John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dillinger, as a child went by the name “Johnnie”. Dillinger was known as “Jackrabbit” as an adult, due to his quick getaway from police (Matera, 2004). Dillinger, as a boy, would commit petty theft and pranks with his neighborhood gang , “the Dirty Dozen”. Dillinger was the youngest of two children born to John Wilson Dillinger and Mary Ellen Lancaster. In 1923 Dillinger, while on a date, stole a car to impress an girl and caught by police. Dillinger broke loose and ran away. The next day he joined the Navy. After basic training, he was assigned to the U.S.S Utah, which was the same ship sunken at Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Matera, 2004).After five months Dillinger decided …show more content…
Dillinger was sent to the Indiana State reformatory in Pendleton. Dillinger played shortstop on the prison baseball team there. After a few years in prison, Dillinger requested to be sent to Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indian. Because of the death of his stepmother, Dillinger was granted parole in May of 1933 after being in the State prison for four years. Dillinger, once of parole, continued his robberies. He was soon after arrested. Dillinger was incarcerated at the Lima, Ohio, jail under the watch of Sheriff Jess Sarber and his wife. Shortly after Dillinger was incarcerated, three of his gang member went the jail he was in, and identified themselves as officers from the state penitentiary and needed to see Dillinger. Sheriff Sarber reached for his gun and was shot twice. Sarber’s wife gave the members the keys and they left with Dillinger. Sheriff Sarber died a few hours later. Dillinger and his gang traveled to Chicago, where they assembled one of the most organized and dangerous bank robbing gangs in the country. The gang had big jobs planned and need heavy equipment to pull them off, so they went to Peru, Indiana to the police arsenal, where they stole machine guns, shotguns, and