Episode Details

John Dillinger robbed banks across the Midwest during the Great Depression and became America's first celebrity criminal. His exploits forced J. Edgar Hoover to transform the FBI from a small bureaucratic agency into a national law enforcement powerhouse.

This episode follows his thirteen-month crime spree, his multiple prison escapes, and the manhunt that ended outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, reshaping American policing forever.

• How Dillinger escaped Crown Point jail with a wooden gun
• The FBI's bungled ambush at Little Bohemia Lodge
• Why the public rooted for bank robbers during the Depression
• The Biograph Theater ambush and the Lady in Red betrayal