CRIMINAL ARCHIVE

Why was John Dillinger nicknamed Jackrabbit? 10 nicknames explained

Image: Ye Jinghan

Just like an artist chooses a stage name, criminals have long used aliases to instill fear and avoid capture. These pseudonyms often embody part of the essence of the individual behind the mask, or are related in some way or another to their past.

Let's delve into the stories behind these 10 infamous criminal aliases and the individuals who wielded them.

Image: Miami Police Department

Al Capone, dubbed "Scarface" for the distinctive scar on his face, was one of America's most notorious gangsters during the Prohibition era. He earned the scar during his time in the Five Points Gang of New York. Capone insulted a woman while working in a gang-operated dance hall, only to be viciously attacked by her brother, who slashed his face with a knife. In time, his hair-raising alias became synonymous with organized crime in Chicago, where he ran speakeasies and engaged in bootlegging.

Image: Artur Tumasjan

Frank Abagnale, an American con artist famous for his many frauds against individuals and small businesses during the ‘60s, earned the alias "The Skyway Man" for his audacious scheme of impersonating a Pan Am pilot and using his status to cash fraudulent checks without suspicion everywhere in the world. His life was later portrayed in the acclaimed Steven Spielberg film "Catch Me If You Can."

Image: Indiana State Penitentiary

John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber during the Great Depression, known for his brazen heists and daring escapes from the police. His dangerous exploits earned him the nickname "Jackrabbit" due to his graceful movements during heists, such as leaping over the counter - something he allegedly copied from the movies. The FBI also dubbed him "Public Enemy Number One," and his larger-than-life figure epitomized the glamorization of outlaws in American folklore.

Image: Nastya Dulhiier

The Zodiac Killer, an unidentified serial killer active in California during the late 1960s and early 1970s, earned his alias for his taunting letters sent to newspapers and police, filled with cryptic ciphers and threats and signed under the "Zodiac" pseudonym. Though the police identified a series of potential suspects, the killer behind the letters was never positively identified, leaving behind an enduring mystery surrounding his identity and motives.

Image: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

Blackbeard was the nickname of Edward Teach, a notorious English pirate who roamed the Caribbean during the early 18th century. He earned his alias for his fearsome appearance and ruthless tactics. The pirate was described as a tall man with a thick black beard, often braided into pigtails. During battles, he often stuck lighted slow matches under his hat to scare his enemies. However, despite his appearance and reputation, most historians believe that Blackbeard never murdered or harmed those he held captive.

Image: Rob Wicks

John Gotti, a powerful Mafia boss in New York City during the 80s, earned the alias "The Teflon Don" for his ability to evade conviction despite numerous charges against him. His apparent legal invincibility was achieved by intimidating witnesses and buying jury members with the help of the Gambino crime family. However, he was eventually convicted by the FBI after a lengthy investigation, receiving life in prison without parole.

Image: Konrad Summers, CC BY-SA 2.0

Griselda Blanco, a Colombian drug lord known for her ruthlessness, earned the alias "The Black Widow" for reportedly ordering the killing of each of her husbands. Also known as the "Godmother", she rose to prominence in the underworld of Miami during the 1970s and was known for her penchant for eliminating rivals who dared cross her path.

Image: Scott Graham

Meyer Lansky was a key figure in organized crime during the Prohibition era, as he earned his alias "The Mob's Accountant" for his financial prowess in managing illicit enterprises. Lansky’s alias reflected his strategic role in introducing money laundering and offshore banking in 1932 to the American criminal underworld. However, until his death in 1983, he was never found guilty of anything more than illegal gambling.

Image: George Bergman, GFDL 1.2

Ted Kaczynski, an American domestic terrorist and mathematician, gained notoriety as "The Unabomber" for his targeting of universities and airlines with homemade bombs. But before his real identity was known, the FBI internally used the name UNABOM (meaning University and Airline Bomber) to refer to his case. The media soon picked up the FBI identifier and creatively transformed it into the "Unabomber."

Image: Roman Kraft

Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a Depression-era bank robber and folk hero, earned his alias for his youthful appearance and charm. His exploits and story contributed to the romanticized image of the outlaw as a Robin Hood figure, as he was believed to burn mortgage documents during robberies, in theory freeing many people from life-long debts.

This is what the presidents call it

Ever wonder why these presidential codes sound so strange?

Presidents seem to speak a vocabulary of their own. There’s the armored limousine known as "The Beast," the mysterious "Biscuit" tied to nuclear command, and a presidential retreat once called "Shangri-La." Even familiar terms like POTUS and the White House have stories that reach much further back than most people realize. Here are 10 presidential names, nicknames, and code words, along with the fascinating stories behind them.

The massive desk in the Oval Office may look like an ordinary piece of presidential furniture, but its history stretches back to an Arctic exploration ship.

In 1854, the British ship HMS Resolute became trapped in Arctic ice while searching for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin. The crew eventually abandoned the vessel. A year later, an American whaling crew discovered the ship drifting in the ice, and the United States bought it, restored it, and returned it to Britain as a gesture of goodwill. When the ship was later retired, Queen Victoria had some of its oak timbers turned into an elaborate desk. In 1880, she presented it to President Rutherford B. Hayes. The desk spent years in different parts of the White House before Jacqueline Kennedy moved it into the Oval Office in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy. Several presidents later chose different desks, but the Resolute Desk eventually became one of the most recognizable pieces of furniture in the White House.

You've probably seen the president's armored limousine roll through a city on the news. Most people just call it "The Beast." But it also goes by "Cadillac One," and Secret Service radios use a third name entirely, "Stagecoach." The story behind those names starts in the sky, not on the road.

In December 1953, an Eastern Air Lines flight and a plane carrying President Eisenhower answered to the same call sign, 8610, in the same stretch of airspace. To stop that from happening again, the Air Force created a single name for any aircraft carrying the president: Air Force One. The Secret Service later applied that same idea to the limousine, giving it its own name, Stagecoach, and its own private radio handle. Two identical Cadillac Ones now travel with every motorcade, so no one outside the Secret Service knows for sure which one is real.

Today, the presidential retreat tucked into Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains is known as Camp David. But its first name sounded much more exotic.

Franklin D. Roosevelt established the mountain retreat in 1942. He called it "Shangri-La," borrowing the name from the fictional Himalayan paradise in James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon. The name remained through the rest of Roosevelt’s presidency and into Harry Truman’s administration. When Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1953, however, he thought "Shangri-La" sounded a little too grand for a rustic mountain retreat. He changed the name to Camp David in honor of his father, David Eisenhower, and his young grandson, David Eisenhower. The new name was less mysterious and much more personal.

It’s hard to imagine Washington, D.C., without the White House. But for much of its history, "The White House" wasn’t actually its official name.

During the 19th century, government documents usually called the building the "Executive Mansion" or the "President’s House." Citizens, however, had already been calling it the White House for years. The nickname was a natural one. The building’s sandstone exterior had been painted and whitewashed, giving it the pale appearance that inspired the familiar name. The informal name finally became official in 1901. President Theodore Roosevelt preferred "The White House" to the rather stiff "Executive Mansion" and ordered the words placed on official stationery.

The United States Marine Band has a title that sounds almost like a family nickname: "The President’s Own." And there’s a good reason for it.

Congress created the band in 1798, but its close relationship with the White House took shape a few years later. On New Year’s Day in 1801, John Adams invited the musicians to perform inside the still-unfinished Executive Mansion. Thomas Jefferson took the relationship even further. A music lover and violinist himself, Jefferson hired the Marine Band to perform at his inauguration and gave it the affectionate title "The President’s Own." The band has been a fixture at presidential inaugurations ever since. The nickname has endured for more than two centuries, making the Marine Band one of the oldest musical traditions tied to the presidency.

Whenever the president strides across the South Lawn to offer a final wave before lifting off, the green helicopter rising against the skyline is hailed worldwide as "Marine One." But the moniker was never tied to a single helicopter.

It belongs to whichever Marine Corps aircraft, usually a VH-3D Sea King or a newer VH-92A Patriot, happens to be carrying the president that day. The rule follows the same logic that created Air Force One after that 1953 mix-up over the East Coast. Swap the helicopter for a private jet, and the call sign changes instantly to "Executive One." Air traffic controllers still use that same system today, decades after a near collision first made it necessary.

Few objects associated with the presidency have a nickname as harmless-sounding as "the biscuit." Yet the small laminated card carried by the president is connected to one of the most serious responsibilities imaginable: authorizing a nuclear strike.

The nickname dates back to the Cold War era, when nuclear launch codes were reportedly kept in sealed packets. The packaging inspired military personnel to use the nickname "SAS cookies," which eventually evolved into the more familiar "biscuit."

Every news broadcast today treats POTUS and FLOTUS as if they were always part of the language. FLOTUS is newer, but POTUS goes way back.

In the 1890s, telegraph operators had a very practical reason for shortening "President of the United States." Government agencies paid for telegrams by the letter, so trimming a long title could save time and money. The solution was simple: P-O-T-U-S. The abbreviation eventually found its way into government paperwork and Secret Service communications, where short forms were especially useful. FLOTUS, meaning "First Lady of the United States," came much later. The Secret Service adopted it as a radio shorthand during the Reagan administration in the early 1980s. What started as a way to save a few telegraph characters eventually became part of everyday political language.

"Rawhide." "Renegade." "Lancer." They sound like names from an old Western movie, but these Secret Service codenames have a very practical purpose.

The tradition grew out of a time when presidential security teams sometimes communicated over radio systems that weren’t encrypted. Saying a president’s actual name over the air could reveal information to anyone listening. A codename offered a simple layer of protection. The names also follow a family tradition. Members of a first family generally receive codenames beginning with the same letter. John F. Kennedy was "Lancer," while Jacqueline Kennedy was "Lace." And presidents don’t necessarily have their names chosen for them. The White House Communications Agency prepares lists of possible call signs, and the president can select one. So behind every memorable codename is a little bit of security planning and, sometimes, personal preference.

Air Force One gets most of the attention, but the president also needs a secure way to travel when the destination is beyond the reach of an airport runway. That’s where "Ground Force One" comes in.

The nickname was never officially created by presidential order. Instead, it emerged naturally among reporters and staff members covering presidential campaigns and road trips. It refers to heavily protected motor coaches used for presidential travel. They’re equipped with features such as secure communications systems, run-flat tires and substantial armor. Observers naturally borrowed the best-known presidential transportation nickname and adapted it for the road: Air Force One became Ground Force One.