Willie Sutton (1901-1980) Willie Sutton (June 30, 1901 - November 2, 1980) was one of the most prolific criminals of United States history.
Details & early life
Sutton was born on June 30, 1901, a tough Irish kid, in Irish-American district in Brooklyn, New York, the fourth of five children. He went through the eighth grade.
He married in 1929, his wife divorcing him after he was imprisoned. He married again in 1933. His longest period of (legal) employment lasted only 18 months.
He preferred the name Bill, but the police gave him the name Willie.
His criminal activites began young. He robbed about 100 banks over a from the late 1920s to his final arrest in 1952—with several of prison terms in between; he was a master at breaking out of prisons.
Career in crime
Sutton robbed banks and was good at it. He usually carried a gun, either a pistol or a Thompson submachine gun; "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality," he once observed, but had a professional's pride in having never used it. He stole from the rich and kept it, though public opinion later turned him into a weird Robin Hood figure.
He gained two nicknames, "The Actor" and "Slick Willie," for his talent at executing robberies in disguises. He was an immaculate dresser.
On February 15, 1933, Sutton attempted to rob the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He came in disguised as a mailman, but an alert passerby foiled the crime; Sutton escaped. On January 15, 1934, he and two companions broke into the same bank through a skylight. The FBI (references) observes,
- Sutton also executed a Broadway jewelry store robbery in broad daylight, impersonating a postal telegraph messenger. Sutton's other disguises included a policeman, messenger and maintenance man. He usually arrived at the banks or stores slightly before they opened for the day.
He was captured, and recommitted in June, 1931, charged with assault and robbery. He did not complete his 30 years sentence, escaping on December 11, 1932, by scaling the prison wall on two joined 9-foot of ladders.
On March 20, 1950, Sutton gained a spot on the FBI's list of the FBI ten most wanted fugitives.
His final days
He robbed perhaps $2 million in his career, and spent more of his adult life in jail than out.
A series of decisions by the Supreme Court in the 1960s led to his release on Christmas Eve, 1969 from Attica State Prison. He was in ill health at the time, down with emphysema and in need of an operation on the arteries of his legs. For a time, he had to apply for welfare just to live.
As free man, he spoke about prison reform. He consulted with banks on anti-robbery techniques. In pure chutzpah, he made a television commercial for New Britain Bank and Trust Co. in Connecticut.
Sutton died in 1980 at 79. He spent his last years with his sister in Spring Hill, Florida. His family arranged a quiet burial in Brooklyn in their family plot.
The (false) story usually goes about as follows:
- When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton replied "because that's where the money is."
In his part-ghostwritten autobiography Where the Money Was: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber (Viking Press, New York, 1976), he said:
- "The irony of using a bank robber's maxim as an instrument for teaching medicine is compounded, I will now confess, by the fact that I never said it. The credit belongs to some enterprising reporter who apparently felt a need to fill out his copy...
- "If anybody had asked me, I'd have probably said it. That's what almost anybody would say. ...it couldn't be more obvious.
- "Or could it?
- "Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I'd be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that's all."
External links and references
- Linn, Edward and Sutton, Willie , (1976), Where the Money Was: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber
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