The Incredible Life Of The Man Who Brought Down John Dillinger

Publish date: 2024-05-07

After a failed attempt at an arrest at a Dillinger hideout in Wisconsin — two civilians were wounded and one killed by mistake; tear gas fired by the agents blew back on them, sickening them, and Dillinger escaped — Purvis received word that the gangster was going to go to the movies at the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Agents and Chicago police surrounded the theater. As Dillinger exited, Purvis lit a cigar, the signal to the other law enforcement. "Stick 'em up, Johnny, we have you surrounded," he called out. Dillinger pulled a gun and made a run for it but was met with gunfire. Purvis himself never fired a shot. He generously gave credit for the success to everyone involved, likening it to a military operation. Purvis was still labeled "The Man Who Got Dillinger" by the press, and in time, his remarkable record as an agent drew the jealousy of Hoover, who claimed he didn't want individual agents to be glorified — it was always a team effort. The fact is that Hoover resented anyone's fame eclipsing his own, leading him to turn down The Untouchable, Eliot Ness himself, for a job. Purvis led manhunts for Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd before resigning from the agency in 1935. He served in Army Intelligence during World War II, rising to the rank of colonel, and helped compile evidence against Nazi leadership for the Nuremberg Trials.

He died of a gunshot wound in 1960. The FBI claimed it was self-inflicted, but there's evidence he really might have been trying to clean the weapon and accidentally shot himself.

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