Public Enemy Number One. There are few titles that carry more notoriety than being labeled as the #1 threat to society. Those who have been so branded are among the worst of the worst. The names of Al Capone, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and El Chapo are forever seared in the public’s memory because of that notorious designation. Each of them earned a dubious place in history because of their misdeeds.

There is one name, however, that towers over the rest in terms of infamy. It is the name of the man who was the first to be so branded by the FBI: John Dillinger.^*

The Napoleonic Influence on American Law Enforcement

Dillinger rose to notorious prominence during the Great Depression. As head of the Dillinger Gang, he was linked to 24 bank robberies and four police stations. In one shootout, he killed an East Chicago, Indiana police officer.

Unlike most criminals, Dillinger sought publicity. His ego was fed by an all-too-cooperative media that depicted him as a modern-day Robin Hood. When he robbed banks, he openly flirted with the female cashiers. He boasted that no prison could hold him and proved it by escaping imprisonment twice.

Although a good portion of the public was entertained by Dillinger’s criminal activity, one man viewed him as a menace. J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). He was trying to increase the authority of the BOI and saw Dillinger as a means to that end. As part of his campaign to transform the BOI into the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Hoover made it his goal to bring Dillinger to justice.

Hoover gave Dillinger an unusual 31st birthday present. That day, June 22, 1934, he was designated Public Enemy Number One. The government offered a $10,000 (nearly $225,000 in 2023 valuation) reward for his capture and $5,000 for any useful tip that would lead to his arrest.

Dillinger started to feel the noose tightening. Everywhere he looked, he could see his face on wanted posters. $10,000 was a lot of money under any circumstances, but in the midst of the Great Depression, it was an irresistible incentive to cash-strapped Americans. The longer he remained as a fugitive, the higher the reward grew. He knew he would have to take drastic action if he was going to evade capture.

Dillinger realized that his quest for publicity would be his undoing. Everyone recognized his face because it had been in every newspaper and newsreel for a decade. He also knew that if he got arrested, that could only lead to one place. “I’m traveling a one-way road,” he told a friend, “and I’m not fooling myself as to what the end will be. If I surrender, I know it means the electric chair. If I go on, it’s just a question of how much time I have left.”

He came to the conclusion that there was only one way to evade capture. He needed to change his face. His well-known features would have to be erased, and he would need to assume a new identity.

“I’m traveling a one-way road, and I’m not fooling myself as to what the end will be. If I surrender, I know it means the electric chair. If I go on, it’s just a question of how much time I have left.”

Dillinger sought out Wilhelm Loeser. Loeser had been a practicing physician until he was convicted of drug-related crimes. His medical license was revoked. After his release from prison, Loeser was desperate for money. Dillinger waved $5,000 in front of him and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Dillinger told the former doctor that he wanted two moles removed on the right lower forehead between the eyes and one at the left angle, the outer angle of the left eye. He also wanted a depression of the nose filled in, a scar above his lip removed, his dimples erased, and the angle of his mouth changed.

Any doubts Dillinger may have had about allowing someone with a revoked medical license to operate on him were overcome by Loeser’s qualifications. He had already performed a similar procedure on another patient — himself. He not only altered his facial features but used acid to obliterate his fingerprints. If Loeser could perform such a procedure on himself, Dillinger was confident he could easily do the same for him.

Loeser agreed and enlisted the assistance of Dr. Harold Cassidy to administer general anesthesia. No sooner did Dillinger go under the ether than things started to go wrong.

Dillinger immediately went into distress. His face started to turn blue. Then he stopped breathing altogether. The doctors realized their patient had received a fatal overdose of ether. John Dillinger, Public Enemy Number One, the man who was being hunted by every badge-wearing law enforcement officer in the nation, would never take another breath unless they took drastic action.

With only seconds to act before it was too late, the doctors leaped into action. Loeser grabbed a pair of forceps, reached into Dillinger’s mouth, and took hold of his tongue. He pulled it out to clear his airways. At the same time, he thrusts his elbows into Dillinger’s ribcage. The men slapped the gangster’s face, yelled his name, and pounded on his chest.

At last, Dillinger gasped and resumed breathing. The doctors wiped the sweat off their foreheads, steadied their nerves, and went back to work. Not willing to trust ether again, they continued with local anesthesia. Loeser removed Dillinger’s moles and worked on his nose, chin, and cheeks.

A few weeks later, Dillinger was back. He wanted more work on his face, and he also wanted his fingerprints removed. Having successfully brought his patient back from death, Loeser was emboldened. This work was going to cost Dillinger $100 per finger. He first removed the skin from the fingertips with a scalpel and then bathed the gangster’s fingers in a painful — and ultimately pointless — bath of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid.

Loeser performed a few more procedures on Dillinger in the weeks to follow. By all accounts, Dillinger was less than thrilled with the outcome. We will never know if the former doctor would have been successful if given enough time. The police stopped any further procedures when they learned Loeser was practicing medicine without a license and arrested him on July 24, 1934.

Even if Loeser hadn’t been arrested, the question of his success was moot. Two days before the police apprehended Loeser, FBI agents caught up with John Dillinger. He was leaving Chicago’s Biograph Theatre where he had been watching a gangster movie. The notorious gangster opened fire on the federal agents, who returned fire and shot him dead.

A little more than one month after being named Public Enemy Number One, John Dillinger was dead. Even in the moments of his death, he was still a quasi-hero in the eyes of many. The federal agents who brought him down struggled to keep the crowd of curiosity-seekers back, many of whom dipped their handkerchiefs and clothing in the gangster’s blood.

Two days later, Public Enemy Number One was laid to rest. More than 5,000 people attended the funeral. Only a few realized they were attending the funeral of a man who had died twice. The headlines told the whole world about the modern-day Robin Hood who went out in a hail of bullets. It wasn’t until much later that the world learned about Dillinger’s first death on the operating table at the hands of a disgraced doctor.

* NOTE: Many believe Al Capone was the first Public Enemy Number One. He did receive this designation in 1930, but it was at the direction of the city of Chicago. Dillinger was the first person to bear the title nationwide.

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