What do John Dillinger, the most notorious outlaw of the 1930s, and his gang have to do with Tucson? More than most people guess. In January 1934, the whole crew was arrested here, undone not by the FBI but by a hotel fire, a heavy suitcase, and a $12 tip. Here is how it happened.
Public Enemy No. 1
In January 1934 John Dillinger was 30 years old and had already spent 11 of those years locked up. A teenage troublemaker and thief, he did a stint in the Navy that changed nothing, then committed a robbery and assault that put him in prison from 1924 to 1933. On his release, the story goes, he swore he would be the meanest man the country had ever seen, and he came close to keeping the promise. Charismatic and colorful, Dillinger drew both the press and a rotating crew of three or four professional criminals skilled with safes and machine guns. In the months before Tucson, the gang had killed 10 men, wounded seven, robbed eight banks, staged three jailbreaks, and led the FBI on a chase across the Midwest. Dillinger was declared Public Enemy No. 1.
Why the gang met in Tucson
Over Christmas 1933 the gang decided to cool it and lay low, scattering for the holidays. When the call came to regroup, they picked Tucson: far from their Midwest hunting grounds, warm in January, and full of strangers. Several of the men booked rooms at Hotel Congress while Dillinger and his entourage stayed nearby. For a few quiet days, the plan worked.
The fire that ended the run
Then, on a January morning in 1934, a defective oil furnace in the hotel basement ignited a pile of wood. The fire raced up the elevator shaft to the second and third floors, where gang members Makley and Clark had their rooms. Everyone got out safely, and more than a thousand Tucsonans gathered to watch the fire department battle the blaze.
Makley and Clark had a problem: their luggage was still inside. They offered two firemen a $12 tip, worth around $278 today, to go back in and retrieve the bags. The firemen agreed, and grew suspicious. The bags were far too heavy, and the tip was far too big. Later, back at the firehouse, one of the firemen was leafing through a True Detective magazine and recognized the two generous guests. That set the arrests in motion, and within days all four members of the Dillinger group were in custody, including John Dillinger himself. The suitcases turned out to hold machine guns, handguns, bulletproof vests, and more than $20,000 in cash.
Does the Dillinger gang haunt Hotel Congress?
There are no strong reports tying the gang to the hotel's hauntings, which makes sense: they all walked out alive, if unlucky. The Congress has plenty of other resident spirits, from the woman in white of Room 242 to Vince and his butter knives, and we cover them in the haunted history of Hotel Congress. For how Tucson celebrates the capture each year, see Dillinger Days at Hotel Congress.
Walk this story
The Dillinger arrest is a favorite stop on our downtown Tucson ghost tour, evenings at 8 PM, $29 per person. Monk tells it near the spot where a thousand Tucsonans stood watching the smoke in 1934, and the ending lands better in person.
