John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America’s First Celebrity Criminal
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Best-selling author Dary Matera sets the Dillinger record straight, seventy years after the outlaw's death. John Dillinger is an adrenaline-fueled narrative that reignites America's fascination with the suave but deadly desperado who was the FBI's first "Public Enemy." Dubbed "The Jackrabbit" because of the way he leaped over bank cages and railings, Dillinger and his bank-robbing gang cut a criminal swath yet to be equaled. They became so famous in the 1930s that throngs of excited spectators would block the route to their getaway cars. When caught, Dillinger staged the most harrowing prison escapes imaginable-only to finally be betrayed by the infamous "Lady in Red." John Dillinger brings to light new information, including bank robberies never before reported; detailed plans for major crimes that Dillinger nearly implemented; the revelation that the "Lady in Red" was actually a police plant; and the startling fact that John Dillinger was summarily executed by rogue FBI agents being manipulated by East Chicago detectives desperate to cover up widespread police corruption. With access to thousands of detailed accounts, and pages of telling photographs, Matera's definitive book describes every robbery, shoot-out, and prison escape as though he choreographed them himself.
Customer Review: Not Just Another Dillinger Narrative
So much has been written about John Dillinger over the years that I didn't think it possible any new facts could be unearthed at this point in time. In his meticulously researched profile of the likeable Indiana farmboy who came to symbolize the Public Enemy during the Middle Western crime wave of the Great Depression, however, Dary Matera does just that. The author reveals many hitherto unknown facts concerning the outlaw's troubled youth, his long imprisonment for a bungled, amateurish robbery attempt, his bank robbing forays and daring shoot-outs with police and FBI agents. He provides a detailed, step-by-step account of the desperado's celebrated "wooden gun" escape from the County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, quite possibly the most intricate chronicle of this particular episode written to date. I'm not a professional fact checker so I'm assuming that all the claims put forth in this book had been verified by the editor and/or publisher. The writing at times was a bit too breezy for my taste, but that's strictly my opinion and does not diminish the story at all. Ultimately, I feel it's a better than average biography of the man whom Mr. Matera calls "America's first celebrity criminal," although I am sure there are some who would take issue with that description.
