Slick Willie

Above is the face of Slick Willie Sutton the most famous and infamous bank robber of the twentieth century. I do not mean to romanticize him but recent discussion of New York subways brought him to mind. He was a master of disguises and often wore some kind of uniform as he went about his business - which was robbing banks. When asked if he carried a gun he replied "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality." But he allowed that the gun was not loaded as "someone might get hurt."
In April 1945 he found himself incarcerated in the Eastern States Penitentiary - a fortress like facility in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. On a Sunday morning as the milkman was passing on his rounds he saw all these heads popping up outside the walls - Sutton and friends had tunneled out. He was quickly apprehended and next placed in Holmesburg Prison in northeast Philadelphia but that couldn't hold him as dressed in guards uniforms he and friends went over the wall in February 1947. He remained at liberty living in his native Brooklyn until one day in February 1952 he was recognized by a college student and amateur detective - one Arnold Schuster - while riding on the Brooklyn subway. Schuster followed Willie home and turned him in. In the following days Schuster went on TV exploiting his action. But the New York Mafia considered him to be a "squealer" and poor Schuster was shot and killed outside his home on March 9, 1952. I was in New York that week for March Madness at the Old Garden and rode the 7th Ave. subway and opened the N.Y. Post to learn of Arnold Schuster's fate all because he recognized someone on the subway when any New Yorker knows the first rule of straphangers is "no eye contact."
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