The Dynamics of Dillinger

The new film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger has brought the notorious bank robber back into the spotlight, spurring a mini-boom in Dillinger books, articles, and festivals. The Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona, where Dillinger was arrested in 1934 had a commemoration timed to coincide with the premiere of the movie, and in St. Paul, Minnesota, there's a Public Enemies Festival with author lectures, exhibits, and a reenactment of the trial of Dillinger’s girlfriend, Evelyn Frechette. You can even bid on Dillinger's derringer pistol, which is going up for auction on July 25 (although you'd better have about $45,000 on hand).

Although there have been many books on the life of the legendary Dillinger, there have been fewer on the gang members associated with him during his life, many of whom had even more colorful lives and committed more crimes that Dillinger himself. One such book is The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang by Jeffery S. King (who also penned The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd), which provides biographical information on nine of Dillinger's associates, their upbringing and how they drifted into -- or in some cases like Homer Van Meter -- actively sought out a life of crime. King delved into FBI files, court and prison records, and local newspapers to write this well-documented account of the supporting cast who supported Dillinger, most of whom would make fascinating biographical studies all their own.  As William Helmer comments on the back cover, "Dillinger didn't do it alone."

King includes some of the bizarre events from their escapades, such as Baby Face Nelson taking a perverse pleasure in Homer Van Meter's distress at the look of his face after Meter's plastic surgery, and firefighters helping Russell Lee Clark and Charley Makley during a fire at the Congress Hotel save their baggage which included a heavy fabric box where several machine guns were hidden. The book has several photos, some of morgue shots, and extensive bibliographical notes.

A companion book to Dillinger and the era of the gangster and outlaw era from 1920-1940 is The Complete Public Enemy Almanac by William Helmer and Rick Mattix. A valuable reference resource, the book has encyclopedic entries with outlaw bios and the FBI Gang Membership List, timelines of crime, interesting articles and sidebars such as info on the state of the police radio and bulletproofing and a listing of local and federal officers killed in the line of duty during the period, as well as what's billed as "the first comprehensive true-crime bibliography."

Both are good resources to have in your library if you're a fan of the gangster and outlaw era, or if you're researching or writing historical crime fiction set in that time period.