3 March

Carlo Ponzi is born in Lugo, Emilia-Romagna.

Charles Ponzi Convicted

Boston, 1920: an Italian immigrant promised 50% in 45 days on postage coupons. Eight months later his name was a byword for fraud.

Dillinger escapes from the Lake County jail at Crown Point using a real or carved pistol.

John Dillinger Killed before trial

Out of prison in May 1933, dead by July 1934: Midwest bank raids, a jailbreak with a gun that may have been wood, and a summer night at the Biograph.