Escape from Alcatraz - Proof of success?

[StillMadAtSlobber]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3270269/The-picture-proves-two-inmates-DID-escape-Alcatraz-Notorious-escapees-didn-t-drown-body-surfed-passenger-ferry-freedom-started-farm-Brazil-claims-family.html

Is this the photo that proves two inmates DID escape Alcatraz? Notorious escapees didn't drown, they body-surfed behind a ferry to freedom and started a farm in Brazil, claim their relatives

Ken and David Widner insist John and Clarence Anglin made it out alive
The bank robbers escaped in 1962 but were presumed to have drowned
However a photo purportedly of the pair shows they were still alive in 1975
A forensic expert said it is 'highly likely' the Anglin brothers are in the pic
Fred Brizzi, who grew up with the pair, claims to have met them in Brazil
Art Roderick, who was once in charge of the case, says the new evidence is a 'gamechanger'
The fate of third escapee Frank Morris is not known

By Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com

Published: 23:20 EST, 12 October 2015 | Updated: 08:00 EST, 13 October 2015


Two brothers successfully escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 and did not drown as the FBI said they did, their nephews claim in a History Channel documentary.

They gave filmmakers a photograph that they claim proves John and Clarence Anglin were living on a farm in Brazil in 1975 - and could still be alive today.

It was the most dramatic piece of evidence presented in the film, which put forward the theory that the prisoners 'body-surfed' behind a ferry leaving Alcatraz after digging out of their cells with spoons and then were picked up by a criminal associate and taken to freedom.

Ken, 54 and David Widner, 48, handed over a picture to investigators showing two men in sunglasses standing alongside a road - and a forensic expert strongly believes it is the escapees.

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This picture supposedly shows Clarence (left) and John Anglin (right), two bank robbers who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962, standing on a farm they allegedly owned in Brazil in 1975. If alive today, John would be 85 years old and Clarence would be 84



The family of the escapees provided Christmas cards John would supposedly send his family every year. This one had his prison number and a stamp saying it was sent from Alcatraz


However the pair insist they were sent three more in the years after the escape. This one did not have the prison markings on it

The criminals, who would be 84 and 85 years old if alive today, were presumed to have drowned in the perilous waters surrounding the historic San Franciso island after breaking out of their cells in the middle of the night.

The brothers and another escapee Frank Morris used papier-mache masks to trick guards into thinking they were asleep in their beds.

They clambered through the vents, broke onto the roof of the jail and made a makeshift raft out of raincoats, which they inflated using an accordion-like concertina.

But the Widners' new evidence has captured the interest of the U.S. Marshal Service, which is still looking into the case after 53 years.

They believe the explanation as to how they made it to land is plausible and that the photo is genuine.

Officials have also discovered, with the help of the Widner brothers, that bones recovered from San Francisco Bay just six months after the escape do not belong to either of the Anglin brothers.

It could be the first significant lead in the case which, if true, would be the only successful escape attempt from the first and most famous super-max prison in the United States.

Authorities do not know what happened to Morris. It is unclear whether he traveled with the brothers or went his own way.

The federal penitentiary closed in 1963 just 29 years after it opened, and it held some of the country's most notorious prisoners, including Al Capone, Mickey Cohen and James 'Whitey' Bulger.

The bundle of evidence includes Christmas cards the brothers allegedly send to the Anglin's family home in Florida for three years after the escape.

While the brothers were in prison, the family would receive a card from them every year with their prison number and a stamp confirming it had been sent from Alcatraz.




They say Fred Brizzi, who grew up with the Anglin brothers, reached out to the family and handed over pictures he took of the pair after bumping into them in Rio De Janiero. He also offered their relatives an explanation as to how they escaped

However, the family claim they received cards for three years after they escaped, without the official prison stamps and numbers on them.

Along with their brother Alfred, John and Clarence started robbing banks in Georgia and were arrested in 1956.

The photo the Widners handed over shows two men, with a striking resemblance to the Anglin brothers, standing next to a rock by the side of a road.

The image was said to have been taken by Anglin family friend Fred Brizzi, who grew up with the pair in Florida before they turned to a life of crime.

Brizzi told the Widners he bumped into John in a bar in Rio De Janeiro. The pair then invited Brizzi to the farm they supposedly owned and asked him to take pictures of their new surroundings.

The Widners believe their uncles wanted Brizzi to take the photos and give them to their family in a bid to reassure them they were alive and well.

Brizzi, who smuggled drugs from South America to Central Florida in the 1970s, is believed to have finally delivered the pictures to the family in 1992.

The picture was looked over by a forensic examiner in the History Channel documentary covering the escape.

Michael Street analysed the facial structures and compared them to two images of the convicts.

He then passed on his findings to Art Roderick, a retired U.S. Marshall investigator who had been in charge of the probe into the men's disappearance for 20 years during its half-century history.

Roderick told the Anglin family that it was 'very likely' the two men in the picture are John and Clarence Anglin.




Brizzi smuggled drugs between South America and Central Florida in the 1970s. Investigators have considered the possibility he helped the brothers get across San Francisco Bay


An image shows a papier-mache head lying on the bed of one of the inmates after they had escaped

Initially the U.S Marshals doubted Brizzi's account because of his criminal background.

But the Widners added credit to his incredible story by letting investigators listen to a tape recording of Brizzi, who explained how the allegedly pair escaped.

Brizzi recalled how the trio went down to a lake near the farm, attached a rope to a rudder and then body surfed on the water.

During his supposed encounter in Brazil, he asked the pair whether this is how they escaped. They said yes.

They could have been towed to freedom by a passenger ferry, the last of which left just after midnight on the night of their escape, using 120ft of electrical wire that was reported missing from the dock.

According to tide experts, 12:00am would have been the only time they wouldn't have been swept up in the current.


There were also magazines found in their cells which guided them on mechanics and showed them how boats leave slips.

The theory is that they attached the cable to a rudder, were dragged away from Alcatraz and then met up with another boat being driven by someone from the outside.

Investigators believe Brizzi, with his criminal background in shipping narcotics, could have been the man to help them get across the San Francisco Bay.

His theory is backed up by a witness, Officer Robert Checchi, who was having a cigarette at a yacht club overlooking the Bay after his shift in Alcatraz.

He looked out over the water after midnight and saw a white boat with no fishing rods or sails laying still for around 30 minutes.

All of a sudden, it started moving towards the Golden Gate Bridge. The FBI discounted his account at the time, as they firmly believed the trio never made it to shore.

When he met the Anglin family, Brizzi insisted he is the only one who truly knew they made it out alive.



An alternative escape theory suggests the convicts used electrical chord (that was reported missing from the dock) and tied it around a passenger ferry that left the island just after midnight on the night of their escape. They got the idea from mechanics' magazines they had been reading in their cells



A prison guard kneels by hole in Frank Morris' cell through which he and John and Clarence Anglin escaped. Prison officials report hole was dug with broken spoons they had stolen from the prison canteen



The convicts were able to put together the lifelike heads in a bid to trick the guards into believing they were still in their beds on the night of their escape



The Anglins and Morris' incredible escape from Alcatraz saw them chisel vent duct openings in their cells with spoons until they were wide enough to fit through. Pictured is John Anglin's former cell at Alcatraz, which is now a museum

The Widners handed over the evidence to the Marshal's office in return for their help in exhuming their uncle Alfred - who was with John and Clarence when they were robbing banks.

Alfred didn't end up in Alcatraz and instead served his time in Kilby Prison in Alabama. When he arrived he was already eligible for parole, and was due to have a hearing within the first few days of his incarceration.

However authorities say he tried to escape and was electrocuted to death on the way out.

The Anglin family has constantly questioned this account, believing he was beaten to death after his brothers escaped the California institution because he wouldn't help investigators locate them,

So they had the corpse reexamined during the documentary. Alfred's body was dug up from the family cemetery in Ruskin, Florida, had been preserved better than expected, considering the length of time it was in the ground.

A coroner did not find any significant trauma to Alfred, confirming his cause of death was most likely electrocution, but it did lead to a breakthrough in the case of the escapees.

Alfred's DNA was compared with a sample taken from a bone recovered from the Bay just six months after the escape attempt.

It was long thought by the FBI these belonged to one of the inmates.

A comparison of a DNA sample from Morris' family in 2010 concluded the remains did not belong to him.

But for years the Anglins did not agree to giving up a sample as they didn't trust the FBI or the Marshal Service.


A forensic image expert compared the images of the men in the photo. He said it was very likely the two men posing in front of the rock were the Anglin brothers


Officials from the U.S. Marshalls bring up the coffin of Ken and David Widner's other uncle, Alfred, who authorities say died when he was electrocuted while escaping from Kilby Prison in Alabama


The results confirmed the bone found did not belong to either Anglin brother - adding credit to the claims they made it out of the water alive.

Art Roderick said the combination of the image of the brothers and DNA test results was a 'game changer' in the investigation.

He is now looking into the evidence in greater detail so he can close the case that has consumed most of his life.

Ken Widner told the History Channel that the quest to finally figure out his uncles' fate was not just for a TV show.

'We are doing this to prove they actually got off that island and did make that crossing,' he said.

'We want to bury them with their family,' he added.

The U.S. Marshals, who have been searching for the trio ever since, only close a case if the suspect is arrested, they have proof of death or they reach the age of 99.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

A coroner did not find any significant trauma to Alfred, confirming his cause of death was electrocution and there was no foul play. But a new autopsy did lead to a breakthrough in the case of the escapees



A DNA sample taken from Alfred Anglin's corpse did not match with two parts of femur bones recovered from the water around the prison six months after the brothers escaped - adding credit to the claims the brothers are still alive


New evidence suggests that the trio did not swim or drown. They may have used an electrical cable tied to a rope to drag them into the middle of the Bay, where they were picked up someone helping them on the outside



Retired U.S. Marshall investigator Art Roderick (right) tells the Anglin family he has changed his mind about the fate of the Anglin brothers. He added that the evidence they handed to him was a 'game changer'



If the trio did make it off of the island alive, they would be the only inmates to have done so in the history of Alcatraz, a prison designed to house the country's most notorious criminals

[R_S]

Excellent story!

[BethlehemSteel]

gonna read this at the link.

This has always peaked my interest. Is there the TV documentary to go with it?

[Legacy User]

Great story...Great movie too.

[StillMadAtSlobber]

There is a 2015 History Channel documentary that includes this new stuff.

Its essentially tossed the case on its head.

After watching the movie a couple years ago, I read what was on wiki.

The US Marshals viewpoint was "Noone has ever successfully escaped from the Rock before, the currents are too strong, they didnt make it." yada yada yada. There was a body or two found, but I dont know if they did any matching.

So it sounds like the US Marshal Service is starting to consider they might have made it.