Top 10 Most Dangerous Prisoners Held Inside Alcatraz Prison

Vidello Productions

Welcome to our deep dive into the Top 10 most dangerous criminals who were ever locked inside Alcatraz, America's most notorious maximum-security prison nicknamed "The Rock".  From infamous mobsters to ruthless killers, these inmates were so dangerous they were kept behind the walls of the Rock — where escape was nearly impossible.  💬 COMMENT below and let us know what you think!  ✏️ Vidello Content Guarantee ✏️   We guarantee that the work you see on this channel is unique, original and created completely by ourselves in a professional recording studio using Sony Vegas 11, this also includes thumbnail images which are created in Photoshop Elements 11.   💬 SOCIAL MEDIA 💬   Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Videllopro  Twitter - https://twitter.com/William84781787  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vidello/  Medium - https://vidello.medium.com/

Transcript

00:00President Trump has said he wants to reopen the infamous Alcatraz Island prison, but what

00:05is its history? Today we look at the top 10 most dangerous prisoners ever held in one

00:12of America's most feared and some say inescapable prisons nicknamed The Rock.

00:18If you enjoy these longer form videos then please remember to smash the like button to

00:22help this video rise in the YouTube algorithm. We have many more videos just like this one

00:27scheduled for the rest of the year. Number 10, Robert Stroud. Infamously known as the Birdman

00:34of Alcatraz, Stroud is by far the most famous inmate on the Island prison. In 1909, at age 19,

00:42he was convicted of manslaughter for killing a bartender in Alaska during a dispute involving

00:47his mistress. He was sentenced to 12 years at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary in Washington

00:54State. Stroud's violent behavior continued in prison, leading to his transfer to Leavenworth

01:00Federal Penitentiary in Kansas in 1912. There in 1916, after being denied a visit with his brother,

01:07he stabbed and killed a prison guard in front of numerous inmates. He was convicted of first-degree

01:12murder and sentenced to death. However, after appeals from his mother, President Woodrow Wilson

01:17commuted his sentence in 1920 to life imprisonment in solitary confinement. While in solitary confinement

01:24at Leavenworth, Stroud discovered a nest with injured sparrows in the prison yard. He began caring

01:30for birds, eventually raising nearly 300 canaries in his cell. He conducted extensive research on bird

01:37diseases, writing and publishing two significant works, Diseases of Canaries and Stroud's Digest on the

01:44diseases of birds. His contributions to avian pathology were recognized by ornithologists and farmers alike.

01:51However, in 1942, prison officials discovered that Stroud had been using some of his bird-related

01:58equipment to produce alcohol. As a result, he was transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary,

02:04where regulations prohibited him from keeping birds. He spent six years in segregation in D Block and

02:1011 years in prison hospital. Despite the restrictions, Stroud continued his intellectual pursuits,

02:17authoring manuscripts on the US prison system, and in 1959, Stroud was transferred to the Medical

02:24Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, due to declining health. He died there on November 21,

02:311963, at the age of 73.

02:33Number 9, Roy Gardner. Born in Trenton, Missouri, Gardner spent his early years in Colorado Springs.

02:41His criminal activities began in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, where he smuggled arms to

02:47revolutionary forces. After being captured and sentenced to death, he escaped from a Mexican prison in 1909,

02:54when criminal career escalated in the United States. He became infamous for robbing US mail trains,

03:01and in 1920, he stole $80,000 from a mail truck in San Diego, marking the beginning of his series of

03:09high-profile robberies. Gardner's ability to escape custody earned him the nickname King of the Escape

03:16Artists. In 1920, while being transported to McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary, he overpowered US

03:23Marshals, handcuffed them and escaped. He was recaptured in 1921 after a nationwide manhunt,

03:30but by 1921, Gardner escaped from McNeil Island during a prison baseball game. He and two other

03:37inmates crawled through a hole in the fence and fled, though one was shot and killed during the escape.

03:43Gardner was transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934, where he joined other

03:49notorious criminals like Al Capone. Despite his reputation, Gardner was not known for violence,

03:55and was considered a model inmate. He worked in the prison's mat shop and even planned an escape

04:01with fellow inmate Ralph Rowe, though it was never executed. During his time at Alcatraz, Gardner

04:07authored an autobiography titled Helcatraz, detailing his criminal activities and experiences in prison.

04:14Gardner was released from Alcatraz in 1938 after a successful appeal for clemency. He attempted to

04:21transition into civilian life, working in various jobs, and even participating in a film about his

04:27life. However, his past continued to haunt him, and he eventually died from cyanide poisoning in 1940.

04:34Number eight, James Whitey Bulger. One of the most notorious American criminals of the late 20th century,

04:42James Whitey Bulger, infamous for his long reign as a Boston crime boss, and his decades-long fugitive

04:49status. Bulger led the Winter Hill Gang in Boston, dominating organized crime through the 1970s and

04:561980s, with his criminal enterprises including drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, racketeering,

05:04and multiple murders. Bulger was implicated in at least 19 murders, though the actual number may be

05:11higher, and he was also an FBI informant for years, which helped him evade prosecution while eliminating

05:19rivals and expanding his power. After being tipped off about a pending indictment in 1994,

05:24Bulger went on the run and evaded capture for 16 years, becoming one of the FBI's 10 most wanted

05:31fugitives. He was finally caught in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, living under a false identity.

05:38Bulger was incarcerated in multiple high-security federal prisons, including the United States Penitentiary,

05:44Hazelton, and was moved to Alcatraz briefly in 1959, where he took part in weightlifting and took

05:51advantage of educational opportunities afforded to inmates. He completed various correspondence courses,

05:58including typing, bookkeeping, and business law, becoming a voracious reader, devouring numerous

06:05books on poetry, politics, and military history. He was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary,

06:12and in 1963 to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. However, after his release, he would not see a prison

06:19cell again for 46 years. He was eventually convicted of 32 counts of racketeering and firearms possession

06:26in 2013. Leia being sentenced to, was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, plus five years.

06:34Bulger entered the Coleman II United States Penitentiary in Sumterville, Florida in 2014,

06:41was transferred to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, and a few days later to the Federal

06:48Penitentiary in West Virginia. Bulger was transferred from the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City to

06:54United States Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on October 29, 2018, but was attacked by multiple

07:04inmates and found dead. Number seven, Arthur Dock Barker. Involved in numerous high-profile crimes,

07:11including bank robberies, kidnappings, and murders, Arthur Dock Barker was part of the Barker-Karpis gang.

07:19Barker took part in some of the most audacious kidnappings of the era,

07:23including the 1933 kidnapping of Edward Bremer, for which the gang collected a ransom of $200,000.

07:31Barker was linked to multiple violent robberies and several murders during his criminal career,

07:37and gang's violent activities made them one of the FBI's most wanted during the early 1930s.

07:43Arthur Barker was first imprisoned in the early 1930s, but repeatedly escaped from jail until his

07:50final capture. After being captured again in 1935, he was sent to Alcatraz, which had just opened as a

07:57Federal Penitentiary in 1934, designed to hold the most dangerous criminals. Barker's time at Alcatraz was

08:05marked by his involvement in an escape attempt in 1939, when Barker and fellow inmates attempted to

08:12overpower guards. The plan failed, and Barker was fatally shot by prison guards during the incident,

08:19and saw Barker die on January 13, 1939, during the failed escape attempt. Barker's criminal legacy is

08:27tied to the violent crime wave of the Great Depression era, and the early rise of the FBI's

08:33efforts to combat organized crime. Number six, Frank Lee Morris. Best known as the mastermind behind the most

08:41famous escape attempt from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, an attempt that remains shrouded in

08:47mystery to this day, Morris had a long criminal history. Some of his crimes included burglary,

08:54bank robbery and narcotics possession, while he was known for being highly intelligent, with an IQ

09:00reportedly above 130. After multiple prison escapes and recaptures, he was eventually sent to Alcatraz in

09:081960 due to his high flight risk. While serving time at Alcatraz, Morris teamed up with Clarence and

09:15John Anglin, two brothers who were also inmates. Over the course of six months, the trio secretly dug

09:21through the walls of their cells using makeshift tools like spoons and a drill fashioned from a vacuum

09:28cleaner motor. They created lifelike dummy heads to place in their beds to fool the guards, and on June

09:3411th 1962, they escaped through a hole in the back wall of their cells, climbed to the roof, made their

09:41way to the shoreline, and launched a makeshift raft made of stolen raincoats. The official FBI report

09:49concluded that they most likely drowned in San Francisco Bay, but their bodies were never found.

09:55In 1979, the FBI handed the case over to the US Marshals Service, which still considers it an open

10:02fugitive case. Yet over the years, there have been alleged sightings, mysterious letters, and reports

10:09suggesting at least one of them may have survived. He remains a legendary figure in American criminal

10:15history and prison folklore, with the escape often cited as one of the greatest prison breaks of all

10:21time. Number five, John Anglin. John Anglin, originally from Donaldsonville, Georgia, grew up in a

10:27poor family and began robbing banks with his brother Clarence during the 1950s. The Anglin brothers were

10:33known for their non-violent bank robberies, often targeting closed banks at night to avoid harming

10:40anyone. In 1958, they were caught and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, but after multiple escape

10:47attempts from other institutions, the brothers were transferred to Alcatraz, the most secure prison in

10:54the US at the time. There he reunited with Clarence and met Frank Morris, and the three began planning

11:00an elaborate escape over the course of six months. After the escape, no one knows for sure if they

11:07survived, yet a 2015 History Channel documentary showed age-progressed photos suggesting the Anglin

11:16brothers might have survived and fled to Brazil. Today, John Anglin remains one of the most enigmatic and

11:22fascinating figures in American prison law. Number four, Clarence Anglin. Clarence Anglin,

11:29originally from Georgia and raised in Florida, began robbing banks in the 1950s with his brother

11:34John. Captured in 1956 during a failed robbery, several escape attempts from other facilities saw

11:39him and brother John eventually transferred to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was designed to house the most dangerous

11:46and escape-prone prisoners in the US, but Clarence immediately began devising an elaborate plan

11:52to break free. The escape plan involved digging through the ventilation grates in their cells,

11:57using sharpened spoons and homemade drills, hiding the holes with cardboard and paint, creating lifelike

12:05dummy heads made from soap, toilet paper and real hair to fool guards, while constructing a raft and life

12:12vests out of over 50 raincoats. One of the largest manhunts in US history was launched after the escape

12:19attempt appeared to have succeeded, yet no bodies were ever found. The US Marshal Service still lists Clarence

12:26Anglin as a fugitive. Number three, Alvin Karpis. One of the most notorious American gangsters of the 1930s,

12:35and a key figure in the Barker-Karpis gang, which was responsible for a spree of robberies, kidnappings

12:42and killings during the Great Depression, Karpis was feared as being the longest-serving inmate on

12:48Alcatraz. Karpis began his criminal career in his teens, engaging in car theft and burglary before

12:55teaming up with the Barker family, including Mar Barker and her sons, to form the Barker-Karpis gang

13:03in the early 1930s. The gang gained national notoriety for robbing banks and trains across

13:10multiple states, while kidnapping wealthy businessmen for ransom, including William Hamm

13:16and Edward Bremer, both of whom were released after large ransoms were paid. Karpis was known for his

13:23intelligence, ruthlessness and planning skills, often taking the lead in organising the gang's operations,

13:30and was linked to at least ten murders, including law enforcement officials and informants. Karpis was

13:36designated public enemy number one by the FBI in 1936, the only person ever captured personally by

13:44J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's director at the time. On May 1st, 1936, Karpis was arrested in New Orleans

13:52without a single shot being fired. His capture marked the end of the violent era of Depression-era

13:58outlaws like Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde and Babyface Nelson. After his conviction for kidnapping,

14:05Karpis was sentenced to life in federal prison and transferred to Alcatraz in 1936. While imprisoned,

14:13he was considered a high-risk but model inmate. He reportedly taught himself to play the guitar,

14:19and even gave guitar lessons to a young Charles Manson in the early 1960s. When Alcatraz closed in 1963,

14:27Karpis was moved to other federal prisons and was paroled in 1969, having spent more than 30 years

14:34in prison. After release, he was deported to Canada, then later settled in Spain, where he lived quietly

14:41and wrote his memoirs before passing away of natural causes in 1979. Number two, George Machine Gun Kelly.

14:50Another one of the most infamous gangsters of the 1930s. His violent nickname and reputation were well

14:56known, but his most well-known crime was actually a kidnapping and not a string of murders. Kelly

15:03started his criminal career as a bootlegger during Prohibition and eventually escalated to bank robbery

15:09and kidnapping. He acquired the nickname Machine Gun after reportedly using a Thompson submachine gun

15:15during robberies, though some say the nickname was mostly hype, pushed by his wife Catherine Kelly

15:22to boost his criminal persona. His most infamous crime was the 1933 kidnapping of oil tycoon Charles

15:30Urschel in Oklahoma City, and the gang demanded and received a $200,000 ransom. Urschel cleverly left

15:38behind clues during captivity, such as fingerprints and background noise, which helped the FBI locate

15:45the kidnappers. Kelly and his wife were arrested on September 26, 1933 in Memphis, Tennessee and

15:52allegedly shouted, don't shoot G-men, a phrase that helped popularize the term G-man or government man

16:00for FBI agents. Both George and Catherine were tried and convicted in federal court. George received a

16:07life sentence for kidnapping. In 1934, Kelly was sent to Alcatraz, becoming one of its first and most

16:14famous inmates. Yet, despite his tough nickname, guards and inmates viewed Kelly as non-violent and

16:22mild-mannered in prison. He served 17 years at Alcatraz where he worked in the prison laundry and was

16:29considered a model prisoner, later transferred to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. George Machine Gun Kelly

16:36died of a heart attack on July 18, 1954, inside Leavenworth at the age of 59.

16:44Number one, Al Capone. Considered to be the most famous gangster in American history, Capone,

16:50also known as Scarface, was widely associated with brutal gang violence and organized crime in Chicago

16:57during the Prohibition era. Al Capone rose to power in the 1920s as the head of the Chicago Outfit,

17:05a powerful criminal organization involved in bootlegging, illegal gambling, prostitution rings,

17:11murder for hire and gang warfare. Capone was ultimately imprisoned not for murder or racketeering,

17:18but for tax evasion, yet is widely believed to have ordered the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929,

17:25which saw seven members of a rival gang were gunned down in broad daylight. Despite his violent reign,

17:31law enforcement couldn't directly connect him to violent crimes due to a lack of witnesses and evidence.

17:38After years of investigations, the federal government charged Capone with income tax evasion in 1931.

17:44He was found guilty on five counts and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison,

17:48fined $50,000 and ordered to pay court costs and back taxes. He began serving time in Atlanta,

17:55U.S. Penitentiary in 1932, but was later moved due to corruption and special treatment. In 1934,

18:04Capone was transferred to Alcatraz shortly after it opened to prevent him from using his influence

18:10to manipulate the prison system. He became inmate AZ-85 and the isolated location, strict rules and

18:19highly controlled environment made it impossible for Capone to maintain his criminal empire. While

18:25there, he worked in the laundry room and suffered from neurosyphilis, which caused a rapid decline in

18:31his mental and physical health. By 1938, Capone's health had deteriorated significantly. He was confused,

18:39erratic and no longer considered a threat before he was transferred to Terminal Island Prison in

18:45California in 1939 and released in 1938 1940. After release, he lived quietly at his Florida estate

18:54and died in 1947 at the age of 48 from complications of syphilis and a stroke, with his life today the

19:02subject of countless books, documentaries and films.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended