Nobody ever thought that someone could escape
Mecklenburg Correctional Center’s Death Row, a place that housed what the state of
Virginia called its “worst of the worst.” The 20 million dollar prison was said to be
escape proof, a virtual fortress, replete with all the latest security equipment. But one day in 1984, six inmates would get
out, and how they would do it is beyond belief. These men were vicious killers, maniacs of
the highest degree. The leaders of this escape ring were the Briley
Brothers, men whose crimes traumatized America. Before we tell you how a group of inarguably,
absolutely terrifying human beings got out of a prison that was thought to be escape
proof, you need to know just how dangerous the ringleaders of that escape were. These were the three Briley brothers: Linwood,
James and Anthony. Growing up in their neighborhood in Virginia’s
capital, Richmond, these young guys seemed to most people like just normal kids...They
were far from normal, though, something insidious ran through the veins of these children. It’s alleged they tortured some of the exotic
pets they kept, which included snakes and tarantulas, but that’s nothing compared
to what the eldest son, Linwood, did in 1971. One day he was sitting in his second floor
bedroom and he pointed a rifle at an elderly woman. He shot that rifle, and the woman died. Linwood was eventually arrested for the crime,
and his bitterly cold response to the wrongdoing was, “I heard she had heart problems, she
would have died soon anyway.” Now you have an idea of what kind of people
we are talking about, but things got much worse as the children grew into their twenties. After Linwood got out of reform school and
his brother James was released from juvenile jail for the crime of shooting at a police
officer, the three brothers were back together again. The year was 1979, and the brothers would
begin a crime spree that rocked America. They had one accomplice, a younger man named
Duncan Meekins. Their first point of call on this crime spree
was a house where a couple lived. The date was March 12th. They robbed the house and took all the valuables
they could carry away, and then left the couple tied up. Before they exited, they doused the whole
place with gasoline, threw a match on that gasoline, and left the victims to burn. Fortunately, the couple managed to untangle
themselves before they went up in flames with the house. A couple of weeks later, the gang robbed and
murdered a 20-year food-vending serviceman. Ten days after that, they shot and killed
a man over a drug dispute. Just over a week later the gang broke into
the home of a 76-year woman. They sexually assaulted her, robbed her, and
left her to die after shooting her in the head. She survived that, but died some weeks later
after falling into a coma. It’s now July, and the gang pick on a local
17-year kid. They beat him up, and finish him off by dropping
a cinder block on his head. In September, they shoot and kill a DJ, and
in the same month they rob a 62-year old nurse. They take her money and then end her life
with blows to the skull from a baseball bat. If you think it can’t get worse than this,
think again. This gang was evil, there’s no doubt about
it. In October, they break into the house of a
75-year old almost-blind woman and her 56 year old boarder. They beat the woman to death with a pipe and
kill the man using a selection of tools including, scissors, a baseball bat, a knife… and even
a fork. A week later, they shoot another man to death
after a fight breaks out. Just five days later, the gang breaks into
the house of a young couple. They sexually assault the pregnant woman,
and then fatally shoot her and her five year old son. The man, a one time friend of the brothers,
is also fatally shot. Three days later and the three brothers and
their accomplice were all arrested. Meekins was offered a plea agreement if he
testified against the brothers, and he accepted that and got a life sentence plus 80 years. A life sentence without chance of parole was
given to Anthony, the youngest of the brothers, since Meekins testified that he had had the
least involvement in the monstrous crimes. It’s believed he never actually killed a
person, or at least that couldn’t be proven. Linwood and James were sentenced to death. The judge at the time said it was the vilest
rampage of violence he’d seen in his entire 30-year career. We actually spared you some of the gorier
details, but if you search, you shall find. After hearing what those young men did, you
can only imagine how the public would have felt if they escaped prison. That’s exactly what they did on May 31,
1984, and we doubt you could find a crazier prison escape story. The ringleaders of the escape were the two
brothers, but six men eventually made it outside the prison walls. It would become the largest death row escape
in history. The brothers were only separated by one cell
on death row, and during their time there, they both went looking for like-minded criminals. i.e. ones that wanted to escape. That’s something that’s since been criticized...the
fact that the prisoners were given quite a lot of time to congregate in the day room. There the brothers and their four accomplices
started to hatch their escape plan. Some other prisoners, not under the spell
of the bothers’ power, actually snitched on them, telling guards that they were planning
an escape. They said take those guys away, because if
their escape attempt fails, they might become one of their victims. Such was the fear that those brothers imposed
on others. So, how did they actually get out? Well, those brothers observed every small
detail of what the guards did. After years of watching them, they knew their
weaknesses and strengths. They even worked out whose uniforms would
fit them best for when they would escape. The men spent months creating homemade knives,
hiding them where officers couldn’t find them. Well, it was later said that the contraband
should have been found, so maybe the searches weren’t all that rigorous. We’d also later find out that the brother’s
had been bribing some officers, and that had been going on for years. Ok, so the brothers and co. knew about the guards’ habits and how they
worked, but they also knew that they could get the control room door unlocked if they
wanted to pass an item to another prisoner. If you’ve managed to manipulate an officer
and get him to like you, perhaps he’ll allow you to pass an item to another prisoner. They made sure to get on the good side of
some officers. They knew which ones were lenient, weak, and
this took years of planning. They also knew where a man could hide out
of the sight of cameras, or how they could create headcount confusion by not returning
to their cells fast enough after recreation. On May 31, 1984, the officers should have
been suspicious of one thing, and that was the fact a few men looked clean shaven and
their hair was neatly combed. Why did the men do this? The answer is because they were going to pretend
to be officers. They had to look the part. At around 8pm most men were leaving the yard,
but the escapees were hatching their plan. One man went into a bathroom next to the control
room and locked the door. He knew exactly when to do this, being aware
of the officers’ routines. A nurse would have found this strange, since
she used that bathroom every night, although she’d earlier been told by guards that the
bathroom was out of order. That wasn’t true. One of the brothers had made that up. To make it worse, the brothers made sure a
bit of commotion happened during the return to cells so the guards didn’t have a correct
head count. What happened next is James Briley said he
needed to give something to another prisoner, and could the guard open the door to the control
room. When he did that, the man hidden in the bathroom
shot out and subdued the guard. He then used the control panel to unlock all
the cell doors. The prisoners now had the guards under their
control. They stripped them naked and put duct tape
over their mouths. They were then locked into cells. When other guards arrived, they were subdued
by inmates now wearing guards’ uniforms. It was a hellish scene, with some prisoners
making sure one particular officer’s life was saved after the brothers wanted to douse
him in rubbing alcohol and set him on fire. Some prisoners also protected the nurse. With a knife at his throat, the lieutenant
was forced to radio through to the guard tower and say, “We have a situation here.” He said a bomb had been found in the pod and
they needed to get it out of the prison. The rest of the prison at this time had no
idea this was all going down. The six men then found a closet where they
knew riot gear was kept. They put on helmets and wrapped gas masks
around their heads. The guys even used the riot shields to make
it all look very convincing. But to get out of the main building there
was another guard they needed to get by. The head guard whose throat had a knife to
it called her and told her she had a call to answer. He told her he would send another guard up
to replace her. Before she left her station, she saw a guard
approaching, but she was somewhat confused since she’d never seen this man before. Maybe he was new? But as soon as he got close to her he got
her down on the floor and tied her up. What happened next sounds quite unbelievable. Killers dressed as guards walked through their
building carrying a stretcher. They seemed hurried, seeing as they were supposedly
carrying a bomb. It was actually a TV covered with a blanket. To make the situation seem even more desperate,
one of the men was shooting a fire extinguisher at the covered box, which was supposed to
look like he was cooling it down. The men then took the stretcher and loaded
it into the van. It was nighttime, and with their faces being
partly covered with those riot helmets, no one guessed they weren’t guards. The guys couldn’t just drive out, though,
because what happened at that prison was any vehicle leaving would have to leave through
two doors. The vehicle only got through the second door
after an inspection. But in this case, those fake guards said c’mon,
this is a bomb situation we have here, we need to get out quickly. In violation of prison rules, the guard opened
both doors at once. Close to 11 pm that prison van, along with
six murderers and a TV set, drove off into the countryside in the direction of North
Carolina. The convicts had stolen $758 and had civilian
clothes that they had stolen. They also had a bunch of rolled ganja joints. What happened next was a bunch of slow communications
between those who knew about the escape and those who needed to know. Some police departments didn’t get the call
until hours after the escape. In the meantime, those criminals were getting
very far away from the prison. These weren’t ordinary men by any means,
because as you’ve heard today, they had caused unbelievable harm to people. They were vicious, and it was thought that
they might begin another killing rampage. The former sheriff of Richmond later said,
“I knew their determination to seek revenge. You never forget the smell of death and the
smell of blood from what they did.” No one had actually been hurt in the escape,
although the other inmates were largely responsible for keeping people safe. But would they seek revenge? The authorities thought they would, so anyone
involved with the incarceration of the brothers was given police protection. That included judges, witnesses, the families
of those who the brothers had killed, and even the family and relatives of the accomplice
named Meekins. Two of the escapees were quickly picked up
trying to cross into North Carolina, but that still left four men on the run. 100s of law enforcement officers around Virginia
and North Carolina went out looking for the men, while some of the public armed themselves
in case they’d come into contact with the men. People were scared out of their wits, not
knowing if their residence would be broken into. One guy at the time told a reporter that he
was taking no risks, and armed with a gun he told that reporter, “I'm going to blow
the man's head off and then ask questions.” You get the picture; those bothers were feared
like the devil himself. One of the escapees split from the brothers
and he didn’t get very far. Eight days after the escape he was arrested
by a local cop after he’d tried to rob a store armed with a knife. The cops soon got another man, which only
left the brothers at large. Wiretaps were put on the brothers’ relatives,
and one call led back to a garage located in North Philadelphia. Just hours after that call was made, federal
agents were all over the building, and there they found the two brothers at the side of
the building barbecuing chicken over a fire. Their escape had lasted 19 days. The garage owner, who had hired these two
guys that were now calling themselves Slim and Lucky, had no idea he’d hired maniacal
killers. Linwood was executed in the electric chair
on October 12, 1984. James was executed the same way on April 18,
1985. Both maintained that they were innocent of
the crimes they had been convicted of. When Linwood was asked if he had any last
words, he just said that he was innocent. When James was asked, he said, “Are you
happy?” Anthony Briley is still in prison to this
day. These men were actually known as “spree
killers”, not serial killers. If you want to see another grizzly show about
a spree killer, have a look at, “What Drove The Man Who Killed Versace.” If that’s not to your liking, have a look
at this…. Either way, click one now and keep the watch
party going!
