When John Dillinger walked out of the Indiana State Penitentiary in May of 1933, he was

like a recent graduate walking out of a technical college with a two-year degree. He'd worked

in the prison's shirt factory alongside a handful of robbers, and he'd learned valuable

things. Two of the crew were youngsters like himself, Homer Van Meter, and Harry Peerpont.

The three of them had become friends while serving time together, and they would reunite

for the second half of Dillinger's career. There was also James Jenkins, who would play

a role much sooner than Van Meter and Peerpont, and so would Jenkins' sister. And then there

were the real teachers, Walter Dietrich and James Clark. They were protegees of the

godfather of modern bank robbery, Herman Lamb. Lamb was now dead, but all the rest of

these men worked long hours together in the shirt factory. Dietrich and Clark tutored

the younger men who were eager students. They would all rob banks together in the coming

months in one combination or another. But the first to emerge from prison was John Dillinger.

Without his friends, he had to assemble a gang of his own. After a rough start, he partnered

with a reliable man and soon built himself into a prominent criminal in the Midwest. By the time

he helped his friends break out of prison, he was well on his way to becoming public enemy

number one.

From Black Barrel Media, this is season four of Infamous America. I'm your host, Chris

Wimmer. In this season, we're telling the story of the most notorious bank robber in modern

American history. John Dillinger. This is chapter three, Partners in Crime.

The new Carlisle bank in Carlisle, Ohio holds a place of distinction in American history.

It's the place where the greatest bank robber of the modern age began his career. John Dillinger

and two other men, Lefty Parker and William Shaw, entered the bank. They covered their faces with

...