John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Oak Hill, Indianapolis, a middle-class neighborhood. His father was a grocer, he raised him in an atmosphere of disciplinary extremes, harsh and repressive on some occasions, but generous and permissive on others. Later, when Johnnie was in his teens, Dillinger, Sr. would alternate between locking Johnnie in the house all day and then, later in the week, letting him roam the neighborhood for most of the night. As a boy, John Dillinger was constantly getting into trouble. He would commit small time pranks and petty theft with his neighborhood gang, “the Dirty Dozen.” (History paragraph 1-2).
As a child he went by “Johnnie.” As an adult he was known as “Jackrabbit” for his moves and quick getaways from the police. As a legend, he was known as “Public Enemy Number One.” His exploits during the depth of the Great Depression made him a headline news celebrity and one of the most feared gangsters of the 20th century. Dillinger then got a job at a machine shop after he quit high school. His father, worried that the temptations of the city were corrupting his teenage son, sold his property in Indianapolis
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The FBI labeled him “Public Enemy Number One,” and placed a $10,000 reward on his head. To avoid detection, Dillinger underwent a crude form of plastic surgery in May at the home of Jimmy Probasco.. He spent the following month at Probasco’s home healing, and going under the alias Jimmy Lawrence. On June 30, 1934, John Dillinger robbed his last bank. He was accompanied by Van Meter, “Baby Face” Nelson, and one other unidentified individual. Shortly before noon, the gang arrived at the Merchant’s National Bank in South Bend, Indiana. As they entered, Nelson fired his machine gun to get everyone’s attention inside the bank, which in turn got everyone’s attention outside the bank. The next few minutes unfolded like a scene from a Hollywood gangster
There is a thin line that exists between the depiction of a villain and a gangster that Hollywood has mastered walking on. While villains and gangsters may do many of the same things in movies, like stealing and killing, they each do them for different reasons. Villains enjoy crime because that is what gets them off; some may feel they are doing society a favor, like Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, and others are more simply portrayed as naturally evil or mentally ill. But Gangsters are doing what they do for something American society can relate to—to make a living and, ultimately, get to the top.
Al Capone’s family came with a wave of other Italian immigrants that migrated to the United States in the 1800’s. Most immigrants in that time were living in poverty and in very urban areas. Capone’s family lived in the heart of Brooklyn, but his father was a successful barber which allowed them a slightly better lifestyle than most. Al Capone was the fourth of nine children and grew up with a very tight-knit Italian family who were trying to succeed in their new country”. Capone attended public school in the city and had a natural brightness by keeping a “B average” despite playing hooky on many occasions. The sixth grade showcased Capone’s short temper when he hit a female teacher who was lecturing him. This incident reveals the beginning of who Al Capone would come to be. After being suspended for his violence, he never officially furthered his education. He began his life of crime by joining the kid gangs that existed all over Brooklyn. These “gangs” were nothing more than children being hoodlums and participating in petty crimes, although they would be the ...
Born on the 27th of October, 1940, to a blue collar family in the South Bronx, John Gotti was the fifth of 13 children born to Fannie and J. Joseph Gotti. The family’s income was less than consistent because of John’s father’s unpredictable work as a day laborer. After moving constantly, the family finally settled in East New York: an area notorious for its youth gang activity (“John Joseph Gotti Jr”, 2014). During his teenage years, Gotti became affiliated with the Gambino family, one of the “Five Families” that control most organized crime in New York (Jenkins). He started out as an errand boy for an underground club, where he met Aniello Dellacroce, who would eventually become his men...
John Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis. Three years later his mother died; his father remarried six years afterwards, but Dillinger resented his stepmother. Being raised by a very strict father, who invoked disciplinary extremes, Dillinger became a troublemaker. Dillinger quit school and got a job, but quickly got bored and decided to stay out all night. His father was concerned that city life was corrupting his son, so he decided to move his family to Indiana. However, the move made no difference, since Dillinger began to act the same as he had in the city. After a “break with his father and trouble with the law” Dillinger enlisted in the Navy (“Famous Cases,” n.d). In the Navy, Dillinger got into trouble and decided to leave his ship and move to Indiana, where he married 16-year-old Beryl Hovius in 1924. Both Dillinger and Hovius moved to Indianapolis with a “dazzling dream of bright lights and excitement” (“Famous Cases,” n.d). However, Dillinger had no luck finding work due to the Depression, and joined the “town pool shark, Ed Singleton” in search of easy money.
Purvis deceided to check out the biograph himself and two other agents were at the Marboro. Purvis was standing just a few feet from the door when the Clark Gable movie Manhattan Melodrama let out. “As Dillinger passed he looked Purvis right in the eyes, but made no indication of recognition of suspicion” (Biography.com) Purvis lit a cigar to confirm it was Dillinger. As john and the two women walked down the street Purvis drew his gun and told Johnie he was surrounded. Dillinger reached for his gun and tried to flee. He was fatally shot in the base of his neck and it traveled up stricking the second vertebrae and excited just under his right eye. Dillingers lifeless body drew a crowd and they were dipping their handkerchief in his blood for souverniers. Dillinger was taken to Alexian Brothers Hospital were he was pronounced dead before be taken to Cook County Morgue. A crowd followed his body to the morgue and to the post mordem room. “Throughout the day thousands of people had shuffled past Dillingers body before he was taken to the McCready Funeral Home.” His body was placed in a casket mobile and escorted back to Mooresville, Indiana. His body reached Harvery Funeral Home where is body was identified by his sister Audrey, John was put into the ground on July 25 1934, at the Crown Hill Cemetery in
People are often remembered for being overly successful, extremely talented, or insanely wealthy; but there are exceptions to every rule. Being a fearless outlaw is not the ideal way to gain fame, but John Dillinger managed to do so. Dillinger’s fearless charisma, led him to go above and beyond to provoke law enforcement. Not many criminals have succeeded in the way John Dillinger did during the 1920s and 30s. He managed to put society in awe due to his obstreperous acts of rebellion. Being one of the most infamous criminals from his time, Dillinger had a huge influence on crime, and has greatly impacted gangsters all over the country.
The gangsters we know and love today are much different from what they were 40 years ago. From the way they talked, dressed, and went about their business, the idea of a gangster has changed a lot. But they have one thing in common and this is the fact that they both had and have a huge impact on our society. One gangster in particular, Henry Hill, contributed to a huge turning point in the methods of American criminals. Henry Hill’s accomplishments as a mobster and an FBI informant helped change the ways of organized crime and how the government tried to stop them.
Gillis, now known to the public as George “Baby Face” Nelson reportedly joined forces with Al Capone, progressing into Labor Racketeering for Capone in 1929. Although it is affirmed that only the public called him “Baby Face” as it appeared to anger Nelson by declaring him inferior with such a nomenclature (Nelson, 2002, p465). Nelson’s criminal activity progressed to armed
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was the most notorious bootlegger in American History. He was born on January 17, 1899 and died of a heart attack on January 25, 1947. Capone grew up in Brooklyn and became a member of the Five Points Gang. During a street fight he had received a scar on his face that gave him the nickname “Scarface”. Capone quickly moves up the ranks in the mafia world, often noticed for his toughness, in 1919 he grabbed the attention of mobster John Torrio of Chicago. Capone was promoted to bodyguard of the mob boss James Colosimo. When Capone moved to Chicago, bootlegging was just starting to blow up. These bootleggers pounced on the opportunity to completely control the business of making, importing, and distributing alcohol and all alcohol products. Alcohol wasn't the only flourishing industry for the the mob, they also did trade in
As he grew older, Capone was hired by the gang leader, Torrio, to be a bouncer at a bar in Brooklyn, taking his first step up the “gang ladder”. One night, Capone’s cheek was slashed during a fight at the bar over a girl. It was from then on he was known as Scarface. Later in his life, when asked by reporters where he got this scare, he often lied of serving in the “Lost Battalion” in WWI, even though he never served in the military (Internet 1, 1).
January 17, 1899 Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone (about.com). Capone was the fourth of nine children born in to the family. Capone’s mother and father emigrated from Naples, Italy and settled in Brooklyn, New York. Capone’s father was a barber, and his mother stayed home with the children (about.com). Capone was in two gangs as a child, Five Point Gang, and Brooklyn Dive (chicagohs.org). In sixth grade, Capone dropped out of school; some say it is because he beat up his teacher. Others say he dropped out to help earn money for his family. After dropping out of school, for whatever reason, Capone had quite a few different jobs. He was a candy store clerk, a pin boy at a bowling alley, a cutter at a book bindery, and a bouncer bartender at the Harvard Inn. While working at the Harvard Inn, Capone got into a fight with Frank Gallucio after Capone said a comment to Gallucio’s sister (about.com). During the fight Gallucio pulled out a knife and slashed Capones face. The cut left a scar leaving Capone with the nickname, Scarface.
Al Capone, America’s most prominent Mafia figure in the 1920’s, also known as “Scarface” for a scar running down his left cheek. Capone didn’t hide in the shadows like most figures in such a shady occupation. He didn’t shy away from the camera, more like he welcomed it, and aimed to be seen by the public as a respectable businessman and a pillar of the community. Surprisingly, Capone wasn’t from a distinctly poor community, his father earned a living as a barber. Capone was introduced to the gang life by a friend and from there it all went downhill and into the life of a gangster.
His name is Frank Gulouchyo. Frank Gulouchyo scarred Capone for life. Capone got up, walked over to the young lady’s table, and told her that she had a nice butt. Then Gulouchyo got up and pulled a knife out of his pocket and sliced the left side of his face. That is how Al Capone acquired the nickname of Scarface.
Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 17,1899. He was the fourth of seven sons and two daughters. His parents, Gabriel and Theresa, were one of thousands of Italians who arrived in New York in 1894 for a better living. The early Capone was slashed with a knife across his left cheek by a young hoodlum in a restaurant , For harassing a woman, prompting the later nickname ‘’Scarface.’’Then Capone met a gangster named Johnny Torrio, who taught Capone how to build a corporate empire. Torrio moved from New York to Chicago in 1909 to help run a giant brothel business. In 1919 Capone joined Torrio’s James Street Boys gang in Chicago, Where he had become an Influential Lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. In 1925, Al Capone became boss when Torrio was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. As Prohibition began, New bootlegging operations opened up and drew in immense wealth. Capone started running gambling, prostitution, and gunning down rival gangs. Capone kidnapped opponents, election workers and threatened voters with violence. Later he eventually won office in Cairo but then his brother frank had been killed in a shootout with the Police of Chicago. Capone left for Miami with his wife and children and bought Palm Island estate,...
Dean O’Banion was amongst those who were getting wealthy by bootlegging alcohol. He was the leader of the North Side Gang, a group of mostly Irish gangsters, the gang Bugs Moran would be in control of later in his life. However, O’Banion wasn’t alone in Chicago. Johnny Torrio, and his right side man Al ‘Scarface’ Capone, had moved to the South Side of Chicago. They would be Bugs Moran’s bi...