8 Amazing Real-Life Prison Escapes

real life prison escapes john dillinger

#6. Lake County Jail | Crown Point, Indiana | March 3, 1934
John Dillinger, one of America’s most well-known Depression-era gangsters and bank robbers, escaped from prison twice. The first escape was a four-man operation that left two guards dead, but Dillinger’s second break from the “escape-proof” Lake County Jail in Indiana in 1934 was far more impressive.

Dillinger and four of his gang members were arrested in Tucson, Arizona before being extradited to Lake County. While in the clink, Dillinger used a wooden “gun” to trick the guards and take hostages. Once he managed to lock up all 33 jailers and prison workers, he made sure to let them all know that the gun was a phony. Pretty low, right? Well, not as low as stealing the sheriff’s brand-new car and making his getaway.

Later that year, Dillinger was gunned down by FBI special agents outside of the Biograph Theater in downtown Chicago.

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