In June 1962, inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris
escaped from
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a ...
, a
maximum-security prison Maximum security prisons and supermax prisons are grades of high security level used by prison systems in various countries, which pose a higher level of security to prevent prisoners from escaping and/or doing harm to other inmates or security guar ...
located on
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...
in
San Francisco Bay.
Late on the night of June 11 or early morning of June 12, the three men tucked
papier-mâché
upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti
upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico
Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
heads resembling their own likenesses into their beds, broke out of the main prison building via ventilation ducts and an unused utility corridor, and departed the island aboard an improvised inflatable raft to an uncertain fate.
A fourth conspirator, Allen West, failed in his escape attempt and remained on the island.
Hundreds of leads were pursued by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) and local law enforcement officials in the ensuing years, but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced favoring the success or failure of the attempt.
Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed by authorities, reporters, family members, and amateur enthusiasts.
In 1979 the FBI officially concluded, on the basis of circumstantial evidence and a preponderance of expert opinion, that the men drowned in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay without reaching the mainland.
The
U.S. Marshals Service case file remains open and active, however, and Morris and the Anglin brothers remain on its wanted list.
New circumstantial and material evidence has continued to surface, stoking new debates on whether the inmates managed to survive.
Inmates
Frank Morris
Frank Lee Morris (born September 1, 1926) was born in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
His parents abandoned him when he was 11, so he spent the rest of his childhood in foster homes, an orphan. He was convicted of his first criminal offense at 13, and by his late teens had been arrested for crimes ranging from
narcotics possession to
armed robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
.
He spent most of his early years in jail serving lunch to prisoners. Later, he was arrested for grand
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
in
Miami Beach, car theft, and armed robbery.
Morris reportedly ranked in the top 2% of the general population in intelligence, as measured by IQ testing (133). He served time in Florida and Georgia, then escaped from the
Louisiana State Penitentiary
The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...
while serving 10 years for bank robbery. He was recaptured a year later while committing a burglary and sent to Alcatraz on January 20, 1960, as inmate number AZ1441.
John and Clarence Anglin
John William (born May 2, 1930) and Clarence (born May 11, 1931) were born into a family of 13 children in
Donalsonville, Georgia. Their parents, George Robert Anglin and Rachael Van Miller Anglin, were seasonal farmworkers; in the early 1940s, they moved the family to
Ruskin, Florida, south of
Tampa, where the
truck farms and tomato fields provided a more reliable source of income. Each June they migrated north as far as
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
to pick cherries. Clarence and John were reportedly inseparable as youngsters; they became skilled swimmers, and amazed their siblings by swimming in the frigid waters of
Lake Michigan as ice still floated on its surface.
Clarence was first caught breaking into a service station when he was 14 years old.
The brothers began robbing banks and other establishments as a team in the early 1950s, usually targeting businesses that were closed, to ensure that no one got injured. They claimed that they used a weapon only once, during a bank heist – a toy gun.
In 1958, John, Clarence, and Alfred Anglin robbed the
Columbia Savings Bank Building
The Columbia Savings Bank Building, also known as the Columbus Savings Bank, is a landmark office building located at 700 Montgomery Street in the Financial District of San Francisco, California.
The building is registered as a San Francisco Lan ...
in
Columbia, Alabama.
All received 35-year sentences, which they served at
Florida State Prison
Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida St ...
,
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary
The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Unite ...
, and then
Atlanta Penitentiary
The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta (USP Atlanta) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice ...
.
After repeated attempts to escape from the Atlanta facility, John and Clarence were transferred to Alcatraz. John arrived on October 24, 1960, as inmate AZ1476, and Clarence on January 10, 1961, as inmate AZ1485.
Allen West
Allen West (March 25, 1929 – December 21, 1978)
was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. West was arrested over 20 times throughout his lifetime. He was imprisoned for car theft in 1955, first at Atlanta Penitentiary, then at Florida State Prison. After an escape attempt from the Florida facility, he was transferred to Alcatraz in 1957 at the age of 28 and became inmate AZ1335.
Escape
The four inmates all knew each other from previous incarcerations in Florida and Georgia.
When they were assigned adjacent cells in December 1961, they began formulating an escape plan under the leadership of Morris.
Over the subsequent six months, they widened the ventilation ducts beneath their sinks using discarded saw blades found on the prison grounds, metal spoons from the
mess hall
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
, and an electric drill improvised from the motor of a vacuum cleaner.
The men concealed their work with painted cardboard, and masked the noise with Morris’s
accordion on top of the ambient din of music hour.
![Alcatraz cell vent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Alcatraz_cell_vent.JPG)
Once the holes were wide enough to pass through, the men accessed the unguarded utility corridor directly behind their cells' tier and climbed to the vacant top level of the cellblock, where they set up a clandestine workshop. Here, using over fifty raincoats among other stolen and donated materials, they constructed
life preservers, based on a design Morris found in the March 1962 issue of ''
Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'', with the article, ''Your Life Preserver — How will it behave if you need it?''.
Morris found other ideas in magazines; resin to make a lamp shade in the November 1960 issue of ''Popular Mechanics'',
and ''Signposts of Water Safety'' about channel buoys indicating course and navigation hazards, in the May 21, 1962 issue of ''Sports Illustrated''.
They also assembled a six-by-fourteen-foot rubber raft, the seams carefully stitched by hand and sealed with liquid plastic
available in the shops,
and heat from nearby steam pipes. Paddles were improvised from plywood
and screws. Finally, they climbed a ventilation shaft to the roof and removed the rivets holding a large fan in place.
![Dummy head](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Dummy_head.jpg)
The men concealed their absence while working outside their cells, and after the escape itself, by sculpting dummy heads from a hand-made
papier-mâché
upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti
upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico
Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
-like mixture of soap, toothpaste, concrete dust, and toilet paper, and giving them a realistic appearance with paint from the maintenance shop and hair from the barbershop floor. With towels and clothing piled under the blankets in their bunks and the dummy heads positioned on the pillows, they appeared to be sleeping.
On the night of June 11, 1962, with all preparations in place, the men initiated their plan.
West discovered that the cement he had used to reinforce crumbling concrete around his vent had hardened, narrowing the opening and fixing the grill in place. By the time he managed to remove the grill and re-widen the hole, the others had left without him. He returned to his cell and went to sleep.
![Alcatraz escape utility corridor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Alcatraz_escape_utility_corridor.JPG)
From the service corridor, Morris and the Anglins climbed the ventilation shaft to the roof. Guards heard a loud crash as they broke out of the shaft, but nothing further was heard, and the source of the noise was not investigated. Hauling their gear with them, they descended to the ground by sliding down a kitchen vent pipe, then climbed two barbed-wire perimeter fences. At the northeast shoreline, near the power plant—a blind spot in the prison's network of searchlights and gun towers—they inflated their raft with a
concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front.
The ...
stolen from another inmate and modified to serve as a bellows. At some time after 10 p.m., investigators estimated, they boarded the raft, launched it and departed toward their objective,
Angel Island Angel Island may refer to:
*Angel Island (California), historic site of the United States Immigration Station, Angel Island, and part of Angel Island State Park, in San Francisco Bay, California
* Angel Island, Papua New Guinea
* ''Angel Island'' (n ...
, two miles to the north.
Investigation
The escape was not discovered until the morning of June 12 due to the successful dummy head ruse.
Multiple military and law-enforcement agencies conducted an extensive air, sea, and land search over the next 10 days. On June 14, a
Coast Guard cutter picked up a paddle floating about off the southern shore of Angel Island. On the same day and in the same general location, workers on another boat found a wallet wrapped in plastic complete with names, addresses, and photos of the Anglins' friends and relatives.
On June 21, shreds of raincoat material, believed to be remnants of the raft, were found on a beach not far from the
Golden Gate Bridge. The following day, a prison boat picked up a deflated life jacket made from the same material off Alcatraz Island. According to the final
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
report, no other physical evidence was found.
[Kerr, J. (October 17, 1993). ''Flight from Alcatraz'']
SunSentinel.com
Retrieved June 7, 2016.
![WantedJohnAnglin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/WantedJohnAnglin.jpg)
FBI agents surmised early on that the men had drowned.
They cited the fact that "the individuals' personal effects were the only belongings they had, and the men would have drowned before leaving them behind." However, no human remains were found at the time.
On July 17, a month after the escape, a Norwegian ship, SS ''Norefjell'', spotted a body floating in the ocean from the Golden Gate Bridge. The ship did not retrieve the body and did not report the sighting until October. San Francisco County Coroner Henry Turkel cast doubt on speculation that it could have been one of the escapees, emphasizing the improbability that a body would still be floating on the surface of the ocean after more than a month; instead, Turkel proposed that the corpse may have been that of Cecil Phillip Herrman, a 34-year-old unemployed baker who had
jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge five days earlier. Several coroners from neighboring counties challenged Turkel's opinion, stating that it was possible the remains belonged to one of the escapees.
FBI investigators announced their official position that, while it was theoretically possible for the men to have reached Angel Island, the odds of them having survived the turbulent currents and frigid waters of the bay were negligible.
According to the final FBI report, West said that they had planned to steal clothes and a car upon reaching land, but no such thefts were reported in the immediate area.
Aftermath
West was the only conspirator not to participate in the actual escape. He fully cooperated with the investigation and was therefore not charged for his role.
West was transferred to
McNeil Island, Washington after Alcatraz was deactivated in 1963, and later, back to Atlanta Penitentiary. After serving his sentence, followed by two additional sentences in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, he was released in 1967, only to be arrested again in Florida the following year on charges of
grand larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engl ...
. At Florida State Prison, he fatally
stabbed another inmate in October 1972, in what may have been a racist
hate crime. He was serving multiple sentences, including
life imprisonment on the murder conviction, when he died of acute
peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...
in 1978.
On December 16, 1962, Alcatraz inmate
John Paul Scott made
water wings
Inflatable armbands, usually referred to as simply armbands, water wings, swimmies, or floaties, are swim aids designed to help a wearer float in water and learn to swim.
Inflatable armbands are typically cylindrical, inflatable plastic bands ...
from inflated rubber gloves and swam a distance of from Alcatraz to
Fort Point, at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. He was found there by teenagers, suffering from
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
and
exhaustion
Fatigue describes a state of tiredness that does not resolve with rest or sleep. In general usage, fatigue is synonymous with extreme tiredness or exhaustion that normally follows prolonged physical or mental activity. When it does not resolve ...
.
After recovering in
Letterman Army Hospital
The Letterman Army Hospital, established around 1898 and redesignated as the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC) in 1969, was a US Army facility at the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California, US. It was decommissioned in 1994. ...
, he was immediately returned to Alcatraz.
Scott is the only documented case of an Alcatraz inmate reaching the shore by swimming.
Today, a multitude of athletes swim the same Alcatraz-to-Fort Point route as part of two annual
triathlon events.
Because Alcatraz cost more to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta), and because 50 years of salt
water saturation
Water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in a material, such as soil (called soil moisture), rock, ceramics, crops, or wood. Water content is used in a wide range of scientific and technical areas, and is expressed as ...
had severely eroded the buildings,
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
ordered the facility to be closed on March 21, 1963.
The FBI closed its file on December 31, 1979, after a 17-year investigation.
Their official finding was that the prisoners most likely drowned in the cold waters of the bay while attempting to reach Angel Island. They cited the remnants found of the raft, as well as the personal effects of the men, as evidence that the raft broke up and sank at some point and the three convicts succumbed to hypothermia, with their bodies swept out to sea by the rapid currents of the San Francisco Bay.
The FBI did hand their evidence over to the U.S. Marshals Service, whose investigation remains open. As Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke told
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, "There's an active warrant, and the Marshals Service doesn't give up looking for people." In 2009, Dyke said that he was still receiving leads on a regular basis.
The warrant will expire in 2030, when all of the missing men would be at least 100 years old.
Reported sightings
In January 1965, the FBI investigated a rumor that Clarence Anglin was living in Brazil. Agents were dispatched to South America but found no direct evidence that he was there.
A man called the Bureau in 1967 claiming to have been Morris's classmate and to have known him for 30 years. He said he had bumped into him in Maryland and described him as having "a small beard and moustache", but refused to give further details.
Family members of the Anglin brothers occasionally received postcards and messages over the years. Most were unsigned; one was signed "Jerry", and another "Jerry and Joe".
The family also produced a Christmas card, purportedly received in the family mailbox in 1962, saying, "To Mother, from John. Merry Christmas."
Another of the Anglins' 11 siblings, Robert, also said that sometimes the phone would ring and all that could be heard was breathing on the other end; Robert said, "I suppose all that could have been pranks, but maybe it was my brothers."
The mother of the Anglin brothers received flowers anonymously every Mother's Day until her death in 1973, and two very tall, unusual women in heavy makeup were reported to have attended her funeral.
Federal officials say that in the mid-to-late 1960s and into the 1970s there were "six or seven" sightings reported of the Anglin brothers, all in north Florida or Georgia. Robert said that in 1989, when the father of the Anglin brothers died, two strangers in beards showed up at the funeral home. According to Robert, "They stood in front of the casket looking at the body a few minutes — they ... wept — then, they walked out."
In 1989, a woman who identified herself only as "Cathy" called ''
Unsolved Mysteries
''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Ka ...
'' tip line to report that a photo of Clarence Anglin matched the description of a man who lived on a farm near
Marianna, Florida
Marianna is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Florida, United States, and it is home to Chipola College. The population was 6,102 at the 2010 census. In 2018 the estimated population was 7,091. The official nickname of Marianna is ...
. Another woman also recognized a photo of Clarence Anglin, and said he lived near Marianna. She correctly identified his eye color, height, and other physical features. Another witness claimed that a sketch of Frank Morris bore a striking resemblance to a man she had seen in the same area.
Claims and developments
A day after the escape, a man claiming to be John Anglin called a lawyer, Eugenia MacGowan, in San Francisco to arrange a meeting with the U.S. Marshals office. When MacGowan refused, the caller terminated the phone call.
[Nolte, C. (March 18, 2013). Alcatraz escapees' family convinced brothers alive]
sfgate.com
Robert Checchi, a San Francisco police officer, said that at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of June 12, he saw an "illegal" boat in the bay near Alcatraz. A few minutes later, the boat left, heading under the Golden Gate Bridge. This led to speculation that the prisoners might have enlisted outside confederates to pick them up. The FBI dismissed Checchi's account out of hand.
In 1993, a former Alcatraz inmate named Thomas Kent told the television program ''
America's Most Wanted'' that he had helped plan the escape, and claimed to have provided "significant new leads" to investigators. He said that Clarence Anglin's girlfriend had agreed to meet the men on shore and drive them to Mexico. He declined to participate in the actual escape, he said, because he could not swim. Officials were skeptical of Kent's account, because he had been paid
$2,000 for the interview.
A man named John Leroy Kelly dictated an extended
deathbed confession
A deathbed confession is an admittance or confession when someone is nearing death, or on their "death bed". This confession may help alleviate any guilt, regrets, secrets, or sins the dying person may have had in their life. These confessions c ...
to his nurse in 1993. Kelly claimed that he and a partner picked up Morris and the Anglins in a boat and transported them to the Seattle, Washington area. Later, under the guise of transporting them to Canada, Kelly and his partner murdered the escapees to get the $40,000 their families had collected for them. At a location in Seattle where Kelly claimed the three escapees were buried, no human remains were found.
A 2003 ''
MythBusters''
episode
An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption.
The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...
on the
Discovery Channel tested the feasibility of an escape from the island aboard a raft constructed with the same materials and tools available to the inmates, and concluded that it was "possible".
A 2011 documentary on the
National Geographic Channel entitled ''Vanished from Alcatraz'' reported that contrary to the official FBI report, a raft was discovered on Angel Island on June 12, 1962, the day after the escape, with footprints leading away from it. Furthermore, a 1955 blue Chevrolet (California license plate KPB076) was reported stolen in
Marin County the same day—a claim corroborated by contemporaneous stories in the Humboldt Times and the San Francisco Examiner. The following day, a motorist in
Stockton, California, east of San Francisco, reported to the
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...
that he had been forced off the road by three men in a blue Chevrolet.
The same year, an 89-year-old man named Bud Morris, who claimed he was a cousin of Frank Morris, said that on "eight or nine" occasions prior to the escape he delivered envelopes of money to Alcatraz guards, presumably as bribes. He further claimed to have met his cousin face to face in a
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
park shortly after the escape. His daughter, who was "eight or nine" years old at the time, said she was present at the meeting with "Dad's friend, Frank", but "had no idea
bout the escape
Bout can mean:
People
*Viktor Bout, suspected arms dealer
*Jan Everts Bout, early settler to New Netherland
*Marcel Bout
Musical instruments
* The outward-facing round parts of the body shape of violins, guitars, and other stringed instrumen ...
.
A 2014 study of the ocean currents by scientists at
Delft University
Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...
concluded that if the prisoners left Alcatraz at 11:30 pm on June 11, they could have made it to Horseshoe Bay, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and that any debris would have floated in the direction of Angel Island, consistent with where the paddle and belongings were actually found. If they left before or after that time, they said, tides and currents were such that their chances of survival were slim.
A 2015
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
documentary entitled ''Alcatraz: Search for the Truth'' presented further circumstantial evidence gathered over the years by the Anglin family. Kenneth and David Widner displayed Christmas cards containing the Anglins' handwriting, and allegedly received by family members for three years after the escape. While the handwriting was verified as the Anglins', none of the envelopes contained a postmarked stamp, so experts could not determine when they had been delivered.
The family cited a story from family friend Fred Brizzi, who grew up with the brothers and claimed to have recognized them in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
in 1975. They produced photographs purportedly taken by Brizzi, including one of two men, who according to Brizzi were John and Clarence Anglin, standing next to a large termite mound. Other photos showed a Brazilian farm that Brizzi claimed was owned by the men. Forensic experts working for the family confirmed that the photos were taken in 1975, and asserted that the two men were "more than likely" the Anglins, although the age and condition of the photo, and the fact that both men were wearing sunglasses, hindered efforts to make a definitive determination.
Brizzi also presented an alternative escape theory: Rather than use the raft to cross the bay, he said, they paddled around the island to the boat dock, where they attached an electrical cord—which was reported missing from the dock on the night of the escape—to the rudder of a prison ferry that departed the island shortly after midnight, and were towed behind it to the mainland.
Art Roderick, a retired Deputy U.S. Marshal who had once headed the investigation and later worked with the Anglin family, called Brizzi's photograph of the two men "absolutely the best actionable lead we've had," but added, "it could still all be a nice story which isn't true"; or the photograph could be a misdirection, aimed at steering the investigation away from the Anglins' actual whereabouts. Michael Dyke, the last Deputy Marshal assigned to the case, said Brizzi was "a drug smuggler and a con man," and was suspicious of his account. Brizzi's widow said that she never heard him mention seeing the Anglin brothers in Rio, and that he was “a con man” who was prone to making up stories. An expert working for the U.S. Marshal's Service did not believe the photograph was legitimate. Dyke said measurements of the physical characteristics of the Anglin brothers indicate that they are not the men in the Brazil photo, but he acknowledged the difficulty in making a definitive determination and ruling it out as a valid lead. In January 2020, an Irish creative agency and AI specialists at Identv used facial recognition techniques to conclude that the men in the photo were John and Clarence Anglin.
Robert Anglin reportedly told family members before his death in 2010 that he had been in contact with John and Clarence from 1963 until approximately 1987. Surviving family members, who said they have heard nothing since Robert lost contact with the brothers in 1987, announced plans to travel to Brazil to conduct a personal search; but Roderick cautioned that they could be arrested by Brazilian authorities because the Alcatraz escape remains an open
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
case.
[Notorious Alcatraz escapees may still be on the lam (October 19, 2015)]
CBC.ca
Retrieved November 2, 2015.
In 2018, the FBI confirmed the existence of a letter, allegedly written by John Anglin and received by the
San Francisco Police Department in 2013. The writer asserted that Frank Morris died in 2008 and was buried in Alexandria under a different name, and Clarence Anglin died in 2011.
His purpose in writing the letter, he said, was to negotiate his surrender in exchange for medical treatment of his cancer.
The letter's authenticity was deemed inconclusive.
In a 2019 episode of the series ''Mission Declassified'', investigative journalist
Christof Putzel corroborated much of the information released by the FBI and other sources, including the raft found on Angel Island. He quoted various reports mentioning a blue Chevrolet, of the same description as the one stolen after the escape, spotted in Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, and South Carolina, where, three months after the escape, three men matching the escapees' description attempted to acquire a residence in the woods.
In popular culture
J. Campbell Bruce's 1963 book ''
Escape from Alcatraz'' documents the 1962 escape, along with other escape attempts over the 29 years that Alcatraz Island served as a prison.
The film ''
Escape from Alcatraz'' (
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...
) stars
Clint Eastwood,
Fred Ward
Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American actor and producer. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ''Southern Comfort'', '' The R ...
, and
Jack Thibeau
Jack Thibeau (born June 12, 1946) is an American film and television actor best known for playing the prisoner Clarence Anglin in the 1979 film '' Escape from Alcatraz''. During his career, he frequently appeared in other movies that starred C ...
as Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, respectively. West (fictionalized as a character named Charley Butts) was played by
Larry Hankin
Larry Hankin (born ) is an American character actor, performer, director, comedian and producer. He is known for his major film roles as Charley Butts in '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), Ace in '' Running Scared'' (1986), and Carl Alphonse in ...
.
The escape was shown in a two-part 1980 TV movie ''
Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story'', which starred
Ed Lauter
Edward Matthew Lauter Jr. ( ;
October 30, 1938 – October 16, 2013) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in more than 200 films and TV series episodes in a career that spanned over 40 years.
Early life
Lauter was born and ...
as Morris, and
Louis Giambalvo
Louis Giambalvo (born February 8, 1945) is an American actor, frequently seen on television in guest roles.
Early life and education
Giambalvo was born and raised in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, where he attended Ca ...
and
Antony Ponzini
Antony Ponzini (June 1, 1933 – December 30, 2002) was an American actor. Some of Ponzini's credits include roles on soap operas ''The Edge of Night'', '' Another World'', and being a member of the original cast of ''One Life to Live'' as Vinc ...
as the Anglins.
''Terror on Alcatraz'' (1987) stars
Aldo Ray as Morris, returning decades later to the scene of his escape from Alcatraz and scouring his old prison cell for a map to a safe deposit box key.
Previous attempts
Of the 36 inmates who staged 14
escape attempts over the 29 years that Alcatraz served as a federal penitentiary,
23 were recaptured, six were shot and killed, two drowned, and five (Morris, the Anglins, and
Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe) are listed as "missing and presumed drowned."
See also
*
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
*
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Throughout history, people have mysteriously disappeared at sea, many on voyages aboard floating vessels or traveling via aircraft. The following is a list of known individuals who have mysteriously vanished in open waters, and whose whereabouts r ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
Giles Milton
Giles Milton FRHistS (born 15 January 1966) is a British writer who specialises in narrative history. His books have sold more than one million copies in the UK. and been published in twenty-five languages. He has written twelve works of non-fi ...
'Escape from Alcatraz' in (published as in US)
{{Alcatraz Island
1962 crimes in the United States
1962 in California
Escapes and escape attempts from Alcatraz
Fugitives
June 1962 events in the United States
People lost at sea