The brutality of the Kansas City Massacre shocked the nation, and Attorney General Homer Cummings began to expand his campaign on federal authority over crime. Cummings’ twelve point crime program made crimes such as bank robberies, extortion, and kidnapping federal offenses.
With Al Capone in prison, a new name popped up on the public enemies list: John Dillinger. The Dillinger Gang, which would be veered and admired by the public, came into prominence in the early 1930s. After a bank robbing spree and several arrests, it was not until Dillinger drove a stolen car across a state line, that he became noticed by the FBI, since driving a stolen car across a state line was a federal offense. Dillinger became Hoover’s problem, and Hoover assigned Melvin Purvis to the case. The case was a challenge for Purvis, and the incident outside of the Little Bohemia Lodge was a disaster for the FBI. Purvis tendered a resignation letter, but Hoover turned it down. Purvis received more assistance from Hoover, increasing the size of the staff on the Dillinger case, and a lead from a lady named Anna Sage, aided in the downfall of John Dillinger. Immediately following John Dillinger’s death, Melvin Purvis became the most famous law enforcement agent in the country; the ultimate “G-man.”
