Ryan Leone Talks | "Terrible Tom" Silverstein

[Music] al asked me to do a piece on terrible tom silverstein I spent a disproportionate amount of time in special housing units for disciplinary reasons during my years in federal prisons I was often celled up with active members the Aryan Brotherhood while I was in the hole and I'd hear violent tales of convict folklore one name that came up frequently was terrible tom silverstein one of the most feared and respected founding members of the Aryan Brotherhood or as it's commonly referred to in the Penitentiary's the brand the Aryan Brotherhood it originated in California's San Quentin State Prison in the late 60s and early 1970s it was in response to the race Wars and subsequent formation Vanek hierarchies of prison gangs in California the Caucasian population was often victimized by these organizations and the brand surface to protect the white race the Aryan Brotherhood would later become allies with the Mexican Mafia and become more involved with the illicit underground economy of the prison system but in its infancy the brand's goal was to rule with intimidation and leave an impression with the use of unprecedented brutality their murder stems off tear posts to set examples even though their numbers were small the fear tactic secured a place of reverence and required caution from their opposition federal prisons had helped proliferate and expand the influence the Aryan Brotherhood as some of the most volatile members started being shipped to federal pens all throughout the country building a stronger network of members John Gotti would eventually ask them for tech protection after his 1992 bust a man who was part of the reason the supermax prison was built has died 67 year-old Thomas silverstein died this month he was in intensive care following a surgery earlier this year continuing our coverage of Colorado at six silver Stein went to prison back in 78 for armed robbery he was later found guilty of killing a prison guard and two inmates at a federal pen in Indiana while those murders inspired the design of the supermax prison here in Florence Colorado silverstein was moved there in 2005 it's believed he spent more time in solitary confinement than any other federal inmate he was in solitary at various prisons since 1983 throughout the years the brand started accumulating enemies from other parts of the nation namely DC blacks who had seen a sharp influx in the late 70s gaining power throughout the East Coast and Midwest terrible tom silverstein picked up his affiliation with the brand during a short stint at San Quentin for armed robberies he was paroled and was later convicted federally for his involvement in another string of armed robberies that he had pulled off with his father and first cousin in California during the late 1970s terrible tom was sent to the infamous Leavenworth Penitentiary the Aryan Brotherhood had a relatively low-key presence at the facility when terrible Tom arrived he began to rapidly ascend the organization's pecking order building a reputation for being violent fearless and criminally sophisticated in the first two years of terrible Tom's sentence he allegedly killed a younger member of the Aryan Brotherhood named Danny Atwell who had refused to have his girlfriend smuggle drugs into the prison on behalf of the brand terrible tom was deemed too problematic in May and was shipped to a high security unit in Marion Penitentiary Marion is a relatively soft prison today in 2019 because it's one of the only federal prisons with the sex offender rehabilitation program but in the late 1970s Marion was one of the most combative prisons in the federal system Edward bunker who wrote highly celebrated crime books including education of a felon and animal factory that was laters co-star in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs had talked about his experience at Marion in great detail at one point he noted that it was so volatile that there were 400 guards for every hundred inmates it was a very dangerous place to do time the DC blacks and Aryan Brotherhood had started to beef in this era in 1981 terrible Tom strangled Robert Chappell to death in a Cell Chappell was one of the high ranking members that DC blacks and the organization immediately started planning a retaliation against terrible Tom shortly after Chapelle strangulation DC blacks boss Raymond Smith is also known as Cadillac Ray was transferred to the Marion facility terrible Tom knew that Cadillac Ray was trying to murder him and the to strategically circled each other for several months until terrible Tom and a bee soldier named Clayton fountain plunged matric knives into Smith nearly 70 times killing him and they then paraded his mangled corpse on the cellblock making a statement to the wide-eyed inmate population terrible tom was sent to the hole he was still able to call shots from the confines of the cell he began butting heads with the co named Merle klutz their feud had culminated after klutz at shakin terrible Tom's cell down and taken his extra winin while he was at recreation silverstein took this as the final straw of disrespect decided to conspire with former associate Clayton fountain to murder two COS simultaneously and to separate parts of the prison the brand was already smuggling balloons full of heroin into marryin through contact visits and terrible Tom requested that someone from the outside world put a handcuff key in the next balloon that was to be smuggled in in the hole if an inmate is moved for any reason he must be handcuffed and escorted by several guards they know that violence from inmates is likely because of the inhumane nature of solitary confinement so they don't even give you an opportunity to have free hands around a CEO before leaving the cell to go to a recreation or the shower you have to move backwards towards the cell door and they open a meal slot that you put your hands through to be cut your family - it was weird sitting there watching [Music] [Music] [Music] terrible Tom ordered a young AP member to go to the hole on purpose and bring the handcuff key several guards including Meryl klutz began assuring Silverstein down the cellblock to take him to the caged recreation hour when he got to his brand associate cell he made a sudden jolt towards the cell bars and turned around the associate quickly used the key to uncuff him and he handed him a large shank Tom swung the knife wildly at Meryl klutz and proceeded to stab him several times in before he was tackled and restrained by the other COS klutz died clayton fountain carried out a similar homicide in a different area of the prison as planned terrible tom is already serving a life sentence for the other homicides that he had committed at Marion the judge issued a lifetime no human contact order and he was shipped back to Leavenworth there's a book called the hot house that was written by a former Washington Post journalist named Peter early he was granted unadulterated access inside the notorious prison the book describes several inmates that were serving time there in the 1980s the book immortalizes the legend of terrible thomas silverstein by explicitly describing his bizarre living conditions there because of the no-contact order the guards at Leavenworth had erected a large gorilla style playpen structure in the basement of the prison there were two large spotlights on terrible Tom at all times and they made a conveyor belt that they sent him as meal trays on when he was finished with the meal he put the tray back on the conveyor belt and went back to the guards according to prison legend convicts would hear his screams reverberating all night from somewhere deep in the bowels of Leavenworth he lived this way for multiple decades and complete solitary confinement it has been said that terrible Tom and his institutional unmanageability were the impetus for the underground ADX super maximum federal prison in Florence Colorado the same place that houses the Unabomber various terrorists and soon convicted drug lord el chapo guzman terrible tom was transferred to ATX in 2005 in his final days silverstein stayed busy despite the fact that he was locked up 23 hours a day with only 60 minutes for recreation each day he blogged about prisoners rights painted sketched and was working on his memoir with Pete Earley the same journalist who had perpetuated Silverstein's folklore in the hot house terrible Tom filed a federal civil lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons in 2007 challenging the constitutionality of his inhumane conditions but eventually he lost the case in court he died from heart failure on May 24 2019 he had spent 36 years in solitary confinement and his death made national [Music]

Channel: Al Profit

Views: 213,699

Keywords: Terrible Tom Silverstein, Hard Time, lockdown, Prison Stories, prison stories reddit, ryan leone, thomas silverstein death, solitary confinement, al profit

Id: -uE3ySdJvAA

Length: 13min 22sec (802 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2019