Episode 170: The Alcatraz Escape PT 1
On today’s episode, Kate and Paul travel to 1962 San Francisco Bay and begin their look at the infamous escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. The pair trace the backgrounds of the men behind the plot and examine how one of the most audacious prison breaks in American history began to take shape.
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Sources:
Alcatraz Escape.” FBI Website. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/alcatraz-escape
“Alcatraz Escape. FBI Records: The Vault. https://vault.fbi.gov/Alcatraz%20Escape/
Alexander, Kathy. “A Daring Escape from Alcatraz.” Legends of America. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-alcatrazescape/
Burke, Myles. “‘It was the cleverest escape in the prison’s 30 years’: The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon.” BBC. May 5, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240607-it-was-the-cleverest-escape-in-the-prisons-30-years-the-men-who-broke-out-of-alcatraz-with-a-spoon
“How Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger Helped with the Escape from Alcatraz.” The Independent. August 12, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alcatraz-prison-escape-book-san-francisco-brazil-b2595105.html
López, Carlos Cabezas. Escape from Alcatraz. Independently Published. 2025.
Michallon, Clémence. “Their families insist they survived. Investigators doubt it. The enduring mystery of the three missing men of Alcatraz.” The Independent (United Kingdom). June 28, 2022.
Noyes, Dan. “New Leads in Manhunt for Alcatraz Escapees.” ABC 30. May 15, 2016. https://abc30.com/post/new-leads-in-alcatraz-escapees-manhunt/1351556/#:~:text=Now%20the%20family%20of%20John,as%20a%20valid%20lead%20completely.
The Polymath Perspective. “The Perfect Storm of Ingenuity: How the 1962 Alcatraz Escape Defied America’s Most Impenetrable Prison.” Medium. May 6, 2025.
Prado, Mark. “Study: 1962 Alcatraz Escapees Might Have Reached Marin.” The Sacramento Bee. December 18, 2014.
Stuart, Hunter. “One of the Convicts Who Escaped Alcatraz in 1962 May Have Surfaced.” Medium. February 2, 2018. https://medium.com/omgfacts/one-of-the-convicts-who-escaped-alcatraz-in-1962-may-have-surfaced-a2e573882828
Widner, Ken and Mike Lynch. Alcatraz: The Last Escape. Lyons Press, 2024.
Woron, Tom. “Escape to Freedom (Maybe).” Neighbors Paper. Blog. N.d. https://neighborspaper.com/2023/11/06/escape-to-freedom-maybe/