Willie Sutton.
Genius or Criminal: The Story of Willie Sutton
Willie Sutton, whose name became synonymous with fearlessness and ambition, departed this world on November 2, 1980. He was 79 years old. Yet his story, full of mysteries and contradictions, continues to live on in people’s memories as a testament to unparalleled skill and audacity.
This man, hailing from the small town of Spring Hill on the west coast of Florida, quickly gained fame as one of the most notorious bank robbers. Sutton was an adventurer in the truest sense of the word. He robbed a total of 100 banks and managed to steal over 2 million dollars alone.
However, despite his boldness in criminal acts, Sutton was an unusual man. He preferred to keep his deeds hidden, and his death went almost unnoticed by the public. His coffin was sent to New York, where he was buried in the St. Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn without his name mentioned on the grave. Sutton wanted no one to know of his departure, much like he preferred to conceal his robberies.
Sutton’s life was full of twists and turns. He spent 33 years in prison, including behind the bars of Attica prison near Buffalo. But even this did not deter him from continuing his activities. Sutton literally breathed the criminal world.
However, behind all his crimes was a man with an unconventional view of life. When asked about the reasons for robbing banks, he said, «Because that’s where the money is». However, his true answer to this question was much deeper. In his book «Where the Money Was», which he co-authored with Edward Linn, he revealed that he robbed banks not only for money but also because it was his calling. This work gave him a sense of liveliness and excitement that he lacked in ordinary life.
William Francis Sutton Jr. was a professional and ambitious man. Additionally, he had the gift of transformation and thus carried the nickname «Actor». He robbed his first bank in 1927 and never stopped. He carried a Tommy gun, but it was never loaded, so no one would get hurt. The thought of murder disgusted him. And this was at a time when New York was flooded with blood by the mafia! He personally knew many gangsters, but as he himself admitted, he couldn’t trust any of them. That’s why he was quickly arrested and convicted, and besides the police, no one was interested in his fate. Sutton would have preferred the name Bill, but the police named him Willie.
Willie Sutton was a professional. Such as him could be counted on the fingers. He was a rare, vanishing nature. By himself, he was particularly unremarkable; he couldn’t be suspected of being a bank robber. But he was an actor. He ran away from prison three times successfully, but a dozen more attempts ended in failure. His criminal history ended on February 18, 1952. He was arrested in Brooklyn. Arnold Schuster, a 24-year-old salesman, recognized him on the subway and reported him to the police. Schuster was killed 17 days after Sutton’s arrest. Arnold Schuster was a private detective. Before his death, he managed to appear on television and tell how he helped catch Sutton. Schuster was killed on March 9, 1952 by Frederick Tenuto on the orders of Albert Anastasia, who flew into a rage when Sutton was captured. He said he couldn’t stand the informers. At that time, decisions about murders, and the murders themselves, were made on the fly. This became known from the testimony of Joe Valachi. But despite this, Sutton was not associated with the mafia.
In the early days of his career, Willie robbed jewelry stores, but it didn’t last long. In the bank, he could say, «Don’t worry, insurance will cover it», as if it made him feel better. He honed his techniques, carefully studied the bank and its staff. His robberies were never spontaneous or fueled by doping. He was a professional, cool-headed, calculated, and detached, like an actor who forbids himself from merging with the character. His escapes were also masterfully executed.
Before his escape from Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, he sculpted his head out of clay and plaster crumbs and placed it on a pillow so that the guards would mistake it and the pillows under the blanket for a sleeping man. It took him a whole year. However, he didn’t have to use this work of art for escape, and he fled through a tunnel with other prisoners. And he was free for several hours. Nowadays, tours are conducted through this tunnel. The prison was closed in 1971 and later reopened as a museum.
Willie usually dressed as a messenger or mailman. He played many such roles. He even said that you couldn’t rob a bank if you didn’t have a charm.
Once he dressed as a Western Union mailman, handed a fake telegram to the bank guard, and at the moment when both of his hands were occupied, took his gun from the holster and pointed it at him. He was caught and sentenced to 30 years in Sing Sing prison. Two years later, in 1932, he escaped and returned to his banking job in New York. The police were on his tail, and he moved to Philadelphia, but after his first robbery, he was caught. He had to spend 11 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, from which he escaped several times, and earned the nickname «Actor on the Run». The fact that many of his attempts failed did not at all dampen the enthusiasm of his fans.
One escape was almost a copy of John Dillinger’s escape. But Sutton had a real gun (Dillinger had a wooden replica). On December 11, 1932, he took a prison guard hostage, took a ladder, and escaped by climbing over the wall. Some began to say that Sutton was such a professional that Dillinger looked like an amateur compared to him. On February 9, 1947, 18 months after he was transferred from Eastern State Penitentiary to the Holmesburg County Prison (at one time Al Capone sat there as a prison librarian), he made an impressive escape during a heavy snowstorm.
All this was before Arnold Schuster met him on the subway and said he had seen the most famous bank robber himself. Legends about him were already circulating, and Sutton was attributed the crimes he did not commit; such was the burden of his fame. As they said then, he had an open credit for various kinds of robberies. The story of Sutton was sold to television. With this money and the money from the sale of the book, Willie created a foundation that rehabilitates juvenile offenders. His epitaph could have been his words: «I dedicated my life to robbery. It was my business. I was in this business, and I couldn’t let anyone think that I could harm anyone».