One of the most famous outlaws in American history was gunned down in public, then displayed and photographed after his death for all the world to see.
John Dillinger, a gangster with mob ties to one of the most savage crime organizations, was officially dead.
But was his death all an elaborate hoax?
The Indianapolis Star reports that a request from Dillinger’s nephew, Michael C. Thompson, to exhume the body was approved by officials.
In other words — officials gave the OK to dig up Dillinger’s grave. All for a History Channel special! And the network was silent on why he was being exhumed.
But another report finds they are trying to finally resolve one of the great mysteries of the early 20th Century: Just who is buried in Dillinger’s grave?
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“I have been presented with evidence that demonstrates that the individual who was shot and killed at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago on July 22, 1934 may not in fact have been my uncle, John H. Dillinger,” Thompson and Carol Thompson Griffith wrote in an affidavit obtained by WLS in Chicago.
The affidavit appears to rely on a long-lost coroner’s report uncovered in 1984 that indicates the body identified as Dillinger – the body in the grave – doesn’t actually match what was known about Dillinger.
The report indicates the body had a different eye color, ear shape and teeth from what was known about Dillinger.
If the network is planning DNA tests, we might know once and for all the truth about the legendary bank robber.
Dillinger was of course the criminal mastermind of a ruthless gang. The gang killed 10 and left seven injured during a 10-month spree of mayhem that began in Indianapolis in Sept. 1933 and ended on July 22, 1934 when Dillinger was gunned down by federal agents outside the Biograph movie theater in Chicago.
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But to some, he was also an American version of Robin Hood during the height of the Great Depression.
As he robbed banks — already unpopular given the financial struggles of the era – he reportedly destroyed mortgage and loan documents, essentially wiping out the debt of thousands in a nation gripped by poverty.
That made him a folk hero, a figure not only of fascination but in some cases even admiration despite the bloody trail left in the wake of his criminal activity.
Even in death he was a sensation. Thousands turned out to see his body, and his casket was placed in cement reinforced with steel to prevent grave robbers.
“I think they’re going to have a hard time getting through that,” Susan Sutton, a historian with the Indiana Historical Society, told CBS News.
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No doubt the History Channel show will raise interest in Dillinger all over again – and renew the speculation that he might have survived for years, maybe even decades, in hiding.
Of course, all this might be a little too much given that Dillinger couldn’t stay out of trouble for more than five minutes.
Over his lifetime he was captured and escaped jail several times. He and his gang stole an estimated $7 million and never once did Dillinger go into hiding.
He always went back not only to crime, but headline-making robberies, a gangster in love with his own legend.
That brought in the FBI – and three months later, he was dead (or so it seems).
Could a guy like that, who seemed to love not only crime but the sensation he caused, really keep quiet in hiding after staging his own death?
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The world might find out soon.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”