Conspiracy Theories
Three Men Escaped Alcatraz, Evaded the FBI, and Lived Secret Lives
Wed, 28 May 2025
Alcatraz was designed to be inescapable. But in 1962, three men broke out. The FBI concluded the inmates died in the San Francisco Bay. But some family members are convinced they made it out alive – and lived secret lives for decades. Keep up with us on Instagram @theconspiracypod! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened during the Alcatraz escape in 1962?
In the same way the Titanic was unsinkable until it sank, Alcatraz was inescapable until three inmates escaped. In 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin masterminded a prison break and seemingly executed it to a T.
Afterward, the Alcatraz authorities and the FBI alleged the men died in the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay, but those were the same people who'd claimed the prison was inescapable. The three inmates clearly outwitted the prison guards, and those same smarts may have helped them outrun the FBI and the U.S. Marshals for over 50 years, while leading secret second lives in South America.
Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy. New episodes come out every Wednesday. You can listen to the audio everywhere and watch the video only on Spotify. And be sure to check us out on Instagram at The Conspiracy Pod. This episode contains discussions of crime. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us.
Hi there, this is Steve Fishman from Orbit Media. Our new series, season four in the Burden Feed, is Get the Money and Run.
Chapter 2: How did the inmates plan their escape?
You'll love it. Here's the trailer. I'm standing here with Joe Loya. Over 14 months, Joe robbed so many banks, he lost count.
just terrify these people and get them so scared that not only would they give me the cash, they would give me their terror and made me feel strong. All I know is we're f***ing helpless. All I know is anarchy. All I know is chaos. I just leaned into that.
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In the mid 20th century, Alcatraz's prisoners had a reputation. They were either infamous or deemed most likely to attempt escape. There were some exceptions, but from the 1930s to the 1960s, if wardens caught a criminal breaking out of another prison, they'd seriously consider sending him to Alcatraz. The prison featured some of the most stringent security measures in history.
12 official head counts a day, constant surveillance, tool-proof cell bars, automatic locks, hidden microphones. A convict passed through eight metal detectors a day, minimum. In the cafeteria, prisoners ate beneath silver ornaments, not decorations. They were canisters of tear gas, ready to drop in case of a riot, like the one that broke out in 1946.
In the yard, armed guards patrolled high catwalks so nothing would go unnoticed. The surrounding fence, topped with barbed wire, was almost unnecessary because anyone who climbed it faced the San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz is an island, and that's how it got its nickname, The Rock. On all sides, freezing cold water crashes and roils.
Even if a prisoner evaded the headcounts, gun towers, and barbed wire, they'd still need to swim a mile and a half minimum to shore. All this to say, it was shocking when three prisoners went missing. It started early morning on Tuesday, June 12, 1962, as a patrolman walked through B Block doing his head count. When Frank Morris didn't emerge from his cell, the guards shouted to wake him up.
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Chapter 3: What security measures were in place at Alcatraz?
But Frank didn't move. This was strange. Inmates knew to be up for inspection or risk punishment. The guard repeated his orders. He wouldn't give them again. No response. Angry, the patrolman opened the cell and nudged Frank. Frank's head moved. Then it clattered on the floor, disembodied. The patrolman yelped. He looked at the decapitated head and...
Anne realized it was made of papier-mâché and paint. It had cracked when it hit the hard floor. Within minutes, patrolmen found two more papier-mâché heads in cells normally occupied by brothers John and Clarence Anglin. Further inspection revealed loose ventilation grates in all three cells, with holes leading to an underused utility corridor.
Inside the corridor, they found a workshop with glues, screws, wrenches, and raincoat scraps scattered about. Records showed 52 raincoats had gone missing over the past few months. A ventilation shaft hung high above the utility corridor, and sure enough, it opened to the roof. On the roof, they found footprints. At that, they sounded the escape siren.
Guards immediately canvassed the island and alerted the FBI, Coast Guard, Highway Patrol, Army, and Bay Area Police. The Coast Guard patrolled the waters looking for the men. Military helicopters joined. Not knowing how quickly the men could be traveling, FBI agents knocked on doors in towns across the bay, like Sausalito and Tiburon. They warned locals to be on high alert for escaped prisoners.
With the three inmates gone, questions ran wild. Had the men had any visitors lately? Suspicious letters, conversations. In interviews, the remaining inmates didn't provide answers. They hadn't heard, seen, or noticed anything, really. Except for one. Alan West. A career criminal, Allen West's years of burglary, larceny, and car theft had put him behind bars repeatedly.
Multiple escape attempts and numerous assaults on fellow prisoners landed him on Alcatraz for the second time in 1958. In his interview, Allen West dripped smugness and oozed information. His account is the primary source for what we know about the escape. Because as Alan told it, he was in on the plan. Alan's story starts a year and a half prior, in January 1961.
That's when Clarence Anglin arrived, three months after his brother, John. By this point, Alan West had been talking about escaping for years. It was an obsession, an unfulfilled dream after past failures landed him in Alcatraz. He discussed the possibility with pretty much every inmate he came in contact with.
Most didn't take him seriously, but Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin knew Alan better. Their paths had all crossed before, at a prison in Atlanta years earlier. The Anglins quickly got on board with Allen's latest plan. They had lives they hoped to return to. Both brothers were in their early 30s with families and partners.
Frank Morris was a harder sell, no real friends or family, but he still wanted his freedom. By early winter 1961, the goal was set. Escape America's most inescapable prison. Now, bursting out of a maximum security prison with no resources seems like an impossible task. But they have some expertise. They've all attempted prison breaks before. That's how they got here.
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Chapter 4: Who were the masterminds behind the escape?
The public quickly came to terms with that theory But behind the scenes, there was a different story, at least according to former San Francisco police officer Robert Checke. One evening back in 1962, Officer Checke relaxed off duty at Marina Green, a waterfront park south of Alcatraz. Gazing at the bay, he saw some peculiar movement. A small white boat sat still in the water, its lights off.
Suddenly, a beam flashed from the deck. Chucky realized a man was shining a flashlight into the water, but he didn't understand why. He watched in confusion as the boat took off into the darkness. Brushing it off, Chucky chose not to report the suspicious activity that night. But the next day, he learned three men had escaped from Alcatraz.
He suspected that white boat was waiting for them, so Chucky filed a report. The FBI immediately called him in for questioning. Over several hours of interrogation, he detailed everything he knew. At the end of the conversation, they told him to cover it up. According to Checke, one FBI agent said, quote, let's make this go away. Let's bury it.
And that's not the only allegation of buried evidence. Remember how Allen West said the men planned to steal guns and hijack cars once they reached the mainland? According to the FBI, there were no reports of car or gun thefts lining up with that. So if the men made it to shore, that part of the plan never happened. Many years later, a U.S.
Marshall whistleblower claimed there was, in fact, a report. They said a secret FBI report covered a blue Chevy that was reported stolen in Marin County on the night of the breakout. According to a separate police report, later that same night, an identical car ran another vehicle off the road. This was about 100 miles away in Stockton, California.
Witnesses on the scene said there were three people inside. For some reason, this hijacking wasn't highly publicized at the time, and the alleged report was seemingly hidden from the public. Then, there's a postcard. On June 18th, seven days after the breakout, the Alcatraz warden received a postcard. It read, Ha ha, we made it. Signed, Frank, John, and Clarence.
The warden shrugged off the letter as a fake, and while the FBI gathered samples of the escapee's handwriting for comparison, they never released their findings again. Perhaps because if it was legitimate, it would have embarrassed both Alcatraz and the FBI. The government had always sent the most dangerous, cunning federal prisoners to Alcatraz because they knew the island could hold them.
If that wasn't true, Alcatraz, the FBI, and the entire criminal justice system would be humiliated. And it wasn't just a PR concern. At the time, Alcatraz was at risk of getting shut down. All that security I covered earlier made it too expensive to run. By 1962, the prison had faced budget cuts and was understaffed.
They were three officers shy of the standard 98, and that was when everyone showed up, ready to work, which often wasn't the case. And the road tower, an outpost that overlooks most of the island, had shrunk its operating hours to daylight only.
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