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CHICAGO - A pair of convicted bank robbers escaped from a Chicago jail Tuesday by taking out the bars of a window and climbing down a rope made from scraps of cloth.
Central District Police Sgt. Michael Lazzaro said the men likely escaped the Metropolitan Correctional Center between 5 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.
The FBI identified the men as 37-year-old Jose Banks and 38-year-old Kenneth Conley, who were believed to be traveling togethe. They were reportedly last seen Tuesday morning in the Tinley Park area. Federal arrest warrants were issued Tuesday evening.
Police surrounded a home in Tinley Park just before noon looking for the men.
Banks -- known as the "Second Hand Bandit" -- was convicted last week of stealing more than $600,000 during armed robberies. His cellmate, Conley, was convicted of stealing $4,000 last year from a bank in Homewood, Ill.
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Lazzaro said the men escaped out a window using what one officer described as a rope made out of fabric scraps.
The rope was seen still hanging down the side of the building Tuesday before being pulled up just before noon.
According to the complaint affidavit, Banks and Conley were cellmates and were present during a physical head count at 10 p.m. Monday.
Fake window bars
Following their escape, investigators said they found metal window bars tucked inside the inmates' mattresses, fake metal bars inside the cell and clothing in the shape of a body under the bed's blankets.
FBI officials said Banks and Conley should be considered armed and dangerous. Chicago police and U.S. Marshals searched several locations, including a Greyhound bus station, but came up empty.
Prisoner escapes, found in N.J. hospital vent less than an hour later
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal detention center in Chicago's Loop operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, has been the site of escape attempts before.
The brother of "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan pleaded guilty in 2010 for trying to escape the jail using a rope made of bed sheets. Matthew Nolan planned to rappel down the side of the building using a 31-foot rope of bed sheets hidden in a mattress.
Fugitive who escaped from prison more than 31 years ago finally caught
In 1985, two men escaped by shimmying down a 75-foot extension cord they threw out the window.
Escape carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, authorities explained in a statement.
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Good for them!! I hope they make it to Canada..........
Note to Rodney King: At least in some instances, it appears we can get along and work together.
Denver Bill leads such a secular life he is in shock to see a white and black man together.
The drool Denver Bill spews out makes me think he has taken more head shots than Rodney King.
"Bank robbers use rope made of cloth scraps to escape Chicago jail"
Who do they think they are? Ronnie and Clyde?
G-Afternoon Bill,
I see some people have to keep that "I'm better than you" taste in their mouths. Heh heh.
Looks like you got high score....
all fairness... if chris rock said what denver bill said it'd have been funny... just sayin..
ga Creek Dog
I'd be hurt ...... if I valued their opinion.
Got to admit, these dudes were pretty creative! And they got away. Next question is if they can manage to stay away.
There were 11 people hanging onto a rope that came down from a plane. Ten were blonde, and one was a brunette.
They all decided that one person should get off because if they didn't, the rope would break and everyone would die. No one could decide who should go, so finally the brunette said, "I'll get off."
After a really touching speech from the brunette about how she would get off, all of the blondes started clapping.
Problem solved.
That rocks, thanks for a great laugh!!!
And how did they get the cloth to make the ladder? from the sheets the prison issued and how did they get the window open? who knows . Insider job maybe. Good luck finding them.
Ladder?! Heh heh....
When in prison, you've got a lot of time on your hands to figure these things out.
These guys studied the Alcatraz and McGuiver manuals. They are far too intelligent to be locked up. Give them a security job with the government.
The windows are notoriously five inches wide. They knocked a hole in the concrete under the window (how very Shawshank of them). Also, something to be said here about lowest bid :)
don't forget about the mythbusters.... they repelled down a wall with ropes made of hair and toilet paper...
It Was The Ghost of Al Capone That Helped Them Escape.
Banks liked to rob banks. There's gotta be a joke in there somewhere...
maybe he was banking on his name to get him through the front door.... eh... ehhh?
here is the sad thing !!!
it was probably laundered money
no problem still
the bank had all the interest from all that money they laundered anyway
sadsadsad and good ol USA just slapped them with a fine
put robbers in prison and slap fines on corrupt bank billionaires
makes sence eh? for billionaires and trillionaires apparently it does
lets see 600000 for robbers
60 billion for banks wow
our prosecuting officials are just up there in the idiot fields arnt they
5 yrs and a 250,000 dollar fine for escape? Where do inmates get that kind of money?
Checking account.
he'll go rob another bank
selling manuals on how to fool prison guards into thinking you're NOT ESCAPING RIGHT NOW!!
Why do I feel like attempting to escape (5yrs 250k) is probably more than this Kenneth Conley had to serve to begin with. He probably nearly tripled his time now
They think they are invincible. I just hope the psot their pictures in handcuffs later............
I love it!!! They let the bankers go free and they steal more in 1 second than these two did.....don't they, and Obama doesn't try to proscute them. Run baby run!
they just left early everyone knows they would get out on probation next time you here about these guys it will because they killed a cop just like the kid in kansas rap sheets a mile long and the judges keep letting them go maybe we should let the judges take their place in jail????
If inmates, had some kind of tracking chips, implanted in them , they could track them down faster.
The American success story. As old as the James Cagney movies. The bad guys outsmart the cops, the Federal cops at that, and escape jail using the time-tested "phony bars and improvised rope" trick with a dummy under the blankets. Be good boys now! Don't go to your homes or neighborhoods. And for heaven's sake don't be anxious to rob another bank.
I'd love to know how they got those bars out!
No word about the sawzall they used to cut through the bars, or how they managed to get enough cloth scraps to braid a rope. Typical Chicago. Pay attention to the details instead of just whether they're there in their cells. Also wonder why they needed enough clothes to make a fake body under the covers. Don't they get one pair of overalls in jail?
They had to be stock piling the supplies they used during the escape. Flashbacks of the "Shawshank Redemption".
Do you even need a GED to work at that jail?
In a world of wife beating, suicide, and the gunning down of children...
...a story about two guys who rob a bank and then escape out the window with a rope of bed sheets seems kind of heartwarming.
Dale, tracking chips only work like that in Bond movies. In real life you have to run a scanner over it to get a signal, which is actually a modified reflection of sorts from signal the scanner transmits.
"who were believed to be traveling togethe."
Togethe? What does that mean?
Man did't those guys know how dangerous Chicago is ? they were safer in jail.