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Gangland Wire

The Leavenworth 7

Gangland Wire

Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 623 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a few shows about John Gotti, this week, Gangland Wire will go to a 1930s story about a Leavenworth prison break that went wrong for both the prisoners and the town of Leavenworth. I interviewed former Leavenworth prison guard and prison historian Kenneth LeMaster. Kenneth tells the story of how prisoners behind the walls were aided by notorious bank robbers Frank “Jelly” Nash and George “Machine Gun” Kelly to facilitate a mass escape of seven desperate inmates. On December 11, 1931, chaos erupted behind Leavenworth’s limestone walls, and these criminals grabbed the warden hostage and escaped into the adjacent town of Leavenworth, Kansas. The nearby Ft. Leavenworth sent troops to restore order inside the institution, and many guards and local law enforcement engaged in running gun battles with the escaping inmate. When the prison emergency whistle alerted the town, all local officers and gun-wielding citizens joined the manhunt. Our guest, Kenneth LaMaster, tells an exciting story about flying bullets, first-person accounts, news reports, and official FBI files. Kenneth LeMaster has written three books on the infamous Leavenworth prison. Click here to go see the three books about Leavenworth Penitentiary written by Kenneth LeMaster.  To go to the store or make a donation click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Virginia Lottery has three new Let's Make a Deal games, a print and play, a scratcher, and an online game.

0:07.1

Play the game show for yourself today.

0:08.9

Visit TheA Lottery.com slash deal.

0:11.4

Let's make a deal licensed by Fremantle, all rights reserved.

0:19.7

You are listening to Gangland Wire, hosted by former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective, Gary Jenkins.

0:36.7

Well, welcome all you wiretappers out there.

0:38.9

I'm here in the studio of Gangland Wire.

0:41.5

I have a special guest today.

0:44.1

Kenneth LeMaster, I will let him introduce himself, but just before that, don't forget to hit me up on your Venmo app.

0:50.3

Buy me a cup of coffee or a shot in a beer.

0:53.5

Help support the podcast. And if you don't have the Venmo app, why I a cup of coffee or a shot in a beer, help support the podcast.

0:55.1

And if you don't have the Venmo app, why go to my donation page?

0:59.1

And, you know, I've added some new rewards for making a $25 or more donation.

1:05.4

I now will give you a gift certificate to get a Kindle version of my book,

1:09.9

Leaving Vegas, how FBI wiretaps ended mob domination of Las Vegas casinos,

1:14.8

or my new movie, Brothers Against Brothers, the Savella Spiro War,

1:19.7

and then to have the old standby, gangland wire.

1:22.3

So without any more commercial breaks, let's introduce Kenneth Lamaster.

1:26.9

Welcome, Kenneth. It's really great to have you here.

1:29.2

It's an absolute pleasure to be here. So Kenneth, you wrote a book. The title of the book is,

1:34.3

let me get this down. That's a mouthful. You want to say the title of your book? The title of the book is

1:39.1

Leavenworth Seven, the Deadly 1931 prison break. Yeah, and that's an interesting prison break, folks.

...

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