Frankie Roche, admitted killer of mob boss Adolfo Bruno, tells jury of history of brutal behavior

NEW YORK - Frankie A. Roche, the admitted shooter in the 2003 contract murder of crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno in Springfield, Mass., conceded on the witness stand that in his life, he has been a chronic and impulsive boozer, has viciously beaten total strangers, has taken a 17-year-old date on a high-speed police chase through central Massachusetts as she screamed in terror, and shot Bruno in cold blood without even breaking a sweat.

That said, he still proved to be an unflappable witness for the government in an ongoing mob murder trial in federal court in Manhattan.

"Did you hesitate when you pulled the trigger?" Geas defense attorney Harvey Fishbein asked on cross-examination

Nope," answered Roche.

"You weren't nervous, were you?" the lawyer asked.

"Nope," Roche responded mildly

'You ever killed somebody before?" Fishbein continued. "First time? Your hands weren't even a little sweaty? Heart beating a little faster?"
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/frankie_roach_admitted_killer.html

Two Lucchese mobsters plead guilty

Two Lucchese crime family mobsters pleaded guilty today to federal racketeering charges.

Carlo Profeta, a Lucchese acting captain, and Eric Maione, a Lucchese associate, both pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to one count each of a racketeering charge related to the use of extortion to collect a gambling debt.

Assistant US Attorney Rachel Nash said during the court hearing that Profeta, 68, and Maione, 34, could face in theory up to 20 years in prison when they are sentenced.

But the two mobsters are expected to receive reduced prison terms after deciding to plea guilty to the charges instead to going to trial when they are eventually sentenced by Judge Eric Vitaliano.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/two_lucchese_mobsters_plead_guilty_w23OGvHCDOMaSILTwc0NkN#ixzz1GyJxx8W1

relatives of Montreal Mafia, Vito Rizzuto: win tax case

The tax appeals in respect of the sale of the Olifas Marketing Group shares by the former shareholders were settled in favour of the taxpayers, allowing their tax appeals in full,” said Ian Morris, a partner with Morris & Morris LLP, a Toronto tax law firm.

Christina Ham, a Department of Justice lawyer on the case, confirmed a settlement had been reached but would not comment on its terms.

The case was scheduled for a hearing next month in Toronto, in the Tax Court of Canada, as 10 former OMG shareholders appealed a decision by the Canada Revenue Agency to disallow their claimed tax deductions from the sale of their shares.

The company has since been sold to new owners and operates under a different name.

The case revealed that silent investors in OMG, the company that won government contracts in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, London and Windsor, included Giovanna Rizzuto, who is Rizzuto’s wife, and their three children: Nick, who was killed in an unsolved murder in December, Leonardo and Bettina, all of Montreal. Their shares were bought in the name of Nino Campoli in 1999, soon after Toronto approved a pilot project for OMG to place recycling and garbage bins on its streets.

Other shareholders included Giancarlo Serpe and two of his relatives; company founder Salvatore Oliveti and his wife, Loredana, all of Vaughan; and Toronto businessman Filippo Calabro.

Mr. Campoli is the son of Frank Campoli, who married Mrs. Rizzuto’s cousin and remained close to the powerful Mob boss, who is now in prison in the United States for his role in three gangland murders in New York City.

Police have watched Mr. Serpe meet with several Toronto-area mafiosi over the years.

Most of the shares in OMG were sold three weeks after police in Montreal pulled a Jeep over in 2002 and demanded a breath test from its driver. Officers found Vito Rizzuto behind the wheel and the Jeep registered to OMG.

The company denied any relationship to the mobster and the mobster denied any connection to the company. Nonetheless, each of the Rizzuto family members involved claimed almost $419,000 in proceeds from the sale of OMG shares, according to court filings.

There is no allegation of illegality in the transactions. The issue was whether the government properly disallowed the deductions on their 2003 and 2004 tax returns.

The tax agency claimed the OMG shares did not qualify because too little of the value of the assets were used in an active business in Canada.

Earlier this year, Vito Rizzuto’s father, Nicolo, 85, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in Montreal and paid $209,000 in fines after $5.2-million in unclaimed income was found in Swiss bank accounts held in the name of others.

Similarly, in 2001, Vito Rizzuto settled a dispute over undeclared revenue from shares in a different firm that were in the name of others, including Mr. Campoli. He paid a $400,000 settlement.

Genovese crime family figure Frank Schwamborn pleads guilty gets 11 years

Vincent "Chin" Gigante in photo
A longtime associate of the Genovese organized crime family has pleaded guilty to securities fraud for selling $2.1 million of worthless stock, according to federal officials.

Frank Schwamborn, 48, of Farmingdale, took over a Ronkonkoma company, called World Cyberlinks, which had been set up to produce docking stations for Palm Pilots, but which did not actually make any products, officials said.

Schwamborn had the company transfer stock to a number of companies he had bought or set up in return for services, officials said. He took control of these companies using money he made selling cocaine, federal prosecutors said.

The companies never performed any services for the Cyberlinks company, officials said. But the stock transfers were backdated to get around the rule requiring that stock used to pay for services had to be held for a year before they could be resold, officials aid.

Among the companies, which prosecutors say are now out of business: Burdette Ltd., on the Isle of Man; Puritan Management of Bay Shore; FRF Holding of North Babylon , and Candles, a restaurant in Bay Shore that also was known as Park 70 Bistro and Giovanna's.

Schwamborn has been held in jail without bail awaiting trial on the charges because of a history of threats made against agents, police officers and state and federal prosecutors involved in the case and other investigations, officials said.

A postal inspector said in an affidavit at the time of Schwamborn's arrest that he was an associate of organized crime who had his own crew, which was "a collection of thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes, 'leg breakers,' and stockbrokers."

A number of stock investors, who were possible witnesses against Schwamborn, had been asked to move ...

Mafia godfather takes revenge on uncle after wife leaves

Mafia gang destroyed a bowling alley and amusement arcade after a godfather's wife left him.
Giuseppe Palumbo, 34, ordered the raid after his wife went to stay with an uncle, the owner of the premises.

Customers cowered as the six-strong gang, wearing crash helmets and carrying guns, pushed over gaming machines and then poured petrol on to bowling lanes before setting them on fire.

Police released the footage of the raids at Giugliano and Pozzuoli near Naples, home of the southern Mafia known as the Camorra.

A spokesman said: “Palumbo was furious because the uncle had been given the money by him to set up the premises and he viewed it as an offence to his honou

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23827140-mafia-godfather-takes-revenge-on-uncle-after-wife-leaves.do

Colombo crime-family POW scam

mobster pleaded guilty yesterday to a bizarre scheme to defraud a former Long Island congressman out of $18,500 in exchange for bogus information about Vietnam POWs.

Charles Guiga, 38, admitted that within the last year he’d sent letters supposedly written by a Russian mobster and giving the locations of 75 prisoners of war supposedly being held in the former Soviet republic of Belarus.

But the letters to one-term GOP Rep. John LeBoutillier were in actuality the scribblings of imprisoned Colombo crime-family captain Frank “Frankie Blue Eyes” Sparaco.

Sparaco, 54, who is serving a 24-year federal sentence, once did time with Russian mobster Vyacheslav Ivankov and claimed to have a line into Eastern European gangs. “Frank Sparaco sent me handwritten letters from prison and asked me to correct his spelling, type the letters and send them . . . to ‘John the Congressman,’ ” Guiga told Brooklyn federal Judge Carol Amon in pleading guilty to mail fraud.

LeBoutillier, 56, who held office from 1980 to 1982, served on a special congressional committee on Vietnam War MIA/POWs. He believes that some are still being held, and he remains committed to freeing them.

And he says he still feels that Sparaco’s letters could lead somewhere.

“I’ve gotten some good information from these guys,” he said

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mobster_pow_scam_took_li_pol_for_jKzNsJMRyrs1HEplltsTQN

Genovese Family fink flies the coop

Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta was here one minute, and gone the next. The Genovese boss of Springfield, Massachusetts was arraigned here on March 24 for the mob murder of Arillotta's predecessor as chief of the crime family's Bay State rackets. But we didn't even have a chance to say hello.

The next day, Bingy disappeared from the federal lockup at the Metropolitan Correctional Center without so much as a wave goodbye to capo Arthur (Little Guy) Nigro, his onetime acting family boss who, like Arillotta, had pleaded innocent to the murder charge in Manhattan Federal Court the day before.

Arillotta's absence is something that FBI spokesman Jim Margolin and the U.S. Attorney's office won't talk about. But no one disputes the only obvious conclusion: Bingy is now batting for the other side and swinging for the fences - especially those that surround federal prisons - for the feds.

Bingy's lawyer, Thomas Butters, of Boston, did not return a call from Gang Land. In hindsight, however, the attorney's remarks to Springfield Republican reporter Stephanie Barry after Arillotta's arraignment may speak volumes about his client's apparent move to Team America: "The SHU (special housing unit) in the MCC is an experience," the lawyer told Barry, repeating what an FBI agent had told him. "It makes the SHU at the MDC (Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn) look like a country club."

According to prison officials, Arillotta spent three days in the MDC, and then 10 days in the MCC, when he was officially "released." That's the technical term for it. More than likely, Bingy was moved to another location where he could be debriefed by FBI agents and federal prosecutors looking to pad their batting averages against wiseguys.

If he has gone bad - as they call it in Gang Land - according to our quick and dirty count, Arillotta would be only the fourth Genovese family wiseguy to defect since Joe (Cago) Valachi became the first to break the Mafia's vow of omerta nearly 50 years ago. For the record, Vincent (Fish) Cafaro, in 1986, and George Barone, in 2001, are the others.

Arillotta, 41, supervised the November 23, 2003 murder of capo Adolfo (Big Al) Bruno for Nigro and other New York wiseguys, according to the New York indictment and court papers filed in Springfield, where Bingy's reputed main enforcer, Fotios (Freddy) Geas, was charged with the slaying back in 2008.

Geas allegedly recruited a low-level Springfield gangster for the hit and paid him $10,000 for his efforts. Freddy was hit with federal murder charges after the gunman, Frankie Roche, fingered him as the man who paid him to whack Bruno. The 57-year-old mobster was shot to death as he left a regular Sunday night card game at a neighborhood social club that he ran.

As "Bruno came out of the social club," Roche boasted to one witness, "I walked up to Bruno and said, 'Hey Al, you looking for me?' and I popped him," according to portions of FBI reports that were filed in Springfield by Peter Ettenberg, a court-appointed Worcester attorney for Geas.

Late yesterday, as news of Arillotta's apparent defection spread like wildfire in organized crime circles, a usually reliable source told Gang Land that the feds were planning to add aging Genovese wiseguy, Pasquale (Scop) DeLuca, who is identified as a co-conspirator in the Massachusetts case, as a defendant. DeLuca, 78, is currently serving a five year prison stretch for being part of the conspiracy to murder mobster Ralph Coppola, who was killed in 1998 and whose body has never been found.

Meanwhile, Geas, who had been scheduled to go to trial in Springfield last month, is en route to New York to face the music for the Bruno murder with Nigro, along with four others who are charged only with other racketeering charges, namely gambling and loansharking.

In an unusual move, Geas asked that his case be transferred to New York. This is not something that Nigro and the lesser codefendants can possibly be happy about because it puts a defendant whom an admitted killer will point to at the same table alongside them. And the prevailing wisdom is that it's always better to go to trial alone, rather than with other accused criminals next to you.

David Hoose, a court-appointed attorney from Northampton who also represented Geas in the Massachusetts case, told Gang Land that Geas was well aware of the downside of moving his trial to New York. But "Freddy - everybody calls him that," said Hoose - and his lawyers felt that even if he were acquitted in Massachusetts, the feds in New York would find a way to charge him again, so why not go there now and be done with it.

Hoose had no real answer when Gang Land noted that if Geas beats the charges in New York, the feds in the Bay State could still opt to bring the defendant to trial there. But maybe Geas and his lawyers are on to something.

The last defendant who sought to move his trial to Manhattan Federal Court rather than go to trial out of state on murder and racketeering charges was mob prince John (Junior) Gotti. And he didn't fare too badly. And wouldn't you know it, of 41 federal judges who could have gotten the case, it was randomly assigned to the same judge who presided over Gotti's trial - P. Kevin Castel.
http://af11.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/hollywood-goodfella-jerry-capeci-genovese-hood-flees-mcc-cage-like-a-stool-pigeon/

Junior Gotti Goes to Hollywood

From "The Godfather" to "The Sopranos," Hollywood has made a killing off the story of organized crime.
Now John Gotti Jr. is looking to cash in.
The former boss of the Gambino crime family hopes to make a film, documentary and memoir chronicling his life in the mob. Gotti claims he left the game in 1999.
Federal prosecutors announced they would not pursue a fifth racketeering and conspiracy trial against Gotti after the ex-mob scion walked in December. It was the fourth time he got off in five years.
Since the feds said they don't intend to revive the charges, Gotti's free to share his saga for entertainment purposes.
Gotti began writing his story four years ago and is reportedly finished with 75 percent of the book. The documentary would feature, among other things, the last encounter between father and son before John Gotti Sr. died of cancer in prison.
"He's willing to go all the way, revealing as much as possible without hurting anyone who's still in the street life," Tony D'Aiuto, Gotti's former defense attorney and a founder of the production company set to produce the documentary, told DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com.
In addition to helping pay his numerous legal bills, Gotti he wants to break into entertainment so he can start a youth center to steer kids away from crime.
Gotti, 46, pled guilty in 1999 to racketeering charges, including bribery, gambling, fraud and extortion, most of which related to his attempts to extort money from the owners of an exclusive Manhattan strip club.
He was sentenced to 77 months in jail and released in 2005.

Mafia figure Roberto Settineri connected to Scott Rothstein pleads not guilty

The reputed mafioso brought down by Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice.

The reputed mafioso allegedly brought down by Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice, and will remain in federal custody for the time being.

Roberto Settineri, 41, appeared in court wearing khaki jail scrubs and handcuffs. He did not have to say a word to U.S. Magistrate Robin Rosenbaum during the brief hearing — his attorney did the speaking for him.

Settineri and two of his reported associates — security firm operators Daniel Dromerhauser, of Miami, and Enrique Ros, of Pembroke Pines — were indicted March 10 on federal charges for reportedly shredding two boxes of documents at Rothstein's request and laundering $79,000 for him, before Rothstein himself was arrested Dec. 1 in a massive $1.2 billion investment fraud scheme. Dromerhauser and Ros had already entered not-guilty pleas.

Hollywood Goodfella: Gangster turned TV pundit jailed for 12 years

A professional gangster and TV pundit who wrote an autobiography entitled The Art of Armed Robbery and supposedly renounced crime was jailed for a minimum of 12 years after being found guilty today of masterminding a series of violent cash raids.

Terry Smith, 50, who appeared on chat shows and worked as a film consultant capitalising on his criminal expertise, inflicted near fatal injuries on a commuter who went to the help of an assaulted security guard.

While publishing his memoirs and providing commentary on such events as the £53m Securitas raid in 2006, Smith was plotting a series of cash-in-transit attacks that netted his gang £172,000.

Chelmsford crown court heard that during one of the raids at Rayleigh railway station a passerby, Adam Mapleson, was blasted in the chest as he rushed to help a female security guard.

Mapleson, 26, said he was walking to work in May 2007 when he saw a man carrying the snatched cash box running towards him. Mapleson was shot but survived after the bullet ricocheted off his collar bone, away from a major artery.

Smith, from Canvey Island, Essex, was found guilty of conspiracy to rob between 1 September 2006 and 30 April 2008 and conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to commit robberies.

Smith told detectives "this is outrageous" when he was arrested at his home at dawn in May 2008. Patricia Lynch QC, prosecuting, told the jury that members of the gang had been seen meeting at the Dick Turpin pub near Basildon, Essex.

Smith was asked by his defence counsel, Martin Hicks QC, about his book, which described him as a notorious armed robber. Referring to the exact phrase used in the book, he replied: "I believe the term is infamous armed robber."

He said that he had not agreed with how his publishers had promoted the book, saying it had glorified him.

He was asked directly by Hicks: "The allegation against you is that you are a serious career armed robber."

"That's not true," replied Smith. He said he was a serious crime reporter.

After being sentenced to 31 years in prison for armed robberies committed during the 1980s, Smith had claimed that he was going straight. He wrote The Art of Armed Robbery – The True Story of Britain's Most Infamous Armed Robber, published in 2003.

The book's cover shows a shaven-headed robber carrying a bag of swag and pointing a handgun at the camera. The publicity material said: "Terence Smith was much more than just another criminal. With a penchant for learning and his sophisticated clean-cut image, his tale is told with a finesse and intelligence. He is now fully reformed."

He was said to be "one of the most ­daring armed robbers of his generation" and Britain's most wanted criminal, before allegedly giving it all up for his young family – his wife Tracey and children Terence, Bradley, Jade and Sonny.

After being sentenced in June 1983 to 15 years for armed robbery, he escaped in a prison van in November 1984 and spent two years on the run. During his time as a fugitive he conceived his fourth child Sonny and committed more robberies before his arrest in June 1986, when he was given a further 16 years imprisonment at the Old Bailey.

Smith was released on parole in 1995 before deciding to go straight. In 2004 he was part of a gang of reformed gangsters who took part in a Channel 4 programme called The Heist where the former crooks successfully kidnapped a £1m racehorse called Lucky Harry.

He has also appeared on the Sky programme Inside the Perfect Bank Robbery, on the BBC religious show The Big Question and as a consultant on a Spike Lee film The Insider.

In May 2005 he published another book called Two Strikes and You're Out and gave interviews as a crime pundit during the police investigation into the £53 million Securitas raid in February 2006. He published a third book called Blaggers Inc - Britain's Biggest Armed Robberies.

Smith's brother Lenny, 52, a bricklayer from Dagenham, was cleared of charges of conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to commit robberies.

John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone: Chicago Outfit

John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone (July 7, 1914 - November 20, 1996) was a Chicago mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit, during the late 1960s. During the 1950s Cerone was a chauffeur to boss Antonino "Tony" "Joe Batters" Accardo, then became the protege of boss Salvatore "Sam," "Momo" Giancana.. As an Outfit enforcer, Cerone was arrested over 20 times on charges including armed robbery, bookmaking, illegal gambling, and embezzlement. Cerone became boss of the Outfit following the semi-retirements of Accardo and Joey "Doves" Aiuppa. In 1986 Cerone, Aiuppa, Carl "Corky" Civella, and Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna were convicted of skimming $2 million from a Las Vegas casino. Joseph Agosto, Kansas City crime family member and Las Vegas casino worker, turned states evidence and testified against the bosses. In 1996, Jackie Cerone died of natural causes six days after

Hollywood Goodfella: Chicago: Mexican drug kingpin pleads not guilty

CHICAGO – The alleged leader of a major Mexican drug cartel has pled not guilty in a Chicago courtroom, to trafficking millions of dollars worth of heroin and cocaine into the United States.

The federal trial of Jesus Zambada-Niebla is the biggest international drug conspiracy trial in the city’s history.

Zambada was charged in Chicago, because most of the smuggled drugs ended up in the city.

Romania Police Discover Huge Heroin Haul in Bulgarian Haiti Aid Truck

Romanian authorities have discovered “hundreds of kilograms” of heroin hidden in a Bulgarian registered truck carrying aid for Haiti.

The truck was searched on the Romanian border with Hungary and according to reports it was heading to Belgium. Romanian officers using sniffer dogs discovered the haul in bottles next to the brake system of the truck.

Romanian authorities have started an investigation and the Bulgarian truck driver has been taken away for questioning.

Romanian law provides a 25 year prison sentence for serious drug trafficking offenses

Daniel Leo, a/k/a "The Lion,"Genovese Crime Family boss

The acting Don of the New York-based Genovese Organized Crime Family, Daniel Leo, a/k/a "The Lion," and his nephew and primary lieutenant, Joseph Leo, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges Friday in Manhattan federal court.

According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court: Beginning in about 2005, Daniel Leo became the acting boss of the Genovese Organized Crime Family, from his previous post as a member of the Family’s ruling panel.

During the time Daniel Leo served as acting boss, he continued to supervise a "crew" of Genovese Organized Crime Family members and associates, including Joseph Leo and others, who committed loansharking, extortion, and illegal gambling offenses under Daniel Leo's direction.

Both defendants pleaded guilty today to Counts One and Two of the Indictment, which charged them with participating in, and conspiring to participate in, the affairs of the Genovese Organized Crime Family through a pattern of racketeering activity. Both defendants admitted during the plea proceeding that they participated in the affairs of the Genovese Organized Crime Family by engaging in loansharking, and that they conspired to operate an illegal gambling business.

These two defendants entered their guilty pleas before United States Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis. They are scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Richard Holwell on April 2, 2010.

Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Daniel Leo and Joseph Leo are currently serving prison sentences of 60 months and 46 months, respectively, based on their prior convictions in Manhattan federal court on extortion charges in October 2007.

Federal Prosecutors Portray John Gotti as Killer as Victoria Gotti Enjoys Star Treatment

NEW YORK — As his sister Victoria Gotti began a book tour like a celebrity author, John "Junior" Gotti sat in court, portrayed as a merciless killer by federal prosecutors who want to show he was far different from his entrepreneurial sister.
Last week, the government used its star witness — childhood friend John Alite — to convince a Manhattan jury that Gotti was as lethal a threat to society as anyone else in the Gambino crime family once led by his late father, John Gotti Sr.

Read The Full Story RatFella Alite

Jerry’ Angiulo dies at 90

It was Boston’s first big Mafia case. New England mob underboss Gennaro “Jerry’’ Angiulo was captured on FBI tapes played at his 1985-86 trial ordering a soldier to “stomp,’’ stab, and strangle a witness, bragging about his crimes and berating underlings.

The wise-cracking Mr. Angiulo, who stood only 5 foot 7 and had a booming voice, serenaded spectators during a morning recess with his own version of, “I’m Just a Gigolo,’’ singing: “I’m just a racketeer, that’s all I ever hear, people know the game I’m playing. When they lay me to rest, with a lily on my chest, the gang will go on without me.’’

Ninety-year-old Mr. Angiulo, who outlived most of his old gang and witnessed the decline of the local Mafia, died yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital of renal failure from kidney disease, according to his lawyer, Anthony Cardinale.

The once powerful mobster, who ruled Boston’s rackets from the 1960s until the early 1980s, considered it a personal victory that he survived 24 years in prison, won his release two years ago, and died a free man, friends said.
“He was determined to get out of jail, despite what was thought to be a life sentence, and spend the rest of his life with his family,’’ Cardinale said. “He accomplished that. He was a very strong-willed person. He outlived most of his enemies.’’ Full Story

Italy: Police seize €500 mln euros in mafia assets

Rome, 20 August (AKI) - Italian Anti-Mafia tax police seized nearly half a billion euros worth of assets generated by Mafia organised crime activities and money laundering in the first half of 2009. According to figures released by police on Wednesday, tax authorities seized more than 475 million euros worth of assets, as well as 431 kilogrammes of illicit drugs.The tax police also arrested 141 people, while another 533 others are under investigation."The results were achieved as a result of co-ordinated and persistent action and analysis of criminal activities and economic and financial activities, carried out in collaboration by several departments and a number of national and international institutions," the tax police said in a statement."Using the latest advanced computer applications they are able to have at their disposal a geographical map of criminal organisations, to identify areas of influence of mafia groups in the region."

DILLINGER

An elderly janitor walked into the cell block of the Lake County Jail at Crown Point, Indiana. The date: March 3, 1934. It was a relatively new facility, built onto the back of the

This photograph and similar ones taken that day helped lead to the firing of Lake County prosecutor Robert Estill (to Dillinger's left) and the sheriff (not pictured, but her arm is holding Estill's). AP photo.sheriff’s house in 1926, easy to clean, impossible to escape from. The addition of a notorious prisoner—John Dillinger—would prove that. Or so the sheriff thought.
As the janitor entered the cell, the prisoner jumped him and jammed a gun—actually a piece of wood carved in the shape of one—into his ribs. Quickly, through a combination of bravado and desperation, Dillinger tricked half a dozen guards back to the cell block, confiscated their weapons, and jailed the jailors.

On that day, Dillinger was 30 years old. He was of medium build and average height, with brown, thinning hair. His most distinguishing feature was a roguish smile, which he had put to good use in a series of press photos with the prosecuting attorney Robert Estill and the sheriff upon his extradition to Crown Point. The chummy nature of the photos contributed to both these officials losing their jobs that year. And Dillinger’s charm had already begun to captivate the American people, who began to see him as part Robin Hood, part vicious thug.

The notorious gangster had been captured in Arizona two months earlier. He was wanted in connection with the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer named William O’Malley. At the time Dillinger was not on our radar; he had committed no federal crimes. But we had been assisting Ohio law enforcement in their search for him after was freed from a Lima jail by his confederates in the fall of 1933.

Now Dillinger had escaped once more. In making the break, he’d stolen the sheriff’s car and driven it to Chicago, 50 or so miles northwest of Crown Point. In the process, he crossed the Indiana/Illinois border and violated the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, commonly called the “Dyer Act.” John Dillinger was now a federal fugitive and an FBI subject.
Over the next several months, the Bureau tracked Dillinger and a wide array of violent criminals who worked with him—making mistakes along the way, but ultimately bringing these violent criminals to justice.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of that chase. More importantly, it is the 75th anniversary of the emergence of the FBI as an organization of national and international stature.
The Bureau’s success in dealing with the gangsters led to significant changes in the FBI and law enforcement nationwide. Over the next few months, we will spotlight what we are calling “The Year of the Gangster” on this website through stories, photographs, and multimedia presentations, along with some new case details. We will tell how we went after such desperados as Bonnie and Clyde, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Baby Face” Nelson, and more. We will examine the social and political changes that arose from these criminal threats, bring to light long-forgotten historical sources, and consider the role that the Gangster Era played in the evolution of the FBI and its portrayal in American popular culture.

Resources:- FBI history website- More history stories