By the time bank robber and convicted murderer John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. met his ultimate fate in a hail of police bullets in 1934, he was the mastermind of a criminal gang that robbed four police stations and a dozen banking institutions. Dillinger was so good at thumbing his nose at the law that he inspired J. Edgar Hoover to form the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to fight organized crime.
The native of Indiana was already rebellious as a teenager and often bullied other students at school.The whole story can be found at http://www.vintag.es/2012/05/john-dillinger-in-court-crown-point.html He never graduated, but left school early to work in a machine shop by day and carouse in bars at night. His first arrest was for auto theft in 1922. Even a stint in the United States Navy couldn’t straighten Dillinger out and he eventually deserted and was given a dishonorable discharge from the service.
Unable to find employment during the Depression, Dillinger convinced a friend to help him rob a grocery store, but was recognized and later arrested. Convicted on several charges in addition to robbery, Dillinger received a lengthy prison sentence and was sent to the Indiana Prison in Michigan City where he vowed to be the “meanest bastard” until his release. Paroled in 1933, he masterminded a series of bank robberies and the murder of a police detective. He was ultimately betrayed by a prostitute outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, where he was shot three times by police and died at the scene.