Ana Cumpanas

Ana Cumpanas (Romania 1889–April 25, 1947), also known as Anna Sage, was a brothel owner in the U.S. city of Chicago. She is best known by the moniker "The Woman in Red" who fingered John Dillinger for the FBI. [Citation
last =
first =
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Death notice
magazine = Time
pages =
year = 1947
date = May 5, 1947
url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793687,00.html ]

Cumpanas married Michael Chiolak in 1909 and moved with him to the United States, where the couple settled in East Chicago, Indiana. They had a son, Steve Chiolak, in 1911, but their marriage did not last and by the end of the decade, Cumpanas was working as a prostitute and later became a madam. Her first brothel was in East Chicago and in 1923, she opened a second one in Gary, Indiana.

Cumpanas married Alexander Suciu on May 16, 1929 and the couple changed their last name to Sage. Friction between Alexander and Steve led to the break up of that marriage and Cumpanas deserted her husband on February 4, 1932. A year later, she opened a brothel on Halsted Street. By 1934, however, Cumpanas was facing deportation. On July 4, 1934, John Dillinger moved into an apartment Cumpanas owned. After John Dillinger was rumored to have killed two Chicago police officers on May 24 of that year, a large reward had been offered for his capture. On July 22, believing that FBI agent Melvin Purvis would stop her deportation, Cumpanas fingered Dillinger to the FBI, resulting in his shooting outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Despite the nickname, Cumpanas was wearing orange.

The FBI moved Cumpanas first to Detroit and then to California, where she received a $5,000 reward. In 1935, she informed reporters of the deal to keep her in the country, but deportation proceedings had already begun. She appealed the decision to deport her and her case was heard in Chicago on October 16, 1935. In January 1936, the court agreed with the lower court and Cumpanas was deported to Romania in April 1936, where she lived until her death from liver problems in 1947.

References

External links

* [http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/19/mf.snitches.in.history/index.html CNN reference]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/dillinger/dillinger.htm FBI History - Famous Cases - John Dillinger]