Alcatraz is famous for having housed some famous gangsters and criminals. Most of these prisoners were those considered dangerous, disobedient, escape risks and known for committing serious crimes such as murder, racketeering, smuggling etc.
Al Capone, one of the most notorious gangsters in America, was born in New York in 1899. He started his career in Brooklyn before moving to Chicago and had already been on the Bureau of Investigation’s “Most Wanted” list by the end of the 1920s. Al Capone was indicted and convicted for income tax evasion in 1931, and found guilty on five counts. In 1932, he was initially sent to an Atlanta prison, and then finally transferred to Alcatraz in August of 1934.
George “Machine Gun” Kelly Barnes, infamous for crimes, which included bootlegging, armed robbery and kidnapping had already been in the gangster business by 1927. In 1933, Kelly received life sentence for the kidnapping of Charles F. Urschel, a wealthy businessman and his friend Walter R. Jarrett. He was first incarcerated in Leavenworth, Kansas and was later transferred to Alcatraz in 1934 due to his constant escape threats.
Henry “Henri” Young started his career as a bank robber and committed murder in 1933, was found guilty and served time in different state prisons. In 1935 he was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary on McNeil Island in Washington State and was transferred to Alcatraz in the same year. In 1942, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after he stabbed a fellow inmate to death. His life-story was made famous by the Warner Brothers movie, “Murder in the First”.
Robert Stroud, the “birdman of Alcatraz, was first convicted of manslaughter in 1909, after he brutally shot and murdered a bartender. Stroud was transferred from McNeil Island, Washington to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas where he began to develop a keen interest in birds. He was allowed to breed them and maintain a lab. He was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 to spend the rest of his days. The story of his life was made famous by the movie, “the birdman of Alcatraz”, starring Burt Lancaster.
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Birdman of Alcatraz
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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The most famous inmate in Alcatraz Prison was Robert Stroud, also known to the public as the “birdman of Alcatraz” (so called due to the keen interest he developed in canaries and birds during the thirty years of his time in Leavenworth). Stroud was first...
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Alcatraz History
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Alcatraz Island was declared a military reservation in 1850 and troops were permanently stationed by 1859. For almost eighty years Alcatraz Island was the site of the first fortress and military prison on the west coast. The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz were acquired...
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Alcatraz
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Alcatraz is an old prison, which was used as a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963, a total of 29 years. It is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California and when it was opened to the public from 1972, it has...
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Alcatraz Island
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California, the 12-acre Alcatraz Island was declared a military reservation in 1850 but was later converted into a federal penitentiary in 1934. The name, “Alcatraz” comes from Spanish and refers to a kind of seabird Recreation...
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Alcatraz Tours
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Ever since Alcatraz was opened to the public in 1972, it has become one of the most visited historic sites in San Francisco. About a million people visit the island each year. Therefore, tickets to Alcatraz sell out as early as one to two weeks...
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Alcatraz Prison
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Alcatraz Prison is located in a very small piece of island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. The prison was originally an army fort, which was later converted into and used as a federal penitentiary for 29 years (1934 to 1963). The prison...
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Alcatraz Escapes
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Due to its isolated location and the freezing San Francisco Bay waters, the authorities considered Alcatraz as an ideal place for holding dangerous prisoners. Alcatraz operated for a full 29 years and during that time; there had been no known case of any successful escape...
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Alcatraz Lighthouse
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Alcatraz islands off the cost of San-Francisco have only two lighthouses. The foundation of the first was laid in 1852, and the entire structure became operational in 1854. The first lighthouse was a two storey structure with a tower at the center. The fifty-foot structure...
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Alcatraz Ghosts
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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Alcatraz was supposed to be a prison for America’s worst prisoners. But even before the department of prisons actually took over the island, the military used it as a place to keep the civil war prisoners. Over the years, there have been a lot of...
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Alcatraz Souvenirs
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
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A souvenir is a product or an item bought from a particular place to serve as a reminder of that place. It helps relive the experience of the visit to the place. The Alcatraz prison off the coast of San-Francisco is one of America’s major...