Alcatraz island, where the notorious prison was based, is located about 1.25 miles (2.01
km) off San Francisco Bay.
It started as a home to a lighthouse, became a military base and then a military prison
in the 19th century before becoming the location of one of America’s most talked about lock-ups
in 1934 that lasted until 1963.
This small island, measuring just 1,675 feet (511 meters) by 590 feet (180 meters) is still
home to a prison today, but only as a kind of somber museum.
Known as ‘The Rock’ it housed some of the U.S.’s most dangerous criminals.
It was said no one could ever escape this island, but history tells us two men may have,
or they may have died in the water.
Many others tried and failed.
Al Capone When it comes to names associated with the
Italian Mafia perhaps Al Capone is the name most people remember.
You may have seen him depicted in numerous movies and TV shows, and if you have you’ll
know he seemed to have a very light and very dark side.
He robbed from the rich and sometimes gave to the poor, and he also killed or ordered
killed many people.
It seems he had a very fiery temper at times.
He was also behind the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, and after this he became more of
a reviled figure.
He was first jailed in 1929 for carrying deadly weapons, but the sentence was a short one.
But in 1931 he was charged with tax evasion and prohibition charges and after a stint
in jail he ended up in Alcatraz.
He was released in 1939 but in the ensuing years he suffered many health problems due
to complications of syphilis.
He lost his mind and died in 1947.
James ‘Whitey’ Bulger From an Italian American gangster to an Irish
American gangster, and someone who again has been depicted in films and TV shows.
Not surprisingly he too was said to have a very short temper and sometimes a lust for
blood.
He ruled with an iron fist, but was also an FBI informant.
For this, well, likely for this, he was beaten to death as an old man while in prison in
2018.
Was he dangerous?
Very much so, and while he was only charged with 11 murders there are those that say he
killed and ordered killed scores of people.
He was imprisoned in Alcatraz many years before his downfall, in 1959.
He had served time in an Atlanta prison before that.
That was for old school-type bank robberies, and he got 20 years.
That sentence was reduced when it was discovered he had taken part in the not-so ethical MK-Ultra
LSD trials.
It’s said he read classics and mostly kept his head down, but escape was never far away
in his mind.
He was one of the friends of the men that maybe did escape, and he believed all his
life that they got away.
He once wrote.
“The morning of the escape was one of the happiest moments of my life.
I can still remember it as if it were yesterday.”
One month after their escape he left the island and served another three years in another
prison, and was released in 1965.
He would go on to become a much more prolific and vicious criminal and in the 90s one of
the biggest manhunts ever was conducted in his name.
He evaded arrest for 16 years, and you know what happened to him in his ageing years while
imprisoned.
Robert Stroud You might better know this man as “The Birdman
of Alcatraz”.
While US authorities called him one of the most dangerous men in the USA, he was hardly
as bloodthirsty as the first two guys we have talked about.
He was, however, a career criminal and was diagnosed as a psychopath.
He also assaulted fellow prisoners while incarcerated, prison staff, and one time stabbed a prison
guard right through the heart with a homemade shiv.
The guard died and the authorities had had enough of this violent prisoner.
In 1942 he was transferred to Alcatraz, and he would spend at least 6 years of his time
in solitary.
He died at a medical center while still serving a sentence.
They called him the birdman as he had cared for and raised birds while serving time in
prison.
Does he deserve to be on this list?
Yes, of course, just for the number of people he hurt while imprisoned.
Machine Gun Kelly Nope, that’s not the name his parents gave
him after he was born.
This man was christened George Kelley, and as an adult he became one of the most feared
men in America.
You can probably guess by his moniker that he had a fondness for using a machine gun,
and the FBI once called him an “expert machine gunner.”
His weapon of choice was a Thompson submachine gun.
You’ve all seen one of these things in those old gangster movies.
It’s the gun with a large circular cartridge.
In Alcatraz, he was said to be a model prisoner, despite what the public thought about him.
He was prisoner 117 and spent 17 years at The Rock.
He was transferred off Alcatraz in 1951 but died of a heart attack in 1954 while still
imprisoned.
He committed many robberies throughout his career, as well as kidnapping, and had a lot
of stand-offs with authorities.
He was never actually charged with murder, though it’s believed he may have committed
a few.
The FBI seemed to think so.
Morton Sobell This former engineer was by no means a cold-hearted
killer.
However, he was accused by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover of committing the “crime of
the century.”
What did he do?
Well, it’s said he was part of a small group that spied on the U.S. and supplied the Soviet
Union with information pertaining to nuclear technology and other military advances in
the U.S.
Many said he was innocent, but he was still sentenced to 30 years in 1951 on charges of
espionage (he served almost 18 years in total).
He stayed at Alcatraz until it closed in 1963 and was said to be a model prisoner.
In his 1974 book, “On Doing Time”, he maintained his innocence saying his crime
had been cooked-up for political purposes.
In Alcatraz he even got a room with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and spent most
of his time reading books.
Some sources say he got along with fellow prisoners, being a mild man and also for the
fact that he was considered an enemy of the state.
Did he really supply the Soviets with information that could have been extremely dangerous to
the USA?
That’s for you to investigate.
Alvin ‘Creepy’ Karpis This gangster in the time of the American
depression got his nickname not because of what he did, but the fact that his friends
and associates thought he had a very sinister smile.
He gained the accolade of being one of four of America’s Public Enemy Number One’s
during the 1930s when he led the Barker–Karpis gang.
An interesting fact is that he was the only survivor of so-called public enemy numbers
ones, as the rest were all killed before they could be imprisoned.
Can you guess who the other three were?...They were John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and
Baby Face Nelson.
Karpis also held the number one position for the person that spent the most time in Alcatraz,
serving 26 years in total.
His crimes were many, and included robbery, kidnapping, burglary and murder.
It’s also said he was incredibly intelligent.
He helped Charles Manson learn guitar while serving time in another prison, once describing
Manson as a man with a “pleasant voice and a pleasing personality, although he's unusually
meek and mild for a convict.
He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even an argument.”
He went on to write a book after he was released, and it’s said he might have committed suicide
while he was writing another book while living in Spain.
Others say he more likely accidentally overdosed.
Henri Young This is another case of a man being dangerous
not only for what he did on the outside but for what he did while serving time.
Mr. Young was a convicted bank robber who was said to have taken hostages and not always
been very nice to them.
He spent time in various prisons, but ended up in Alcatraz in the 1930s.
In 1939 he and four others tried to escape, which ended with two of the men surrendering,
two running (one shot and killed) and Young also giving himself up.
It’s said while in Alcatraz he was treated very harshly, spending many years in a small
cell all alone.
After one stint in solitary he murdered one of the men he had tried to escape with.
His defense said the brutal way he had been treated was partly to blame for this murder.
He described what solitary was like, saying, “You have no shoes, no bed, no mattress-nothing
but the four damp walls and two blankets.
The walls are painted black.
Once a day I got three slices of bread-no-that is an error.
Some days I got four slices.”
He also said there was no way you could have a bath.
He was finally released from another prison in 1972.
He jumped parole and was never seen again.
John and Clarence Anglin Ok, so these two may not have been that dangerous
but we just can’t finish this show without talking about them.
Why is that?
Because these are the guys that supposedly escaped from Alcatraz.
The brothers did this along with a third man, Frank Morris.
It was a long and meticulous build up to the escape, with the men taking months to fashion
tools that would help them escape through shafts and get out of the prison.
This took a lot of effort, with the men concealing those tools cleverly and knowing how to hide
noise when they were making things.
They even stole human hair from the barber shop so that the dummies they left in their
beds would look real.
For their heads they used soap that they had stolen and then made to look like a face.
But they needed to cross the water, and to do that they built an inflatable raft made
partly from stolen raincoats.
All were career criminals before their incarceration, with Morris imprisoned for many crimes mostly
related to stealing things.
It’s also said he had a very high IQ for a prisoner at 133.
The brothers were both bank robbers, but reports say they did their stealing when people were
not around as they never wanted to hurt anyone.
They also said if people were around, they used only a toy gun.
Nonetheless, they were successful and robbed many big banks.
As they were kind of nice-guy criminals, much of the public when hearing about their escape
are happy they got away.
The authorities would like to think all the men died, but there are many people that think
they beat the system and found their freedom.
Whatever you think, their story has gone down in history.
Want to know more about alcatraz?
Check out our other video, What Was It Like to be Jailed at Alcatraz?
See you next time!