CHICAGO, July 25 (UPI) -- To mark the 70th anniversary of criminal John Dillinger's death, a group of historians and others met at in Chicago, the New York Times reported Sunday.
Shortly before 10:30 Thursday night, the hour at which Dillinger emerged from Chicago's Biograph Theater, the group viewed the alleyway where the notorious bank robber's FBI assassins shot him to death.
Dillinger was beloved by many ordinary people even as law enforcement agents pursued him, members of the group said. In his time, many people were angry at banks, so by robbing them, Dillinger took on the aura of a Robin Hood.
Dary Matera, author of the biography "John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal," said Dillinger "lives forever, in a way no other criminal before or since has even approached."
"He's on that island with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and President Kennedy," Matera said, "the place for people who never die."
