The story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis, and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’s gang thrilled many, authorities hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. They made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing «Clark Gable of the FBI».