MONTICELLO - Monticello Area Historical Society will host Neal Trickel as the program speaker at the Thursday, June 25, monthly general meeting in the north room of Zwingli Church.
Trickel is a nationally known collector of gangster memorabilia, especially items belonging to John Dillinger. Dillinger's story is told in the movie "Public Enemies," recently filmed in Darlington and other Wisconsin locations and set to release July 1.
Trickel began collecting his gangster items when he befriended a man who was the retiring head of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab Firearms Identification unit. His brother worked with Dr. Calvin Goddard, who did the ballistics testing after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He inherited boxes full of historical relics that nobody seemed to want. Over a period of about six years, Trickel bought his entire collection. Over time, he became known nationwide as a buyer of gangster stuff.
Trickel owns the copyright for Dillinger's death mask as well as two of the original molds of his face. He will have a casting on display for the June 25 event, along with a model of his famous "wooden gun" and an old Winchester shotgun the gang left in a mine near Platteville.
Most of Trickel's talk will revolve around photos he has collected. He will be showing some newly restored autopsy photos of Dillinger that have not been seen by the public before, and offer the possibility that it wasn't Dilinger who was killed at the Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934.
The general meeting will begin at 7 p.m. followed by Trickel's program at 7:15 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
Trickel is a nationally known collector of gangster memorabilia, especially items belonging to John Dillinger. Dillinger's story is told in the movie "Public Enemies," recently filmed in Darlington and other Wisconsin locations and set to release July 1.
Trickel began collecting his gangster items when he befriended a man who was the retiring head of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab Firearms Identification unit. His brother worked with Dr. Calvin Goddard, who did the ballistics testing after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. He inherited boxes full of historical relics that nobody seemed to want. Over a period of about six years, Trickel bought his entire collection. Over time, he became known nationwide as a buyer of gangster stuff.
Trickel owns the copyright for Dillinger's death mask as well as two of the original molds of his face. He will have a casting on display for the June 25 event, along with a model of his famous "wooden gun" and an old Winchester shotgun the gang left in a mine near Platteville.
Most of Trickel's talk will revolve around photos he has collected. He will be showing some newly restored autopsy photos of Dillinger that have not been seen by the public before, and offer the possibility that it wasn't Dilinger who was killed at the Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934.
The general meeting will begin at 7 p.m. followed by Trickel's program at 7:15 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
