He commanded the Dillinger Gang , which was accused of robbing twenty-four banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and escaped twice. He was charged with but not convicted of the murder of an East Chicago , Indiana , police officer, who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest during a shootout ; it was the only time Dillinger was charged with homicide.
Dillinger courted publicity. The media printed exaggerated accounts of his bravado and colorful personality, and described him as a Robin Hood -type figure.
After evading police in four states for almost a year, Dillinger was wounded in a gunfight and went to his father's home to recover. On July 22, , local and federal law-enforcement officers closed in on the Biograph Theater. Dillinger's parents had married on August 23, His father was a grocer by trade and, reportedly, a harsh man. She cared for her brother for several years until their father remarried in to Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fields β ; they had three children. As a teenager, Dillinger was frequently in trouble for fighting and petty theft; he was also noted for his "bewildering personality" and bullying of smaller children.
Fearing that the city was corrupting his son, Dillinger's father relocated the family to Mooresville, Indiana , in In he was arrested for auto theft , and his relationship with his father deteriorated.
In , Dillinger's troubles resulted in him enlisting in the United States Navy , where he was a petty officer third class machinery repairman assigned aboard the battleship USS Utah.
