Anticipation seems to be building for the motion picture ``Public Enemies'', starring  Johnny Depp, who plays the elusive John Dillinger, America’s most notorious bank robber, and the first Public Enemy No 1, being hotly pursued by FBI agent Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale
             The film, based on the book by former Wall Street Journal writer Bryan Burrough, hits theaters on July 1st.
             So as we prepare for Depp’s depiction of one of America’s most notorious gangsters and his violent band of outlaws, this might be a good time to catch up on some quick facts about John Dillinger

             Such as:

• Five people died from the suffocating heat in Chicago on July 22, 1934, when temperature readings reached as high as 101.3, a fact easily obscured by the death of Public Enemy No. 1: John Dillinger

• John Herbert Dillinger, the son of John Wilson Dillinger (owner of a small grocery store) was born at June 22, 1903 at 2053 Cooper St in Indianapolis, and raised by his sister Audrey. Dillinger’s mother, Mary Ellen (known as Mollie) died when he was just 3 years-old

• Dillinger’s first bank robbery was in New Carlisle, Ohio, when he made off with $10, 600 on June 10, 1933.

• In a little more than year, Dillinger and his gang robbed dozens of banks and close to half million dollars, while killing 10 and wounding seven others.

• Dillinger was officially named the nation’s first Public Enemy No. 1 on June 22, 1934, on his 31st birthday

• Dillinger worked with a flock of disreputable bandits, among them: ``Baby Face Nelson’’, Homer Van Meter, and ``Pretty Boy Floyd’’

• Prior to being gunned down, reward money leading to the capture of Dillinger was posted in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio.

• The U.S. Justice Department offered a $15,000 award for Dillinger’s capture; $5,000 for information leading to his arrest.

• After exiting the Biograph Theater at 10: 40 p.m in Chicago, the Indiana outlaw was gunned down while reaching for his gun (a Colt .380) while surrounded by a swarm of federal agents and Chicago policeman.

• The infamous ``Woman in Red’’ (actually wearing an orange skirt) was Anna Sage, a former brothel keeper from Gary, Indiana. Her legal name was Ana Cumpanas; who agreed to identify Dillinger to federal agents on the condition she not be deported. Sage was deported anyway. She died at age 58 in 1947 from a liver ailment while living in Romania.

• Sage always maintained the feds cheated her out of $70,000, the amount promised to her for ``putting the finger’’ on Dillinger.

• Dillinger was shot four times by federal agents

• The federal agents credited with firing at Dillinger were Charles B. Winstead, Clarence O. Hurt, and Herman E. Hollis.

• The motion picture Dillinger went to see with his girlfriend, Dolly Hamilton, was ``Manhattan Melodrama’’ starring Clark Gable and William Powell

• The Biograph Theater located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue housed 990 patrons

• The last movie to be shown at the Biograph Theater was Woody Allen’s ``Sleeper’’ in July, 1974. One night In the final week, the theater drew a mere 25 patrons.

• Dillinger sat in the middle of the 12th row of the Biograph Theater

• The  Biograph Theater was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 28, 2001

• Melvin H. Purvis was the FBI agent who was charged with leading the manhunt for Dillinger. Purvis, nicknamed ``Little Mel’’ committed suicide on February 29, 1960

• 23 FBI agents and Chicago policeman were gathered around the Biograph Theater waiting for Dillinger to emerge

• Dillinger died with $7.70 in his pocket near the Mee Woh Lo Chinese restaurant

• After being shot, Dillinger was transported to Alexian Brother Hospital. Upon arrival, Dillinger was pronounced dead; the hospital never did admit him. Instead, agents laid him out on the lawn in front of the hospital, where they waited for the Cook County Corner’s office to pick him up.

• Dillinger was the 116th registered corpse at the Cook County morgue during for the month of July, 1934

• According to the Library of Congress, there have been 16 songs written about John Dillinger.

• According to Bowker’s Books in Print Database, there have been 17 books written about John Dillinger, three of which are being published in 2009

• Dillinger dropped out of school at age 16; joined the Navy but went AWOL after only five months of service.

• Dillinger’s only marriage came on September 16, 1924 to 16 year-old Beryl Hovious. They divorced on June 20, 1929.

• On May 27, 1934 in an attempt to mask his identity, Dillinger underwent plastic surgery at the home of Jimmy Probasco, a bar owner with ties to the Chicago Syndicate.

• The fascination with Dillinger had reached such a fevered pitch; Dillinger’s father was reportedly offered $10,000 by one person to borrow his son’s dead body for a period of time.

• On July 25, 1934, Dillinger is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis

Source: The FBI; U.S. Newspaper Archives

-Bill Lucey
WPLucey@gmail.com