From 1934 to 1963, an island near San Francisco was home to one of the most secure and infamous prisons in American history. And since it was so reputedly hard to escape, Alcatraz would house some of the nation's most notorious criminals.
But while some of The Rock's more famous inmates will live in infamy forever, others have seen their legends grow obscure with the unforgiving ravages of time. But for those who can't make it to San Francisco to see the place for real, here are their stories.
Robert Stroud
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Stroud had already cultivated his reputation as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" before he had even set foot there. He had raised canary birds and studied their diseases enough to write a famous and thorough book on the subject by the time he was transferred to Alcatraz. However, he wasn't allowed to keep any birds there.
After fatally shooting a bartender in Alaska, Stroud would prove violent during his decades of imprisonment, most of which was spent at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. While there, he narrowly avoided the death penalty after fatally stabbing a guard in the mess hall.
James "Whitey" Bulger
While many Alcatraz inmates found themselves at the infamous prison by the end of their careers as criminals, James Bulger was just getting started by the time he was booked there in 1959.
The Daily Mail reported that he was released in 1963 and would go on to start an Irish mafia in Boston and eventually ran his criminal empire while also serving as an FBI informant. USA Today reported that Bulger was convicted of 11 murders throughout the 1970s and '80s. He was finally caught after evading authorities for 16 years and was murdered in prison on October 30, 2018.
Al Capone
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, Al Capone's time at Alcatraz started in 1934 and came after he had managed to bribe his way into a host of special privileges in an Atlanta prison. Although he was able to cajole the warden into letting him start a prison band, his time at Alcatraz was otherwise rougher and saw him survive a stabbing from another prisoner.
Capone is believed to be responsible for 300 deaths over the course of his time as head of Chicago's criminal underworld. Still, the only crime the authorities successfully prosecuted him for was tax evasion.
George Kelly Barnes
Also known as "Machine Gun Kelly," George Kelly Barnes was a moderately infamous bootlegger and bank robber until a major crime in Oklahoma City thrust him into the national spotlight in 1933.
Using his trademark Thompson submachine gun, Barnes kidnapped oil magnate Charles F. Urschel, and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover saw the gangster as a prime target for the new Lindbergh kidnapping laws. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, he would serve 17 years at Alcatraz before dying at Leavenworth prison in 1954.
Harvey Bailey
As David A. Ward wrote in his book Alcatraz, Harvey Bailey was able to get away with robbing banks for over a decade by the time he was caught. And when he was, he demonstrated that he was just as effective at escaping from prison as he was at robbing banks.
His crime sprees and skill at evading law enforcers were factors in the decision to ship him to Alcatraz, but the same kidnapping case that brought down Machine Gun Kelly was Bailey's downfall as well. That's because Bailey was caught with some of the ransom money.
Frank Morris
According to the FBI's website, Frank Morris came to Alcatraz in 1960 after a series of bank robbing and burglary convictions resulted in multiple prison escape attempts. But he's best known for what he did while he was there.
Alongside two brothers he knew from previous jail sentences, Morris developed an intricate plan to escape that involved putting plaster dummy heads in their beds and using kitchen utensils to tunnel out of their cells. The three men successfully escaped on June 12, 1962, with a makeshift raft and have not been heard from since.
Clarence Anglin
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Clarence Anglin and his brother John were brought to Alcatraz after being convicted of an Alabama bank robbery in 1958. By 1962, the two brothers would team up with Frank Morris to hatch the only successful escape attempt Alcatraz ever saw.
Although The Los Angeles Times reported that authorities said the three men drowned in the San Francisco Bay, the testimony of U.S. Marshal Mike Dyke suggested that they may have stolen a car in Marin County after their escape.
Alvin Karpis
As David A. Ward wrote in Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis partnered with Dock Barker to form a criminal gang that robbed company payrolls, a Federal Reserve mail truck, and various banks throughout the Midwest during the Great Depression.
Karpis was also among the gangsters who graduated to kidnapping by the early 1930s, which put him in the crosshairs of the FBI. According to the website for Andalucia, Spain, Karpis would settle there after serving a 26-year sentence at Alcatraz for kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder. This was the longest term served at Alcatraz in history.
Arthur "Doc" Barker
Alongside Alvin Karpis, Arthur Barker's crimes were documented in David A. Ward's book Alcatraz. They involved a string of robberies and the murder of multiple police officers who tried to stop him.
But as the National Park Service outlined, Barker would receive a life sentence for the kidnapping of Edward G. Bremer and would wind up in Alcatraz by 1935. Four years later, Barker was fatally shot while trying to escape the prison in a small boat.
Floyd Hamilton
In 1938, The New York Times reported that Floyd Hamilton was arrested for a string of robberies he committed as a member of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Darrow's infamous gang of outlaws. Since he had escaped jail once by then, he eventually found himself at Alcatraz.
And according to a 1943 report from The Madera Tribune, he almost got away from The Rock after authorities presumed him dead when he jumped into the San Francisco Bay. However, the elements he experienced while hiding in a nearby cave were harsh enough that he was recaptured after three days.
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen
According to Alcatraz's official website, Mickey Cohen was a California crime boss who was able to wriggle out of bookmaking, racketeering, assault, and even murder charges thanks to his street smarts and his claimed ability to pay off authorities.
However, The Madera Tribune reported that he finally found his way to Alcatraz after receiving a 15-year sentence for tax evasion. He dodged attempts on his life and was severely beaten by another prisoner with a lead pipe after being transferred to an Atlanta prison, but he kept largely quiet and lived to see his release.
Rufus Franklin
Rufus Franklin is better known for his activities at Alcatraz than the crimes that put him there, as he was at the center of a violent escape attempt in 1938.
According to the National Park Service, Franklin killed a guard with a claw hammer alongside two co-conspirators while working in the prison's Model Industries building. After Franklin was shot while trying to attack a guard tower, he received a life sentence and was kept in isolation for 14 years before living just long enough to be released in 1974.
Rafael Cancel Miranda
On March 1, 1954, Rafael Cancel Miranda joined a group of four Puerto Rican nationalists who staged an attack on the U.S. Capitol to compel the U.S. government to grant Puerto Rico independence. According to The Washington Post, they expected to die after firing 16 shots and wounding five congressmen but were instead captured and jailed.
Cancel Miranda was sent to Alcatraz but was later transferred to other prisons in Kansas and Illinois before his sentence was commuted by the Carter administration in 1979. Cancel Miranda died in San Juan at 89 in 2020.
James A. Boarman
As The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in 1943, James Boarman was a bank robber from Indianapolis who tried to escape Alcatraz alongside three other men after they took two guards as hostages in the industries area.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the four then climbed down from this area and tried to swim across San Francisco Bay. All were eventually recaptured except Boarman, who sank into the bay after he was shot. His body was never recovered.
Basil "The Owl" Banghart
According to the FBI website, Basil Banghart stole over 100 cars before his first arrest in Detroit in 1926. After running a car theft ring in New Jersey and escaping from prison and police custody three times, he fled to Chicago in 1932 and became a machine gunner for one of Al Capone's rivals.
But while this list of crimes (and a lucrative mail truck robbery) might have been enough to send Banghart to Alcatraz, it was actually a kidnapping he was not involved in that saw him shipped off in 1943. He would be released in 1959 once this conviction was overturned and died in
Joseph Paul Cretzer
According to the San Francisco Public Library, Joseph Paul Cretzer came to Alcatraz after receiving a life sentence for the murder of a U.S. Marshal in Tacoma, Washington, and additional convictions for bank robbery and escaping another prison.
But in May of 1946, Cretzer organized a group of six men and started an organized prison riot that saw them seize a weapon cache intended for guards and fatally shoot two officers. As the Federal Bureau of Prisons outlined, this event would be known as the Battle of Alcatraz, and Cretzer and two of his co-conspirators would perish in the chaos.
Ellsworth Raymond "Bumpy" Johnson
According to Harlem World magazine, Ellsworth Johnson became Harlem's de facto crime boss in the 1940s thanks to connections he built with the Genovese crime family. By 1951, Johnson was convicted in connection with a New York heroin trafficking ring.
Although he maintained his innocence, Johnson would spend most of his 15-year sentence at Alcatraz and would be released in 1963, the prison's final year of operation. He would stage a protest against police surveillance at a New York precinct two years later and died of heart failure in 1968.
Rufus Roy McCain
According to Ghosts And Legends Of Alcatraz by Bob Davis and Brian Clune, Rufus McCain was a bank robber best known for an escape attempt in 1939 that involved infamous gangster Arthur "Dock" Barker. McCain and four others sawed their bars using copper obtained by Barker and dropped down to two makeshift rafts they had arranged.
But while Barker was shot trying to escape, McCain's fear of water forced the other raft to turn back, whereupon he and his fellow escapees were captured. Henry Young, one of the men he shared the raft with, would fatally stab McCain in the stomach in December of 1941.
Herbert Allen "Deafy" Farmer
According to the FBI website, Herbert Farmer was part of a group who planned to free an outlaw friend named Frank Nash from federal custody. This plan saw gunmen fire upon Nash's escort in an event now called the Kansas City Massacre, which resulted in both Nash's death and four law enforcers around him.
Although it was unclear who fired the shots, The Daily Illini reported that Farmer faced charges for helping to plan the massacre but was not questioned at trial due to his severe hearing loss. Nonetheless, he was found guilty on January 4, 1935, and served two years at Alcatraz for the crime.
Rufe Persful
According to the official Alcatraz history website, Rufe Persful was sentenced to 20 years in The Rock for robbery and the kidnapping of an Arkansas sheriff.
But as The Madera Tribune reported in 1937, Persful bewildered both the guards and his fellow inmates after he used an ax he stole from the prison fire truck to cut his left hand off. He pleaded with another prisoner to remove his right hand, but that inmate instead summoned help, and Persful was quickly hospitalized.
Theodore Cole
According to the National Park Service, Theodore Cole wound up in Alcatraz after being convicted of kidnapping and attempted to escape in 1938 alongside another inmate named Ralph Roe.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, however, Cole and Roe attempted to escape through the San Francisco Bay during a particularly heavy storm and faced rough currents. For that reason, both were presumed drowned, but their bodies were never recovered.
Henri Young
According to the official Alcatraz History website, Henri Young was a bank robber and murderer who arrived at Alcatraz in 1936. Three years later, he attempted to escape on a makeshift raft with William Martin and Rufus Roy McCain but was forced to turn back when the latter's fear of drowning threatened to capsize the boat.
Although he never explained why, Young would fatally stab McCain a year after being released from solitary confinement after the attempted escape and remained in Alcatraz until 1948. After two prison transfers, Young was released on parole from the Washinton State Penitentiary in 1972. However, he soon jumped parole and disappeared completely.
Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler
As The Madera Tribune reported in 1952, Irving Wexler first rose to prominence in the criminal underworld with an illicit liquor operation in New York City during Prohibition.
By the time he was caught in August of 1951, he was also charged with heroin trafficking and owed the federal government $1 million in unpaid taxes. While awaiting trial for his role in a nationwide narcotics ring, he died of heart failure in Alcatraz's hospital on June 24, 1952.
Forrest Tucker
According to Time, Forrest Tucker's stay in Alcatraz only resulted in him meeting another bank robber named Theodore Green, with whom he would form the "Over the Hill Gang," named for their advanced ages.
Tucker was known for his calm demeanor, earpiece equipped with a police scanner, and ingenious robbery methods that, in one case, saw his crew pose as bank security guards to steal gold from their vault. Although he escaped San Quentin in 1979 and apparently tried to reform in 1993, he died in prison after a final crime spree in 1999.
Morton Sobell
As The Seattle Times reported, Morton Sobell was convicted alongside Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of espionage while working as an electrical engineer. Specifically, he was accused of stealing classified U.S. military and industrial information and delivering it to the Soviet Union.
But while Sobell maintained his innocence during his 18-year incarceration at Alcatraz and other federal prisons, he admitted at the age of 91 that he had delivered American nuclear weapon secrets to the Soviets as the accusations suggested.
Burton Phillips
According to the official Alcatraz History website, Burton Phillips was a bank robber and kidnapper serving a life sentence in Alcatraz when he became involved in a general strike. Participants stayed in their cells after lunch and refused to work in the prison's shops.
During this strike, Warden James A. Johnson stepped into the mess hall to observe the inmates, which Phillips took as a chance to step out of line and kick him until he fell unconscious. The guards retaliated, and Phillips found himself in the prison hospital soon after.
Robert Simmons
According to the National Park Service, the only crime Robert Simmons committed to wind up in Alcatraz was objecting to World War I after he was drafted. Alcatraz was a military prison back in 1918, and Simmons was one of 30 conscientious objectors held there at the time.
As Simmons refused to wear a military uniform or join a work gang, he saw his sentence extend multiple times and was forced to stand chained to his cell door for eight hours at a time. He was finally released in 1920, over a year after the war ended.
Sam Shockley
Sam Shockley was one of six Alcatraz inmates who overpowered the guards in their cell block and gained access to both their weapons' cache and their keys. Although they soon found that they couldn't escape to the recreation yard, they decided to wage war with the remaining guards in what is now called the Battle of Alcatraz.
Three of Shockley's co-conspirators were killed in the skirmish that also claimed the lives of two guards. But according to a 1948 report from The Madera Tribune, Shockley and another participating inmate named Miran Thompson would be executed for the riot on December 3.
Volney Davis
According to an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals case from 1955, Volney Davis was a member of the Barker-Karpis gang who had already been convicted of murder by the time of his involvement in the kidnapping of Edward George Bremer in 1934.
Davis appealed his case at Alcatraz and claimed he had not been informed of his right to legal representation. According to Alcatraz: The Gangster Years by David Ward and Gene Kassebaum, Davis initially fought with other prisoners but eventually maintained good conduct and work records by the end of his stay and his subsequent time at Leavenworth.
James "Tex" Lucas
According to the National Park Service, James Lucas was serving a 30-year sentence for bank robbery and auto theft when he and his crime partner Jack Hardin came to Alcatraz in 1935. A year later, he would become infamous as the man who tried to kill Al Capone after slashing the mob boss with half a set of scissors in the shower room.
Lucas and two others staged a violent escape attempt that claimed the life of a guard in 1938, but he was eventually paroled after being transferred to another prison in 1958. He died in 1998 after turning his life around and working in the oil industry.
