The Dillinger Conspiracy
John Dillinger, charismatic bank-robbing bad boy, public enemy number one, and famously shot by law enforcement when leaving a Chicago movie theater. Or was he? Did the cops and the FBI get it all wrong?
Dillinger is arguably the most famous crook of Depression Era America. He stole less than others, and was never convicted of murder, but he was stylish and a roguish gentleman, and he captured the fascination of America, from the public to the police to the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation, and more dangerously, Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover. A fan of fast cars, loose women, powerful guns, and bullet-proof vests, Dillinger swept his way across the country during his one year crime spree of bank heists and shootouts. But when a car theft crossed state lines, Hoover finally had his chance to go after the man he had been seething over for months. The FBI and the out-of-state police force led by the man who tipped off the Feds trapped Dillinger as he left the Biograph Theater in Chicago, shooting his multiple times as he fled down the street.
But the details of his death remain a mystery. No photographs of the scene of the crime were ever taken, and there is no report of who actually shot Dillinger. As a homicide detective, a private investigator, an FBI agent, and experts on the dead explore the scant evidence and possible cover-up, the question arises: Was Dillinger killed July 22, 1934, or did he set up another man to be assassinated in his place?
Produced in Association with:
