For more than 50 years, Alcatraz officials have stated that three inmates who escaped the notorious prison in 1962 drowned in the waters of San Francisco Bay.
But thanks to new evidence presented in the History channel special “Alcatraz: Search for the Truth” Monday night — namely a photograph showing escaped brothers John and Clarence Anglin in Brazil in 1975 — the cold case is garnering new attention from the authorities.
As recounted in the special, the photo was allegedly taken by the Anglins’ family friend Fred Brizzi, who claims to have run into the brothers in Rio de Janiero in the ‘70s. Brizzi gave the photo to the Anglin family in 1992, but nephews Ken and David Widner only now handed it over to Art Roderick, the retired US marshal who was lead investigator on the case for 20 years.
“When you work these types of cases, there’s a feeling you get when stuff starts to fall into place,” Roderick recently told The Post. “I’m getting this feeling now.”
Roderick commissioned a forensic artist expert to analyze the photo, who concluded it was “highly likely” that the men in the photo are indeed John and Clarence Anglin. After looking into Brizzi’s own criminal background — as well as an alternate escape theory centered on a getaway boat — he now also suspects the Anglins’ childhood friend may have helped in their escape.
The new evidence was enough to spur Roderick to line up new interviews in the case and he is talking to the US Marshals Service about investigating in Brazil, where the brothers (who would be in their mid-80s if still alive) may have fled.
He ends the special by saying, “I truly believe we’re going to close it.”