WHERE MR. PINK MET THE LADY IN RED:

Felonious and Urbane, Dillinger Still Charms (STEPHEN KINZER, 7/25/04, NY Times)

On a steamy night 70 years ago, the debonair bank robber John Dillinger, who had reached a level of fame equaled only by Charles Lindbergh and Franklin Roosevelt, stepped out of the Biograph Theater in Chicago and was shot to death by F.B.I. agents who were waiting in ambush. .

To observe the anniversary of his death, a band of historians, crime buffs and others met Thursday night at a tavern near the Biograph. Shortly before 10:30, the hour at which Dillinger and two female companions emerged after seeing the gangster film "Manhattan Melodrama," the group walked to the alleyway where his killers had laid their trap.

As the plaintive strains of "Amazing Grace" wafted from a bagpipe, Robert Ritholz, an amateur historian and artifact collector, solemnly poured a can of beer onto the ground at the spot where Dillinger fell.

Later, Mike Flores, a theater director who has immersed himself in Dillinger lore, said the shooting had touched off a public frenzy.

"Within minutes after he died, these streets were filled with thousands of people," Mr. Flores said. "No one could get in or out, not even ambulances. People were dipping their handkerchiefs in his blood. He was like a rock star."

Although Indiana lays a claim to him because he was born there, and although he robbed banks in at least five states in his 13-month crime spree, Dillinger returned time and again to Chicago. Many people here are still in thrall to his memory.

Saw Reservoir Dogs at the Biograph, top that?

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 31, 2004 1:58 PM