All language subtitles for Historys Greatest Mysteries S05E06 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

(dramatic music)

- Tonight, one of the
most brazen prison breaks

in American history.

- Alcatraz is considered
the highest security prison.

It's on a rock in the middle
of the San Francisco Bay.

- The cold water, the currents,

all that make it
inescapable in the eyes

of the federal government.

- A perfectly masterminded
plot with only a handful

of clues left behind.

- These three inmates were
able to outsmart the guards

and the FBI with some
paper mache heads,

a spoon, and some raincoats.

- And evidence suggests
that they made it

off the rock and got away.

- Now, we explore
the top theories

surrounding the notorious
escape from Alcatraz.

- I don't think any case
I've ever worked on has been

scientifically tested as
much as this escape case.

- It's one of the biggest
manhunts ever launched

and it's still going on today.

- What happened to these
infamous Alcatraz escapees?

Is it really possible
they survived

and if so, where did they go?

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] It's the
morning of June 12th, 1962,

on Alcatraz Island in
San Francisco Bay.

- So we've got three
prisoners, Frank Morris,

John Anglin,

and his brother, Clarence.

7:00 AM roll call one
day, they don't respond,

so a guard goes to check
on all three of them.

He sees all three of
them lying in their beds.

So he walks over to Frank's cell

and he taps him on the
head with his nightstick

and Frank's head falls off.

- This guard had the
shock of his life.

He probably thought he had
just decapitated the man.

- [Laurence] All three prisoners
have vanished from their cells

with three lifelike paper
mache heads left behind.

- Immediately, this
creates chaos.

These prisoners are gone.

How could these prisoners
have escaped this

super security prison?

- [Laurence] Alarms sound
as pandemonium takes hold.

- The inmates are celebrating,
they're cheering and hollering.

Meanwhile, the guards
are just trying

to figure out what's going
on and they immediately

start checking everyone's cell.

They discover that another
prisoner, Allen West,

also is in possession

of a fake head made
out of paper mache.

- [Laurence] West admits
he was part of an escape,

but failed to get out
of his cell in time.

In exchange for
leniency, he agrees

to tell investigators exactly

how his fellow inmates
did the impossible.

- It's amazing that these
three men were even able

to get out of the
prison complex itself.

Alcatraz had the reputation

of being the most secure
prison in the country.

- There had been 36 recorded
escape attempts from Alcatraz.

None of them succeeded.

Prisoners were either shot
on site caught or drowned.

- [Laurence] Alcatraz
opened in August, 1934,

and quickly became known

as the most fortified
prison in America.

- Alcatraz is celebrated

as the crown jewel of the
prison system at this time.

All of the bars on
the windows are said

to be tool safe.

- There are remote
control gas canisters

that can be deployed in
the event of an escape

or in the event of a riot.

There are guard
overlooks at each end

so that guards can fire into
the cell blocks if needed.

Even if you do get
outta Alcatraz,

you still have to contend with

six watch towers as
well as a 20 foot fence

with barbed wire.

And if by some miracle you
make it over that as well,

you still are
dealing with the dark

and turbulent waters of
the San Francisco Bay.

(dramatic music)

- I like to think of the
water surrounding Alcatraz

as a kind of moat.

We've got this
impenetrable fortress,

the castle on the island.

- Guys like Al Capone,
guys like Whitey Bulger,

they get sent to Alcatraz.

You've gotta be somebody
special to make it

inside the walls of this prison.

- Frank Morris and the Anglin
Brothers came to Alcatraz

with a long history of escapes.

- Frank Morris is a career
criminal, a very good one too.

He'd been in and out of the
system since the age of 13,

mostly for robbery charges.

He was such an
accomplished escape artist

that some people referred
to him as the Houdini

of the prison system because
he had successfully escaped

from so many facilities
before being sent to Alcatraz.

- John and Clarence Anglin,

they were from the
Florida, Georgia area.

They were career criminals.

They had robbed a bank
in Ohio with a toy gun.

- But they get sent to Alcatraz

because they were trying to
escape Leavenworth Prison.

- [Laurence] But according to
the testimony Allen West gives,

West is the mastermind
behind this plot.

- Allen West is housed
in the same cell block

and starts plotting out the
escape several months prior.

- [Laurence] Allen West's prison
job is to repaint the top

of the cell blocks, but he
soon sees an opportunity.

Behind each of the cells
is a narrow utility

and maintenance corridor
that runs three stories up

to the top of the cell block.

- Now, before you get to
the roof of the building,

there's about a seven
foot gap above the cells,

and in this gap,
West sees a vent

that seems to lead
up to the roof.

He thinks that if he can
somehow remove this vent,

he can crawl through
it up to the roof

and then slide down
this stove pipe

from the prison bakery
on the northwest side

of the building.

But in order to pull
this escape plan off,

West is gonna need some help.

And to do this, he recruits
the guys from his cell block,

guys that had already escaped
from other facilities.

- [Laurence] But as West
tells investigators,

they first needed a
way out of their cells

and into the maintenance
corridor behind.

- Looking inside of
a cell on Alcatraz,

there's only a few features,

and one of them right below
the sink is an air vent.

- Because of the
deterioration of the facility

and salt water wreaks
havoc on concrete,

they were able to fashion spoons

and be able to just
basically scrape away

the concrete around this vent.

- [Laurence] They work at night,
standing guard for each other

and devise a way to
cover up their handiwork

- Because these men would
be widening their vents,

they couldn't just leave holes
in the back of their cells.

- West secures green
paint from his prison job

and he shows the other prisoners
that there's a way to kind

of repaint around the
vent as they remove it.

It requires a lot of patience
because the guards go around

and do hourly checks.

- Later on, what they do
is they start to create

paper mache vents

as sort of a cover for the
holes that they're creating.

- If you looked at it
from the cell, you're only

a good nine feet away.

You just look at it, it
looks like the regular vent

that was there in
the first place.

- Morris and the Anglins
finally make their way

through the hole
for the first time

and they make their
way to the top

of the cell block through
that maintenance hallway

by climbing up pipes to
take a look at the vent

that West has picked
out for the escape.

But when they get to that vent,

they realize that
they have a problem.

The vent is bolted into place.

- [Laurence] The
escapees will need time

out of their cells over
weeks and even months

to file down the bolt
securing the roof vent.

But they face regular
nightly checks by the guards.

So to convince the guards
they're still in their cells.

the escapees design fake
heads for their prison beds.

- The dummy heads have been
fashioned out of anything

that these three men could
have gotten their hands on.

They're paper mache,
but they're also soap.

They're also cement.

- For the finishing touch
on those paper mache heads.

Clarence Anglin takes real
live human hair clippings

from the barbershop and pastes
them to the top of the heads.

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] The fake
heads give the escapees

the time they need out of their
cells to file down the bolt

and gain access to the roof.

But getting outta the building
is only half the plan.

They also have to figure
out a way to the shore.

- Look at Alcatraz Island

where it sits in
San Francisco Bay.

It's only about a mile
from San Francisco proper.

That mile of water is
pretty treacherous,

so I know they do a
triathlon there every year.

Even the triathletes that do it

find it a pretty
treacherous swim.

- So these aspiring escapists
come up with a plan.

They need a raft or some
kind of floatation device.

- [Laurence] The escapees come
up with an ingenious plan

to turn prison rain jackets
into an inflatable raft

and several life preservers.

- Looking at a "Popular
Mechanics" magazine,

they were able to not only
figure out how to make 'em,

but also come up
with waterproof glue

that would keep it
together in the water.

- They also fashioned
paddles out of wood scraps

and plywood that they
find around the prison.

They steal a concertina and
use it as a kind of bellows

to inflate this makeshift raft.

- Even if the prisoners were
successful with the raft,

this is by no means
a proper boat.

This is basically a
floating mattress.

- [Laurence] Finally,
on June 11th, 1962,

West says the plans
are complete.

When the cell block
lights are turned off

at 9:00 PM, the men
make their move,

but almost immediately,
there's a problem.

- Allen West has done too good
a job at fashioning his fake

vent cover and he's
affixed it so tightly

that he can't remove it.

So the other three meet
at the top of this wall

and West isn't there, so
they leave him behind.

- [Laurence] Investigators piece
together what happens next.

- You could actually see
their footprints on the roof

the next morning and they
got over to the kitchen area

and there was a stovepipe
that came up that went

above the top of the
roof of the facility

and they shimmied down.

That stovepipe got
onto the ground.

- They scramble away from the
building toward this massive

chain link fence, and
when they get there,

they throw this huge
blanket over the barbed wire

so that they can climb
over it without incident.

- [Laurence] Sometime
around 10:00 PM,

Frank Morris, John Anglin,
and his brother Clarence

launch their makeshift raft

into the treacherous waters
of the San Francisco Bay,

never to be seen again.

- The next morning,
once it's discovered

these prisoners are missing,

the big question among
the prisoners, the guards,

and eventually the public,
is did they make it?

So the FBI is called
in to launch a search.

(dramatic music)

- There are incredible perils
that face you if you try

to dip even one toe in the
waters of the San Francisco Bay.

- It's 40 to 60 degrees.

The human body is not
accustomed to that.

- Hypothermia can set
in well within one hour,

sometimes within minutes,
and the fog can be so dense

that you cannot see more
than a few dozen feet

in front of you.

Being on a raft, mostly
subject to the moving currents,

it would've been
completely disorienting.

- Also, the current
is very strong.

It's almost twice as
strong as any human,

even an accomplished
swimmer, can paddle.

There is a massive
manhunt that is launched.

Air, land, sea, the
FBI, local authorities.

Their faces are in every
newspaper in America.

Their hometowns are
watched very closely.

The manhunt quickly deduces
that there's no question

that these men made
it out of their cells

and outta the prison
complex and into the water.

But after that, there's
a lot of mystery.

(boat horn blares)

- [Laurence] Five weeks
after the escape,

a sailor aboard a
Norwegian freighter

makes a grim discovery.

- One of the deckhands
saw a body in the water.

It seemed to fit the
description of the clothes

that would be worn by
an Alcatraz inmate.

- [Laurence] The alleged
corpse is never recovered,

but authorities are
certain it could not be

one of the escaped convicts.

- Five weeks is just too long.

It is a point at which
the body has gone

into such an advanced
stage of decay

that it's almost
unrecognizable as a human body.

- San Francisco Bay is home

to about a dozen
different shark species.

One of these species is
the infamous great white.

Given how many different kinds

of animals are in
San Francisco Bay

and in the surrounding
ocean, it's very unlikely

that anybody in the
water would have remained

intact for five weeks.

Most likely, all of the tissue
would've been picked clean.

- [Laurence] But despite
the FBI's analysis,

some believe the convicts
somehow made it to land.

- They had a really
great plan in place

and there is some
evidence that suggests

that they might have
made it after all.

- [Laurence] June 1962.

Although the three convicts
successfully escaped

Alcatraz prison, their
trail seems to go cold

in the frigid waters of
the San Francisco Bay.

Most people following
the case presume

the men never made
it to freedom.

- The FBI concludes that
these three men have drowned.

Others are quick to say, maybe
something else happened.

(tense music)

- You can certainly see how
embarrassing this would be

for the prison and for the FBI,

this maximum security prison

and yet these three inmates
were able to outsmart the guards

and the FBI with some
paper mache heads,

a spoon, and some raincoats.

- While no bodies are
found, there is evidence

that pops up in
the first few days

that raises a lot of questions.

- [Laurence]
Investigator's best source

is still sitting in a
cell on Alcatraz Island.

- Allen West is
already identified as

the fourth escapee, or
the would-be escapee.

He has the paper mache head

and the false front on
his vent to prove it.

- [Laurence] After describing
his clever plan for getting out

of the cell block, West divulges

the convicts'
planned escape route.

Instead of traveling one
mile south to San Francisco,

they'll head two miles
north to Angel Island.

- It may seem a little
strange why the inmates

would've wanted to go two
miles north to another island,

but it kind of makes sense

because they could
have been recognized

or spotted in their
prison garb if they were

in a heavily populated area.

- [Laurence] At the time,
Angel Island is home

to a missile base that's
being decommissioned

and therefore could
hold advantages

for the three wanted men.

- It's being taken
offline and there are

very few people there
at any given time.

There also might be actual
boats there that the men can use

to make it to the mainland.

The mainland in this
instance isn't San Francisco,

but Marin County, which is only
a quarter of a mile north.

- Once they landed in
Marin, Allen West says

the plan was to steal a car.

- Allen West gave
many interviews,

some of them good,
some of them bad.

Did West tell the truth?

You really had to take
him, anything he said

with a grain of salt.

- The FBI has all of this
information the morning

after the escape, and sure
enough, there is some evidence

that suggests that
West's theory is correct.

(dramatic music)

- [Laurence] While searching
the waters around Angel Island

a few days after the escape,

investigators discover a
crucial clue that could line up

with the testimony
of Allen West.

- There was a sealed
packet made out

of the rubber raincoats,

so obviously none of
the water would get in.

They were able to confirm that
they belonged to the Anglins

because they had many
Anglin family members,

some pictures of
the family members.

- [Laurence] Investigators
also find another clue

off of Angel Island, a
makeshift wooden paddle,

just like the one
Allen West described.

- All the stuff they found
in San Francisco Bay led them

to believe that they drowned
in San Francisco Bay.

- The FBI states that
there are no bodies,

there's no life raft
on Angel Island,

and the trip would've been too
difficult to make at night.

So they stand by their
original conclusion

that these men had drowned.

- [Laurence]
December 31st, 1979.

More than 17 years
after the escape,

the FBI officially
closes the case.

The file is handed over
to the US Marshals

in the event any
new leads come up.

The case remains
dormant until 2003.

- US Marshal Michael Dyke
decides to just poke around

and see if this famous
story, if he might be able

to add something to it.

- [Laurence] It isn't
long before Dyke

finds compelling evidence in
the government documents.

- Michael Dyke goes back
into the Marin County police

records and he finds that
there is a stolen car report

that there was a
1955 blue Chevy,

which was reported stolen on
the night of the men's escape.

- The eyewitness that saw it
first said there were three men

inside of the vehicle.

At the time, that
didn't mean anything

because the escape wasn't
yet public knowledge.

- [Laurence] Then, Dyke
finds another police report

from Stockton, California,

almost 100 miles
east of Marin County.

(tense music)

- Within just a few hours
of the reported auto theft,

a man in Stockton says that
he's forced off the road

by a blue Chevy being
driven by three men.

- Later on, when that
blue car is seen again,

closer to Stockton with
three people inside of it,

that raises some eyebrows.

- It also does provide
fodder for the idea

that maybe the FBI closed the
case a little bit too quickly.

What's sure is that it does
stoke even more alternative

theories about what
might have happened.

- [Laurence] If this
evidence is to be trusted,

the men may have very well
survived the frigid waters

and fled to Angel Island
according to plan.

- Frank Morris and
the Anglin brothers

really could have
gotten away with it.

(tense music)

- [Laurence] There's never
been any hard proof behind

the FBI's long-held belief
that the Alcatraz escapees

died in the San Francisco Bay.

What evidence does exist

points to several other
possible outcomes.

- There are mysteries
that are still surrounding

Frank Morris and
the Anglin brothers

after they reached the water.

- One of the statements Allen
West gave to the FBI was

that the escapees were
gonna head to Angel Island

and sure enough,

they turned up some
evidence on Angel Island.

- [Laurence] But even
this theory has been

called into question
in recent years,

thanks to a sophisticated new
model of San Francisco Bay.

(dramatic music)

- It's certainly possible
that Allen West was correct

that the original plan
was for the inmates to go

to Angel Island just
north of Alcatraz.

But the truth is that
given the currents,

what they were doing
in the Bay that night,

the inmates might not
have had a choice.

The Army Corps of Engineers
has developed a large scale

hydraulic model of
San Francisco Bay

to study the tides and the
currents of this system.

A team of Dutch scientists
was then allowed

to use this model to predict

where the inmates
might have been taken

if they were successful
in getting off the island.

- [Laurence] The model
reveals that any attempt

to reach Angel Island
directly from Alcatraz

means paddling
against the current.

- It would've been almost
impossible for them

to fight their way
against that current.

It would've been like trying
to swim in a treadmill.

- And with the speed
of the current,

it would be very
difficult for you

to fight your way
back to the shore.

- [Laurence] The scientists'
model shows that

as the tide is going
out that night,

the current travels west,
toward the one mile wide,

Golden Gate Strait that
leads out to the Pacific.

- And the closer they
got to the Golden Gate,

the faster the currents
would've gotten

because all of that water
is being funneled out

through that very
narrow opening.

- It happens pretty fast too,

and there are plenty of
examples of small vessels

that either lose power
or become disabled

and end up getting
swept out to sea.

- [Laurence] As the tide turns
between 11:00 and 12:00 AM,

the current slows and a window
of opportunity opens up.

- There is this small
moment called slack tide

where there is an uncommon calm

and there's almost
no current at all.

- [Laurence] The
scientists simulate

what would happen if
the inmates entered

the water during this window.

- So as part of this simulation,

these scientists run a
bunch of different scenarios

to see what would've happened.

In the first one with
basically no paddling,

the raft just carries
them out to sea.

- The second simulation
was with the raft,

with the inmates paddling,
and what was found

is that even though
the raft is being swept

toward the Golden Gate,
with enough effort,

the inmates could have
deflected the raft away

from the mouth of
San Francisco Bay

and continued their journey.

- [Laurence] Just beyond
the Golden Gate Bridge

sits Fort Cronkite, a military
post during World War II.

By 1962, many of its buildings
were being torn down

by the army.

It's here that the FBI finds
another important piece

of evidence from the escape.

- So one of the life vests
turns up on Fort Cronkite.

They were able to test it
and they figured out, hey,

this thing is
functioning very well.

(dramatic music)

- Allen West makes the claim

that they're heading
toward Angel Island

and we find objects
at Angel Island.

At the same time, we
also have the life vest

that was found at Fort Cronkite.

So now, we can connect objects
to two separate locations.

- [Laurence] The
model shows that

after the window of
opportunity at slack tide,

the tide turns and
the current reverses.

It's feasible the
escapees' items

could have been carried back
into the bay hours later.

- That could explain why a
packet of items that belonged to

one of the Anglin brothers, as
well as one of their paddles,

ended up at Angel Island.

Even if they didn't
intend to go there.

We know that if Morris
and the Anglins left

when the tides went out,
the current would've swept

them under the
Golden Gate Bridge.

What would be harder to
explain is why this life vest

would end up at Fort Cronkite

when the current
wasn't taking it

in that particular direction.

- [Laurence] Fort
Cronkite sits just

inside Marin County, not
far from the location

where the blue Chevrolet
was reported stolen,

according to the reports US
Marshal Michael Dyke uncovered.

- It's possible that Allen
West's story was true

as he understood it,

but after they'd left him
behind, the current takes them

to a totally different spot
than any of them had planned

and of course, than Allen
West would've known about.

- In any of these plans, you
have to think on the fly.

If they couldn't get
to their objective A,

they gotta have plan B.

Plan B could have been
just going with a current.

(waves crashing)
(tense music)

- It's also possible,
of course, that even

with all these effects
that were found,

the life jacket at Fort
Cronkite, the photos

and the list of family
contacts floating

around near Angel Island,
all of those items could

of course have been found,

of course have been found,

but the men still
could have drowned.

(seagulls calling)

(tense music)

- In 1979, the FBI concludes

that the three Alcatraz
escapees never made it to shore

and died in the frigid,
shark infested waters

of the San Francisco Bay.

But maybe that's exactly
what the men wanted everyone

to believe, when in fact
they devised a much more

sophisticated
getaway with the help

of some very important friends.

- When you look at who
came through Alcatraz,

some of the biggest gangsters
we've had in this country,

Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly.

- It is true that when
these men were at Alcatraz

that they rubbed shoulders

with famous mobsters,
including Whitey Bulger.

One story is that Whitey
Bulger was helping these men

in their escape by
a certain workaround

of these hot showers.

- It's said that one other
security measure at Alcatraz

was to maintain the showers
at a very hot temperature.

This was so the prisoners could
not acclimate their bodies

to cold water and then
have a greater chance

of being successful
in swimming away.

- [Laurence] Allegedly, Bulger
helps the men find a workaround.

- Supposedly, Whitey Bulger
advises these inmates

to take buckets of hot
water from the showers

and allow it to cool down

and then use that to
acclimate their bodies.

But even so, to really acclimate
your body, you would have

to be submerged in the
water for a period of time,

not just pouring a bucket

of cold water on your
body momentarily.

The coldest the water could
get would be air temperature,

room temperature,
which is likely not

as cold as what the
Bay actually is.

- [Laurence] Another
influential crime boss,

Harlem's Ellsworth "Bumpy"
Johnson, is rumored to have

provided the men a much easier
way to get to the mainland.

(dramatic music)

- So in 1993, another confession

and possibly explanation
comes to light.

On his deathbed, a man
named John Leroy Kelly

says that he was an
associate of another mobster

Harlem's Ellsworth
"Bumpy" Johnson.

Kelly said that he had
been hired in the 1960s

to abet in this escape.

- Bumpy Johnson kind of ran

the African American mob
in Harlem at the time.

He was in a block that
was one block over

and they were segregated.

And there are stories out there
that Bumpy was very familiar

with the escape process.

- Kelly said that
Johnson told him

that he had helped
in the escape.

He says that Johnson had hired
somebody to wait in the Bay

for them in a small
boat that was unlit,

but painted a very bright
color of white so that it was

as visible as possible, even
in the fog and the darkness.

- [Laurence] A San Francisco
police officer named

Robert Checchi corroborates
at least part of the story.

- What Officer Checchi
had seen when he went out

for a smoke break in
the Presidio area,

he's standing right there
at the San Francisco Bay,

right at the edge
there in the city,

and he sees what he thinks
is a pristine, newer boat,

come into San Francisco Bay.

Running lights,
everything's going.

He sees it shut the running
lights off, shut the engine off

for a period of
time, 15, 20 minutes,

something in that area.

Then the lights go back
on, the engine starts up,

and the boat goes back
outta San Francisco Bay.

- [Laurence] Checchi senses
something's not quite right,

but ignores his intuition.

It's not until the next morning

that he'll realize his mistake.

- The next morning when
it hits the fan that,

hey, we got three
escapees outta Alcatraz,

he goes to his supervisor,
they get in touch with the FBI.

Officer Checchi tells
him exactly what he saw.

- The FBI claims to
follow up on this tip

and to go right out
to that exact spot.

But of course, even if
the boat had been there,

it's no longer there.

They don't follow
up any further.

- [Laurence] Nor can
anyone corroborate

the last, ironic chapter of
Kelly's deathbed confession.

- In a strange and cruel
twist of fate for the inmates,

Kelly suggests that the
fugitive's mob connections

were what led to their deaths.

(dramatic music)

- These two guys,
John Leroy Kelly

and this other
associate, they picked up

these three escapees,
took 'em back to Seattle,

got in a pickup truck and
drove to Yakima, Washington,

which is just a
couple hours' ride,

to a location where they met

with an old bank robber
associate of Frank Morris

and were each given
50,000 bucks in cash

to go to Canada and disappear.

- [Laurence] The plan, as far
as Morris and the Anglins know,

is for Kelly to help them
cross the border into Canada.

But as the saying goes, there's
no honor among thieves.

- These two guys,
John Leroy Kelly

and this other
associate are driving

through the Snoqualmie Pass
area in Washington state.

They pull over, they
reach under the seats

into a toolkit, pull out
two .38s, go in the back,

shoot all the guys,
shoot the three escapees,

steal the money, and
then bury 'em in a hole

that they had already dug there.

- Kelly provides a very
detailed description

of where the bodies can be found
in the Seattle, Washington area.

- [Laurence] US
Marshals comb the area.

- If you kind of
follow his description,

it loosely brings
you to that area

that I've been at three
or four times already

and found the trees they
were talking about.

- [Laurence] But no
bodies are ever found.

- They go back to Kelly,
but he's already died.

But the fact that
authorities listened to him

and followed up on
his tips does suggest

that authorities are
still open to the idea

that authorities are
still open to the idea

that maybe these
guys did make it,

and maybe at least in
1993, they're still alive.

- [Laurence] There
is little doubt

the 1962 escape from
Alcatraz was well thought out

and executed to near perfection.

And if these three men did
successfully cross the water,

they'd have to disappear
for the rest of their lives,

and that might be the most
difficult part of all.

- I always call
Frank Morris the kind

of neglected Alcatraz escapee

because he really didn't
have any close family

that knew him.

- So it kind of makes sense
that he may have been just able

to slip away and never
be heard from again.

- [Laurence] That may not be so
easy for the Anglin brothers.

- John and Clarence
Anglin, however,

are born into a big,
loving family.

Lots of siblings, lots
of extended family.

- They used to get in trouble
a lot and on occasion,

they'd robb convenience
stores or grocery stores.

- They end up in jail in 1958
on a bank robbery charge,

but they don't wanna be there

and then they're smart guys,
so they devise a way to escape.

- Whenever they got arrested,
they'd always tried

to figure out how to escape.

- [Laurence] But in 1961, after
one escape attempt too many,

the Anglins earned themselves
a ticket to the rock.

- Even as John and Clarence
are bouncing their way

through the prison system
and eventually ending up

at Alcatraz, they never
forget where they came from.

- When you look at every
single escape case,

not just this one, investigators
go to family first.

Escapees, it's very hard for
them not to get in contact

with their previous family.

- [Laurence] And that's
exactly what happened,

according to a childhood
friend of the Anglin brothers.

- According to Fred Brizzi,
he grew up with the Anglins

as a kid, and they
used to play together

and they would tow themselves

behind boats on the river
down in Georgia and Florida.

He was a pilot and he used
to run loads of marijuana

outta South America, central
America, Mexico, up to the US.

- To a lot of his friends,

Brizzi always talks about
flying to different parts

of the globe, but one
of his favorite places

that he enjoys visiting the
most is the country of Brazil,

where his buddies, John and
Clarence Anglin are hiding out.

- [Laurence] Supposedly, the
brother's first indirect contact

with the rest of the family
comes in 1992, 30 years

after the escape, with Brizzi
acting as the go-between.

- Brizzi contacts
the Anglins' mother

and says that her
sons came to him

and that he was the
one who told them,

go to Brazil, you can
make a life there,

and that he can confirm
that they indeed

did make it out
of Alcatraz alive.

(dramatic music)

- Imagine the emotions
of the mother knowing

that her two boys,
who are part of one

of the most infamous
prison scapes in all

of American history,
are in Brazil,

while the FBI is telling her
that they're both actually dead.

- As proof for
Mrs. Anglin to say

that he's not just
making this up,

he brings along a
photograph of her sons.

It's not the best quality photo.

It's grainy, and the
men have facial hair,

and they look a
little unfamiliar.

But for a woman who is
desperate to see proof

of life of her children,
it's pretty good.

- [Laurence] Brizzi
supposedly tells Mrs. Anglin

that John and Clarence are
now running a farm in Brazil.

In the last few years, family
members have even gone down

to Rio to follow the trail

and locate the
long lost brothers.

- Even though the picture's
several decades old,

you could still match kind
of the geographical area

and they pretty
much found the area

that they believed the
photos was were taken in,

and there is a large farm there.

- The family hires a local
guide to help them through town

and as they're going
through the town,

they start asking
locals whether or not

they'd seen guys like
John and Clarence

come through that area.

- What they do find is stories.

They find that people who
live in this region say,

"Oh yeah, there were
these three American guys

who showed up in
the early 1960s.

They kind of kept to themselves,
but they were friendly

and they started
living in this cave."

- It's rumored that
some of the locals

in the town are curious as to
what the men's intentions are.

So the local town
sheriff heads up

to the cave formation
to meet with the men.

The men put him at
ease and they actually

end up becoming friends
with the sheriff

and he goes out of his
way to provide them

with some food and
allows 'em to stay.

- [Laurence] It's a
tantalizing clue,

but that's where
the trail goes cold.

Several weeks later, the
men apparently move on,

leaving behind a single
photograph as possible proof

of their new life in Brazil.

- They never find them.

In 2020, however, the
family takes this photograph

that they've been holding
onto to a facility

where they do a
kind of analysis.

- [Laurence] The facial
structure of the men

in the photograph is analyzed,

comparing it with verified
photos of the Anglins.

- This software
confirms that, yes,

the men in the photo are indeed
John and Clarence Anglin.

However, authorities
are much less convinced

that this photograph
actually is the Anglins.

- Unfortunately,
it wasn't the best.

That Polaroid picture,

one of the guys' head is turned
slightly and sunglasses are on.

So we're dealing with something

that's not a hundred
percent science.

It's not like DNA,

but at least it gives
us enough information

to proceed on the
particular lead.

- Let's remember that
this story originates

with Fred Brizzi.

- He's a conman, he's a convict.

You have to take everything
he says with a grain of salt.

- [Laurence] Without
more conclusive proof,

the FBI refuses to revise
their original assessment

that the escapees
died in the water.

- It's still an active case
because they're still calling me

and asking me for some
historical information

on the case.

- There's no doubt that the FBI

and the US Marshals have
received numerous reports

over the years, and they're
going to follow them all.

- [Laurence] Decades after
the escape from Alcatraz,

the US Marshals continue
to follow up on leads.

In 2013, they get a call

from the San Francisco
Police Department

with a new development.

- The San Francisco Police
Department gets a letter

and the person who opens it

cannot believe what
they're reading.

It is a long, handwritten letter

signed by none other
than John Anglin.

- [Laurence] The letter begins,
"My name is John Anglin.

I escaped from
Alcatraz in June 1962

with my brother Clarence
and Frank Morris.

I am 83 years old
and in bad shape."

- He indicates that he's
the only one alive still,

but that all three made it.

- It says that since that night,

they've been living out
their lives pretty quietly

in Minot, North Dakota.

(dramatic music)

If the letter is real,
it's an incredible look

into what these men had
been up to since 1962.

It also includes the information

that Frank Morris died in 2008.

- [Laurence] The letter also
says Clarence Anglin died

in 2011, making John
the sole survivor.

- This letter, however, is not
a confession or a check-in.

- The purpose of this
letter is John wants

to trade medical care
for a confession.

- It's not that unusual when
I'm reading that letter.

We have had people turn
themselves in for medical help.

It's happened in the
past quite a bit.

- He's not kidding
about these terms.

He says that he wants the
SFPD to announce on TV

that he'll get just a year's
sentence and medical care,

and if they do that,
he'll write back

and disclose his whereabouts.

- [Laurence] If
authentic, the letter

is the first public contact

from any of the three
men since the escape.

But when US Marshals
investigate the letter further,

they have misgivings.

- Whether the letter's
legitimate or not,

we've done all the criminal
analysis we can on it.

The letter was inconclusive
from the DNA perspective.

- The letter is written
by a very shaky hand

and some parts are
impossible to read.

Handwriting analysis of
this text against letters

that they had from their time
at Alcatraz is inconclusive.

- Not to say that John couldn't
have had somebody else

write it for him, and we've
come up with the fact

that we can't corroborate any of
that information in the letter.

So to me, it's just
another great mystery

of this particular case
that we've come across

so many times in
this investigation.

- [Laurence] Strongly
suspecting a hoax,

US Marshals choose
not to take the author

of the letter up on his offer.

- Whether or not this
letter was actually written

by John Anglin,

even if these men
still were alive,

they'd right now be
in their nineties.

- [Laurence] But
besides this letter,

there have always been
rumors dating back many years

that could support the
theory that the Anglins

have been living in the
US the entire time.

- There are members of the
Anglin family, including some

of their sisters who
suspect that John

and Clarence had
been reaching out

to the family for some time.

- There's lore that John

and Clarence may have
even made a personal

appearance at their
mother's funeral.

- There are two odd
looking characters

who show up at the
Florida funeral.

It's two men dressed as women.

- Supposedly could
have been the Anglin

brothers dressed as women.

That's never been able
to be corroborated.

- Later on, when the
Anglin brothers' father

George passed away,

the same situation happens
when two strangers show up,

but this time with long beards
and slip into the viewing.

They spend just a few
moments at the casket,

shed a few tears, and then leave

without acknowledging
anyone there.

- I can tell you from the
Marshal Service perspective,

we might have done some
spot surveillance on 'em

for whatever reason,
whether an anniversary date,

family member passing away.

Hours of surveillance,
nothing ever turned up.

- [Laurence] Without
further evidence,

it's impossible to
say conclusively

whether the Anglins really
did live out the rest

of their lives in the United
States or anywhere else.

- This is a fun story
to think about, right?

I mean, here you have
this inescapable fortress,

this supermax prison,

and here you have these three
guys who figured a way out.

- They've bounced in and out
of prisons their whole life,

institutions, but they
used what they've got.

Their smarts, whatever they
can pick up around the prison,

they fight the law
and maybe they won.

- No bodies have
ever been produced.

No evidence of their death
has ever been produced.

- It's still one of the great
mysteries of the 20th century

and everybody gloms onto it

because they love
when an underdog wins.

- The US Marshal Service
plans to keep the case open

until they can definitively
say the escapees

are dead or in custody.

It's their way of warning

anyone else thinking
of escaping prison

that the marshals
will never give up.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries".

(dramatic music)