Alcatraz’s most infamous inmates, 90 years after it opened | US News

Once home to America’s most evil criminals, Alcatraz now opens its doors only to tourists seeking a taste of the darker side of history.

On August 11, 1934, 90 years ago today, Alcatraz welcomed the first prisoners who had once wreaked havoc across America.

The maximum security prison was isolated on a remote island in the middle of San Francisco Bay and housed more than 1,500 prisoners during its 30 years of operation.

Prisoners were only entitled to food, shelter, clothing and medical care, everything else was considered a luxury and had to be earned under a strict regime.

So who were the most famous people housed within its walls?

Alvin Karpis

Karpis, once officially public enemy number one, was the leader of a band of thieves, hijackers and kidnappers.

The group killed everyone in their path, including innocent bystanders, and even carried out a train robbery in Garrettsville, making off with a fortune of £27,000.

He was eventually captured and sentenced to life in prison in 1932 for ten murders, six kidnappings and one robbery.

Karpis served the longest sentence of any other prisoner, 26 years.

A former guard, Al Bloomquist, described him as a “mild nuisance” and said he often complained about poor conditions and fought with other inmates.

He was transferred to McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington as Alcatraz began to close in 1962, where he died.

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel Capone – also known by his nickname “Scarface” – was an infamous gangster and criminal mastermind.

He had strong political connections, which allowed him to evade justice for a long time, until he organized the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, which saw the deaths of seven members of a rival gang.

His capture became a priority for newly inaugurated President Hoover, and in 1934 Al Capone was sent to Alcatraz.

He experienced a harsher prison life at Alcatraz after arriving at the Atlanta prison, where he bribed guards to provide him with comfort.

Two years after his incarceration at Alcatraz, he was stabbed in the back by a fellow inmate, but he recovered quickly and did well during his incarceration.

He even formed a prison band called “Rock Islanders” in which he played banjo.

Capone spent the last year of his sentence in a prison hospital as his health deteriorated, and he died at one of his mansions in 1947.

George “Machine Gun” Kelly Barnes

Barnes became a bootlegger during Prohibition to avoid financial ruin.

But after meeting and falling in love with fellow outlaw Kathryn Thorne, he became increasingly famous.

After attempting to kidnap and ransom oil tycoon Charles Urschel, Kelly was sentenced to life in prison – but bragged to the press that he would be released in time for Christmas.

The authorities took him seriously and he was sent to Alcatraz, where he stayed for three years.

But he bragged to inmates about a series of crimes he never committed.

He took a job as an altar boy in the prison chapel, and guards said he appeared to regret what he had done.

He told goalie James A. Johnston: “My family is made up of good people. Except I turned out to be a hooker.”

He died on his 59th birthday in 1954.

Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz

Stroud was first imprisoned for the murder of a bartender, who he believed owed money to a prostitute he was pimping.

He has been described as an “extremely dangerous and threatening psychopath.”

He was a violent prisoner, eventually stabbing a guard at Leavenworth Prison in Kansas before being placed in solitary confinement.

He devoted his free time to the study and breeding of canaries, even publishing books on the subject.

However, Stroud was eventually sent to Alcatraz after he was caught using his birding equipment to make alcohol.

He spent 17 years there – without birds – writing and illustrating books and died in 1963, the same year the prison closed.

Roy Gardner

Gardner committed a number of crimes throughout his life, but he rose to fame after robbing a U.S. mail truck in 1920, making off with a considerable fortune.

He escaped from prison several times and even managed to overpower his guards on a moving train.

Gardner was sentenced to 25 years in prison on McNeil Island, but he managed to escape by manipulating two other prisoners – Lawardus Bogart and Everett Impyn – into joining him, but ultimately sacrificing themselves for him.

As the three men escaped during a prison baseball game, they were hit by bullets, seriously wounding Bogart and killing Impyn.

As Impyn lay dying, he revealed: “Gardner told us those guys in the towers couldn’t touch the broad side of a barn.”

The law eventually caught up with Gardner, who suffered only a leg injury during the escape, and he was sent to various prisons, his last being Alcatraz.

He described it as “the toughest, most difficult place in the world,” despite being one of the country’s most hardened criminals.

During his stay there, his wife divorced him and he worked in a carpet store and was released in 1938.

In 1939 he published his autobiography “Hellcatraz”, detailing his time there.

Frank Lee Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin

Morris and the Anglin brothers “escaped” from Alcatraz after being

sent there for committing a series of crimes.

The group stole tools they used to dig tunnels off the island and built a raft and mannequins from their beds and raincoats.

They went so far as to create life-size paper mannequins to trick prison guards into thinking they were sleeping.

They escaped on June 11, 1962, and were never seen or heard from again.

It was assumed that they all drowned in the strong current, but no bodies were ever found.

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