NCJ Number
116809
Date Published
1988
Length
335 pages
Annotation
In 1978, Gary Tison and his Arizona gang succeeded in a spectacular jailbreak; which, during the grim manhunt that ensued, occasioned the brutal murders of seven people. This book chronicles Tison's background, the circumstances surrounding the escape, and the subsequent three-State rampage of the gang.
Abstract
Drawing on interviews, police and court records, and newspaper accounts, the book explores the marginality of the Tisons; their Okie heritage; and the combination of poverty, ignorance, religious fundamentalism, authority, and lawlessness that eventually culminated in Tison's imprisonment, escape, and death. It describes a political climate so corrupt that criminals' hit lists carried names of an investigative reporter (murdered in 1976) and an attorney general. Serving a life sentence for murder, Tison took advantage of the laxity and ineptness of the Arizona prison system to obtain model prisoner privileges. Although he was the perpetrator of three previous escape attempts, he carried a pistol in his boot, gave interviews to the newspapers, and was alleged to conduct a thriving drug trade in prison. Fully armed and extremely dangerous, Tison walked out of the Florence, Ariz., prison accompanied by serial killer, Randy Greenawalt and Tison's three sons. Aided by various relatives and lawless friends, the five fugitives gunned across Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, until they were finally stopped near the Mexican border. Even then Tison eluded searchers, ultimately dying of thirst while hiding from police. Chapter note and index. (Publisher abstract modified)