Infamous America - WILLIE SUTTON Ep. 6 | “Reversal of Fortune”

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

New York police pick up Willie Sutton, but at first, they’re not sure of his identity. As realization dawns, Willie must make a choice about his future. He has a chance to escape custody, but he thinks he might be too old to take it. Eventually, the lifelong felon returns to prison. He survives a long stretch at Attica State Prison before he reinvents himself as a consultant for banks and lawmen who want to tap into his well of bank robbing knowledge. Bring the Arts home with Marquee TV! Sign up at Marquee.tv and receive 3 months for just 99 cents when you use the promo code AMERICA.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to INFAMOUS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons. Hit “JOIN” on the Infamous America YouTube homepage. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4V_wVD7N1gEB045t7-V0w/featured   For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On February 18, 1952, time was running out for Willie Sutton. He just didn't know it yet. He had broken out of Holmesburg prison outside Philadelphia almost exactly five years earlier. For most of that time, he had stayed free by living a very low-key life on Staten Island. He had worked at an old-age home and had fallen in love with a nurse at the facility. He and his partner Tommy Kling had likely pulled off a series of smaller robberies, But the big one happened in March of 1950. Willie, Tommy, and their getaway driver John DeVanuda

had stolen nearly $64,000 from a branch of the Manufacturer's Trust Company Bank in Queens. Willie had hoped to use his share of the money to take his new love on her dream vacation to Ireland. But in a newspaper article exposed his undercover life as a man everyone knew as Eddie Lynch. With his cover blown, he had to leave his girlfriend, his job, and Staten Island behind.

He rented apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn and kept up a normal daily routine that made him seem like any other hardworking citizen. He underwent plastic surgery on his face in an effort to permanently disguise his identity. When he was healed, and it appeared as though no one was giving him a second look, he had the confidence to plan another robbery.

He and Tommy and John targeted a branch of manufacturer's trust in the Chelsea District of Manhattan. But then came the crazy chain of events of February 18, 1952. Willie went to meet his partner Tommy, and it turned out that both of their cars had broken down. Willie had to take the subway. While he was on the train,

he was recognized by 24-year-old Arnold Schuster. Arnold was a true crime fan and had read all the crime stories in the newspapers. He had Willie Sutton's Wounded poster on a wall in a room of his family's tailor shop. The FBI had started its famous 10 most wanted list two years earlier, and Willie Sutton and Tommy Kling were two of the names on the list. Arnold took one look at Willie on the train and knew exactly who he was,

despite Willie's attempt to change his face with surgery. That morning, Willie was so preoccupied with the delays caused by his car trouble that he wasn't as alert as he normally was, and he regretted that for the rest of his life. When Willie stepped off the train to go to his mechanic's shop, Arnold followed, and Willie didn't notice. Arnold wrote down the address of the shop and took a cab to the nearest police station.

He told the police everything, but they weren't quick to believe him. Willie Sutton was the most wanted fugitive in America, and there was a reward for information that led to his capture. As a result, of course, the police were flooded with tips, all of which led nowhere. The police promised Arnold they would pursue his lead, and they sent him away.

They did pursue it, but they nearly let the opportunity slip through their fingers. A persistent detective followed up when it seemed like Arnold's information would fall by the wayside. And that changed everything. From Black Barrel Media, this is Infamous America. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the story of Willie Sutton, one of the most successful bank robbers and escape artists in American history. This is episode six. Reversal of Fortune.

After Arnold Schuster made his report to the police, the station sent a car to the mechanic's address to check out Arnold's claim that the most wanted man in America might be there. Willie was examining his car's engine when a police car pulled up. Willie's car was new, but the battery had died. Willie had gone to the mechanic's shop for help, but the mechanic was late for work. Willie had taken the subway to Tommy's house

and then turned right around and hurried back to the mechanic's shop, which was how he was on the train to be spotted by Arnold Schuster. Now, Willie was at the shop, inspecting his car, when two police officers arrived to follow up on Arnold's report. Willie didn't turn around, but from the corner of his eye, he watched as the officers approached. One of the officers called out to him, asking who owned the car.

Willie said he owned the car, and the officers asked him for his registration. Willie reached into his pocket and fished out the registration. The car was registered in the name Charles Gordon. The officers looked it over before handing it back and thanking Willie for his time. The officers drove away, and Willie thought his troubles with law enforcement were over for the day.

But really, they were just getting started. Before long, a detective, The detective showed up. The officers had reported back to the station that the man Arnold thought was Willie Sutton was actually Charles Gordon, but the lead detective on the case wanted to check again. The detective asked Willie for his registration and license. Willie had made a license in the name of Charles Gordon and promptly handed it over. The detective told Willie that the documents looked genuine, but at the same time, there had been a string of car thefts in the area, and the The detective wondered if Willie would mind coming down to the station just to confirm that the license was genuine.

If Willie wanted the officer to believe he was an honest, upstanding citizen, he needed to act like one. So he smiled at the officer and said, sure, he would accompany him to the station. The police station was less than a block away, and during the short walk, Willie had a growing suspicion that his time was finally up. He was also, more than likely, one of the rarestations. citizens who walked into a police station strapped with a gun. The gun was hidden in a leather holster wrapped around his waist. Ever since he escaped from prison, Willie always kept it with him. It was an insurance policy in case he was recognized on the street and had to use it to scare

someone off. And that was the unique thing about Willie Sutton. He carried a gun with him in every robbery. Technically, he was an armed robber, but he never fired it or used it for anything more than threat. Willie hated violence. He saw no need for it. He used intelligence, organized planning, and speed to execute his robberies. There was simply no reason to shoot up a bank when you could walk away quickly and quietly and then not be wanted for murder as well as robbery. When Willie walked into the station, the gun was so well concealed that none of the officers noticed it. They didn't frisk Willie, they just led him into an interrogation room. He showed them his fake license and registration again, and they asked him several routine questions. He swore in his most sincere voice

that he was not wanted by the police and he'd never been arrested in his life. Just when Willie thought the interview was over, the police asked him for his fingerprints. After taking his prints, they left Willie waiting in the room guarded by one detective. As he waited, he grew more worried. If the police found a match, Willie knew he would be back in prison for a long, long time. He didn't give off any sign of being worried, but he studied his options. If he pulled his gun, he was sure he could catch the detective off guard. Willie could use the detective as a hostage and force his way out of the station. But as his mind buzzed with the idea, he suddenly felt tired. Willie was 51 years old, and he'd been running and he'd been running and

and hiding for the past five years. He realized he really didn't care if he was caught. After being on the run for such a long time, he just didn't have the energy to keep running. My relentless sleep problems have always come from an overactive mind. I lay in bed at night with my mind racing from one thing to another, and then, of course, I have a brainstorm about something new. That lights the fire, and then I'm in real trouble.

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Go to mood.com and use the code infamous to get 20% off your first order. And they have a 100-day satisfaction guarantee. Mood.com promo code infamous. Soon, police officers started trickling into the interrogation room. They didn't say anything, but he took one look at them and he knew he'd been made. Willie could see it in their eyes. The secret was out. Willie Sutton, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, had walked right into their police station. They were delighted. Eventually, the captain came in and asked one of the officers to frisk Willie. They found his gun, took it away, and put him in handcuffs.

The police were elated to have Willie behind bars. He was a huge arrest, but they also respected him to the extent they would allow themselves to respect a criminal. The truth was the officers liked him. He was a nice, down-to-earth person who had never hurt anyone in the course of his 30-year criminal career. Willie got on so well with him that soon the policemen were cracking jokes with him. As word spread of the celebrity in the interview room,

the little police station became filled with activity. The heads of all major branches of law enforcement rushed down to the station. the police commissioner, the district attorney, the chief inspector, and others. Once the newspapers got wind of Willie's arrest, the place was buzzing with journalists. When Willie was taken outside in handcuffs, he was blinded by the lights of flashing cameras. The journalists shouted questions at him. It was nothing short of a full-fledged circus.

Everyone wanted to hear Willie's stories, his bank heists, his prison escapes, and finally, how he was arrested. They would receive some of their answers in due course, but not now. The police station was close to the courthouse, but the cops packed Willie into a van surrounded by a security escort to make the short trip. The only time Willie was allowed to remove his handcuffs was when he stood in a lineup to be identified by a witness. And even then, Willie had to remind the police to uncuff him because the witness might be tipped off by the fact that one of the 15 men in the lineup

was wearing handcuffs. Willie was amused by the lengths to which the police were going. He reminded them that he had been armed in a room with just one detective. If he wanted to escape, he could have, but he chose not to. When the legal process began and Willie needed to be in court for hearings and then ultimately for the trial, he was moved to a jail adjoining the courthouse. Before putting Willie inside the cell, officers examined him from head to foot. They wanted to make sure he had nothing he could do.

used to escape. They ran a fine-tooth comb through Willie's hair and even checked the spaces between his toes. After they put Willie inside the cell, they took great pains to secure it. Officers wrapped a heavy chain around a couple bars of Willie's cell and then the cell next to him. They secured the chain with the biggest padlock Willie had ever seen. Willie's cell was under 24-hour watch. A guard sat at a desk in front of the cell all day and all night. night. To make sure Willie didn't have the chance to scheme with other inmates, they emptied the entire cell block of prisoners. Willie wasn't allowed to have anything metal or pointy. Guards took his belt so that he wouldn't have access to a belt buckle. That was probably reasonable, but they also

took his tube of toothpaste and his toothbrush every night. He thought it was ridiculous that he had to ask the guard for them every morning. And the list didn't stop there. Willie couldn't wear his shoes. Even though the shoes had already been carefully examined, Willie had to make the trip to and from the courthouse in bedroom slippers. He sometimes tried to remind the guards that he was almost 52 years old. Any officer could give him a 10-yard head start and catch him before he had run 15. But it was to no avail. The authorities were taking no chances with Willie Sutton. While Willie received all the attention, the investigation progressed in the background. Willie had $3,000 on him when he was arrested, which was a pretty good indication of who he was.

Officers then raided his addresses in Brooklyn and Manhattan and found another $7,700. Willie didn't rat on his partners, but investigators found links to them anyway. It wasn't long before Tommy Kling, who was also on the FBI's most wanted list and John DeVanuda were arrested. Willie became a popular prisoner. To some, he was a classic American underdog story. There was a sense that he was the little guy fighting against the authorities, and the fact that he never heard anyone during his robberies made him even more popular. When he was being ferried to and from the courthouse for his hearings, big crowds of people would gather to cheer for Willie Sutton. In jail, he was well-liked. Warden Klein, who ran the detention house, grew fond of Willie Sutton. He went to Willie's cell every night. His official excuse was that he was there to make sure Willie was still in his cell, but then he would stay and talk to Willie for hours about their shared love of books. And it was the warden who gave Willie the terrible news that started to change the narrative around the famous prisoner. Warden Klein went to Willie's cell in the dead of the night

and shook him out of a deep sleep. Klein told Willie about a development that would be both painful for Willie to hear and damaging to his legal case and his public image. Arnold Schuster, the witness who had identified Willie, was dead. And not just that, Arnold had been shot, and the crime was murder. Willie Sutton had gone to great lengths to avoid violence, and he had been lauded for his efforts. And now a young man was dead, almost certainly because of Willie. Willie had nothing to do with Arnold's death, but it would be hard to convince a judge in a jury and nearly impossible to convince the public. Willie was a professional thief. He had a lifetime of connections to the criminal underworld. Even with Willie's

vehement stance against violence, some people would always believe he had somehow organized the murder of the witness who turned him in. When Willie's trial started, public opinion turned against him. Gone were the cheering crowds who shouted slogans in his support. Willie Sutton was no longer the underdog. He was just as bad as all the other headline-grabbing criminals out there. Courthouse security changed dramatically after the news of Arnold's death. The area looked like an armed camp. There were officers stationed at every door and every window, and a police van circled the building constantly. A fence of guards was set up outside the courtroom, and every person who attended the trial was frisked, which included the judge and the witnesses.

Arnold Schuster's name was never uttered during Willie's trial, but his ghost hung over the proceedings. The jury couldn't help but take the news into consideration, and the prosecution milked it for all it was worth, and it cast a new light on everything. For example, when a gun was found in one of Willie's apartments after Arnold's murder, it was viewed very differently from how it would have been before the murder. Willie worked with police in any way he could to help the investigation of the murder, but there wasn't much he could do from the isolation of his cell. He did, however, learn some interesting details about the murder and why it might have happened. When Willie was arrested, the police were stumbling over each other to take credit for the

capture. Arnold's important tip never made it to the public. No one outside the police station knew he had made a report. And Arnold may have let it go, but he saw an interesting tidbit in the newspapers. The police officers were being rewarded $70,000 for catching the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton. But the capture was entirely thanks to Arnold's tip and not diligent and brilliant investigative work. Arnold rightfully thought he deserved a share of the reward money. He hired a lawyer to fight for the money, and that was how Arnold's name became known to the public. Arnold's lawyer eventually found out that the newspaper article had been a misprint. The officers had not received reward money.

But by that point, the damage was done. Arnold was something of a celebrity. He was invited for interviews and talk shows on television. He received a gift from a watch company for being an upstanding citizen. But his family also received a few vaguely threatening phone calls and letters. They didn't take them seriously and never imagined Arnold was in danger until the night it happened. Arnold was walking home from his family's tailor shop where he worked. Arnold was glad to be done with work because he had a party to attend that night.

He wanted to change his clothes before the party, so Arnold headed home before the event. It was a one-mile walk from the shop to his house, and along the way, he met a few friends who were also going to the party. Arnold stopped to chat with him for a few minutes before continuing on his way. Around 9 p.m., Arnold was to talk to him. was about 10 doors away from his house. Unknown to Arnold, a man was waiting for him in a darkened driveway with a loaded gun. As Arnold passed by, the man stepped out and shot him four times. Arnold was dead before he hit the sidewalk. The murder happened to take place right in front of a doctor's

home. The doctor rushed out, examined Arnold, and called the police, but there was nothing the doctor could do for the victim. Arnold's claim to fame was being the man responsible for the arrest of Willie Sutton. When he was killed, Willie became the automatic suspect. Of course, Willie was in jail when the murder happened, but it was assumed that Willie had somehow coordinated the crime and it had been done on his behalf by one of his loyal associates. The investigation into Arnold's murder turned out to be long and complicated, which allowed the press to run wild with every morsel of speculation. The investigation eventually produced a popular theory, but that didn't help Willie Sutton. Because the murder of Arnold Schuster received so much publicity, investigators were

forced to spend lots of time chasing down false leads. But over time, they found one that led to infamous mobster Albert Anastasia. It appeared as though he had ordered the murder of Arnold Schuster. The facts aren't clear, but the popular story went that Anastasia saw Arnold on television, being praised for being a good citizen. Anastasia was so angry that a squealer was being rewarded, that he ordered one of his henchmen to kill Arnold. The police could never prove the theory, and the case remained unsolved. But at least it added strength to Willie Sutton's claim that he wasn't involved,

even if that didn't help him at sentencing. All told, between. Willie's previous crimes and his prison breaks, he owed the justice system a life sentence plus 105 years. Now, he was given 30 more years in prison. Effectively, he had to serve two life sentences. His home, presumably for the rest of his life, would be Attica State Prison in upstate New York. Willie spent two weeks in isolation at his old home of Sing Sing Prison before he was transferred to Attica. To make sure that Willie didn't escape in transit between the two prisons, one of his legs was shackled to another inmate. The

inmate had been brought down from Attica for this express purpose. That was how crazy the precautions became with Willie Sutton. But the inmate took it in good humor. It was an adventure, and anything was better than a day inside. As soon as Willie and his traveling partner sat down in the back of the police van, the inmate whispered to Willie that he would help Willie try to escape if Willie saw a chance, even with two armed detectives sitting right across from them. Willie wasn't interested, and much to the relief of the detectives, Willie didn't try to escape on the journey. They all breathed a sigh of relief when the van reached Attica State Prison, safe and sound.

As Willie expected, the deputy warden wanted to meet him upon his arrival. Willie thought the deputy would tell him all about the fancy security measures they were taking to sure he didn't escape. And Willie assumed he would be sent straight to the isolation block. But the deputy surprised him. The deputy told Willie that he was going to serve out his sentence in a regular prison cell. The deputy also gave Willie a job in the prison's laundry room. It was a show of trust that the deputy hoped Willie would reciprocate by not trying to escape, and Willie lived up to his end of the deal. When Willie wasn't in the laundry room pressing shirts, he was reading. He read all the books he could get his hands on.

He especially enjoyed Russian authors. Willie also realized that he had a following of sorts in prison. Some of the younger inmates looked up to him for all of his heists and escapes. Virtually all of the other bank robbers and outlaws of the old days were dead. Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, babyface Nelson, and most of the Barker gang had been gone for 20 years. Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel and many others were also gone. Willie Sutton was one of the few who remained from the old guard, and that made him a celebrity.

He would sit at a big table outside the laundry room and teach younger inmates everything he knew about English, history, and philosophy. Willie was the ideal prisoner for 17 long years in Attica State Prison. He didn't see himself as a bank robber anymore. He was just an old man whose health was. beginning to deteriorate. In 1969, prison authorities in New York made a decision. Willie Sutton was 68 years old, and he had been a model inmate. He had served enough time, and he was no longer a threat to continue robbing banks or to break out of prison. On Christmas Eve, 1969, on the grounds of good behavior and health concerns, Willie Sutton was released from Attica.

Police happened when it did. Less than two years later, Attica State Prison was engulfed by one of the most deadly and infamous prison riots in American history. Willie led a relatively quiet life after he was released. He wrote two books about his life. He did a little acting. He hobnobbed with celebrities and bigwigs at a few fancy parties. And like legendary Forger and conman Frank Abagnale Jr., he used his life of crime to help prevent future crime. He worked with banks and law enforcement to implement new anti-theft techniques. He passed away at his sister's home in Florida on November 2, 1980, at the age of 79, and he is interred at his family's plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Thanks for listening to the story of Willie Sutton here on Infamous America. Next time, it's Volume 2 of the story of the Dixie Mafia, The criminal underworld that grew out of Phoenix City, Alabama, migrates to Georgia, though Georgia certainly has its own collection of homegrown bootleggers, thieves, and murderers. Those stories are up next on Infamous America. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week for new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials,

and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website. blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships are just $5 per month. This series was researched and written by Ria Perot. Original music by Rob Valier. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. Find us at our website blackbarrelmedia.com

or on our social media channels. We're Black Barrel Media on Facebook and Instagram and B-Barrell Media on Twitter. And you can stream all our episodes on YouTube. Just search for Infamous America Podcast. Thanks for listening.