1930’s Gangster Body Being Exhumed
By: Denise Simon | Founders Code
Why you ask? The question has no answer from the family. Rather strange after 85 years.
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. (1903-1934) was a Midwestern bank robber, auto thief, and fugitive who captured the national imagination between 1933 and 1934. In March 1934, Dillinger stole a car and crossed state lines following a sensational prison break, giving the FBI jurisdiction to join the manhunt. On July 22, 1934, FBI agents closed in on Dillinger outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago and shot and killed him as he reached for his pistol. These files range from 1933 to the mid-1970s, covering Dillinger’s rise as a criminal and the FBI investigation of him, his gang, and other associates and continuing well past his death due as a result of ongoing public interest.
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In adolescence, the flaws in his bewildering personality became evident, and he was frequently in trouble. Finally, he quit school and got a job in a machine shop in Indianapolis. Although intelligent and a good worker, he soon became bored and often stayed out all night. His father, worried that the temptations of the city were corrupting his teenage son, sold his property in Indianapolis and moved his family to a farm near Mooresville, Indiana. However, John reacted no better to rural life than he had to that in the city and soon began to run wild again.