edgar to dinner or a party, Clyde was invited, too. Edgar's friends claimed this was just a brotherly relationship but others suspect there was just about as much as met the - ah - eye.

When Johnnie's friends broke out of jail, the DOI was authorized to investigate violations of federal law. But the DOI's special agents - abbreviated SA's - had no authority to make arrests and were not armed. Now at this time there were federal agents that could make arrests and were armed. But those agents were part of the Treasury Department and included prohibition agents - the famous "revenooers" of popular legend - as well as the agents of the Secret Service whose job it was to chase down counterfeiters and to protect the President. Among the most famous of the T-men, as they were called, was Eliot Ness who never worked for Edgar. The major violations of federal law even after the 1920's were the bootleggers like Al Capone, and his crimes, as we said, fell to the T-men.

So Edgar found himself in charge of an enforcement agency that really had not much to do. As far as the things the gangsters did that was really bad, like robbing banks, selling "protection", and mowing down people with machine guns, these were "only" state violations, not federal. And no one was in a hurry to make them federal crimes, since people, then as now, were still concerned about the federal government usurping states' rights.

So what did Edgar and his agents do? Well mostly they went after car thieves. But even that crime requires a bit of clarification since it wasn't a federal offense just to steal a car. What you could not do is drive a stolen car across state lines. Admittedly, it is a bit strange to read DOI memos about how they were tracking down people who had committed multiple murders of police officers, not for the murders, but because the crooks had driven a car too far. None of this means, though, that the job of a DOI agent was not dangerous. Despite what you - quote - "learn" - unquote - from the FBI Story starring Jimmy Stewart - the first agent was not killed only after agents were authorized to carry guns. On October 11, 1925 - nearly ten years before DOI agents were armed - Agent Edwin Shanahan was murdered as he tried to arrest a car thief.

But let's return to the breakout of Johnnie's friends. Although they all got away from Michigan City, things had not gone perfectly. Jim Clark was arrested three days later, and Jim Jenkins, Mary Longnacker's brother, was later cornered and shot by a posse of townspeople in Bean Blossom, Indiana. That reduced the gang by two. Then the gang found out that there was even one less active member than they thought.

It seems that Johnnie was now back in jail. Captain Leach's efforts had come to fruition and his network of informers had led him to Mary. Because Matt had no jurisdiction in Ohio, he called the Dayton police. The officers burst with drawn guns into Mary's apartment and Johnnie, although armed, raised his hands and surrendered. He was hustled off to the jail in nearby Lima and placed under the guard of Sheriff Jesse Sarber.

Since Johnnie was the one who helped them out of jail, the gang felt obligated to help Johnnie. Which is what they did. The gang dressed up in pressy suits and drove to Lima. They then walked into the sheriff's office. Harry said they were officers and were going to take Johnnie back to prison in Indiana. Sheriff Sarber saw no reason to doubt the men and said he just needed to see their credentials. Harry pulled out a gun and said these were credentials enough. Whether the sheriff first reached for a gun, hanging on the wall, grabbed for one he kept in his desk, or just made a move that Harry didn't like isn't clear. But in any case, Harry shot him dead.

Then, and in some jurisdictions today, anyone who is involved in commission of a felony that results in a homicide is guilty of murder even if the person did not actually pull the trigger. And indeed Harry and his friends were promptly indicted for killing of a law officer. But from a strictly legalistic standpoint, Johnnie's case was problematic. At the actual time Sheriff Sarber was killed, Johnnie may not have known about the escape plan. But still, there was enough of a question in the mind of the grand jury that they decided to give Johnny his day in court and indicted him for murder along with everyone else.

Johnnie and the rest - now dubbed the "Terror Gang" by the press - were on the loose. If bank robbing wasn't bad enough, they soon took to robbing police stations. Not for their money of course, but for the weapons. This was effrontery on a grand scale. True they could have taken the less confrontational approach, as did Clyde Barrow and his diminutive partner, Bonnie Parker. by making night-time burglaries of National Guard armories. But that wasn't Johnnie's style. He and his buddies would just drive up to a police station, walk in with guns drawn, and rob the cops of their armaments. This included not just bullet-proof vests, pistols, rifles, and shotguns and the required bullets, but also the relatively new Thompson submachine gun. Originally invented as a military weapon, the Thompson had proven highly dangerous to innocent bystanders and was never widely adopted by law officers. On the other hand, it soon became a popular trademark of the Depression era gangsters. After a few of these police station robberies, Matt Leach was going into spittle flinging diatribes of how they had to get the Dillinger gang.

Now we'll ask a question that others have asked. Was Johnnie really the leader of the pack? According to Matt Leach, the authorities gave Johnny the title as a ploy to irritate Harry, who was really the boss. Matt reasoned that giving credit to Johnnie that should have gone to Harry would make the gang fall into discord and dissension and so they all would be easier to capture. If that was the plan, it didn't work very well since Harry didn't care if Johnnie got the credit, and Johnnie was happy to get it. Besides, other authors think this Let's-Give-Johnnie-Credit was just hot air and sour grapes from Matt.

Regardless of who was really in charge, soon Johnnie was one of the most famous crooks in the nation. Johnnie liked to read and got a kick out of the stories of how he was supposed to be robbing banks when he was really hundreds of miles away. The gang was also very careful and noted for their lack of ostentation. They dressed well, but not flashy and lived in good apartments, but not upscale penthouses. And knowing the dangers of substance-induced impairment, they drank in moderation. The one time Johnnie did drink a lot was when he came down with the flu and was running a 104 degree fever.

On the the other hand, the gang's actual crimes were noted for their flamboyant style and there were four episodes that finally defined the Dillinger Legend. That was his arrest in Tuscon with the somewhat irregular extradition to Ohio, the escape from the Crown Point jail in Ohio, the shootout at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin, and finally his - ah - "apprehension" outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago.

The Tuscon episode was the result of the gang's general modus. Johnnie and his friends would usually rob a number of banks in a general area and then hightail it away and take a vacation. They wouldn't stay long, though, and after a few days or a week would move on and start robbing banks again. Then they'd go off again and take it easy for a while.

In January, 1934, the gang was back at full steam, holding up banks around Chicago. But playing with real guns is a dangerous game, and on January 24, 1934 at the First National Bank in East Chicago, Johnnie shot police officer, William O'Malley. Johnnie supposedly was regretful, but said the officer was in his way, so what could he do? But whatever regrets he had, he had personally killed a police officer, and now the Chicago area was too hot.

In the 1930's there were several places where crooks could get away and take it easy. Among the most famous of these gangster hangouts were Saratoga, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Hot Springs, Arkansas. As long as the gangsters behaved themselves and limited their stay to a reasonable time, the local constabulary would leave them alone. But the drawback was these were also where the cops from other states - and the Feds - would be likely to look.

So after the holdups in Chicago, Johnnie and the gang headed for Tuscon. Not only was this a more out-of-the-way place than their usual haunts, but Johnnie had also been thinking about leaving for a quieter (and law abiding) life in Mexico. There was, though, no understanding with the local officers about leaving them alone. Au contraire, as Johnnie might have said, the Tuscon police would have loved to be the group that hauled in the Dillinger gang.

Unlike in the 1973 move with Warren Oakes - the one actor that actually looked like Johnnie - the gang was not arrested at a county fair. At that time, the part of the gang that headed to Tuscon was Johnnie, Harry, Charlie Makely, and Russell Clark. The gang, being careful, had split up and were arriving at Tuscon separately. Charlie and Russell first stayed at the Congress Hotel waiting for the others. Then when everyone else arrived they were all going to move into a rented house at 927 North Second Avenue and take it easy. The girls would be joining them in a few days. Harry's girl, Mary Kinder, was driving down with Harry, and Opal Long, Charlie's girl, was due to arrive by herself in a few days. Johnnie's girlfriend was a beauty named Evelyn Frechette.

Evelyn - "Billie" to her friends - was of half-French/half Native American ancestry and had grown up the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. At the time she met Johnnie, she was married to a man named Walter Sparks, but as Walter was on ice in Leavenworth, she saw nothing wrong with hanging out with Johnnie. Also unlike the depictions in Warren's movie, Johnnie seems to have treated Billie quite nicely. No, he didn't kidnap her from her mother's trailer on the reservation, and he didn't call her vulgar things and slap her around like Warren did. On the other hand, Billie said at one time Johnnie thought she was getting too friendly with one of the gang members, and he took her for a drive. Although he didn't use any rough stuff he was so angry Billie thought he might bump her off. She, of course protested her faithfulness and Johnnie was mollified.

Later Johnnie was to lament that a bunch of "hick cops" were the ones that managed to capture him. Well, Johnnie, "hick cops" don't mean they're not good cops, particularly when the crooks are pretty dumb.

Once in Tuscon the gang immediately drew attention to themselves. Tuscon was not a large city - 33,000 residents - and so strangers in big cars and flashy clothes would be noticed. Charlie and Russell also forgot that they should only drink in moderation and not shoot their mouths off. So when they went out on the town with a couple of local ladies they downed generous drinks and drunkenly boasted to two traveling salesmen that they had a room full of Tommy guns which could get them a lot of money. The salesmen listened politely and then called the police about their rather strange drinking companions. The policemen then began to watch for well-dressed newcomers.

The gang still might have enjoyed a trouble free vacation except there was also a fire at the Congress hotel. The two men asked the firemen to haul their boxes of ammunition and Tommy guns outside. They tipped the firemen most generously and - get this - gave them the address of the house on North 2nd Avenue. Still the firemen, although curious about the big tippers with the traveling armory, were going to let things pass. But three days later they were looking at some detective magazines when they saw photographs of Charlie and Russell. Then they called the police who staked out the house. When Charlie, Russell, and Opal arrived, the cops moved in and arrested them.

The police, knowing they were dealing with armed and dangerous criminals, waited patiently until Harry and Mary drove up. No one was home and Harry and Mary went away. The police then followed the car and pulled them over. The smiling officers politely pointed out that Homer's out of state license plate needed a "vistor's sticker". Harry was most polite and accepted one of the officer's offers to ride with them and show them the way to the station so they get the sticker. Once they arrived, Harry and Mary were arrested.

The police returned to the house. Some staked the outside as others waited inside. It wasn't too long before Johnnie and Billie, oblivious to the fact they were the only gang members still free, walked in and found themselves staring down the barrels of the drawn guns of the law. They gave up immediately and was installed with his friends in the Tuscon hoosegow.

Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin (where the gang had robbed a bank in Racine) all were competing for Johnnie's company. Johnnie, knowing that Wisconsin did not have the death penalty, waived an extradition hearing to the America's Dairyland. Matt Leach, though, really wanted Johnnie. So he, the Attorney General of Indiana, and the Lake County Prosecutor Robert Estill came down with a delegation of officers to pick him up. The Tuscon sheriff really didn't want Johnnie around - he had his fifteen minutes of fame - and he also had the mistaken belief he'd get a nice hefty reward from Indiana. So he let them take Johnny away.

While being hauled out of the Tuscon jail, Johnnie began yelling that he was being shanghaied and even used profanity to the officers. True, even today in our much more legalistic era, few people shed tears for Johnnie (particularly in light of what happened later). But it is also true he was removed without a formal hearing and without representation of counsel. Although no one ever tested the case, it is possible that Johnnie's removal from Tuscon to Illinois followed by a transfer to Indiana was a violation of the recently enacted Federal Kidnapping or "Lindbergh" Law.

Matt and his men took Johnnie to the airport where he was was put - still protesting we hear - on board a small plane. They made a number of connecting flights and then on the last leg, took an American Airlines flight and landed at Chicago's Midway Airport. From there Johnnie was hustled off to the best jail in the Indiana. That was at Crown Point, and he was lodged in the new and supposedly escape proof jail under the custody of Sheriff Lillian Holley. Of course, if any crook is placed in a - quote - "escape proof jail" - unquote - you know what will happen.

Lillian - Sheriff Holley we should say - had been selected to complete the term of the former sheriff who happened to be her husband who had been killed while trying to make an arrest. She was probably contemplating running again and her jail holding the most wanted criminal in America would not be bad publicity. Prosecutor Estill also saw the good points to having convicted America's Most Wanted on his resume.

Despite his voluble rancor when taken from Tuscon, by the time Johnnie got to Crown Point he had calmed down to where he was at his most affable. He posed with a companionable arm on the shoulder of Prosecutor Estill with Sheriff Holley smiling pleasantly at his side. The buddy-buddy hail-good-fellow approach did not do well for either Richard or Sheriff Holley, particularly in light of what happened.

In the Crown Point jail, Dillinger did two things that further helped craft his legend. First he hired a flamboyant but effective lawyer, Louis Piquett. After getting the facts from Johnny, Louis thought he could garner an acquittal. After all, there had been a lot of confusion during the robberies and some people said they saw Johnnie in Florida when he supposed to be robbing banks in the Midwest. But, he told Johnny, he could not serve pro bono. Instead Louis insisted that he receive a fee of $50,000. That was a lot, Louis said, but he would accept this single payment for all current and future expenses. Johnnie said he thought he could swing that, but he needed some time. In the end Louis probably got around $5000 in all his dealings with Johnny and even that was spread out in dribs and drabs. He also lost - as we shall see - much more.

Next, Johnnie broke out of jail using his famous wooden gun. The source of the gun - and even if it really was fake - has been debated. But a Chicago native named Russell Girardin said he learned from Louis that the fake gun was indeed carved from wood and had been smuggled via a guard. The gun, though, was not given directly to Johnnie but instead to a black inmate, Herbert Youngblood. Herbert then passed the gun to Johnnie. We don't really know how much of this scenario is true because the guard denied he smuggled in anything and was later absolved of any wrongdoing. Herbert himself - who escaped with Johnnie - never said anything more about his involvement and was killed in a gun battle two weeks after the escape. Louis, according to Russell, admitted helping pass the messages back and forth to get the gun to Johnny, feeling, no doubt, that his attorney-client privilege would cover him.

Weeeeeeeeeelllllll, Louis, maybe not. Yes, there are stringent rules of confidentiality of conversations of a lawyer and his client - and generally a lawyer is not permitted to discuss what they say in private. On the other hand, there are exceptions, both "mandatory" and "discretionary. Usually a lawyer does not need to inform the authorities of a fugitive client's whereabouts, nor is he obliged to inform anyone if he learns of a new crime unless the crime will cause - and here we quote - "death or substantial bodily harm or substantial injury to the financial interest or property of another". If you read typical bar association guidelines - which vary from state to state - the benefit of the doubt is usually given to the attorney.

On the other hand a lawyer really should not conspire to help his client break out of jail. One problem with doing so is if you pass messages back and forth you're giving the information to a third party. That generally blows the attorney-client stuff.

Of course, it wasn't just the wooden gun that he stuck in Deputy Sheriff Ernest Blunker's ribs that got Johnnie out. Once he had navigated his way through the jail by locking up the seventeen or however many guards and being careful only to let people get quick glimpses of the "gun" - Johnnie was finally able to get his hands on some real weapons. Then the story is he ran the wooden gun back and forth along the bars of a cell just to show everyone they had been hoodwinked. And an amusing sidelight - at least from Johnnie's perspective - was that according to the laws of Indiana, although it was illegal to break out of state prisons, the lawmakers had neglected to make it a crime to break out of local jails.

But that didn't mean that Johnnie got off scott free. With two of the hostages (including the garage mechanic), Johnnie jumped into Sheriff Holley's car. Then Johnnie took the car and headed back to Illinois. That - driving a stolen car across state lines - was a federal violation. Now the feds were on Johnnie's tail.

For about six months, the Bureau of Investigation had been reshuffled into the Division of Investigation. This was a relatively short lived reorganization which which would in a couple of years lead to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But even in January 1934, the agents of the DOI were still not authorized to make arrests

Harry and Charlie, of course, were still in jail. Extradited and transferred to Indiana by less irregular methods than exercised for Johnnie, they were put on trial for murder. Both were promptly convicted and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Billie Frechette, originally released after Tuscon, had been rearrested in turn, and was convicted of conspiring to harbor a fugitive. That got her two years in prison. Again it seems strange but conspiracy to harbor was more serious to actually harboring a fugitive which she had also done. But that would only get her six months.

Johnnie though was soon back to robbing banks with a new bunch. It was the activities of this gang that led to the next incident which added to Johnnie's fame - or rather notoriety. This was the famous shootout at the Little Bohemia Lodge on April 23, 1934. The lodge with surrounding cabins was near Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin also housed a restaurant and bar where the locals liked to stop by and relax.

The gang now consisted of Homer Van Meter, John Hamilton, and Tommy Carroll along with a short and youthful looking man named Lester Gillis. Homer had known Johnnie in the Indiana Reformatory and was one of the bunch in Michigan City. However he had gotten out on parole before Johnnie and had robbed banks with Johnnie intermittently. Homer tended to be surly and irritable and if angered would threaten to kill whoever was bothering him.

Lester had also been involved in some earlier bank jobs with Johnnie. Dubbed "Baby Face" because of his youthful looks and "Nelson" for some other reason, Lester's disregard for human life tended toward the psychopathic, and John considered him as much of a liability as an asset. Yet Lester was a devoted family man, and his wife, Helen, was always at his side. With John Hamilton was a lady named Pat Cherrington, and Tommy brought along his wife, Jean Delaney while Homer was sharing accommodations with his girlfriend Marie Comforti. Checking in on April 20, the gang spent their time playing cards, walking in the woods, and ignoring the barking dogs that the owners, Emil and Nan Wanatka, owned.

Emil's tales - like those of J. R. R. Tolkien - grew in the telling and he eventually spoke of the gang riding in with guns drawn and loudly proclaiming who they were, while he, Emil and his wife Nan, through courageous subterfuge and dissembling at great personal peril, managed to get a message sent to the DOI in Chicago.

Not, as Eliza Doolittle said, bloody likely. That Emil had some connections with the East Chicago underworld is not in doubt, and some accounts say Emil also knew Louis Piquett quite well. Louis, or possibly another less than reputable lawyer, suggested Little Bohemia as a place Johnnie might take it easy. The fee was generous, something like $500 for three days with a promise of total pay of over $5000 when the group left. That was way more than the going rate. So at the very least Emil had to know his guests were "hot" to use the 1930's patois. The fact that Johnnie later put Emil on his "people to snuff" list - which was growing - tells us that Johnnie viewed what later happened as an actual betrayal.

No, probably Emil, knew who his guest were. But with the new federal law regarding harboring a fugitive being a serious offense and seeing that thousands of dollars of reward money were dangling in front of his eyes, Emil just decided he would become a good citizen and fink on Johnnie.

The story Emil finally settled on was that he and Nan didn't know who their guests were but quickly suspected that they were hosting the most infamous gang in America. Emil said that he then confronted Johnnie, but Johnnie told him not worry. They just wanted a few days to relax and then be on their way. Nan then told of a nerve wracking drive into town taking her daughter to a birthday party with Baby Face right on her heels. But she was able to slip her brother-in-law a note who notified the DOI. Soon the head of the DOI Chicago field office, Melvin Purvis, and a squad of agents were flying in.

Melvin Purvis was not the stereotypical G-man, as kidnapper George Barnes, better known as "Machine Gun" Kelly, did not name them. Standing 5' 4" if you exaggerate a bit, Melvin had joined the BOI in 1927 a couple of years after earning his law degree from the University of North Carolina. After a number of assignments in field offices throughout the country, Melvin became the agent in charge at Chicago. So when he got the word that Johnnie was at Little Bohemia, Melvin lost no time and Edgar also sent out a crew from Wahsington.

It was not to be their finest hour. As the agents closed in on the lodge with rented automobiles, three customers who had been in the restaurant and were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, walked out of the lodge and got into their car. Either the agents forgot to identify themselves or the men didn't hear them. Confused and afraid of the shouting men in the business suits, the men started to drive off, and the agents opened fire. One of the men was killed and the other two were wounded.

Melvin later blamed the Wanatka's pooches for barking too much and giving the officers away. Actually Johnnie and the others had pretty much learned to ignore the yappers since they barked at anything. But Johnnie and the gang had learned to pay attention to gunfire. They quickly grabbed their guns and began shooting back while the girls hid in the back room.

After a while the gang noticed the gunfire only was coming from the front of the lodge and from the sides. So they slipped out the back, down through the woods, and left the agents still shooting as the girls huddled inside. As the night wore on into early morning, the agents realized the shooting from the building stopped. Rather than risk their lives moving in, they fired tear gas canisters through the windows, which drove the girls outside. But by then the gangsters were gone, and in addition to the CCC civilian killed, one of the DOI agents, Carter Baum, was also dead. He had been been investigating a suspicious car reported by a telephone operator. When he stopped and approached the car, Baby Face Nelson shot him down.

To say Edgar was displeased is like saying he believed there were some times that people should occasionally waive their rights to a fair and impartial trial. Despite official praise he heaped on the agents from Chicago, Edgar really thought Melvin blew it. It was bad enough that Johnnie got away and an agent had died, but the killing of an innocent citizen - something that today could be considered ripe for a civil rights prosecution - gave the DOI - and Edgar - much official criticism. All they had captured were the gangster's girlfriends, who, as was now policy with anyone associated with Johnnie, were prosecuted for harboring fugitives. They got probation.

So in the end, Little Bohemia was a massive public relations disaster for Edgar. Things weren't helped when Edgar blamed the CCC employees causing the death of one of their own. They drove away when they should have stopped, Edgar grumped. Newspaper coverage became increasingly critical, and some congressmen (many whom never liked Edgar) demanded he should be replaced. One congressman said with a jibe and sneer that the DOI needed more detectives and fewer politicians. Even Will Rogers, then America's best know humorist, got into the act. He said that Johnnie should watch himself. Why, he might wander into a group of innocent bystanders and get shot. Edgar didn't have much time to act, not if he wanted to keep his job.

One problem, though, was Edgar still had trouble justifying him chasing the gang. True, Baby Face could be now charged with the killing of a federal agent, but about all he could get Johnnie for was the old car-theft-across-state-lines charge from Ohio. So Edgar got creative and charged the members of the gang with harboring each other. Edgar was really getting desperate.

Away from Little Bohemia, Johnnie now realized that he was just too well known. So with the the help of Louis, his lawyer, he contacted a physician, Dr. Wilhelm Loeser, who was known not to be too particular where he got his patients. The doctor agreed - shall we say - to "rearrange" Johnnie's face. He also said they could also remove his fingerprints, which although a very painful procedure, didn't work anyway. A price of $5000 was set and as he recovered from the surgery, Johnnie holed up in the house of a rather shady character named Jimmy Probasco at $35 a day.

At Jimmy's house, the story of John Dillinger almost came to an end. Dr. Loeser asked Johnnie if he wanted local or general anesthetic. Johnnie, after hearing a description of both, opted for general. So the doctor had his assistant, another physician named Harold Cassidy, to get a can of ether. Harold draped some cloth over Johnnie's mouth and nose, and dripped some of ether onto the cloth.

Now, kids, as they say, don't try this at home or anywhere else. Administering anesthetic requires, not only a license to do so, but careful training and equipment where the proper amount of oxygen is metered with the anesthetic. That they didn't have. When Johnnie didn't seem to be losing consciousness, Harold kept adding more and more until he emptied the entire can. It was probably a quart, and the whole room was getting hard to work in. Also the patient is not supposed to eat before surgery, and Johnnie said he had only a "light" snack earlier in the day. That wasn't true and soon Johnnie began puking as well as trying to breathe in the ether. The various combined effects - low oxygen and the physiological effects of the ether itself - produced a phenomenon which at certain advanced stages is known as death.

Soon the men noticed 1) Johnnie was turning blue 2) he wasn't breathing, and (according to some accounts) 3) his heart had stopped beating. They didn't know whether to [break] or go blind, and immediately called in the Dr. Loeser who was in the other room getting ready for the operation. He removed the cloth from Johnnie's mouth, and they all opened the windows. After Dr. Loeser applied artificial respiration, Johnnie started to breathe, and they decided continue using local anesthetic.

Dr. Loeser went to work although because Johnnie kept vomiting it wasn't easy. But in the end, they were done and Johnnie had, if not a new face, then an altered appearance.

There are two stories as to what Johnnie thought of the job. One was that he was satisfied, while his partner in crime, Homer Van Meter, who also underwent the same procedure, felt the operation mangled his visage. He demanded a makeover, but that made him look even worse. When Dr. Loeser realized that Homer might kill him, he made departure the better part of his valor.

The other story is Johnnie didn't think the operations changed his appearance all that much. We do know the operation reduced the dipple in his markedly dimpled chin and Dr. Loeser did a face lift to smooth out the characteristic Dillinger cheek creases. He also removed a few tell-tale moles. As you might expect the treatment did produce some scars on Johnnie's face which later were duly noted. To further his disguise Johnnie grew a mustache, dyed his hair, and took to wearing plain glass gold rimmed spectacles.

Johnnie was finally caught in Chicago. Also the FBI now had arrest authority which put them on par with state and local lawmen as well as United States marshals, prohibition agents, and the other T-men. Although today the agency extensively cooperates with local law agencies and often do so by request, they were now able to operate independently. That makes it all the more ironic that they called in about the worst force they could have picked.

Now there were many a police forces that were run on the up and up and boasted good and honest cops. But there were other districts - a minority we're sure - that were rumored to be riddled with corruption and graft. The East Chicago (Indiana) police were reputably amongst the latter or at least were known for having cozy relationships with the local underworld.

One of the East Chicago police who reportedly had, well, familiarity with the more seedy side of the city was Detective Sergeant Martin Zarkovich. A snappy dresser Detective Martin's job brought him into contact (to say the least) with and into friendly terms - very friendly terms according to divorce papers filed by Martin's wife - with a woman named Anna Sage.

Anna, in fact, was, shall we say a liberated woman and a local entrepreneur and businesswoman. She specialized in managing establishments that catered to gentlemen's interests - and we don't mean sporting goods stores, either. Anna was originally from Romania, and she had actually been arrested previously for her business activities. Although her convictions were for state violations, and she had once wrangled a pardon from the Indiana governor, the federal immigration offices had decided to initiate deportation proceedings. This was an action often taken against aliens, that is, foreign nationals, of - quote - "low moral character" - unquote. Now Anna, who saw America as a land of opportunity - was looking for ways to avoid returning to her homeland.

The official story was that Anna met Johnnie through a friend named Polly Hamilton. Polly worked as a waitress in her spare time and had bumped into a rather handsome and jovial man in a cabaret. He said his name was Jimmy Lawrence (or Livingston), a stockbroker's clerk, and Polly invited - quote - "Jimmy" - unquote - to meet her friend Anna. Anna, being impressed with Jimmy's affable manner and generous ways had invited him to stay with her and Polly. It was only later, Anna said, that she realized the mild mannered stockbroker's clerk who usually carried thousands of dollars in his pockets was the notorious John Dillinger. So she immediately contacted her friend on the police force, Martin Zarkovitch.

Weeeeeelllllll, there is a bit more likely scenario. After Johnnie escaped from Crown Point, we mentioned that Billy Frechette, Johnnie's girlfriend, had been convicted of harboring a criminal. Johnnie, seeking female companionship, had gone to East Chicago and was patronizing Anna's establishment. Alternatively, he may have checked with his friends for a place to hide out and they suggested he contact Anna. Anna wouldn't have needed much convincing since Johnnie's weekly rent would be more than adequate. It was then at Anna's apartment that he met Polly, and he took a shine to her as Polly looked quite bit like Billie.

Now at this point we should mention there are suspicions that there were earlier connections between Johnnie, Anna, and the East Chicago police. One idea is that Martin was actually involved so much with the local crooks he may even been involved in Johnny's jail break at Crown Point. So to protect himself he needed to get rid of Johnnie.

That Martin was in actual cahoots with the Dillinger gang is more speculative than not. Certainly such behind-the-scenes machinations are not needed to explain Anna's and Martin's actions. Both knew that if they helped catch America's Public Enemy #1, then the government might turn a sympathetic ear to Anna's request they stop the deportation proceedings. Anna could keep on with her business, and Martin wouldn't have to look for a new girlfriend.

Everyone knows the story. Anna together with Martin called Melvin. She said she could lead him to the infamous John Dillinger and would do so if she would get the reward money and if Melvin could stop the deportation proceedings. Melvin hemmed and hawed a bit and said he could get her reward money but he could only put in a good word for her with the immigration officials, who were in another department of the government altogether. But they were a reasonable bunch and would certainly turn her a sympathetic ear. Yes.

Anna agreed with the plan and said that she, Johnnie, and Polly would be going to the movies. She didn't know which one but would wear a hat if she was going to the Shirley Temple movie, Little Miss Marple at the Marbro Theater and wouldn't wear a hat if they were going to the gangster movie, Manhattan Melodrama, at the Biograph. The guess was with Johnnie's preference for gangster movies meant they would go to the Biograph, but Melvin had some men stationed at the Marbro just in case.

Anna also said that to make sure that the agents would know the man with her was Johnnie, she would wear an orange skirt. However the "Lady in the White Blouse and Orange Skirt" doesn't sound very dramatic and was was soon to be transformed into the "Lady in Red", a monicker which Anna did not like.

There has been a lot of controversy about that night. Melvin and about 20 agents descended on the Biograph even though it would have made much more sense for them to nab him as soon as he left the apartment. Because of Martin's involvement in the plan, Melvin had members of the East Chicago police along. But he did not call in police from Chicago itself. Although the Biograph was in Chicago proper, that is, in Illinois, not Indiana, as we said it was no longer necessary for the DOI agents to work with local law enforcement agencies.

When Melvin got word that Johnnie, Polly, and Anna were headed to the Biograph he had all the agents converge to the scene. Everyone was stationed at all exits with most of the, including himself, stationed the main entrance. The signal, Melvin said, would be him lighting a cigar. Then the agents would close in.

The agents watched as Johnnie and the girls bought their tickets and went in. Unlike the confident, cigar chomping, tall and hefty Ben Johnson who played Melvin in the Warren Oakes movie, the real (short and slight) Melvin was decidedly nervous that night. He bought a ticket and asked the girl when the show would be over. She told him it would be a two hour show if you count the previews and newsreels. Melvin went in and thought that maybe he and a fellow agent could seat themselves behind Johnnie, pin his arms back, and hustle him out. But once inside Melvin saw the theater was too crowded (Anna even had to sit a few rows back from Polly and Johnnie), and it would be a dead giveaway if he started to wander up and down the aisles peering into the faces of the audience.

Back outside, Melvin again asked the girl when the show was over and got the same answer. Since there was nothing to do but wait, he kept going back to the ticket office and asking the question again. According to one version of the story, he asked seven times. By then the girl was getting nervous and told her boss about the man in the suit who kept asking when the show was over. He looked outside and saw about 20 men standing around. Fearing they were planning to rob the cashier he called the Chicago (Illinois) cops who promptly arrived. They confronted Melvin and his men who flashed their DOI identification and said they federal agents apprehending a fugitive. Eventually things got sorted out, and the Chicago cops either left or stuck around at the DOI agent's request depending on which account you believe.

Finally the show was over and the crowd began to file out. Melvin moved toward the door and saw Anna coming out with Johnnie and Polly. He claimed that Johnnie looked him right in the eye but didn't recognize him. Then Melvin lit his cigar, somewhat shakily we read, and the agents moved in.

What happened next is confused. The most common accounts have Johnnie walking about sixty feet before Anna either dropped back or was pushed aside. One or more of the agents may have called his name, and Johnnie started to run toward a nearby alley. Virtually all the agents who were present affirm Johnny reached into his pocket to draw his gun. The gents pulled their guns and fired and at least one bullet went into the back of Johnnie's neck and out below the right eye. A couple of bullets grazed his left cheek (on his face that is) and another nicked his chest. Two of the less effective bullets went on to hit two women who were walking by at the time. Fortunately their injuries were not life threatening. But the fact that whenever the DOI was trying to arrest Johnnie innocent by-standers were hit meant that firmer guidelines for the officers using their weapons were needed, and indeed, were later adopted.

As for Johnnie he pitched forward headlong at the head of the alley. Anna and Polly hightailed it back to their apartment where eventually the cops found them. Melvin called for an ambulance, and they took Johnnie to the hospital. As usual there's a couple of versions of the story. One is Johnnie was taken to a small room at Alexian Hospital and pronounced dead. Another is the agents didn't want to bother the hospital staff too much and asked one of the emergency room doctors to come outside and have alook. That only took a few minutes, and then everyone drove to the Cook County morgue where Johnnie's picture was taken, particularly the one with the famous bulge.

It would probably have pleased Johnnie, but soon there were rumors that he was still alive. As with many of the theories that "It really wasn't [Fill in the Blank], and he got away", be it Billie the Kid, Jesse James, or Adolf Hitler, the story is based on apparent discrepancies of the record and contradictory testimony. In particularly the theory that Johnnie lived to a ripe old age arises from reading the autopsy report, interviews with former Dillinger associates, and the claim that the photographs of the man who was shot do not look like Johnnie.

However, some of the discrepancies are not quite that discrepant. For that the man's age was given as 32 and Johnnie was 31 is not a discrepancy since autopsy ages are estimated by the pathologist and are often wrong (Charlie Parker's age was estimated at a minimum of 50 and he was really 34). Then consider the claim that the weight of the Johnnie-at-the-Biograph was too heavy for Johnnie's. Johnnie's records show he was 153 and the man at the Biograph was a hefty 160. However, all that means is Johnny, like us, didn't always weigh the same. Indeed the weight of Johnnie had been listed from a low 153 pounds up through a middling 160 pounds (in prison), and up to a heftier 170. So the man shot outside the Biograph indeed weighed the same as our Johnnie.

There was also a height discrepancy in that Johnnie was 5' 7 1/4" and the autospy height was listed as 5' 7'. Again, not a discrepancy as recorded heights can easily differ by an inch or more. And yes, Johnnie's heights had been given variously as 5' 7 1/8", 5' 7 1/4, 5' 8 1/2", and even a majestic 5' 11". Even writing off the last height as an outlier, the simplest of data analysis tells us that all we can be sure of - with 95 % confidence - is that Johnnie's true height ranged between 5' 6 3/4" and his tallest reported value of 5'8 1/2. The height of the man shot, being 5' 7', was well within Johnnie's 95 % uncertainty interval.

On the other hand, the eye color does seem to be a true discrepancy. It is definitely on record that Johnnie's eyes were grey, and the autopsy stated quite clearly that the man shot outside the Biograph had brown eyes. Again we must also give serious consideration to the claim that the general appearance of Johnnie-At-The-Biograph and the earlier photos of Johnnie were different. We even read that Johnnie's dad saw Johnnie at the funeral home and exclaimed "That's not my boy!".

Well, yes there are reports that John, Sr. said "That's not my boy!". But there are also reports he looked at the body and sobbed "My boy!". Once more the problem is which story to believe.

But the eye color discrepancy certainly has to be considered. However, what is not appreciated is that the pigment (melanin) in eyes - if you have pigment - is the same color for everyone. If you have brown eyes, then you have the melanin in the front and back parts of the iris. Blue eyes have no pigment in the front layer and when you see the eyes as blue that is due to Rayleigh scattering - the same phenomenon that sometimes makes the sky bule. Greyish eyes, commonly reported for Johnnie, there is a bit of melanin in front which "neutralizes" the blue color. The observed eye color, then, particularly for light colored eyes, depends - and we must quote a reference - "on the lighting conditions".

This is indeed what we find for Johnnie. His eye color could change depending on the surroundings. During a hold up, one of the eyewitnesses who identified Johnnie said he had brown eyes. This, though, if not due to inaccuracy of a nervous by-stander who was certainly looking at the gun in Johnnie's hand rather than his eyes, would have resulted from the reflection of Johnnie's eyes with surrounding dark panel woodwork.

But finally we should remember that the man shot at the Biograph had been shot in the back of the neck with the bullet exiting below the eye socket. A 700 ft-pound bullet passing close to the eyes (and almost hitting one of them) could induce hemorrhaging from the pressure alone and in areas the bullet did not pass directly. So you could have darkening of the iris to brown. Finally there are studies that show blue eyes can darken to brown or even black after death, although full darkening usually takes up to 72 hours and is longer than the time from Johnnie's demise to the autopsy.

But what about the photographs taken after the shooting - the ones of the man killed outside the Biograph who doesn't look like Johnny? Certainly the Official CooperToons Opinion has always been that in general, facial recognition by the human eye, coupled with impartial judgement, is the best facial recognition system ever invented and far superior than anything developed to date implemented by a computer. If a picture looks like someone, then it most likely is that someone. That is the general rule which works most of the time.

But the rule doesn't work all of the time. True, there are some photos taken at the morgue that show a smoother cheeked, less dimpled chinned, darker haired man that our Johnnie. On the other hand, there are other photos taken at the same time that do look like Johnnie just as there are pictures of Johnnie taken when he was alive - and they don't look much like Johnny either.

This malleability of photographic facial features is in fact a quite common phenomenon, well known to those who are (pardon a modest cough) skilled in drawing portraits or caricatures from photographs. Working from a limited number of photographs can be hazardous to a good likeness, and multiple photographs of the same person, due to changes of features due to angle, lens distortion, and lighting, can indeed appear quite distinct and may not look even look like the person it is.

The Changeable Faces of John Dillinger

Although such claims may seem a bit hard to accept, let's take a look at some photos of John Dillinger. The pictures you see here are those from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and all were taken (obviously) when Johnnie was alive. Note the picture at top center (Johnnie puffing on the cigarette). There the nose appears small with a bit of a bulbous end. Then look at the photo second from right on the bottom row. Johnnie has a much longer, almost Bob Hope-like ski-nose. The first picture also has a shorter forehead and smoother cheeks, contrasted to the tall widowed-peaked forehead and cheek furrows on the latter picture.

Of course, we know that these two photos are our Johnnie and our minds compensate for the differences. On the other hand, were you to hand these to people who didn't even know who Johnnie was (a pretty large group, believe it or not), particularly if mixed in with other portrait photographs of similar vintage, then they would likely not pick them as the same individual. For an even more extreme example, look at the picture at the bottom far left. Does that look like the photo at bottom and far right? In fact, that latter picture looks much more like Johnnie after the Biograph. But that photo of the mustachioed Johnny appeared on a wanted poster.

Looking at more pictures of before and after the Biograph, we can turn to a couple of mug shots of John. At first glance there may appear to be differences. However, if you look at the hard profile contours - again what you focus on when trying to get a likeness - you see they match up quite nicely, any differences being due to slight differences in camera angle. What appears to be a lower lip protruding a bit beyond the upper on the Dead Johnnie is really caused by the dark background in front of the profile. More importantly, the small differences between the photo left and at right are not greater than what you see in two separate profiles of the pre-Biograph Johnnie (right and center). (You can see the photos by mousing over the image at right). Other photos - such as the famous picture with Johnnie on the slab with his arm extending the sheet - earlier rumors that it was another part of Johnnie doing the extending have been discounted - shows the quite unmistakable and Dillingeresque profile.

We'll look at one more post-Biograph photo and a picture of the living breathing Johnnie. Here the dead Johnnie is very much our old Johnnie and and the very characteristic Dillinger lips are evident along with the dimpled chin. There's even hints of the old craggy cheeked Johnnie. We're seeing the same man. Comparison of these photos also allows us to understand the apparently contradictory opinion Johnnie expressed about his plastic surgery. At times Johnny may have thought the changes were OK, but at other times, he would look in the mirror and see a bit too much of the old Johnnie still there.

In a nutshell, then, the discrepancies in weight, height, age, and even eye color are not really discrepancies. And if you select photos of Johnnie (or anyone else) that don't look much like Johnnie, then, yes, they don't look much like Johnnie - or anyone else.

Finally we can now turn to Johnnie's autopsy report - now available to anyone on the Fount of All Knowledge - which clinches the matter.

The autopsy is quite detailed. We've seen that the weight and height of the autopsy agree with what we know of Johnny. And other discrepancies are not really discrepancies. True there was signs of a heart condition, but all that means is Johnny had an undiagnosed heart condition - not at all unusual in those days.

But when you get down to it, the report really tells us we're looking at Johnny. There are even the listing of healed scars. Some are what you expect if the individual underwent plastic surgery - oblique scars on the chin on either side of the midline (suggesting someone might have been grafting skin to fill in a dimpled chin) but more importantly - and this is conclusive - there were two identical healed scars at the temporomandibular joint - that is just below the ears - both over an inch long. Symmetrical scars of this type are exactly what you would see from a facelift which smoothed out Johnnie's cheeks. Finally, there were also healed bullet wounds on his leg and on the neck and shoulder. The first would was from a bank robbery in St. Paul and the others from Mason City, Iowa.

Now there has been some doubt expressed that Johnny really did have a nip and tuck. After all inventing a story that Johnny had plastic surgery when he didn't would be a good way for Edgar to squeeze out of shooting the wrong man. However, the evidence for the operation indisputable. Both doctors, - Loeser and Cassidy - never denied they actually performed the surgery although they did claim it was done only to protect their lives.

But there are two final and quite fatal problems with the "It wasn't Dillinger (or Jesse James or Billy the Kid)" scenarios irrespective of the actual physical evidence. First, the whole scenario requires a set of law officers who can't even plan a simple arrest without repeatedly hitting innocent bystanders suddenly create and execute one of the greatest cover-ups in history and keep one of the most notorious criminals in hiding forever. Just what would they do if suddenly Johnnie shows up?

Secondly, we also learn that Billie Frechette said in later life that Johnny was still alive and another friend told us the town he was living in. But this just shows us that people who, if perhaps not actually aiding and abetting felony murder of police officers are nevertheless guilty of harboring such people, are not the most reliable informants.

Or look at it this way. Why would Billie or anyone else begin blabbing about a man she wanted to protect? When a criminal is located, even if "officially" dead, he is still subject to arrest. The clock for the statute of limitations may stop if the criminal leaves the state. In any case, any application for statutes of limitations will be determined afterwards by the judge.

The iffy nature of the statutes of limitations was brought home to one person appearing in a carnival sideshow in the early 20th century who claimed he was Jesse James. The county sheriff then stepped up and asked if the man really was Jesse James. After receiving a proud affirmative, the sheriff said, fine, he had an arrest warrant still on file for Jesse and would be back directly. "Jesse" immediately left town before the papers could be served. Needless to say no one believed the man was really Jesse, just as today virtually all Dillinger scholars accept that it was Johnnie who was shot outside the Biograph.

Well, it should have been over, but it wasn't, at least not for a lot of Johnnie's friends. John Hamilton had already been killed after a gunfight when he, Johnnie, and Homer had been getting some shut-eye on a country road when two policemen showed up. Homer was killed a few month after Johnnie. Lester, that is Baby Face Nelson, was soon shot down, but not before he had killed a total of four DOI agents, including Sam Cowley who had been sent from Washington by Edgar to oversee the Dillinger investigation. No single crook, then or since, has ever killed more federal agents as Baby Face Nelson.

Harry Pierpoint and Charlie Makely met an end that was satisfying - at least for the government. Both men had been sentenced to die and and after Johnnie's death, their execution dates were drawing nigh. Then on September 22, 1934, Harry and Charlie followed Johnnie's lead and carved fake pistols - this time out of soap and colored with shoe polish. They had almost managed to get out of the building before the guards shot them down. Charlie died on the spot, and Harry was so seriously wounded that the guards had to carry him to the electric chair on October 17.

Although Melvin admittedly went through some rough spots in his hunt for John Dillinger, once Johnnie was dead, the newspapers hailed him as the quintessential G-man. Melvin continued to get great publicity as the crime busting G-man when he - again we must say - quote - captured - "unquote" - Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd in Ohio three months to the day after he - quote - "captured" - unquote - Johnnie.

Edgar, although outwardly having nothing but praise for Melvin, had soured on the agent who was getting so much publicity for what Edgar considered a bungled job. It had been Melvin's duty, Edgar grumped, to capture Johnnie alive, not kill him. Soon Edgar began to assign Melvin to officially important but actually menial jobs like inspecting the various local DOI offices. Edgar also began to subject Melvin to Mickey Mouse inspections and even once wrote him a letter asking if it was true that Melvin had gotten so potted at that he was waving a gun about. Melvin had to deny it in a written report. After two years of this bullshine, Melvin gave Edgar two days notice and resigned from what was now the FBI.

Edgar was shocked! shocked! that his best G-man was leaving. Or so he said. In reality although he continued to heap praise on Melvin, both to others and to Melvin himself, Edgar did his best to frustrate Melvin's attempts to continue to work in law enforcement.

Melvin's fame, though, allowed him to earn money by sponsoring products, among them Gillette razors and the "Post Toasties Junior G-Men" club. The latter was actually quite popular and let kids have a "Junior G-Man" badge and other gadgets supposedly of the type the real G-men used. Melvin's popularity with the kids especially irritated Edgar, and Edgar looked into whether giving kids the Junior G-Man badge and papers might considered forging official credentials.

The endorsements jobs paid well enough, but it was not want Melvin wanted to do. He operated a radio station in North Carolina and in World War II became an officer in the Judge Advocates General's Corps where he prosecuted Nazi war criminals. He began to suffer from depression and started drinking more than was good for him. Then in 1960, Melvin's wife was working outside in her garden when she heard a gunshot. She ran into the house and found Melvin lying on the floor with a pistol by his side. Although as usual there are some who say his death was accidental, we can accept it as suicide, and Melvin's wife sent a bitter telegram to Edgar.

Louis Piquett had a rough Life After Johnnie which shouldn't have been surprising given the warning signs. He had been arrested and bailed out several times in as many days when he was trying to defend Billie Frechette. Worse, the local, state, and federal prosecutors believed Louis had "harbored" Johnnie in a way that went beyond what was allowed by attorney client privilege. For his part, Louis believed - or at least said he did - he was simply an honest lawyer defending a client. For what it's worth, he had not realized much earnings in his dealings with Johnnie especially since he had to split his takings with others as well as pay his principal investigator Arthur O'Leary.

Inevitably, Louis found himself indicted for harboring Johnnie. The jury, though, followed the tradition of caution - and we have to admit that Louis, who addressed the jury, was a good lawyer - and acquitted him. This decision drew a rebuke from the judge and prosecutor.

Unfortunately, Homer Van Meter had also been with Johnnie when Louis was "giving counsel" which included being present when both men had their plastic surgery. So Louis was indicted for harboring Homer. Louis again went into spittle flinging diatribes and stated that the evidence for this trial was nothing more than presented in his trial for harboring Johnnie. The prosecutor, though, told the jury the charges were distinct since Homer was not nor never had been Louis's client. The jury agreed and Louis was convicted of the federal law of conspiring to harbor a fugitive. That landed him a two year sentence.

Well, after the usual (and failed) appeals on May 8, 1936, Louis started serving his term at Leavenworth. He was also disbarred which is SOP for a lawyer convicted of a felony. After serving 20 months Louis was released on January 11, 1938. No longer able to practice law Louis worked at various jobs, including tending bar. Later he was able to wrangle a pardon from Harry Truman - much to the disgust of J. Edgar Hoover - and his request to be reinstated to the bar was pending when he died of a heart attack on December 12, 1951.

Arthur O'Leary, Louis's investigator, made a deal with the prosecutors and testified against Louis. Then he quietly faded from the scene and is believed to have lived until the mid-1960's.

But Louis didn't have it as bad as Jimmy Probasco. Hauled in for harboring Johnnie during the plastic surgery, Jimmy went out a 19th floor window office of DOI during one of his interrogations sessions. The official report was he was left alone for a few minutes and then jumped out the window. This is probably the truth, although there remains the inevitable rumor he was pitched out of the window. The other story is he was dangled out the window by the agents to make him more voluble but the agents lost their grip, and Jimmy came a'tumbling down.

As you may guess, Edgar was not pleased with his agents. When he was told of Jimmy's fate, Edgar said it seemed like the agents were careless. Well, that's an understatement, and from then on, the rest of Johnnie's bunch were questioned while handcuffed to the chair.

Edgar remained head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and made sure it began to overshadow the other federal enforcement agents although we still have T-men. Perhaps because of the, well, the "problems" his agents had in hunting Johnnie, Edgar quickly began requiring rigorous training. They also developed strict guidelines in the use of deadly force to avoid replays of the fiascos like the raid at Little Bohemia. He also continued to live with his dogs, enjoy the companionship of his friend Clyde, deny the Mafia existed, play the horses, and violate the civil rights of people he didn't like. He also began to collect his famous files on anyone he wanted to which included newspaper men who didn't share his politics.

Some of the notorious files, though, were more mythical than substantial. Once Edgar promised to send his file on liberal newspaperman Jack Anderson to John Dean, then counsel to President Richard Nixon. Edgar hated Anderson and he told John that Jack Anderson was a muckraker who would lie and steal and would go lower than dog shit for a story. Obviously thinking John might believe he was speaking metaphorically, Edgar went on to elaborate. To get his information, Edgar said, Jack had once sent some of his investigators to rummage around in Edgar's trash. The trash included the newspapers that were put down on the floor at night for Edgar's dogs to do their business. And Jack's friends had even looked under those papers, for crying out loud! That proved, Edgar told John sadly, that Jack Anderson would go lower than dog shit to get a story.

And the files? John Dean was a bit nonplussed when the packet was delivered. Instead of finding juicy tidbits suitable for scandal, there was nothing more than an envelope full of newspaper and magazine clippings.

Edgar was director of the BOI/DOI/FBI for nearly half a century. In 1964, possibly because the editor of the Washington Post Ben Bradlee wrote a story that Edgar was going to be replaced, President Lyndon Johnson made Edgar FBI Director for Life. Supposedly just before the announcement Lyndon told his press secretary, Bill Moyers, to call up Ben Bradlee and tell him to take a hike. Only Lyndon didn't exactly use that phrase.

Then on Monday, May 2, 1972, Edgar didn't show up at work. He had died the night before. After various files were "secured", a new director was named. That was L. Patrick Gray, a career Navy man and assistant attorney general who was originally appointed director on a interim basis pending final Senate confirmation. He kept his Connecticut home to where he returned on weekends thereby earning him the impolite nickname of "Three Day" Gray.

Pat's appointment had by-passed the #2 man, Mark Felt. The degree that this irritated Mark has been debated and Mark himself said in his non-best seller The FBI Pyramid: From the Inside that he would have liked to have had the director's job.

Unfortunately, although Mark didn't know it, he was never even on the long list of candidates. It seems that H. R. "Bob" Haldeman, the White House chief of staff (or the "President's son-of-a-bitch" as Bob himself put it) had told Nixon that Mark had been leaking information about the Watergate scandal to the Washington Post. "Why the hell would he do that?" Dick asked and Bob didn't really know.

Mark had indeed been giving information to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, and in June 2005, Mark admitted what he had been denying for thirty years. He had been the enigmatic source, Deep Throat that featured prominently in Bob's book, All the President's Men which he coauthored with fellow reporter, Carl Bernstein. Many read the book and believed that Mark was a vital source in uncovering the Watergate Scandal.

That assessment, though, was not shared by the Post's city editor Barry Sussman. Barry said Deep Throat was nice to have around, yes, but was mostly used to confirm information obtained elsewhere. That "Deep Throat" was a major source critical to the Post's reporting was simply not true.

But we must also point out that this is indeed what you read in All the President's Men. Woodward and Bernstein said "Deep Throat" was used primarily to confirm information from other sources and throughout the book most stories come from other people. But Mark, if not a major source of original information. was a source, and he certainly did provide "guidance", something that wasn't bad to have from the #2 man of the FBI.

And Pat Gray, Edgar's designated successor? Well, it turns out his own appointment was derailed when it was learned he had destroyed evidence related to the Watergate investigation. Realizing now that Pat's successor was going to be looked at very carefully, the White House nominated Clarence Kelly. Clarence had been a member of the FBI for 20 years, when in 1961 he was asked to take over as Chief of Police at Kansas City whose police department had been wracked by scandal. Clarence came in, quickly put things in order, and made the Kansas City police force a model for the nation. That nomination sailed through and when Clarence left office in 1978, William Webster, a former federal judge, became the director. Since then, not counting "interim" or "acting" directors, there have been five further successors to Edgar.

But who knows? Maybe to create an Edgar you have to have a Johnnie. Edgar seemed to show his appreciation since for many years afterward, there was a display of Johnnie - including the death mask - outside Edgar's office. But as far as we know Johnnie never had a picture of Edgar.

References

Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One, Elliott J. Gorn, Oxford University Press, USA, 2009. What? OUP publishing a book about America's Public Enemy #1? Yep. That's what this is and a very good book indeed. Although relatively short (288 pages - you wish it was longer), the book covers more than just Johnnie's last year and you get basic information about his boyhood, years in prison, and the rest. The author - as befitting a professional historian - sifted through the various and often contradictory sources to weed out the best information.

Dillinger: A Short and Violent Life, Robert Cromie and Joseph Pinkston, Chicago Historical Bookworks, 1990. The authors were careful to sort out the various accounts and Professor Gorn cited this book as perhaps the best of Johnnie's biographies. Although CooperToons has often bewailed the quality of information from the Fount of All Knowledge, the Fount has also made it possible to easily and cheaply obtain such rare source material. Vive la Fount!.

John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal, Dary Matera, Carroll and Graf, 2004. A fairly recent biography of Johnnie.

Dillinger: The Untold Story, G. Russell Girardin with William J. Helmer, Indiana University Press, 1994. The book is a collaboration of Mr. Giradin, who died in 1990, and writer William Helmer who met Russell in his later years. As a young man starting an advertising business in the 1930's, Russell had shared an office with an attorney who was representing Louis Piquett when Louis was being prosecuted for harboring Homer Van Meter. Louis needed money (his $50,000 fee promised by Johnnie ended being more like $5000) and Russell wrote some articles based on information Louis gave him. Russell later wrote a book from the articles but there were problems with the newspaper syndicate wanting a portion of the fees. Russell said to heck with it and put the manuscript on the shelf. Bill Helmer as a writer and editor was interested in Dillinger and other Depression era outlaws, and while researching Dillinger's life stumbled on the articles in microfilm. To his surprise, Russel was not only alive but living, if not quite around the corner, then pretty close. So the book was finally published but sadly only after Russell died.

One virtue of Dillinger scholars is that most of them want to know what the heck really happened and rarely have an agenda. The only real drawback is their sources ultimately trace back to people who were 1) notorious criminals, 2) lawyers for notorious criminals, or 3) enforcement agents who had been at some point humiliated by notorious criminals.

"Pioneering Female Sheriff Outlived Dillinger's Escape", Kenan Heise, Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1994. Lillian's life after being sheriff was one of normalcy and she remained in Crown point for the next 60 years, dying at age 103.

The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War Against Crime, and J. Edgar Hoover's War Against Him, Alston Purvis, PublicAffairs Books, 2005. A book by Melvin's son about the Melvin career and his relationship with Edgar.

"The Day Tucson Corralled Dillinger", Janet Webb Farnsworth, Arizona Highways, Jan 8, 2006. Details of the arrest of Johnnie and the gang in Tuscon.

Dillinger, Dead or Alive?, Jay Robert Nash and Ron Offen, Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1970. This book was read many years ago, but CooperToons provides it out of fairness to all theories. Author Jay Robert Nash believes that Dillinger was not the one killed outside the Biograph and offers his arguments.

"Film wrong! Dillinger not killed by FBI! Fact: Hoover coverup!", Jay Robert Nash, August 3, 2009. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090803/COMMENTARY/908039997. A more recent article giving the views of Jay Robert Nash including the accounts of the Frechette and Zarkovitch interviews.

"Pigmentation: Postmortem Iris Color Change in the Eyes of Sus scrofa", Elizabeth Abraham, Margaret Cox, David Quincey, Journal of Forensic Sciences 53 (3), 2008. pp. 626-631. A report cautioning on how iris colors can change from blue to brown and even black after death, a fact the authors caution must be considered when performing autopsies. We must point out, though, that the time between Johnnie's demise and autopsy seems to too short side for the time required for full color change.

Blind Ambition, John Dean, Simon and Schuster, 1976. This book has the story about Hoover's appraisal of Jack Anderson.

Electronic Media

"John Dillinger", Allan May and Marilyn Bardsley, The Crime Library, http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/dillinger/1.html. An official CooperToons opinion is that the Crime Library was a great website. But sadly it was bought up by the then-named Court TV which then later redubbed TruTV. Then you started getting the annoying and obtrusive ads which now include animation. But it's became a moot point since the Crime Library has vanished from the Internet Ether although you'll style find some remnants of the articles here and there. A pity because it was a good site to get some basics on the various criminals and gangsters.

"America's First Bank Robbery", Ron Avery, Carpenter's Hall, http://www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/history/robbery.htm. The bank hold up at Liberty Missouri was the first daylight robbery in America, but not the first. That was in 1798 in Philadelphia.

"The Famous Little Bohemia Lodge", http://www.littlebohemialodge.com/ with the story of Johnnie's visit at http://www.littlebohemialodge.com/HISTORY.html. A good detailed and accurate account of the famous shootout.

"Did John Dillinger really die outside the Biograph Theater?", The Straight Dope, August 1, 2003. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2462/did-john-dillinger-really-die-outside-the-biograph-theater. A discussion of Jay Robert Nash's theories. However, one "discrepancy" in this article is the statement the US Attorney General declared Johnnie Public Enemy #1. It is true that Homer Cummings did at one time call Johnnie the Public Enemy #1, but that was never an official designation. In fact, the federal government has never ranked its wanted men by number. It does have a "Ten Most Wanted" list - started years after Johnnie was dead - and there is, of course, someone on the top of the list.

"Did Mark Felt Know He Was Deep Throat?", Barry Sussman, Huffington Post, April 12, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-sussman/mark-felt-deep-throat_b_1421286.html. An expansion of an earlier article about how most information of the Post's Watergate reporting was developed independently of Mark's information.

Interview with Judy Garland, August 1967. Judy claimed that she met John Dillinger outside the Biograph the night he was killed. She said she recognized him as someone famous, but thought he was a movie star. So she got his autograph "and he got shot about thirty minutes later".

Alas, as good as the story sounds for "proving" Johnny was recognized outside the Biograph, it's hard to credit. Judy could not have met him half an hour before his death because the show, with the previews and newsreels, had a 2 hour running time. She would not have hung around if she had saw him going in. Besides, was John Dillinger going to sign his name on a piece of paper identifying himself to anyone, a cute little twelve year old girl or not? Not, as Eliza Doolittle said, bloody likely.

The American Experience: Public Enemy #1, PBS, 2007. A fairly typical PBS documentary with narration (Keith Carradine, of Deadwood and Wild West Tech fame), voice over reenactments, documentary clips, and talking heads. One of the interviews was with Antony Berardi, who as a photographer took photos of almost anything, including the first atomic bomb. He started working in Chicago in the early 1920's and took some of the more famous photos in journalism, including the ones of the St. Valentine's Day aftermath and of John Dillinger with his companionable arm about Prosecutor Estill.

Appointment with Destiny: The Last Days of John Dillinger", Rod Serling, Narrator, David Wolpert, Producer, 1971. An extremely skillful pseudo-documentary of, what else?, the last days of John Dillinger. CooperToons saw the show when it was first shown (or maybe in a re-run) and it was difficult to tell that the show was not a true documentary film. The actors, often giving "interviews" even looked virtually identical to their real life counterparts. The producer said they actually used damaged film stock to make it look like the film was from old newsreels or otherwise filmed at the time of the actual events. The claim as CooperToons remembers was that Melvin asked seven times at what time the show ended. Melvin certainly asked more than once, but seven times might have been a somewhat inflated guess.

Aging film to produce authenticity is an effective way to add credibility to film, and is used with good effect in one of Woody Allen's best movies, Zelig. But it can lead to problems, particularly today in our incredibly credulous era. Nowadays you get such inane horse hockey as the various "films" that were supposedly made during the Civil War but are really artificially aged films from twentieth century movies or modern Civil War enactments. What is amazing is how people fall for such bilge.

"Internal Affairs", Slate Magazine, Beverly Gage, November 10, 2011, http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/life_and_art/2011/11/clint_eastwood_s_j_edgar_were_j_edgar_hoover_and_clyde_tolson_lovers_.single.html. A balanced discussion on the relationship of Edgar and Clyde Tolson and cautioning people to be wary of what they see in motions picture "biographies". Scriptwriters can and do make up their scenes often out of the whole cloth and the Clint Eastwood movie J. Edgar is filled with such made-up scenes. That doesn't mean that the gist might not be correct, but as the author of the article points out, we know nothing more about the actual relationship between Edgar and Clyde than we did eighty years ago. Their close relationship was certainly not kept secret - social invitations to Edgar as a rule included Clyde - and that it is assumed to be physical perhaps speaks more for our own culture than their own. The stories of compromising photos are - to date - just stories and any images of Edgar prancing about contrary to the teachings of Deuteronomy 22:5 have never materialized.