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[INDISTINCT TALKING
OVER RADIO]

[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]

Hello, my name is Danny Trejo,

and the following
is a deathbed confession
of John Leroy Kelly

about the escape
from Alcatraz Island in 1962.

ED O'ROSS:
The greatest mysteries
of the 20th century include

the disappearance
of Jimmy Hoffa,

the JFK assassination...

And the Alcatraz Prison escape.

In 1962, three inmates
escaped from Alcatraz Island
Federal Penitentiary.

This was thought
to be impossible.

Their bodies were never found,
and they were never captured.

Until recently, there was
a one million dollar reward

for information that led
to the capture or discoveries
of the bodies

of Frank Morris, John Anglin,
and Clarence Anglin,

who escaped on June 11th 1962.

No one knows if they drowned
in the chilly waters

of Alcatraz that night

or truly made it off The Rock.

Recently, a new document
was uncovered.

A deathbed confession
of a low-level criminal

claiming involvement
in the escape,

which sent Art Roderick,
the head of the US Marshals,
and his partner, Mike Earp,

descendant of legendary lawman,
Wyatt Earp,

cross country with
filmmaker Daniel Zirilli,

to investigate
the oldest open case
in US Marshals' history.

[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]

KELLY: I really
don't know how to start
this except to just tell it.

I guess you could say
I'm a very famous person.

It's just that no one knows
who I am.

Or what I did.

I, along with a man
named Robert Michael Kyle,

helped to pull off
one of the most
famous prison escapes

in the United States' history.

ED O'ROSS: There was
a lot of people involved

in the escape
from Alcatraz Prison.

I know for a fact
that high-ranking guards

were paid for their part
in the escape.

I believe, from what
the convicts told us,

that the prison officials
had to know
or strongly suspect

that guards at the prison
took part in this escape.

On Monday, June 11th,
with Robert at the wheel,

we picked up escaped inmates,
Frank Lee Morris, John Anglin,
and Clarence Anglin.

We took them north
to Seattle on the boat.

In the first
two or three years
after the prison escape,

my Uncle Donald, the one
that got me involved
in the escape,

said that the convicts'
family members called him,
wanting to know what happened.

I always told my Uncle Donald

that me and Robert
left the convicts in Canada

and never saw them again.

I don't think
he really ever believed me.

Please forgive me
for what I did.

NEWS REPORTER:
A spoon proves
mightier than the bars

at supposedly escape-proof
Alcatraz Prison.

Three bank robbers,
serving long terms,

scratched their way through
grills covering an air vent,
climbed a drainage pipe,

and disappeared from
the forbidding rock
in San Francisco Bay.

It appears to be
the first successful escape

in the history of
the maximum security prison.

And the flight is attributed
by warden Olin Blackwell

to the deteriorating condition
of the prison,

crumbling concrete
and eroding metals

with five million
needed for repairs.

[DRAMATIC INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING]

The men the walls
couldn't hold

are Frank Morris
and John and Clarence Anglin.

Authorities believe that
Morris, who has a superior IQ,
masterminded the escape.

Ironically, the wanted posters
offer only the nominal reward

of 50 dollars each
for information leading to
the arrest of the prisoners.

They painstakingly fashioned
dummies of plaster

with hair of
paintbrush bristles
to stand in for them

during cell check

while they covered
an escape hole
with a cardboard grill.

All of this was within easy
visual range of the guards
in the gun galleries.

They climbed drainpipes
to the top of the cell block

and then slid down vents
to the ground.

Again, all of this
within sight of guards.

The escape triggered
the greatest manhunt
in San Francisco's history

as agents of the FBI,
Coast Guardsmen,
highway patrol,

sheriff's deputies,
and local police
joined in the search.

Whatever their fate,
the three convicts have
apparently accomplished a feat

that many have tried
with no success.

O'ROSS: For most,
the name Alcatraz

evokes images of iron bars,
hard concrete

and brutal guards.

A purgatory for
anyone trapped inside.

Although this is what
Alcatraz became,

it started as something
very different.

Isla de los Alcatraces,
or Pelican Island,
was first surveyed in 1847.

Devoid of any real
natural resources,

and only one or two
landable beaches,

it seemed an unlikely asset
to the newly acquired
Republic of California.

The US Army, however,
quickly saw the value
of the barren rock.

Sitting at the heart
of the bay, the island was
seen as an ideal location

for artillery batteries
that could protect

the recently renamed hamlet
of San Francisco.

In 1853, construction began
on Camp Alcatraz.

Completed in 1859,

the island became
the first permanent
harbor fortification

on the United States
West Coast.

Declaration of civil war
in 1861

left California fighting
on the side of
the northern States.

Three hundred Union soldiers
were stationed at Fort Alcatraz

to fend off any possible
Confederate assault
on the San Francisco Bay.

These soldiers waited
for an attack that never came.

Never once did the canons
of Alcatraz fire on an enemy.

The camp did, however,
find its use during the war.

It began serving
as a military prison

for captured Confederate
soldiers and sympathizers.

It continued to operate as
both fort and military prison
for another 40 years.

In 1900, it was decided

that the fort would resign
all defensive duties

and would operate solely
as an army prison.

Over the next 30 years,
the inmates at Pacific branch
US Military Prison Alcatraz

transformed The Rock,
as they called it,

into the world's largest
and most modern prison.

Finally, in 1934,
the war department
said goodbye to Alcatraz

and handed the island over
to the Department of Justice

where it remained
until its closure in 1963.

This is the era
that the island prison
is most famous for.

The worst of the worst of all
maximum security prisons.

The most difficult time
that any inmate could do.

Alcatraz Island
Federal Penitentiary.

In its almost 30 years
as an operational facility,

Alcatraz was home
to the nation's most dangerous
and notorious criminals.

Gangsters like
Chicago crime boss Al Capone

and Los Angeles based
mafioso Mickey Cohen

both found themselves
locked inside the walls
of The Rock.

Other most wanted criminals
like Machine Gun Kelly
and Doc Barker

were also sent to Alcatraz.

A veritable laundry list
of the nation's
most famous criminals

declared residence on The Rock
at one time or another.

Given the miserable
conditions at Alcatraz,

combined with the nature
of its inmates,

it was inevitable
that there would be
escape attempts.

However, in its 29 years
of operation,

Alcatraz claims
that no prisoner ever
successfully escaped.

ZIRILLI: This is the Alcatraz
prison escape statement.

And I faxed it to both
the FBI and the US Marshals,

and they deemed it
credible enough for follow-up.

So two US Marshals
and a tracker and myself

are actively looking
for the site

that's mentioned
in this statement.

[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]

NURSE: I am typing this
statement for my good friend
and patient John Leroy Kelly

who was born
near Greenville, Mississippi,

on or about
September 3rd, 1944.

He says that
he does not have
a birth certificate on file,

and he never learned
to write much more
than his name

and states that
he cannot read at all.

John has asked me
not to release this
to anyone until he is dead.

He is afraid of going
to jail or prison

for the part he played
in the 1962 Alcatraz
prison escape

of Frank Morris,
Clarence Anglin,
and John Anglin.

EARP: When we get in
these type leads,

we love to say...
You know, we can't say, "Okay,
this is it, it's a home run."

"Is this possible?"
And this was possible.

So that's why we're here.

We weren't involved...
The Marshal Service
as an agency

wasn't involved
in this case.

ZIRILLI: For 18 years.

Right, right.
We didn't get it
till 1979.

'80, I think.
'80, 1981.

When the Attorney General
made the Marshal Service
responsible

for what they call
the escape and rescue
statutes,

which are the federal statutes
that an individual's
charged with

for escape or aiding
and abetting an escape
and all that.

So that...that case
came over to us,

uh, when the Attorney General
gave us that authority.

More or less moved it
from the FBI to us.

So we have...we didn't go back
and, like, try and recreate
the investigation.

Because, let me tell you,
the Bureau...

Seventeen hundred pages...

They did a lot of stuff.
Right.

I mean, surveillances,
interviewed family members.

Year after year,
they went back and...

I mean, they did a perfect...
a real good investigation.

So we weren't going
to go back and recreate that.

Basically, what we've done
up to this point is

if something comes up,
we'll follow the lead out
till the end.

O'ROSS: Thousands of people
visit Alcatraz Island
every year

to see Al Capone's cell
and hear about
the Birdman of Alcatraz.

They come to see
how Frank Morris and
the Anglin brothers escaped.

What they hear
are the tour-guided facts,

a rehearsed
and recited account
based on speculation,

as to how the escape
actually happened.

Never before has Alcatraz
revealed everything

that it knows and doesn't know
about what happened
that fateful night.

ZIRILLI: So I just got
off the phone with Art.

Apparently, Craig at
the Ranger's Office
at Alcatraz

called to verify if Art
was working with us
on the Alcatraz statement.

And Art told the guy
to give them, Daniel and Neil,

all access to everything
they have on Alcatraz.

When I talked to
the US Marshal Service
this morning,

they indicated that
this was the first time
that Art's been on the case

in 12 years,
I believe he said,

that they had anything
really worth pursuing.

They felt that it had
enough possibilities

to dedicate some time to it.

Alcatraz was designed and run
as a maximum-security,
minimum-privilege penitentiary.

That meant our inmates
received no tailor-made
cigarettes,

candy bars, chewing gum,
soft drinks, radio, television,

newspapers, paroles,
or rehabilitation programs.

That none of that
was being sent here.

In fact, none of our inmates
were sent from a court.

They were all sent
from another prison
having a problem.

And someone told me from
the prison they came from,
the warden in the institution

would have a picture
of Alcatraz behind his desk,

and he'd point
to that picture and say,

"If I see you one more time,
that's it, you're going...
You are going to Alcatraz."

And you knew you were going
to do some tough times.

Now, you come
and visit the island,

you look out and see
all these beautiful views.

You see San Fransisco,
the East Bay, Marin County.

You say, "Gee,
that's not so bad."

But how'd you like to
have water held out to you
and you can't drink it?

You know,
it's a city so close
and yet so far.

ZIRILLI: Is there any way
you think they made it?

Ah, at first, I would
have said yes,

but since they haven't
showed up in all these years,
I doubt it, no.

Given the bay
and the tide conditions
that night

and what physical evidence
was discovered over the next
couple days by the FBI,

most of the staff
on the island have
been of the opinion

that they probably
didn't survive the swim.

I don't think there's been
any trace of them found.

Which in a way
is kind of unusual

because bodies do turn up
in the bay here mostly
when somebody drowns,

they'll find pieces of them,
they'll find parts
of their clothes.

It's 50 degrees out there
or about 10 to 12 Celsius.

It's very cold.

Although 400 people a year
swim from Alcatraz
to San Francisco,

in at least two, maybe three,
swims a year.

Most people can't handle it.

If you can't do it
in 35 or 40 minutes,

um, you know, you're gonna
be in trouble.

So it can be done.

It definitely can be done.
It's done all the time.

One of the stories
that's most often been told

was that they planned
to steal a boat
in Angel Island

and given that
that didn't happen,

that sort of led
to a general belief

that the chances are
that they didn't make it.

However, we know
of many swims,

organized swims,
that do that bay
every year,

so we always sort of
leave the story
with an open end

that, well, one never knows,
after all, they were
pretty highly motivated.

You know, the point
that they left
their cells that night,

at that point,
they were escaped convicts,
they had nothing left to lose.

Once a federal inmate
escapes from prison,

that becomes
an FBI case apparently.

You know, it comes
under their jurisdiction.

However, as a fugitive
from justice,

the US Marshal Service
has jurisdiction too.

The Bureau of Prisons would
still of course, you know,
potentially be involved in this.

In the sense,
they are fugitives
from the Bureau of Prisons.

They would still have time
on their original sentences.

There's no statute
of limitations.

So there's various
law enforcement agencies
should evidence pan out,

and there'd be
more to the story
that we now know.

There'd be several
federal agencies ultimately

that will probably
be interested in it.

If you talk to any
of the former prisoners,

they'll, of course,
all of them say
they got away.

And if you talk
to the former guards,

they'll all of them say
they're dead,
they drowned at sea.

But they're still
on the wanted list
of the FBI

and so they're
not gonna give up
until there's some proof

that they actually died.

ZIRILLI:
Is there any way you think
they made it?

Absolutely.

Really?

Yeah, I helped them
with some tools to do that,

and I know John and Clarence
swam before they could walk.

They were born and raised
in the Everglades, so...

I... Personally,
I think they made it.

[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]

NURSE: John has told me
that he and a friend

helped the three convicts
to escape from
Alcatraz Federal Prison

in San Francisco.

KELLY: At 11:15 p.m.
on Monday June 11th,

Robert and I were in a boat
off Alcatraz Island Prison.

At approximately
10 minutes to midnight,

we moved to the area
just outside the city marina.

At about midnight,
I heard splashes
in the water.

They were lying across
a homemade life raft.

We picked up escaped inmates
Frank Lee Morris, John Anglin,
and Clarence Anglin.

I remember one of the men,
Frank Morris, laughed

and asked if we were
their ride.

Robert asked
where was the other two.

Frank Morris said
they were it.

We took them north
of Seattle on the boat.

When we got back
to Bellingham,

we had the three convicts
get into the back of the truck
that we used for painting

and had them lie down
in the back.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[GATE CLANKS SHUT]

GLASSNER:
Alcatraz had a reputation,
I think it was

to a large degree deserved
of being run more by the book
than any other facility.

It was part of the reason
they created Alcatraz in 1934

because of problems
that did exist
in other federal prisons.

But there are
certainly stories of pay-off.

I mean, at a low level,
there were guards that
broke some of the rules,

inconsequential rules like
you're not allowed
to have candy.

There was no commissary
to buy candy on the island.

Yet, there was
a correctional officer
that worked in the shop

that would sometimes slip
an inmate a piece of candy

if they'd done a particularly
good job on the line.

One day, one of these inmates
got caught with that candy

and rather than turning
the guard in,

he did 19 days in solitary,
I guess it may have
been a bit more.

Punishment for refusing
to inform...

'Cause they knew
this had to come from
the correctional staff.

We know of, again,
religious staff on the island

that came out here,

in at least one case,
smuggling letters
off the island

because they felt
the inmates had
more of a right

to private correspondence
with their lawyers than what
the law allowed at that time.

ZIRILLI: Craig, one of
the ranger sheriff, said that

the religious staff
sometimes thought

that conditions
were a little tough

and that sometimes priests
or the religious staff

would help give information
and letters,

bring letters
to the families and such.

Do you know
anything about that?

No, I would say
that the religious staff,
as I understood it,

and certainly myself
as a part of
the religious staff

and a priest, the priest
that I worked with
coming out here

were scrupulous about that.

We were instructed
in a number of ways

that we're never to take
any contraband in or out.

And also, there was
a no-hostage policy.

So when we went down
into the yard to walk around
and talk with them down there,

we knew that if they ever
grabbed us and captured us
in any way at all,

the guards on the towers
would start shooting.

And so you kinda took
your life in your hands

if you ever did go
down in there.

But I never ever felt insecure
around the prisoners.

They were always
extremely kind to me

and also very respectful of me.

And I think part of it
had to do with the fact

that we were able
to get in here
from the outside.

Very, very few people
including their wives
and children

couldn't get into this prison.
They talked to 'em
through those walls, you know,

with those two-inch thick
glass windows
and through telephone.

And we would
actually walk in here.

We could touch them,
they could touch us.

They could ask us questions.
We would tell them about
the outside world.

And so we were
kind of a breath...

I was and chaplain
service people were a kind of
a breath of fresh air for them

and a kind of a bright spot
in their life.

They were not about
to hurt us or take us hostage.

I never had any
experience like that.

And I also never heard
of any chaplain ever taking
contraband in or out.

Sometimes, we took messages
in the sense that, uh...

They'd say, "Well,
say hello to my wife"
or somebody

if you knew the person,
but you'd just say hello,
that was all.

ZIRILLI: Apparently,
there was a woman
on the outside

that was helping
make arrangements
for their escape.

Well, that's what they said.

KELLY: My uncle,
Donald Leroy Robertson,

is the one that got me
involved in the Alcatraz
Prison Escape.

He had been a driver
for several big-time
bank robbers

at one time or another
in the 1930s and 1940s,

and he knew
Frank Lee Morris.

In October of 1961,

my Uncle Donald had me go
to San Francisco

to meet a woman
named Eugena McGowen

in St. Anthony's Catholic
Church in the San Francisco
Tenderloin District.

That day changed
my life forever.

Many times over the years,
I have wished that I had
not went to that meeting.

She told me that day

that five convicts were going
to escape from Alcatraz

and that she needed me
to provide a boat

to pick them up
and take them to safety.

She told me that
the convicts' families

had come up with over
$60,000 to help them escape,

and that six guards
at Alcatraz Prison
were receiving payoffs

to look the other way
or to help the convicts.

She said that she was
telling me all of this

so I and my partner Robert

would know that the escape
would be able to happen
without any problems.

She gave me 5,000 cash
in 20s in an envelope
that day,

and she was to give me
another 5,000

when she found out
the exact night the convicts
would be able to get out.

Eugena never knew it,

but she had sealed
the convicts' fate

when she told me
that the convicts would be
picking up $50,000.

Robert was obsessed
with trying
to figure out some way

to separate the convicts
from the $50,000

when we got them back
to Seattle.

I can't believe now
that I went along with
Robert's wild scheme.

According to
all the evidence available,

most importantly,
the FBI's investigation,

the point at which
the Anglin brothers and
Frank Morris went into the bay

is just around the corner
from the point
you see it from here.

But their choice of location
to go into the water

would have been very important
to take into account,
this tower being here.

Other towers were by and large
at the back end and other side
of the island.

There used to be a tower
on the roof of the cell house

from which
they made their escape
from the building.

That had been closed down
due to budget cuts and
staff shortages years earlier.

GLASSNER: Here we have
the cell house at the top
of the island,

originally constructed
by the army when this was
a military prison.

The Anglins made their escape
from an air vent
approximately in this area.

By all accounts,
they made their way down here

where they were able
to slide down an exhaust vent

from one of the kitchen stoves
down below.

This was the mess hall
and food preparation area
and the hospital.

GLASSNER: Remember,
as you look at the island,

the plush vegetation
all over the islands,
they didn't exist back then.

They didn't want
a shrubbery this tall

in the days
that this was a prison,

Everything was very low
and trim.

There were gardens,
there were flowers,
there were trees,

Everything was trimmed in a way
to prevent there from being
places to hide.

But certainly by this time,

staffing shortages
and budget cuts
had an effect on security.

The roof tower had been
shut down completely.

Had there been a tower
on the roof...

Had that still been there,
this escape never could
have happened.

The road tower would have
been the tower over on
this side of the island,

which according
to all the physical evidence

is the side of the island
that the three left from
that night.

From the road tower,
the view of the point that
they went into the water

would have been
right around the corner.

KELLY: On May 11th,
I met Eugena

in front of St. Anthony's
Catholic Church.

We walked to the waterfront,
and we met a man
in the shadows there.

He showed me where the water
was likely to carry
the convicts on a raft to,

and he told me to expect them
just after midnight
on June 11th.

He told me that the convicts
would run into no trouble

because he was going
to make sure

that there was no guard
in the road tower that night.

He said that we should have
till 8:00 a.m. at the earliest

to get away before
the alarm was sounded.

Later on, I discovered
that the man we met
that night

was Alcatraz Prison guard
Captain Bradley.

I'd always wondered
how no one ever found out

that something wasn't right
at Alcatraz Prison that night.

One thing that Morris figured
was sure to get
the guards caught

was all the things
that were hid
on top of the cell house.

He said that at least
50 to 60 raincoats
were used to make the rafts.

When two of the convicts
didn't take part
in the escape,

one of the rafts was left
on top of the cell house.

Morris said
that several guards,
not just one or two,

turned their heads
or just didn't say anything

about the things they had seen
in the weeks leading up
to the escape.

Frank Morris told us
that Captain Bradley

had gone as far
as to order blankets

to be hung up over the top
of the cell house

to keep paint from
falling into the cells
and the floor below.

But the real reason
the blankets were
put up there

was to give the convicts
unrestricted access

to the rooftop
of the cell house,

and to allow the convicts
to escape.

I mean, ironically,
even though everyone knew
those blankets were there,

it's not in the official
Bureau of Prison's report.

The fact that those blankets
that were up there,

blocking the guard's view
of that area on the roof
of the cell block,

allowing them to make
their escape that night...

The fact that those
were up there for months.

Arguments amongst the guards
who has authority

to okay those blankets
being there or not.

But what it was
is some of the guys
planning the escape

worked in the cell house,

and they pointed out
how badly that area

where there were
some utility pipes

between the top
of the cell block

and the actual roof
of the building, there was
a gap there by design.

So each cell block
is a building
within the cell house,

but no part of the cell block
touches the exterior surface
of the building.

Well, they needed some way
to work up there
to get through the air vents

and so they said, "Well,
we need to paint this area."

But with all the dust and
debris and paint chips that are
gonna be flying around,

"Gee, can we get some
blankets from the army supply

"that we wash out here
and hang them up

"to contain
all the dirt and debris."

One correctional officer said,
"No way."

The other one pulled rank
and said, "No,
you're gonna have it.

"We don't want all that stuff
floating around the cell house
and people,

"you know, being... getting
eye irritations from this,"
and stuff.

"So go ahead and do this."

ZIRILLI: How many people
do you think knew about
the planning of the escape?

Everybody.
Everybody but the guards.

One of the inmates
that was in the cell house
at the time

that was marginally involved
in the plan...

He, the night of the escape...

And this is
fairly well documented.

Some tools or other implements
were dropped down through
the utility corridor,

bounced off some of
the water or sewage pipes
that were back in the area.

What surprised him
was the lack of response.

I mean, these guys were
climbing up and down the pipes
every night,

in the backs
of other guys' cells,

and so they had to make
all kinds of arrangements
with these people

because there was a group
of black prisoners

and these were
all white guys.

And they had to climb...
And they were white
Southern prisoners too.

And they were climbing up
the back of these black guys'
cells to get up on the roof.

Well, it didn't take them
very long to figure out
what was going on,

and so they had to make
some compromises and deals

with the other prisoners
around here.

So word kinda got around
and got around and got around.

I must say I was surprised,
believe it or not,

I was surprised that
I didn't know anything
about it.

KELLY: The real surprise
of the trip

came when we got back
to my Uncle Donald's house.

He was the one holding
the hidden 50,000.

We received our 10,000 more

with my Uncle Donald
getting 4,000 of the 40.

We stayed at Uncle Donald's
for over a week.

Frank Morris
and the Anglin brothers

were sure the guards
would be arrested

and kept listening to the radio
and watched the newspapers

to see the story about
the arrest of the guards,
but it never happened.

When they read the story
in the newspapers

that spoons had been used
to dig out of the cells,

they broke down laughing.

They said that
shortly before the escape,

jackhammers were used
to replace the toilets
in the cells.

The jackhammer was operated
by Alan West,

who they said
had been assigned
to prison maintenance

since May of 1961.

He was allowed
to work in the space
behind the cells alone

because the guards
didn't want to get dirty.

While he was back there,

he used the jackhammer
to cut the air vent open.

The three convicts said
they would have never
been able to get out

if it hadn't been
for Alan West
with the jackhammer.

Alan West is generally
credited with being very
involved in the plan

and with the escape attempt.

He... his statement to the FBI

was the night of the escape,
he had trouble opening up
the fake air vent

that they'd drilled in his cell
and then trouble getting out.

That's why he didn't
escape that night.

By the time he got out
and went up to the roof,
the other three were long gone.

If you've ever been up there,
it's interesting getting on top
of the cell block

and to take a look
at what they actually
did up there,

which is phenomenal,

when you see
what they had to do under
the scrutiny of the guards.

We know other inmates
that were here
that aided and abetted

in other ways
in the escape plan.

It was real obvious talking
to inmates that were on
the island at the time

that there was a lot of people
that were aware of
what was going on

and in various ways
supporting them.

June 12th, 1962,

the escape had occurred
the night before,

but none of us knew it.

Because the masks worked,
the dummies worked.

GLASSNER: You know, we know
people that helped them
getting the flesh tones right.

And little rouge
to make the cheeks
look more realistic.

Hair from the barber shop.

Tools and implements
from around.

The material... I mean,
it had to be a significant
amount of fabric,

raincoat material
from their vests
and their pontoons

that they were using
to build some sort of a raft.

Out of those four men,
Alan West was
the most dangerous.

He got the men out of there.

If it wasn't for him,
they'd have never
gotten to the roof.

Alan West is generally
credited for being

one of the main brains
behind the escape.

You know, others say
other things too.

But, you know,
he certainly was involved...

Certainly had an opportunity
that night to be
the fourth man...

But he didn't go in the end.

And people always wonder why.
He was either...

Either couldn't get out
of his cell as he claimed

or he chickened out,
take your pick.

I kinda thought
about the idea

that maybe he had decided
this was a suicide attempt
rather than an escape attempt,

Didn't wanna say to
the other guys that were
very involved in this,

"Hey, I don't think
it's gonna work after all."

And maybe just backed out
and didn't try to get out
that night

knowing that they wouldn't
wait for him.

Whether or not that's true,
I have no reason to know
one way or the other,

but that seemed like
another possible scenario

to why he was still
in his cell that morning

when the other three
were long gone.

ZIRILLI: What more
could they get,

just more time
if they were caught
trying to escape?

What they would have had
was probably some time
in isolation

in D Block at that time.

And then certainly time could
be added to their sentence
for the escape attempt.

ZIRILLI: Can you describe
what D Block was like,
if you were put in there.

GLASSNER: Ironically, it had
the best views of the
cell house and larger cells,

'cause it was
the most recently
renovated area.

What made D Block tough
was that good view

because that was the view
of freedom you didn't have.

And the fact that
you were locked in there
24 hours a day.

It was a larger cell
than the regular inmate cells

because they were
newly renovated
in the 1940s.

But you were on lock down,
you know, 24 hours a day.

You didn't have any
of the privileges that...

the mess hall, you know,
any of the other privileges
that the other inmates got,

which were a lot less
than other prisons.

D Block was, you know,
mentally, it was a tough time

to spend 24 hours a day looking
at the same three walls
and a set of bars.

KELLY: While we were
at my Uncle Donald's,

the three convicts told us
that Clarence Carns

had not been able
to get out of his cell.

And that Alan West
had just flat chickened out.

He told them
he was going all along,

then at the last minute,
he told them that
he was afraid of the water.

He was also concerned
that they would get
in the water

and there wouldn't be
any boat out there.

They didn't know it,
but that made things
a lot easier for us,

the fact that there were
three convicts, not five.

NURSE: This week
I arranged for a local priest
to start counseling John

and hear his confession.

It seems to have
improved his spirits greatly.

I cannot sign this statement
or give my name

because I have broken
patient confidentiality

by giving some
of the information
I have in this account.

I could be fired from my job
or lose my nurse's license.

So for that reason,
I must remain anonymous,

but I will do my best
after John's death

to ensure that this statement
and John's statement
get into the right hands.

Do you know if the nurse

that took the statement
from John Kelly,

if she took...

There's something in there
that says "Put it in
a safety deposit."

ZIRILLI: I've got
the original document.

Is it handwritten
or is it typed?
It's typed.

I know she says, "I typed,"
but I don't know
if originally she took...

She was trying to turn it over
to John's sister,

but she didn't want it.

RODERICK: So she gave
the whole thing up.

Yeah, and I mean,
it's weird for somebody
to send me

an original typed,
typed or printed...

I mean, it was the '80s,
so there were computers.

I mean, this is it.
I mean, it feels like,
you know...

It's a Xerox.
That's just a copy.
An exact copy.

This looks like
a term paper.

Yeah, right.

So, I mean, it...
You know, that's supposedly
the original.

So, I mean, I would like
to keep that, if possible,

because I'm a collector
of documents.

But that's
the supposed original

that was overnighted to me
with some other material.

Well, if you hold
onto to it for now,

let's see where
the other end plays out.

Cool.

We may be asking you
for the original.

Now, in the late '80s,
early '90s,

there were a couple
of shows that came out.

Unsolved Mysteries.

I know the History Channel
has done some stuff,
Discovery Channel.

And those tended
to generate more leads.

And we would always end up
following up on those leads.

We would run
their fingerprints
every year, nationwide.

So if they were
under an alias,

we could find out
if they had committed
any crimes.

It would have been printed
by some police department.

Same thing with Canada,

who has a mutual relationship
with the US.

You know,
none of that turned up.

There was a lead
a year and a half ago
in Texas, right?

With a guy
that looked like him,
we got something...

Oh, really?

The lead got sent to us.
We got hold
of his driver's license.

It was after...

There was a History Channel show
where we age-enhanced...

Right. Did you guys do that?
I noticed it on the Internet.

Yeah. And we went
and sent those out there,

and somebody came back
and said, "Jeez, it looks
just like this old guy."

So, you know,
we went and followed
the lead up.

In Texas, I guess, you have to
have your fingerprints
or a thumb print

on the driver's license.

And we actually were able
to verify that it wasn't him.

Right.
Based on his fingerprints.

NURSE: Today is March 17th.

John Leroy Kelly died
at 3:00 a.m. this date

of AIDS-related pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia.

He died quietly in his sleep.

John received the last rights
of the Roman Catholic church
just after 11:00 p.m.

So, I got some information
that we can go check out,

a death certificate,
down the street,

on John Leroy Kelly.

If he died in this area,

apparently,
it will be on record,

and that's where
we're going next.

NURSE: John was
a no-code patient

so we did not attempt
to resuscitate.

I am truly glad for John
that his long struggle is over.

May he rest in peace.

I basically narrowed it down
to about five hospices
in the area.

From that, we're going to go
back to the hall of records
and find out

if there's
a death certificate.

But even without
a death certificate,

we can get a lot
of great information now.

NURSE: Sarah Lang
of Vancouver,
British Columbia,

called me on the phone
and asked if
she could come down

and talk to me
about her brother.

I said yes, if she could agree
to complete confidentiality
concerning my identity.

She agreed and I met her
at the Downtown
Public Library.

During our meeting,
she brought up
the Alcatraz Prison Escape

and asked me what
her brother John had told me
about the Alcatraz incident.

I gave her a copy
of everything

and she stated
that it was the same story

that John had told her
for years before.

She stated that
she had heard
the same story

over and over many times
from John

and felt she almost
knew it by heart.

That he and a friend

helped the three convicts
to escape

from Alcatraz Federal Prison
in San Francisco.

They then killed
the three escaped convicts

to keep all of
a large sum of money.

KELLY: While we were
at my Uncle Donald's,

we finally decided
that we would
get the convicts

into the back of
Robert's pickup truck,

drive them into the woods,

and shoot them real quick

and bury them.

Robert picked a good spot
along the highway

and we even dug a big hole
before we picked them up.

Robert went somewhere
and got two .38 caliber pistols

which he hid in a toolbox
under the driver's seat
of the truck.

NURSE: I told her about
John making his confession
to the Catholic priest

and that I felt it had helped
John's peace of mind
tremendously

and I told her that
I believe John had
died in peace.

I offered her these papers

including John's statement,

but she said
she did not want
to get involved.

She told me
that it was true
about their Uncle Donald

being a driver for
big-time bank robbers.

She said that
back when he as doing this

that it worked out
very well.

She said that
there was a family rumor

that Uncle Donald
had at one time
been sentenced

to a lot of time
in Angola State Prison
in Louisiana,

but that he escaped
after a very short time

and fled
to the Pacific Northwest.

According to her,
no one ever found
Uncle Donald

and he died of an old age
in Seattle.

One interesting thing
she said

was that John had trouble
getting rid of some
of the money

they took off the convicts
because it was so old.

She said that
some of the bills
were very large,

but were still legal tender
and could be spent.

When she got up to leave

I again tried
to give John's papers,
but she refused and left.

I don't really know who
to give John's statements to.

I have thought about
mailing it to a news agency
or the FBI,

but I'm not really sure
what to do with it.

Like John, I feel
the time had come

for the truth about
the Alcatraz Prison Escape
to come out.

I miss John at times.

He probably was right
about being famous

if everyone knew the truth
about what he did.

This is a request
for the death certificate

for John Leroy Kelly.

I'm obviously very curious
if there's a death certificate
on file

because this is another
piece of the puzzle

that I'm trying
to put together.

Typically, in an escape,
couple things happen.

For example,
in the case of Henry Young,

they made a movie
real loosely based on him
a few years ago,

When he escaped
from Walla Walla State Prison,

the first thing he did
was go home.

One thing that has led,

circumstantially, to our belief
that they probably
didn't make it,

based on what we knew so far,

was the fact that
there were no crimes later on
that were attributed to them.

There was no...
Although family members
have talked to us

and claimed
there were things going on,

they're not gonna wanna
spill the beans,
as it were, on that.

The typical escape
would leave a trail.

And that's not to say
that there aren't exceptions,

but, you know, to go home,
to rob another bank,

to commit another crime,
do something to leave
a fingerprint somewhere

is not at all uncommon.

And it's been lacking that
over the years.

Since it's been so many years

and nothing credible so far
had shown up,

that added to the likelihood
that our opinion,
or my opinion, I should say,

that they didn't
survive the bay.

It just added to that,
the fact that these guys
never surfaced

and the fact that
they were never connected
to any crimes again.

Um, not to say that...

Well, people say,
"Well, if they were smart
they wouldn't do those things."

Well, if they were smart,

they probably wouldn't have
been doing what they
were doing, to begin with,

is another way
to look at that.
Right.

Because we always stuck
to the theory

that if they had escaped
and got away,

they would be
committing crimes,

so they would
eventually get caught.

The only thing they knew
to do was bank robbery.

I mean, the were
career criminals.

So, we knew that they...

If they did get away,
they weren't in the US.

ZIRILLI: Right.
And they probably
weren't in Canada

because Canada
has the same type

of law enforcement program
that we do

and they eventually
would have got caught
doing something over there.

So, that's why we really
looked at anything
internationally,

and we weren't
really concerned
with the historical...

We've had cases
like this before

where somebody's actually
gone back, dug the bodies up

and then spread the bones
some place.

I mean, all we end up with
is fragments of bones in there.

They're never going
to get up all of the bones.

I mean, there's going to be...

If there were bodies
buried in there

and somebody came back
to get the bodies up,

there's going to be
something left in there,
okay?

It's just impossible
to get everything

once you put something
in the ground like that.

ZIRILLI: What would be
the method of forensically
finding out?

Are there dental records
or is there DNA of any kind?

We'll have to make
that determination

with whichever
state or local authority

we will be dealing with.

We do have records.
Yeah.

I've got records of them.

Dental record?

Medical and dental records
from the Bureau of Prisons.

We can use that.

But we'll make determination...

Of course, I know we're
ahead of ourselves.

This is fluid. We're gonna have
to play a lot of this
by ear as we go.

So, we just met
with Mike Earp

and Art Roderick,
the US Marshals.

We're caravaning right now
to meet with a local guy
who knows the area.

We're leaving Seattle.

It's about an hour
outside of Seattle.

According to the statement,

it's gotta be
about a mile and a half.

On the left hand side,
there used to be a dirt road.

Apparently, in 1962,

that dirt road was not
blocked by a guardrail,

but now we're gonna have
to walk over the guardrail.

From that point,
we go down the dirt road

and apparently there's
going to be some big rocks

that we'll look for
and some trees.

On the rocks, as of 1993,

there was paint
to mark the rocks.

And then at one point
in the '80s,

um, John, the guy
who gave the statement,

actually nailed horseshoes

into trees around the area

and apparently buried a box
of horseshoes

right over the bodies
where they were buried.

So, underneath the horseshoes,
if we find them,

there may be the bodies
of the Anglin brothers,
John and Clarence,

and Frank Morris.

So, the initial thing
we're looking for
is the landmarks.

So, wish us luck.

NURSE: Over the last weekend,

me and my son took John
up to the spot

where he says
the three convicts are buried.

There were still some
splotches of yellow paint
on the big rocks

just like John told me
there would be.

We took four gallons
of red deck paint with us

and my son made a big circle
and an "X"

over where John says
he and his friend Robert

buried the three convicts
in 1962.

ZIRILLI:
His name's Al Davis.

He's an old timer,
he's lived in this area
forever, for his whole life.

He's at least
70 or 80 years old.

Really funny, nice guy.

He said, though, if you
go back even 10 years,
10, 20 years,

everything's changed
about this location.

He said, "Even for myself,

"because that can describe
four or five roads

"that aren't even there
in existence anymore.

"So it's just, it's going
to be really hard
for you to find

"what you're looking for."

He said that we're, like,
five miles off base.

He said most likely that
we should go back up

and turn to the right,
sort of the area

near the lake where we went.

And there's actually
another right turn
that kinda just...

I let him read
the one paragraph
about the directions.

He said, "You'd have
better luck in that area."

But he just said there's
just four or five places

in this area
that have changed

and it's just going to
be hard to find
based on this.

Somewhat vague...
It sounds like
vague directions to him

because there's
too many options.

NURSE: You can no longer
turn off the highway
at that location.

There is now a guardrail

and you have to park
on the roadside
and walk from there.

We were able to find
two of the horseshoes
nailed to the trees.

Okay, so, we've good news
and bad news.

The good news is
we met with a tracker

who knows exactly the area

and exactly the turnoff
where he thinks,

you know, the statement
is pointing to.

The bad news is that
he said it's a big area,

it's going to be hard to find

and that it might be snowing,

so there might be
snow on the ground.

So, anyways, we'll see.

This must be the 30-foot.

Yeah.
This is the closest.

Can you pull
a truck up in here?

We'll stand on the roof
and look at this mark
on the tree here.

Pull yours.

I can't...
Oh, okay.

First it was yellow paint
and then it was
red deck paint.

Does this look like
paint to you?

It looks like
yellow paint.

And does this look
like red deck paint?

It sure does.
Holy shit!

And does that look like
it could be knot

looking like a horseshoe
right up there?

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

Let's say
30 feet off the ground.

I mean, that's totally
unnatural, is it not?

I mean, it can be analyzed,
of course.

But I think it's worth
bringing in a metal detector
in this area.

Look at that.

Well, sure it's rusty.
It came off of it right here.

I mean,
that many rounds.

You know,
they blasted them.
They blasted them.

KELLY: On June 21st,
we started driving
towards Canada

in the truck with the convicts.

At a few minutes
past 5:00 p.m.,

Robert hit me on the leg,

which was a signal
we had arranged.

He told them
we were stopping to pee.

He had a made a point
over the last few days

of complaining about
his weak kidneys.

Less than 30 feet away,
the big hole
we had dug waited

and two shovels.

I heard him get
into the toolbox

under the driver seat
for the pistol.

And he handed me
one of the pistols
down by his side.

We walked to the back
of the truck.

Robert opened
the truck's tailgate.

Frank Morris must've seen
the pistol in Robert's hand,

because I heard Morris say,
"You sons of bitches,"

but in almost the same instant,

we were both shooting
into the back of the truck.

[GUNS FIRING]

I've never been able
to forget the way
they jumped around

and the sound the bullets made
when they hit their bodies.

It was the worse thing
that I did in my life.

Robert reloaded his pistol

and I pulled the convicts out
by their feet.

John Anglin was
the last one I pulled out,

and he was alive and talking

even though he had
been hit several times

and had to be
hurting very badly.

He begged not to die,

but Robert shot him
three or four more times.

[GUN FIRING]

We dumped them into
the big hole we had dug,
one at a time.

We threw our pistols
into the hole

along with the bloody canvas
they had been lying on
in the back of the truck.

We covered them up
and spread a bag of grass seed
all over the dug-up ground.

ZIRILLI: Can you do it
this close?

Of course, this is
more secluded than down there
with the houses.

Yeah, and then in the '60s,

there was probably not
as much traffic.

Were all the horseshoes
on one tree?

ZIRILLI:
No, there were four before

in sort of a circle.

And then when
they came back in the '90s,
there were only two left.

I'm looking up at a tree,
and if you look closely,

it looks like potentially where
a horseshoe could have been
at one point.

Either the tree
could have grown around it

or the tree could have
pushed it out of its bark.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

It's just the spot here
we're going to have to...
Yeah.

ZIRILLI: They buried
a box of horseshoes...

He came back in the '80s
and buried a box of horseshoes

so that they could
find the spot.

This is one potential site

that's about 30 feet
off the road, off the 90.

There's a guardrail
over there.

There's also evidence
that could be a horseshoe
up on a tree.

About 14 feet high.

We'll see.

It's not far.

I think it's got
potential like crazy
with those paint chips

and that little place
that could have been
a horseshoe at one time.

I don't know.

So we're calling it a day.
It's getting dark.

We found one spot that
had a lot of potential with

couple markings
and a horseshoe-shaped
indentation in a tree.

So we're gonna
come back tomorrow
at the spot

and see what else
we can find out.

Yesterday, we were
a little discouraged
when we went to the location

because the rocks
weren't quite as big
as we expected.

And there were few things
about the statement that
Mike Earp had pointed out

that troubled him
in some manner.

I mean, most of the things
about the statement
turned out to be...

Looked like they were
totally correct
and accurate.

But some of
the questions he posed,
I gave it a little thought

over the last 12 hours

and this is my idea of
the answers maybe.

One of the things that he said

was that it was very unlikely

that they would trust somebody
with 40 or 50,000 dollars,

this person Uncle Donald.

'Cause in the '60s
that was a ton of money.

Now, I thought about that

and number one, Frank Morris,

he was friends with
this Uncle Donald.

And Uncle Donald
was 78 years old
at the time.

So, I just don't see

that some 78-year-old guy

would necessarily
run off with the money

from a friend of his
at that age.

The other part about
it being a large, large
amount of money,

you know, for sort of like
two big thieves
to put together.

When you think about it,
there were supposed
to be five people.

Five convicts
escaping out of Alcatraz.

So, five people...

Let's say
40 or 50,000 dollars,
their family,

some of the money they got
in bank robberies.

That's only about
10,000 dollars a piece.

Approximately about
10, 12,000 dollars.

So, to start a new life
in Canada,

which was obviously the idea,
according to the statement,

10, 12,000 dollars a piece
split by five men

seems like a reasonable
amount of money
to put together,

especially if you've got
a loved one in jail.

Back to the location.

So, we went
to the location yesterday,

and, you know,
in our mind's eye,

we sort of maybe
thought these rocks
were gonna be bigger.

Um, we did find some
really interesting evidence.

We found a really cool-looking,
horseshoe-shaped indentation
in a tree.

We also found
some paint scraps
in yellow and red,

which is, again,
we didn't find exactly
paint on the rocks.

But we found some evidence
that, you know,
is circumstantial

and enough to follow up on.

So today
we're going to go back

and I'm not sure what else...
We'll ask the US Marshals
what else we're gonna do,

but we've identified
a really highly
potential site.

Okay, we're back
at the spot

and I just found
a few interesting things.

Okay, originally, they said
that they nailed
or he nailed

four horseshoes
into a tree.

Just bear with me.

Look at that nail. One.

See the nail?

And over here. Two.

A second nail.

Three.

So, we're looking
for horseshoes.

Now, you know,
when she came back,

apparently, there were
only two left,

but now there
are no horseshoes,

but look,
there are one, two,

three over there
and four nails.

And this is the area
that I said looks like

somebody maybe came back
at some point...

Just point the camera
right down there.

I'm not saying this is where
the hole was dug,

but maybe this is
where he came back

and dug this little ground up
to bury the horseshoes.

It's not like...
This area looks to me
a little unnatural to the rest.

It looks like something
was dug out

and it's all uneven here.

This feels like anywhere
could be the spot.

You know, this has got
a lot of potential.

There are four nails
in somewhat of a circle
in this spot

and it's exactly what
we're looking for.

Now, come over here
and look at these rocks.

Yellow and red paint.

I'm hoping that
we'll come back
and survey this whole area

because this ground, this area,
and those markings

look good to me.

ZIRILLI: You know,
George Clooney is gonna play
in the movie version, right?

[CHUCKLING]

Pretty good.

Some research on it,
I gotta find out...

I have to get
the GPS coordinates

in that particular location.

I will probably do that today.

Um, but if I know the name
of the individual
you got the statement from,

if we could just do
a background...

We can run a background
on him right now.

We could call...
and find out

if he is connected to...
What his mother's name is.

Where she's from,
where he's been.

He's got to be some...
I mean, he's got to...

ZIRILLI:
Yeah, he's real paranoid
about his identity.

RODERICK: You know,
we're at that point.

I mean, we don't even know
if she's alive.

ZIRILLI: Right, right.

RODERICK: If you're telling me
this guy sounds like
he's in his 50s,

and this is his mother,

then she's gotta be at least
in her 70s or 80s.

ZIRILLI: Yeah.

You know? So...
Right. I got you.

Okay.

They gave their statements,
let's be honest about it.

They are the ones providing
statements of reference

of this guy confessing to
homicide and whatnot.

Yeah.

But there are
law enforcement officials

that could be
investigating that, yeah.

Their names are gonna
have to be known,

they're gonna be questioned,
they're gonna be interviewed,

they're gonna be possibly
compelled to testify

for the accuracy
of the statement.

Right.
There's no doubt.

I won't mislead you on that.

I mean, as far as
we're concerned, the public's
not gonna be informed.

No, we're not
gonna release it.

[CELL PHONE RINGING]
But the law enforcement, yeah.

Right.
This is Mike.

O'ROSS: Who was this man,
John Leroy Kelly?

A phantom?
A charlatan? A phony?

Or was he telling the truth?

Did he and his partner
take part

in one of the most well-planned
and coordinated escapes
in history.

An escape that could
only have been successful

with help from inside
and outside the walls
of the Rock.

What is irrefutable

is that the three men
made it out of their cells

and into the water
that night.

It is only speculated
that they drowned at sea.

Was the culmination
of their complex plan

merely to swim across the bay,

risking hypothermia
and drowning,

only to come ashore
in bustling downtown
San Francisco?

Or did they have something
more sophisticated in mind?

For now, their fate
still remains a mystery.

Or does it?