Mob Museum acquires artifacts of gangster, bank robber

The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, has acquired rare artifacts from infamous outlaw John Dillinger.

Dillinger was a Great Depression-era criminal known for leading the Dillinger Gang that terrorized the Midwest in the 1930s. He is known for murder, theft, 24 bank robberies and, most notably, staging three prison breaks.

The artifacts include the wooden gun he used to escape the Crown Point, Indiana jail and his original death mask made just 12 hours after his death which was orchestrated by the FBI in 1934.

The museum successfully won the gun in an auction in 2023, after the artifact had been passed down through Dillinger’s lineage and family friends for over 80 years.

The death mask was made from a mold at the Cook County Morgue by Harold May. The mask is one of two made by May.

Other Dillinger-era artifacts include original press photographs and newspapers from a prison escape. The items join a collection of other infamous criminal figures such as Al Capone’s Colt 1911 and his .38 caliber revolver.

The artifacts are currently part of a rotating mobile display on the third floor of the museum and will be permanently displayed in January.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.