Janine Vaccarello is the chief operating officer at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington.
What’s your favorite exhibit at the museum?
The John Dillinger car, actually. We have it right in our lobby. It’s just beautiful, it’s from the ’30s. It’s a Ford bulletproof car.
Did he use it while committing any crimes?
He pretty much was always doing something wrong. But we have no idea of what specifically was done in it. He was shot in it. Even though it was a bulletproof car, the bullet went through the grille and hit him in the leg. He wasn’t caught in that car, but he was injured in that car.
Do you ever get creeped out working at the museum?
We always joke around here that we have the ghosts from the electric chair, because we do have the Tennessee electric chair here. Sometimes we all joke around when we can’t find something, we say: “The ghost took it.” … Overall it’s a pleasant experience, not only working with the exhibits but with the guests. Sometimes we get to work with the families that have been affected. Right now I’m working with Beth Holloway, [disappeared student] Natalie Holloway’s mother. It’s so rewarding to get to work with people that you feel like you’re trying to help them get resolution.
Was it hard to get the electric chair?
It was very difficult. We of course wanted a real one. We didn’t want to do a replica of the electric chair. … I sent out letters to every single state, their attorney general and the director of their corrections department to try and get an electric chair, and I could not find one anywhere. Right now we’re leasing it from a collector who had gotten it years ago. But I do have one coming from the state of Arkansas in January of 2010. That’s the good news, I was finally able to get one.
