John Dillinger Memorabilia Being Shopped To Chicago Museums
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- John Dillinger's submachine gun and even his original tombstone are part of a collection of artifacts that could find a new home in Chicago.
A Northwest Indiana tourism group is reaching out to Chicago museums to see if any are interested in the pieces.
The Indianapolis-born Dillinger was one of America's most notorious criminals. He and his gang pulled off a bloody string of bank robberies across the Midwest in the 1930s. The FBI says that Dillinger's gang killed 10 people, but Dillinger was never convicted of murder.
Dillinger was awaiting trial in the slaying of an East Chicago police officer when he escaped from jail in Crown Point, Indiana, in March 1934 with a gun carved out of wood. While on the run, he underwent plastic surgery to alter his face and was said to have tried to remove his fingerprints with acid.
Dillinger, who was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2009 movie "Public Enemies," was fatally shot in July 1934 by FBI agents outside the Biograph theater in Chicago after he was betrayed by a woman who became known in the papers as the "Lady in Red."
The Biograph, at 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, is now home to the Victory Gardens Theater stage company.
A Crown Point museum dedicated to Dillinger shut down a few years back, and the items now being offered to Chicago museums have been in storage ever since.
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