About this episode

This episode explores John Dillinger's final bank robbery in downtown South Bend with local historian Aaron Helman.

If you were alive in America in the early 1930s, there was one name that dominated newspaper headlines everywhere: John Dillinger. He wasn’t just a criminal - he was a national celebrity outlaw. He and his gang had bank robbery down to a science: planning, timing, speed. In most cases they were in and out in a couple of minutes. And on June 30th, 1934, that machine wildly rolled into downtown South Bend. In this episode, I sit down with local historian and author Aaron Helman to explore the story of John Dillinger’s final bank robbery, which took place in broad daylight on a busy downtown South Bend street. Aaron wrote about this event on his website, The South Bend News-Times, in an article titled “John Dillinger’s Last Robbery Was in South Bend.” Be sure to check out that piece, along with Aaron’s other local history work, which includes multiple books, articles, and a podcast series. I’ve included links to it all below. https://southbendnewstimes.com/community/helman-john-dillinger-south-bend/ Learn tons about our local history from Aaron’s books. Check them out at: https://www.aaronhelman.com/ Aaron also hosts and narrates a local history podcast called “A Bend in Time”…

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