Mutulu Shakur - Robbery and Arrest

Robbery and Arrest

On October 20, 1981, after six previous unsuccessful attempts to rob a Brinks truck, Shakur and five or six other men succeeded in robbing one in Nanuet, New York. During the robbery they killed one of the Brinks guards and seriously wounded another. After grabbing the cash, they drove to another location where they transferred the money to a U-Haul truck driven by Boudin and her husband David Gilbert. However, the transfer was seen and called in to the police, who set up a roadblock at the Tappan Zee Bridge. A shootout followed in which two Nyack policemen were killed. Afterwards, Boudin and some of her companions were captured as they attempted to flee, while others escaped successfully. To date, there has been no evidence found linking Shakur to the scene of the crime.

In the 1980s, he was arrested on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges of bank robbery and aiding his sister, Assata Shakur, in her escape from prison on November 2, 1979. While at large, on July 23, 1982 he became the 380th person added by the FBI to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was arrested February 12, 1986 in California and was subsequently found guilty of taking part in the armored-truck robbery and the prison escape.

While in ADX Florence, he was visited by novelist Jonathan Franzen. The visit forms part of Franzen's essay "Control Units," which is included in his book of essays How to Be Alone, published in 2002. Shakur is to be released in 2016. He is also featured on a television show called American Gangster featured on Centric and BET.