Dillinger’s fingertips, examined in the Cook County morgue on the morning of July 23, 1934, illustrated this principle with specific, documented clarity.
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## After Dillinger: The Gang’s End
The dissolution of the Dillinger network in the months following the Biograph shooting was rapid. The same period that produced the FBI’s greatest success of the Public Enemy era also saw the elimination of most of the men Dillinger had worked with.
Homer Van Meter, Dillinger’s longest-running associate, was shot by police in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 23, 1934 — approximately one month after Dillinger’s death. The same tactic of infiltration through informants that had worked at the Biograph contributed to Van Meter’s location and death.
Baby Face Nelson — Lester Gillis — who had killed FBI Agent Baum at Little Bohemia and been part of the Dillinger orbit, was shot by FBI agents on November 27, 1934. He killed two agents, Samuel Cowley and Herman Hollis, before dying of his wounds. His death closed the most violent chapter of the Depression-era gang wars.
Harry Pierpont and Charles Makley, who had escaped from the Indiana State Prison in the 1933 breakout that had freed Dillinger, were captured, tried, and executed. Pierpont was executed in the electric chair at Ohio State Penitentiary in January 1934; Makley was killed in a prison escape attempt.
John Hamilton, Red Hamilton, died of wounds received during the St. Paul shootout in March 1934. His body was hidden by associates using lye to prevent identification — a measure that proved less effective than hoped, as his remains were eventually found and identified.