I was amazed to read quotes — public quotes — from police talking about how they wanted Dillinger dead and would kill him once they finally caught up with him. Can you imagine what would happen today if a Chicago policeman told CNN he was looking forward to killing a criminal? It was also apparently normal for the media to take photos of Dillinger after he was killed. In addition, tens of thousands of people walked by his corpse and bought souvenir toe tags.
Dillinger was a mastermind criminal who, for those 18 months, lived his life like an action movie. Robbing banks, shooting guns, escaping from prison, shooting more guns and robbing more banks. Some pretty wild stuff went on during his reign, which is why he really became the first celebrity criminal.
The book is extremely well researched and very well written. Matera consolidated the research of a couple of different people and put it into this very easy to read format. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in true crime or history. You will learn a lot!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Title: John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal
Author: Dary Matera
Publisher: Carroll & Graf (2004)
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