Bernard Coy

Bernard Coy

Bernard Paul Coy (born February 13, 1901 in Kentucky , † May 3 or 4, 1946 on Alcatraz , San Francisco ) was an American bank robber. Coy became famous as the leader of a prisoner revolt in the maximum security prison Alcatraz in 1946, which went down in history as the "Battle of Alcatraz".

Life

Coy was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison in 1937 for his involvement in the robbery of the New Haven Bank , in which he and his accomplices looted US $ 2,175, and was imprisoned in Alcatraz that same year (inmate number: # 415 - AZ). In 1937 he took part in a (peaceful) prisoners' strike, and in 1939 he was injured in a knife fight with Joe Varsalona.

The battle for Alcatraz

Already when he was convicted of robbery, Coy, who had previously escaped from several other prisons, announced that even Alcatraz would not be able to hold him. On May 2, 1946, Coy tried to escape from Alcatraz together with his fellow inmates Joe Cretzer (this was already his second escape attempt), Marvin Hubbard , Sam Shockley , Miran Thompson and Clarence Carnes . The inmates' intent was to take prison staff hostage , forcibly gain access to a prison staff transport ship and flee the island. Using improvised weapons, the sextet actually managed to take control of two cell blocks as well as several guards and their weapons. The key to the exit of the cell wing did not fall into the hands of the future escapes, however, as the guard in charge was initially able to hide it on his body and later put it in the toilet bowl of the cell in which the convicts held him.

The convicts holed up in the cell block for a few days and tried to negotiate with the prison authorities. The latter called in the police and the marines for help and had the cell block besieged. After unsuccessful negotiations and several exchanges of fire, Coy, the leader and planner of the revolt, as well as Hubbard and Cretzer, died on the night of May 3rd to 4th, 1946. Their bodies were found in the corridor after the building was stormed at the exact time of their death but no longer detectable. The other three insurgents surrendered. However, Miran Thompson and Sam Shockley were later sentenced to death for their roles in the "Battle of Alcatraz". They were executed in the gas chamber in San Quentin Prison on December 3, 1948 . In addition to the three prisoners, two guards, William Miller and Harold Stites, were killed and eighteen others injured.

Movie

Coy was portrayed in film adaptations of the Battle of Alcatraz by Ronnie Cox (Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story, 1980) and by David Carradine ("Six against the Rock", 1987).

Web link

• Escape attempts from Alcatraz (Engl.)