Earl Edwin Austin was an American criminal and bank robber who had been listed on the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

's " Ten Most Wanted" list during the 1970s.

Background

Born in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City", is a Tree C ...

, Austin had been a career criminal for much of his adult life serving sentences for

grand larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engl ...

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbi ...

aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in cri ...

, escaping prison and, most notably, threatening the president of the United States when Austin sent a threatening letter to then-President Lyndon Johnson as an inmate at the

Idaho State Penitentiary The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States, east of Boise, Idaho. The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in ...

(which would result in an additional five years to his sentence). In February 1979, although having a history of attempted prison escapes and repeated altercations with police officers, Austin won parole from prison in Kansas City, Missouri and, upon his release, immediately headed south with the intentions of beginning a crime spree where, on February 28, Austin robbed a bank in Houston, Texas of $60,000. By mid-July, Austin had raided a series of banks throughout the Southeast from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

when federal authorities, who had previously charged Austin with

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-ow ...

and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, officially added Austin to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted List" on October 12.

Capture

After a five-month-long federal investigation, Austin was eventually traced to a rented apartment in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

where Austin was arrested by federal agents on March 1, 1980. At the time of his arrest, Austin had a loaded pistol as well as $10,000 in his possession (a small amount of money from the Houston robbery had been marked, allowing Austin to be connected directly to the crime). Austin, charged with three counts of his three known robberies, was held in custody in lieu of a $35,000 bond before his eventual conviction and imprisonment.

References

Books

*Newton, Michael. ''Encyclopedia of Robbers, Heists, and Capers''. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Earl Edwin American bank robbers FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Fugitives Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Takoma Park, Maryland