Essay about John Dillinger

During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.

Gotti became the leader of the gang, but unlike other gangs, was not concerned about territory. His gang was mostly into higher levels of criminality that dealt with fencing stolen goods, stealing automobiles and rolled drunks. While a member of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, he was arrested five times however all his charges were reduced to probationary sentences. Later in life, Gotti marries Victoria DiGorgio. However marriage does not slow down John Gotti Jr. On a yearly basis, John Gotti committed crimes and was convicted of them. Several of the crimes ranged from grand larceny, hijacking, and murder. Though Gotti was convicted for several of the crimes, he proved to be a model inmate and was released on good behavior. In 1980, John Gotti tragically loses his son Frank when his bike was hit by their neighbors' car. Later, the neighbor was forced to move because of the constant retaliation from the Gotti family and friends.

Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang wars of the 1920’s. The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Capone grew up during the roaring 20s in Chicago. He joined the James Street gang, lead by Johnny Torrio. In 1920, Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and work with his uncle who controlled the city’s largest prostitution and gambling ring at the time. Capone had liked that idea. Later that year the Prohibition act came into affect and Capone became interested in selling illegal whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. Al Capone was America's best known gangster and greatest

After stealing the vehicle he was found roaming through Indianapolis streets. The police found him and after questioning they arrested the man. Dillinger found a way to escape the officers and knowing he would be in trouble he decided to not go back to his hometown. He later joined the U.S army. John later realized being in the army was not for him. During the Pearl Harbor attack he jumped ships and from then on was dishonorably discharged. He later returned to Mooresville and married the teenager, Beryl Ethel Hovious. John attempted to get his life together but his goal later failed. He robbed a grocery store once again and returned the jail cell. The article, History.com, states while being imprisoned the criminal met two men that would later be apart of his gang. The men he met were Harry Pierpont and Homer Van Meter. While John Dillinger was also doing his time his wife Beryl often visited him. Beryl had a tough time dealing with the separation so she divorced him and once again John went into a deep depression from a heartbreak. After John Dillinger did his time in prison he then met up with the two men he met in prison, from there they started their criminal lives. In May 1929, the men started their master plan. By the year of 1934, the plan got more advanced. They planned to have the robbery happen sometime in late

Stealing from a store might seem immoral, but for John Dillinger, robbing a bank is second nature to him. When you think of one of the most famous robbers of all time, some names might come to mind but John Dillger should be at the top of your list, robbing from 1933 to 1934 known for his crazy escapes he was wanted throughout town. John Dillinger was a notorious criminal during the Great Depression known for his bank robberies and his criminal intellect allowing him to be very successful, leading him to be one of the most famous robbers ever. John Dillinger was a very successful man in his craft and figured out how to be a criminal at a very high level. According to the FBI official site of the United States government, “In frisking Dillinger, the Lima police found a

Imagine, a time when law enforcement agents could only watch a criminal walk away. A time when they were unable to return fire in a gunfight. A time when no means for tracking criminals existed. A time when a state line stood as impassible as a great wall for law enforcement. There was a time, when men created legends with their criminal exploits, by name of John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson. They stood unopposed, taking what they wished on a whim. In 1924, a young man, years short of 30, was put in charge of an agency with no bite. By the end of his life, J. Edgar Hoover was the most powerful man in America, at the head of one of the most powerful organizations in America. He held more power than the very presidents of

On July 21, 1923 John stole a car to impress a girl he was on a date with, cruising the Indianapolis streets and being caught by a police officer. The officer attempted to place him under arrest but Dillinger broke free and fled the scene. The following day he joined the U.S. Navy,

Al Capone, who was born in New York in 1899, was one of the most prominent gangsters in America in the 1920s. He was the son of Italian immigrants, and after leaving school at a young age, became a small-time criminal. Known as ‘Scarface,’ he had links to the leader of the Five Points Gang, Johnny Torrio, and moved to Chicago in 1920, where he gradually rose through the ranks as a partner in saloons, gambling and brothels. They moved their operations to Illinois after an offer to work with Jim Colosimo, a central figure in Chicago’s brothel business. Gang rivalry heated up after a dispute between Torrio and Colosimo over whether to begin in the bootlegging business, and in 1920, Colosimo was murdered allegedly by Al Capone. After this, Torrio’s criminal empire expanded massively throughout Chicago, before leaving in 1925 and handing over operations to Capone. After taking over, Capone expanded operations even further, and was able to control Chicago’s Mayor, ‘Big Bill’ Thompson and fix his elections. A local newspaper from the time reported

He officially dropped out of school at the age of fourteen when he got in a fight with his teacher and his principal punished him with a whipping. Capone chose to get a job in preparation to handle adulthood in Brooklyn, New York. A few years passed and Capone joined his first gang, the South Brooklyn Rippers. While with the South Brooklyn Rippers, Capone stated associated himself with

John Wilkes Booth, born May 10, 1838, was an actor who performed throughout the country in many plays. He was the lead in some of William Shakespeare's most famous works. Additionally, he was a racist and Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge.

The 1920s was a “time of great criminal activity, with prohibition laws in America and the world in an economic depression” (Nash, 1). Organized criminals such as American mobsters thrived during this time. Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were the most well-known of the gangsters at the time, many of the common people looked to these criminals as “heroes”. There were a tremendous amount of people who turned to criminal activity; mostly because jobs were scarce and

Throughout the early 1950's, the nation was deeply engrossed in fears of a Communist takeover. At a time when America's fears were at their very height, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin pushed America's fears to an extreme. As a ploy to get himself re-elected, and to make America hate Communism as much as he did, the Senator devised a devious scheme. McCarthy, while giving a speech, held up a piece of paper and exclaimed, "I have here a list of 57 known Communists who are currently employed by the U.S. State Department" (Fried, 89). A few days later, McCarthy raised the number of people on the list from 57 to 205. The reaction to McCarthy's announcement was absolute panic. Until that time, the

Dillinger dropped out of school at the age of sixteen, and started a job at a motor store (Ryan, 2017). Since Dillinger had a bad life growing up he decided to join the US Navy to get out of his hometown, but then later deserted which became his first crime over the age of eighteen (Stuttman, 1994). After he deserted he returned home and got married to sixteen year old Beryl Hovious (Ryan, 2017). During the Great Depression times, John Dillinger, or “Gentleman Johnnie,” would steal from the wealthy people and rob many banks. Dillinger was thought as a savior to everyone who wanted the depression era to end (Stuntman, 1994). Even though he did steal, he never intended to kill anyone. This shows that he just stole from banks to stay alive and keep the ones he loved alive and well enough to keep functioning during the hard times of the depression era. John Dillinger once said, “Killing people is for the hoods and hoodlums,” he said. “I can get all the dough I want using my head, not and automatic.”

No correction was in mind for these prisoners. Convicts filled the empty hours with talk, mostly about the crimes they had committed and ways they could beat the law. Drug addicts and other petty offenders were mixed with killers and robbers. Young felons, who had taken to crime for no more than sheer pleasure or pride on a dare, came out of prison with no job skills but with plenty of advice from more experienced criminals. In 1933, J. Edgar Hoover was made the director of the recently established FBI agency.

Stunned by the harsh sentence, Dillinger became a tortured, bitter man in prison” (“Famous Cases,” n.d). On May 10, 1933, after serving eight-and-a-half years of his sentence, he was released on parole, where his life quickly continued to revolve around trouble. Dillinger and his gang committed several robberies, murders, and jailbreaks, causing Dillinger to be known for evoking the Gangster Era that ended on July 22, 1934, the night he was pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital after being shot three times by police officers in the alley by the Biograph Theater (“Famous Cases,” n.d).