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| HOUDINI |
Houdini like thief, Ronald Tackman, 57, used all sorts of ploys including dressing up as cowboy and a cigarette lighter that looked like a gun to carry out numerous heists in New York.
Then when he was due to stand trial in 2009, wearing a three piece suit and simply strolled out of the building after convincing prison officers he was a defense attorney.
He pulled black socks over his prison issue canvas shoes to help his charade.
It was just another disguise for Tackman, who once carved a fake gun out of a bar of soap, which he used to hold up a correctional bus, releasing several prisoners in the process.
On another occasion while he was behind bars, Tackman built a double-barreled "zip gun" out of two soda cans and homemade gunpowder, using barbecue charcoal, his lawyer, Joseph Heinzmann, said. According to Heinzmann, Tackman intended to use the first barrel as a warning shot and the second as a threat but was foiled when both barrels discharged on the first shot.
At sentencing Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Charles Whitt told the court that there were two Ronald Tackmans: the amiable, intelligent man who "could talk his way out of almost any situation," and a "devious, conniving, manipulative" robber and thief.
He added: "He is a man who has spent his entire adult life committing crimes, and there is no indication that if he ever got out of prison, he would do anything else but commit more crimes."
The judge seemed to agree, sentencing his to a maximum of life behind bars.
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