Piggybacking on the release of the John Dillinger movie Public Enemies, which followed the last years of John Dillinger, who spent a fair amount of time in St. Paul, the Landmark Center is having an exhibit of artifacts from St. Paul’s shady past in the exact courtroom where both Alvin “Creepy” Karpis and Billie Frechette were tried. We visited yesterday, and it’s excellent (Eda Cherry does a write-up); best part: A lunatic propaganstic newsreel commissioned by Hoover to explain why agents shot Dillinger in the besk. The answer: he was a murderous mad dog, as the narrator keeps reminding with dialogue like “Dillinger’s mother died when he was three, which was good luck for her considering what a gorilla he would become!”
Gangsters
Jul 15 2009 — 9:26am
6 Reader Comments
10:03 am
Let’s not forget the threat of “Gangster Government.”
10:11 am
Yo Michelle, what the **** are they yellin’? Gangsta, gangsta!
OK, there’s your little bit of NWA for the day.
11:15 am
Northwest Airlines?
3:01 pm
Northwest *Orient* (bong) Airlines.
Because, back in the days before deregulation, Northwest serviced Asian routes from within the US while TWA serviced European routes from within the US. Pan Am flew everywhere overseas but could only do so from coastal airports.
Now, back to your thread which is already in progress.
5:16 pm
I just posted a lil’ article on stpaulstaycation.com about the Public Enemies exhibit that includes events and some extra gangster-related stuff in St. Paul. Peep it HERE.
7:46 am
Oh, my Grandmother and John Dillinger are both buried at the same cemetary (Crown Hill)in Indianapolis.
She didn’t rob any banks, to the best of my knowledge.