REVISED, EXPANDED AND UPDATED (Special Edition). Letters from Alcatraz now includes a new chapter of author interviews with James "Whitey" Bulger, discussing his years on the Rock. Alcatraz Island was home to some of the nation's most notorious criminals including James "Whitey" Bulger, Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud- the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis, Henry Young, Frank Morris, John & Clarence Anglin, and Roy Gardner. In Michael Esslinger's latest book, Letters from Alcatraz, the prisoners' stories come to life in their own words. With over twenty...

ALCATRAZ - the name alone said it all... It was meant to send a shudder down the spines of the nation's most incorrigible criminals. It stripped Al Capone of his power. It tamed "Machine Gun" Kelly into a model of decorum. It took the birds away from the Birdman of Alcatraz.

When prisoners boarded the boat for Alcatraz, they knew that they had reached the end of the line. Not only was this the toughest of all Federal penitentiaries, but it was also said to be virtually escape-proof. The island was a natural fortress, separated from the mainland by a narrow strait of freezing water...