While Alcatraz Island is now a national park, it was once home to a federal prison that held some of the most dangerous criminals in American history, such as Al Capone and Whitey Bulger.
While the prison claimed that no one ever successfully escaped, 36 prisoners tried. Some were caught, some were shot, and a few were never found but presumed to have drowned in the waters around the island.
But on June 11, 1962, bank robbers Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin most likely made a successful escape (despite it never being confirmed) and a letter written in 2013 โ but released just last year might โ might be the proof people have been looking for.
The elaborate escape involved the men picking away slowly at the concrete surrounding an air vent that had been damaged by moisture. They used spoons and coins and even rigged an electric drill from stolen vacuum cleaner parts, which they used during hours when music was playing loudly to cover the noise.
Before the prisoners escaped through the air vent, they placed paper-mรขchรฉ dummies in their beds to fool the guards.
They even managed to build a raft out of 50 raincoats they stole over the course of a few months. While the prisoners were assumed dead in 1979, all three escapees remain on the most wanted list and the Anglin brothersโ family insisted they had contact with them after their escape and have a photo of the brothers in Brazil.
But itโs a new piece of evidence that provides the most convincing proof that the trio made a successful escape.
In January 2018, California TV station KPIX 5 said it had obtained a letter sent to the San Francisco Police Department in 2013 from the sole surviving escapee, John Anglin. If itโs real, it means a man who pulled off one of the most epic prison escapes in history actually asked to be reincarcerated. The letter read:
โMy name is John Anglin. I escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. Iโm 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer. Yes we all made it that night but barely!
If you announce on TV that I will be promised to first go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention, I will write back to let you know exactly where I am. This is no joke.โ
Yes, you read that right. It turns out that John Anglin asked to go back to prison in 2013. Even more bizarre is that he thought the prison system would take him up on his offer to return for only a short time in order to receive cancer treatment.
The government waited 5 years to release the letter, but U.S. Marshals and the FBI investigated the matter and found a handwriting analysis inconclusive.
If the letter is from Anglin, it looks like he returned to the U.S. and lived in Seattle, North Dakota, and Southern California without ever being discovered.
Anglin never returned to custody and his nephews have criticized the San Francisco police for keeping the letter hidden so long without even notifying the family. But they also donโt believe the letter is real, insisting that their uncle would have contacted the family if he were truly in need of help.
While itโs an interesting story and a bizarre request if the letter is real, thereโs still no proof. And considering how sick Anglin made himself sound in the letter (if he did indeed write it), heโs likely dead by now.
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