WEBVTT - The Empty Raft of Alcatraz with JD Pardo 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.600 Welcome to Greatest Escapes, a show bringing you the wildest. 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:06.880 True escape stories of all time. 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:09.240 Now today we're going to get into a story of 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.479 three escape artists who broke out of America's most infamous 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:14.360 supermax prison, Alcatraz. 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:18.280 I'm Auto Rogastro, and I'm. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.319 Here with the incredibly charismatic actor and wonderful human being 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.640 and producer and buddy of mine J D. 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:24.079 Bard. 0:00:54.480 --> 0:01:00.640 WHOA wow, what a great theme song by Ben Chug 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:01.800 I fucking love it. 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.120 Do you like see oonsns? I see all the time? 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.160 You come here often? Yeah, I've been here for three days. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:19.480 Yeah, oh god, oh my goodness. 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.800 Thank you so much for being here. Brother, anything for you? 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.760 Oh thank you? Brother? Are you two buttons down by 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:25.440 the way, what are you? 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:27.560 Yeah? Yeah, I mean that's just my regular go to. 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.520 I'm like a naturally hairless person. I know, so I've 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.160 been able to like rock that low. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.240 I've been thinking about getting like hair implants like on 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:36.759 my chest. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:39.280 You know what. I've always loved. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.200 I've always loved those moments in films, like especially like 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.319 in the seventies and like in the eighties, where like 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.480 the girl is like laying on his chest and she's 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.720 just like playing around with like his chest hair. 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:50.240 Oh. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.280 I was just like, Oh my gosh, I was that guy. 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.440 I wonder if there's like a Mrkan for that. You 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.720 know what I'm saying is that what it's called a 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:03.280 murcan my overlords producers, the thing that they put for 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:04.320 pubic hair. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:09.440 Pubic hair. Correct. It is a friend time a bitch. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:15.080 I'm so good at English. What do you consider to 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.200 be your greatest escape? Yeah, there there was this. Well 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:18.720 I'll take it. 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.600 I'll take it international since since there's no proof of this, 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.480 and it was really weird, especially with like after I 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.160 saw Hostel and everything like that. 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.840 I was in Milan, yeah, and uh. 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.560 Yeah and well yeah, I actually went to this club 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.880 and I was like three ms after a job that 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.360 I did a modeling gig back in my Zoolander days, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.160 one of the most Tommy hill Figer weren't you Tommy 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:47.160 hill Figure campaign? 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:47.639 Uh? 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.040 And then I did a job for for Gucci in 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.079 Milan and it. 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.200 Was a beautiful to get it. You're Jesus Christ j 0:02:55.400 --> 0:03:00.440 D Yes, I'm hot. I was so hot. So you're Milan? 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.000 I do this thing right? 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.400 And uh, parties there like start like at two am. 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:07.640 You know, and really late, and I was with a 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.480 couple of guys and we're going back to the apartments 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.320 and this guy just pulled up in a cab. It 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.639 was just like, I'll take you guys back, and we're 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:17.560 like okay. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.679 So I'm in the middle. We hop in and we 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.360 start going. Now, did you know these other two guys? 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.520 I knew the other two. I knew him. Uh, and 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:26.880 we all lived in the same place. 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.000 Okay, now we have been there for a few months now, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.320 so we know our way around. And we're talking and 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.560 you know, we're kind of wasted, and then all of 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.520 a sudden, one of the guys just. 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:41.680 Starts freaking out, says, where is he taking us? 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.320 And you're out the windows, just going I just want 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.360 to die the thing what happened? 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.120 Okay, He's like you can sense there's something fucked up? 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.520 Well, yeah, you know, like one of the one of 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.360 the guys like starts screaming like Italians. The guy like 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.080 this is not the way, and then the other guy 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.000 on my side like this is not where we're not 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.000 supposed to go, Like where's he taking us? Where's he 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.920 taking us that way? And the guy's like screaming at him. 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.320 And then the driver starts screaming at us. No, He's like, 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:10.400 where are you guys taking me? 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:11.760 Well, you're fucking driving. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.920 The next thing I know, the guy on my left 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:16.760 bolts out, jumps out of the car. 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:17.240 Oho. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:22.640 The other guy jumps out. The driver slams on the 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:24.799 brakes and grabs a bat. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:31.000 That's right next he goes out to the left. I immediately, 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.919 without thinking, just just jumped. 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:35.960 Out of the car to my right and he starts 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.240 screaming at me, and I run down in alley. 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.120 Whoa, And I jumped behind. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.440 Like this dumpster and like this car, and I just 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.280 kind of like in the fetal position. I had no 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.240 idea what was going on, Like this was. It just 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.480 happened so quick, right where our guy called him out 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.760 for taking us somewhere that we weren't supposed to go, 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.359 and they were dude. It still kind of freaks me 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.039 out to this day because I feel like I had 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.800 someone like looking over me and the guy was walking 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:09.599 through the alley and I could hear it was like 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.279 a moment, dude, what a horror film fucking moment. And 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.120 I'm just like, just don't breathe, just don't breathe, just 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:16.920 don't breathe. And then he just turned around and went 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.680 the other way and he just started swearing. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:27.440 Got in the car, and you know, wow, Well, I'm glad. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.600 You survived that. Thank you. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:31.880 I want to check in on the taxi driver to 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.920 see his side of the story, because I don't. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.920 They're like, man, I don't know these guys. Just like, now, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:38.400 I got your side of the story. 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:43.280 Let me hear now, our next guest is actually will 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:47.640 come here. All right, well listen, let's get ready for 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:48.640 a big old escape. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:49.719 How about that. I'm excited. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:56.320 So we're headed to California's infamous island prison, Alcatraz. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.480 Hollywood has loved this place for years. 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.520 Tons of classics like Berman of Alcatraz, A point Blank, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.240 The Enforcer, and The Rock, The fucking Rock, such a 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.039 cool movie. And we're gonna talk a little bit about why, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.720 like the fact that Alcatraz was originally made into a 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.400 federal prison as a pr stunt for the government. The 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.640 reputation of Alcatraz was kind of just the point of it, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.080 you know, So we'll get into that. But some people 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.040 haven't been fans, starting with the prisoners who were locked 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.039 up on the island. Who was the first person you 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.320 think of when I say prohibition. 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:35.440 I think of like Tom Hardy, Yeah, playing what al Capone? 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:35.719 Right? 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:36.400 Right? 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.640 So in nineteen thirty splashy stories about mobsters like al 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.560 Capone had been super embarrassing for the government, so President 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.240 Hoover decided that he needed to do something to save 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.120 the government's reputation. His answer to these super criminals was 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.640 to create a super prison. So in nineteen thirty three, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.360 the New Borough decided to create a superprison to hold 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.479 only the worst of the worst. They selected this military 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.640 prison on Alcatraz Island. They wanted it to be, you know, 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.760 a symbol of a government power to mass organized crime. 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.600 I don't know what accent that is, but I figure 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:12.880 that's what people in power had a. 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.840 Lot in there. So those good you're covering all your bases. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.480 It's for all our listeners everywhere in the world. So 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:20.680 let me give you a little history on the island 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.360 and kind of prison. So Alcatraz itself was originally named 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:30.040 by Don Juan Manuel de a Yela, so when the 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.240 Spanish were laying claim to California, he called it like 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.880 Islae Lostrass or Island of the Sea Birds. So the 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.880 island was held by the Spanish until Mexican independence. 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.560 Now the USA took. 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.560 It in eighteen forty seven, and the army built a 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.320 fort there right where cannons were put to watch San 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.520 Francisco Bay during the gold Rush, which I'm sure, I 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.280 like that makes sense, right everybody during the gold Rush, 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.160 being like, I'm sure it led to a lot of 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.880 criminality and anxiety all for sure, did absolutely. Oh man, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:03.880 I see goal now I fucking go crazy. 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:04.440 Yeah. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.520 And then in the American Civil War, Fort Alcatraz was 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.160 packed with soldiers and guns guarding the harbor. Right since 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.360 it was home to like two hundred soldiers. There are 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.640 plenty of buildings, you know, barracks to ladge troops, separate 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.840 housing for the officers, a bakery, a bowling alley. 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:22.960 Yeah, baby, I love it. 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.920 I love them, being just like, yeah, so listen, guys, 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.160 we're gonna we're gonna have to have to shoot some people, right, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.480 But that does not mean that I can't strike a 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.600 fucking perfect ninety eight Okay, you know, oh for sure, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.960 so listen. So there were also separate warehouses on this 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.079 island where the Union Army stashed all their guns and 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.000 ammunition to keep the equipment away from Confederate sympathizers on 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:44.520 the mainline. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:45.800 Right, So, over the. 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:50.200 Years, Alcatraz slowly became a military prison. One historian says 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.520 that after the Civil War it became a holding pen 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.839 for quote, assorted misfits and societal problems, which is what 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.400 they would call us actors back in the day. Yeah, 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.360 it sounds like normal. It was just a bunch of actors. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:04.200 Really like, these guys problematic. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.120 Put them in there. So if the army captured someone. 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.800 And didn't want to deal with them, they just dumped 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.400 them on Alcatraz and locked them up in the newly 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.120 constructed jail house on the island. 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:15.199 Sounds about right. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.960 That included military deserters, stowaways on American ships, and even 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:23.280 war protesters during World War One. Now here's a really 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:28.040 fucked up part. It also included Indigenous men trying to 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.680 keep their children out of US government schools. It's a 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.960 moment worth remembering, and it's actually really important in the 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:39.400 history of the prison. There's a tribe that's fighting for 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.160 the rights that the island belongs to them, to the state, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.199 So we hope they went. But how fucked up is 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.400 this bro they like they put you away because you 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:51.280 don't want your kids being indoctrinated by people that have come. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.360 To fuck you over. It's very sad, very tragic. I mean, look, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.760 history is ugly. And I think I told you, I 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:02.480 think you when we were filming Roadhouse that producing a 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.720 show with FX called Bundito, and it takes place in 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.240 this time in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.880 And what I was so fascinated to find, and I 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.000 think it did have something to do with Alcatraz, was 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.680 that during the gold Rush, this is where they wanted 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.000 to push out the Indigenous. They wanted to push out 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:26.040 the Mexican or the dark colored skin, you know, Natives 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:32.160 who were considered Californio's right because it was separate. But 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.320 during the gold Rush you had you know, people from 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.000 New York, you had Irish, you had Australian, you had 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.920 everybody coming over. And what they ended up doing, if 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.280 I remember correctly, was passing a foreign tax law for gold. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.920 If you were Indigenous. 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.719 Or Mexican like Native, you were considered a foreigner and 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.280 you had to pay a tax law. And if you 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.000 were caught taking gold without paying your taxes, you were 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:02.440 thrown in prison. I think it had to do with Alcatraz. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.840 So the crazy thing to me was like, even then 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:12.959 there were these laws that they were putting into place, Yeah, 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.280 to man hold people down. 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.160 Yeah, man, this is great, But thank you for that, dude. 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:23.280 I did not know most of that. So as the 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.880 army added to the number of people locked up in Alcatraz, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.400 they eventually decided to clear the center of the island 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.640 and build a huge cell house. The cell house was 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.960 built as a massive space. Towers of cells were stacked 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:36.880 on top of each other in the middle of the room. 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.840 That was a prison that President Hoover wanted to be 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.160 his main showpiece in the nineteen thirties. They planned to 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.400 use Alcatraz to quote segregate degenerate minds. 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.840 These are his words, by the way, from the rest 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.280 of the inmates in federal custody. That's what we want 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.800 to do. He's ounded like this for some reason in 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:54.200 my head. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.440 Now, when the Borough of Prisons picked the island to 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.080 be their new federal super prison, they decided it would 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:03.040 be a prison for escape. 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:03.600 Peace right. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.240 Almost half of the men sent there had tried breaking 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.400 out of other prisons, and some had even succeeded Now, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.480 the guard station there were very aware of that fact, right, 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.160 One senior officer I was quoted by saying. 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.520 The inmates job is to get out and our job 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.040 is to keep them in. 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:22.000 I love it. 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:26.120 Yeah, they're like, this is our slogan at Alcatraz. Now, 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.800 the prison was rebuilt to be escape proof, and yeah, 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.160 I mean that's kind of always the fucking idea with prisons, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:32.520 isn't it. 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720 But yeah, I loved that. They were like this one 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.360 you can't escape from damn it. How did he do that? 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.560 But with Alcatraz the stakes were super high, right. 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.640 The cells were built using toolproof steel and you steal 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.120 bar doors and grates that were installed on every opening 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.160 of the prison. The Rock, as its nickname, was selected 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.800 precisely for the kinds of inmates who wouldn't be scared 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.920 off by a high wall or some barbed wire. So 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.080 when it opened in the nineteen thirties, prisoner was like 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.800 al Capone and George Machine Gun Kelly were held in Alcatraz. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.360 That was before he made a terrible album just kidding. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.920 It made the prison the most infamous in the country, 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.520 and the first major escape attempt came in nineteen thirty seven. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.080 Two prisoners secretly cut through the bars blocking a window 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.840 of the building where they worked inside the prison, now 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.240 carrying heavy tools from the model shop. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.680 This is a shop where they built people like you, JD. 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.439 The model shop. Wow, what a terrible dad joke. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.920 So they broke through the lock on the gate, clambered 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:35.440 down the cliffs and hit the water, where they dove 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.840 in and swam towards a mainland. The men disappeared, but 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.520 given the cold, choppy water that day in December and 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.119 the tide running out to the Pacific Ocean, person officials 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.199 assumed that the men died in an attempt to swim. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:48.640 To the bay. How far does that swim? 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.760 By the way, I believe it's a mile overlords, the 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.480 closest sland is a mile and a half mile and a. 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.600 Half, Thank you my lord. God. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.960 Yeah, hey, I'm telling you bright, it's the best fucking 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.320 thing in the work God, yes, my son, see. 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.360 Yeah, Okay. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:06.920 So in nineteen forty six there was a super violent 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.439 escape attempt that became known as the Battle of Alcatraz. 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.000 It included a massive shootout between prisoners and marines that 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.600 were called to the island to fight them. After that, 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.040 the prison was no longer seen as a symbol of 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.480 the government's power to win. No, Instead, it became a 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:27.520 symbol of chaos and violence. Now, this was obviously exactly 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:29.560 the opposite of what the government wanted. You know, it 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.240 undermined their whole pr project because the Borough of Prisons 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.200 responded by adding so many extra layers of security that 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.640 no escapes were attempted for the next seven years. Eventually, though, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.640 prisoners would try to escape again. And the jail break 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.880 in nineteen sixty seven is about as different as you 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.800 can get from the battle. That's when three men, Frank 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.680 Morris and John and Clarence Anglin actually made it out. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:15:06.480 Of the Island prison. Let's move on to the escape. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.840 So Frank, John and Clarence, these three guys weren't mobsters, 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.280 you know, they weren't killers. They were the other kind 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.360 of It made that Alcatraz was built for. They were 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.440 the escape artists right now. Also, why I love that 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.680 they get deemed escape artists. 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:22.600 I'm an artist. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:28.720 It's the best rebranding that escapees have ever done. It's 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.800 better than Mayo turning into aoli that rebranding Chef's kiss. 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.000 So John and Clarence England were farm boys, good farm boys, right. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.240 Their parents were seasonal farm workers and lived much of 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.080 their lives between farming towns. 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:42.600 Now. 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.240 One month they'd be picking tomatoes in Florida, and the 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.320 next they'd be picking cherries in Michigan. They also bring 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.640 along their thirteen children as they move from place to place. 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.280 That's tough, man, because I have two and I'm already 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.480 on man on man defense, you know what I mean? Like, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.440 I feel like one more. I'm heading into the zone 0:15:58.440 --> 0:15:59.920 and some special through the seams. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.560 Plus the traveling right, like you have to have a 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.560 bus bro Anyway, it was in Lake Michigan that John 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.920 and Clarence learned how to swim, and as the story goes, 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.240 they would even go swimming in the freezing cold when 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:11.320 the lake was still icy. 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.480 Oh have you ever done a polar plunge? I want to? 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.480 Yeah, I want the fad now. I love cold plunging. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:23.760 Dude, It's a thing. Many As these guys grew older, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:24.840 they grew wilder. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.120 Right. They hot wied cars, they stole tractor batteries, they 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.240 broke into stores. Clarence even got locked up in a 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.760 Florida juvenile detention center when he was fourteen. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.960 No yeah, fourteen rough dud muffin. 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.200 So soon enough two of the brothers had four year 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.720 sentences for breaking and entering. But they also started breaking 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.120 out of the various jails where they were held. What 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.720 account says that they broke out of jails in Fort Myers, 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.240 in West Palm Beach, in Pompano Beach, Perry City, and 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:53.040 Floral City. 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.960 They sound like resorts, so they got on they're all 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:01.320 inclusive and timeshare and in Floral City and the escape 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.600 from Floria City, Clarence sawt a hole through a wooden 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.720 floor in the jail and was even shot on the 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.520 shoulder as he jumped the prison fence. 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.919 So the Angland's biggest crime was the robbery of a 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.119 bank in Alabama in nineteen fifty eight. John Clarence and 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.920 another Angling brother all worked together and they used a 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.440 toy gun to hold up the employees and got away 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:24.640 with nineteen thousand dollars. Pretty good for you know, farm 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:26.200 boys at the time. I mean, this is a fucking 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:26.919 ton of money in it. 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:28.560 Nineteen geez, there you go. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.760 Yeah, So for five days they went from place to place, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.359 staying with family, but then someone tipped them off to 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.760 the police and they were caught in Hamilton on Hio, 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:46.760 probably like a judgmental dea, you know, be like, oh no, listen, that's. 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.320 I would get rid it out so quick, broke My 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.639 family'd be like, what the fuck? Grabbed myself shot. 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.680 I'm like, I'm just a very I'm like, I can't lie, dude, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:57.479 It hard for me to lie. 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.919 They narrowly ducked the death penalty in Alabama, so instead 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.360 they got twenty five years each. That's that's that's a win, right, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.160 that's a win with even bigger. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.919 Yeah, of course I didn't get it. It seems like 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.200 they would. Yeah, like fuck it. I was goodn escape anyway. 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.520 After various unsuccessful attempts from other federal prisons, John arrived 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.920 in Alcatraz in October nineteen sixty and Clarence Anglin followed 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.119 him there in January nineteen sixty one. And once they 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.600 got there together, they struck up a little bromance with 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.000 a man named Frank Morris, and then the three of 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.720 them cooked up a plan that put their jail break 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:39.040 into the history books. Now thinking that there was no 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.040 risk of them escaping the island, the prison warden put 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.760 John and Clarence inside by side cells. So the cells 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.040 were B block one fifty and B block one fifty two. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.240 Frank Morris was just a few cells down in one 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.320 three to eight. Now, that wasn't the first time they 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.320 had met Morris, though they had previously made his acquaintance 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:02.440 at a federal penitentiary and Okay. Throughout his teens, Frank 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:04.960 committed a series of arm robberies that had him locked 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.520 up many times, but he had escaped custody over and 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.000 over before he was finally shipped to Alcatras. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.280 The Rock, The Rock, The Rock. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.960 Now, together with a fourth man, Alan West, Frank and 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.359 the Anglan brothers hatched a plan to break out of Alcatraz. So, 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.080 knowing that you have to escape the island, what are 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:25.720 some of the things that you would factor in to 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:26.959 your island escape? 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.000 What do you think you would need? JD. I don't 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.840 even know what I would need, you know? But what's impressive? 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.760 A few of them they were just farmers, right, and 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:38.400 it's just your imagination. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.000 It goes to show you that, like, yeah, being assertive 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:42.920 and being creative is being as certain. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.680 Being creative, and like looking at the walls around you 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.200 and saying like, no, it's not holding me this. 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.280 Isn't holding me up in that moment of empowerment, looking 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:54.159 at the walls around you and saying no, no, no, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:55.680 you will not catch me here. 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:00.320 No, I am not going for twenty five years whatever. 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.000 It is, Like, Yeah, that's impressive to me because you 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:07.400 have to have such imagination about the other side. And 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.840 not only that, like they used each other's minds and 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.040 they read the room and they were aware. 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:14.760 They read the room. 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:16.960 Let me tell you how they actually started their escape, 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.840 because it's fucking wild. Okay to me, they started So 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.560 here's the thing, right, get in real close. They started 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.240 their escape with spoons Okay, now almost Yeah, for almost 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.000 a year they used them to scrape the concrete walls 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:30.400 of their fucking cells. 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:31.800