page_title: Dillinger Gang
section_title: Hiding out in Tucson
hierarchical_section_title: Dillinger Gang / Activities / Hiding out in Tucson
caption_attribution_description: English: Old newspaper clipings on display in the old lobby of the historical Congress Hotel in Tucson in regard to the capture of John Dillinger in said hotel. Every January the hotel celebrates the capture of Dillinger and his gang in what they call the "Dilinger Days".
context_page_description: The Dillinger Gang was the name given to a group of American Depression-era bank robbers led by John Dillinger. The gang gained notoriety for a successful string of bank robberies, using modern tools and tactics, in the Midwestern United States from September 1933 to July 1934. During this crime spree, the gang killed 10 and wounded 7. They managed to pull off three jail breaks which wounded two guards and killed a sheriff.
  The increased use of new law enforcement techniques by the newly strengthened Bureau of Investigation led to the dismantling of the gang. Many of its members were killed or imprisoned. Most notably, the FBI killed Dillinger in 1934 when he exited a movie theater.
context_section_description: On January 21, 1934, a fire broke out at the Hotel Congress in Tucson where members of the Dillinger gang were staying. Forced to leave their luggage behind, they were rescued through a window and down a fire truck ladder. Makley and Clark tipped several firemen $12 (each, according to a bureau report) to climb back up and retrieve the luggage, affording the firefighters a good look at several members of Dillinger's gang. One of them, William Benedict, later recognized Makley, Pierpont, and Ed Shouse while thumbing through a copy of True Detective and informed the police, who traced Makley's luggage to 927 North Second Avenue. Officers from the Tucson Police Department went to the address on the afternoon of January 25, and there arrested Clark after a struggle. They found him in possession of $1,264.70 in cash.
  Makley was then followed to the Grabbe Electric & Radio Store on Congress Street, where he was looking at a radio capable of picking up police calls, and was apprehended there. He had $794.09 of cash in his possession.
  To capture Pierpont, the police staged a routine traffic stop and lured him to the police station, where they took him by surprise and arrested him. There was $99.81 recovered in Pierpont's personal effects and $3,116.20 on Mary Kinder.
  Dillinger was the last one taken, caught when he returned to the bungalow where Clark was captured. He had $7,175.44 in his possession, including notes from his robbery of the First National Bank in East Chicago, A000919 through A001107. These amounts, along with a leather money bag found, totaled over $25,000 in cash, as well as a cache of machine guns and several automatic weapons. 
  The men were extradited to the Midwest after a debate between prosecutors as to where the gang would be prosecuted first. The governor compromised, and ordered that Dillinger would be extradited to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point for Officer O'Malley's murder in the East Chicago bank robbery, while Pierpont, Makley and Clark were sent to Ohio to stand trial for Sheriff Sarber's murder. Shouse's testimony at the March 1934 trials of Pierpont, Makley and Clark led to all three men being convicted. Pierpont and Makley received the death penalty, while Clark received a life sentence. On September 22, Makley would be shot dead by guards when he and Pierpont attempted to escape with fake pistols that were carved from bars of soap and painted black with shoe polish. Pierpont was wounded, and executed on October 17. Clark would ultimately be released in 1968, dying of cancer a few months later.
  Dillinger was flown back from Douglas Airport, Tucson, to Midway Airport, Chicago over the course of two days. With Lake County Chief Deputy Carroll Holley (Sheriff Lillian Holley's nephew), and East Chicago Chief of Police Nick Makar escorting the outlaw, the plane departed Tucson at 11:14 p.m. on Monday, January 29. After stops in Douglas, AZ (plane change), El Paso, Abilene, Dallas (another plane change), Fort Worth, Little Rock and Memphis (another plane change, a Ford Tri-Motor), there was yet another stop in St. Louis, where Chicago Times reporter/photographer Sol Davis boarded the aircraft and was obliged by Dillinger to take a few photos and ask some questions. After a while, growing weary of the questions and being photographed, the outlaw told Davis, "Go away and let me sleep." Dillinger's brutal flight schedule ended at about six p.m. January 30 when the plane finally touched down at Midway. Waiting for him on the ground were 32 heavily armed Chicago policemen. A 13-car caravan consisting of 29 troopers from Indiana was ready to escort Dillinger to Crown Point, 30 miles away, to be tried for the O'Malley killing.
caption: Display of newspaper clippings of the capture of John Dillinger and his gang in the old lobby of the Congress Hotel.
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