Which US gangster bragged that he escaped from jail using a wooden gun?

The US gangster who once bragged that he escaped from jail using a wooden gun was John Dillinger. John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster in the Great Depression-era United States. He operated with a group of men known as the "Dillinger Gang" or "The Terror Gang" which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations, among other crimes. Dillinger escaped from jail twice.

John Dillinger was a Midwestern bank robber, auto thief, and fugitive who captured the national imagination until the FBI caught up with him in 1934. During the 1930s Depression, many Americans, nearly helpless against forces they didn’t understand, made heroes of outlaws like John Dillinger who took what they wanted at gunpoint.

Dillinger's end came when five shots were fired from the guns of three FBI agents. Three of the shots hit Dillinger and he later died in a Chicago, IL area hospital. Eventually, 27 persons were convicted in US federal courts on charges of harboring and aiding and abetting John Dillinger and his cronies during their reign of terror.