In 1978 convicted murderer Gary Tison escaped from an Arizona prison with the help of his three sons. Over the following two weeks, Tison and his gang roamed the Southwest, murdering six people before confronting police in a bloody shootout near the Mexican border. Next to the Gunfight at the OK Corral, this is the most sensational crime story in Arizona history.
James W. Clarke is Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona. He is also the author of American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics; On Being Mad or Merely Angry: John W. Hinckley, Jr. and Other Dangerous People; and The Lineaments of Wrath: Race, Violent Crime, and American Culture.
