Dillinger kin sues Tucson festival, says crook is all his

This year's event, which commemorates the capture of the infamous bank robber at the hotel in 1934 with re-enactments, history lectures and classic cars, drew several hundred people to Downtown Tucson.

Jeffery Scalf of Indiana is suing hotel owner Richard Oseran, saying he owns Dillinger's personality.

Oseran says the street festival isn't going anywhere.

"You can't take away a part of our history, any more than Wyatt Earp or Geronimo or anyone else," he said.

The hotel is being sued under an Indiana law that protects a person's personality for 100 years after his or her death. It works like a trademark, because a person who wants to profit from the use of the personality must obtain written permission.

Arizona has no such law, and it's not clear whether the Indiana law applies here.

The lawsuit, which refers to Dillinger as "the famous and legendary gentleman bandit," claims the Hotel Congress needs the permission of Scalf, who states he owns a majority interest in the Dillinger persona — which includes his "name, voice, signature, photograph, image, likeness, distinctive appearance, gestures and/or mannerisms."

Scalf is asking a federal court to force the Hotel Congress to stop hosting the annual event and to turn over all unsold Dillinger merchandise to him. Scalf would not comment for this article, referring a call to his attorneys, who did not return phone calls.

Oseran said the hotel doesn't charge for the event, which it established in 1992. Hotel Congress doesn't sell souvenirs related to Dillinger and doesn't even organize the event anymore. It's now sponsored by the Tucson Downtown Alliance.

Scalf, whose grandmother was Dillinger's half-sister, owns Dillinger LLC and JohnDillinger.com, although most of the site's pages are blank.

Scalf tried in 2002 to start his own Dillinger Days in Mooresville, Ind., his hometown and the hometown of his robber relative, to mark Dillinger's birthday. But members of the Town Council turned down Scalf's proposal and his idea for a Dillinger museum, saying the Indianapolis-area town shouldn't glorify its connection to a famous criminal, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article.

The Tucson event is different, Oseran said.

"We don't celebrate Dillinger," he said. "We celebrate his capture by the Tucson Police Department." A fire at the Hotel Congress set off events that led to Dillinger's arrest in Tucson.

Since he failed to start his own street festival, Scalf has sued the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Indiana over a Dillinger museum; a Dillinger-themed restaurant in Hudson, Ind.; and a San Francisco-based computer game maker over a game called "Gangsters" that features Dillinger as a character, according to newspaper articles and court records.

Scalf attended the local Dillinger Days festival about three years ago and told Oseran he had rights to the Dillinger persona, Oseran said. But Oseran, who is a retired lawyer, said the hotel has rights, too.

"We're spending a lot of money defending this lawsuit, not only on our own behalf, but on behalf of the community," he said. "It's a wonderful community event and we're proud that we established it. We're not going to stop and we're not going to be intimidated."

"We don't celebrate Dillinger. We celebrate his capture by the Tucson Police Department."

Richard Oseran

Hotel Congress owner