10. John Dillinger Had Gonorrhea
While Al Capone was serving time at Alcatraz for tax evasion, gangster John Dillinger went on a crime spree that spanned much of the continental United States. Born in 1903, he joined the navy but soon deserted and lived much of the rest of his life on the run. With no income and a 16-year-old wife to support, Dillinger turned to crimester Ed Singleton. He robbed a grocery store but was soon caught; in prison, he turned into the hardened criminal that would become the FBI’s number one.
Following his release, he and his gang robbed banks, broke criminals out of prisons, and even stole guns and bulletproof vests from police officers. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the nascent FBI, assigned a special team to apprehend Dillinger. He was killed in a firefight with FBI officers.
In 1924, when Dillinger was first sent to prison, he was diagnosed with gonorrhea. During his six-year prison term, the treatments that he received were painful injections straight through his penis, which probably did little to alleviate the disease and exacerbated his contempt of the American justice system. He may have even tried to flee, and his antics earned him an extra year added to his prison sentence.