Public Enemies: Gangsters in St. Paul

Back in the 1920s and 1930s, St. Paul was the most notorious of the Twin Cities. Along with politicians, businessmen and socialites, prominent gangsters and their followers were attracted by the bright lights and corrupt authorities of the Silver City. Some of the "Public Enemy" era's best known villians, John Dillinger, Babyface Nelson, Roger "the Terrible" Touhy, Machine Gun Kelly, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, and the Barker gang all spent time in St. Paul, robbing, smuggling, looting, extorting and murdering.

Public Enemies, a new film starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Marion Cotillard as his girlfriend Billie Frechette. The pair, along with Dillinger's gang, lived in St. Paul briefly in 1934, were involved in a shootout at a St. Paul apartment building, and Frechette was convicted of harboring a fugitive at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, then the Federal Courts Building.

Curious about St. Paul's past? John Dillinger Slept Here by Paul Maccabee documents St. Paul's gangster era. This definitive read is published by the Minnesota Historical Society press and available from the MNHS and local bookstores.

The Wabasha Street Caves, home to speakeasies and mobsters, and the scene of at least one murder has cave tours every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday taking visitors back through 150 years of the cave's history. They also operate a bus tour, the Saint Paul Gangster Tour, taking guests around the most nefarious sights of St. Paul.

Public Enemies is now showing at movie theaters across the Twin Cities.