Pittsburgh Six

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The Pittsburgh Six were six convicted prisoners who escaped from a maximum security prison in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA in January 1997 .

outbreak

On January 8, 1997, six inmates escaped from the Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh . It was the largest breakout from a Pennsylvania prison in a decade. Nuno Pontes, who was sentenced to 10 to 24 years for multiple joint robberies and an attempted breakout, was considered to be the initiator of the outbreak and the leader of the fugitives. Pontes had learned that there was a low basement under the utility block where he worked. The entrance was right next to his workplace, but was secured with a padlock. Pontes wanted to dig a tunnel from the cellar and under the prison wall to a warehouse outside.

For this escape he looked for five fellow prisoners with special knowledge and skills. Carmen Keller, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for manslaughter, provided the security passports and was able to move relatively freely in the prison due to this activity. George Conard, who was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, worked in the workshop and was able to get metal. The thief and robber Andrew Heim could break open and short-circuit vehicles. The robber Leslie Billingsley was a miner and could file keys. Together with Ponte's friend Thomas Berkelbaugh, they formed the "Pittsburgh Six".

Nuno Pontes managed to make a polystyrene impression of the key to the padlock using a beverage mug while a guard was distracted. Billingsley made a duplicate key from it. From now on they had access to the basement area and in weeks of work dug a tunnel 15 feet (4.57 m) deep and 40 feet (12.19 m) long with stolen tools. They broke through the concrete ceiling of the warehouse building with the help of a drill. They were then released from the camp.

Escape

Two days after the outbreak, police found the inmates' getaway car, a 1989 Pontiac Bonneville . The escapes were meanwhile traveling in a stolen van and reached Oklahoma , from where they asked an acquaintance for papers for the further escape to Mexico . On the third day, they checked into a motel in Pasadena , Texas , and waited there for the forged papers. Their contacts had meanwhile made them money and weapons. To kill time, they used alcohol and crystal meth .

Arrests

On January 14, passers-by alerted an ambulance after they encountered a man at a bus stop in Houston who was lying on the ground talking to himself. At the hospital, this man was identified as Thomas Berkelbaugh, who was suffering from a crystal meth overdose . In the interrogation that followed, he talked confusedly and no longer knew how he got to the bus stop.

On January 16, Pontes and Carmen Keller were driving on a back road in Anahuac , Texas to do some grocery shopping when they were followed by a patrol car and asked to stop. However, Keller, who was behind the wheel, accelerated and tried to escape, but got off the road and was arrested. Pontes escaped on foot and made it back to the motel. It later emerged that the policeman only wanted to stop them because they weren't buckled up.

During the interrogation, Carmen Keller revealed the whereabouts of the liaison man who was supposed to get the forged papers for the refugees. This was then observed and followed to the motel in Pasadena. There the officers succeeded in arresting Nuno Pontes, George Conard, Andrew Heim and Leslie Billingsley on January 20, 1997.

All fugitives were convicted of escaping from prison and criminal conspiracy. The breakout became an episode for the series Prison Breaks: The Real Stories - The Pittsburgh Six Processed.

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