I AM TRYING TO FIND INFORMATION ON A BANK ROBBER NAMED MEL DILLINGER
WHO ROBBED 40+ BANKS IN THE MID-WEST IN THE 1980'S UNTIL HE WAS SHOT
AND KILLED ROBBING A BANK IN COLORADO AROUND 1987 OR '88.  HIS
NICKNAME WAS "THE GENTLEMAN BANDIT".  HE GRADUATED FROM
WILLIAMSBURG(PA) HIGH SCHOOL IN 1970 OR '71.  IS THERE A SOURCE I CAN
USE TO FIND MORE ABOUT HIM?

Hello Tippy123, and thank you for a question that was both challenging
and easy: challenging because the bank robber's name was Dellinger
rather than Dillinger, and easy because, once I had the right name,
the rest of the search was straightforward.

Melvin Dellinger was the third most prolific bank robber in U.S.
history.  He dressed nattily, wore a brown wig, and often made his
getaways on bicycle.  His spree came to an end on October 7, 1987,
when he was fatally shot during a holdup in the same bank in Denver
which had been the site of the first of his 27 robberies in Colorado. 
He also held up banks in Washington, New York, Minnesota, Missouri,
Indiana and probably elsewhere.

He was, indeed, known as the "gentleman bandit", perhaps due to his
style of dress, but I'm not sure how appropriate the nickname really
was.  Dellinger was described as "reasonably polite" but also as
someone who "liked to shove a large semi-automatic handgun" in
people's faces.

Dellinger died with a note in his pocket that read, in part:  "My wife
knew nothing about this. Please tell her I'm sorry. Thanks" and
included her phone number.


A newspaper search at any library on Dellinger's name around the date
of his demise will uncover dozens of articles about him; his noteriety
was national, if not international.  I hope I have given you an
adequate summary here, but if you feel additional information is
warranted, please let me know before rating this question through the
"Request for Clarification" button, and I will do my best to assist
you.


search strategy:  [ "gentleman bandit" and colorado ] on newspaper
databases.

The quotes above are from a 12/10/87 story from the Chicago Tribune
"NOTE LEFT BY 'BANDIT' REVEALED".

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Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 19 Jan 2003 18:06 PST

I neglected to mention that there's very little available about
Dellinger on the web itself...not much turns up from a Google search
except for one possibly interesting tidbit.  The author of this site:

http://www.sexandgutsmagazine.com/hallfame.htm

claims that Dellinger was his uncle.  The site has a contact button at
the bottom of the page, in case you're interested in pursuing this as
a possible lead for more information.