Dillinger, Capone and Bonnie and Clyde
highlight Butler County crime legends

Compiled by Jim Blount

Alphonse (Scarface) Capone, George (Bugs) Moran, John H. Dillinger, Charles A. (Pretty Boy) Floyd, George (Baby Face) Nelson, the Barker family, and Bonnie & Clyde are just a few of names that made crime headlines in the 1920s and 1930s. Folk tales place several of that era’s infamous in Butler County, but facts don’t support most of the stories told about that period when the area was known as Little Chicago. Clyde Barrow and John Dillinger were in Little Chicago, but not Al Capone.

Exactly when and why the Hamilton area was first called Little Chicago is unknown. Whatever the reason, the label has endured, even though the conditions that spawned the infamous sobriquet haven't existed for decades.The city acquired the nickname early in the Prohibition Era (1919-1933) because of similarities with the Windy City. By the mid 1920s, Hamilton, Ohio -- like Chicago, Ill. -- was known for its bold and open defiance of prohibition and other laws and moral codes. "It is easier to buy moonshine than milk" in Hamilton, claimed a crusading minister in 1925. Prohibition -- which was supposed to stop the manufacture, transport, sale and even the possession of intoxicating beverages -- started in Ohio May 27, 1919.

That was several weeks before the first federal restrictions began. Following are reports on John Dillinger, Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde in regard to Butler County.