Chaz Williams biography

Williams was indicted and sent to a federal corrections institution in Milan, Michigan, were he was sentenced to a five-year term. Williams didn't take well to the imprisonment, and became notorious for his outbursts, which involved stabbing fellow inmates and assaulting correctional officers.

Imprisonment

In 1974, the Federal Bureau of Prisons created a program that would allow inmates to take classes at local universities. One of Williams' fellow inmates caught word of the new program, and illegally obtained documents outlining the requirements for the program. Williams, along with several other prisoners, began taking steps to become eligible for the program before it had even been officially announced. By the time the program was revealed, the entire group was enrolled.

Williams and a group of other inmates were given ultimate freedom during their time at the University of Michigan, where they were expected to study. But because the classes didn't monitor the prisoners' attendance, they would skip their daily schedule and instead enter the city, where they again began robbing banks. Using the money from their robberies, they applied for multiple apartments, luxury vehicles, and entertained romantic interests. William's Michigan crew robbed more than five banks during their time in the program but, because they were already incarcerated, everyone in the education program was immediately removed from the suspect list.

After six months, a prison bus driver grew wise to their suspicious behavior and reported them to the authorities. Williams and his gang were caught. Michigan's inmate release program was dismantled immediately afterward.

Shortly before Williams' trial, the prison bus driver who caught the group suddenly refused to give his testimony after claiming he and his family were threatened with violence. The trial was dropped, and Williams completed the rest of his sentence. Upon parole, he immediately returned to robbing federally insured banks.

Heists

Williams, more determined than ever not to get caught by authorities, began training to become a better robber. He assembled several gangs, employing an estimated 20 people at any given time. The group studied police and FBI training tapes, read up on military strategy, regularly attended the firing range, and educated themselves on police weaponry and technology. They would also work out to stay in peak condition, and perform trial runs of the robberies in each other's apartments. Williams even had a timed exercise to see how quickly each robber could jump over a counter and pull cash out of a register drawer. His heists were typically completed in less than a minute, giving police little or no time to respond.

Most of their robberies went fairly smoothly, but no amount of careful planning could save Williams from his eventual arrest. In June of 1975, a security guard was wounded by a gunshot to the head during one of the crew's payroll robberies.