This inmate attempted to escape a prison in Brazil in one of the most bizarre ways ever… find out how he and other famous prisoners have tried to jailbreak their sentences and see whether or not they were successful…
Meet The Culprit
Silva, aka Shorty, is a Brazillian gang leader, in charge of The Red Command, a powerful criminal faction that controls the drug trade in a large swatch of Rio de Janeiro.
His Current Sentence
Silva is serving a 73-year sentence for his role as leader of The Red Command. By 2005, the group was believed to control more than half of Rio’s violent areas…
The Red Command
The group is Brazil’s oldest criminal group. It is a major drug trafficker since partnering with Colombian drug cartels in the 1980’s. The Red Command eventually lost some of their reach within Rio amid violent conflicts with other gangs…
Competitors and Allies
The Medellin Cartel, a high profile Colombian drug cartel, was founded by Pablo Escobar. For a time, they were the suppliers of at least 80% of the United States’ cocaine market…
“A Network Of Independent Actors”
The Red Command was born out of an alliance between common criminals and leftist militatns, when the two groups were thrown together in prisons under the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil in the 1960’s…
A Bizarre Escape Attempt
Silva attempted to escape the Bangu prison complex while disguised as his teenage daughter. She visited him and supplied him with a disguise – complete with a silicone mask – and he left the door she entered through…
It Was Almost Believable
Silva’s attempt to pass as a young woman was ultimately thwarted by guards at the door when they noticed his nervousness when trying to leave…
If You Take A Closer Look
The disguise included a very (terrifying) semi-realistic silicone mask, a long black wig, glasses, and a pink T-shirt…
Removing The Disguise
Silva was apprehended and asked to remove his disguise piece by piece, and the silicone mask slapped off his skin, revealing his shaved head, tattoos, and unshaven face…
What Happens To His Daughter?
His Daughter, Ana Gabriele Leandro da Silva, is expected to be charged with abetting a prison escape, which leads to 6-24 months in prison. However, this was not Silva’s first escape attempt…
His First Attempt To Flee
In 2013, Silva and 30 other prisoners escaped through a prison’s sewer system. They dug a 15-foot tunnel that allowed them to access the prison’s sewer system. The prisoners would have had to stay submerged in sewage for 30 seconds in order to escape…
He Was One Of Three Successful Escapees
One month after his 2013 escape, Silva was arrested along with three others while attempting an armed invasion of a shantytown in Rio. They were arrested with numerous weapons while dressed as members of the Civil Police…
Initial Attempt Foiled
Officials said the group was trying to take control of drug trafficking in the area and had executed a drug trafficker in the town…
Silva’s Second Arrest
From that raid, police seized large quantities of drugs, a motorcycle, multiple guns, hundreds of ammo rounds, and police uniforms. Silva was subsequently arrested…
The Disguise’s Repercussions
Silva’s daughter is now being investigated to establish whether she had any involvement in the plot, as are other visitors to the prison who may have helped bring in materials for the disguise…
Prison Breaks Have Been Happening Since Prisons Were Built
Famed gangster John Dillinger escaped from prison twice. He was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations, among other crimes…
Dillinger’s Two Escapes
After being arrested for robbing a bank in Chicago, local area newspapers boasted that the prison he was taken to was escape-proof. The events of this day are up for debate, but there are two reports that Dillinger either threatened guards with a real pistol, or one carved out of wood in order to make his escape…
Living An Anonymous Existence
After escaping from a camp called Little Bohemia, Dillinger was able to live a somewhat secluded life in Chicago. Unbeknownst to him, there was a massive police force in Chicago searching for him. It was nice while it lasted!
Escape From Alcatraz
In 1962, three men managed to fool security guards and flee from the inescapable island penitentiary…
The Historic “Prank”
The trio fabricated fake heads out of a mixture of soap, toilet paper, and real hair, and left them in their beds to fool prison officers making nighttime rounds. Over the course of a year they used crude tools to dig a tunnel through their adjacent wall that led to an unused service corridor. They were successful.
Catch Me If You Can
Frank Abagnale Jr., a notorious con artist, escaped from the Federal Detention Center in Atlanta, Georgia in 1971 by convincing the prison guards that he was a prison inspector and not a prisoner…
Con Artist Turned Security Consultant
Abagnale evaded authorities for two months before being arrested in Washington, DC. He would serve four years in Virginia before being paroled. Today he advises the FBI on white-collar crime.
TJ Lane
In September of 2014, a 19-year old who was serving three life sentences for killing three of his classmates during a school shooting in 2012 broke out of a medium-security prison with two other inmates…
Defiant Teen A “Coward” For Prison Break
The parents of Lane’s victims called him a coward for trying to evade his life sentence. Fortunately, he and the two inmates were caught within 9 hours of their escape.
The Texas 7
The biggest prison break in Texas history occurred in December of 2000. Seven inmates forced their way out of maximum security prison John B. Connally unit in the isolated town of Kenedy…
The Inmates
Seven men, which included two convicted murderers, overpowered two guards and eight maintenance men and stole their clothes and keys to a truck and locked them in a utility closet. They went on a crime spree after their escape, for which they were caught. Since then, three of the seven have been executed.
El Chapo
In 2015, “Mexico’s Osama bin Laden” escaped prison after a year behind bars. He’d been on the run for 13 years. The billionaire head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel fled via a mile long tunnel that ran from his cell to a building under construction outside the prison’s perimeter…
Nothing Is Escape-Proof
The tunnel beneath El Chapo’s cell reveals the possibility that prison staff may have been in on the escape. He was since caught, and is now back behind bars.
Alfred Wetzler’s Death Camp Escape
Wetzler was a prisoner in the Birkenau (Auschwitz II) Nazi Death Camp in 1942, and managed to escape in 1944. He wrote up an account of what went on in the camps, along with detailed plans and blueprints, and handed them over to the Allied Forces. He was regarded as credible and the evidence eventually led to the bombings of several government buildings, killing several Nazi leaders. Wetzler is responsible for saving countless Jewish lives.
Michel Vaujour
In 1986, Michel Vaujour and his wife used fruits in an elaborate escape plan. Michel’s wife, Nadine, took helicopter lessons prior to the escape. Michel used nectarines that were painted like grenades to force his way onto the roof of the prison. From there, his wife picked him up in a helicopter and they landed in a football field. His wife was caught and arrested, and Michel was shot (and survived) after a failed robbery attempt.
The Magic Key
In an escape that sounds unbelievable, three inmates escaped in the UK by memorizing the outline of a key. Inmates Andrew Rodger, Keith Rose, and Matthew Williams worked in the prison’s sheet metal shop and made all the necessary tools for their escape in the shop. They memorized a guard’s master key outline and made a replica that essentially allowed them to open any door during their escape. They also made a 25-foot steel ladder and a “homemade” gun.