Alcatraz (95 page)

75
. Special progress report, September 12, 1945, Hensley Alcatraz file.

76
. Hensley Alcatraz file. See Thomas Murton and Joseph Hyams,
Accomplices to the Crime
(New York: Grove Press, 1969), for descriptions of prisons in Georgia before the intervention of the federal courts.

77
. Romney M. Ritchey, Surgeon, Psychiatrist, neuro-psychiatric examination, November 7, 1938.

78
. Romney Ritchey, Surgeon, Chief Medical Officer, memoranda to the Warden, August 5 and August 19, 1940.

79
. While in prison in Arkansas, Hensley wrote to the governor, Sid McMath, who was looking to reform the state’s prison system. The governor, on a trip to the prison, met Hensley, who advised McMath on needed areas of reform. In return McMath wrote a letter of support for Hensley, as did James Bennett, and Hensley’s Arkansas sentence was commuted; ten days after his visit with the governor, he was released.

80
. Jack Hensley to James V. Bennett, January 20, 1959. Hensley expressed his appreciation to Bennett for writing on his behalf to Arkansas prison authorities.

81
. Howard Butler Alcatraz file.

82
. In 1949 Butler appeared for routine classification before the committee: “He seemed in very good spirits and talked for some length about the colored population. He said, that with the exception of one or two negro prisoners, he had nothing in common with them and would appreciate it if he did not have to even see them. During the interview he suggested that the negro prisoners celling across from the second tier in B block be moved somewhere else, as he hated to look at them. He said that they were talking filthy and loudly, and stupidly caused much confusion and disturbance in the cell house. He said the last negro prisoners received, especially the Army inmates, were very low in intelligence and were a very bad bunch. He stated he wants nothing to do with the other colored inmates and his best friends were among the white population. He likes all the officers and officials and never had any ‘beefs’ where they were concerned. Butler said he appreciated consideration for restored good time and recently obtained 364 days restoration.” Special progress report, December 16, 1959, Butler file. This statement may have been an attempt by a savvy convict to curry favor with staff by presenting himself as different from most black prisoners. That his statement was recorded as part of an official record suggests that Butler’s remarks were a welcome reinforcement of negative racial stereotypes.

83
. Butler file.

84
. It is unclear whether Joe Urbaytis was a success or a failure; he lived outside of prison for three years before he was shot to death. In prison recidivism statistics he would be recorded as a “success” since he did not return to prison. If James Grove had not taken his own life (the ultimate form of resistance) before his release, he might have succeeded in staying out of prison as well.

1
. Dock Barker—another Public Enemy with a reputation at least as large as Karpis’s—might have been in this category had he not died during an escape attempt early in his sentence. See chapter 5.

2
. See the chapters on Alvin Karpis in J. Edgar Hoover,
Persons in Hiding
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1938); and in Courtney Ryley Cooper,
Ten Thousand Public Enemies
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1935). Arthur Barker and George and Kathryn Kelly are also featured in these books. See also the chapters on the Urschel kidnapping and the Barkers and Alvin Karpis in Irving Crump and John W. Newton,
Our G-Men
(New York: Dodd, Mead, 1937).

3
. Alvin Karpis, as told to Robert Livesey,
On the Rock: Twenty-Five Years in Alcatraz
(New York: Beaufort Books, 1980), 60.

4
. San Francisco FBI field office, February 27, 1935, file 62–1238.

5
. In June 1935 a former inmate of Atlanta sent a 243-page manuscript titled “The Biography of Al Capone’s Life in the Atlanta Penitentiary” to the office of
Real Detective Magazine
in New York. Its focus was the usual allegations of preferential treatment and Capone’s ability to corrupt prison employees. The author reported that he had been employed as a secretary in the prison records office and therefore had access to all correspondence and records, including confidential correspondence between Atlanta officials and BOP headquarters. The FBI reviewed the incidents described in the manuscript and concluded that, with the exception of the case of a guard who was dismissed for carrying a letter from Capone out of the prison, the allegations were not based on fact. Al Capone, Alcatraz and Terminal Island files. All quotes and references to letters and reports on Capone are taken from this source.

6
. Parole board members stopped by Alcatraz only to review cases of inmates whose time remaining on their sentences was becoming short, those who might be released directly to the West Coast, or, in Capone’s case, to avoid being accused of denying a high-profile offender his legal right to a hearing.

7
. Report of E. Twitchell, Psychiatrist, and G. Hess, Chief Medical Officer, Alcatraz, February 6, 1938.

8
. E. J. Miller, to James A. Johnston, February 11, 1938.

9
.
Time Magazine
, February 21, 1938.

10
. R. Ritchey, MD, August 17, 1938.

11
. James V. Bennett to Attorney General, December 14, 1938.

12
.
San Francisco News
, September 9, 1939. When the island was opened to tourists by the National Park Service in 1975, the commercialization of Alcatraz began with shops selling pseudo Al Capone cigars, the Big Boy’s picture on posters, and the claims of ex-guards and inmates that they had been “best friends” with Public Enemy no. 1.

13
. G. Hess, MD, to Medical Director, BOP, January 16, 1939.

14
. H. R. Lipton, MD, to Chief Medical Officer, psychiatric examination of Al Capone, September 9, 1939, p. 3.

15
. R. B. Hood, Special-Agent-in-Charge, to Director, FBI, October 26, 1939, file 62–39128–101.

16
. The specialist who agreed to treat Capone informed the Bureau that the patient’s admission to the Johns Hopkins Hospital was contingent on several factors: that he be admitted under an assumed name and that the Capone family make every effort to avoid publicity; that visitors were to be limited to family members; that Capone’s condition justify his management on the medical service rather than in the psychiatric ward; and that Capone’s physical and mental
condition be sufficiently satisfactory to permit his management on the medical service but also offer some hope of improvement.

17
. Harry H. Lipton, abstract of neuropsychiatric record, October 24, 1939, p. 29.

18
. Special-Agent-in-Charge, Miami, to Director, FBI, April 15, 1945, file 62–39128–147.

19
. John Kobler,
Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone
(New York: Collier Books, 1971), 38.

20
. George Kelly, Alcatraz file. All quotes and references to letters and reports on Kelly come from this source.

21
. George Kelly to Charles F. Urschel, April 11, 1940. This letter was forwarded to BOP headquarters and to Director Hoover. The sophisticated description of prison life in this letter may reflect Kelly’s three years’ attendance at the University of Mississippi as well as his reading habits at Alcatraz. Willie Radkay, a friend of his on the island, told the author that Kelly had the ability to use such language.

22
. E. Swope to J. Bennett, 1948.

23
. Radkay interview in 1981.

24
. J. V. Bennett memo re Kelly transfer request, May 3, 1950.

25
. Report, September 3, 1949.

26
. A memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover from the FBI office in Oklahoma City regarding these charges contained this handwritten note from the director, “Be certain we watch closely and take steps to see Kelly does not get a parole. We can expect anything from Bennett’s outfit.” October 2, 1953, file 7–115–2788.

27
. Director, FBI, to the Attorney General, November 1, 1949. A handwritten note on this memo from an FBI official stated, “I have been in touch with the Chairman of the Parole Board for the past several weeks re this matter and feel they will take no action on application. . . . Have made clear what our position is on this application.” November 17, 1949, file SE 21 7–115–2200.

28
. Director’s note on memorandum from F. H. Schmidt to Mr. Rosen, subject: Chaplain Joseph M. Clark, October 31, 1949, file 62–29777–7119.

29
. An article from an AP release on July 17, 1954, noted that the Kellys, Bates, Bailey, and Shannons were the first convictions under the Lindbergh kidnapping law, and that Kelly earned his nickname “because he could write his name with tommy gun bullets.” It also mentioned that when Kelly was apprehended, he had, according to an FBI spokesman, “reached up his hands toward the ceiling, trembled, and said, ‘Don’t shoot, G-Men. Don’t shoot.’” (The article’s title and newspaper’s name had been removed.) Kathryn Kelly and her mother, Ora Shannon, were released from prison in 1958, returned to Texas, and changed their names to Brooks.

30
. Albert Bates Alcatraz file. All quotes and references to letters and reports on Bates are taken from this source.

31
. Romney M. Ritchey, Surgeon/Psychiatrist, neuro-psychiatric examination of no. 137, December 9, 1938.

32
. E. Swope, warden’s bi-weekly report, July 16, 1948. “Urschel Kidnapper Takes Ransom Secret to Grave,” International News Service, name of newspaper and date not attached to articles.

33
. Admission summary, Leavenworth, Kansas, August 5, 1936. Sanford Bates to Warden, Leavenworth, July 30, 1936. Alvin Karpis Alcatraz file. All quotes and references to letters and reports on Karpis are taken from this source.

34
. Richard Gid Powers,
G-Men: Hoover’s FBI in America’s Popular Culture
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983), 178.

35
. Karpis,
On the Rock
, 53.

36
. Lester Davis, sheriff of Howell County, Missouri, informed Alcatraz officials that the widow of his predecessor, knowing that a trial would be unlikely given the passage of time and the death of witnesses, filed the murder charge to prevent Karpis from receiving a federal parole. According to Davis, “both Barker and Karpis were in the car which drove into a local garage and when the sheriff appeared on the scene looking for them four shots were fired into his body and he died instantly.” Lester Davis to E. B. Swope, Warden, Alcatraz, May 23, 1951.

37
. Lawrence Delmore, Jr., Associate Warden, to Warden, May 19, 1953.

38
. Lt. Alden Severson, interview with the author, July 20, 1977.

39
. Karpis,
On the Rock
, 235–36.

40
. Morton Sobell, interview with the author, January 11, 1980. Sobell was convicted of conspiracy in the cases in which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death. He arrived at Alcatraz in 1952.

41
. Johan O. Pacillas, [D block] Treatment Unit Evening Watch, to Captain Bergen re “Proposed Hunger Strike in Treatment Unit,” March 3, 1954. Conversations as inmates called out from one cell to another were routinely recorded by segregation-unit officers, who censored inmates’ language as they saw fit. Karpavicz, special progress report, March 5, 1954.

42
. Teletype, September 19, 1958, to Frank Loveland, Assistant Director, BOP. C. H. Looney, Warden [Leavenworth], to James V. Bennett, September 15, 1952. Two days later Karpis was on his way back to Alcatraz.

43
. P. J. Madigan to Director, BOP, October 21, 1958.

44
. U.S. Board of Parole, transcript of minutes, by Richard A. Chappell, Chairman, June 24, 1961.

45
. “Ex-Mob King Seeks Parole,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, January 26, 1962. “Widow to Fight Karpis’ Release From Alcatraz,”
Springfield (MO) Leader-Press
, February 6, 1962. “‘Hood’ Karpis Eyes Parole,”
Chicago Sunday American
, February 11, 1962.

46
. Comment on copy of
Chicago Sunday American
article, March 14, 1962, FBI file 7–576–15474. Director, FBI, to Attorney General, February 14, 1962.

47
. “No Reason for Leniency,”
Washington Star
, April 1, 1962.

48
. “He and Ma Barker’s Boy: Ex-Public Enemy No. 1 Now a Model Prisoner,”
Tacoma News Tribune
, July 5, 1966. U.S. Board of Parole, transcript of minutes, case of Alvin Karpavicz, McNeil Camp, WA, September 29, 1966.

49
. James M. Carty, Attorney, Woodland, WA, to Alvin Karpavicz, December 20, 1967.

50
. Paul Madigan to Joseph N. Shore, Executive Parole Secretary, January 5, 1968.

51
. Raymond W. May to Joseph Shore, December 30, 1966. This was written on the date of May’s retirement after thirty years with the BOP.

52
. [Parole board chairman] Walter Dunbar, interview with Karpis, April 16, 1968.

53
. “Kidnapper, 60, Seeks New Life,”
Washington Star
, January 1, 1969.

54
. Alvin Karpis, as told to Bill Trent, “A New Life for Public Enemy #1,”
St Paul Pioneer Press
, March 1, 1970.

55
. Alvin Karpis, with Bill Trent,
The Alvin Karpis Story
(New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1971), 230–33, 255–56.

56
. T. E. Bishop to Mr. Mohr, Subject: Alvin Karpis Appearance on NBC Television Network Show Entitled “Comment,” February 28, 1971, February 25, 1971; FBI file 7–576–15563; M. A. Jones to Mr. Bishop, Subject: Karpis Appearance on NBC, March 1, 1971, FBI file 7–576–15563, p. 4; Jones to Bishop, Subject: Alvin Karpis Apprehension, March 1, 1971, FBI file 7–576–15561; Jones to Bishop, Subject: Review of Book,
The Alvin Karpis Story;
March 5, 1971, FBI file 7–576–15562.