Helicopter prison escapes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A helicopter prison escape is when a helicopter either plucks inmates from the prison or lands and picks up prisoners on prison grounds. Listed below are attempts and actual escapes by helicopter. The helicopter can be either hijacked or piloted by outside conspirators.
[edit] Oct, 1973 - Mountjoy Gaol, Ireland
On Halloween 1973 in Dublin an IRA militant hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in the exercise yard of Mountjoy Jail's D Wing at 3.40pm, October 31, 1973. Three members of the IRA were able to escape, JB O'Hagan, Seamus Twomey and Kevin Mallon. Another prisoner who also was in the prison was quoted as saying, "One shamefaced screw apologised to the governor and said he thought it was the new Minister for Defence arriving. I told him it was our Minister of Defence leaving."
The Mountjoy helicopter escape became Republican lore and was immortalised by "The Helicopter Song", which contains the lines "It's up like a bird and over the prison. There's three men a missing I heard the warder say". [1]
[edit] May, 1986 - La Santé Prison, France
Lena Rigon’s flight instructors looked upon her as an inspiration. While raising two kids without a father she also attended helicopter-flying lessons. Their opinion would quickly change when they learned that Lena Rigon was in fact Nadine Vaujour, wife of Michel Vaujour and mother of his two children. Michel Vaujour was a version of Papillon having spent half of his life in prison escaping a previous 3 times.
On May 26, 1986; for escape attempt number 4, he made his way to the roof by threatening guards with a fake pistol and nectarines painted as grenades. On top of the jail he was picked up by his recently graduated helicopter pilot wife, Nadine. They landed at a nearby soccer field and fled using a waiting car. Vaujour still had 28 years to serve for attempted murder and armed robbery.
In late 1986, Michel Vaujour along with an accomplice were wounded in a failed bank robbery. In a gun battle with the authorities, two officers and a hostage were also wounded. Vaujour was shot in the head and lapsed into a coma. His wife had been arrested just prior to the shootout while hiding in a villa in southwestern France. [2]
[edit] Nov, 1986 - Federal Correctional Institution at Pleasanton, USA
In a stunning turn of events, Ronald J. McIntosh walked away from a minimum security prison on October 28 then stole a helicopter on November 5. He used the helicopter to free Samantha Lopez from the Federal Correctional Institution at Pleasanton, east of San Francisco. Both were later caught on November 15 when they arrived to pick up wedding rings from a California shopping mall. The authorities were monitoring the account McIntosh used to write the check for the rings and the police were waiting for them.
Ron McIntosh for his role in the escape was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Samantha Lopez was given five years added to her 50-year sentence for a 1981 bank robbery in Georgia. As they were driven away to their separate prisons McIntosh was able to lean out of a car window and yell, I love you! to Lopez. [3]
[edit] Dec, 1987 - Gartree Prison, Leicestershire, UK
At 3.16pm on December 10, 1987, John Kendall and Sydney Draper were sprung from Gartree's exercise yard with the aid of a hijacked Bell 206L helicopter. Kendall was a gangland boss serving eight years while Draper was jailed for murder and serving a life sentence.[4] The escape caused great controversy at the time and led to a tightening of security at the jail. Kendall was recaptured 10 days later but Draper remained at large for some 18 months. To date, Gartree remains the only British prison from which such an escape has been made.
[edit] Aug, 1989 - Colorado prison, USA
Colorado prison inmates Ralph Brown and Freddie Gonzales were able to escape via helicopter. They were recaptured in Holdrege, Nebraska. [5]
[edit] 1991 - Las Cucharas prison, Puerto Rico
Inmates were able to escape when a helicopter plucked them from the prison. The escape prompted the Puerto Rico House Government Committee to pass a regulation that allowed penal officials to fire on a helicopter if it was part of an escape attempt. [6]
[edit] 1992 – Prison near Lyons, France
After a successful helicopter escape from this prison cables were strung across the central yard at five-metre intervals.
[edit] Sept, 1997 - De Geerhorst jail, Holland
This failed, September 18, 1997, escape attempt ended when the helicopter crashed into the prison ground of the Dutch prison, De Geerhorst. The helicopter had been earlier stolen in Belgium. The pilot was killed and the Colombian prison escapee, who was serving a long-term sentence for drug trafficking, walked away with light injuries. [7]
[edit] March, 1999 - Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, Australia
In March 1999, librarian Lucy Dudko hijacked a helicopter supposedly to check out the upcoming Olympic site in Sydney. Using a gun she forced pilot, Tim Joyce, to land on the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre grounds. Waiting was John Killick, who was serving 28 years for armed robberies. He jumped in the helicopter making an escape while being fired on by guards and cheered on by inmates. They landed in a park where Killick hijacked a taxi at gunpoint. The two were able to elude authorities for six weeks before being arrested at the Bass Hill Tourist Park.
Lucy Dudko, dubbed Red Lucy by the media, was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years and was sent to Mulawa Correctional Centre women's prison. On May 9, 2006 she was released on parole after serving 7 years of her sentence. John Killick is eligible for parole in 2013 when he will be 71. [8]
[edit] 2000 – Prison near Lyons, France
Three men were able escape a prison near Lyons by having an accomplice fly a hijacked helicopter over the prison. A net was lowered and three inmates were able to grab hold and lifted to freedom. Guards were able to fatally shoot one of the convicts. The remaining two were recaptured after a gun battle with police.
[edit] Mar, 2001 - Draugignan prison, France
On March 24, 2001 an armed man hijacked the helicopter from a nearby airfield. The pilot was forced to land in the courtyard of the prison. Three convicts managed to get aboard before flying 60 kilometers (37 miles) away. Landing in the village of Auribeau-sur-Siagne the pilot was released and the men got into a waiting getaway car. Later the escapees were identified as convicted armed robbers Emile Forma-Sari, Jean-Philippe Lecase and Abdelhamid Carnous. [9]
[edit] Jan 2002, Parada Neto Penitentiary, Brazil
The Brazilian prison system is notorious for over crowding and corruption. Of the many frequent escapes, one of the most daring was when a helicopter was flown into the prison and freed two inmates serving time for murder and bank robbery.
Earlier in the day two men rented a helicopter pretending to be tourists wanting a panoramic ride over the city. While in the air the men drew guns and forced the pilot to land in the central yard of the prison. The inmates jumped aboard and when the pilot took off again guards opened fire. The helicopter was found abandoned on a football pitch 50 km away full of bullet holes. [10]
[edit] Dec, 2002 - Las Cucharas prison, Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico five prisoners escaped from Las Cucharas prison in Ponce. Two men had earlier rented the helicopter saying they wanted to inspect construction sites. They forced the pilot at gunpoint to land on the roof of the jail where they picked up the five convicts. To reach the roof the inmates cut a hole in the chain link fence. One was forced to hang on to the skids outside the helicopter as there was no room inside.
The escapees were:
- Orlando Valdes Cartagena, who was serving a 254-year sentence for murder
- Jose A. Perez Rodriguez, who was serving a 319-year sentence for murder
- Victor Gonzalez Diaz, who was serving a 113-year sentence
- Hector Marrero Diaz, who was serving 109-year sentence
- Jose M. Rojas Tapia, who was serving a 100-year sentence.
Of the five only Victor Gonzalez Diaz wasn’t recaptured. The inmates claimed to have killed him soon after the break-out but no body was ever found. [6]
[edit] July, 2005 - central France
A helicopter escape attempt was foiled when alarms were set off as the helicopter tried to land on the roof.
[edit] Dec, 2005 - Aiton Prison, France
On December 10, 2005 two men rented a helicopter under the pretense of using it to do some back country cross-country skiing. Brandishing guns the men forced the pilot to land in the yard of the Aiton prison where three inmates boarded the helicopter. One inmate was serving time for drugs, one for armed robbery and the third for leading a robbery. The helicopter landed in open country near Grenoble where they left the pilot after relieving him of his phone and radio.[11]
[edit] June, 2006 – Korydallos Prison, Greece
On June 6, 2006 Nikos Paleokostas and another man hijacked a helicopter forcing it to land on the roof of the Korydallos Prison. Two convicts scrambled on, Nikos’s brother, Vassilis Paleokostas who was sentenced to a 25-year sentence for kidnapping and bank robbery and Alket Rizai, who was serving a life sentence for manslaughter. The helicopter flew to a nearby graveyard from where they fled on motorcycles. [12]
[edit] Helicopter Prison Escapes in fiction
Breakout is a 1975 movie starring Charles Bronson and Robert Duvall.[13]
In the Australian soap opera Prisoner, Marie Winter (Maggie Millar) escaped by dangling from the landing gear from a helicopter.[14]
In the film XXX: The Next Level, the character Darius Stone (played by Ice Cube) escapes the US disaplinary barracks by jumping to a waiting helicopter.
[edit] References
- ^ Chopper escape from Mountjoy (HTML). Republican News (2001). Retrieved on November 1, 2007.
- ^ The Helicopter Caper (HTML). Time (1986). Retrieved on June 9, 1986.
- ^ Lovers Sentenced in Escape From Prison in a Helicopter (HTML). NY Times (1987). Retrieved on July 19, 1987.
- ^ Helicopter escape still remembered 19 years on (HTML) (2006). Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
- ^ Colorado / Prison Escape / Recapture In Holdrege, Nebraska (HTML). vanderbilt Archives (1989). Retrieved on August 19, 1989.
- ^ a b House To Investigate Details Related To Escape (HTML). Puerto Rico Herald (2002). Retrieved on December 31, 2007.
- ^ Helicopter pilot dies in Dutch prison escape bid (HTML). Media Awareness Project (1997). Retrieved on September 18, 1997.
- ^ Mastermind of helicopter jailbreak freed early (HTML). Sydney Morning Herald (2006). Retrieved on May 9, 2007.
- ^ Helicopter escape from French prison (HTML). BBC (2001). Retrieved on March 24, 2007.
- ^ Helicopter escape from Brazil prison (HTML). BBC (2002). Retrieved on January 17, 2007.
- ^ French jailbirds stage yet another helicopter escape (HTML). Times Online (2005). Retrieved on December 11, 2007.
- ^ Two flee Greek jail in helicopter (HTML). BBC (2006). Retrieved on June 4, 2007.
- ^ Breakout at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Marie Winter (Maggie Millar). wwwentworth.co.uk. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
